by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

Exploring Draenor delves into the hidden places of the world that will one day become Outland. From the volcanic landscape of Frostfire to the gloomy dells of Shadowmoon, these articles are your guide to events that are off the beaten path.

Location: Far eastern Tanaan Jungle

Rewards: Crashin’ Thrashin’ Cannon Controller, Crashin’ Thrashin’ Mortar Controller, Crashin’ Thrashin’ Roller Controller

The long-awaited Patch 6.2.2 added flying to Draenor, and with it new areas and rare spawns have been opened for us to explore – and loot. One of these areas is the remnants of the Draenor starting experience, which took place in the eastern part of Tanaan Jungle, past the Dark Portal.

For being such a pivotal part of Warcraft lore, the Dark Portal has had little play in this expansion. We’ve only really seen it twice: during the Tanaan starting experience, and when returning to the zone post-Patch 6.2. Even then we couldn’t reach the damn thing, as the way was blocked by fallen rocks from the massive cannon shot that was used to destroy the Portal months before. With flying, of course, all that has changed.

We can now glide effortlessly over those rocks and return to the site of our first decisive victory in Draenor. The Bleeding Hollow still inhabit this area – they were the original tribe living in Tanaan – and three new rare orcs have taken up residence, in areas that you will certainly recognise. The first of these is in the building directly behind the Portal, where we hid immediately after releasing Gul’dan and disrupting the Iron Horde’s invasion plans.

One does not simply walk into Gondar

Gondar, the Hollow’s Eye, shelters in the building, along with several Bleeding Hollow Looters. These orcs can be quite a threat to the unprepared, as Gondar can buff their damage using Tracker’s Mark. He can also increase his own attack speed (at the cost of health) with Bloodletting, and take down multiple enemies using Rending Whirl. Pull him outside the building to have more space to move around, kite the Looters and avoid the Whirl, and this orc will fall like the rest of his clan.

Following the path of our original progress, the next stop is Kilrogg’s pyramid where we put paid to a Bleeding Hollow ritual – and Ariok sacrificed himself to save us (but not really). As a side note, Alliance players might be confused about who the heck this guy was, and why we should have cared that he ‘died’. Ariok was a Horde quest-giver in the Burning Steppes, and is the son of Eitrigg – the orc who showed Tirion Fordring the honourable side of the Horde. There’s actually a bit of history there – but you wouldn’t know it as Alliance.

Anyway, the pyramid is now surrounded by yet more Bleeding Hollow orcs, with one massive brute – Smashum Grabb, the Hollow’s Fist – in the centre. Grabb is a weird hybrid of Bleeding Hollow and Shattered Hand, with two spiked blades instead of fists. How he goes to the toilet is anyone’s guess.

The behemoth is, in fact, a very easy kill for ranged players, with only two abilities: Enraged and Iron Stomp. None of these speed him up, though, and he can easily be kited to death. Melee players, simply run away when Grabb is enraged.

Moving on over the bridge which Khadgar destroyed with Meteor Shower, you approach the arena of Kargath Bladefist – although both gates are now barred. The final rare spawn in this area is found in the building looking down into the arena – climb the slope to the side, or simply fly, to reach it. Inside waits Drakum, the Hollow’s Spear. As you might expect, two of his three abilities focus on his weapon: Throw, a basic attack dealing more damage than normal, and Rain of Spears, which will rapidly assault you with physical damage. However, it wasn’t even enough to kill my Water Elemental, so I wouldn’t worry too much about being hit by this. Drakum’s final ability is the rather rude Face Kick, which has the potential – if you’re fighting him outside – to knock you off the building entirely.

All three of these orcs can be looted once a day and have a chance to drop new Crashin’ Thrashin’ tank toys, which are part of the Iron Armada achievement. The other two are the Crashin’ Thrashin’ Flamer Controller and Crashin’ Thrashin’ Killdozer Controller, which cannot be found until Winter Veil.