Mania’s Arcania

After Blizzard deleted my Deviate Dreadfang in order to uncork my stable slots, I of course went back and grabbed another and started the slow process of getting it up to my level. Since my windserpent character is only 35 and I grabbed a level 21 Dreadfang, I only needed to get it 14 levels. And really, I figured it would be able to help me out well enough to fight pretty normally by level 28 or so. So – seven levels. No big deal!

Except that I get bored easily, I hate grinding, and I knew I’d be dying a lot — I am just not a very good player. *sigh* I decided that doing some research up front this time might help. I started by reading a very nice guide about leveling pets at 70 on the EU forums. (And thanks to WoWInsider for that link, by the way.) Of course, the locations weren’t useful to me at level 35, but the philosophy seemed solid. I decided to respec to something more akin to a Survival hunter in the hopes of, er, surviving. *grin* Then I had to learn what all of those skills do that I’ve always ignored (like Mongoose Bite and Scorpid Sting). Then finally I was ready to go out and kill! If I could just find somewhere nice …

I’d been leveling in Desolace; I remebered that there are naga there and that naga are what I used to level my Ghost Saber from 19 to 48 on my main; so I set off for the coast of Desolace. But I didn’t make it there — because on the way I passed Thunderaxe Fortress in the northwest of Desolace. This Fortress is just stuffed with Burning Blade humanoids, including Augurs and Adepts who stay at range to cast spells. Just what I wanted!

The Fortress itself was far too crowded for me — I couldn’t pick my targets well enough to stay alive. But outside the Fortess, to the north, there are two small buildings with a nice smattering of enemies in and around them. These are mostly Augurs (a warlock type) with some Adepts (a mage type) and Reavers and Felsworn (two melee types — I couldn’t tell them apart). 

For the casters I sent the pet in (any damage helps) and then Arcane Shot’d them to death.  They hit hard but went down quick if I threw all my shots at them, and I had had the foresight to bring lots of water. (I don’t normally bother with water. I don’t normally use my shots enough to run out of mana. See above re: bad hunter.) The melee types took a little more work. I ended up with a special routine for them: Hunter’s Mark from max range, drop a fire trap, Aimed Shot, send the pet in, Arcane Shot, Concussive Shot, Scorpid Sting, Arcane Shot again, then they hit the trap (and incidentally me also) and I hope they are far enough gone to Raptor Strike and melee them the rest of the way. Then sit and get my health back and start again!

The first two pet levels were a little slow, but it picked up when my windserpent hit 24 and could learn Lightning Breath 3. By level 26 he was keeping aggro sometimes, and at 27 I declared myself satisfied with him and left to go back to quests. (As it happened, I needed to do some green quests with the centaurs in Desolace, many of whom will also stay at range. But the ranged centaurs didn’t seem as dense, so I think I was better off grinding at Thunderaxe Fortress.)

In retrospec, respec’ing may have been overkill — mostly what I seemed to have needed was just to use the skills that I’d ignored before. But it’s hard to say how much rougher the first several levels would have been without the respec. Individual talents often don’t seem to do much, but then you get rid of them and you can’t fight at all.

At any rate — if you happen to find yourself in need of a place to level a low pet up to 35-ish, check out Thunderaxe Fortess in Desolace.