The Hardest Tame

[Kryte]

Now, I have no high level hunter, but as I've come to understand it, part of the appeal of the spirit beast is the difficulty in taming one and the feeling of satisfaction in accomplishing that. I understand perfectly that appeal.

Almost five years ago, I set out into the world with my first hunter, and when I found I could not tame the pet I had intended for my little orc, I set my sights on a newer, loftier goal ~ Vultros. A rare vulture in Westfall, although she does not have a unique model, she is the earliest available vulture with a blue skin.

But, there is a small problem. Westfall is a high traffic zone, regularly visited by lowbies participating in the Deadmines and their higher level guides. She also drops an attractive dagger and cloak. In five years, and across many Alliance toons, I've only seen her once. I would probably nominate her as being among one of the harder tames.

Similarly, the Sewer Beast. A rare crocolisk that occasionally spawns in Stormwind, another high population zone, he used to be a popular challenge for hunters back in Vanilla, but is frequently killed by people thinking he'll drop more than a [Pointy Crocolisk Tooth]. Like Vultros, attempts to tame this beast have a good chance of being interrupted by passersby.

Who do you think the hardest pet to tame is?

[Ryai]

King Krush.

Why? Because while the beasts you listed could be hard to tame, they can always be found on an easier to obtain skin. Krush, like Aotona and the 4 spirit beasts are unique. No multiple skins, no multiple beasts up at one time across the zone.

The respawn timer is part of the problem- the fact that Krush, Loque and Aotona are required for an achievement is another part. And lastly, people still kill them for out dated loot. Seriously.

Then there's the fact Aotona is usually spawning in a high trafic quest hub [the river heart], Loque has spawn points all around the basin and the fact Krush can fear you and he hits very hard, make these usually some of the hardest to tame beasts unless you are really, really lucky and stumble onto them when NO ONE is on.

Hell half the grief I've seen for hunters taming the beasts makes me ashamed to either play the class that griefs them the most or roll either ally or horde toons when people try and defend such behavoir as 'oh it's only griefing if it's done by people on the same side as you'.

[Kalliope]

King Krush.

For all of the above reasons.

Also, Arcturis.

He has a TERRIBLE spawn location and he has a unique model. He spawns within clear view of the alliance flight point. This is horrible for hunters of both factions, but especially horde on PvP servers. This is on top of his potentially godawful spawn timer.

Of course, these tames are still high profile, so let's go for more lowbie tames.

Cranky Benj's spawn timer is pretty awful, from what I've heard.

Krethis Shadowspinner kicked the CRAP out of me as a lowbie and I wasn't even trying to tame him. He left quite an impression on me.

Catching The Razza up, let alone uncontested, would be a hell of a challenge, considering that he shares a spawn point with other rares and has a lengthy timer.

[Quru]

Krush

[Ryno]

Yeah, King Krush is pretty tough... takes a lot of gear AND luck...

Lessee. My personal hardest tame...

Getting the tame spell down to the few seconds it needed to be for the ghost wolf was so hard it felt like a fluke when it happened.

The Strider Clutchmother was hard for me on a baby level 20 hunter I have. I did actually solo tame it, but it was a lot of luck and took several tries.

Gezzarak was hard, mostly because she changes targets randomly during the fight (meaning you basically HAVE to keep her stunned 90% of the taming process) and she herself stuns... was nasty.

What's-his-face out in Howling Fjord, who could be tamed as a Worgen, that was tough beans when it was doable. You HAD to tame him pretty much within less than a second of the right moment. Not to mention you had quite a few other people doing the same thing. It could get hairy.

[Azunara]

The worgen tame. I remember it fondly, going in, joining the assembly line of horde and alliance alike patiently waiting, pulling stray mobs off the taming hunter, cheering when there was a success. Took me hours to get Alpha. I remember a dwarf and I working together, and he got his first try we did a new strategy.

Ah. Good times.


Also, Rak'shiri was annoying, and I think I spent quite some time in a tree for a certain Pridelord with a lowbie hunter I had.

[bloodysam]

The Beast of all him

[Kalliope]

What's-his-face out in Grizzly Hills, who could be tamed as a Worgen, that was tough beans when it was doable. You HAD to tame him pretty much within less than a second of the right moment. Not to mention you had quite a few other people doing the same thing. It could get hairy.

He was in Howling Fjord, but the point still stands. Ugh.

Agreed on Humar; he's a MAJOR pain at his level if you mess up with the trapping.

[Jadvya]

Grunter; good lord, Grunter. I didn't camp him seriously, but pre-WOTLK, if you wanted a black boar, he was the only one higher than level 11, so I'd look every time I rode through the Dark Portal. High-traffic area and hella long respawn timer = very tough little piggy to get.

[Aleu]

Arcturis - He may only have one spawn point, but he makes up the 'annoying factor' with a GODAWFUL respawn timer. I could find the other three Spirits Beasts within the time he spawns. His spawn point is also directly north of Amberpine. Annoying mainly for Horde, but for Alliance as well.

Krush - He's not only part of an achievement, but he likes to fear 10 seconds into the tame and can hit like a truck if you're not careful. I've heard countless stories of people loosing him to others who swoop in and kill him. I almost lost him to a couple of Alliance.

Loque'nahak - Likely the most famous Spirit Beast, he's part of the achievement too. I've seen people try to sell his spawn.

Aotona - Only spawns in a high traffic zone due to many quests requiring you to kill snakes and crocs around there.

Humar - For lower levels he can be a pain. I forgot to trap him when I finally found him on my Blood Elf (Back at the very beginning of BC) and he nearly kicked my tush.

Ghost Wolf - I never got one, but I do believe you needed a BUTTLOAD of haste, plus a priest to MC and something else to keep the wolves living to stand the tame. (I think they'd die after 10 seconds.) Alas, I am still bitter about Blizzard going back on their word about it.

[Rhyela]

I've only really had one tame that I could call difficult - and it was King Krush. I never want to have to do something like that ever again, I literally lost sleep over him. Yes, you need oodles of haste; yes, you need tons of HP. He fears, charges, stomps-chomps-and-stomps-some-more, and that's if he lives long enough for you to even get a try in. As if it isn't bad enough that there are more than a few hunters with their eye on him for taming, he's also part of an achievement! I acknowledge my extreme luck in taming him at 75. I did my homework and got some gear but I was still vastly outmatched by his power (as cheesey as that may sound, it is the truth). I'm lucky that I saw him twice in a matter of two days, and that I tamed him the second time. I'm lucky that the belf pally flew by when he saw me /pleading like a fiend. I'm incredibly lucky that I was able to get a hold of my brother who logged on his resto shaman to help. I'm also lucky that in the 20 minutes between the time I saw him and the time I tamed him, only one other soul flew by (the pally). It was by far the most difficult tame I have ever done.

Arcturis - I read above that he's a pain to get, I stumbled upon him. Loque'nahak - my husband trips over him while mining saronite one evening. I ditched Arcturis (oof) to tame Loque'nahak. The spirit beasts practically delivered themselves to me so I can't say anything for difficulty of taming. I also realize that I'm incredibly lucky to have tamed three rares in just under four days: Saturday 10:30 p.m. - Arcturis; Monday 9:00 a.m. - King Krush; Tuesday 10:30 p.m. - Loque'nahak. (Hmm, noticed the two spirit beasts were tamed at the same time in the evening! Weird!)

Also, when I first started the game, I played a hunter (who after being abandoned for years on what became my husband's account, I finally xferred to my account and to our new server, and now I'm playing her again [Rhyela] ^.^). I saw Echeyakee somewhere, perhaps here on Petopia, and wanted him bad. Back then, information wasn't as plentiful as it is now. I discovered that he was in the Barrens, I even managed to find the location. But what I didn't know was that he was a horde-only quest spawn. So I waited for HOURS with no sign of him. Finally, after banging my head in frustration I looked him up on tons of websites and finally found out what needed to be done. My brother agreed to make a horde toon and do the quest chain so he could summon him for me. Before he could do so, a kindly undead fellow summoned Echeyakee for me (no, I didn't assume and steal his mob, he actually emoted me to let me know I could have him), and he was mine! So while not difficult, back then it was tough in the sense that I had no clue what to do! Yeah, I still have Tetsusaiga. He's retired, but I'll never get rid of him.

[Ryno]

He was in Howling Fjord

Fixed!

Ghost Wolf - I never got one, but I do believe you needed a BUTTLOAD of haste, plus a priest to MC and something else to keep the wolves living to stand the tame. (I think they'd die after 10 seconds.)

I believe it was much lower than 10 seconds. I had the meta gem that cut spells in half, so that's 10 seconds off right there, with blood lust, with a priest MCing at the right moment, with haste pots (sketchy on the pots but I'm guessing I got them)... I believe it was 4 seconds they lived. It got messy.

[Helio]

I'll have to give this one to Aotona.... I camped that bird for 2 whole weeks before I finally got her..an yet....I never use her.

[Sarayana]

I got the ghost saber at level 19, and that was a hard tame! First of all, dealing with the naga to move around the ruins was tough. On top of that, it was soooooo hard to find the damn statues, and I had to open about 20 of them to finally have the cat spawn! First one I spawned was level 20... /cry. Once it spawned (at the right level), it was a difficult tame, simply cause I didn't have freezing trap yet. She tore me apart! *sigh* Good times.

[Vephriel]

The most difficult tame that I've accomplished so far would have to be The Beast. I imagine that it's similar to a Krush tame, with the random knockbacks, frustrations, and needing to be as quick as possible (not to mention surviving the hits). Very much worth it though, what a rush once I had him! Couldn't have done it without the help from my friends either. ^^

Skoll would be second I suppose. He wasn't really difficult though, more just time consuming and a little stressful. I was using my boyfriend's character to camp him along with my own, so when NPC scan went off on his computer and I had to rush to the other side of the map, I was so worried that those 9 hours would go to waste and someone would kill/tame him before me.

[Dakonic]

Ive got to give it Gezzarak, i had to solo her since no one was willing to help, i bought a ton of pure stamina gear and a bunch of haste potions, it took me 2 weeks worth of trys to get her, considering you have to get a ton of crap to summon her and she would teloport, or stun while taming and she hit hard! when i got her i only had 10 hit points left, it felt unreal when i got her.

[Ryno]

Ive got to give it Gezzarak, i had to solo her since no one was willing to help, i bought a ton of pure stamina gear and a bunch of haste potions, it took me 2 weeks worth of trys to get her, considering you have to get a ton of crap to summon her and she would teloport, or stun while taming and she hit hard! when i got her i only had 10 hit points left, it felt unreal when i got her.

Wow, solo Gezz tame? Kudos. I had two paladins, a shaman, and a rogue. And it STILL took several tries.

[Kalliope]

I got the ghost saber at level 19, and that was a hard tame! First of all, dealing with the naga to move around the ruins was tough. On top of that, it was soooooo hard to find the damn statues, and I had to open about 20 of them to finally have the cat spawn! First one I spawned was level 20... /cry. Once it spawned (at the right level), it was a difficult tame, simply cause I didn't have freezing trap yet. She tore me apart! *sigh* Good times.

Oh god, I went through this too. Yes, that was terrible. x_x

[Nikrosnil]

I'll have to give this one to Aotona.... I camped that bird for 2 whole weeks before I finally got her..an yet....I never use her.

Ah, Unlucky, I just came across Aotona randomly whilst looking for loque, the alarm went crazy, and so I decided why not? If I wanted to lose it later i always could. Now I kick myself for even thinking that, I love Aotona, almost as much as my Loque. Happened to get them both on the same hunter in the same day, so I assume I was very lucky.

Most difficult for me is king krush, lost him twice now...

[Moonlost]

Krush. Really no contest in my eyes. A friend of mine, who plays casually, has been after him for a year now. She has seen him eight tiems, and each time something went wrong. Usually that someting is someone coming by and killing him. I feel so sorry for her and help her when I can, but that elusive bugger just refuses to be tamed by her.
King Mosh is similarly hard, but with a few less people around to sabotage the tame.

I heard Gezzarak was a hard tame when she was still tamabe too? Not too sure on her though as I never tamed her to my misfortune.