The OverAchiever: That Rabbit's Dynamite!
Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. This week, the shadow of a nameless, albeit cuddly, fear.
One of the problems with WoW's complexity is how difficult it is to write about anything that you haven't personally done. As a result, most OverAchiever columns are about achievements I've either finished or am actively working on, in the hopes of avoiding outdated or inaccurate information. However, this week's option cracked me up so much that, even though my guild's largely on break until Mists of Pandaria hits, I kind of have to write about it.
Today, dear readers, we are going to address a brand-new achievement, from what is currently the most dangerous raid boss in the game as of patch 5.0.4:
The killer rabbit of Darkmoon Island.
Stop laughing and get back here. That rabbit's dynamite.
Just in case you're one of the very few people who didn't understand the achievement's reference, it's in the YouTube video linked as a header, from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
There's an endearing and distinctly Blizzardesque humor in sticking a level ?? raid boss in the form of a rabbit into the Darkmoon Faire, but being funny doesn't make it easier. Be prepared for a lot of ugly death, and quite possibly a lot of inconvenience, if you want this achievement.
Guide to That Rabbit's Dynamite!
Right. In order to get this achievement done, you need the following:
Access to the Darkmoon Faire
A 40-man raid (possibly a smaller one if you plan on healing through the rabbit's random damage)
Repair money
At best, the rabbit will only be available for 7 days out of each month, as you can't access Darkmoon Island at any other time. However, when the Faire goes live, you'll find a neutral, elite level ?? rabbit with 174 million HP in or around a cave on the southeastern portion of the island at 77,80.
Now, this is a brand-new "raid" boss, and information's always a bit sketchy early on, but these are the details that everyone seems to agree on:
The rabbit resets if you try to kite/tank it outside the cave or the immediate beach. You'll have to fight it pretty much where you find it. Blizzard doesn't want players bringing it to the main part of the Faire to cause havoc with the players there.
Do whatever you can to keep the rabbit around, or preferably in, the cave. Most players have had the rabbit evade bug or reset even while it's fearing and then attacking players in the sea outside. While this won't help framerates on lower-end computers, crowding everybody in the cave vastly improves the odds of one-shotting the bunny, because the real issue is keeping people close by when the rabbit fears them. (More on this in a moment).
Bring a full 40-man raid. Most players suggest 2-4 tanks. The rabbit melees for about 60K on a decently-geared tank and only has one ability of note, which randomly targets anything on its hit table. How many healers you bring is probably going to be a function of how disposable you think most of the raid is. The primary source of raid damage will be the rabbit's Huge, Sharp Teeth! ability, which fears a random player while channeling around 30,000-35,000 damage per second to him/her. (The rabbit will go for the player's neck in celebrated Monty Python fashion, so it won't be dealing damage to the tank in the interim.) You can heal through this if you choose to. However, most players are usually in a rush to get the rabbit down before another group gets to it and will throw any raid group together as a result. Ignoring the damage and graveyard-zerging the rabbit is possible with a 40-man raid, and you'll need a lot of DPS anyway to get through that huge pile of health in a reasonable time.
Just keep running back from the graveyard. The Darkmoon Faire graveyard is located at 47,74 around the tent to the right of the Darkmoon Deathmatch arena. It takes about 25-30 seconds to run back to the cave.
The rabbit does respawn during the Darkmoon Faire, but the timer is pretty long. This will be the most inconvenient part of trying to get this achievement done. I've seen suggestions range from a 12-hour to as much as a 48-hour respawn timer. If it means anything, I've tried catching a spawn up on 6 different servers and haven't managed it.
There are already reports of griefing. Another raid group can grief yours by attempting to reset/evade bug the rabbit. I don't know if there's really anything you can do about this.
Assuming you get it down, the rabbit will drop a BOE Darkmoon Rabbit non-combat pet. The singular article there is very much intended: You'll only get one pet per kill, no matter how many players are in on it. Yeah, that kinda sucks, yes, we've already seen reports of ninja raid leaders, and yes, Darkmoon Rabbit pets have started popping up on auction houses at astronomical prices across lots of servers.
Either way, you'll still have your achievement, and the knowledge that you've saved Azeroth from a, um, dangerous menace.
Enjoy working on achievements? The Overachiever is here to help! Count on us for advice on patch 4.3 achievements, our guide to Mountain O' Mounts, and a good, hard look at what's wrong with archaeology and how Blizzard could fix it.
