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Rock on with Kang's Bindstone
I'm going to have to humbly beg everyone for their forgiveness for my terrible title pun. Get it?! Okay, but seriously. We know we've got Phat Loot Friday and all that, but Kang's Bindstone is such a neat item that it deserves its own post. The Bindstone is an item that buffs you with a chance to turn an enemy to stone upon delivering a killing blow instead of triggering the normal death effect. Loot and such is unaffected - this is a purely cosmetic item. The buff lasts ten minutes and works against critters, mobs, enemy players, and even bosses. Kang's Bindstone drops from Kang the Soul Thief, a rare mogu elite in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. He can be found in the far west of the zone, on Autumnshade Ridge north of the Five Sisters site on the map. He's a mogu sorcerer and does some nasty shadow-based attacks, but he should be soloable for a level 90 character. Happy hunting!
How to defeat the yaungol rare spawns
I'm not a huge lore nerd but I still find some of the backstories in WoW pretty interesting. Take the yaungol, for instance: they originally were a tribe of tauren that got separated from their brothers and sisters in Kalimdor when the Sundering ripped Azeroth's Pangaea-esque supercontinent apart. The yaungol originally settled in Townlong Steppes until the encroaching mantid threat forced them to breach the Serpent's Spine and resettle their people in Kun-Lai Summit. Unfortunately for them, Blizzard says they're not "good" tauren, so we get the privilege of dispatching with their champions. Like the rest of the rare spawns, the yaungol rares all share the same set of abilities. Yaungol Stomp– A particularly deadly ability, the yaungol puts his foot down on your shenanigans and deals massive AoE damage if you happen to get caught within its radius, in addition to a lovely little 2-second stun. Bellowing Rage – Occasionally the rare spawn will put up a buff called Bellowing Rage that will almost double its damage but reduce its movement speed by 20%. Rushing Charge– Much like the pandaren rares' Chi Burst, Rushing Charge is another mechanic designed to prevent players from merely kiting the rare around and avoid the melee-based stomp mechanic. The yaungol will charge you if you stray more than 20 yards away from them. What you're going to want to do to take down these furry foes is pretty simple – stay out of the AoE, watch out for Bellowing Rage, and keeping yourself close enough to not get charged. I've found that the easiest way to avoid Yaungol Stomp is to just run through the guy, because the ground effect of the stomp is always in front of him.
Could We Find More Like That? Defeating the jinyu rare elites
While leveling through Pandaria on opening night, Dan Desmond and I made a point of tracking down and killing any rare elites that haplessly wandered into our path, eventually earning us the Could We Find More Like That? achievement by the time we hit the level cap. A key part of our setup was the addon NPCScan, which would alert us to any rare elite within targeting range, and of course the plucky gumption that only a retribution and a protection paladin can bring. While the rare elites aren't nearly as difficult as their denomination may imply, they're also not to be taken lightly. Each type of champion has a skill set of three abilities which can prove to be very deadly if the proper precautions are not taken. The rare elites that hail from the jinyu have the following weapons in their arsenal: Water Bolt This is an ability with a cast which, despite the temptation, should not be interrupted. You'll need that 15 second cooldown for the next ability which is far deadlier. This is the ability that the jinyu will be throwing at you the most. Torrent This channeled attack does 28% of the target's maximum HP as damage every second. It must be interrupted immediately, or you'll be dead in no time. Rain Dance The jinyu will channel this spell (it cannot be interrupted) and toss balls of water into the air, which will then come crashing down around you. Don't stand in one place, to avoid getting hit. Each ball of water will deal 65% of the target's maximum HP as damage. So, essentially, the way to defeat the jinyu elite is to keep moving during Rain Dance and be sure to interrupt Torrent ASAP. The key to fighting one is more awareness than anything else.
Mists of Pandaria beta: Who needs Frostmourne when you've got Lobstmourne?
The Mists of Pandaria beta has had some bizarre moments, but the last thing I was expecting was an epic lobster chase across the lost continent. While exploring off the coast of Krasarang Wilds, I stumbled across Damlak, a level 90 elite makrura who was strolling just off the shore of a small island to the south. After gleefully murdering the lobster, I was rewarded with a book and an item called Damlak's Clamshell. The Clamshell may vendor for a gold, but its use effect is far too fascinating to pass up. It was the book that was even more interesting, however. Titled Troubles From Without, the book detailed the locations of several different elite makrura scattered all over Pandaria, with a basic rundown of their abilities. And so off I went to murder a fleet of elite lobster, collecting shells from each. After collecting all six shells, the book then advises you to head to another small island off the south coast of Krasarang Wilds to summon Clawlord Kril'mandar, The Pinch King. Yes, you read that title right.
The Queue: Buzz buzz
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.Today's edition of The Queue is a pretty short one, but it's an important one. I'm making a change to the format of this column, which will be explained in our very first question of the day. Why is it so short? When you read the answer to the question, you'll understand. I just ran out of steam after pulling that off. elstor asked... "What's with the music lately? Why did you have to start this?!" It's something we did for giggles once, people liked it, we kept doing it just for kicks. I'm pretty bored of it though! We should pick a new Whatever of the Day instead of songs. Extreme Stunt of the Day?Read this edition of The Queue while doing a kickflip out of a burning building and through the moving blades of a helicopter, then land in the middle of the ocean where you will wrestle a shark. While covered in bees.
Rare mobs in classic, BC, and Wrath
Rare mobs are one of my favorite unexpected pleasures in WoW. It's such a thrill to be questing or grinding along and see that silver dragon; it adds a lot of flavor to what could otherwise be some boring runs through out-of-the-way zones. In fact, that's an upside to the current depopulation of Azeroth: I find many more rare mobs, since no-one's been by to kill them in an hour or two. Fun fight, interesting mob, automatic green. However, when Burning Crusade came out, it was discovered that all the Outland rare mobs were also elite. There was a blue post around the time that defended the decision as allowing them to put better loot on the mobs, making them walking treasure chests (BC also has no world treasure chests, sadly Thanks; I guess there are still new things for me to learn in BC) . But it did make them basically unsoloable, which takes a lot of the excitement out of spotting one, at least for me: by the time I get four more people to come help me out, I don't really care any more.
