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WoD Brawler’s Guild
Sometimes there are advantages to getting punched in the face.
Most people are familiar with the Brawler’s Guild (YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT, oh nevermind – Editor). It’s solo PVE where you throw down against one or more boss-style opponents in an arena setting. Think Fight Club meets WWE, without the sexy divas and spandex and more Brock Lesnar doing whatever he wanted to you. All the fun of getting dropped on your head with the additional bonus of lack of short-term memory.
Blow your CD’s on the way to Suplex City
Believe it or not, there are actual reasons a person might want to subject themselves to the Brawler’s Guild. There’s a battle pet, a mount, a title, and even a follower. But for me, there’s two reasons that I’m currently inventing new and interesting ways to weave an f-sharp into my lexicon while violently choking my mouse (no, that is not an excerpt from my yet to be written gamer erotica “Fifty Shades of Nerd”)
The first reason is that, rather than sitting in a queue for a iLevel 640 intro legendary ring, I’d rather throw 1700g at a ring that doubles as a teleporter. Hawt, yes? Of course it is. The ring teleports the wearer to their faction’s version of the Brawler’s Guild. A sweet port to Org or Stormwind, as well as a nice iLevel bump.
The second thing, the more important thing, is an heirloom – a fist weapon heirloom.
Fist weapons, or the lack thereof, have pissed me off since about forever o’clock. It’s one of the very, very few classes of weapon that can’t be crafted at a high level. Once upon a time the Jewelcrafting profession could make them, but that ship has since sailed into a very large iceberg and sank to the bottom of the ocean. And despite numerous requests, Blizzard still will not allow fist weapons to be transmogged into anything other than fist weapons. So for Monks, or Shaman, or any other fist weapon capable classes, they just had to make do with other weapons until they got into a raid and were blessed by RNGesus.
But with the changes to heirlooms in 6.1, a character could level from 1-100 with fist weapons that would be just as good, if not better, than what they could get through level-appropriate content. Going through life being able to use fist weapons. Sounds pretty sweet to me.
Of course, it makes wiping your butt a little more difficult.
I’ve been throwing myself at the Brawler’s guild, hoping not to lose my mind before I get to the end and unlock those sweet, sweet heirloom fists. Hopefully I rank up before I succumb to a rage stroke. HeelvsBabyface has helped with their guide for getting through the ranks without serious harm to myself to my peripherals. He’s how I’ve been getting through rank one.
Patch 6.0.2 Tomorrow
Yep. Everything changes tomorrow.
Patch 6.0.2: The Iron Tide is scheduled to crash into Azeroth on Tuesday, October 14. Featuring new content heralding the Iron Horde incursion, updates to the skills and abilities for every class, and a host of gameplay adjustments, this overture to Warlords of Draenor is coming at you armed to the teeth.
Treacherous Developments
The Dark Portal in the Blasted Lands has turned blood red. Hundreds of strange-looking orcs are violently pouring into Azeroth, killing everything that stands in their path. Nethergarde and Okril’lon have already fallen, and while the Horde and the Alliance moved as quickly as they could to get reinforcements to their people, they are too late. The Iron Horde invasion has begun.
In this desperate hour, King Wrynn and Warchief Vol’jin have called upon their greatest champions to join the front lines in the Blasted Lands and do whatever they can to stop the Iron Horde . . . before the rest of Azeroth falls before them.Word of this surprise attack sends players rushing to the Blasted Lands to reckon with the barbarous infiltration. After the fall of a high ranking Iron Horde general named Gar’mak Bladetwist, you’ll report what you’ve witnessed in the Blasted Lands to King Wrynn or Warchief Vol’jin. It’s apparent to both the Horde and the Alliance that this is only the first salvo in a much larger conflict, and the only way to win is to take the fight directly to the Iron Horde . . . by journeying through the Dark Portal into Draenor.
The Infiltration of Blackrock Spire
An advance party of Iron Horde forces has barged right out of the Blasted Lands and pushed all the way to Blackrock Mountain, where they found refuge and supplies in Upper Blackrock Spire. There can be only one response: the Alliance and the Horde of Azeroth must face this iron incursion head on.
Available to level-90 characters for a limited time, this specially revamped five-player version of Upper Blackrock Spire sets the stage for the coming counterstrike against the Iron Horde. Here, you will face Orebender Gor’ashan, Kyrak, and Commander Tharbek as you begin to take the fight to the enemy and sharpen the skills—and swords—you’ll need to succeed on an unwelcoming alien world.Prepare yourself. Draenor is waiting.
I had a few things I wanted to accomplish before 6.0 but some will have to wait post-patch:
– Exalted with the Anglers so I can snag the very unsexy (but very water walking) Azure Water Strider (Done)
– Get the Brawler title without having a rage seizure. (With the Brawler’s Guild going away tomorrow, this won’t happen. I lost count at how many times I’ve died fighting the Rank 7 GG Engineers.)
– Sock away 100,000 gold so I’m ready for whatever money-sink Warlords has for me. (Between 6.0 and WoD, I may get close.)
– Raid at least once. Probably end up doing a LFR because abuse is fun. (May still reach this for WoD.)
– Pick up the Battle Pets roaming the lands of Pandaria. (Probably get this before WoD.)
Brawler’s Guild – Meet Splat
Have you ever been doing something when, out of the blue, an opportunity falls in your lap? Did you think to yourself, “I can’t let this opportunity pass me by. I must – nay, I will drop what I am doing and give this a shot!”
Sometimes it’s best just to wipe that opportunity off your lap and step on its neck.
I’d been running scenarios, experimenting with a little macro I will discuss in the future. Well what was in my box of treasures after completing said scenario but a quest. It sent me to the Brawler’s Guild in Orgrimmar. I’d run through ranks of the Brawler’s Guild with an Alliance character back in the day, but Horde-side was all new to me. Instead of queueing for another fistful of easy coins and justice/valor points, I swung by Org and popped in on my favorite Fight Club.
Lo and behold, the quest invited me to throw down with someone named Splat. I had no idea what this was, but I assumed it was simply a Brawler designed to lure people into getting involved with Brawler’s Guild. Get some recreational blood on your hands, and you’re hooked. That kind of thing.
The best way to lure someone into trying something is to give them a soft target to rough up. Or so I thought. Apparently Splat was new to Brawler’s Guild, and I was the soft target.
Since option “KillDeath” was off the table, I decided to go to Youtube and look for help. The advice I found there was good, but my execution needs work.
Splat. Don’t let this killer glob of jam kill you like it killed me.
Brawler’s Guild – Rank Three for Death Knights
By this point, I had become adept at killing much like a baby is adept at filling its diapers with green horror-paste. Between the guidance of Icy Veins and my own Death Knightly skillzone, possessing Clockem was inevitable. All I had to do was get through one last rank of opposition. That’s all.
But Clockem watched me from the vendor shelf and decided he didn’t want to be my new Fight Friend. Maybe there was something in my Death Knight’s style that he felt made me unworthy to possess him. Maybe he saw the madness that possessed my Death Knight when he fought and thought that fighting for a crazy person was no way to go through life, even when that life existed only to fight for crazy people.
Clockem had the industrious notion to make sure he was protected from being Pokemon-napped by executing his own agenda, and that was Operation: Rank Three Will Kick You In The Dick. This even applies if the one being kicked has no dick to speak of, which reflects the impressive aggression of the plan.
My thought was this: Bitch, you have spiked boxing gloves on the ends of your life-stealing arms. You are going to use those gloves to beat rabbits and frogs into bloody pulps, and you will do so for my general amusement. I will step on the necks of every Rank Three opponent, throw a fistful of coins at the vendor, and Clockem will begin to dine on a full diet of violence and blood.
Rank Three
Blat – Slime. Unpleasant. Nasty. Hose yourself off after this fight. Death Knight feedback:
- When it starts, immediately popped Pillar of Frost and Army of the Dead, and threw DoTs. Continued to backpedal and hit with Obliterate / Frost Strike. When he stopped, I’d spam Howling Blast on him until he caught up, then continue with Obliterate and Frost Strike. Managed to kill him with about 30 seconds to spare.
Sanoriak – This flaming lizard will light you up in short order if you’re not paying attention. This is a fight about interrupts, movement, and beating this thing down.
Ixx – Theoretically, this bug should be a breeze. Theoretically, Lindsay Lohan should be in prison until she’s two hundred.
- Use Lichborne as your tier 2 talent, since it is the only talent in this tier that will provide you some actual usage during the fight against Ixx. Simply treat Lichborne as a self-healing cooldown, which can be used to extend your survival in the arena by a few seconds. U
- se Death Pact as your tier 4 talent, because the fight against Ixx is short enough that you can make full use of the heal; your ghoul will still be alive when you need the healing from Death Pact.
The fight against Ixx is made considerably easier if you use the full combination of offensive cooldowns at the start. Frost Death Knights should use Army of the Dead, Raise Dead, Pillar of Frost, as well as making use of Empower Rune Weapon to gain an excellent amount of burst DPS. Unholy Death Knights should use Army of the Dead, Unholy Frenzy, as well as making use of Empower Rune Weapon.To defeat Ixx, simply use all your offensive cooldowns at the start of the fight and DPS the boss while standing still. There is no damage that you can mitigate through Anti-Magic Shell in this fight. You can use Icebound Fortitude to reduce the damage you take from melee attacks.
Mazhareen – Another fight that looks simple on paper. She’s another hockey fight, just straight-up melee. However, her damage ramps up as he health decreases so skip the foreplay and get right down to business.
There you have it. If you’ve made it this far, you are now a Rank Four member of the Brawler’s Guild. Clockem can’t hide any longer. Come forth, minion, and be counted in the pet stable!
Great. Just great.
Brawler’s Guild – Rank Two for Death Knights
Honk Honk.
What’s that you ask? That sound would be me tooting my own horn to an obscene degree. My Death Knight girded his loins and walked through the Rank One opposition without so much as breaking a sweat. Thanks, Icy Veins (the website, not the ones twisting through my body) for your helpful advice.
With Rank One cinched firmly under my belt, I stepped up for the first fight of Rank Two. I felt my confidence rise to an absurd level when a cute little penguin named Dippy appeared before me. I thought that maybe he was the entertainment before the first Rank Two boss stepped out. But no, apparently he would be the one my Death Knight would be cutting up into steaks. I almost felt bad for what was about to happen.
A few seconds later, I really did feel bad. And by “bad” I mean “dead”. Dippy couldn’t have twisted my shit faster if he’d put it through a blender. I had just been curb stomped, American History X style, by a bird in a tuxedo. Back I went to Icy Veins, and this is what I did to get through Rank Two.
Rank Two
Dippy – A cute penguin. Never trust cute things. A few tips from various Death Knights:
- use Army of the Dead straight away to have as many things beating on him as possible. When that was about to expire, I pulled up my regular ghoul. I used Blood Boil to keep him at bay – using up Death Runes as well as my blood runes. Other than that… just use Death Strike and Rune Strikes.
- As a frost Death Knight with average gear, this fight was fairly easy. I popped Army of the Dead right when I entered the arena. I Used Outbreak, Howling Blast, and Death Coil when available. I kept slowing him with chains of Ice and just stayed out of his melee range. If you need healing, summon your regular ghoul and use Death Pact.
- Most importantly do your best to stay out of range as much as you can.
- As an Unholy Death Knight, I dropped Death and Decay, cast Icy Touch, and hit with Death Coil, when it was up. Use Dark Transformation when available and just kite around.
Kirrawk – Chicken man who poops tornadoes and throws lightning. A tip from a Death Knight on wringing this guy’s neck:
- Blood DK ILVL 482. Spec Build – 122111. Open with Outbreak, watch for tornado and dodge accordingly. Go to the boss and Death Strike/ Rune Strike. He doesn’t hit hard so Lightning Bolts are a non-factor with high HP and Mastery: Blood Shield. My mastery is currently 136% so my average 60k-70k Death Strikes heal me for 25-40k and absorb over 120k of the next incoming damage. If you face the boss with your back perpendicular to the line of tornadoes (which I noticed were coming from the direction front to back of where the boss enters the arena) the tornado will hit both of you, causing minimal damage to you but keeping you in range to continue beating on the boss. Very easy fight, no cooldowns used, summoned a minion about midway through to speed up the dps and have an emergency death pact if necessary.
Fran and Riddoh – Two for one, and it certainly feels like it. A tale of how a couple of Death Knights made this combat threesome work:
- I play a Blood Death Knight with a gear level of 475 (full gems and enchants). What I did was keep them both diseased with Blood Plague and Frost Fever. I brought the big guy down to 1M health, then switched to the little guy and took him to 200k, then switched back to the big guy, dropped him to about 100k, then killed the little guy, then the big one.
- First of all BOTH of the bosses are attackable at all times, though you will want to kill Riddoh first IMHO. You can use AOE’s and spread diseases and if you do they will be easier to deal with overall. When you move out of the minefield you will want to look for a gap, the mines are active immediately. As an Unholy Death Knight, spread your diseases with Pestilence and drop Death and Decay. A Blood Boil or two won’t hurt either. Otherwise a pretty simple fight.
King Kulaka – This big lizard is just a hockey fight. Drop gloves, grab jersey, throw hands until someone drops. Feedback from one Death Knight who dropped the King on its Head:
- I defeated this as a Frost Death Knight, when I had about 485 item level. I just used Army of the Dead, Raise Dead, Pillar of Frost, Empower Rune Weapon, pre-potted a Strength potion and just killed him. Make sure you are talented into Death Pact and use that when you get below 50% health. Also remember you can stun him ( Remorseless Winter, Asphyxiate). If you’ve done all that but you are still failing, I can only imagine that you’re very under-geared, in which case you could try going Blood.
That’s it for Rank Two. One more rank to go before Clockem becomes yet another pet in the stable!
Wow. Can’t wait.
Rokk Talk 