Olm the Wise is a great pet, and I hardly see any hunters out there with him. Although he shares almost the exact skin as Ban'Thalos (minus the green glow) he is not an Exotic beast and therefore can be tamed by any hunter of a sufficient level (48 or higher).
Interestingly enough, Olm the Wise didn't always look like this. Before Cata he was a white owl that was friendly to alliance and hostile to Horde. This meant that he was un-tamable to alliance, and was the first White Owl any Hord hunter would be able to tame until they reached Winterspring.
In 4.0 Blizzard made a change to him, making him a Spectral Owl and tamable by Alliance hunters. Interestingly enough, this was done in patch 4.0.6, months before Ban'Thalos was released, so for a while this was the only spectral owl in the game, and a real owl at that. I think Blizzard knew they would be releasing Ban'Thalos and decided to give hunters a sneak peak.
Olm is a cunning pet, so he's great for PVP, with the added bonus of not having to be BM spec to use him in Arenas/Battlegrounds.
If you're using NPCscan (which you should) Ban'Thalos is not in it's standard registry, so you'll have to add him in. To do this, you'll need to know his NPC ID, which is: 14343
Other than that, there is absolutely nothing special in his tame procedure. Just fly around his spawn location until you see him. Spawn time appears to be about 8 hours but I've never failed to see him every time I go looking for him. Either many hunters don't know about him or don't care, but I find this to be one of my favorite pets.
Terrorpene is a tricky character. There are actually quite a few creatures in the game with this skin but only Terrorpene is tamable. Although not technically a "Challenge Tame" I label him under Challenge Tames due to the damage you'll receive while taming him (see below). In addition, he is not a Spirit Beast so any hunter at a high enough level can tame him.
In the Wild Terrorpene has 111,561 HP and hits quite hard with his Burning Hatred Ability which does 10k damage every second. As an 81 Elite pet he is quite hard to tame if you are not 85. This pet appears to have been designed by Blizzard as something Hunters who were decked out in Epics from Wrath would be able to tame within their first few days of leveling.
As such, if you are between 81 and 84 I recommend stacking as much fire resistance as possible in order to tame. A healer wouldn't hurt either. Make sure to use your Deterrence/Tame macro and you should be fine.
Terrorpene spawns around the Sulfiron Spire area, and can spawn at any location within his spawn zone. He does not patrol, however, tending to stay stationary until he is killed or tamed.
He has a 6 to 12 hour spawn timer, and from what I have seen on my server is probably the most sought after pet in Hyjal, particularly because you do not need to be in any phase to tame him. As a result, I've only ever seen Terrorpene once in the wile and that was when I tamed him.
Something else to note: Terrorpene (like all turtles) is a Tenacity pet. As such, he is great for soloing and questing, and not so hot for dungeons. He drops only the standard grey Tear of Loyalty and offers no achievement for killing him. All of the above information leads me to believe that Terrorpene was created just for hunters to have while leveling to 85.
VIDEO: (sorry for the annoying music on this one, I'll try to see if there is better video of this)
I love this Lion. Being Alliance, he matches the Alliance Guild Mount so he's pretty much the perfect pet. At least on my server he appears to be the most sought after Cat, even beating Skarr.
Sambas is classified as a cat, and therefore can be tamed by any hunter, not just BM hunters.
He has five Spawn locations which you can see here:
From what I've read his spawn timer is roughly 8 to 12 hours. There is no evidence he shares a spawn timer with Karoma, as I've read on some other forums. There is also no evidence that Karoma spawns only after Sambas has been Tamed or Killed. Rather, as far as I can tell, they are un-related.
Sambas is neutral, and does not pat. Rather he is quite easy to tame. The best method is to mount up and patrol between his spawn points. Using NPCscan (make sure to clear your cache) you should be alerted the moment you come in range.
Karoma is one of the most sought after pets in WoW right now. It was introduced with 4.0, is a Spirit Beast and appears to have a 6 to 12 hour spawn timer. He spawns in one of 6 locations randomly, and from what I've read he (along with all rare spawns) remain in his location until ether tamed or killed. He drops only the grey Tear of Loyalty, indicating quite clearly that he is meant by Blizzard to be a hunter pet only.
He is not technically a unique skin. He matches the skin of the Ancient Grimtotem Spirit Guide, a previously tamable pet that was made tamable, and then un-tamable during BC. Blizzard obviously never intended for them to be tamable, as they only existed for 7 seconds, too short for a normal Tame Beast cast. However, a few hunters found a way to tame them, and Blizzard allowed them to keep their hard earned pets.
Needless to say they are no longer tamable. However, Blizzard added them into the game in 4.0 again as a spirit beast. The Grimtotem Spirid Guides were classified as wolves in game, yet these are Spirit Beasts, requiring you to have BM spec in order to tame him.
One more thing to note: There is no evidence that he shares a spawn timer with Sambas. I've also seen on message boards that Karoma will not be spawned until after Sambas has been either killed or tamed. I can tell you from many hours of camping that Karoma will not spawn after Sambas. I'm quite certain their spawn timers are completely un-related.
The Tame:
Karoma is an easy tame. However, he's quite hard to find. He has one of 6 spawn locations and he will appear in one of them randomly. He does not patrol around, staying completely stationary.
This makes him a bit of a challenge as his spawn points are near to normal questing locations, and he is very likely to be spotted by a random hunter or player, and either tamed or killed. This will take a bit of diligence on your end in order to find him.
He has only 1 ability to worry about, he'll claw at you but if you're 85 and relatively well geared it should be no problem. Unfortunately WoWhead isn't listing his ability at the moment so I can't look up any data on it.
One thing to note is this: Karoma is the only Spirit Beast that is hostile.
Anthriss is the last of the Challenge Tames that I've yet to tame, so I unfortunately cannot speak from experience. And I doubt I ever will, for two reasons.
The first is that Anthriss spawns in a very easy location to get to. As a result, any hunter happening to work on dailies, rather than Rare Hunters, will be able to see him, and probably kill him rather than tame him, as he is a little bit difficult.
The second reason is that he is not a unique skin. Anthriss shares his skin with Cinderweb Creepers, which spawn in the Forlorne Spire. As real-estate in my stable is at a premium right now, I won't be sacrificing one of my truly unique pets in order to tame a spider that shares a skin, as I've already got 4 other spiders. I may have to drop Kirix and Skitterflame soon from my stable...
The Tame:
Anthriss' sole ability you need to worry about is Searing Webs. This ability casts flaming webs on you, dealing Fire Damage over time. The fire damage (from what I've read) makes taming impossible.
However, there is a way to get around it. Simply stand in one of the lava pools near his spawn location. Skitterflame has a 12 hour spawn timer. I've actually only seen him once and that was a corpse. As I wrote earlier, the real challenge with Anthriss, as with Arcturis, is that he is the easiest challenge spawn to find.
Once inside the pool (you must be completely submerged so that a breath bar appears) simply tame and enjoy your new pet. I'm sorry I can't give any greater detail on this tame, but hopefully the video below will be more informative.
Skitterflame is one of the new, yet Non-Unique Challenge tames added in Patch 4.2. Please read my thoughts on these three Spiders, Skitterflame, Kirix and Anthriss here.
Skitteflame shares his skin with Cinderweb Spinners. This makes him somewhat less special than he otherwise would have been. Cinderweb Spinners spawn between the Forlorn Spire and The Widow's Clutch and are far easier to tame than Skitterflame (although he is probably the easiest of the Challenge Tames to grab). They have a 50% chance to spawn each day, so if you don't see them today, try again tomorrow. As I've previously said, these tames offer little prestige value to the outside community, as anyone could grab the Cinderweb Spinners and say they'd tamed Skitterflame. However, if you want to test your skills...
Getting There:
Getting to Skitterflame requires you hop over to Fireplume Peak. Here is the map of his location in the Molten Front:
As I've written previously, the easiest method (or perhaps quickest) is to follow the path in this Video:
Simply jump off the cliff as you'll see in the Map and video. You should spawn at the Spirit Healer and be able to resurrect right there. From there, walk around the south side of Fireplume Peak and you should get to Skitterflame's Spawn Location. He has about a 12 hours spawn timer. Skitterflame sits in a lava pool and does not pat. He's quite hard to get to so often times you will find him there on your first attempt.
The Tame:
Skitterflame is quite easy to tame, for a "Challenge" tame. He operates on an energy bar, similar to Solix. If he reaches 0 energy, he will die. He is also immune to Tame Beast until his energy drops below 20. His main ability is Pyroclastic Charge, a knockback ability similar to Solix's. He does not, however, 1 shot you.
The best method, is first to clear the area of all mobs so that they won't interrupt your tame. Now here's the tricky part. You will be casting Freezing Trap on him. When he is frozen he gains the debuff Cooling Down. As long as he is frozen, his energy drops. Once the trap breaks his energy stops dropping.
Hit Skitterflame with a Distracting Shot (I believe he is immune to Concussive, but it doesn't matter for this tame). Make sure you've got a Freezing Trap laid down for him. he will freeze. Get at max range and cast another Freezing trap as it is up. Keep kiting him until he is trapped again. Rinse and Repeat. Once his energy drops below 20 he will become tamable. If he is trapped HE MUST BE AGGRO'D so that his energy will not drop below 0, as it does so quite quickly.
I found that it took only 2 traps to make him tamable. Remember to use his
VIDEO: (Again, these are not my videos, just the best ones I've found on Youtube)
Kirix is the first of the Challenge Tames I picked up in the Molten Front. And he is by far the hardest, unless you know the right strategy. After that he becomes quite easy.
NOTE: Kirix is not a unique skin. He shares a skin with Cinderweb Broodling which has a 50% chance to spawn in the Forlorne Spire area of the Molten Front each day. If you don't see them there today come back tomorrow and there's a good chance they'll be there. Any hunter could grab one of these and say that s/he tamed Kirix with none the wiser. As such, this isn't much of a prestigious pet to have running around with you.
Cinderweb Broodlings spawn in Packs
However, if you want a rare and unique challenge to taming a beast, go ahead and give Kirix a try. If you only want a Unique skin, however, I'd recommend farming for Deth'Tilac or Solix.
Kirix spawns to the area just to the left of your starting position as you enter the Molten Front (see map). He is supposed to have a 12 hours spawn timer, although I think it may vary between 7 to 12. He will patrol this entire area and is quite fast. Kirix is also hostile, so you'll need to keep yourself at a safe distance until you're ready for the tame.
Getting There:
Getting there poses a bit of a challenge for those with low gear, as I had when I tamed him. His entire spawn area is surrounded by a great wall of fire. It will kill you at least once to run through it, and I know of no other way to get there without dying in the opening phase of the zone. In later phases it appears you can skip most of the fire damage without taking dying. Here's a link to a photo posted on the Petopia Forums to see what I mean.
About Kirix:
Kirix is a poison spider. He will 1 shot you and your pets, and is immune to all CC of any kind. He also has a knockback ability called Bouncing Charge followed by a poison ability called Magmatoxin which will kill you. As he is immune to all interrupts and CC haste is the key to this tame.
The Strategy:
There are two strategies to Taming Kirix. First is the "Disengage" method, which I don't recommend and I found to be less than effective. But some people have had some success. The 2nd is the "hopping stones" method, which is what I used, and I found it to be far easier.
1) Disengage Method
Get jut outside of Kirix's patrol area to the north. Put on Aspect of the Wild to reduce his poison damage to you. Pop any haste food and potions you have available (you may also want to grab the Ancient Hysteria buff from a core hound, then quickly dismiss it if you have one and are BM specced). Wait until he's about to turn from his pat, and hit him with a Distracting Shot.
As he attacks he will hit you with Bouncing Charge, which will knock you back quite a ways. As you are about to fall down you need to hit Disengage and immediately begin to tame as you land. I recommend hitting Deterrence just before landing from your disengage. Haste will be the key here as if he gets into Melee range you are dead.
2) Hopping Stones Method
This is by far the preferred method. Get on the hopping stones until you are just in range of Kirix as he turns back south. Begin by casting Tame Beast. He will hit you with poison. Next use your Deterrence/Tame beast macro and tame away. Again haste is very important, even though he cannot hit you with Bouncing Charge he will do a decent amount of damage via Magmatoxin which is not interruptible.
One method, which I didn't have to use, is to get the buff form the thermal vents, which will give you a haste buff after jumping from them. Unfortunately landing back on the stones is quite tricky so I'd recommend practicing the maneuver first.
This Goblin tried out the Disengage method. After a while of emoting to him he got the idea...
VIDEO: Taming Cinderweb Broodling
VIDEO: Taming Kirix via Hopping stones method (skip to about 1:30)
I've seen a lot of Hunters lately going after the three Non-Unique challenge tames, namely Kirix, Skitterflame and Anthriss. I wonder why Blizzard put these tames in the game, made them so difficult, when a player can easily get the exact skin of these creatures with little or no effort.
I made the same mistake myself with Kirix and Skitterflame. I worked for hours to tame Kirix (Skitterflame took me only 1 try) and proudly touted him about everywhere (he was my frist non-spirit beast challenge tame) when I realized that Kirix shares a skin with Cinderweb Broodlings (grated these only have a 50% chance to spawn each day, so it makes them a little difficult to obtain).
So for all those hunters that want to have a unique pet, then don't bother trying for either of these three spiders. Their skins can be obtained much more easily (I'll go into each when I write the guides) by getting one of the somewhat less rare spawns in the Molten Front.
If, however, you wish to test your skills and tame a challenging beast, then please by all means go ahead. They are all quite difficult if you don't know what you're doing (Kirix being by far the most challenging of these three, though he pales in comparison to Deth'Tilac).
Just keep in mind that many hunters do go for the easier tame, so having either of these skins is not usually a sign of skill, as opposed to the two unique skins, Deth'Tilac and Solix. But then again, you'll know you did it, and that's all that matters.
Solix is one of the new Challenge Tame Spiders added in Patch 4.2. He and Deth'Tilac are the only two unique spiders of the lot, as Kirix, Skitterflame and Anthriss all share skins with common spiders in the area. Solix actually shares a skin with Cinderweb Spiderling, but these are not tamable. So Solix is the only way you'll get a pet with this skin. And he's a tough one.
Solix appears to have a 7 to 12 hour spawn time, and will always spawn in the same location.
Solix spawns in the Molten Front, the new Firelands daily quest location, so you'll need to be in the proper phase to reach it. Once you're there you can stop questing. Solix is located on the right side of the map (see below) in a cave called Igneous Depths. If he's up your NPCscan will go off well before you've reached the cave.
Once in the cave you'll see he sits in a lava bath. He has a buff on him called Blazing Speed, which increases his attack speed by 1000%, movement speed by 100%, and makes him untamable until his energy drops to about 20%. So like Deth'Tilac and Skitterflame, he must be kited. However, when his energy gets to 0, he dies.
This is a tame where you MUST use your hotkeys. What I use (as I still use W to move forward) is I had Cuncussive Shot in the #2 action bar slot, and I have the following macro written:
/cast Trap Launcher /cast Ice Trap
set for Shift+E, but whatever works best for you. The issue with this macro is that you'll have to hit your hotkey twice.
Some suggest putting Aspect of the Pack/Cheetah on for increased run speed, as you're dead in one shot if he melee's you anyway. I didn't do this because I was worried about the flames hitting me and slowing me down (the lava pits will shoot some fire up at you from time to time) but you might try it if you need a little more space between you.
The best method is as follows:
Lay down an Ice trap right in front of the Lava Pool. Open with Scatter Shot/Concussive Shot and immediately run from him. Watch the timer on the Concussive Shot as you'll need to quickly turn (hence using the mouse rather than A/D keys) and fire another Concussive shot (hence the hotkey) and lay your traps down as soon as you can.
Once his energy bar reaches 20% his buff should go off. You must then Concussive Shot (and Scatter shot if it's up) and launch your Ice Trap, get at max distance (via Disengage) and begin the tame ASAP as his energy goes down fast. No need to pop Deterrence as his hits ignore it.
If you've got someone helping you, a mage would be nice for chill effects, and another hunter with a spider or shale spider would be fantastic for additional CC. He's immune to Freezing Trap and all other CC's (other than the slowing ones).
There you have it. Hopefully with a little practice you should have a very unique pet. Took me two tries, and he nearly died the 2nd try.
Map:
VIDEO: This is a great Video from Deadly Slob on how to tame.
Ankha and Magria are the two new Spectra Sabres that were added in Patch 4.2. You will find them patroling up and down the regrowth, and are part of the Firelands Daily phase, meaning you much be in the right phase to even see them (The Regrowth phase).
They are technically challenge tames, though once you figure out the trick you'll see that they're quite easy. These share their skin (though different hues) with Gondria and are the only Spirit Beasts with the sabre skin.
Both Ankha and Magria, like Skarr and Karkin, share the same spawn location and spawn timer, which is supposed to be about 12 hours. These two beasts patrol around the regrowth area, and are quite hard to miss even if you don't have NPCscan active. It is a 50% chance which will spawn, Ahkha (Green) or Magria (Blue).
Each has the same buff on them which causes more damage the greater the amount of armor the hunter has. Anyone with even Cata Greens will be killed before they can ever complete the tame.
What then, is the solution? Simple, get naked. Remove all items that give an armor bonus. Once your armor is down to zero you'll find the cats do almost no damage. Cast tame beast and enjoy your new spirit beast.
Today must be my lucky day! (See a Video of me helping a friend below)
Earlier today I tamed Deth’Tilac. I’d been camping for Karkin and decided to check Deth’s spawn point and lo and behold I tamed him. I went back to my old camping spot, and started writing the Deth post, when my NPCscan goes off. Tabbing back into WoW I see an Orc Hunter running around with Karkin as his pet. Bad form dude, but whatever. Well I thought, he must have just tamed him, so it’ll be another 12 hours. I logged off and continued to write.
About two hours later (roughly 6:55PM Server Time) I decided to log back on and see if any of the rares were up (I have everything from Molten Front except for Karkin, but I know a few hunters out there looking for rares) and NPCscan goes off. It was Karkin! I clicked on it and sure enough I saw the Silver Dragon. Unfortunately he was on the “bad” spawn point. More of that later. So I hopped over and tamed him, easy as could be.
Karkin and Skarr share the same spawn location and same taming tactics, so I had already done my trial and error on Skarr. You MUST be MM spec for this tame. Only one of them will be up at any given time, and it is supposed to be 12 hours before another spawns after being tamed/killed. They are each equally as likely to spawn in one of the two spots, so you have a 50% chance of getting either Skarr or Karkin and a 50% chance of them spawning in either location. Not bad odds if you ask me, you should be able to grab both of them if you're willing to spend the time.
SKARR AND KARKIN TAMING GUIDE
Getting over there: (See Map)
Skarr and Karkin both spawn in the Fireplume Peak, the North Western area of the Molten Front, the Firelands questing zone introduced in Patch 4.2. You must be in the right phase to enter the zone.
In order to reach Both Skarr and Karkin you'll have to make it over to Fireplume Peak. This is a bit tricky, as the easiest access point is blocked by flame (at least at the phase in which I am).
The easiest method, in my book, will require a big sacrifice. You're going to have to die. So repare, then run up north to Ragnaros' Reach. In the Upper Left corner of that area is a spot where you can jump over to get on the other side of the wall. Next, you'll have to die. Get to the point where you're facing Fireplume Peak. Then run off the cliff. You should die underneath the Peak about in it's center. If all goes well, you'll spawn at the spirit healer and it'll let you resurrect, without rez sickness. See my video of the approach at the end.
Now you're at Fireplume Peak. Skarr and Karkin share two spawn points. Their re-spawn timer is supposed to be 12 hours static, but I think it may fluctuate between 6 and 12. Regardless, you can camp between the two spawn points on Fireplume Peak and if they spawn you'll be in range for NPCscan to go off.
The Tame
Both creatures have same set of abilities. During the cast they'll cast two abilities: Fieroclast Barrage and Fireball. Fireball is relatively safe, but Feirclast Barrage will interrupt your tame, regardless of Deterrence, and will two shot you easily.
Additionally, they will only cast it after you have cast Tame Beast. Therefore:
1) Cast Tame Beast
2) as they cast Fieroclast Barrage, hit escape (to cancel the tame) and cast Silencing Shot.
3) cast your Deterrence/Tame Beast Macro.
And you're done. This is a relatively simple tame, considering it's a bit hard to get to the area. Additionally, one of the spawn locations requires you to hop on some of the hopping platforms to the south of Fireplume Peak, as you won't have LOS from your camping position.
About the Spawn Locations:
Both Karkin and Skarr share the same spawn timer and the same Spawn Locations. One is quite easy to tame, the other requires a little bit of maneuvering, as you can see below:
As you can see, the "good" spawn location is quite easy. it is located directly ahead of the spirit healer. The "bad" spawn location is quite tricky, you'll need to hop on some of the stones in order to have Line of Sight in order to tame. If they spawn at the "bad" spawn, it may be easiest to mount up and run/jump over to the other ledge, across the chasm with the jumping stones. Here's the view from that side:
If you don't want to risk dying, you can try to hop your way down the stones until you have LOS. Here's the best path (beware, some stones collapse on you).
As you can see, its far easier to just mount jump your way over to the ridge on the right. From there, it's only 1 jump away from a platform that is in range to tame.
A video of the easy way to get to Fireplume Peak. The other method is to run through the band of fire as mentioned above.
VIDEO:
This is a video of me helping a friend (actually I spammed in trade that it was up and he was the first to PM me) tame Skarr. Method is the same for Karkin
Early today, at about 12PM Server Time (US-Alexstrasza) I finally tamed Deth'Tilac. Deth'Tilac is one of the 4 new challenge tame spiders that came in Patch 4.2 located in the Molten Core (the Firelands Daily zone), but is only one of the unique skins (the other being Solix, who does share a skin with Cinderweb Spiderlings but these are not tamable). Deth'Tilac is therefore a truly unique spider as there are no others in the game with his skin.
Deth'Tilac was by far the hardest tame I've ever done. Every other pet that I have I've been able to tame by myself, but I was completely unable to solo this creature (although from what I know of his behavior it is doable for a decently geared hunter). Perhaps if I spent more time in dungeons and less time hunting rares I'd have had the gear to allow me to tame him but... I digress.
Luckily a guild mate was able to hop on his mage and help me through it. Deth'Tilac killed him and nearly died before I tamed him at less than 1% health (for him).
Here are the specifics:
Deth'Tilac has a 12 hour spawn timer, as do all of the Challenge Spiders, from what I am aware.
Deth'Tilac is immune to CC at this point. Previously he was rootable, but as of today neither myself nor my mage could CC him with any of ours. However he is slowable, so Frostbolt, Ice Trap, Concussive Shot and Scatter Shot are your friends.
Deth'Tilac has a buff on him called Molten Will which makes him immune to Tame Beast until he is at low health, about 20% in my case. This isn't actually a problem because he is a tank and it is very hard to get his hitpoints down (but we'll get into that later).
He also casts Aura of Deth'spair (reducing all healing you can receive by 99%), Deth Metal (increasing movement speed unless he is taking damage) and Deth Strike. Deth Strike is what you need to watch out for, it is uninterruptible, takes 2 seconds to cast and instantly kills whomever he targets. Luckily, it is a melee ability. Additionally, every time he successfully casts it, it reduces his hit points by about 10%. This is the main mechanism to bring his health down.
So the dilemma: you need to let Deth'Tilac cast Deth Strike in order to bring his health down... but it kills whoever it is cast upon. So, unless you have 8 good friends willing to die for the cause, you'll have to have the right strategy.
Strategy:
The key here is to kite Deth'Tilac around his spawn zone, without leaving it (as he will reset). You'll also need to have creatures upon which he can cast his Deth Strike. The best method is to have a spider pet (or four of them, there are spiders around his spawn point that you can easily tame) because they CAN CC him (I believe a Shale Spider's CC would work as well, but I did not have one on me when he spawned). I repeat, spiders webs are the only thing I know of that will CC him completely as of right now.
The best strategy is this: kite Deth'Tilac around his spawn zone with some DoT abilities (serpent sting). Make sure you are keeping concussive shot on him at all times, and laying Ice traps to slow him down. He needs to take damage all the time or his Deth Metal ability will activate, making him move much faster. Snake Traps and Immolation traps are good, remember the damage dealt is just to keep him slowed down, not to get his health down.
He'll do that on his own. You'll need to sacrifice your pet for him to use his Deth Strike on, at least 8 times (less if you do a lot of damage). This will make it tricky as even if you have 4 pets with you, you'll have to resurrect each pet at least once.
The best time to resurrect is after the following sequence: Hit him with concussive shot and scatter shot, Launch an Ice Trap in his path. Disengage and begin to raise your spider. You should have just enough time to get your spider up, have your spider web him, and get away from him as he casts Deth Strike on your spider. Rinse and repeat.
At 20% health, you'll need to dismiss your pet, Concussive shot and Scatter schot him, Ice trap him and get at max distance. Cast Tame beast (Deterrence doesn't work on his Deth Strike) and hopefully you should have enough time to tame him.
It may be worth it to hire someone to help you, if you cannot find someone. A mage would be best, but anyone who can slow him down at range. Just be sure to tell them to stop when he gets to 20% health, and he'll need to have aggro on YOU during the whole Taming Process.
VIDEO (not my own, I was on my laptop at the time and couldn't record)
Ban'Thalos is one of the new "Challenge Tames" introduced in patch 4.2, and it has the added benefit of being a spirit beast, making it only available to BM specced hunters.
Ban'Thalos is one of the most desirable Spirit Beasts on my realm, and is the favorite of my collection.
Ban'Thalos patrols very high in the air at the Sanctuary of Malorne. You will need to be in the "Regrowth" phase just to see him, after the statue has been restored and the Firelands dailies have been opened up for you. Here is a link to the quest chain. In addition, these quests are not even available until you are 85 (and Ban'Thalos is 85 anyway).
Ban'Thalos flies too high to safely kite to the ground, you will die. The trick is, to stand on top of one of the trees by the sanctuary of Malorne. Here are the coordinates:
27.26, 64.25
If you don't have an addon that will show you your location, try MapCoords. It's a lightweight addon that will show you your current location, and the location of your curser when you open the map. You can see your location in a panel just under your name plate in normal view.
Simply maneuver yourself to that location, and hit x, which will descend you. You shouldn't be able to descend lower than the tree top. Dismount, and if you don't fall down you've got it. Now starts the waiting game.
Spawn Times vary for Ban'Thalos, anywhere from 6 to 18 hours, although Blizzard may have nerfed this as I've been seeing at least once a day in the last three days. In any event, if you have NPCscan active and your cache is cleared, you should get a nice loud warning when Ban'Thalos appears.
Now comes the tricky part. Ban'Thalos will patrol around in a circle when he spawns, only half of which is in shooting range. You'll have to fly up a bit to get into range but (and I cannot stress this enough) only hit spacebar to ascend, do not move, or when you dismount you will take too much fall damage.
Before taming Ban'Thalos, drop own a Freezing Trap. Next mount up, and ascend until you are in range of him, and not a meter higher. When his pat takes him in range, simply cast distracting shot (any shot will do) to have him aggro you. You should fall down to the tree, and Ban'Thalos will be following you.
Immediately hit the Deterrence/Tame Beast macro, and tame. Ban'Thalos will spam a Moonfire like spell on you, but your Deterrence should protect you. Even though he casts a ranged ability, he will get right on top of you, and should be caught in your Freezing Trap. Once frozen, taming should be no problem.
A note to those on PVP servers. From what I've read on forums, you're pretty safe from players of the opposing faction (unless of course they get on the tree with you). Standing on top of the sanctuary statue will not bring them within range of you, so they'd have to fly up, cast some DoTs on you, and hopefully land safely. The problem is, you are right above the flight master for this spot and this will definitely aggro the flight master. Unless you have no armor on, you should be fine.
Left: This is where you'll camp. Right: Freezing Trap placement
Before going out to get that sparkly new pet you saw in the last battleground, there are a few things to note:
1): First off, make sure that you have all of your Macros and Addons set up properly. Clear your creature cache (yes this will require a log out) before you go hunting. (Make sure to do this outside of a major city or you may miss your rare spawn).
2): Hotkeys are your friend. Even if your normal play style involves clicking your abilities with a mouse, I highly recommend you get used to using hotkeys for certain spells, namely: your Deterrance/Tame Beast Macro, Silencing Shot, Concussive Shot, and Tame Beast (the normal spell without casting Deterrence). All of these spells will be used in the challenge tames added in 4.2. Instead of using WSAD to turn, get used to moving using your mouse to turn. You can keep W as your move forward button, and equip one of the spells to the 1, 2, & 3 slots on your action bars.
3): Pathing. This can be the most boring part of hunting for rares. Certain rare pets will spawn in multiple locations, and your best bet is to patrol each of these locations until you find your pet. You may have to spend hours upon hours of patting simply to find your pet, especially if you dont' know your spawn times.
4): Camping. Certain pets spawn in only 1 location. This makes waiting a little easier, but generally taming becomes harder (either via competition with other hunters or via the strategy required to tame). However, if you don't know your spawn time, then you can park your hunter at the right location, make sure NPCscan is running and your creature cache is cleared, then sit back and watch TV until you hear the spawn announcement.
5): Spawn Timers. Know them. I will try to be as accurate as I can be with this information, but a lot of it is a best guess. However, if you know that, say Karoma will not spawn in less than 6 hours, and you just saw someone else tame him, then can take a break for at least the next few hours.
6): Be polite. There is nothing more rude than killing a rare beast because another hunter is about to tame it. If you see a hunter grabbing your beast, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Be nice, congratulate him, and write the time down. Then show up when the spawn timer should start to be resetting and enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that your pet is far more likely to come up now than by blindly patting.
7): Be helpful. If you see another rare spawn up other than the one you're looking fore, type /who and find a hunter that may be looking for it. This is exactly the reason I've started writing this page, I've helped out so many hunters while looking for my own rares that I've learned a thing or two about taming them.
8) Check your spawn points often. If you have an alt leveling in a place where a rare might spawn, park your hunter there and if it happens to spawn with your alt, quickly jump over and tame him. I've gotten at least 3 spirit beasts in this manner.
Rare spawns are an old feature in World of Warcraft, dating back even to the early days of WoW. However, most of these were simply rare pets with a unique ability (back in the OLD days of Vanilla pet training) or some slightly tweaked looks. That all changed in BC, and significantly in Wrath.
