Illusionary Tactics: Dartol's Rod of Transformation
Welcome to the first installment of my new column series, Illusionary Tactics. Each episode will bring you the full intelligence on an item or quest that disguises you, enabling you to better carry out those secret missions -- or at least confuse your friends and guildmates.
This time, I'll be looking at Dartol's Rod of Transformation, a perennial favorite of my guild. I've written about this item before, but it's been a while, and it's perfect for this column, so I'm giving it some more air time.
What does it do? It turns you into a furbolg for three minutes, with a one-minute cooldown. Unlike many disguises, you can still fight while in furby form, although the form is removed if you are damaged, so it's possible (and I've seen it done) to furbolg-heal and furbolg-ranged-DPS. Just right-click the item in your inventory to activate.
How do you get it? This item is Alliance-only, and you have to be at least level 18 to get the quests (though it might be hard to complete at this level). It comes from a Night Elf quest chain, and the trick, as with many neat items and perks, is not to complete the chain, since doing that destroys your Rod. The quest chain, and all the quests in it, is known as Raene's Cleansing; all the action takes place in Ashenvale. Let me walk you through it (caution: spoilers).
Go talk to Raene Wolfrunner in Ashenvale and get the quest "Raene's Cleansing." She will send you to go find Teronis, a buddy of hers who was looking for a way to get the furbolgs not to attack so much.
Unfortunately, you will find the corpse of Teronis, evidently mauled by murlocs, at 20,42, on an island in Lake Falathim. Turn in the quest at the corpse and get the follow-up, which asks you to find the gem he was looking for.
The Glowing Gem drops from the murlocs right around the lake, so go nuts and kill some fish-people. Wowhead gives the drop rate on the gem as 7%, so on average you'll have to kill about 14 of them (but of course you could always get lucky or unlucky).
Once you get the Gem, head back to Raene in Astranaar to deliver the bad news. Get the follow-up.
Raene sends you to go see the dryad Shael'dryn at a moonwell east of Astranaar (54,46). Go there, turn in the quest, and get the follow-up.
Now we'll be forming the rod itself. The first thing we need is the Wooden Key to open the chest the next piece of the rod is in. The key is carried by treants up north by Felwood, with their hilarious death animation. Go cut them down until they give you the key; the chest is at located up at 54,35. Get the rod from the chest and go back to Shael'dryn. Turn in the quest and get the follow-up.
Time to get another piece of this wonderful rod! This time, you have to go kill Rotting Slimes in southeast Ashenvale. Some of the slimes will spawn a chest when you kill them, and the Pommel is in that chest. Get the Pommel and head back to Shael'dryn. Turn in, get follow-up.
Now we have the fully pieced-together rod, but unfortunately it seems to have lost its mojo, so you need to bring it to a shrine to re-enchant it. The shrine is located up a path that starts a 55,51 and leads to the shrine at 56,49. Click on the shrine once you find it and turn in the quest to energize your rod. Don't get the follow-up quest.
That's it! You now have a fully armed and operational Dartol's Rod of Transformation. You can do a few more steps in the quest line without destroying it if you want, but be careful not to go too far -- don't do the last quest in the chain. If you do want to go further in the chain, of course, do get the follow-up from the shrine.
Unfortunately, some of us weren't really thinking ahead during the leveling process, and did complete this entire quest chain, thus removing forever our ability to turn into furbolgs. Oh well.
What would you like to see next time on Illusionary Tactics? Do you have a favorite disguise? Let me know in the comments.
