Do You Tame Rares at Level?

I was leveling another Hunter over the weekend, because that’s what I do.

I was in Northern Stranglethorn, as that’s where all the big game are, and remembered that Tsul’Kalu, one of two white gorillas can be found here. The other one is Uhk’loc who lives in Un’Goro crater.

Uhk’loc is level 52, whereas Tsul’Kalu is level 28. Having a unique pet to level with is something that I’ve always enjoyed. Taming rares is always awesome, but there’s something special about getting one at level and having that unique companion with you for the rest of the journey.

The problem with a pet like Tsul’Kalu is that it’s not always there. You have to get really lucky or you have to camp. The spawn timer on this one is only a couple of hours, but in today’s leveling world, two hours is a lot of levels. It’s a lot of downtime when you’re trying to advance quickly, and chances are you won’t be the only one looking for him either.

huntercompetition
Hey Madamred, I hear Un’Goro is lovely this time of year. Scram!

Even if there isn’t another Hunter camping the rare, there are lots of people leveling right now, and many won’t hesitate to kill a rare pet on sight.

deadpet
Noooooo!!!!

I logged in a minute too late this time, but all was not lost. Tsul’Kalu’s death, while tragic, gave me valuable information on when I could expect him to appear again.

I was able go about my business avoiding a long wait, and returning at just the right time to claim my prize.

tamedatlevelI was lucky in that I didn’t have to sacrifice too much leveling time to get this unique pet, but I’ll admit, I don’t always have the patience to sit and wait.

Getting a pet at level doesn’t have the same urgency as it used to back in Vanilla. In those days when you tamed a pet it didn’t match your level. So if you were level 60 and the pet was level 20, you had to level it up 40 levels.

If you had your eye on a rare pet back then, you really needed to plan ahead. One of my great joys back in Vanilla was taming Humar the Pridelord at level 22.

Nowadays getting a rare at level is less critical, and you sacrifice nothing by hitting max level and going on a giant taming spree. That’s usually what I do, but what about you?

Do you tame rares at level, or do you wait until you’re max level?

5 Comments on “Do You Tame Rares at Level?”

  1. Mostly at level. I tamed Uhk’loc back in the day — it required some camping, but I was so happy to get him. Of course back then it was a juggle keeping him and my main cat at or close to my level, but he was the only one I made that effort with. He’s still one of my main pets on that hunter!

    On a different hunter (yes, I have too many) I ran into Pogeyan (http://www.wowhead.com/npc=51663) in STV and immediately needed to tame it. I don’t see many hunters using that cat skin.

    1. I got luck and a few minutes after taming Tsul’Kalu I found and tamed Pogeyan. He’s a surprisingly pretty cat. The images on petopia don’t do him justice. You really need to see him in game.

  2. I tend to tame the pets I want as soon as possible or at least within the expansion in which they were introduced. I don’t really interrupt levelling to camp rare spawns though.

  3. I remember spending _way_ too much time getting Broken Tooth – back when pets had different attack speeds – a 1.0 attack speed cat combined with neverending spell pushback was a fun combo…

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