Of the six Patch 4.2 rares that I’ve tamed, Kirix posed the greatest challenge… for me anyway.
Rather than go the easy route of taming him from one of the nearby floating rocks – safely out of melee range, I decided to go with the intended and more challenging approach… standing toe to toe with him while taming.
I had two unsuccessful attempts before I nabbed Kirix on the third try. The first tame was going horribly, so I popped Feign Death half-way through, healed up and quickly gave it another go. The second attempt was going better, but he ended up killing me before the tame finished.
I ran back and saw that another hunter was trying for him as well. I was a little bummed after seeing this, but noticed that this hunter was having a rougher time than even I was. Within a few seconds, Kirix killed the other hunter and was back on the eligible list. I then ran back around the corner and waited for him in an an area I felt would be a good spot for taming.
The reason I picked this spot in his patrol area is because I knew I needed a clear path behind me, where I could gain some distance during Disengage. More on this in a bit…
When Kirix is aggro’d, he will run at you, attacking you with Bouncing Charge. Bouncing Charge interrupts spell casting and knocks you up into the air. If you’re going to attempt him using the manly method, then you need to eat this first attack before you can start taming him.
Once he rounded the corner in my direction and started getting close — and by the way… he moves very fast — I hit him with an Arcane Shot to aggro him. He immediately hit me with his Bouncing Charge attack – punting me through the air. Just as I was starting to descend back towards the ground, I hit Disengage. As soon as I landed I hit Deterrence and started taming.
The tame was going alright, but I was growing nervous as I saw my hit points being devoured as quickly as my Tame Beast was finishing.
He killed me a second time.
I was really bummed because I knew there was another hunter out there on the same mission, plus I was sooo close to pulling off a successful tame.
I res’d, then quickly rode back – hoping for a fourth attempt, but Kirix was nowhere to be found. Someone had tamed him. 
I saw the other hunter riding around and figured he must’ve pulled it off. After he passed by me a few times, I thought he seemed a bit confused, like he was maybe still looking for Kirix himself. Also, I had figured if he’d pulled off the tame, he’d have his trophy out on display.
At that moment, I thought, hmmm… it was down to the wire… maybe I did get him..?!
Sure enough, I opened up my remote stable and there he was! That was by far the most white-knuckle pet taming experience I’d had since solo-taming King Krush a few years ago.
Since I hadn’t seen the successful tame aura or watched Kirix shrink, I figured I’d been a split-second too late. It was that close.
At any rate… In an effort to make this tame go a little easier for those of you that want to approach Kirix as a taming challenge (rather than go the cheating route) 
, the following is a more prepared and refined version of my strategy. In other words, were I to try taming Kirix again, this is what I would do. Please note that this strategy requires you to be in a Beast Mastery spec…
Kirix Solo ‘Taming Challenge’ Strategy
- Bring a Core Hound. The Core Hound’s Ancient Hysteria buff is going to be a huge help in this endeavor. The tame is basically a race to see if you can tame him faster than he can kill you, so having a shorter cast time on Tame Beast is a big advantage.
- Make sure you are in Aspect of the Wild. You need this aspect on to help mitigate his Magmatoxin aura.
- A good spot to wait for Kirix is on the floating rocks across from his path. This spot allows you to camp for him, while being safely at range from his damaging aura. Kirix moves very quickly, so it’s not advisable to camp for him on his patrol route. You need time to prep for the tame, so it’s best to wait for him from a safe location.
- Once he’s been spotted, go to the spot where you’re going to tame him. Pick a location which will allow you a clear, unobstructed path for Disengaging away from him.
- Pop your Core Hound’s Ancient Hysteria, then dismiss him.
- Aggro Kirix with a shot, then eat his Bouncing Charge.
- At the crest of the punt, Disengage backwards. I didn’t do this during my tame, but I’d recommend hitting him with a Concussive Shot as you’re Disengaging away from him.
- As soon as you land, hit Deterrence, cast Tame Beast, and activate any on-use haste trinket if you have one and/or drink a Potion of Speed.
Here’s a macro you can use that will help with the taming:
/cast Deterrence /use 13 /use Potion of Speed /cast Tame Beast
If you have a +haste trinket, put it in your top trinket slot. If you stack haste for this tame and use the above macro, then taming Kirix shouldn’t be a problem.
I’m sure there are other approaches that may work just as well, or better, but I can guarantee that the above guide will result in taming success.
Good luck!
