King Krush Solo-Tame Made Easy

King KrushWith all of this Shattering business going on in the old world, now’s the ideal time to go after some of the once hard-to-get pets from the WotLK expansion. Northrend is fairly quiet these days compared to how it was just a few weeks ago, so it’s time to get while the gettin’s good.

Just to give you an idea of how ripe the pickins’ are these days, HuntsmansLodge muse, Celika, tamed all four Spirit Beasts within a sixteen hour period this past week. Now granted she was pretty lucky, but still… all four in less than a day..?!

At any rate, the pet I want to talk about this evening is King Krush. For those of you who don’t know who King Krush is, well… he’s a rare green Devilsaur who lurks in Sholazar Basin. He’s been a prized trophy sought by hunters due to his unique skin, along with the sense of accomplishment that a hunter can derive from successfully solo-taming him.

The thing that makes Krush so special, apart from him being the only green Devilsaur in the game, is that he represents one of the more difficult taming accomplishments in the game. At one time, Krush was arguably the most difficult solo-tame in WoW.

Since 4.0, taming him is not quite the feat that it used to be, but it still requires some planning nonetheless.

Oh yea… so what is so tough about getting him anyway..? Well, I’ll tell ya…

Although he’s only level 75, he hits very hard. Krush is a Rare Elite mob, which means he can dish out some pain. Nowadays we have larger health pools, so that’s not a huge concern, but still something to be mindful of.

Next, and more importantly, he casts a fear which can break your taming process. He also has a knockback ability which can do the same.

Lastly, he’s immune to all forms of crowd control. You cannot freeze him or slow him down – – he cannot be stopped..! AAAaahhh… Fear the Krush. πŸ˜‰

The trick to solo-taming this prized reptile is to reduce the casting time on Tame Beast, so that he has little time to cast his interrupts during the taming process.

Provided you’re lucky enough to find him (here are the spots where he hangs out), here’s how you can ready yourself for a successful solo-tame…

1. Buff yourself with some haste food and anΒ Elixir of Lightning Speed. Also, you’re going to want to bring a couple Potions of Speed along to make you even more hasty. Equip any and all of the gear you have with haste on it, and also be sure to bring with you an on-use haste trinket if you have one. Platinum Disks of Swiftness is relatively easy to obtain and does the job nicely.

2. Take a Core Hound with you while you’re out looking for him. Core Hounds have the new Ancient Hysteria buff, which will allow you to shave some precious time off of the Tame Beast cast time. Just as you encounter Krush.

Update: I had previously mentioned bringing a trash Core Hound with you, then casting the buff and abandoning with a macro. This is not necessary as indicated by Kazador’s comment below. Just cast the buff, then dismiss your Core Hound. This is a much better plan since it saves time if you already have one in your stable, plus it eliminates possible accidents later. πŸ˜‰ Thanks for the update Kaz.

Just before you begin the tame, press this macro:

/use Potion of Speed
/use 13
/cast Deterrence
/cast Tame Beast

/use 13 represents your on-use haste macro – just make sure it’s equipped in your top trinket slot. If you don’t have one, then just omit that line.

This macro will:

  • Buff you with a Potion of Speed
  • Activate your haste trinket buff
  • Activate Deterrence in order to block Krush’s fear
  • Begin Tame Beast instantly

Combined with the haste on your gear, along with the food and elixir buffs, these stacking haste buffs should get the tame to complete just as Deterrence wears off. Keep in mind that although Deterrence should block his fear, he’ll still be giving you a beat-down in the process. Deterrence is somehow glitched right now while channeling Tame Beast, and will not parry incoming damage.

So there ya go… for those of you still on the hunt for the big ol’ green machine, hopefully this post will help you in your endeavor.

I would like to thank long-time reader Kazador for inspiring this article. He sent me a note indicating how he pulled off a successful solo-tame using very similar methods. Kazador even included hisΒ Corroded Skeleton Key in the macro to further mitigate damage. Kazador referred to it as his “Invincible Tame”.

Well… good luck people and happy hunting!

43 thoughts on “King Krush Solo-Tame Made Easy”

  1. If playing WoTLK Classic, I recommend you get some gear that has +Stamina and drink some +Haste pots and use trinkets.

    I’d recommend sending in a trash pet to get the fear, then dismiss/abandon and start taming since we don’t have Ancient Hysteria buff.

    Reply
    • I lied….get yourself a shaman from LFG chat with tremor totem, Hunter attacks king krush till first fear, after fear is gone you need to tame right away or if you wait too long to cast it, you’ll get hit with another fear when you have 1 second left on your tame and break it! (this happened to me twice in a row, lmao)

      I did have haste food (https://www.wowhead.com/wotlk/item=34769/imperial-manta-steak) and lightning speed elixir buffs on me as well.

      Reply
  2. Reading through all the posts here, it seems most people are over complicating the tame. No speed potions or any other haste buffs are needed. His fear has a CD on it. Send a disposable pet in to attack him. Wait for him to fear the pet. Dismiss the trash pet and tame. He won’t fear again before you get the tame off.

    Reply
    • Completely disagree. Yes, BW and disposable pet may or maynot eat the fear. It depends if he casts it and when and how unlucky you maybe, meaning i was up to 3 fears in one attempt. All the strategies outlined are sound and the prep work needed. Just prepare for a long camping trip.

      Reply
  3. After months of heartache I got Krush last night….my adrenaline was through the roof when my NPCScan went off….but it quickly subsided….it was such an easy tame…there was no thrill….did they nerf something? I have him now and I am happy but the the easiness of the tame…left me…dissappointed.

    Reply
  4. Got king krush tonight. Had no problem taming him without any extra help from a core hound. i did use a speed potion, but i woulda been fine without it. It should be noted that i was also 81.

    thanks for the very useful map Garwulf! I was lookn for Loque while i was there too. I wonder what my first spirit beast will be!

    Reply
  5. Damn you Gar!! I was waiting for an episode of Dexter to finish downloading and had some time to kill…..now I am flying aound the Basin looking for him….if he breaks my heart again I think I’ll truly be done looking for him….but you’ve managed to put Krush on the brain again….thanks bud πŸ˜›

    Reply
  6. I would but I just can’t bring myself to look for him again…I’ve had my heart broken too many times. I had an ally kill him because he didn’t understand the fundamentals of any other spec as a hunter other than survival. When I hit BW and abandoned the trash pet he thought I was trying to kill Krush so he started attacking I begged him to stop only to have him kill him and skin him right in front of me telling me that he was going to get the kill before me. I explained that I had to BW to avoid the fears…..to seconds later a human Priest landed….so if I would of waited I could of had a fear ward and possibly a green dino. The second time, the time on the tame reached almost zero….he started to turn like he was going to stand by my side….then I died…I spent all my potions and everything trying to get him….but never came close to it.

    Reply
  7. I got him yesterday, I was looking for Loq an my NPC_scan found Krush instead, so I took the only speed pot I had on me and hit tame, he feared me right at the end (forgot to do deterrence) so I tried again and got him. It is a lot easier to tame him than it used to be.

    Reply
    • Whew… good thing you said something Raybeez. Somehow they got deleted during an update. I just restored them though.

      Mostly I just removed the broken ones that were on the page – adding only a couple of new ones. If I get a chance, I’ll add a few, but there aren’t a whole heck of a lot of macros we need these days.

      Reply
  8. Say it in your best Stewie Griffin voice…

    VICTORY IS MINE!!!!!

    So I’m about to log at about 2am server time this morning and I figure “Ahh what the hell, I’ll log trusty Rustee and take a lap around the basin looking for Krush.”
    Pre-flight checklist:
    Haste food buff – check;
    Haste Pot on action bar – check;
    Make sure I have no pet summoned – check;
    Got my haste trinkets equipped – check;
    OK then, King Krush Airways Flight 2,435 ready for takeoff.

    I fly past the Expedition camp with no hit. Fine. Those darn dwarves would probably just come and attack him anyway.

    I fly past Shango’s area with no hit. Fine. Shango probably woulda jumped me and I’d have hat to kill him in his sweet new skin.

    As I’m flying over the lake towards the Glimmering Pillar I hit my “help” macro for zone chat: “Has anyone seen/killed Krush today?…I’m trying to tame him” (I figure if people will at least tell me if they saw him and when I can try and focus on a flight time). No response. Do a quick /who check of the zone and ZOMG there’s like 20 lvl 80 toons in the zone. I am, fortunately, the only hunter but Jeezus!…..I probably haven’t seen him cos if he spawned he’s surely been ganked by one of these many non-cool non-hunters. =P

    I fly past Glimmering Pillar with no hit. Darn! That’s the spot I want to find him at. Virtually nothing to attack me during the tame.

    As I’m flying to the wasp spot, I start to feel like Harry Potter when the Dementors show up. That is the spot where that Tauren druid ganked him while I was trying to tame him. Bad memories there. At least if Krush has been killed already I won’t have to try and get my tame on in the wasps. What a mess that was last time.

    I get to the wasp area. NPCScan goes off and I damn near fall out of my chair as I’m half asleep!!! HOLY HELL IT’S BIG GREEN AND THERE’S NO ONE AROUND!!!

    I drop out of the sky right on top of him and take about 25% fall damage. DAMNIT! I start the tame…Knocback!…DAMN!! “Get by a tree you idiot!!” I think to myself.

    Run to a tree. Now he’s too far away. Run out, fire a shot, back up to the tree. A quick check of my health as Big Green is bearing down on me shows that I’m at half life. Ugh! Krush is in range and I start the tame again…Fear!! “Ah hell!! I forgot to pop Deterrence and my haste trinks!!” I am a fool.

    I am feared into the wasps. With the King gettin’ his licks in as well. I am watching my health bar go down like the tractor beam energy bar when Obi-Wan shuts it down. “NOOOO!!! IT CAN’T END LIKE THIS!!! I CAN’T DIE!!! SOMEONE WILL KILL HIM ON MY CORPSE RUN!!”

    I am convinced that when a hunter goes below 25% health, the new built in Power Auras in the default UI should flash a great big giant FEIGN DEATH logo to save idiots like me from ourselves. Fortuantely, I’m not such a bad hunter that I forget and I Feign Death.

    Krush and the wasps all leave. I come to and bandage, eat a real quick bite and charge back to my tree thinking “This CANNOT end well. I have blown my Deterrence, pot and trinks…all I’ve got left to tame him are my wits.” In otherwords, Sean Connery would refer to me as the guy who broght a knife to a gun fight.

    I get to my tree, run out enough to fire a shot and draw him in, hit my tame and pray….
    No knockback…so far so good.
    No fear…OMG the cast bar is almost done!
    A flash of light and a shrinking T-Rex later and I’m jumping around my basement letting out the BIGGEST MENTAL VICTORY SCREAM EVER!!! (Yes, a MENTAL scream….it’s the wee hours of the morning and wife and kids are sleeping…waking them up over this with a scream would spell certain doom)
    My hands are shaking just a touch as I fill in his talent tree and feed him. All the talents just seemed so much cooler now that it was Krush I was picking talents for.
    Wait, Krush? He is not Krush anymore. He is mine. I click to rename him and give him the name that I have known would be his since the first time I read I could tame a green T-Rex.

    DinosaurNeil.

    Thanks to everyone at the Lodge for sharing their stories of success which have encouraged me to keep on keeping on.

    I am……….at peace.

    Reply
    • Lawman,

      Grats!!! Your story sounds eerily familiar as I too did the exact same flight path you did and when I came to the wasp area bam silverdragon and npcscan went off (i know overkill with the rare finders but I dont like to take chances) dismounted sent in my trash gorilla waited until he feard the gorilla hit Gar’s macro and started the tame then almost immediately knockback then feared me towards the pillar into wasps. I had to kite him around the pillar because DK flew over and I wanted him to be under cover so he would not see him then once around the corner where loque hangs out I started the tame again and like you had blown my pots and trinkets prior but started the tame anyways thought I was going to be feared again but then flash of light he was mine.

      The hardest and most satisfying tame I had ever accomplished…until I tried terrorpene the turtle on the beta he makes Krush look like a little school girl so we have that to look forward to :).

      Again grats on Krush he is quite simply awesome.

      Reply
      • Thanks for all the kind words from the community! =)

        I left two things out of the tale:
        1) There was a third failed attempt where I had used my Deterrence, haste pot and trinks. Krush feared me just as Deterrence wore off and just before the tame finished. UGH! That fear did not end with me in the wasps, the next one did.
        2) As soon as I was done I get a whisper from a stranger congratulating me on the tame. I turn to find a paladin hovering on his flying mount nearby. I thanked him and he whispers back saying he had, in fact, come to kill the beast (the last one he needed for Frostbitten XO ) but saw I was trying to tame him and decided not to kill unless Krush killed me or I gave up (THANK GOD I remembered to Feign Death! =P). He said he had laughed himself into tears watching me frenzied attempts at submitting the King and that he couldn’t have been happier to not get his achievement.

        Like I always say, kids…..WoW Karma is REAL. In this case it was good WoW Karma coming back my way. Happy Day! =P

        Reply
        • Lawman, congratulations! How funny with your botched attempts, and the pally overhead laughing at you! I’m so glad it worked out.

          I know the wasp area all too well. I have had FIVE separate failed attempts in the wasp area, all when we had the 20 second tame. That’s why I worked so hard to put together macros and strategies to make sure that I NEVER fail a tame again. Volcano turtle will put that to the test…

          Reply
  9. Hey gar i must inform you of a new tamable bird in WPL only way to get it is by a quest and the bird has an undead model and does tricks … If you want to tame this pet go to menders stand in WPL and get the troll quest from Adrine Towhide complete this quest and you will get another called A different Approcah where you go to top of a nearby mountain and call down a diseased hawk that you can tame who has the undead modle … this bird is a bird of pray … ok happy hunting

    Reply
  10. Also for people without Corehounds (though I’m sure all hunters have one), and just happened to find him while farming/questing. You can do it with a random “junk” pet which you can abandon. I used these two macros (with a potion of speed) and tamed him normally like any other pet – not sure if I was lucky or what but I had no issues with fear etc.

    #showtooltip Bestial Wrath
    /cast !Bestial Wrath
    /script PetAbandon()

    (I just tamed the serpent nearby to abandon)

    /use Potion of Speed
    #showtooltip Tame Beast
    /cast !Tame Beast

    Reply
  11. Hey Gar,

    I see you’ve updated, thanks for that! A few more tips to help readers out:

    1st, make it clear that they need to bring a corehound AND and empty stable slot along.

    Then, use this macro right before the tame macro:
    /cast ancient hysteria
    /cast dismiss pet

    Follow that up with the tame macro you already have there.

    The haste food and elixir are nice details if you’re confident you have time, but honestly I’ve found I can complete the tame without those and while Deterrence is still up. I’ve taken zero damage from all of my tames.

    I’ve also made a “Taming” equipment set, that simply consists of all gear I have with haste on it. That is instant to put on once you’ve save it as a gear set, and it matters more than the boost from food (that 10 seconds to eat while Krush advances made me too nervous about him either killing me or getting ganked).

    Thanks again for sharing this info with the hunter community!

    Kaz

    Reply
  12. Hey Gar, thanks so much for the mention, and I’m glad you were inspired by my “Invincible Tame” macro. I’ve been using that macro on a LOT of hard tames lately (Magmadar, Chromaggus, Princess Yauj).

    One clarification that I think will make this easier on people. You only need to have an empty slot available in your active stable in order to tame a new pet. At level 80, that means you can only have 3 active pets with you so that one slot is open.

    So, you can use your corehound for Ancient Hysteria, and instead of abandoning it, dismiss it. Then do your tame. Your new pet will then occupy your empty active stable space. I’ve been using one corehound for tame after tame, using this method. Dismiss pet only takes 2 seconds, so as long as you’re confident no one will gank your tame target in 2 seconds, this works great.

    I’m looking forward to trying this out on the Volcano Turtle soon, who supposedly does HUGE amounts of damage so as to make solo-taming very difficult at level 81… I sense a challenge!

    Kaz

    Reply
  13. you guys highly OVER THINK taming this pet… PET? buffs? like wtf..

    I saw him tamed him using absolutely nothing and got him with no fear or anything.. EASY.

    Reply
    • Every now and then someone gets lucky on Krush. With a tame speed somewhere between 5-10 seconds (as opposed to 15-20 seconds as it used to be), the damage he does isn’t such a major factor anymore. The remaining problem is whether or not he will cast fear to interrupt your tame. He decides to cast that at random intervals. So, you can get lucky enough to have him not cast it at all during your tame. I’ve seen two hunters get Krush by sheer luck (no macros, nothing) just because they got lucky and didn’t have him cast his fear. That said, I know TONS of hunters who have not been nearly so lucky. Krush is hard enough to find, you don’t want to find him and then just plan on being super lucky on the tame…

      Reply
  14. Gar,

    I have to agree with Lawman30 I never had any intention of ever taming King Krush because of the many factors that could affect the tame, namely getting feared dying or having the opposing faction come in and kill him for the achievement while taming which happened 6 times to me while trying to tame krush. It is because of you and you alone that made me want Krush and stay determined to tame him and without your site I would never have known how to do that for that matter you also helped me tame Loque as well. So to join with Lawman30 thank you for being you and creating what I consider the only hunter site that actually gives a hoot for the BM spec and the best hunter blog on the internet.
    GO LODGE!!

    p.s. you also have a former pvp hater loving every minute of it now and looking forward to attempting my first arena season once cata drops.

    Reply
    • Hey Bradden,

      Thank you for the kind words. I’m glad the site has inspired you to partake of some fun pursuits with your hunter that you may not have tried otherwise. πŸ™‚

      Reply
      • forgot to mention also had not planned on getting Ashtail either but read your article and then found mysefl in Loch Modan taming a fox πŸ™‚

        Reply
  15. Hey guys! I finally got lorqu’ while looking on my daliy Spirit beast rounds and I also, stared at the screen in disbelief after I tamed him. And after just getting Arcturis just 3 days ago.. As you can imagine I am a very happy Hunter!! πŸ˜€ Next on the list: Gondria!

    Reply
    • Grats Mick! Good luck with taming Gondria. She’s the last one I need before I can gain admittance to 4SB lounge and hang out with lawman, Celika, and many of the other esteemed trophy hunters.

      Reply
      • Silly Gar…its the SB4 lounge, not the 4SB lounge. It just sounds so much cooler as SB4. Talk like that reminds me of when Tom Hanks joined the “5-Timers” club for hositng SNL and Steve Martin had to correct him on everything. Good times. =P

        Just wait till I join the SB6 club. I have no grand delusions of being a founding member of the club, but I do so wish to join ASAP! =P

        Reply
  16. I tamed him a few days ago, without any pots or so, and my gear is pretty shite, was lucky enough to resist one fear πŸ™‚

    (awesome blog btw, I read it often, but first comment!)

    Now to get loque, my last spirit beast =(

    Reply
    • Grats on getting Krush, and thanks for dropping a comment.

      Good luck finding Loque. Hopefully the shattering event will have drawn most of your would-be competition out of Northrend. πŸ™‚

      Reply
  17. I just cant seem to get what hunters see in this guy…

    I find him pretty ugly looking and will never attempt to look for him.
    anyone else feel the same way?

    Reply
    • No. You are strange. Either that or you are trolling this thread (which I decduce from your use of the word “hunters” as opposed to the phrase “other hunters”). =P
      I never expect a non-hunter to understand why we and our pets are awesome.

      Nah, I’m just bustin’ yer chops, Wulfwyn! I guess one’s appreciation of Big Green falls along the lines of the “different strokes for different folks” mantra. Some want him for his unique skin. Some want him because most don’t have him, etc.

      Reply
    • Actually, I’m not crazy about Krush either. I think its the challenge of getting him is what makes everyone go nuts for him. Only rare I attempted to catch was Arcturis. Now THAT, is a good lookin’ pet.

      Reply
  18. Gar,

    I’ll accede that you know more about this stuff than I do, but the line in your macro that has yu abandon you pet worries me. Shouldn’t this be a dismiss rather than an abandon? If not, perhaps a quick note to those who fear the word ‘abandon’ like I do dispelling their misgivings about losing a prized pet in the process.
    Regards,
    Darrwyn

    Reply
    • Hi Darrwyn,

      It certainly does mean abandon, and yes… that can be a scary command if you’re not prepared.

      You must bring a “trash” Core Hound with you. Uvuros or the Kurken will work fine. They are both pretty easy to get.

      Abandoning the Core Hound beforehand is essential, because you cannot tame a pet if you already have one out, and that counts for dismissed pets as well.

      If you set out on this mission, make sure to remove the macro from your action bars afterward, as you want to be careful you don’t make any mistakes. πŸ˜‰

      Reply
      • That would be me. I accidentally abandoned King Krush while trying to recreate the steps I did to tame. I was devastated and remembered staring at the screen for a while in disbelief.

        I filed a ticket and got to talk to a GM almost a day later. The wait time was horrible and quitting WoW became a possibility.

        So yeah, that macro is indeed scary. Be careful out there.

        Reply
  19. Thanks, Gar! Posts like this are why I will ALWAYS be a “Loyal Lodgie”! Not only to you explain what to do in an easy to understand fashion, you give credit where the credit is due when you have no real obligation to do so, thus furthering the sense of community I get when I read stuff on this site.

    LONG LIVE THE LODGE!!!

    Now back to my flight path and color coded NPCScan overlay map….. =P

    Reply
  20. Awesome write up Gar, I dub thee the Devilsaur King! /bow Thanks so much. The idea about trying to tame this bad boy has crossed my mind and now I think I’ll give it a go!

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Krillz Cancel reply