See my Patch 4.2 Rare Pet Briefing Post for an updated guide on how to tame Skarr & Karkin, as well as the other 8 Patch 4.2 Taming Challenge pets.
There have been two more rare beasts spotted in the Molten Front. Thanks to lawman’s tip, I happened upon some valuable pet info over at the Petopia forums.
Neither of these two new pets are exotic, so hunters of all specs will be able to tame them. One is ferocity and the other is tenacity. Both of them, as far as I know for right now, have unique skins — and badass ones at that. 😉
Hold on to your hats folks, because these two pets are both pretty awesome…
Skarr
Skarr is a rare cat found on various floating rocks throughout Fireplume Peak. Skarr possesses the same gem model as Blackmaw, an NPC pet who cannot be tamed. This particular skin has been very popular ever since it was first discovered. I first remember BigRedKitty pointing it out on his blog a few years back, then thinking… oh yea, I want that!
Skarr doesn’t seem to be one of the taming challenges in 4.2, and apparently his taming process is pretty easy. Based on screenshots I’ve seen, it appears you can freeze him using Trap Launcher*, then tame from a distance without having to jump to his island. This may change however, so if you do have to be on his island to attack him, then know that he can hit pretty hard. His hits start out soft, then increase in damage with each subsequent hit. From what I’ve read, he gains buff stacks with each successful melee attack — maxing at about 36K damage at 5 stacks.
* Freezing Traps no longer work on him.
Either way, I imagine you could just freeze him instantly once you land on his island. The real trick to taming him will be getting the opportunity without a half-dozen other hunters there competing for him.
Skarr spawns on Fireplume Peak atop random floating rocks – how many possible spots, I don’t know. I do know this though… Skarr is going to be very popular amongst hunters. Prepare to have some competition for this bad boy.
Skarr Video Preview
Disregard the mention of him being trappable in the video. Skarr is now immune to freezing Traps. Anyway… here’s a sneak peek at this amazing new cat.
Skarr can still be tamed from a neighboring ledge it seems, but is no longer trappable. The trick is to survive his fire attack. A Core Hound’s Ancient Hysteria + Potion of Speed + Deterrence should get it done.
Karkin
Karkin is a rare gem-skinned crab who spawns in the same areas as Skarr. He can cast a fire attack from range, but is also trappable just like Skarr.
I’m not sure if Karkin alternates with Skarr on the same spawn timer. It’s too early to say for sure, but I’d imagine that’s the case. Regardless, I imagine they will be equally as desired, with Skarr maybe having a slight edge due to cats being a popular DPS/raiding pet, not to mention there are more cat lovers than crab lovers. 😉
Karkin would make for a nice steely PvP companion though… 🙂
As of 06/28, Skarr and Karkin are both tamable using the strat I outlined below the Skarr video above.
Where to find Skarr and Karkin
This map indicates one verified spawn location for Karkin. Since it’s believed that he and Skarr both share the same spawn points, I imagine Skarr will spawn her as well.
Expect that there will be additional spawn locations uncovered in the near future. I’ll try to post more of them as they are found.
Good luck to those of you hunting for them on the PTR!
For a comprehensive taming guide for all 10 rares in Patch 4.2, please see this post. Happy Hunting!
Both Skarr and Karkin’s Piroclastic barrage will stack and interupt tame, cast tame, then break tame and fire silencing shot once you see they are attempting to cast Piroclastic Barrage, cast deterrence and tame again. If you have the haste buff from jumping from the floating rocks onto Fireplume ridge then you can tame both in about 2-3 sec. if not it’ll take 4-5 and it will be close but you should still get them.
I tamed the crab this morning. All you have to do is cast tame beast when you have the buff from jumping over to the island. no annoying tame,silence, tame, and hope you make it…just the buff is just fine…i forgot what its called but its the purple one not the red one. =) happy hunting. Im still waiting on my kitty….
I got him 1st time while was checking up on my cat… Silencing shot then tame – easy as Welsh girls. Took me 20 sec to get him.
That Red spider next to him – that is a hard arse to tame…
LoL! just tamed skarr using arcane torrent to inturrupt the fieroclastic barrage! 1st thing I saw was you had to inturrupt that because no matter what i did his cast was always about .1 sec longer than my deterrance and he will recast each time you attempt to tame him so inturrupting your 1st tame then popping deterrance didn’t work either since he just recasts it. All in all looked like i was going to have to get silencing shot. Didn’t want to waste time going to respec to MM so decided hmm wonder if arcane torrent will work eh worth a try, so popped out my lil ol core hound for hysteria popped it dismissed pet, started using some wicked mario brothers island hopping skills (keep in mind i was eating fireballs before i was in range) got in range for an arcane torrent started taming instantly used arcane torrent hit deterrance began taming and bam! So confirmed blood elves can tame without silencing shot.
If you get to them quick enough with the haste buff from the winds, the tame is nearly insta-cast. No need for anything else. They don’t even get a hit off.
Hey guys just as an update for these two, it is much easier to tame them by having a dk come in and use strangulate when they do their big hit then using a macro (shown below) to tame. And keep trying, it took me a few times just to get Karkin and 5 to get Skarr so don’t give up!!
macro to tame
/cast Deterrence
/cast Tame Beast
Skarr tamed on Eldre’thalas at 2:39 am realm time on Dec. 11, 2011
Karkin tamed on Eldre’thalas at 6:42 pm realm time on Dec. 09, 2011
lol i mean dec. 10 not 11
also i have confirmed that they both share a 6 hour spawn timer and that only one is up at a time. also if you find skarr and tame him kirkin might not pop up next skarr could appear again or vice virsa
I don’t know a whole lot about these pets, but I’m a BM hunter who just regularly tamed Karkin without a trap or buff of any sort about a week ago on my first visit to the Firelands. I think he threw one or two fireballs at me but was tamed before he could throw another. I don’t believe I went below 50% health–if I did, it wasn’t by much!
I have yet to tame Skarr, but Karkin was not much of a challenge. I was ecstatic to have tamed him! He has a big red jewel in his back that Skarr doesn’t.
One thing to notice when seeking out these challenge tames in general is the piles of skeletons surrounding them. You can tell if you have competition that way–good luck!
Ok,here’s what’s happened,lastnight 18/09/11 @ 1:30am NZ time 11:30server time im in Hyjal,and obviously being a hunter im looking for rare’s i dont know if im a lucky S.O.B
but i had Karkin spawn at this time as i log feeling like i’ve just won the lotto because of this tame,i once again wake up @ 6:25am once again looking for rare’s and to my surprise im again confronted with karkin staring right at me,the point im trying to make is this,5hr’s later he again appeared,if this should be used as a spring board for his spawn time then just know guy’s, i’ve seen him 3 time’s within this timeframe, i’ve worked out that as soon as you Tame or maybe even kill these rare pet’s other’s have spawned,i got 6 rare’s in that 1 day, all this took place in Dath’remar realm oceanic server,happy hunting…
Yeah I tamed Karkin about 11 pm server and seen consistantly respawns of him around 6 hrs for the next two days on the third day I logged in after 6 hours to check for skarr to find out a guild mate had tamed him 4 hrs earlier….no idea why he spawned off time but me thinks Blizz loves to play with our minds so I blame them
Actualy in my country we write mm-dd-yy aka 25/9 11
First of all, lying is spelled as I just showed you.
Second of all, in Europe, and several other areas of the world, the date format is dd-mm-yyyy
I TAMED SKARR THIS MORNING ,25/7/2011 AT 06.35 SERVER TIME AND KARKIN ABOUT A WEEK BEFORE AT AROUND ABOUT THE SAME TIME. USED TAME, AND THEN WHEN HE USES HIS SPECIAL ATTACK USE SILENCE,THEN DETERRENCE AND THEN TAME AGAIN SAME TACTICS FOR BOTH.THERE IS A 12 HOUR RE-SPAWN TIME. HOPE THIS HELPS
Don’t be silly due. You’re lieing. There are only 12 Months in a year, not 25.
First of all, lying is spelled as I just showed you.
Second of all, in Europe, and several other areas of the world, the date format is dd-mm-yyyy
This info is tentatively accurate. I think they actually share a spawn time of six hours and they trade off spawning. They don’t spawn on the dot, though. If this info is true, we might see Skarr and Karkin spawning ontop of each other.
You guys seriously have no idea what you’re talking about all you have to do is use your scare beast ability and tame him..there you go..Happy hunting =)
^Are you mildly retarded? They’re both immune to fear. Get in the know about wtf you’re saying before slagging others off. KTHXBYE.
I dont get this, it shows a map where their spawn point is… But the picture of Skarr sitting there on one of the rocks is further northwest. what gives??
Kahrgrun,
Look at the newest post about these two, as well as the other 8 pets, for more accurate info.
https://huntsmanslodge.com/9868/a-briefing-on-the-rare-pets-in-patch-4-2/
do a fake tame (it will force him to cast fireball barrage, I think that’s the name? the regular fireball he casts does not interrupt your taming, but if you interrupt his regular fireball it does not lock his fireball barrage.), when he casts barrage, silence shot it, immediately start taming, you should end the cast before the next barrage skarr casts hits you.
I got crab and Skarr with around 1,3k haste unbuffed. doing this method.
They immune traps and kill u in about 2 hits, they’re fireballs and fireball barage or w/e are both silenceable… Skarr might stll be able to be traped i dont kno.
no he cant be traped its best take healer with ya very easy that way i keep dieing til my friend cam heal me threw it much easyier
I loved these pets! i rlly wanna be 85 quick to tame’em
Just a small update, old strats don’t work. They are tough now =)