by JR Cook - 9 years ago     show comments

Exploring Draenor delves into the hidden places of the world that will one day become Outland. From the volcanic landscape of Frostfire to the gloomy dells of Shadowmoon, these articles are your guide to events that are off the beaten path.

Location: Spires of Arak

Task: Fight, kill, EVOLVE

Rewards: Plunderer’s Drill, Sentinel’s Wingblade, Glowing Morel, Stretchy Purple Pants

Not many people know that each Apexis Crystal daily area has one or more achievements associated with it. One of these areas, Lost Veil Anzu, is characterised by the intimidatingly-named but little-known King of the Monsters (KoM). Monster Mash can be completed at the same time.

Lost Veil Anzu lurks on the south-east border of the Spires of Arak: a swampy mess of moss and stagnant water, populated by Highmaul ogres, goblin explorers and parasites. All of these are crucial to getting those precious achievement points.

Credit towards KoM can only be gained while on the quests Assault on Lost Veil Anzu or Missive: Assault on Lost Veil Anzu, as that is the only time it is possible to turn into a Gluttonous Giant/Shadow Hulk. While transformed, you must kill five rare spawns – and they are really rare. These creatures won’t respawn five minutes after being killed, like other rares across Draenor – the respawn timer is more similar to NPCs from vanilla through Pandaria. Because of their rarity, I recommend only attempting this achievement when Lost Veil Anzu is not the daily area; instead, invest 200 Garrison Resources in a Scouting Missive: Lost Veil Anzu.

Entering the Veil will see one of the parasites inhabiting the area attach itself to your head, similarly to the octopus-like creatures in the deep parts of Vash’jir. These hovering beasties appear to be rather more benign, though – instead of murdering everyone, they just want you to kill things that they can eat and use to fuel evolution. Actually, perhaps ‘benign’ wasn’t the right word.

Kind of cute, in a brain-sucking way

As you kill creatures around the Veil, the parasite will prompt you to consume their corpses.

Goblins are fighting against each other and more parasites (Amorphic Cognitors) in the northern area; eating them will turn you into a Shadow Hulk, which focuses on physical damage; its abilities are Strike, Bull Rush, Smash and Leap. Avoid using Bull Rush in crowded areas, as it is very easy to pull additional mobs.

In the southern part of Lost Veil Anzu are the Highmaul ogres; some of these have been taken over by the Cognitors, while others remain free. Either type will give you credit towards becoming a Gluttonous Giant, which concentrates on area-effect damage using mushrooms. The Giant’s abilities are Spoiling Spores, Mushroom Growth, Mushroom Bloom and Fungal Pull.

The Spore-Laden Moss in the area will also count as credit towards whichever creature you are closer to evolving into.

Any similarity to a brain, living or dead, is purely coincidental

The Cognitor whispers to you as you plough your way through the goblins and ogres, in an extremely creepy way. It comments on the similarity between the parasites and the goblins (“These little ones are most curious, always so eager to explore, experiment, and learn. Much like us.”), and the poor choice the other Cognitors have made on choosing a mob that you kill (“Such a sad fate for our brother. Evolution’s circle is savage, not merciful.”). Evolution is a key theme with the creatures, which gained their intelligence from the moss itself (“Without the moss here our minds would rot away, leaving us shells of our true potential.”).

Is this moss related to the crystals that gave the Ogri’la ogres their intelligence in The Burning Crusade? Probably not directly – Frostfire and Gorgrond, where Blade’s Edge will eventually be, are far away from the coast of the Spires of Arak, and the materials are completely different – but the similarity is definitely there.

Once you have transformed, you will have three minutes to kill your chosen rare spawn – although you can simply take it to low health using your normal abilities, then change to deliver the killing blow. While transformed, your Assault progress will increase much faster, too, and once it is full your transformation is lost. Realistically, it is only possible to kill one rare spawn per day – unless you want to fly back to your garrison to accept the quest again every time you take down a rare.

Speaking of rares, what will you be facing? Starting at the north, the first creature will be the Shadow Hulk, which lurks in a cave behind a waterfall. Be careful with this one (its abilities are identical to your own while transformed), as going too far into the cave will cause your parasite to fly off and abandon you/drop your transformation.

The Shadow Hulk doesn’t spawn like a traditional rare, but rather evolves in the same way that you do. There are non-rare versions (Shadow Hulk and Enthralled Shadowdweller) in the cave, each with their own Cognitor. The Hulks fight each other, and when one has won several battles, it will turn into the rare NPC. Because of this, the Shadow Hulk will be up slightly more often than the other rare spawns required for the achievement.

Moving south, the Mecha Plunderer is a mini Iron Juggernaut; it will attack you with Drill, Sawblade and a Tail Laser, and even enter Siege Mode. The Plunderer is found on a small rise to the left when you enter Lost Veil Anzu from the north.

The Gluttonous Giant will be your next fight; it is usually located along the eastern wall of Lost Veil Anzu, just to the south of the shrine in the middle. The Giant shares abilities with the transformed counterpart, aside from Fungal Pull; instead, the NPC has Fungal Root.

The final two mobs – the Morphed Sentient (recently fixed so as not to despawn in combat) and Giga Sentinel – are both found in the ogre area. The Sentient is a fungal walker mob with Long Limbs and Beam, while the Giga Sentinel will attack with Smash, Optical Blast and Solar Pulse. Bringing the robot to 20% health will cause it to Self-Destruct – run away!

Image credit: Wowhead

Image credit: Wowhead

Taking out all five rare spawns will reward you with King of the Monsters – give yourself a pat on the back; Godzilla’s got nothing on you!