New Mechanical Hunter Pets on Alcaz Island in Patch 7.1

In patch 7.1, Alcaz Island in Dustwallow Marsh has turned into some kind of crazy robot island filled with deadly security bots, turrets, land mines, plus all of the evil gnomes who seemingly put them there. The place is a literal death trap. It begins with getting knocked off your flying mount with anti-aircraft fire as you approach the island, meaning you can only traverse this place on foot. The robots are easy enough to deal with (well, the non-elites anyway), but the turrets and hidden landmines will kill you in seconds.

Hidden deeper on the island are 4 new Mechanical Hunter pets. Remember that you’ll either need to be a gnome or goblin to tame these. If you’re not, you can get a Mecha-Bond Imprint Matrix from an Engineer or the AH:

• Model GU-4RD-3R (Green Mechanowolf)
• Copper Arachnodrone
• Silver Arachnodrone
• Gold Arachnodrone

In addition, there are new Hunter items that can drop from the robots on the island:

• Machine Fluid: Coats your pets (including Hati) in oil. It is consumed on use and disappears on death, but they are extremely easy to farm and stack to 200. Why this item? I think it’s a little bit of a throwback to the Oil-Stained Wolf (an old glitch tame pet). The effect isn’t identical, but it’s close, and you can use it on any pet. They can be sold and traded.
• Drudge Fluid: Similar to the oil, but yellow color instead. I believe this may only drop from Doctor Weavil, so it will be rarer.
• Electrified Key: Enables the activation of Arachnodrones so you can tame them. Has a chance to drop off Doctor Weavil. Actual chance isn’t known yet, but I’d estimate about 25% from my own experience.

Getting around the island

Note: If you get to the island and there’s no robots, it’s a phasing issue. Go to Zidormi outside Theramore and ask her to show you Theramore before it was destroyed. This should phase you properly.

You can’t fly on the island but you can fly as far as its border (then you’ll get knocked off your mount). I highly recommend Camouflage to move around the island and avoid being blown up by the turrets. If you’re BM spec, just temporarily switch to MM or SV to get the talent. Another option is using Cheetah and Aspect of the Turtle to run through the worst areas.

The map above shows the location of all the pets. The Arachnodrones can’t be attacked or tamed until you get an Electrified Key from Doctor Weavil. The green mechanowolf is in the same building as Weavil.

Taming the Green Mechanowolf

Let’s start with the easiest, Model GU-4RD-3R, found in Doctor Weavil’s main building. This is a pretty simple tame. Attack him until his health drops below 30%, then begin your tame. I’d advise using Aspect of the Turtle during the tame since he can hit pretty hard. Respawn time is around 5 minutes.

For those keeping track, this brings the total number of mechanowolf colors to 4: blue, green, black, and red. You can see details on the others in my Wowhead guide.

Taming the Arachnodrones

Next is the Arachnodrones. Keep killing Doctor Weavil until he drops a Electrified Key for you. It may take a few kills as the drop chance is not 100%. Respawn time is about 5 minutes. Since it’s not a rare/vignette mob, I’m guessing a max of 5 people can tag at a time.

Here comes the hard part. Weavil isn’t so simple to kill by yourself. He has a couple of abilities that will kill you fast if you’re not paying attention. If you’re not very geared yet, you may need some assistance to get him down (he has about 40 million health).

• Move your pet to the far corner of the room and tank Weavil there. Now make sure you stand in the opposite corner near the stairs (but don’t get too close to the stairs or you’ll aggro the dog). This range is necessary to avoid the damage component of Mind Shatter.
• Every 15 sec or so, Weavil will cast Drudge Bolt Volley which deals damage to everyone and adds a stack of Drudge Sludge. After reaching 10 stacks, you will die instantly (and so will your pet). You can avoid letting it stack to 10 by using Aspect of the Turtle to block one of the volleys. This should let the debuff fall off and reset. This means your pet is likely to reach 10 stacks, so be prepared to quickly resurrect it.
• Use Exhilaration and healing potions to heal through the volleys. Keep your pet topped with Mend Pet.

Once you get an Electrified Key, head to the Arachnodrone of your choice, go up to melee range and use it. This will make it attackable. Now you must get it below 30% health before you can tame. The important thing here is to watch out for the Maximum Repair cast. You must interrupt this with Counter Shot or else the Arachnodrone will heal to full health. Once its below 30% health, quickly dismiss your pet, pop Turtle, and begin taming.

• The Copper Arachnodrone is found outside of a building on the northern part of the island. It’s surrounded by robots which you can cleave down. Keep an eye out for the security bot patrols. You may want to drag it behind the building so you can DPS in peace.
• The Silver Arachnodrone  is located underground in a prison cell. The entrance to the prison is just outside Weavil’s building. Go inside, head forward and turn right. Then dive in the water and swim up to the other side. There are lots of robots to kill along the way.
• The Gold Arachnodrone is located on the southern end of the island inside the watch tower. This is the toughest one to get to because outside are two elite security bots and inside the tower is a turret. The best way to do this one is to run inside with Aspect of the Turtle, and feign death right beside the turret up the stairs. Have your pets wake up from Play Dead and attack the turret before you stand up. The turret does almost no damage to your pet, but will kill you in a few hits. Kill the turret then begin with the Arachnodrone before it respawns.

You will need to acquire more keys if you want to tame the other colors.

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