Rare mobs will make you... jump, jump! Takk the Leaper

It's been a good while since I feature a rarespawn that was more than a curisosity, so I figured today would be a good day to present another semi-famous one. Today's rarespawn is part of a group of old world rarespawn raptors found in several zones of Kalimdor, connected through something I will talk about at the tail end of this review. So then, on with the show.

Glimpses of Azeroth presents Takk the Leaper:



(No, I didn't race change. It was halloween, and Melisandra was in a pirate costume!)

Who is Takk and where can I find it?

Takk the Leaper is an elite rare mob raptor found in the Barrens, on Kalimdor.



Takk is found on and near the ridge in the northern Barrens close to the Sludge Fen. It roams around a bit, wandering on a small patrol path. Takk can appear in several spots, including under the large tree pictured above, right at the slope down towards Durotar. Takk is easily distinguishable from any other raptor in the Barrens by his dark grey coloration, which is very eye-catching!



Worthy of a hunter

Takk is a quite popular rarespawn to seek out and tame for hunters. It is only level 19 and not elite, making it accessible early. Furthermore, Takk has a special dark grey raptor skin shared with only two other kinds of raptors in the game. The first are deviate raptors within the Wailing Caverns, and the second are Gundrak raptors in Zul'drak.



Once, Takk had a very fast movement speed when tamed, and was thus a choice pet for many hunter stables. He could chase down enemies rapidly, a very handy trait in PvP. After the pet normalization, however, Takk has the same movement speed as any pet. However, because of this, should you want to have this color of raptor but don't want to take the time to hunt Takk down, you can grab a deviate stalker from the Wailing Caverns at anytime. These are not elite, while Takk is one, so should be easier to tame as well. Still, finding and taming a rarespawn is a reward in itself for me, as I love the thrill of the hunt. As usual, for more information on raptors as pets, consult Petopia, a brilliant resource site.



For non-hunters, slaying Takk is an easy business. While Takk is an elite, the only special ability of the raptor is a charge. It may cause some trouble for a melee character, but a ranged class should be fine. There is no special reward for slaying Takk (anymore, see below!) apart from the standard green-quality item.

Lore section

Takk is an interesting case. Due to the coloration shared with the corrupted raptors in the Wailing Caverns, one can speculate that it is another beast touched by the strange, nightmarish powers emanating from Naralex's sleep. However, Takk dwells quite far from the Caverns, and there are documented cases of raptors of this color elsewhere. Mayhap Takk is simply a rare color variation, naturally occuring. Interestingly it has been reported that Takk drops both intact raptor horns and a raptor head for two separate Barrens quests, meaning Takk seems to be a fairly normal raptor apart from its color.



The really interesting thing about Takk, of course, is that Blizzard chose to immortalize this rarespawn in the form of a non-combat pet - the Leaping Hatchling. Resembling a miniature Takk with a special "leaping" idle animation, this pet was implemented in Wrath of the Lich King. At first, the pet dropped from Takk itself, meaning that the rarespawn was suddenly under constant siege by people wanting the pet and farmers wanting to sell it. After a short while, however, this was changed so that the pet is instead obstained from a clickable item called "Takk's nest". The nest can be found in the same area as Takk, but is on a wholly independent spawn timer. Thus Takk can now live in relative peace again.



Does the presence of a nest and a hatchling mean Takk is a female? I have no idea! I have read nothing to indicate which gender cares for the nest among WoW raptors, and because of this lack of information I have gone with neutral pronouns this time.

Takk is one of those famous rarespawns, in their own way. Many hunters, especially Horde ones, can tell stories of hunting for this beast back in the day. And Takk is definently a good-looking creature to call your pet. Add to that the fact that Takk has a non-combat pet made in its honor, and you have another winner.

Until next time!

~Dragonshade