So as I mentioned previously about six hundred times I picked up a certain tanking axe over the weekend and found myself with the dilemma of having to quickly get my axe skill from 101 to the full 400 before the next raid.
A circumstance inflicted itself upon me back in TBC when I was jumping from sword to sword, until I eventually picked up the Cudgel of Consecration from Magister’s Terrace.
And no I did not raid back then, so no Hammer of Judgement for me. Or Amani Punisher for that matter.
I think I had the Crystalforged Sword for a long, long time. Like six months. I was using that thing in Kara! Then, when I finally replaced it, I had the Cudgel for about two weeks, until I had accumulated enough arena points for the Merciless Gladiator’s Gavel.
But I ramble. My point being it was annoying enough going from having the full sword weapon skill to needing mace skill. Now I had to level axe skill. Axes! What kind of paladin tanks with an axe?!
To make this process as painless as possible I needed a very specific kind of mob to grind. It had to be numerous, melee only, high level, and weakly damaging.
And success, I found one: the Captive Vrykul (and his lazy cousin, the Exhausted Vrykul).
These guys are great. They’re all over the place in the Brunnhildar Mine, they don’t hit that hard, and they only have melee attacks. I just swung away at them with Seal of Light up, so any damage they did cause was easily recovered by seal procs. Because they’re level 79 or so, you’ll be able to grind them all the way to 399 (or 400 if you’re a glutton for punishment and have three days to work on that last point).
After reading your post, I’ve suddenly got the desire to level my unarmed skill…. =P
Saw you over on the Welcome Wagon =) Great blog you’ve got here! Also, I hear that you live in Boston? I do as well! I’m over on the Cambridge side of the river though =)
Thank you for the kind words! I don’t live in the city itself, I’m actually in Medford, haha. Close enough right? It’s easier to say Boston because mostly everyone knows where that is, not many know Medford.
Nice post. I saw it on WoW Insider and thought back to a prevoius Big Bear Butt post I saw that used the ghost-like Dire Maul mobs to afk/grind your weapon skill. I don’t know if it’s technically “cheating” but I love the set it and forget it technique.
A even better tip is to go buy a low level gray weapon of the same type from IF or SW. Then go pick on the level 77-78 Grove Walkers that roam around under Dalaran in Crystalsong Forest.
You’ll be doing minimal damage with you level 8 weapon, getting healed by using Seal of Light and best of all, the Grove Walkers heal themselves! You can beat on the same mob for like 20 minutes.
There are mobs in Dire Maul North behind the king that aggro but do not fight back and are also unkillable. Took me about an hour to max out a few weapon skills. A pain to get to, but you can afk while skilling up for free.
Or you can just go to the blasted lands and attack this guy:
http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=7666
He won’t actually die if you aren’t on the quest to kill him.
I’ve got an even better suggestion – Dr. Boom! You’re mostly immune to his attacks (fire damage), and the attacks that do cause damage can be eaily healed through. Just beat the &$%# out of him until you hit 400 skill on each weapon. Easy as pie. I’ve done this in ret and prot specs. Someday, they will kill the ability to skill up on Dr. Boom, so do it sooner rather than later.
http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=11446
Nuff said.
I know of an easier way to level any weapon skill… Just run Dire Maul North and edge around the king without killing him to get to the Gordok Spirits behind him (http://www.wowhead.com/?npc=11446).
You can just set yourself up to be AFK until you hit max.
Seriously, druids don’t -get- unarmed skill because we’re always in a form. Why slap like the female lead in a horror movie when you can Bear out and maul their faces? Yeah. I totally maxed unarmed last week. ^^
Great post. This is my first time at your blog; I was directed here by wow insider. I play a Holy Pally and was just pointed to the Vrykul yesterday as a good mob to grind. I dread the day I find an ax or sword better than my current mace. Also they seem to have a high drop rate for the relics you can turn in for Sons of Holdir rep.
P.S. I also live in Medford. Small world, huh?
Haha nice, that’s the exact same spot I arrived at when leveling my weapon skills.
Mob level doesn’t matter when leveling weapon skill!
Alternately, go to Crystalsong Forest and find the wandering ents (non-elite) that cast a Rejuvenation on themselves, while using a level 1-10sh gray weapon of your choice. Seal of Light for yourself and the endless health the ent has due to its self-heal keeps you going and going.
Thats a great tip! I know how you feel. I have used a 2-handed mace ever since I got Oathkeeper back when I first hit 68. (Oathkeeper > Thunder > Deep Thunder > Stormherald > Saronite Mindcrusher > TS Destroyer > Demise)
Imagine my horror when I equipped the Claymore of Ancient Power. It had been so long since I had to deal with weapon skill that it actually took me a pull or two to figure out why I suddenly sucked. I went out the next day and leveled my 2hand swords all the way up only to have Death’s Bite drop the next week. I kid you not, my two-hand axe skill was at 17.
I discovered something that pairs well with your method. Go to Ironforge (or the capital of your choice) and find the lowest DPS, fastest hitting weapon you can. Fast speed means more hits. Low damage means more hits before you have to find another one.
Just a side note: Keep your maxed weapon on your action bar somewhere in case you get jumped… dirty horde. no offense intended.
@sassy et al.: I wish I knew about that mob that would have been so much easier!
@Zalandris: Great idea! Although I play on a pvp server, so it may not be the best idea to be afk out in the open while wielding a gray weapon, haha.
@Mitawa: Haha, good point.
@Coopthar: Crazy small world!
@Lykka: Right, I just meant that the higher level the mob is the longer you can go before you eventually kill it.
@Michah: None taken :P
Ive found that the tree people right below dalarn are better… they are high levels 78-79 and they heal them selves so set your self to fight them and go make a sandwich
I just went and wailed on Stockades mobs. Elites, so they have lots of hp (relatively), big time wusses so they can’t hurt me, and their otherwise-annoying tendency to flee just means they bring back more fodder for the beatings.
Grab a white weapon from either dalaran or the weapon’s vendors spread across outland, while the dps is higher from these weapons. Their weapon speeds are very low. (Generally below 2.0, even for two-handers) http://www.wowhead.com/?item=30752 etc
There’s an even better route to go than Vrykuls. Just under Dal are several elemental trees that heal themselves and hit like kittens… Weak [check!], Longevity [check!], Decent Spawn rate [check!] you’ve found your perfect mob. You’d do yourself well to buy a cheapie gray with a fast attack speed to handle the task at hand.
CmdrLucky
Duskwood
An even easier way is to go into North Dire Maul and don’t kill the King, surrounding the king’s room are ogre spirits that have 1hp, never die, and don’t attack back. You can go in, start your axe or unarmed attack, go watch a movie, and come back to 400 skill. I leveled all my skills this way.