Legion’s Beast Mastery Hunter Artifact quest

Gnome Hunters are going to be the next big (small?) thing in Legion. As a Gnome player myself, I did the only thing I could: I jumped into the alpha, made a new Hunter, and set out to acquire an Artifact — alongside a pet that was larger than I was. And, as if having one massive wolf at my side wasn’t enough, I decided to chase after Titanstrike, the weapon of choice for Legion’s Beast Masters.

It was a long, strange trip, but in the end I emerged victorious, ready to take on the Legion with a brand new weapon and a pair of trained attack wolves at my side. If you want to see just what the Titanstrike quest holds in store, I’ll walk you through it below (in thoroughly Gnomish fashion), complete with a gallery of the quest screens for those of you who want to read every detail. (And if you don’t want Gnomish narration, just scroll through the full quest gallery at the top of the post.)

And, if it’s not already obvious, there are Legion spoilers below. If you’re avoiding spoilers, don’t click on.

If you want all the details with a full set of quest screenshots. click through the gallery below. You can click on any image to see it in a larger size.

[envira-gallery id=”34641″]

Prefer a shorter walkthrough? Go through my impressions below.

The beginning of most of Legion‘s artifact quests is fairly similar. You log on and you get an urgent request to speak to someone related to your class — sometimes they’ll be characters you already know, and other times they’ll be all new. Emmarel Shadewarden hasn’t appeared in any previous WoW lore, but she’s looking for powerful Hunters to help fight the Legion.

Going on a quest for a strange Night Elf you’ve never met and who won’t tell you who she is or what organization she represents? Seems harmless! Let’s do it!

She directs us to talk to three people around Dalaran, each of whom have a lead on a different Artifact. But since I’m going Beast Mastery, I want to talk to Grif Wildheart. He’s not a new character, but unless you play a Dwarf Hunter (and have a long memory) you’ve probably forgotten him: he’s a Hunter trainer in Dun Morogh. Oh, yeah, and the last time we saw him he was level 12.

Fortunately, he’s leveled up for Legion, though he still seems to be honing his pet-taming skills. Grif’s been working with Brann Bronzebeard, and they think they’ve found Titanstrike. Apparently, though, Bronzebeard has something more important to do than recover a powerful artifact infused with the power of storms, because he doesn’t show up in this quest.

Which is fine, because everyone you run into seems to assume that Grif is Bronzebeard anyway — having both of them with you would probably just get confusing.

Adventure is out there! (In Stormheim.)

In Stormheim, we befriend… sort of… Prustaga, a Vrykul who wants to get rid of the Legion and is willing to help us break into this tomb to retrieve Titanstrike. Well, we’re going to need allies to fight the Legion, so we may as well start now.

After fighting your way into the heart of the tomb, Grif breaks out a gadget from Bronzebeard to help you locate Titanstrike. Surprise! It summons a robotic minion of Mimiron, and though Grif isn’t exactly glad to see him, Mimiron’s just the one we need: he designed Titanstrike and is as interested in recovering it as we are.

You didn’t think you could just walk up and grab Titanstrike, did you? Because you can’t.

CURSE YOUR SUDDEN BUT INEVITABLE BETRAYAL! Our former Vrykul friend stuns us all and claims Titanstrike for herself. I’m sure none of you saw that coming.

But you still have Mimiron on your side. He teleports you to his workshop and sets to tracking down Prustaga and Titanstrike. Unfortunately, during the process there is a “minor case of total system failure.” Engineering is like that.

Yep, it’s time to press the big red button labeled “DO NOT PUSH THIS BUTTON.” It’s apparently been reprogrammed since the last time I was in Ulduar, because this time it did not ruin my day.

The chase is back on! (And, huh, doesn’t that vehicle look familiar?) Your destination is the Temple of Storms, where Titanstrike was created — and where Prustaga intends to unmake it and take its power for herself. I’m pretty sure that would ruin my day.

Thorim and his wolf Hati are at the throne and more than happy to slaughter Vrykul with “one of the mortals who freed us from the grip of the Old God.” Cue epic Hunter fight scene.

We win and I get Hati as a second pet? So long as you overlook the part where Hati very nearly died in the process, this is awesome.

Now I have Titanstrike and a lightning wolf. I’m officially dual-wielding pets.

Apparently Emmarel is only willing to explain her secret Hunter club to people who have super rare weapons. So elitist.

Emmarel asks me to swear an oath to the Unseen Path without actually telling me what kind of oath I’m taking. I really suspect I’m being asked to join a cult at this point. Sure, Rexxar’s here, but so is Nesingwary (who I’m pretty sure wouldn’t manage to hunt anything without an army of leveling players to quest for him) — they apparently let anyone in.

But since they want me to lead their Hunter cult, maybe it will all work out. Can I start by getting rid of Nesingwary? No?

For Gnomeregan!