Ain't no rest for the wicked

Happy post-thanksgiving to everyone, hope your turkey-day was good, let's get down to it.

MMO-Champion has graced us with even more information on the legendary Shadowmourne, check out this video on the weapon and it's effects:

Pretty spiffy effect, nice to let everybody know what your toting around, as if the BIG BLUE GLOWING AXE OF DOOM wasn't enough of a tip-off.

More interesting to those though who are waiting for their appetites to be sated by 3.3's release is the consolidation of information on the illustrious quest line to accompany chopper. As with any pre-release information on a site, it's subject to change, but we can go over it a bit. Those that were wondering what the price of entry on legendary piece of loot was, we've got answer of friendly reputation with the Ashen Verdict, 25 Primordial Saronite, and what they're reporting as quest items from Festergut and Rotface, the first two abomination bosses in the plague / unholy / construct / green wing of Icecrown. Of course it goes on to require more boss items from each of the end bosses of each wing, which limits the first possible siting of this beauty to the 3rd gate unlock. We also still don't have an exact spot of when we take up Shadow's Edge in our crusade to create this monster, which is a very formidable piece on it's own.

Might as well take a step back to mention that Icecrown is one of the greatest culminations of epic weapons to occur in the game. Public enemy number one holds Frostmourne, while the valiant verdict has employed the purified Ashbringer, and amongst the raiders we'll have Quel'Delar (a sister blade to Onyxia's Quel'Serrar) and soon Shadowmourne in the ranks as well. It's a lot for lore nerds to geek out about, and if your invested at all in the story, check out some of the links.

For those looking to get a head start on what's going to be the hardest raid this expansion, take a hop on over to TankSpot some time. Spiritus has been compiling guides for bosses tested on the PTR's and has some rough strategies for bosses that are worth taking a look at.

P.S. Good song

The axe, the myth, the legend:

So they've datamined Shadowmourne's legendary version off the PTR, here is what we have in all it's glory:

Shadowmourne

Binds when picked up

Unique

Axe

Two-Hand

Speed 3.70

954 - 1592 Damage

(344.1 damage per second)

+198 Stamina

+223 Strength

Red Socket

Red Socket

Red Socket

Socket Bonus: +8 Strength

Classes: Warrior, Paladin, Death Knight

Durability 145 / 145

Requires Level 80

Item Level 284

Equip: Improves critical strike rating by 114.

Equip: Increases your armor penetration rating by 114.

Your weapon swings have a chance to drain a Soul Fragment granting you 40 strength. When you have acquired 10 Soul Fragments you will unleash Chaos Bane, dealing 1900 to 2100 shadow damage split between all enemies within 8 yards.

Pretty much speaks for itself. This is the endgame of all endgame's for Plate DPS. The 3.7 Swing Speed ensures some beefy hits on all your instant attacks. The red slots scream "socket me with dps gems" And the unique proc is now better than ever. The undead clause is gone, and a straight strength gain for each shard is just godly good. You don't even have to ask who gets the weapon as it's slapped right on there for reminder. It's not a hunter stat-stick, it's not the rebirth of Enhancement 2h, this is strictly a plate 2 hander. That of course brings up the question of it'll work as a tanking axe for the Death Knight community.

You can look at the stats and see that yes, everything you need to tank with is on there: Strength for parry, a great chunk of stam, slow swing speed to avoid parry gibbing, gem slots for what have you. So yes, it'll work as a tank weapon. It is a supreme waste to use it as such though. Raid members who dps at the top of their game and have the talents to maximize the effectiveness of the weapon is what this thing is for. The armor pen on the weapon speaks more usefulness to Warriors more than Death Knights and Paladins, but armor pen is still a dps increase for all the classes listed above.

In short, give it to your highest plate dps, where it's going to have the most usage.

Of course, we're still not entirely sure how you "give" this weapon, as starting details of the quest have yet to be unveiled. We know that you you'll end up turning Arthas' old hammer into the progenitor of the legend, but what starts the quest has yet to be determined.

Another interesting note with the quest for the legendary axe is that parts of the quest line, at least on the ptr, have noted acquiring certain elements from ending bosses of each wing of Icecrown. Coupled with the delayed lockout that was recently announced, don't expect to see this baby in the hands of hardcore raiders until after quite some time.

P.S. I ever see anybody socket this thing with an AP gem, I will hunt you down!