Illusionary Tactics: Dartol's Rod of Transformation

This time, I'll be looking at Dartol's Rod of Transformation, a perennial favorite of my guild. I've written about this item before, but it's been a while, and it's perfect for this column, so I'm giving it some more air time.
What does it do? It turns you into a furbolg for three minutes, with a one-minute cooldown. Unlike many disguises, you can still fight while in furby form, although the form is removed if you are damaged, so it's possible (and I've seen it done) to furbolg-heal and furbolg-ranged-DPS. Just right-click the item in your inventory to activate.
How do you get it? This item is Alliance-only, and you have to be at least level 18 to get the quests (though it might be hard to complete at this level). It comes from a Night Elf quest chain, and the trick, as with many neat items and perks, is not to complete the chain, since doing that destroys your Rod. The quest chain, and all the quests in it, is known as Raene's Cleansing; all the action takes place in Ashenvale. Let me walk you through it (caution: spoilers).
- Go talk to Raene Wolfrunner in Ashenvale and get the quest "Raene's Cleansing." She will send you to go find Teronis, a buddy of hers who was looking for a way to get the furbolgs not to attack so much.
- Unfortunately, you will find the corpse of Teronis, evidently mauled by murlocs, at 20,42, on an island in Lake Falathim. Turn in the quest at the corpse and get the follow-up, which asks you to find the gem he was looking for.
- The Glowing Gem drops from the murlocs right around the lake, so go nuts and kill some fish-people. Wowhead gives the drop rate on the gem as 7%, so on average you'll have to kill about 14 of them (but of course you could always get lucky or unlucky).
- Once you get the Gem, head back to Raene in Astranaar to deliver the bad news. Get the follow-up.
- Raene sends you to go see the dryad Shael'dryn at a moonwell east of Astranaar (54,46). Go there, turn in the quest, and get the follow-up.
- Now we'll be forming the rod itself. The first thing we need is the Wooden Key to open the chest the next piece of the rod is in. The key is carried by treants up north by Felwood, with their hilarious death animation. Go cut them down until they give you the key; the chest is at located up at 54,35. Get the rod from the chest and go back to Shael'dryn. Turn in the quest and get the follow-up.
- Time to get another piece of this wonderful rod! This time, you have to go kill Rotting Slimes in southeast Ashenvale. Some of the slimes will spawn a chest when you kill them, and the Pommel is in that chest. Get the Pommel and head back to Shael'dryn. Turn in, get follow-up.
- Now we have the fully pieced-together rod, but unfortunately it seems to have lost its mojo, so you need to bring it to a shrine to re-enchant it. The shrine is located up a path that starts a 55,51 and leads to the shrine at 56,49. Click on the shrine once you find it and turn in the quest to energize your rod. Don't get the follow-up quest.
That's it! You now have a fully armed and operational Dartol's Rod of Transformation. You can do a few more steps in the quest line without destroying it if you want, but be careful not to go too far -- don't do the last quest in the chain. If you do want to go further in the chain, of course, do get the follow-up from the shrine.
Unfortunately, some of us weren't really thinking ahead during the leveling process, and did complete this entire quest chain, thus removing forever our ability to turn into furbolgs. Oh well.
What would you like to see next time on Illusionary Tactics? Do you have a favorite disguise? Let me know in the comments.
Filed under: Alliance, Items, How-tos, Walkthroughs, Features, Guides, Illusionary Tactics






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Autumnbear May 27th 2008 7:10PM
They should really give us the ability to keep this Rod after completing the quest chain. As a Horde player, I find it slightly unfair that we do not have any quests like this one at all.
Well, there's a few disguise quests in Outland, but that's it. Nothing as cool as turning into a Furbolg. ~_~
Procris May 27th 2008 7:39PM
Well not to mention the quests to transform in outlands are zone specific, meaning it can't be used anywhere outside the zone and some like the blood elf quests have limited charges. This is pretty much the only quest item that can be used anywhere in the game. Its really imbal when you think about it.
Unfortunately i completed the quest on my alliance main so i'll never have the option of using the rod. I also play horde now, so another reason i can't use it.
Raidon May 27th 2008 7:21PM
No offense, but shouldn't this really be more of a breakfast topic?
Mike May 27th 2008 7:32PM
No offense, but shouldn't you avoid recycling posts? LOL
Xavian May 27th 2008 7:33PM
@2
I dunno...my Wheaties tasted extra championy whilst parusing the article. ;)
On topic, I even told myself I was going to keep the damn rod this time, but I wanted the rep. *sigh*
Kadamon May 27th 2008 7:42PM
The extra rep gained from completeing these quests just isn't worth it compared to the Rod I think.
I hit Revered with Darnassus on one of my older characters just Post-BC before I even got the rod at level 19, so it shouldn't make a difference.
That and one can actually go up and do Stonetalon Mountains. I hear there are NElf quests there...or somehting. I don't believe it though. >_>
*coughs something about just skipping the zone and going to Desolace for SM starter*
Starbeast May 27th 2008 10:20PM
Heh, dunno if your trying to be funny or not, but there are some night elf quests up there. There's also some Gnomeregan Exiles quests also. Just hope you love walking, cuz your gonna be doing alot of it.
orlic May 27th 2008 7:49PM
haha thats jsut weird, we (my GF and my best mate) all did this Q together this weekend
2 tips, if u want to see the weapons out right click somthing (best a rabbit or somthing)
AND it stacks witht he shrinking effect of noggenfogger :D
check linked pic :D
http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l180/greenjellyshoes/WoWScrnShot_052508_232218.jpg
Dan May 28th 2008 12:34PM
Or you could just hit the 'z' key on the keyboard to unsheathe and weapon swap....
syrensilly May 27th 2008 7:48PM
If only I had known then what I know now ;( My druid has lost a form forever.
Unagieater May 27th 2008 7:57PM
Is there an equivalent to this Horde side? Not Furbolg but something else? I don't think there is, but... If so what is it?
zappo May 28th 2008 9:11AM
Theres a few things that are cross faction like the ogre suit, the item that transforms you into a Arakkoa and such.
One thing I like to use (that's horde only) is the rotten apple from the Nathanos' Ruse quest. It transforms you into a scarlet crusader but only works in the western plaguelands. All scarlets in the zone however are then friendly to you which can be fun. I was on my mount standing in the road when that patrol of scarlet elites walks by. A night elf hunter walks by thinking the must be non hostile and gets totally owned by them. :) After using 5 charges you can abandon the quest, then go back and pick up another apple.
Zeplar May 27th 2008 8:17PM
Ogre suit from Dire Maul... that's horde+alliance.
MisterGrok May 27th 2008 8:58PM
Can you keep the item if you abandon the quest?
Eliah Hecht May 27th 2008 8:59PM
I'm pretty sure a semi-recent patch changed it so that if you abandon a quest, you destroy the associated item. Solution: turn in the quest and just don't take the follow-up quest. This will work as long as you're not on the last quest in the chain.
Keidric May 27th 2008 9:59PM
It would be nice if the Grizzlemaw, in Grizzly Hills (WotLK) would allow something like this for Horde.
Weirderbeard May 27th 2008 11:44PM
So if you're an engineer, and use the Transporters/Rippers (area 52, tosley's, gadget, ws) and get the "Transporter Malfunction" debuff that turns you into another race, you can use the Rod of Transformation to change into another race after the furb buff fades or you right click it.
As a gnome warlock normally, I look pretty silly as a tauren/NE/troll/etc.
Thanks Dartol!
Sirg May 28th 2008 1:41AM
This is one of my favourite perks in WoW. To bad the developers didn't think about a furbolg elixir, like Noggen's, after you complete the chain.
Besides, it's sad that the furbolg has so few animations. It can't dance, it stays still while casting, and doesn't animate any emotes, except it does /kneel. However it's very funny to have, even though you can't fight much in this form, even if you have a shield, like manashield.
I hope Blizzard will improve the furbolg models soon.
This is a must have for Alliance. I tried it in heroics and Karazhan, as a rogue, where is possible to fight alot without taking damage, and the best part about it is the oversized weapons and growls :D Try buying 2x [Club] from Northshire Abbey vendor for a complete timbermaw look :D
batgrl May 28th 2008 2:18AM
Just in case it might be helpful - I have a blog post with images of maps to help in this quest. One of the reasons that not everyone bothers to finish this quest is that they don't realize it's the furblog quest and also that some of the locations are a pain to hunt down.
http://hooha.org/BlogDetail.php?pg=4
Sl0th May 28th 2008 2:25AM
I love this thing. I have it on 3 or 4 of my characters. Only reason one or two of them went to Ashenvale aside from passing through it to get somewhere else was to pick up this rod.
It should be noted... If you want to squeeze a bit more xp out of the chain and still get the rod, you can, as the author of the post said. Further, you can get the rod back if you abandon the chain and destroy the rod. See, there's a point in the chain where the followup quest comes only from a hostile furbolg (The whole reason for the disguise.) So say you were to "accidentally" abandon the chain after moving to the furbolg's quests or "accidentally" delete the rod any time after its powered up. Oh no. Angry bear man wants to maul my face off, not accept my quest turn in. Here's what you to and how you can now keep the rod forever without holding on to the quest. Walk back to Raene Wolfrunner, and she'll have an option now that says "I lost my rod" or something to that effect. Use it, and she'll give you the rod back, good as new.
This is also good for some day when you're going through your pack cleaning it and want to free up a spot and delete the rod (I wouldn't do so myself, but someone might.) You can always get the rod back again. I should note that I don't know at what point that option actually becomes available, but I'd assume any time after you activate the rod. I do know you can get it back at any point after you're returned with the rod to get Raene's next link in the quest chain.