The Orb of Deception is probably the first item I think of when I think about things that belong in this column. It's just so...deceptive!

What does it do? It makes you look like a member of the opposite faction, for five minutes on a 30-minute cooldown. The transformations are determined by your race and gender, and are as follows (thanks, Excorsism):

• Gnome Male ↔ Tauren Male
• Gnome Male ↔ Tauren Male
• Gnome Female ↔ Tauren Female
• Human Male ↔ Orc Male
• Human Female ↔ Orc Female
• Night Elf Male ↔ Undead Male
• Night Elf Female ↔ Undead Female
• Dwarf Male ↔ Troll Male
• Dwarf Female ↔ Troll Female
• Blood Elf Male ↔ Draenei Male
• Blood Elf Female ↔ Draenei Female

The model and armor of the character you transform into is always the same, and it looks like Scarlet Monastery-type stuff. Like other transformations, your real weapons are still displayed. This item is responsible for fooling me so many times – I'm not even joking. For instance, just a week or two ago I mis-identified the faction of a guild I was writing about, based on the fact that there were Tauren in the screenshot. Of course, those Tauren were merely deceptive gnomes.

How do you get it? This baby is a world-drop BoE, so it's going to be hard to farm for it specifically. Your best bet is probably to try and get it off the AH; according to WoWEcon the median sale price is 575g. Pretty hefty, but not so bad when you consider you'll probably keep this item forever.

There is one mob who has a relatively high chance to drop the Orb: Skarr the Unbreakable. Skarr is a level 58 rare elite ogre, and he appears in the free-for-all Dire Maul arena (which is outside the DM instances). He's probably soloable by a level 70. The way the spawn timers work on that arena is as follows:

• The spawn has an equal chance to be Skarr or the Razza, every time it comes up.
• Killing whoever it is starts a six-hour timer.
• When that timer elapses, either Skarr or Razza spawns again (randomly)

Razza has a 5% chance to drop the orb - not as good as Skarr, but it's something and probably makes him worth killing if he happens to be up when you're there.

Note that it is a free-for-all arena, so members of your own or the opposite faction could certainly try to kill you while you're trying to kill Skarr/Razza. However, I doubt it's that popular in this post-BC world of ours. Skarr has a 13% chance to drop the Orb, so you'll have to kill him eight five times on average, but you could always get (un-)lucky.

If you should happen to have an Orb that you want to get rid of (though I can't imagine why you would), the vendor price is 46s, or if you're an enchanter you can DE it into a Large Brilliant Shard.

Do you have any suggestions for items/quests that transform you? Let me know in the comments. Last week we looked at Dartol's Rod of Transformation, which turns you into a furbolg. I'm not sure anything can quite top that, but you're more than welcome to try.

Tags: boe, costume, disguise, disguises, orb-of-deception

Filed under: Items, Features, Factions, Illusionary Tactics