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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: I love Ashkandi
by Matthew Rossi 
Feb 13th 2012 at 8:00AM
Pretty much no weapon model in the history of World of Warcraft has affected me like Ashkandi, Greatsword of the Brotherhood has. To me, it's emblematic of all that I love about Warcraft's model design -- excessive, bold, imaginative and evocative.
From the moment my guild first started running Blackwing Lair, I wanted one. I ended up getting a Sulfuras instead, which is certainly a fine weapon in its own right, but as much as I liked Sulfuras, I always knew I was making the logical decision (take the one that drops first) over the one my heart wanted (wait for Ashkandi). Years passed. We moved out of BWL and into AQ, then Naxx, and then The Burning Crusade launched. No model could replace Ashkandi in my heart. The Gladiator sword, Despair, Cataclysm's Edge, Apolyon, The Lionheart Executioner -- all fine models, all solid weapons. None could take its place.
From the moment my guild first started running Blackwing Lair, I wanted one. I ended up getting a Sulfuras instead, which is certainly a fine weapon in its own right, but as much as I liked Sulfuras, I always knew I was making the logical decision (take the one that drops first) over the one my heart wanted (wait for Ashkandi). Years passed. We moved out of BWL and into AQ, then Naxx, and then The Burning Crusade launched. No model could replace Ashkandi in my heart. The Gladiator sword, Despair, Cataclysm's Edge, Apolyon, The Lionheart Executioner -- all fine models, all solid weapons. None could take its place.
Ashkandi became more than a weapon to me, a symbol for the game itself. The impracticality of the model only endeared it to me more, the narrow blade exploding outward past the ridiculously elaborate hilt. When Cataclysm launched and I heard that Nefarian would return and he would have a Reclaimed Ashkandi on his loot table, I was at first ecstatic and then demoralized. The Reclaimed is, well, far more practical. The blade isn't so ludicrously broad and long, the hilt looks strong enough to take the stress of use. In general, although you can clearly trace the line of descent between the weapons, the new Ashkandi didn't reach me. And so I returned again and again and again to Blackwing Lair over the course of the years I've played it, seeking Ashkandi.
Some people collect pets or mounts or both. Some love achievements or holidays and world events. Some people hoard all their old armor sets or weapons. For me, it's always been swords. I keep other weapon models, but I love swords, and for me, Ashkandi is the sword in World of Warcraft. Sure, there are other awesome swords, other swords with amazing lore, epic quest lines and big chunks of WoW history, and I love all those swords too. I kept my Quel'Serrar and still have it in my bank, not Void Storage, so I can take it out and use it whenever I want. I've got a Jin'rokh, an original OEB, a King's Defender and a Spiteblade, and countless other swords I love and use.
But for me, all these swords are like the knights in a king's court, there to provide context and reflected glory for the king. And the king is Ashkandi, and it always will be. Because I still remember the first time I saw it and said wow without a trace of self awareness or irony. I still remember that fresh wonder, reading the flavor text and realizing that this was Anduin Lothar's sword. The Brotherhood in question is the Brotherhood of the Horse.
I wouldn't be writing lore articles for this site if not for the interest in finding out who these people were that Ashkandi gave to me. It's more than a weapon to me. It is World of Warcraft. I don't know if anything has given me greater satisfaction in-game than being able to use this model, and frankly it's made transmogrification my favorite feature of the game, because I will be able to use Ashkandi forever. This sword deserves to be gripped in a fist, not dusty in a bank somewhere. As crazy as it sounds, this mass of pixels that anyone who kills Nefarian enough time can pick up is strangely personal to me. It's not a legendary, but that just makes it better in my eyes.
A legendary will always end up in the bank. Ashkandi is forever.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
Filed under: Paladin, Warrior, Breakfast Topics, Death Knight
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)
ravyncat Feb 13th 2012 9:35AM
I love your happy screenshot.
I love weapons too and collect them, though I can't say there is one weapon I love above all others. I am partial to strength polearms though and I hope they return as endgame weapons in MoP.
mibu.work1 Feb 13th 2012 10:03AM
I'm this way about bows. My greatest regret is never getting Zul'jin's bow, which has the perfect troll model that I've never seen since. Still, even that bow would not replace Rhok'Delar, Longbow of the Ancient Keepers, which is my transmog of choice these days. I earned it in the old days, and now I can see it again.
Swifteye Feb 13th 2012 10:13AM
Axe of the Tauren Chieftains.
I know, I know, I'm a lamewad for picking a weapon that is a) from the most recent patch, not been-an-icon-for-years, and b) so stupid-easy to get, just another "welfare epic" from heroics that are way too easy and cater to the accursed "casuals", blah blah blah.
I don't care. I love that axe. I've always thought 2-handed axes were the single coolest weapon type in the game (or any game, for that matter). The trappings on the haft, simultaneously simplistic and elegant, remind me VERY much of the description I came up with for my very first RP (D&D-type, not WoW RP) character's axe, a weapon that had HUGE emotional significance to her. And it's SO Tauren... and as we all know, the Tauren are hands-down the bestest race in the game by a country mile.
This axe alone has inspired me to level a female Tauren Warrior, Titan's Grip Fury-spec, and hope to goodness that I can always find a statistically-acceptable 2H axe in every future patch so that I can ALWAYS be dual-wielding this GORGEOUS weapon!
ravyncat Feb 13th 2012 10:28AM
I don't think it is stupid at all.
Like what you like. ^^
When it came out doesn't make it better or worse than someone else's favorite weapon.
Sansarya Feb 13th 2012 10:53AM
The Staff of Jordan dropped for me off a troll in Stranglethorn Vale in vanilla days. It was, without a doubt, the best drop I ever got because I hated Stranglethorn at the time (pvp server), I hated the trolls in Stranglethorn, and it was my first ever epic drop. I used it for many levels even though I'm an enhance shaman, and it still sits in my bank, brought out on special occasions.
RetPallyJil Feb 13th 2012 11:08AM
I felt the same way about Might of Menethil.
Two or three resets before REAL Naxx went bye-bye, it finally dropped. The whole raid knew I wanted it ... but then, some other people wanted it, too.
The tension!
The dice roll!
The ... 14 -_-
The sympathetic silence.
Fortunately, I had gold with me. A LOT of gold, for that time period. Word to the wise. 4100g in pre-Wrath prices can turn a 14 into a 100.
clundgren Feb 13th 2012 11:42AM
For me, it's The Untamed Blade. It looks iconic for paladins the way Ashkandi does for warriors.
Wiedmaier Feb 13th 2012 11:46AM
I was a level 32 priest, working my way through Scarlet Monestary, grinding through mobs, slogging through the leveling process, when my friend and now guild leader finally got her Benidiction. It was huge, radiating power, and it transformed into yet another, glorious form depending on what she needed. On top of all that, you had to be a damn good priest in order to get through the quest to get it.
I onlya mde it to level 41 when BC hit, but the day I held my own Benidiction was the best day I ever had as a priest. I had switched mains at Cata, but when I heard 4.3 was coming with the ability to wield Benidiction again, I leveled up fast, and actually outgeared my now previous main the first week after hitting 85. For someone who'd always been a causal player who only dipped his toes in raiding, watching Deathwing fall for the first time with my Benidiction on my back was an absolutly amazing thing.
Shinae Feb 13th 2012 11:50AM
Because my warrior has always been main-spec prot, I don't collect weapons so much as shields. It's hard to say which one is my favorite. It would probably be the Bulwark of Azzinoth if it'd ever drop for me. -_-
Ilmyrn Feb 13th 2012 12:19PM
For me, it's Destiny. Yes, the Vanilla BOE epic. It was the first epic I ever got, off a ghoul in Eastern Plaguelands. I carried that thing through Molten Core, Onyxia's Lair, and into Ahn'Quiraj and Blackwing Lair (Spoiler: It was really hard to talk raid leaders into giving Ret Paladins DPS weapons back in the day. Actually, come to think of it, I may have told my raid leader I was Holy and gambled that he'd never notice).
naixdra Feb 13th 2012 12:35PM
I collect shields on my paladin, many are great but I only actually wield two.
For Prot it is Neverending Winter, not because it looks so awesome (it does) but it came during an awesome time in the game for me. I was MT and Officer for my guild when were making progression in ICC. Sindragosa kept us in place for weeks, but the week I got Neverending Winter she dropped first try.
The second is the Royal Crest of Lorderon, I love the look of this shield. I love the size of this shield. I love the irony of bashing a human in the face with this shield. So I basically switch between two transmog sets for prot because I love these shields so much.
Sadly my guild merged with a larger one on the server, and I dropped into being a tank rather than the tank so my paladin fell a bit off the radar.
So I've started to collect swords on my DK, just need a sword to drop so I can DW Unbreakable Will =(
RetPallyJil Feb 13th 2012 2:39PM
I love the idea of running around with a wall-hanging as a shield. I don't even use my tank spec, and I have Royal Crest of Lordaeron.
It amuses me to think that Jil swiped it off a wall one day while raiding Undercity and jammed it under her cloak or something.
Hairydude24 Feb 13th 2012 1:31PM
Torn heart axe of battle from the cipher quest line in shadowmoon, that weap and the dk starter gear makes my dk look awesome.
Sinnerl Feb 13th 2012 2:53PM
I agree about the DK gear, that set is just perfect for that character
Andalvar Feb 13th 2012 12:47PM
The Flame Wrath is my favorite weapon in the whole game sadly I don't get to transmog it on my paladin because its a polearm but come on, it's a freaking trident ON FIRE. I always make sure to bring it out for the fire festival.
gavin.miller1984 Feb 13th 2012 3:22PM
Definitely agree with this 100%. Seeing Ashkandi for the first time from DnT I think it was way back then, when we were still on Razorgore, was insane. I fell in love from the moment I saw it. When I actually got mine I felt incredible. I felt like I had beat the game.
It was just a different time, when having stuff like that actually meant something and people would stand around you and oogle over your gear. Ashkandi was something that made people stand around you in Orgrimmar, for sure. It was truly a legendary weapon without having orange text. I really felt more accomplished with that than I did when I received my Sulfuras. It was insanely fun to go from Thunderfury/Ele Bulwark and full wrath, to Ashkandi and full r12-13 gear for PVP. Fun times.
DrPestilence Feb 13th 2012 3:26PM
That's how I feel about the facelifter
Stk5m Feb 13th 2012 4:57PM
I love the look of the Ginn-Su model and the fact that it sheaths to the back that makes it even cooler. I have a question regarding transmoging it's image. If I transmog my x2 Treachery's Bite will they then sheath to my back (which would be awesome) or just sit on my belt looking cool.
musicchan Feb 13th 2012 6:37PM
*shakes fist to the heavens* Curse you Rossiiii! I've been trying to get that sword for my paladin for years!
I mean, grats on your awesome weapon and I totally agree. With what, you ask? With EVERYTHING.
For my druid, there's been a few staves I really like. Shadow Wing Focus Staff is silly, but I love me some corn on the cob. Also, the Staff of Dominance is something I'm going to have to re-obtain. The lightning effect on it is really amazing. Subtle, but still awesome.
Evelinda Feb 13th 2012 11:24PM
Sunfury Bow of the Phoenix. It's so ironically blood elven, and my blood elf hunter was my main through all of bc. I think I've probably never wanted any item more. It would NEVER drop when i ran kara during bc, and any raid I missed, you better believe it dropped. I've begun soloing kara in the hopes that I'll finally get it, but no luck so far...