How to Tame Degu (Red Spectral Porcupine)

As promised, I've written up some short guides on each of the new spectral porcupines that we'll be seeing in patch 5.2. As a quick overview - there are three spectral porcupines total, and they each have not only a unique look, but a unique way to tame them as well. These tames may remind you of the Molten Front/Mt. Hyjal taming challenges introduced in 4.2.

Each one of these beasts will have a buff called Strong Will when you first come upon them. The tooltip for this buff reads "Cannot be tamed until weakened". In order to weaken them to the point where they can be tamed you will need to dps them down to about 20% health. The thing is however, these pretties will two shot anyone that gets in their melee range. This is where your going to want to know a little more about what makes each of these beasts tick.

Degu, the red spectral porcupine, has an ability called Barbed Needle that will two-shot people with poison who attack her from too far a range. The spell tooltip reads a 15-50 yard range, so the goal with her is to try to always stay within 15 yards. It's also crucial not to let her get too close because she can also two-shot you with her melee hits. This particular tame requires keeping her at that "perfect" distance while dpsing her down until her Strong Will buff wears off.

Concussive Shot will be the most important tool in your box for this tame. Use it whenever it's off cooldown. Ice Trap will also come in very handy in slowing her down. I used Ice Trap and Snake Trap whenever they were up, and they certainly helped. Disengage can also be a lifesaver if you notice she is just about in melee range, but if you do use it make sure you run back toward her immediately! If you simply disengage and stay where you are you could end up getting hit by Barbed Needle. Moving forward toward her will get her to stop her Barbed Needle cast once you get within 15 yards. (Do note that Scatter Shot is completely ineffective against her.)

Degu patrolling along the canyon wall in Krasarang Wilds

The best place to kite her while dpsing her down is right along the canyon wall where she patrols. It's nice and straight, and you should encounter very few (if any) hostile mobs along that wall. I recommend using all of your cooldowns on her and don't forget to use Readiness so that you can utilize some of those cooldowns a second time. If things start to look bad I highly recommend using Feign Death to reset her. It takes far less time to bandage or eat than it does to run from the graveyard. Hopefully this will be fixed in the future, but currently your most likely to rez at one of the Valley of the Four Winds graveyards such as Halfhill if you die along the wall. I imagine this happens because although Degu is clearly in Krasarang Wilds, she is technically in Valley of the Four Winds. The zone doesn't change to Krasarang until you move a pretty decent distance from the wall.

I marked a red line on the map below to indicate where she can be found patrolling. ~

Here is a video below of a not-so-smooth tame where you can see me getting hit by Barbed Needle a couple of times (I used Exhilaration and then a health pot to regain my health after each hit). I even fracked up the actual tame as well by moving, causing Deterrence to end before tame beast could finish. Luckily tame beast finished before I got eaten for breakfast.