World of Warcraft: The Collector’s Bounty, Explained

As part of the run-up to patch 11.2, Blizzard is closing out Season 2 of World of Warcraft: The War Within with a couple of special events. One of them is a buff called Collector’s Bounty which is aimed at transmog collectors and mount farmers. Here’s what you might want to know before you jump in.

There’s been some confusion about how Collector’s Bounty works. It was implemented on July 1 after the weekly reset, but took a couple of hours to kick in. Its effects were initially invisible. Now every character who logs into a modern TWW server will receive Collector’s Bounty on entry into the world.

While this buff persists, bosses in every dungeon and raid instance in “legacy content” (any expansion before Dragonflight), drops double the normal loot. In dungeons, this typically means four to six items, while raid bosses can drop up to 12 depending on the raid’s difficulty setting. Anecdotally, it also seems as if dungeon monsters have a greater chance to drop green- and blue-quality items.

This is a great opportunity to hunt down any transmogrification items you’ve been missing. (Personally, I use the AllTheThings add-on to track my collection, which is why my tooltips are slightly longer than usual).

Further, several specific items, such as rare mounts and legendary weapons, have a +5 percent chance to drop during Collector’s Bounty. This is 10 times their usual drop rate, and some obsessed players have been trying to get them for actual calendar years. Maybe now’s their chance.

Specific items affected by Collector’s Bounty include:

Classic

• Deathcharger’s Reins, Lord Rivendare, Stratholme
• Bindings of the Windseeker, Baron Geddon and Garr, Molten Core
• Red Qiraji Resonating Crystal, a trash drop in Temple of Ahn’Qiraj

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Burning Crusade

• Fiery Warhorse’s Reins, Attumen the Huntsman, Karazhan
• Ashes of Al’ar, Kael’thas Sunstrider, Tempest Keep
• Reins of the Raven Lord, Anzu, Sethekk Halls
• Swift White Hawkstrider, Kael’thas Sunstrider, Magister’s Terrace
• Thori’dal, the Stars’ Fury, Kil’jaeden, Sunwell Plateau

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Wrath of the Lich King

• Reins of the Azure Drake, Malygos, 10-man Eye of Eternity
• Reins of the Blue Drake, Malygos, 25-man Eye of Eternity
• Reins of the Grand Black War Mammoth, any boss in the Vault of Archaevon
• Reins of the Blue Proto-Drake, Skadi the Ruthless, Utgarde Pinnacle
• Mimiron’s Head, Yogg-Saron with 0 Keepers’ help, Ulduar
• Reins of the Onyxian Drake, Onyxia, Onyxia’s Lair
• Invincible’s Reins, the Lich King, 25-man heroic Icecrown Citadel

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Cataclysm

• Reins of the Drake of the North Wind, Altarius, Vortex Pinnacle
• Reins of the Drake of the South Wind, Al’Akir, Throne of the Four Winds
• Reins of the Vitreous Stone Drake, Slabhide, Stonecore
• Armored Razzashi Raptor, Bloodlord Mandokir, Zul’Gurub
• Swift Zulian Panther, High Priestess Kilnara, Zul’Gurub
• Flametalon of Alysrazor, Alysrazor, Firelands
• Smoldering Egg of Millagazor, Ragnaros, Firelands
• Experiment 12-B, Ultraxion, Dragon Soul
• Reins of the Blazing Drake, Madness of Deathwing, Dragon Soul
• Life-Binder’s Handmaiden, Madness of Deathwing, heroic Dragon Soul

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Mists of Pandaria

• Reins of the Astral Cloud Serpent, Elegon, Mogu’shan Vaults
• Spawn of Horridon, Horridon, Throne of Thunder
• Clutch of Ji-Kun, Ji-Kun, Throne of Thunder
• Kor’kron Juggernaut, Garrosh Hellscream, mythic Siege of Orgrimmar

Note: While not specifically affected by Collector’s Bounty, SoO has a few secret transmogrification items as boss drops, such as the Kor’kron Dark Shaman set and Mannoroth’s Tusks, that should be easier to farm now.

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Warlords of Draenor

• Ironhoof Destroyer, Blackhand, mythic Blackrock Foundry
• Felsteel Annihilator, Archimonde, mythic Hellfire Citadel

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Legion

• Living Infernal Core, Gul’dan, Nighthold
• Fiendish Hellfire Core, Gul’dan, mythic Nighthold
• Golden Hearthstone Card, Gul’dan, mythic Nighthold
• Midnight’s Eternal Reins, Attumen the Huntsman, Return to Karazhan
• Abyss Worm, Mistress Sassz’ine, Tomb of Sargeras
• Antoran Charhound, F’harg, Antorus
• Shackled Ur’zul, Argus the Unmaker, Antorus

In addition, keep an eye out for two high-demand cosmetic weapon drops from Antorus. Aggramar’s flaming sword Taeshalach has been a popular transmogrification option since Legion came out, and Argus has a low chance to drop his scythe.

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Battle for Azeroth

• Sharkbait’s Favorite Crackers, Harlan Sweete, mythic Freehold
• Mummified Raptor Skull, King Dazar, mythic King’s Rest
• Underrot Crawg Harness, Unbound Abomination, mythic Underrot
• G.M.O.D., High Tinker Mekkatorque, Battle for Dazar’lor
• Glacial Tidestorm, Jaina Proudmoore, mythic Battle for Dazar’lor
• Ny’alotha Allseer, N’Zoth the Corruptor, Ny’alotha

While anyone in Champion-track TWW gear or better should blast through most BfA content like it isn’t there, this is also where raid encounter design can get a bit tricky. For example, the Stormwall Blockade encounter in Dazar’lor has an instant kill built into it if you don’t interrupt Catastrophic Tides in time. (If you’re a warlock, make sure your felhunter is out.)

The entrance to Ny’alotha can appear in either Uldum or the Vale of Eternal Blossoms depending on where the Black Empire is attacking in a given week. You can solo N’Zoth these days without the old BfA legendary cloak, but at current TWW gear levels, you cannot simply burst N’Zoth hard enough to ignore his central mechanics. You’ll need to enter his Mindgates and reclaim your Severed Consciousness or you’ll simply drop dead.

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Shadowlands

• Marrowfang’s Reins, Nalthor the Rimebinder, mythic Necrotic Wake
• Cartel Master’s Gearglider, So’leah, Tazavesh
• Sanctum Gloomcharger’s Reins, The Nine, Sanctum of Domination
• Vengeance’s Reins, Sylvanas Windrunner, mythic Sanctum of Domination
• Fractal Cypher of the Zereth Overseer, The Jailer, mythic Sepulcher of the First Ones

While there are a couple of ways to reach various parts of the Shadowlands without having to go through its introductory sequence, you’ll typically end up out of phase with most of the features and characters. To get into places like the Maw or Zereth Mortis on a new character, you’ll need to start their introductory quests by talking to the Knights of Ebon Blade in either Stormwind or Orgrimmar.

Like BfA, there are a few different bosses in Shadowlands with instant-kill gimmicks, particularly in mythic raids. While none of them have the firepower to really bother a level 80 character, given the stat inflation between this expansion and TWW, a few have abilities that can seriously ruin a solo raider’s day. Particular offenders here include the Jailer’s mind control, Soulrender Dormazain’s Warmonger Shackles, and Artificer Xy’mox’s Stasis Traps. Keep an eye on your dungeon journal.

At time of writing, So’leah is also difficult to beat solo, as her dungeon gimmick gives her a massive damage reduction bonus that you can’t dispel without a team. You can either autoattack her for 10 minutes, bring friends, or use a level 80 monk’s Touch of Death to bypass her shields and drop her in one hit.

Collector’s Bounty in World of Warcraft is currently planned to last until July 28.

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