How to tame spirit beast Aradan in World of Warcraft: The War Within

Spirit beast Aradan in World of Warcraft: The War Within takes a few more steps to tame than most hunter pets in the game. Hunters are always searching for new pets to tame and use in combat and fortunately there's a shiny new one in the expansion: a bright blue electrified gryphon named Aradan.

Spirit beasts are especially important pets. While they're only available to hunters with the Beast Mastery specialization, they're also the critters those hunters will use almost all of the time they play in PVE combat, thanks to their special abilities.

So far The War Within only has a single new spirit beast: Aradan, a beautiful blue stormrook/gryphon with lightning effects. But getting him is a bit tricky, requiring some travel and a dungeon detour.

Everything you need to do to tame Aradan is below but here's a quick list of the steps:

1. Reach level 70 as a Beast Mastery hunter
2. Dive deep into the ocean northwest of Dornogal (29, 36) and loot the Void-Scarred Stormhammer
3. Bring the hammer to The Rookery dungeon
4. Kill the Kyrioss boss and jump down the pit
5. Turn left and walk up the stairs, past the neutral enemies
6. Right-click the Void-Scarred Stormhammer and wait for Aradan to land

How to tame spirit beast Aradan in The War Within

First, make sure that you're level 70, have The War Within expansion and are in Beast Mastery specialization, since you can't tame spirit beasts in any other spec. Next, you'll need an item sunk at the bottom of the ocean, the Void-Scarred Stormhammer (a nifty Warhammer 40,000 reference).

Find it off the coast of Storm's Watch, northwest of the capital city of Dornogal. It looks like it should be in a fatigue zone, but is not - it's a long dive, though! It's a lootable item lying on the sea floor at coordinates 29.0, 36.2 in the Isle of Dorn, and looks like a traditional dwarvish hammer.

Once you've obtained the hammer, you can take a group into The Rookery dungeon in Dornogal on any difficulty, or simply queue for a Follower Dungeon run using the Looking for Group tool. You don't need to complete the dungeon, so you're better off using followers or friends rather than abandoning a group.

Kill Kyrioss, the first stormrook boss in the dungeon, as usual, and jump down using the feathers as you typically would, until you get to the bottom of the pit with the other rooks on ledges. You would normally start killing the enemies to the right as you come out of that area at the bottom. Instead, turn left, walking through the neutral mobs and up the stairs until you emerge on an open balcony.

You'll see a gryphon labeled Aradan flying, making lazy circles off in the distance, and he's friendly to you. Right-click the Void-Scarred Stormhammer in your bags and you'll assume a heroic pose, holding it aloft for him to see. He'll circle down to you and land, now neutral, so that you can tame him.

Aradan has a number of subtle variations in his beak and his head feathers, and you can tame all five different looks by running the dungeon multiple times. The hammer is not consumed on use, which means you can also use it to help hunter friends. Or tame a matching pair to use with your Animal Companion two-pet talent - they'll even do the pretty gryphon bow/curtsy in unison. Enjoy your new spirit beast!