Gahz'ranka

Gahz'ranka is a giant hydra hidden in the waters of Zul'Gurub, an optional boss who only appears when a player fishes him up. Summoning him takes a special lure loaded with fish caught from pools inside the raid, and the fight that follows is spent dodging geysers that throw players high into the air. He was the first boss in the game to be summoned by fishing.

Background

Gahz'ranka is a great hydra, much like Gahz'rilla, the hydra that players summon in Zul'Farrak. He lurks off a small spit of land inside Zul'Gurub, across the water from the temple where Hakkar the Soulflayer waits. The place is named Pagle's Pointe after the famous fisherman Nat Pagle, whose abandoned camp is still there.

Summoning Gahz'ranka

The raid needs a [Mudskunk Lure] and five [Zulian Mudskunk]. The mudskunks are fished from pools of Muddy Churning Waters around the Altar of the Blood God; fishing them takes at least 330 skill. The lure is sold by Nat Pagle, but only after a player finds [Nat's Measuring Tape] in the abandoned camp at Pagle's Pointe and returns it to him in Dustwallow Marsh with Nat's Measuring Tape. Both items can also be bought on the auction house, so a raid doesn't need a fisherman of its own.

Using the lure at the water's edge of Pagle's Pointe summons Gahz'ranka. He can only be summoned once per lockout; if the raid wipes, he's gone until the instance resets.

Abilities

• Frost Breath: a frost breath in a cone that also drains mana and slows.
• Gahz'ranka Slam: damages players around him and knocks them back.
• Massive Geyser: a geyser that hurls every player in range into the air and greatly reduces their threat. Over land, the fall can be deadly.
• Thrash: extra attacks on the tank.

Strategy

Raids chose between fighting in the water and on land. In the water, nobody takes fall damage from the geyser, so raids cleared the fish in the moat below Pagle's Pointe, tanked him in the middle of it, and kept everyone within geyser range so his threat reset evenly. Hunters had to fight in melee range in this version, since their minimum range put them outside the geyser and Gahz'ranka would turn on them.

Other raids fought on land, on Pagle's Pointe or near the huts above it. Tanks wedged him into a corner of the point, melee stood with their backs to the hillside, and ranged players and healers stood on the slope where the boss could reach them without getting stuck. With two tanks trading him as each was thrown, the fight was easy. Either way it costs a lot of mana, and raids brought potions.

Loot

Drop chances are from our database (patch 1.12).

Gahz'ranka's loot is a joke on fishing. The [Nat Pagle's Fish Terminator] is a staff with strength and stamina, inscribed "Fishin's fer sissies -Nat Pagle". The [Nat Pagle's Broken Reel] is a trinket that raises the chance to hit with spells, inscribed "Fer really long castin'." The [Foror's Eyepatch] is a leather helmet for melee, the [Tigule's Harpoon] a polearm, and the [[forever:item:22739]] teaches mages to turn enemies into turtles. He also drops fish, bags of gems and crates.

Trivia

• Gahz'ranka was the first of two raid bosses summoned by fishing. The second was the Lurker Below in Serpentshrine Cavern, in The Burning Crusade.
• He was removed with the rest of the Zul'Gurub raid in patch 4.0.3a.

Sources

• Gahz'ranka - Warcraft Wiki
• Zul'Gurub (Classic) - Warcraft Wiki