Ghamoo-ra

Ghamoo-ra is a giant turtle and the first boss most groups meet in Blackfathom Deeps. He lives on a small island in a flooded cavern, among smaller turtles that leave him to fight alone. His shell makes him slow to kill, but he has only one real attack.

Background

Blackfathom Deeps was once a temple of the moon goddess Elune on the coast of Ashenvale, drowned when The Sundering broke the continent. Turtles were among the few peaceful creatures left in its flooded halls.

The game's later Adventure Guide tells Ghamoo-ra's story: when the Twilight's Hammer cult arrived, its followers captured one of these giant turtles and tormented it for years, body and mind, until it went mad. They named it Ghamoo-ra and trained it to attack outsiders and guard their shrine to the Old Gods.

He roams the island in the middle of the Pool of Ask'ar, the large underwater lake in the second cavern of the dungeon. The other turtles around him are neutral and do not join the fight.

Abilities

• Trample: Ghamoo-ra stomps, hitting everyone close to him with his normal melee damage plus a little more. It is physical damage, so armor reduces it and shields can block it.

That is all he does.

Strategy

Ghamoo-ra is a patience fight. His armor is very high, so physical attacks do less to him than usual, and a group made mostly of melee characters will take a while. Casters do full damage.

• Clear the naga and other creatures near the island so nothing joins in.
• Pull him away from the neutral turtles to avoid hitting them by accident.
• The tank holds him while the rest of the group attacks. Melee players take some Trample damage; ranged players do not.

Hunters can tame Ghamoo-ra. Before patch 3.0.2, Warcraft Wiki notes, he was one of only two low-level instance turtles that could teach a hunter's pet Shell Shield.

Loot

[Tortoise Armor] is a rare mail chest with a large amount of armor and no other stats, a tank's piece for warriors and paladins. [Ghamoo-ra's Bind] is a cloth belt with Stamina and Intellect. His Turtle Meat is used in cooking.

Quests

No quest in patch 1.12 asks for Ghamoo-ra.

Trivia

• Ghamoo-ra's name is a nod to Gamera, the giant flying turtle of Japanese monster films, according to Warcraft Wiki.

Later history

Before release, in patch 0.9, he was changed from a rare spawn to a regular one. Cataclysm (patch 4.0.3a) gave him a new model and the spelling Ghamoo-Ra, and Warlords of Draenor (patch 6.0.2) removed the original version when the dungeon was redone. He returned with World of Warcraft Classic.

Sources

• Ghamoo-ra (Classic), Warcraft Wiki
• Pool of Ask'ar, Warcraft Wiki
• WoWDB loot data for patch 1.12