Victorie's Compendium of Dragon Slaying delves into the mysterious world of Azeroth's most infamous creature: the Dragon. From whelps to wyrms, from the lowly to the legendary, this compilation explores all dragonkin. Find the dragons' lairs, explore their lore, and learn how to slay them!

The Green Whelp (Dreaming Whelp and Adolescent Whelp)

The youngest of the green whelps are the Dreaming Whelps and Adolescent Whelps.

Lair: The young green whelps frolic in the southeastern corner of the Swamp of Sorrows, in front of Itharius' Cave. You can find older green whelps in the Sunken Temple and Blackwing Lair, as well as undead green whelps on Bloodmyst Isle, but those whelps are covered separate from this page.

Level: 34-36 (Swamp of Sorrows)

Looks: The green whelp is a bright, emerald green with a long snout and tiny, fluttering wings. Their scales are highly prized, and when used by a skilled leatherworker, can create strong armor with a stun ability.

Lore: The Emerald Dragonflight values their young highly, which is why you'll often find older green dragons near their whelps. And, sure enough, the flock of green whelps in the southwestern corner of the Swamp of Sorrows are overseen by Itharius, consort to Ysera (the green Dragon Aspect), brother to Eranikus, and ambassador to The Wyrmrest Accord. Itharius watches over the young from a cave at the rear perimeter of the swamp and is visible to adventurers in his high-elf form. It is also important to note that while most members of the Emerald Dragonflight are in the Emerald Dream, many of their young you see about Azeroth have yet to enter it and are uncontaminated. It is not clear whether the Dreaming Whelps or Adolescent Whelps are originally from the Emerald Dream, but as they can have a speck of dream dust on them, it leads one to believe they have entered the Emerald Dream already. That could explain why they are so hostile, as green whelps in general are more likely to flee than fight when engaged.

Lessons from the Longsword: Both the Dreaming Whelps and the Adolescent Whelps have a nasty Acid Spit ability which has a long, 40-yard range and does considerable nature damage (84 to 112). You can run but not hide from the green whelp's spit! They do have a three-second cast on their ability, however, so there is time to interrupt it if you have any technique to do so. In addition, the Dreaming Whelp can use its Sleep ability at up to 30 yards to stun you for up to 20 seconds -- this is a very big deal as you cannot move or otherwise attack for quite a while. The biggest problem with the green whelps here may be their proximity to one another and large wandering radius, making it easy to anger nearby whelps. You can quickly find yourself surrounded by them if you aren't careful. Note also that two Swamp Jaguars are in the area in the whelps and are eager to attack you as well.

How I Did It: As a rogue, I had to watch the trajectory of their paths carefully so I could stealth and single them out alone, ambushing them from behind when they were well away from their cousins. Beyond that, I simply used my Kick ability to interrupt their spell-casting, particularly when I saw them cast Sleep. Note that I really wasn't able to take these dragons down on my own with any sort of decent survival rate until I was at least 32.

Note to Humans: Keep your Every Man For Himself racial ability on your action bar so you can remove the movement-impairing Sleep spell if cast on you by a Dreaming Whelp.

Loot: First and foremost, the Dreaming Whelp and Adolescent Whelps can drop a Speck of Dream Dust if you are on the Dream Dust in the Swamps quest where Krazek in Booty Bay sends you to gather 10 specks (he wants it for his snuff pouch!). The Dreaming Whelp also crops Green Whelp Blood, needed for a Horde-only quest called Nothing But The Truth in which Apothecary Faustin at Beggar's Haunt needs it to make a serum. So be sure to pick up one or both quests before you arrive, depending on your faction. Beyond these quest items, the green whelps drop the usual dragon detritus -- small flame sac, brittle dragon bone, ripped wing webbing, large fang, and wicked claws. You may also get gems (Jade, Citrine, Lesser Moonstone) and gree items such as Conjurer's Shoes and Nightsky Gloves. And, last but not least, both the Dreaming Whelp and Adolescent Whelp have a very small chance to drop the Tiny Emerald Whelpling pet (more on that below).

Learnings: Here are some tidbits I picked up while slaying the green whelps:

- These whelps are nearly always being slain by other adventurers, either because they are on a quest to do so or they are hoping to get a Tiny Emerald Whelpling. Keep this in mind and be patient if you find many here before you. More experienced heroes are advised to allow younger adventurers an opportunity to slay whelps so they may complete their quests.

- Skinners can skin the Green Whelp Scale from both the Dreaming Whelp and Adolescent Whelp. The scales can then be turned into Green Whelp Armor and Green Whelp Bracers by leatherworkers, or into an skinning enchant for gloves by enchanters.

- The Tiny Emerald Whelpling is highly sought after, but extremely hard to get. Despite the fact that both the Dreaming Whelp and Adolescent Whelp now have a chance to drop the whelpling pet, the drop rate is estimated to be about 1 in 1000. And as there are only 12 whelps in the area at any given time, you can see how this could present a big challenge. Once dead, a new whelp will take its place (re-spawn) in about 5 minutes. A low-level can make the circuit and be able to continuously kill whelps, but a higher-level player will blow through the whelps then need to wait 2-3 minutes for the re-spawn. One adventurer I know, a fiesty warlock named Angellika Fleetwood, levelled from 32 to 40 just on these green whelps alone ... and did NOT get a Tiny Emerald Whelpling to drop. It's considered to be the toughest of the whelpling pets because of the low number of whelps available to slay. If you really want one of these pets, I suggest you either:

A. Come out to the swamp and level on them in the mid-30s and hope you get lucky -- if not, return on a higher-level for an hour or two each day to avoid burnout.

-or-

B. Become very good at your chosen profession, earn lots of gold at it, and BUY the Tiny Emerald Whelpling from the Auction House (expect to pay at least 1000 gold). Let someone else do the boring grindwork!