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 Red Whelp

Like the black dragon whelps in Redridge, red whelps are the youngest members of their brood and just as mischievous as you might expect. But unlike their darker cousins, you'll find more diversity among the red whelps -- in addition to the Red Whelp, you'll also find the Crimson Whelp, Flamesnorting Whelp, and Lost Whelp.

Lair: All varieties of the red whelp are located in the eastern Wetlands on Direforge Hill, just west of the entrance to Grim Batol. No doubt they've escaped the confines of the fortress for some fresh air and freedom. The older members of their brood (various elite level 60+ red dragonkin) lurk about Grim Batol, so adventurers are advised to stay away from the gates.

Level: 24-27

Looks: Red whelps are smallish and bright red, with immature wings that nonetheless keep them aloft. If you could get close enough to a red whelp, you would see that it's red scales appear to almost be in flame. Should you kill one, the small flame sac -- which I presume is what allows them to snort little flames of fire -- can be valuable to engineers, alchemists, and even cooks.

Lore: While some consider the red dragonflight to be wise -- even kind -- these annoying little whelps are anything but benevolent. The antagonistic, predatory ways of the red whelp appear to be related to the fate of Grim Batol and the secrets it harbors. From what I've heard, Grim Batol was once a dwarf stronghold, but later seized by orcs in the Second War. Among the nefarious purposes to which Grim Batol was put, the Horde captured and imprisoned Alexstrasza here, the Aspect of the Red Dragonlight. The orcs forced Alexstrasza to breed and produce red dragons for their orc dragonriders. You may wonder how they managed such a feat, as did I. From what I hear they used something called a Demon Soul to bind her, which was created by none other than Neltharion, Aspect of the Black Dragonflight, also known as Deathwing. In time, a powerful human mage named Rhonin came and freed Alexstrasza, who in turn proceeded to slaughter every orc she found. A caravan of orcs tried to escape from Grim Batol, but she incinerated them as they weasled out of the gates. You can still see the wreckage of their wagons in the Wetlands, which the little red whelps hover about angrily. I can't say I blame them for their fury in how their flight was abused, but that doesn't stop me from slaying them in cold blood.

Lessons from the Longsword: The biggest issue with slaying these whelps is how they flit about, making it easy to aggro two or even three despite appearing to be well spread out. There are also oozes interspersed with the whelps, and they like to sneak up on you, too. While all the red whelps have small melee swings (about 16-20 damage/swing), it's the fire damage that gets you. The Red Whelp has a Flame Lash ability, which reduces your fire resistance by 10 for 45 seconds -- interrupt this if you can, because it can bring you to your knees. The Crimson Whelp has Fire Shield II, which they surround themselves with to inflict you with 15 fire damage every three seconds. The Flamesnorting Whelp and Lost Whelp both have a 40-yard range fireball. In a group, these abilities are play off one another, so you can see how getting ganged up on by more than one whelp could cause even a skilled adventurer problems. Also be aware that the level of the whelp increases as you go further east. Shadow priests and warlocks should note that the Lost Whelp is immune to shadow damage (some also claim they they are immune to fire damage, but I can confirm that this is NOT the case).

How I Did It: I carefully pick off the whelps at the outer edges of the group, and kill them as quickly as possible to avoid getting the attention of more whelps. As a rogue, stealth and ambush are my friends. When I needed to make a hasty retreat, I ran back to the sanctuary of the Green Warner, a giant elemental in a field of flowers just west of the whelps.

Loot: The most well-known prize obtained from the red whelps is the Tiny Crimson Whelpling pet. I don't know what one would even do with their own whelpling -- perhaps they make a good snack for hunter pets? Regardless, adventurers seem to prize these pets, so don't be surprised if you see others out hunting them with you. Do note, however, that these pets are extremely rare -- I have yet to find one myself despite all the whelps I've slain. You're much more likely to get Small Claws, Sharp Claws, Ruined Dragonhide, and Small Flame Sacs, as well as gems such as Lesser Moonstone and Moss Agate. The red whelps also carry treasure such as the Dwarven Magestaff of the Owl and Lambient Scale Gloves, but they seem to have significantly less of this then, say, the black dragon whelps in Redridge. Plus, the whelps have coppers on them, anything from about 30 copper to 1 silver 10 copper.

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

- There are no quests associated with the red whelps, so anyone you see hunting them is either grinding for experience or (more likely) farming for the red whelp.

- Skinners can get Red Whelp Scales from these whelps. Use them to make the stylish Red Whelp Gloves, which have a 5% chance to explode in fire damage of 15-25 on a successful melee attack. Who wouldn't want flaming gloves? Just don't wear these gloves around Alexstrasza.

- Lost whelps do not have a chance to drop the Tiny Crimson Whelpling, unlike the other red whelps. They are, however, the only creature that drops Smoldering Gloves, for what it is worth. There's an old story that if you kill all the red whelps except the lost whelp you may be rewarded with a pet. While I think you should just kill 'em all, you could leave the Lost Whelps alone if you're just after the pet -- they do not seem to share spawn points with the other red whelps.

- There is no rare spawn among these red whelps.