Getting The Upgraded iLevel 365 Loot From Hallow’s End 2011

It’s been speculated since Patch 4.1 that there are changes in store for this year’s Hallow’s End which begins Tuesday, October 18th. Like all other in-game holidays, Hallow’s End will finally function off of a currency system, allowing you to purchase items you haven’t had much luck getting in the past. There’s also speculation that this year’s post-Cataclysm holiday may focus on a conflict between Gilneas and the Undercity.

Personally I think this is more a convenience change than anything else. Because Southshore is no longer under Alliance control, it makes sense to have the Alliance hub closer to the Undercity, allowing both sides to complete their respective faction quests.

I admit I’m not big on in-game holidays. I will likely do the trick or treating portion on some alts for the XP, but my main interest in this holiday lies in doing the Headless Horseman holiday boss. Last year saw players able to queue via the Dungeon Finder, receiving a bag of goodies once per day. This year the boss portion of the event appears relatively unchanged, except for an upgraded loot table with iLevel 365 rings, a weapon, and a plate helm.

iLevel 365 Loot Dropped By The Headless Horseman

Let’s talk about what you’re likely to see the most: Loot dropped by the boss himself. In case you’re not familiar with this new style of holiday bosses, you can queue using the Dungeon Finder and kill the boss with 4 other people. The boss will drop one item that can be rolled on and is subject to Need Before Greed rules.

In the case of the Headless Horseman, you’ll see four different types of rings: One for agility, one for strength, one for pure int, and one for int and spirit. These rings are on par with items you can get from Firelands dailies, and they make good fill-ins if you haven’t acquired a better ring from Valor Points or raiding just yet.

The Horseman will always drop a ring and you will always have the chance to roll on it unless you already have it in your inventory, meaning you can continue to run the Hallow’s End boss until you’ve got the ring you need.

Special Loot From The Loot-Filled Pumpkin

Once per day you are eligible to receive the Loot-Filled Pumpkin for killing the Headless Horseman. As long as you have space, it will automatically appear in your inventory. In it you will find Justice Points (though not a lot, if Brewfest is any indication…), likely some of the holiday’s currency, and commonly a Hallow’s End mask.

Two items you need for the meta achievement can drop from the pumpkins: The Sinister Squashling pet and the Hallowed Helm. The chance of getting these is pretty decent, but if for some reason you don’t find them you will likely be able to purchase them from a holiday vendor.

Rarely you can find two 365-updated epics: The Horseman’s Sinister Saber and the Horseman’s Horrific Helm, an agility sword and plate helm respectively. According to the PTR, both are somewhat poorly itemized but they’re not bad items if you don’t have anything from this tier of content. Most people collect them for the on use effects, anyway: The sword summons pumpkin warriors and the helm lets out the Horseman’s cackle.

How Rare Are The Horseman’s Reins?

The Horseman’s mount is one of the most coveted rare mounts still available to players. For a long time it was one of the only mounts that could be used on the ground and in the air. It’s a great model, too, looking almost like the warlock’s fiery steed, and similar only to Attumen’s mount from Karazhan.

But last year we saw something very strange: The Horseman’s Reins wasn’t all that rare of a drop. I ended up getting 3 on different characters last year (of course not on the one that collects mounts!) and I know several people who had similar luck. While this could be a strange coincidence, I think the droprate was increased. Whether that was a glitch in the Loot-Filled Pumpkin remains to be seen.

If you want to get your hands on this mount, your best possible chance is to have multiple 85s and queue on each of them once a day. Even as a DPS you can typically get into a holiday boss in 10 minutes or less, with about 5 minutes spent on the kill itself. If you’re a tank or healer, the whole process can take less than 10 minutes total; sometimes even less than 5.

The Reins are BoP so whoever you loot them on is who they’ll stay on – this also means you’ll end up having to destroy them if you already have the mount – but at least with several 85s you have a very good shot of getting the mount on one of your characters. With 14 chances per character, the odds are in your favor.