Sons of Hodir and You: A Complete Guide

Sons of Hodir represents one of the most difficult factions in Northrend for which to gain reputation. For one, they don't have a tabard, so you can't "champion" them in your dives into the dungeons of the icy north. Second, merely getting to neutral requires you to slog through a good portion of the quests in Storm Peaks. However, recent patches have brought the Sons of Hodir Commendation Badges that grant 500 reputation. Needless to say, with patch 3.3 bringing even more value to this faction for your alts, you'll have to get at least one of your characters to exalted to reap the benefits that this faction has to offer.

Getting Started

First things first, you're going to want to find good ol' Gretchen Fizzlespark and accept the quest entitled "They Took Our Men!" (Before doing so, a fresh level 80 will begin as "Unfriendly") These quests will start you down the path to neutral status with the faction. If you're starting from the beginning, make sure to loot the Slag Covered Metal from the Stormforged Iron Giants for the quest "The Refiner's Fire" while doing the quest "Mending Fences". Turning in the latter quest will grant you a whopping 22,000 reputation and allow you to open several daily quests.

Relics of Ulduar and Everfrost Chips

The easiest way to gain reputation with the Sons of Hodir is to collect and turn in Relics of Ulduar. These items drop from a ton of different humanoid or elemental mobs throughout Storm Peaks and within any of the Ulduar instances. Gather 10 of these and turn them in for the repeatable quest "Hodir's Tribute" to Lillehoff for 250 reputation.

A more difficult way to gather reputation is to gather Everfrost Chips. The chips will randomly spawn throughout the Valley of Ancient Winters, Thunderfall, Dun Niffelem, and Frostfield Lake. A complete and thorough guide to collecting these rare and hard-to-find items is outside the scope of this primer, so I'll point you in the direction of some insightful tips on how to find them. Generally speaking, a good place to look would be the cliffsides throughout in between groves of trees or on the cliff ledges themselves. I couldn't wait for the next day to reach Exalted so I spent a good hour and a half flying around each subzone looking for these. The first chip you loot opens up the quest "Everfrost" which will in turn open up the repeatable quest, "Remember Everfrost," both of which will grant 350 reputation.

Polishing the Helm

There are a couple of small quests you'll have to turn in before you have access to this daily, namely "Forging a Head" and "Mounting Hodir's Helm". Completing these two will place a gigantic helm suspended above Dun Nifflem, where you'll be able to start the daily.

The quest requires you to collect 5 Viscous Oil from the mobs of the same name residing in the Hibernal Cavern to the west of Dun Niffelem. This quest is rather straightforward: enter the cave, fight through the Ravenous Jormungar to get to the little blackish blobs and destroy them. You shouldn't have too much trouble if a room is already cleared out, just head in a loop around the cave, as the respawn rate is remarkably fast. You can turn this quest in at the giant helm suspended from one of the slabs of ice on the northern side of Dun Niffelem. Turning in this quest will grant you 250 reputation.

Blowing Hodir's Horn

You will have to complete both "In Memoriam" and "A Monument to the Fallen", which in turn will unveil a gigantic horn on which (you guessed it) you blow. And blow you will. This daily is also rather straightforward, requiring you to travel to Thunderfall and destroy 5 Niffelem Forefathers and 5 Restless Frostborn. Once they expire, simply used the provided quest item and send them floating away as demonstrated in this example.

Unlike the previous quest, if there are a lot of other people doing this quest, you may have to fly around a bit to locate another pair of mobs to take down. This is also a great quest to do while looking for Everfrost Chips on the eastern hillside (see below for more information.) Return to Dun Niffelem to turn this quest in at the horn pictured above, which will grant you 250 reputation.

Hot and Cold

Once you complete the quest "Forging an Alliance", it will open up the daily quest, "Hot and Cold." The daily itself comes in two stages: collecting 5 Essence of Ice from the Brittle Revenants in Frostfield lake, and using them on the smoldering scraps near Fjorn's Anvil to create Frozen Iron Scraps. A higher number of players doing the same quest may require you to fly around the lake a bit, but the spawn rates are pretty quick. Bonus loot: Crystallized Earth will drop from the revenants at a 25% drop rate.

Head over to the east and fight your way through the Seething Revenants to the small, smoking piles of scrap metal. The scraps may be easier to recognize against the snow, but you only need to click on the quest item and it will automatically target one, turning it into a Frozen Iron Scrap. Once you've collected all 5, head back to the anvil in Dun Niffelem to turn in the quest. Bonus loot: Crystallized Fire will drop from the revenants at a 25% drop rate.

Turning in this quest will grant you 250 reputation.

Spy Hunter

So, you've turned in a couple relics and done a couple days worth of daily quests, and you've progressed to Honored with the Sons of Hodir. This opens up two more dailies for you to add to your options. You will find the new daily "Spy Hunter" by speaking to the Frostworg Denmother located in the northwest corner of Dun Niffelem. I would start doing this in coordination with Polishing the Helm. Both quests are right next to each other, so finish one and head over to do the other.

The quest itself involves following a spirit wolf around the Valley of Ancient Winters as he tracks down Stormforged Infiltrators. Once you call the worg, his speed will match yours. If you are set to /walk, the worg will do the same. Similarly, if you are on an epic flying mount, the worg will be running all over the place at epic speeds. (This can come in handy later when paired with another daily quest, see below.) The worg will eventually howl and the infiltrator will appear. Kill three of them and turn in this quest for 350 reputation.

Thrusting Hodir's Spear

The second quest that opens up will become available after completing the quest "Raising Hodir's Spear." Soon afterwards, you will open up the most entertaining daily quest in the game, "Thrusting Hodir's Spear." This quest can also be done in coordination with Spy Hunter and Polishing the Helm, as the Wild Wyrms you need for the quest are also in the Valley of Ancient Winters. Simply get close to one and click on the provided quest item, the Spear of Hodir. You will then mount the wyrm and begin an epic battle over the Storm Peaks to slay the wild beast.

The bulk of the quest is divided into two parts, wearing the beast down and then killing it. This little tutorial will ensure that you complete the quest the first time through.

Ride 'em

You will be given four talents when first mounted on the wyrm, which functions as a vehicle for all intents and purposes. These talents are hotkeyed onto your main button bar:

1. Grab On
2. Dodge Claw
3. Thrust Spear
4. Mighty Spear Thrust

You will be suspended hundreds of feet off the ground, so if you lose your grip or fail to kill the wyrm before it kills you, you will be thrown off the beast to your bone-crushing demise. (Snowfall Lager can come in handy for this quest if you're not familiar with it, and will save your ass if used before you hit the ground. However, I recommend that you save every Relic of Ulduar you can for reputation.)

As soon as the abilities are made available, use a Mighty Spear Thrust. This talent has a 10 second cooldown, and also puts your Dodge Claw on cooldown for several seconds. This is very important to note for two reasons: first, you should only use Mighty Spear Thrust directly after you dodge a claw swipe (see below) and second, you can die rather quickly if you ignore the claw swipes altogether.

So, you jumped on the wyrm and immediately thrust your spear into the wild beast. You will begin a familiar sequence of keys, spamming Grab On (1) followed by Thrust Spear (3). Watch for the claw swipe, which will reduce your health by a small amount. It's ok if you miss a claw swipe, but you will want to stay as healthy as possible for the second stage of this quest. As soon as you hear the sound and see the message ("The wyrm swipes its claws at you!") hit your Dodge Claw ability (2). Directly afterwards, use your Mighty Spear Thrust (4). If you find that you are losing grip, spam Grab On (1) for a couple seconds and continue with your normal rotation.

To summarize stage 1:

1. Capture and mount the wyrm
2. Mighty Spear Thrust (4)
3. Grab On (1)
4. Thrust Spear (3)
5. Repeat step 3 and 4 until you receive the claw swipe warning
6. Dodge Claws (2)
7. Repeat rotation starting with step 2.

You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry

Well, now you've done it. After poking the poor creature in the head with a gigantic pointy stick, you've really pissed the bugger off. Way to go. The wyrm will now start biting and thrashing at you, diminishing your health over time. And now you've got to fight for your own life. So, you're given two new abilities:

1. Pry Jaws Open
2. (Empty)
   
3. Fatal Strike

Your goal here is to pry the jaws open, and shove your spear into the neck of the beast. The Pry Jaws(1) ability is a stacking ability with a 1 second cooldown. The Fatal Strike ability (3) has a much longer cooldown. My first instinct was to use the Fatal Strike ability as often as possible. However, your odds of killing the beast are determined solely by how wide you can pry open the jaws of the wyrm (i.e. how many stacks of the debuff you can place on the wyrm.) Hold off using Fatal Strike until you've reached 10 stacks.

Also keep in mind that your health is slowly diminishing. If you don't kill the beast in time, you will most certainly die. This is why the Dodge Claw ability above is so important. The more health you have in stage 2, the more opportunities for the Fatal Strike abilities. For stage 2, the pattern is quite simple:

1. Pry Jaws Open (1)
   
2. Wait until 10 stacks
   
3. Fatal Strike (3)
   
4. Pry Jaws Open
   
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4, using Fatal Strike as soon as it comes off cooldown

Once you've succeeded, you will fall with the slain wyrm to the ground. For some reason, the wyrms are actually giant animated pillows, preventing you from taking any damage when landing on them. Turn this quest in for a whopping 500 reputation. This quest is still one of my favorite dailies in the game.

Feeding Arngrim

The last daily quest you will be able to access opens up when you have reached Revered with Sons of Hodir. This quest is best paired with Spy Hunter, as the mobs you'll need are wandering around the Valley of Ancient Winters. In addition, your spirit worg will help you attack the mob itself. The quest "Feeding Arngrim" requires you to disembody the Roaming Jormungar with Arngrim's Tooth, allowing the former King of the Sons of Hodir to feed off their disembodied souls. You'll only need to get them down below 25% of their health and the former king's spirit will appear to devour the ugly beasts. Feed the king 5 of these mobs and turn in the quest for 350 reputation.

Conclusion

You can definately boost your efforts by running Halls of Stone and Halls of Lightning and farming Relics of Ulduar, which drop from nearly every single mob in the instance. If you really want to get to exalted as quickly as possible, you'll want to spend some time searching for Everfrost chips as well. And finally, run as many of the daily normal dungeon quests as you can and collect the Commendation Badges for a whopping 500 reputation.

And what do you get for all your hard work? Well, some pretty cool mounts and the best shoulder enchants in the game, that's what. And with patch 3.3, we'll be able to pass these enchants on to our alts without having to farm the reputation all over again (you just have to be level 80.) Blizzard has tried to make Sons of Hodir reputation easier and easier to get over the various patches, and with this guide, you should be able to get there in no time! Good luck!