WoW Classic guide: How to summon Gahz'ranka (Tome of Polymorph: Turtle)

WoW Classic hides an incredible optional Polymorph spell for Mages, if you defeat the secret boss Gahz’ranka: Tome of Polymorph Turtle. An optional boss for players/raid groups that have fishermen with them, this was in the original Vanilla release of the game as well. I remember fondly getting this with my guild back in the Vanilla days, on the Rexxar server, and thankfully, the method of summoning hasn’t changed on the Classic servers.

If you want to summon Gahz’ranka in WoW Classic to get Tome of Polymorph: Turtle, you’ll have to complete a brief quest, and you’ll ideally want as high a fishing rating as you can get. Whether you’re on the Anniversary servers or the old-school Classic servers, here’s how to summon this optional boss.

How to summon Gahz'ranka in WoW Classic to claim Tome of Polymorph: Turtle

Before you even bother to try to summon Gahz’ranka in WoW Classic, to claim the Tome of Polymorph: Turtle, I recommend you have 300 Fishing already. You want a much higher rating to have the best chance of success in getting the fish you need to summon the boss, too.

For this reason, I recommend having the following items beforehand:

Nat Pagle’s Extreme Angler FC-5000 (Horde): Snapjaws, Mon! Quest reward in Hinterlands or
Big Iron Fishing Pole: Shellfish Trap container in Desolace
Aquadynamic Fish Attractor: Craft as Engineer/purchase on Auction House
Lucky Fishing Hat: Rare Fish - Keefer’s Angelfish or
Nat Pagle’s Extreme Anglin’ Boots: Rare Fish - Brownell’s Blue Striped Racer

This is where you should find Pagle's Point (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

You can get this done without these items, but they certainly help, as they’ll push your fishing skill well over 300. While in Zul’Gurub, head south of where High Priestess Arlokk is, and go down the incline that leads to the river. You can also head left down the hill from the Temple of Bethekk. This is Pagle’s Point. Interact with the jars to receive Nat’s Measuring Tap, which unlocks the quest Nat’s Measuring Tape.

Now, head to Dustwallow Marsh (/way 58.4, 60.0), and complete the quest. Nat Pagle will now sell you the all-important Mudskunk Lure for a whopping 1g. Buy one, and come back to Zul’Gurub in WoW Classic to start the next step of summoning Gahz’ranka to ultimately claim the Tome of Polymorph: Turtle.

Here's where you find Nat Pagle to get to the next step of this summoning sidequest (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

Head to the various rivers in Zul’Gurub, and look for Muddy Churning Waters, and fish in them until you get 5x Zulian Mudskunks. This could take a while, depending on your fishing skill — even if you’re at 300, you can miss these. Just be patient. When you have all five, return to Pagle’s Point and interact with the Mudskunk Lure to load the fish onto it. Cast it into the water at Pagle’s Point, and you’ll summon Gahz’ranka in WoW Classic.

Defeating Gahz’ranka is pretty easy, too. Tank keeps him away from ranged DPS, off-tank stands close by (5 yards in front). When the tank gets knocked up, off-tank intercepts and takes over. Watch out for the geyser, because it knocks people back. A pretty easy tank-and-spank fight. When it’s over, claim your Polymorph: Turtle, any other loot, and move on to other fights, like Hazza’rah in Edge of Madness.

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About the author

Jason is an Esports and Gaming journalist at Sportskeeda holding an amazing 11 years of experience under his belt. Having put out 4000-plus articles and amassing over 12 million reads for Sportskeeda, he is among the company’s most experienced writers. Jason holds a Bachelor's degree in English from UNC Pembroke and was inspired to become a gaming journalist very early on in life after reading Nintendo Power.

Jason is a jack of all trades when it comes to gaming journalism. He’s a key writer in Sportskeeda's MMO department, but he also likes to help out in other categories, like streamers, RPG, card games, and whatever else is needed. A solo gamer at heart, Jason's favorite titles include Earthbound and Dragon Warrior.

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Edited by Jason Parker