Project Lore

If you didn't roll a Death Knight yet, then you may not know much about the Knights of the Ebon Blade.  The merry band of Death Knights are lead by Darion Mograine from their base in Eastern Plaguelands.  It is tough to describe the faction without dropping any spoilers - do the opening Death Knight chain - so let's just say that after Mograine broke free from the Lich King's control, he pledged his remaining days to bringing his former master down.  To help him in his task, he formed the Knights of the Ebon Blade, a faction that directly mirrors the Paladin-filled ranks of Knights of the Silver Hand. Seeing as I am going to pop into Revered after this round of dailies, I am qualified to deliver yet another guide on reputation grinding.  Consequently, Ebon Blade is one of the four factions that can be Championed, making Exalted an easily reachable feat.  Add to that a collection of six daily quests, and you'll be throwing back flagons of ale with Mograine in no time.

• Shoot 'Em Up - A quick weapon-based task.
• Vile Like Fire! - Vehicular siege quest.  As the title suggests, you get to burn stuff.
• Leave Our Mark - Basically a kill x mobs quests, you just have to stab their bodies with a marker after their death.  You can ninja other player's mobs if they aren't doing it, or you scare them off.
• From Their Corpses, Rise! - A simple kill x mobs quest like above.  Just sprinkle the solution of their corpse for a new friend.
• Intelligence Gathering - This is Ebon Hold's version of Hot and Cold.  First you must grind key drops off the same mobs from the above quest, then use the keys to open lockboxes.  However, not every lockbox contains the quest item needed, just a handful of copper.  Yes, copper.
• No Fly Zone - Another kill x mobs quest, but it is actually annoying for toons with no ranged.  The mobs are flying and will occasionally hover just out of melee range as they toss harpoons your way.

Combining Championing with normal and daily quests means you can get to Exalted in no time flat.  Of course, there is a catch.  Like the Sons of Hodir, players must gain access to the faction's main base on Northrend before they can access dailies or even the tabard.  Although there is an opening quest chain, the totality of it is no where near as long as the Sons, in terms of numbers or time invested.  In Icecrown you will find a quest via the flying ship of your faction aptly titled It's All Fun and Games.  The first part has you poking out Sauron's the Lich King's eye.  Get it?  Once you complete the opening chain, the opportunity to free the Shadow Vault from the Lich King's minion will arise.  Upon your victory you will be meet with a new phased quest hub for yourself. It should be noted that you essentially need Cold Weather Flying to do these, which would make a fake level requirement of Level 77.  You can probably get around it with the help of a friendly Warlock and partner, but why put them through the trouble?  Ebon Blade holds a good collection of items aside from the DPS head enchantment that Solidsamm demands.  If you haven't begun raiding, then you'll likely find something of interest from the faction.  If not, well there is always those Achievements things everybody loves.

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Via Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA)

Championing, all the kids are doing it now, so why aren't you?  Championing is the fun way to gain reputation with a few select factions in Wrath of the Lich King.  With Championing, you can go from Friendly to Exalted in a matter of minutes, instead of weeks.  No longer will you have to wait for mobs to respawn or fight with other aggressive characters when you wish to mind your own business.  Yes folks, Championing is the way of the future, the easiest, most convenient way to become best friends with a faction that previously despised the ground you walked on.  Championing - the new hotness. Championing offers players an easier way to farm reputation, but you can only Champion certain classes.  However, every player who wishes to have the best head enchant available needs to Champion at least one faction.  Before we get into those factions, allow me to explain the process before I drop the C-word for the tenth time.  The new reputation mechanic enables players to run any level 80 dungeon while still gaining reputation for a chosen faction.  This is accomplished by wearing a faction-specific tabard that can be acquired when your toon reaches Friendly with the select Northrend posse.  Mages get it a tad easier, the wielders of physics breaking magic can obtain the Kirin Tor Tabard at the incredibly low rank of Level 1. Four Champion-able factions and their associated head enchantment: The Argent Crusade - Stamina & Defense Rating Kirin Tor - Spell Power & Critical Strike Rating Knights of the Ebon Blade - Attack Power & Critical Strike Rating The Wyrmrest Accord - Spell Power & Mana Per 5 Seconds Blizzard's mechanic allows players to break the monotonous cycle of grinding dailies for every faction, but we can't escape it completely.  Aside from a new way to gain status among our peers, the hidden benefit is that Championing will - at least theoretically - open up more people to a selection of instances.  The ability to gain Ebon Blade rep in any Heroic means that SolidSamm won't have to grind the same instance like he did in The Burning Crusade's day.  This opens up the possibility of my rogue joining any instance group that is looking for DPS (read: none).  Choice is good. The above aside, there really is no "guide" to Championing.  Simply hit Friendly with whatever faction you need, grab the tabard from their vendor and you are on your way.  As a side note, if you fail to don one of the faction tabards, your toon's Northrend rep (Alliance Vanguard/Horde Expedition) will be raised instead. SolidSamm is working on his AP/Crit Arcanum as you read this, but don't forget to look at the other items the factions of to offer.  The little ankle biter will replace his Ebon Blade tabard with the Kirin Tor's in an effort to lower the high price of their sexy ring.  Who's colors are you sporting? On a more hardcore note, how many of you have taken the time to score the Championing achievement?  Serious props if you have.

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