Congratulations to Zarakul on becoming our 54th Shadowlands Iron Man Challenge champion! Zarakul’s Iron Man journey took 3 days, 1 hour, and 48 minutes with a /played time of 19 hours and 54 minutes to complete.

This is Zara’s first-ever challenge champion! Zarakul was created to replace Zara’s previous Mage that had died at level 54 a few days ago and was able to take advantage of the Winds of Wisdom buff.

Why did Zara decide to play the Iron Man Challenge? “Before I started the Iron Man Challenge I was a collector and tried to collect almost everything I could find but I was looking for something new. Then I found out there are some Wow Challenges and decided to try them to challenge myself. I started with the Iron Man Challenge because it was the first challenge I found.”

Zarakul was created as a Night Elf Frost Mage. Zara told us that for a few years they mostly played Mage so the class was their first choice for a challenger. “I was thinking about the problems I could have while leveling up and thought the easiest spec for a Mage to compete in this challenge is the Frost spec to kite as much as possible. Also just in case, something went wrong I also thought it was the best option to have something in the back to get out of combat very easily and fast. So the choice as a new challenger has to be the Night Elf Frost Mage for me.”

Zara chose the following leveling path for Zarakul: “I started leveling in my starting zone. After completing every quest in that zone I did the WoD and BfA intro quests. I think these are some very easy quests and XP you can get there.”

“After that, I did almost all of the quests in Elwynn Forest and all of the quests in Dun Morogh where I almost died for the first time. The “Frostmane Seer” are very strong and almost not killable for they can cast without being kicked.”

“After that, I went to Loch Modan. My next step was Booty Bay. I did the quests where I only had to kill the big blue guys (Negolash was one of them), which was not easy but there is a lot of free space to kite them around. I also did the starting quests for the pirates. Just the two I can directly finish to get the free XP. At the end, I did the quests on the small island.”

“The next zone was Western Plaguelands. There I only did the starting quests and then the one at the Chillwind Camp. Then it was time for my favorite leveling zone in Wow “(The) Badland”. Here I did every quest except the ones with the 3 guys that run with you over the map. I didn’t do them because I just wasn’t sure if it is fine or not. At this point, it would be sad to be yellow or red-flagged. Then I did the starting quests in Searing Gorge until you reach the Flightmaster.”

“At that point, I was 49 and did every quest in Stormwind and any other quest that just gives free experience.”

“I decided to level up in the Classic zones because I level all my alts almost there too. So I almost know every quest that comes up. I think it’s a good start if you already know the most quests.”

“With level 50 I of course skipped the Maw (no one wants to be in there). And then I just did the very safe world quests and all the quests that are very simple and without any danger. I gave up the zone quests that give a lot of experience at level 58 and hit 59 with that. At that point, I did the last needed XP in BfA which took a while. But at that point, I didn’t want to risk anything, so this was the best way for me I thought.”

Did Zara have any close calls while leveling Zarakul? “On this run (it was my fifth try…^^) I only had 4 very close calls. One in Dun Morogh against the Frostmane Seer. The next one was in Eastern Plaguelands where a rare mob almost 2 shot me with his cast. It was right at the beginning in front of a cave. The other 2 were in Shadowlands where some enemies just deal too much dmg if you have no gear. The closest one was 3% hp at level 57 in Revendreth. I hope no one is that close at any time!”

Zara has the following advice for others trying out the Iron Man Challenge: “As a general rule, I would say that you should try to skip quests that want you to kill one special guy because those guys have a lot more health. Also, they have CC DR which makes them harder. Also, try to kill every rare mob that you find but look at them first. If they have a mana bar you should think twice. Casters were a big problem for me in that challenge!”

What’s next for Zara? Will they be taking a break or working on another challenger? “I think I will try the Iron Man Challenge with a class that I haven’t played at all or I have not played that much. Also, I want to see how hard it is as a melee compared to a range class. Also, I might do the Pacifist Challenge in the future. But for now, I will take a break for some days because for the last couple of days I only played the Iron Man character and this is intense, at least for me who never was able to hit max level without dying on a “normal” character.”

We’d like to wish you the best of luck with your future challengers and congratulations once again on Zarakul becoming our 54th Shadowlands Iron Man Challenge champion!