Seal of Ascension

• Seal of Ascension
• Binds when picked up
• Unique
• Finger
• +10 Frost Resistance
  +10 Fire Resistance
  +10 Nature Resistance
• Item Level 61Disenchants into:
   [Large Brilliant Shard]: 1 (99.5%)
   [Nexus Crystal]: 1 (0.5%)
• "Draconic runes appear and disappear along the inner band."

The Seal of Ascension is a ring with several abilities that is obtained through a quest. Most importantly it allows access to the upper portion of Blackrock Spire. It also can be worn to protect you from one of Gyth's special attacks as well as summon the spirit of Vaelastrasz to help you in the fight against Rend Blackhand.

This item obtained from a short questline:

•  [57] Seal of Ascension (1)
  •  [60] Seal of Ascension (2)

The quests are given by Vaelan. He is located in the lower portion of Blackrock Spire a short ways before the rope bridges and up a sloped rock face. He is disguised as an orc, but he changes to his human form as you approach.

The first quest is to collect three gems off of particular bosses as well as an Unadorned Seal of Ascension. All will drop in any kind of group and nobody needs to have the quest in order to pick up.

• [Unadorned Seal of Ascension] - Drops from trash mob orcs in the lower part of the zone.
• [Gemstone of Spirestone] - Drops off of Highlord Omokk.
• [Gemstone of Smolderthorn] - Drops off of War Master Voone.
• [Gemstone of Bloodaxe] - Drops off of Overlord Wyrmthalak.

The gemstones seem to have a very low drop rate, whereas the seal will drop multiple times in one LBRS run. Although you will see multiple seals drop, you can not possess more than one.

According to Thottbot, the Bloodaxe gemstone drops at about a 25% rate, while the other two drop at a 15-20% rate. The Gemstones do drop in a raid environment (confirmed as of 2.0.12).

Handing in all four items to Vaelan sends you on a quest to forge the seal. You are given an Unforged Seal of Ascension and and Orb of Draconic Energy. You must find Emberstrife in the back of the cave in the southern mountains of Dustwallow Marsh. Engage him in combat and get his life to about 10%. Keep fighting until you get an emote saying his will has faltered (note: if you are a ranged class you CAN be out of range of this emote) then use the Unforged Seal of Ascension on the pool of water and it will appear as an object in the world. Then use the Orb of Draconic Energy on Emberstrife to mind control him. Cast his first fire spell on the Unforged Seal of Ascension, loot the Forged Seal of Ascension, decide whether or not you want to finish Emberstrife off (which you very well may, since he is a jerk and he is skinnable), and then return to Vaelan. Note that there is currently a bug requiring you to have an Unadorned Seal of Ascension in your inventory to turn the quest in to Vaelan, so you may have to kill trash until one drops.

Congratulations, you now have a Seal of Ascension!

Summoning Vaelastrasz During Battle with Rend Blackhand

At some point during the battle with the false warchief, Rend Blackhand, you can use your Seal of Ascension to summon a shade of Vaelastrasz (looks like a ghostly red dragon), who will heal your entire group for 5000 HP as well as 'help' you in your fight against Rend. To do this, you just 'use' your Seal like you would any other item with a "Use: do something" tag on it, despite this not being obvious by looking at the ring's item description.

The tricky part is the timing of when you 'use' it. One tip is to add the ring to your action bar to keep fumbling to a minimum. As soon as Gyth dies use your ring and it should work properly.

Three (3) minute cooldown on the 'use' of this item.

Theories On Summoning

• When Gyth does his 'nature' breath attack?
• Right after [Rend] dismounts?
• The summoning of Vael is slightly bugged, in that sometimes he will spawn and charge off into the following room (the one with Awbee). He won't aggro anything, but he can take up to 30 seconds to come back to the scene of the fight, by which stage it can be almost finished, thus rendering him largely useless. I tested it secretly during several UBRS PUGs, and it seems to bug the most when you cast it early, before Rend dismounts. I never had it bug if I used it just as Rend dismounted.

Other unknown info

• If multiple people have a Seal of Ascension, can the dragon be summoned twice?
  • No. Attempting to use the ring a second time, even by a different person, has no effect.
• "Chromatic resistance" given to you when you "use" the ring? Does this only work when you summon Vaelastrasz or can you use it anywhere in the world? (Doesn't appear to do anything when used in Thunder Bluff)
  • Chromatic resistance is the name of several subtypes of buff you gain when wearing the ring, and get hit by one of Gyth's attacks. Depending on the type of the attack, you gain resistance to it for a brief period of time. You can have multiple buffs of CR, each one protecting against a different magic class, but the buff only lasts for 30 seconds.