Quick Facts

Screenshots

Videos

Comments

Comment by Doomwalker

This NPC is the reward for the rarest card from The Hunt For Illidan,He acts like a normal Non-combat pet but when you kill something it exchanges it's soul for Ethereal Credit,with wich you can buy his items.He is summoned from the Soul-Trader Beacon,The "money" wich you get can be used for items,for example an Ethereal Suit!

Comment by CH1CKEN

You need to kill a mob that rewards XP (green, yellow, red). Gray mobs don't give you Ethereal Credit .

Comment by RossyBear

Best place I've found to farm these Credits for this guy is in the mines of Alterac Valley.

Around 80 mobs per mine

But if you kill the mobs to fast you dont always get a credit for each, when I've killed the 5 mob pats the trader has only given me 4 credits. It seems to happen when a mob dies when the trader is stealing the essence from the previous mob.

- Darkstorm, Kul Tias Europe.

Comment by Xyatron

The ABSOLUTE best place to farm credits for this guy is in Netherstorm at the northern entrance/exit to Manaforge Duro. There are 4 or 5 mana wyrm things that spawn every two seconds or so. They are easy to kill in one shot (Im a HOLY priest, so if I can do it, anyone can!) and easily the fastest way to farm kills. You can get credits as fast as you can cast spells... I farmed over 1000 in an hour.

-Xyatron,
Scilla US Alliance

Comment by MajinSpleen

So I got one today and my guy is like really small. Does he get bigger or level as you kill stuff?

Edit: Nvm, I guess the pic I saw someone used the pet biscuit that turns pets bigger. I'm a tard :P

Comment by Drakecastle

Not sure if anyone else noticed this, but the Buyback function IS available with him, though selling items to him is a no-go.

Comment by Amatkaito

Say you have this guy and you have someone in your group, can that other person also get credits?

Comment by hyenaskate

no he cant get any only you can get credits

Comment by InkTank

If you buy the Soul Trader garb from him, will that disappear like other summoned items or are they "clothes" you can bank?

Comment by slavikus

Honorable Kills also yield Ethereal Credit. Just checked that on my 19 twink.

Comment by poisonous

How much credit do you get from a single 70 mob?

Comment by Xyatron

My new favorite place to farm credits is in Storm peaks where you do the "Overstock" daily quest. Pick up the quests in K3 and go drop a bunch of mines down for the enemies (who wont attack you) to run into. Kills stack up quickly with no downtime and the credits add up very quickly.

Comment by Ghakor

An attack-able non-combat pet, however he is immune to all forms of physical damage.

Comment by junglefish

I have had this on my main for a few years now and would LOVE to be able to trade it to one of my alts..have there been any rumors or talks of this or any other TCG loots becomin BoA?

Comment by Gonzalitus

After MoP, it got a considerable size reduction, plus with the abilities selection Blizzard did, makes it just an average pet to combat with. Being a proud owner of the EST, was hoping to have the most incredible combats ever, but the reality is that you will be simply disappointed. Still, a lovely collection to have... and still the best companion ever, in my heart at least.

Comment by sapphirehalo

im looking for one of these...im low on cash so i cant buy one, if anyone at all has one to trade or sell or just doesnt care about having it and would pass it to me please find me on auchindoun server.....i would give my world for one of these since i have most of the pets this is one of the few left to collect. and i plan on useing it to fight with. i will grind gold....find rare items...w/e u need!

Comment by Rushgarroth

Patch 5.3 PTR patch notes:
"Ethereal Soul-Trader has been returned to his original, larger size."

Yay good news :D

Comment by aryon

Blue post for the upcoming patch 5.3:

Ethereal Soul-Trader has been returned to his original, larger size.

Hooray! Now we just need to come up with some lore for his changeable sizing. Did the dimension that he inhabits drift away and then come back?

Comment by NukeAlleria

If you are lucky enough to get Ethereal Soul Trader, level him to 25 right away.

Ethereal Soul Trader is awesome in pet battles. His Soulrush spell can defeat opposing pets in one hit. Ethereal Soul Trader is like a heavyweight boxer with a powerful knockout punch.

The Netherwhelp is the only other pet with Soulrush.

Comment by elixis

After much pondering, and realizing that the more you wait to buy him, the rarer he becomes. I didn't want to wait till he gets even more expensive to buy. So I caved in and got me one. All illidan boxes were sold out and are half the price of the card on ebay, and from my research it's a 1/3 chance to get one in a box if you are lucky to find a box. So you are probably better off just buying the card straight up instead of hoping to get luck with the booster packs. He is SOOOO WORTH IT~! Not only is he uber rare and awesome, but he is also a kick-ass pet! His soulrush coupled first with inner vision is a one shot. Partner him with a pet that stops the opponent from stunning you and you are set! Most expensive wow related thing i've bought, but so so so worth it. As a player of wow since release, I don't regret treating me with something I will enjoy and not everyone has.

Comment by elixis

Oh and another observation, when you land, give him a few seconds to come out before killing or else he won't do the soul essence capture. Also I find if you run up to a mob and one shot it and he's too far behind you it won't do it either, so let him catch up to you first.

Comment by Oddyssey

Saw one of these today for the first time. Never even heard of him before, now I'm so jealous! I would love to have one of these, but OMGosh, the cards go for over $200 on ebay! A little too pricey for me. There are two cards currently on ebay, if anyone's feeling rich. ;)

It has the most amazing special effects too... Lots of purple lightening comes out of him to the corpse. A little distracting when in a dungeon, though. But still really cool looking!

Comment by FreelancerMerc

Can I please have some information on how to get him? I assume probably something with BlizzCon cards (from comments) or actually finding him on the map and catching him (WoWhead pic - map). If you have anything to contribute it'd help me, and other people who are looking for it as well. Thanks :)

Comment by Jazzycakes2

Bought on Frostmourne for 57k... possibly a dupe since he offered me another lol.

Comment by kuddles

Ranged players may find a bit complicated reunite the credits needed to purchase the complete garment this pet sells since you need to fullfill several conditions to obtain a credit:

Soul Trader must be at you side at all times. If you run from one place to other he's usually left behind, so you have to wait for him to be at your side again. Second, both you and him must be near your target at the moment of its dead. And finally, it must be YOU the one who delivers the killing shot: hunter and warlock pets continuously interfere with this, so if possible, dismiss your pet. AoE traps or effects also reduces your chance to receive a credit, since is the damage over time, not you, the one that kills your target. Also note if you are in a raid or battleground group, same criteria applies. In the middle of fight, no matter how many times you hit your victims, you and Soul Trader must be close to your target (even if you are ranged), and you must be credited for the killing blow, or he won't give you a reward.

Using a hunter of my own I can confirm Soul Trader can extract a corpse's essence from range distance, but very, very rarely happens. Most of time he won't reward you a credit unless he's very close to a corpse, so you can try the range attack method if you want, but may take a lot more time to collect all those credits.

Note the Soul-Trader clothing set almost matches those worn by Consortium members, (its quite similar, but not identical), but does NOT fit well all characters. Orcs, Worgen and Tauren look more like wounded half naked warriors than consortium members. This set looks better on Elf and Human races. Keep this in mind before wasting a lot of time collecting credits for a set you won't like.

As a separated note, nobody has mentioned he glows in the dark. Has a beautiful ghost-like effect similar to spirit beasts. This, plus the fact he's as big as any normal humanoid character, makes this one of the best pets ever. Sadly, on eBay he's very expensive, and usually sells for over 200 bucks. Check the in-game AH regularly instead, since you can easily find him for less than 60k

Comment by ArtemisMedivh

This is my most favorite pet. Its player interaction is like none other. I purchased mine off ebay many years ago for $100... it is now worth much more since the introduction of Pet Battling. It's not the greatest battle pet but it's fun to show off and it is very tall.

I named my level 25 soultrader "Mewtwo"

Comment by stickshift

Can't stop playing my paladin now after she finally got her Judgement Armor mog complete and the next day I blew 47k on the this guy. The two were made for each other.

Edit: Just noticed today (after I renamed him Himura Kenshin) that when he spoke to me it was Himura Kenshin says: I have arrived. Shall we set to work, then? not Ethereal Soul-Trader. Very impressive; I don't know if any other companion is capable of this.

Comment by grundge

Just picked up one of these. I wasn't sure if it was worth it, but after trying him out I have to say OMG it is so much fun to play with.

He is also player size which makes it infinitely cooler. Not a bad battle pet either, I find him very useful. So if you are thinking about getting one, definitely go for it.

Comment by Sethroguen

I bought one on my server (misha) for 55k. Well, alliance side gets bought up so I paid a hordie 60k to buy one on their ah for 55k. Anyway, these are more than likely duped and I'm not sure what blizz is doing about it. I tried to flip mine for profit with no luck, but I did trade it for a lightbringer tabard someone was selling for 100k. Granted i leveled it to 25 but I think it was a good trade.

Comment by SoCalWoWGal

Note that the ability to summon this pet was recently Hotfixed as follows:

•Ethereal Soul-Trader can no longer be summoned while in an Arena or Battleground.

Source: 5.4.8 Hotfixes

Comment by ventarius

Can you summon him in the dungeon and sell junk items?

Comment by Hatredsheart

Another good place to farm for credits is the mouth of the river near the horde base in Twilight Highlands.
The Muddied Water Elementals are 1-shot kills and spawn REALLY fast. As a bonus they also have a chance to drop Volatile Water which at time of writing are going for a silly 25g each on my server. Easy money!

Comment by petevan1970

I don't know if theses are getting duped or not. I bought one on the Fizzcrank AH for 60+k and thought I was getting a deal. There are two on there right now for 26k. Did some where a huge supply of these cards from the card game just appear. I have gotten pets from the card game and it is quit a processes to get it.I really hope Blizzard puts and end to this dupe stuff. It really takes away from the game. "This was just a random rant" But it really is a awesome pet.

Comment by Itsokayimrussian

Bought for 65k, never seen below 100k. Feel like I made off like a bandit to be honest. Coolest pet I've ever owned easily.

Comment by Murmansk

Just bought one for 19.995g. After seeing all this, it was pretty cheap.

Comment by Vainio

I have seen a lot of comments about best places to farm credits, (to me at least) it seems the best place as of late MoP is Pools of Purity in north western Valley of the four Winds, the little turtles called "Razorback snapper" have around 36k health, one or two attacks is enough to kill them and they do hardly any damage, just remember to use single target attacks or EST won't be able to harvest all the souls.

Comment by Vainio

After having had my EST for a little while and seeing a lot of people talking about having problems with quick kills not registering and having to be at a certain range to the pet/kill, I decided to make a little video showing the status of these problems in late MoP.

http://youtu.be/zkd0n-v80pU?list=UUn69sfMhEmsW8NKNOQfK8WA

It seems the problems have been fixed.

Comment by aspasito

Buying this pet in game is easier on some servers, usually non-English ones. I've snatched mine from a very crowded German-speaking server, creating a noob hunter there equipped with LW/Mining and grinded for few weeks, finally bought mine (you can also sell pets you've acquired with your main on the server in question).

(Also snatched 2-3 other quite rare pets, still continuing to do so whenever I have enough gold piled up)

While deciding my server I've used the Undermine Journal site, which I've learnt has shut down until WoD, but I'm guessing any insanely popular server will do.

Comment by Cletelcharnal

Today I believe I found the very best spot for farming ethereal credits for MoP. The Explosive Hatred mobs around Waterspeaker's Sanctuary, in Inkgill Mere, Kun-lai Summit have only 86k hp and they are 87 level which are useful for anyone above 85 level to farm credits. They have insane spawn rate. If you are a ranged class it is even better. Stand on a rock and keep killing mobs one by one, you don't even have to move. I farmed 250 ethereal credits in 12 minutes 34 seconds with one mana break and one self healing.

p.s.: I'd like to show it on map, but first post as a wowhead user. Sorry for that.

Comment by memnoch

Earning the credits seems to be broken in the WoD 6.0.2 pre-patch.

Comment by Vasiio

As others have stated, as of 6.0.3 there's a bug that prevents you from earning ethereal credits. However, mobs in the proving grounds (the scenario you enter by speaking to Lieutenant Thorn/Warmaster Zog) will award credits normally.

Comment by walkerbo

This vendor will not buy from you.

Each time you try to sell you will get a "You cannot sell items to this merchant" message.

There are more vendors that also do not buy and I am trying to gather a list.

If anyone has found other vendors please let me know.

As the list grows I will update here.

So far we have

Comment by HyruleZelda

All mobs must be green, yellow, orange, or red in order to grant Ethereal Credits. For anyone with the intention of making a stayer on The Wandering Isle, it is VERY important for you to gather these as early as possible, once you get too high of a level nothing on the isle will be green anymore. Grey mobs will not award any Ethereal Credits.

Comment by albinoette

This pet comes from the WoW Trading Card Game "The Hunt for Illidan" (or the AH).

Soulrush is quite useful in pet battles, though with the release of WoD and new pets in 6.1, the ability is not as rare to find as it used to be. If you are looking for a pet with this ability that is "easier" to obtain, review the pets listed on the skill page.
Killing players or mobs no more than 8 levels below your character (green/yellow/red difficulties) will grant Ethereal Credit which stacks up to 250 and can be used to purchase several items (below).
You have to land the killing blow to get the credit (not your pet, minion, or Shamanstone: Blessing of the Wolf).
This battle pet will allow buy-back, but you cannot use it as a vendor for anything except purchasing the items referenced below.

As of 6.1 the clothing items are still white, BOP, and not-transmogrifiable.

Credit exchange:
50 --for Ethereal Essence Sphere
50 --for Diluted Ethereum Essence
25 --for Ethereal Liqueur
100 -for Ethereal Mutagen
100 -for Soul-Trader's Head Wrap
1000 for Soul-Trader's Bindings
500 -for Soul-Trader's Pauldrons
100 -for Soul-Trader's Waistband
250 -for Soul-Trader's Gloves
250 -for Soul-Trader's Boots

Comment by gosephfushe

On current patch, the best place to farm Ethereal Credit is near the Dark Portal, there you can kill endless waves of Ironmarch Grunt.

Comment by TevishSzat

Obtaining Your Soul Trader
The Ethereal Soul-Trader, as a TCG pet, can be obtained one of two ways: either getting the appropriate loot card from the TCG (effectively a real-money investment) or purchasing it off the Auction House from someone who did. the US Median Price for the Soul-Trader is about 26k gold as of this writing, but server economies vary and there's a low enough volume of Soul-Traders that their price is likely to fluctuate wildly: I've seen between half and double that median value. In any scenario, it's a LOT of gold. So, what do you get for that?

Trading with your Soul Trader
Killing enemies within the normal experience-granting level bracket while your Soul Trader is around (summoned) will award you with up to one Ethereal Credit. Normally, you will get one Credit, but the Soul Trader has to perform an animation on the recently killed foe to generate it. Enemies that despawn immediately when killed will (often) yield no credit. If you are killing enemies faster than about 1/second (it can happen), the Soul-Trader will fall behind on his collection and won't go back for any it missed even if their bodies are still around. In order to qualify for the credit, "you" have to get the killing blow against the enemy, but what qualifies as "you" seems to be a little loose. In addition to direct attacks/spells and AoE you set up, certain special actions (such as having Garona kill a foe during the quest "An Inside Job") still count. In the end, you just accept that it's a little arbitrary when interacting with odd circumstances and accept what you get.

The Soul-Trader sells three conjured items (A "hot potato" ball, a potion of see invisible, and a drink that might give you a cosmetic transform), one non-conjured consumable (that turns a companion pet into a Flesh Beast model), and a set of cosmetic ethereal wrappings that, sadly, are not eligible for transmogrification.

Pet Battling with your Soul Trader
Oddly enough, this is a perfectly good reason to go after the little guy -- his move set is unique and can be very powerful, at least under the right conditions. Before I get into tactics, a few interesting features:

While summoned at your side, the Soul-Trader is a normal-sized Ethereal. His reactions to Magical Mini-Treats and Pet Biscuits are based on this size, so it's pretty funny to be walking around with an Ethereal "pet" much larger than you are!

In pet battles, however, he shrinks to about the same size as any other companion pet, so sadly he won't be stepping on troublesome enemies.

Like any pet, the Soul-Trader can't be summoned while he's out of hit points. This means that you will need to heal your battle pets if he gets knocked out and you want to go back to collecting souls

He is "vulnerable" the the mutagen he sells, which is kind of cool.

As far as strategy goes, the one bad thing about the Soul Trader is that he exists in just one breed: pure balanced. This is almost never optimal since he doesn't have the speed to go first against many foes but doesn't have the hitting or staying power to make up for it. Still, that's just a minor quibble

The Ethereal's first move is either Punch or Beam. They're basically the same move, only dealing either humanoid or magical damage. Both are pretty strong types to have, effective against popular enemies, but among NPC trainers and wild pets, flying-type is vastly more common while against player-controlled dragons, on-type moves will have enhanced effect against the Soul Trader, so I'd prefer Beam in most situations.

The second move is rather fascinating: it's either Soul Ward or Inner Vision. For this, it really depends on what your third move is. Inner Vision is basically useless if your main damage move is button 1, since you could just use that move twice to the same effect. Soul Ward is a little dubious on a pet that's not reliably faster than its foes, but it can at least get you some utility over spamming basic damage if you're able to predict when a big hit is incoming.

The third move is either Soulrush or Life Exchange. Both of these are very powerful moves in very different ways -- Soulrush outputs a lot of damage in a burst (great with Inner Vision!) with a chance to stun, while Life Exchange is an extraordinary attrition move: if you can reliably survive taking down one enemy and open up with Exchange on the second, you're looking at a truly glorious amount of damage. Soulrush implies Inner Vision (since you're trying to out-damage your foe) and to an extent frees you up to take Punch if you're worried about mechanicals ruining your day, while Life Exchange implies Soul Ward (since you're trying to last long enough to fire off a good hit of Life Exchange). Overall, Soul Rush is a decently fire-and-forget build if you know you're not facing anything that can take a turn of immunity to avoid you, while Life Exchange gives you a lot of advantage if you're dictating the terms of engagement. Either way, the Soul Trader can really find a place against NPC trainers and wild pets.

Since the Ethereal Soul-Trader is pretty rare and has a move set that's not shared with other pets (like, say, the TCG Sand Scarab in all its identical-to-other-roaches glory), a lot of players may not know what to expect when facing one. This makes it a decent choice for an "all-comers" PVP team. (One that's not trying to build its own combo since the Soul Trader doesn't really play well with any common synergies.)

Comment by Taitai

Trying to figure out how rare this pet is.
I know it's a card reward, but rarely a day goes by that I don't see at least one on the AH (EU-Bronzebeard) for relatively reasonable prices (compared to the prices listed here).
I imagine that over time it might get rarer or there might be less demand for it (which can explain the drop of price).
Bought it for 33k, still have mixed feelings about it (it is an awesome battle pet though).

Comment by turulo

There is something spooky about the Ethereal Soul-Trader. He seems to follow me around the garrison at all times. He's definitely up to something.

Comment by RobSeven

If you're going to farm credits for this guy as a level 1 character, the easiest way is by killing critters. The absolute best place I've found for farming (as level 1) is in the Deeprun Tram, because the rats there will respawn instantly.

Go to the Ironforge side of the Deeprun Tram and start killing rats. Try to find a respawn point for one of them and kill it over and over again. Getting enough credits to buy the whole set will take you about 1-2 hours. Remember to equip a fast weapon as any hit will kill the rat.

Happy farming!

Comment by skyline33

I have this pet and I love it!
Fastest way to get credits I found was leveling by quest

Personally, a level 39 hunter in plaguelands. Full heirloom for easy kills

Comment by Goodwinn

For developers looking for this pet's species id it's 183.

Comment by xNeroth

I find that a great way to get Ethereal Credits while doing nothing but watching television is to park yourself and a felhunter at the Akama fight in The Black Temple at level 80. Put the felhunter in defensive stance and he will kill off the spawning mobs that attack you and you can sit back and sip tea and watch television. It should net between 75-100 credits per 10-15 minutes and you can do whatever you want outside of the game while it happens.

Comment by schnizol

I saw him on Black Market Auction House a few days ago (in Legion that is)

Comment by stickshift

Well, I just finished watching Death Note and (for now) every thing I see makes me think of that incredible series; my soul-trader is the perfect example. His physical traits reminded me of Rem (minus the wings) so I named him Shinigami in the hopes that other fans will enjoy the connection. His spooky phrases like I have arrived. Shall we set to work, then?" and "Ah, more essence to capture..." and draining my fresh kills just adds to the aura.

Add to list...View in 3D Battle Pet Team CalculatorPet Team Calc Links

Ethereal Soul-Trader

This NPC can be found in The Cape of Stranglethorn.

Trading Card Game: The Hunt for Illidan

Ethereal soul-traders will travel with those who can free the essences they need from unruly hosts.

Guides

Battle Pets and Where to Find Them [Archive]

Obtaining All the WoW Trading Card Game Items

Patch 5.3 New Battle Pets and Pet Battle Changes

Ethereal Soul-Trader

Guides

Related

Contribute