Ancient Pandaren Fishing Charm

Ancient Pandaren Fishing Charm is an old pandaren fishing charm that attaches to your character when activated and, for one hour, increases your catch from Pandaria pools. The toy grants no combat effects or stats — it is purely a fishing aid and, at the same time, one of Pandaria's "lost treasures".

The item was added in patch 5.5.0 as an ordinary consumable with no charges and no cooldown. The talisman gained its toy status and a slot in the Toy Box later, in patch 7.0.3, when Blizzard mass-converted old "permanent" items into the collection. From that point on, after the first activation the charm unlocks account-wide and no longer takes up an inventory slot.

The charm is handed out for free: you only need to talk once to a rare NPC named the Ghostly Pandaren Fisherman on the shore of Cattail Lake in the Valley of the Four Winds. The pandaren greets the player with the words: "Lovely day for fishing, isn't it? I've got an old fishing charm here — take it if you like" — and after you agree the charm drops into your bag and is immediately unlocked in the Toy Box.

• +20% catch in Pandaria. With the toy active, roughly every fifth cast into a Pandaria pool yields two fish instead of one — a steady boost to your haul with no extra effort. It is especially useful when farming Giant Mantis Shrimp, Mossgill Perch and other pandaren fish for leveling Cooking to the maximum.
• Effectively unlimited duration. The effect lasts 1 hour, but the toy has neither charges nor a cooldown — you can reactivate it the moment the previous hour expires. In practice that gives you a permanent buff for any multi-hour fishing session.
• Counts toward the meta-achievement. The very act of receiving the charm from the Ghostly Pandaren Fisherman counts toward Spirit of Pandaria — the meta-achievement for collecting 20 of Pandaria's 28 lost treasures. Completing this meta unlocks the title "the Relic Hunter".
• Account-wide status. After the first activation the toy lands in the Toy Box and is available on all of your characters — on any faction, class and realm. You never need to obtain it a second time on an alt.
• Levels your Toy Box and collection achievements. +1 in the Toy Box brings you closer to A Mountain o' Mounts… of Toys, Toying Around and larger collector meta-achievements.

The charm is a one-time reward from a rare NPC. Nothing complicated is required: just fly to the Valley of the Four Winds, find the ghostly fisherman on the lakeshore and agree to accept his gift.

Step 1. Prepare a free bag slot

Before talking to the pandaren, make sure your main bag has at least one free slot. If your bags are full, the dialogue will go through but the charm will not drop into your inventory — calling a Game Master is pointless here, a GM will not restore such items. On modern client versions this is a rare but still relevant issue, so it is better to free up a couple of slots in advance.

Step 2. Fly to the Valley of the Four Winds

At max Midnight level (90) the easiest way to get there is:

1. Open the travel table and teleport to Westwind Rest or Halfhill — the main profession hub of the Valley of the Four Winds.
2. If you have no teleport, fly to the Temple of the White Tiger or the Pandaria capital, the Shrine of Seven Stars, and from there head south through the pass.
3. From a garrison/order hall hearthstone you can jump straight to the Shrine and quickly descend into the valley.

The Valley of the Four Winds is fully open to flying at max level; no separate prerequisites or campaigns are required to enter.

Step 3. Find the Ghostly Pandaren Fisherman

Ghostly Pandaren Fisherman is a rare ghost NPC that appears in the northern part of the Valley of the Four Winds. Spawn point:

The pandaren is semi-transparent and his silhouette is easy to miss — turn on NPC name display and walk along the water's edge. He stands with his fishing gear right by the shore, most often facing the lake. If he is not at the spot — he is either in an invisibility phase or was just looted a minute ago: wait 5–10 minutes or circle the nearby shores; he appears on the realm regularly.

Step 4. Take the charm and activate it

1. Walk right up and right-click the pandaren.
2. In the dialogue choose the reply "Gladly, thank you". The pandaren will hand over the charm and say goodbye, after which he vanishes.
3. Open your bag and right-click the charm to activate it — the toy goes into the Toy Box. After that the item can be used from the collections panel on any character on the account.
4. Immediately click the toy's icon in the Toy Box to apply the one-hour buff Ancient Pandaren Fishing Charm — and you can head to the nearest pandaren pool.

• Effect: when activated it applies the buff "Ancient Pandaren Fishing Charm". Under the buff, fishing Pandaria pools gives you two fish at once instead of one roughly 20% of the time (or a fish plus an openable crate/shell). Fishing outside Pandaria, the buff is up but does nothing.
• Duration: 60 minutes of real time.
• Cooldown: none. As soon as the hour expires you can press it again and keep fishing.
• Where it works: only in Pandaria waters and only in pools. Normal fishing outside pools and in the waters of other continents gets no bonus.
• Compatibility: it does not conflict with other fishing toys and lures. You can use it at the same time as Heat-Treated Spinning Lure or other lures — the bonuses stack.
• Not blocked in instances: you can activate the charm in dungeons and raids, but there is no point — there are no Pandaria pools there.
• Stacking: a single player cannot have two such buffs at once. Reusing it simply refreshes the timer to 60 minutes.