Zul'Gurub Trinket

The Zul'Gurub trinkets are a family of trinkets which are available exclusively in Zul'Gurub. They are not the only trinkets one can acquire within that zone, but they are unique in that each is a part of an epic class-specific equipment set. These trinkets have diverse effects, but all of them provide short-term bonuses. They are therefore most useful for PvP combat.

List of trinkets
All of these trinkets are epic items which bind when picked up. Each one has a three minute cooldown.

Acquisition
The Zul'Gurub trinkets are acquired by combining a particular type of punctured voodoo doll (as appropriate for their class) with all 4 animal token drops from the Edge of Madness event. This event is complicated and can be expensive to trigger, but has the benefit of being fairly reliable.

As mentioned, each trinket is a piece of a class-specific set which is available only in Zul'Gurub. These trinkets are unique in that they are the only piece of these sets which have no faction requirement; indeed, the player need not even visit Yojamba Isle. All the player must do is acquire the relevant components and then use the doll; the doll and components are consumed and produce the trinket.

Usage
The Zul'Gurub trinkets vary substantially from class to class, but all of them have two things in common: their effects are short-lived, and their cooldown is a mere 3 minutes. These trinkets provide their bonuses in bursts, which makes them very ineffective when fighting elite monsters, but strong in player versus player combat. However, because of the short duration of their effects, it can be challenging to use them well. Therefore, these trinkets are best employed as a part of a macro which will also use the appropriate abilities.

Warrior and Rogue
The warrior and rogue trinkets are both the easiest and the hardest to use. The trinkets' uses are obvious, but actually performing these combinations is challenging without a macro.

Both trinkets provide their user with one or more "free" special attacks. The rogue's backstab ability costs 60 energy, and this trinket supplies 60 energy; this trinket therefore can grant a rogue an additional backstab at any time. Similarly, the warrior's high-end talent attacks - Mortal Strike, Shield Slam, and Bloodthirst - all require 30 rage to use, exactly the amount granted by the warrior trinket. Of course, rogues and warriors can also use this free energy/rage for combinations of other abilities.

The warrior trinket is slightly more forgiving than the rogue one - a warrior in combat will retain any rage he gains until he leaves combat, but the benefit provided by the rogue trinket must be used within 6 seconds at most before its benefit begins to be lost. In both cases, the player would be well-advised to use their trinket by way of a macro to ensure that the trinket is not used when it would exceed the player's maximum capacity for rage or energy. Rogues might be well-served to take advantage of the fact that trinkets and spells can be used immediately after each other. A macro which uses the trinket, then uses a spell which will consume the trinket's bonus, will ensure that it is used fully every time.

Example rogue macro
/script if (UnitMana("player")<=40) then UseInventoryItem(GetInventorySlotInfo("Trinket1Slot")); end /cast Backstab(Rank 8) This macro casts backstab. If the player's energy is low, then the macro will use the trinket just beforehand. This macro requires that the player have his Zul'Gurub trinket equipped in his second trinket slot.

Hunter
The hunter trinket is especially difficult to use. It clears the cooldown of four different hunter abilities, but two of these abilities already have a 6 second cooldown (arcane and aimed shot), and a third has a ten second cooldown (multi-shot). In addition, the cooldowns on aimed and arcane shot are linked; using one applies a 6 second cooldown to both of them, so they cannot be used in tandem. Resetting cooldowns on these spells would seem to be relatively trivial. However, arcane/aimed shot and multi-shot are the primary direct-damage spells used by hunters; the ability to reset their cooldowns allows the hunter to use each one twice in quick succession. A hunter can fire arcane shot, then multi-shot, then activate his trinket and cast each spell again immediately. This entire sequence will take between 4 and 5 seconds, and can be performed while the hunter is running (though he will need to pause for each multi-shot). If a hunter has access to aimed shot, he can substitute that for arcane shot; this extends the sequence to 8 or 9 seconds, and requires the hunter to remain in one place, but delivers far more damage. EDIT: As of a New Patch Arcane and Aimed no longer share the same Cooldown, Thus you can get far more damage out of this!

Druid and Priest
These two trinkets are nearly identical; each one reduces the casting time of their class's largest heal spell by 40%, and reduces the mana cost of all healing spells by 5%. This effect lasts only 15 seconds, and thus the trinkets are most effective when a single player is taking intense damage, and can therefore utilize all the healing being applied. The trinkets can also allow rapid healing of an entire party, but some method of rapidly switching targets would be needed to get the most out of the time spent.

Paladin, Mage, and Warlock
These trinkets are not at all identical, but very similar; each increases the damage output of a particular category of spells.
 * In the paladin's case, this would be all spells, healing included. Since paladins have so few attack spells, and none which can be used repeatedly or rapidly, this trinket may be more effective when used for a quick burst of healing, like a druid or priest trinket.
 * The mage trinket enhances arcane spell criticals, but mages have only two arcane spells which are capable of critical effects: arcane missiles and arcane explosion. In either case, simply recasting the spell rapidly should be sufficient to use this trinket's effect fully.
 * The warlock's trinket improves more of his spells than the mage's does, but most of his spells have a casting time. Warlocks may find that the easiest way to fully exploit their trinket is by casting shadow bolt repeatedly. If a warlock has the improved shadow bolt talent, they may wish to use the trinket after a natural critical in order to get the most out of the critical damage buff.  Shadow burn may also improve damage.

Shaman
The shaman trinket is the most unique of all the Zul'Gurub trinkets - it is the only one whose effects do not require direct action to utilize. The shaman need only get several enemies to attack him, then use his lightning shield and this trinket. The shaman may need to recast his lightning shield several times over the trinket's 20 second duration, but the effects should be thoroughly satisfying.