Mount



Mounts are a much sought after form of transportation in which players ride atop the backs of various more or less exotic beasts (or machinations). Warlocks, Paladins and Death Knights can learn to summon mounts as a class perk. Mounted travel is almost always faster than walking/running (some vanity mounts such as the Sea Turtle (mount) provide only circumstantial speed boosts). World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade introduced flying mounts in select areas, which further increased the maximum possible player movement speed. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm introduced flying to Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, as well as the new areas exclusive to the expansion.

Mounts were generally expensive in the past, but their prices have been reduced while the training to ride them increased in order to compensate. However, some mounts do not cost any gold or other currencies (such as honor points) and will drop at very low rates from bosses in instances such as Stratholme, Tempest Keep, Magisters' Terrace, Sethekk Halls, Karazhan, and Utgarde Pinnacle. There are numerous other methods to obtain mounts as well, such as class quests, completing achievements, and even playing the Trading Card Game.

Mounts have a 1.5 second cast time, which will be interrupted by taking any damage, moving, or entering combat. Mounts also have a special emote that can be seen by either jumping (the key by default) while not moving or performing the   slash command. For example hawkstriders will shriek.

Riding skills and abilities


Since patch 4.0.1 most mounts no longer have intrinsic values for speed; their speed is dependent only on the player's riding skill.

Ground mounts cannot fly and flying mounts will instantly dismount the rider if they enter water. However, ground mounts can swim (but not any faster than swimming without the mount). There are two aquatic mounts, one that can be used anywhere but only moves at +60% swimspeed and can walk on land, and another that can only be used underwater in Vashj'ir but moves at +450% swim speed. Vanity mounts confer no benefits (and thus, require no riding skill or character level).

Apprentice: Level 20
Apprentice riding skill (75) costs for training and an additional  for each mount, both reduced by the appropriate reputation discounts. Increases mounted movement speed by 60%.

At level 20, warlocks and paladins can learn the spells Summon Felsteed and Summon Warhorse at the cost of from their class trainers, which grants them apprentice riding skill. Additionally, worgen learn Running Wild at level 20, which functions as their racial mount.

Journeyman: Level 40
Journeyman riding skill (150) costs for training and an additional  for each mount, both reduced by the appropriate reputation discounts. Increases mounted movement speed by 100%.

At level 40, paladins and warlocks can learn Summon Charger and Dreadsteed from their class trainers after learning the Journeyman riding skill from the riding trainer. There is no need to purchase a new mount. Death knights receive their epic ground mount, the Acherus Deathcharger (ability), after the completion of the quests and  at level 55.

Expert: Level 60
Expert riding skill (225) costs for training and an additional  for each mount, both reduced by the appropriate reputation discounts. Increases mounted movement speed by 150% in the air and 100% on the ground. Flying in Northrend requires Cold Weather Flying training, while flying in Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor requires a Flight Master's License (see below).

Druids can learn Flight Form from any druid trainer at level 60 for, which grants them expert riding skill for next to nothing.

Flight Master's License: Level 60
The Flight Master's License (often referred to as "Old Weather Flying") costs and unlocks the ability for players to fly in the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor excluding the zones that requires The Burning Crusade expansion (like Eversong Woods and Ghostlands), much like Cold Weather Flying can at 68 for flight in Northrend. It requires level 60 and 225 skill. It also requires purchasers to have World of Warcraft: Cataclysm attached to their account.

This ability is not required for Cold Weather Flying or any higher skill tier.

Cold Weather Flying: Level 68
The Cold Weather Flying skill costs. This non-discountable training grants players the ability to also use their flying mounts in Northrend and requires level 68 and expert riding skill. Before Patch 4.0.1, only level 80 characters were are able to buy this training directly for. In Patch 3.2.0, a bind to account heirloom, the Tome of Cold Weather Flight, was made available for level 80 characters to purchase for, which allowed characters of level 68 to learn the spell making flight in Northrend possible from an even earlier level. Patch 4.0.1 made the tome redundant, so it was removed.

This ability is not required for any higher skill tier or flying on Outland.

Artisan: Level 70
Artisan riding skill (300) costs, reduced by the appropriate reputation discounts. Increases mounted movement speed by 100% on the ground and 280% in the air. No class-granted abilities award artisan flying, although the Druid ability Swift Flight Form requires it.

Master: Level 80
Master riding skill (375) costs for training, reduced by the appropriate reputation discount. Introduced with Patch 4.0.1, no mounts require it, but it increases the air speed of all flying mounts to +310%. However, any characters that already had a 310% speed flying mount pre-4.0.1 were given this skill automatically and free of charge with 4.0.1. Adding Reins of the Violet Proto-Drake to your collection also awards Master riding.

Through guild perks
The guild perk Mount Up increases your speed while mounted by 10% except in Arenas and Battlegrounds.

Through class abilities and talents
Shaman and druids acquire shapeshift forms that increase their movement speed (not as much as a mount, but it is trainable at an earlier level), while hunters get aspects to boost their own movement speed and that of their party. Rogues and druids in cat form have an ability to temporarily increase movement speed. Here are the skills and abilities that provide some classes with a bit of a faster movement speed, either passively or by the activation of an ability.


 * On a Pale Horse in the Frost tree (tier 2). Increases your speed while mounted by 10%/20%. The mounted movement speed increase does not stack with other effects.
 * Pathfinding in the Beast Mastery talent tree (tier 2). Increases your speed while mounted by 5%/10%. The mounted movement speed increase does not stack with other effects.
 * Pursuit of Justice in the Retribution talent tree (tier 2). Increases your movement speed (and mounted movement speed) by 8%/15%. This does not stack with other speed increasing effects.
 * Crusader Aura at level 62. Movement speed while mounted is increased by 20%. The mounted movement speed increase does not stack with other effects.
 * Pursuit of Justice in the Retribution talent tree (tier 2). Increases your movement speed (and mounted movement speed) by 8%/15%. This does not stack with other speed increasing effects.
 * Crusader Aura at level 62. Movement speed while mounted is increased by 20%. The mounted movement speed increase does not stack with other effects.
 * Crusader Aura at level 62. Movement speed while mounted is increased by 20%. The mounted movement speed increase does not stack with other effects.

Through items and enchants
There are five other methods for increasing your mounted speed, with no effects beyond level 70:


 * Enchant Gloves - Riding Skill: +2% (stacking), world drop Enchanting recipe
 * Carrot on a Stick: +3% (stacking), reward from the in Zul'Farrak.
 * Mithril Spurs: +4% (stacking), world drop Blacksmithing plans
 * Riding Crop:[[File:Bc icon.gif]] +10% (non-stacking), Leatherworking pattern sold in Old Hillsbrad Foothills.
 * Skybreaker Whip:[[File:Bc icon.gif]] +10% (non-stacking), quest reward from, must be Honored with Netherwing.

These last two items effectively increase a mount's speed by 10%. However, they do not stack with the previously mentioned methods, so they are approximately (see below) a 1% improvement over using the above 3 items combined. It should be also noted that for players of WotLK the Riding Crop is only usable for two levels (69 and 70), and the Skybreaker Whip only for one level (70).

All speed improvement items work on both normal and flying mounts (with the exception of npc controlled point-to-point flight).

Characters higher than level 70 will not benefit from mount speed improvement items and enchants. Blizzard's design goal is to eliminate the trinkets, but they've had technical issues with an implementation of an alternate system.

Statistics
The first three effects act as percent multipliers of your total mounted speed, stacking with previous multipliers. Thus, if you have spurs but nothing else, your normal mount speed will be increased to about 166.4% ((100% + 60%) * 1.04 = 166.4%). These numbers were obtained experimentally using a position-tracking addon written specifically for this purpose.

Available mounts
The tables below are separated based on mount source, such as purchase requirements, killing specific creatures, participating in world events, completing achievements or more.

Racial mounts
Racial ground mounts are typically the first mounts players will acquire. To purchase a racial ground mount, players must either purchase their race's mount (such as horses for humans, or wolves for orcs), or gain exalted standing with that race's representative faction (such as exalted with Darnassus to purchase sabers). Flying mounts do not require any reputation rating.

Worgen are an exception and do not have purchasable mounts, but instead learn Running Wild at level 20. Running Wild functions exactly like a mount as far as the game is concerned, but using the player's model instead of some mount. Running Wild confers the standard 60% speed bonus from level 20 to 39, then unlock 100% speed at level 40. Other Alliance races cannot learn Running Wild, but worgen can learn other mounts.

Class-specific mounts
There are four classes in the game that can acquire special mounts and abilities linked to their own class through lore: death knights, druids, paladins, and warlocks. The original quests to gain the paladin charger, warlock dreadsteed, and druid's swift flight form are all still in-game and reward feats of strength if they are completed. The aforementioned quests are not required to learn the ability, however, and are on the class trainers at the level listed in the table.

Druid and paladin abilities are slightly different based on race and faction. For example, the Alliance charger is blue and golden, while the Horde version is red and bronze. Similarly, night elf druids are black in flight form, while tauren are tan. With Cataclysm, tauren and draenei paladins receive Sunwalker Kodo and Exarch's Elekk, respectively, in place of chargers.

PvP mounts
PvP mounts can be obtained by exchanging Honor Points or other world PvP currency. For Arena rewards, see the Arena section.

Quest reward mounts
Some laborious or involved quest chains reward mounts.

Faction reward mounts
As a reward for gaining high reputation standing with various factions, players can purchase mounts. Such high reputation is a function of large quantities of time.

Notes:

Rare drop mounts
Rarely, specific creatures will drop a mount as a reward. If the mount drops, only one mount will appear per kill, no matter the size of the party or raid killing the creature. Also, mounts may rarely be inside other containers rewarded for doing other objectives.

Guaranteed drop mounts
A guaranteed drop mount will result in one mount being awarded upon killing the specified creature under the condition listed, regardless of the size of the party or raid. For mounts rewarded such that everyone who completes the achievement gets the mount, see the "Achievements" section. There is no direct achievement for killing the Time-Lost Proto-Drake or Aeonaxx; the hard part is actually finding either drake alive. There is likewise no achievement for killing Dormus the Camel-Hoarder; the hard part is finding a working Mysterious Camel Figurine in Uldum.

Crafted mounts
Mounts can also be created by players. Typically such mounts are a perk of the profession and are not available to other players, but a few are.

Dalaran mounts
in Dalaran sells mounts to all comers, with no requirements outside of gold or Justice Points.

Argent Tournament mounts
A major draw of the Argent Tournament is the large quantity of mounts rewarded in exchange for Champion's Seals.

Aquatic mounts
Aquatic mounts confer a slight increase in swim speed, but when designed to be amphibious, move no faster than walking while on land. Aquatic mounts do not give their riders the ability to breathe underwater, so plan accordingly with an appropriate item or abilities.

Achievement system mounts
These mounts are obtainable by completing certain achievements. As part of completing the achievement, the mount will be mailed directly to the player.

Holiday mounts
There are several disguises and time-limited items that are available during holidays. Disguises simply turn the player's mount into something "more festive" like a kodo or a reindeer but do not otherwise affect mount mechanics. Time-limited items exist only during the duration of the holiday itself. Previously, time-limited items had a set time such as seven or 14 days, but were changed to be directly tied to the holiday.

Back during Brewfest 2007, an Honorary Brewer Hand Stamp was available for purchase and granted access to the Brewfest Ram and Swift Brewfest Ram vendors. (the holiday boss in the Grim Guzzler of Blackrock Depths) had not yet been implemented, so completing the quest was the only way to get the mounts. The hand stamp was removed for the 2008 Brewfest and the Swift Brewfest Ram added to Coren Direbrew's loot table (along with the new Great Brewfest Kodo), but the 60%-speed Brewfest Ram can no longer be purchased except by players who completed the Hand Stamp quest.

Outside of game mounts
The mounts in previous sections are acquired using solely in-game means. The mounts that follow require some real-world interactions, such as getting a rare loot card in the TCG, going to BlizzCon, or purchasing mounts from the Blizzard Store.

Trading Card Game mounts
All the TCG mounts must first be unlocked using a code found on a loot card, then they can be purchased from in Booty Bay.

Blizzard Store mounts
Mounts are also available from Blizzard Store. They function exactly like Pet Store-purchased pets do: all characters on the account will get mail from with the mount attached.

BlizzCon mounts
The BlizzCon Mounts comes from the BlizzCon Welcome packages. The mounts must first be unlocked using a code found on the Blizzard Convention Card, the NPC's for unlocking the mounts can be found in Valley of Honor, Orgrimmar if you are Horde or in Forlorn Cavern, Ironforge if Alliance.

Recruit a friend mounts
These mounts are obtainable by recruiting a friend with the Recruit-A-Friend program.

Arena System reward mounts
At the end of each Arena season, the top 0.5% of teams in the 3v3 and 5v5 bracket each battlegroup are rewarded with a 310% speed flying mount.

Such mounts are inherently time-limited and are not currently available.

Removed from game mounts
These mounts are no longer obtainable in the game.

Flying mounts in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms
At BlizzCon 2009 it was revealed that flying mounts would be available in some form to use in Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms with the release Cataclysm. Blizzard officials had previously stated that it was unlikely that they would allow flying mounts in these continents since doing so would require them to redesign the continents with flying mounts in mind.

The former state of the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor was unsuitable for flying mounts; there were visual glitches like mountains and high buildings whose tops could not be seen, and places where the terrain abruptly changed from one tileset to another, creating a grossly unrealistic appearance in some areas. There were also zones which should be there lore-wise but were empty and unfinished.

Wrath of the Lich King

 * The ravasaur trainer has returned to Un'Goro and will offer to help Horde players raise and train a Whistle of the Venomhide Ravasaur as a mount... if they can survive the creature's deadly poison.
 * The ravasaur trainer has returned to Un'Goro and will offer to help Horde players raise and train a Whistle of the Venomhide Ravasaur as a mount... if they can survive the creature's deadly poison.
 * The ravasaur trainer has returned to Un'Goro and will offer to help Horde players raise and train a Whistle of the Venomhide Ravasaur as a mount... if they can survive the creature's deadly poison.
 * The ravasaur trainer has returned to Un'Goro and will offer to help Horde players raise and train a Whistle of the Venomhide Ravasaur as a mount... if they can survive the creature's deadly poison.
 * The ravasaur trainer has returned to Un'Goro and will offer to help Horde players raise and train a Whistle of the Venomhide Ravasaur as a mount... if they can survive the creature's deadly poison.