You want to look like a badass in World of Warcraft, but you don’t have the time or energy to sit and farm Invincible, Arthas’ warhorse, for 500 hours. Or maybe you haven’t spent years hoarding a few million gold to drop on the Black Market Auction House for a sweet ride like everyone’s favorite long-necked dino. Or, hell, maybe you’re just extremely lazy. No judgements. Whatever the reason is, you can get around in style in World of Warcraft without wasting countless hours of your life, and without breaking the bank. If you’re the type of person who just wants a cool mount without much effort this is the guide for you.
Below you’ll find a list of very cool mounts that either have a 100 percent drop rate, simply require you to mess around some of World of Warcraft’s older zones, or mounts that cost just a modest amount of gold. Here are some of my favorite, and easiest to get, mounts in World of Warcraft.
(You can click on the mount’s name to see its Wowhead page for more info.)
Bronze Drake
What is better than a good dragon to ride around on? Nothing, that’s what. The Bronze Drake is truly a classic, and it has aged gracefully. It might not be as fancy as WoW’s modern dragon mounts—lacking both the polygon count and cool visual effects, but there’s beauty in its simplicity. Also younger players will probably think you got this from some uber-challenging raid boss from way back in the day or something. The best part is, this bad boy takes less than 15 minutes to acquire, and it is a 100 percent drop chance.
How to get it: To acquire the Bronze Drake all you have to do is go to The Culling of Stratholme instance, a dungeon in the Caverns of Time, reenacting one of Warcraft 3’s most iconic scenes. But you’re not here for that, you’re here to get your inner Sonic the Hedgehog on and go fast. All you have to do is complete the dungeon, following the markers on your minimap, before the timer expires. Given that this dungeon is nearly 15 years old, it’s a cake walk. When you get to the end of the dungeon you can walk straight past Mal’ganis and face off against Infinite Corruptor—who you will easily kill in just one shot. Loot your defeated foe to claim your prize, Reins of the Bronze Drake.
Shimmermist Runner
Look at this horse. My horse is amazing. Shimmermist Runner is a new addition in Shadowlands and may be one of the coolest mounts in the game. And it takes less than five minutes to get her. This is probably my favorite mount from Shadowlands, and the one I use most often.
How to get: Head down to Ardenweald—more specifically the area called Root-Home—and get ready to traverse the maze of Tirna Scithe. You’ll need to take a very specific route through Tirna Scithe, but our guide has all the necessary steps (and also shows you how to get some other very easy Shadowlands-specific mounts). Once you get to the end of the maze there’s one rare mob that stands in the way of you and your horse. Take it down and claim your prize.
Grand Expedition Yak
In the time it took you to read this opening sentence, you could have already purchased this yak. That’s how easy it is. The only downside is that the Grand Expedition Yak does cost a modest 120,000 gold—which will take a little bit of time if you’re brand new. Most of you should have the coin, though. It’s worth it because this is one of the most useful mounts in the game. It has both a transmog vendor and a regular vendor strapped to either side of the saddle. Now you can empty your bags or change your appearance in a pinch.
How to get: To get your hands on this mighty mount you’ll have to head to Kun-Lai Summit in Mists of Pandaria, and make your way to the village of One Keg on your map. From there it’s a simple jaunt to the east where you’ll find Uncle Bigpocket, who will gladly sell you this most prized yak.
Arboreal Gulper
The Arboreal Gulper is the current meme mount of Shadowlands. If you own it and spend enough time hanging around popular cities like Oribos, you’re bound to find an opportunity to join congo lines or form a massive circle of players all sitting astride their own Arboreal Gulper. It’s also just one of the coolest, and easiest to obtain mounts in World of Warcraft. The Gulper is a 100 percent drop chance from a rare mob found in Ardenweald.
How to get: To start you need to loot an Unusually Large Mushroom, from any mob in all of Ardenweald. Any mob can drop the mushroom, and more likely than not you’ve already had one, or a dozen, and not even noticed. After you’ve acquired your mushroom, you can head off to spawn Humon’gozz, a rare boss with a fair amount of HP (I’d recommend bringing a friend or two to help you down him, as you’ll all get the mount). If you’re having any trouble getting Humon’gozz to spawn, or downing him, check out our guide. After you have your Gulper the world is your… fly? Osyster? I’m not sure, but enjoy your time in Gulper trains around Oribos, Gulper choruses outside of Castle Nathria, or maybe just enjoy life on the hop.
Red Flying Cloud
If you’ve ever seen any of the Dragon Ball animes, you are well acquainted with Goku’s awesome flying cloud. Now how cool would it be to have one of your own? Well if you’re exalted with the Lorewalkers, which, considering they were a Mists of Pandaria rep is decently likely, or if you’re willing to grind out the now trivial reputation, all you have to do is fly around and pick up a few scrolls and turn them into Lorewalker Cho. If you prefer a video guide, check this out from Nobbel. Once that errand is done, it’s time to enjoy your cloud. And it will only take an hour or two.
How to get: The Red Flying Cloud is a simple 600 gold purchase away, all you have to do is head to the Vale of Eternal Blossoms and speak to Tan Shin Tiao after reaching exalted status with the Lorewalkers. Not only is the Red Flying Cloud a cool crossover, it is one of the more timeless mounts in World of Warcraft.
Smoldering Ember Wyrm
The Smoldering Ember Wyrm (or Nightbane) is one of World of Warcraft’s most poorly kept secrets, but now that we have moved past the Legion expansion it’s easy to get on your own, and is one of the coolest dragon mounts in the game. Who doesn’t want to ride around on a flaming skeleton dragon?
How to get: To get your hands on Nightbane you’ll have to go into Karazhan—the Legion dungeon, not the original vanilla one. If you’re confused, here’s a guide. Once inside the dungeon, you’re going to see a message in chat that reads “The strange chill of a dark presence winds through the air.” This is the beginning of a secret timer that requires you to find five crystals in five minutes, though each crystal resets the timer back to five minutes. The guide on the exact locations of each can be found on Wowhead. Don’t worry, though. If you’re level 60 it shouldn’t take more than a single try as the timer was initially designed for max-level players back in Legion. You’ll be way stronger than that and can probably one-shot most monsters. Once you’ve finished running all over the tower you will face off against Nightbane himself. He was a tough boss at the time, but not anymore. Smoldering Ember Wyrm has a 20 percent chance to drop, so it’s not a guarantee. But running this a few times will probably only take you an hour or so.
Sandstone Drake
The final mount on our guide is extremely unique: You don’t ride it, you transform into it. It even has an extra seat so a friend can ride you. Sandstone Drake is an extremely useful mount, as one of the few two-seater flying mounts in World of Warcraft. This drake is traditionally a recipe learned through Alchemy— but we have a shortcut. Because otherwise what’s the point of this lazy farming guide?
How to get: As I said above, there’s two ways to get Sandstone Drake, you can loot the Recipe: Vial of Sands from Archaeology, and then spend a whole bunch of time farming a bunch of items—boring. Your other option is going to your favorite auction house and purchasing “Vial of the Sands” for about 60,000 gold and skipping all that. Who said money can’t buy happiness?
If these none of these mounts pique your interest, here’s some other awesome mounts that just might: