Mount
|
 Riding (Profession)
|
|---|---|
“You don't want to walk forever, do you?”
[Kul Tiran Charger].Mounts are a much sought-after form of transportation in which players ride atop the backs of exotic beasts, machines, and transit of all kinds in order to move quickly around the world. Mounted travel is always faster than running on foot, and amphibious mounts can increase swim speed when immersed in water. The Burning Crusade introduced flying mounts in select areas, which further increased the maximum possible player movement speed and also increased accessibility to various locations previously unreachable. Cataclysm introduced flying to Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, which previously lacked it. The Dragonflight expansion introduced Dragonriding, the fastest and most interactive form of mounted traversal ever seen.[2]
Mounts were generally expensive in the past, being one of the largest gold investments an adventurer could make in World of Warcraft. Today they are accessible to novice players who receive their first after departing from Exile's Reach.[3] They now are a way to show off achievements, express oneself, and are a type of reward to collect from every kind of in-game content.
Mounts have a 1.5-second cast time, which is interrupted by taking damage or moving.
Organizing mounts
- Main article: Mounts tab
All of a player's collected mounts can be viewed in the mounts tab, accessible by the hotkey ⇧ Shift+P. There almost every mount's appearance, source, and its descriptive flavor text can be viewed. The mounts tab also allows the player to right-click the name of a mount and "Set Favorite", with which they can use the 
[Summon Random Favorite Mount] button to only those from the selection.
Collecting mounts
Mounts are added to the collection by right-clicking the item. If they're awarded from an achievement or in-game store purchase, they're added to the collection directly.
Mounts' desirability can relate to their level of investment for reasons like low drop chance, like the 
[X-45 Heartbreaker], or only being available through extremely difficult content, like the 
[Reins of Anu'relos, Flame's Guidance].[4] As such there are many associated achievements for obtaining particularly notable mounts, or for simply amassing a large amount of them:
| Mount-related achievements | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Mount-related Feats of strength | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Augmenting a mount
Riding Skill
- Main article: Riding
Gaining riding skill throughout the level-up process will cause all owned mounts to increase their grounded and flying speeds.
Guild Perks
The guild perk [Mount Up] increases mount speed by 10% except in Arenas and Battlegrounds.
Abilities and talents
Warlocks, paladins, and death knights can learn to summon mounts as a class ability.
The mounted movement speed increase from class abilities does not stack with other effects.
[On a Pale Horse] increases mounted movement speed by 20%.
[Crusader Aura] increases an entire party's mounted movement speed by 20%.
[Open Skies] increases mounted movement speed by 10%.
Items and enchants
There are various items that can be equipped onto a character that increase mounted speed, though they only function at lower levels. These include:
[Riding Skill]: +2% (stacking), world drop Enchanting recipe
[Mithril Spurs]: +4% (stacking), world drop Blacksmithing plans
[Riding Crop]: +10% (non-stacking), Leatherworking pattern sold in Old Hillsbrad Foothills.
[Skybreaker Whip]: +10% (non-stacking), quest reward from 
[25-30] Dragonmaw Race: Captain Skyshatter, must be Honored with the Netherwing.
The first three of these effects stack with each other, before being applied as a multiplier to the current mounted speed. Players with all three effects will, therefore, gain a 9% increase. The last two items both increase mounted speed by 10%. However, they do not stack with each other, or the other previously mentioned methods.
Mount Equipment
- Main article: Mount Equipment
Mount Equipment are crafted items that are equipped in the mounts tab and provide an additional utility benefit to all summoned mounts. This includes non-stacking movement speed increases like the 
[Light-Step Hoofplates] and other utilities like water-walking from the 
[Anglers' Water Striders].
Possible mount speeds table
| Mount | Base Speed | [Mount Up]/Crop/Whip |
[Crusader Aura]/ [On a Pale Horse]
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Vanity mounts | 100% | 110% | 120% |
| Apprentice riding skill (ground) | 160% | 176% | 192% |
| Journeyman riding skill (ground) | 200% | 220% | 240% |
| Expert riding skill (flying) | 250% | 275% | 300% |
| Master riding skill (flying) | 410% | 451% | 492% |
Mount variants
While most mounts only provide an additional ground or flying speed increase, certain special mounts are distinct for either additional functionality, or a unique appearance. These include:
- Passenger mounts, like the grounded
[Grand Ice Mammoth] and the flying 
[X-53 Touring Rocket], allow a mount to act as a sort of vehicle and let other party members ride-along. This is also a feature of all dragonriding mounts, if enabled.
[The Hivemind] is a passenger mount that can only be mounted by party members who completed the secret questline together. Each party member increases the mount's speed.
- Transformative mounts, like the
[Vial of the Sands] and 
[Tarecgosa's Visage], completely transform the player into the chosen mount. 
[Travel Form], a druid ability, has a similar functionality. - Vendor mounts are passenger mounts that summon ride-along vendor NPCs from which players can buy and sell items, and use any other services they provide. The NPCs can be dismissed from the mount to make room for a player.
- The
[Traveler's Tundra Mammoth] includes an armor repair vendor. - The
[Grand Expedition Yak] is the only mount that will summon a transmogrification NPC. - The
[Mighty Caravan Brutosaur] is the only mount that will summon an auctioneer NPC.
- The
- The
[Mechanized Lumber Extractor] and [Sky Golem] mounts allow the player to harvest herbs while mounted. - Aquatic mounts like the
[Darkwater Skate] provide a speed increase while swimming.
- Aquatic mounts that are land-capable, like the
[Savage Green Battle Turtle], normally do not provide land movement speed benefits.
- Aquatic mounts that are land-capable, like the
- The
[Ensorcelled Everwyrm] has a clickable object that summons a quest giver NPC that offers the quest [50-60] The Eternal Traveler. - The aurelids, such as
[Cryptic Aurelid] and the 
[Deepstar Polyp], are the first type of mount that functions as all types: land, flying and an aquatic mount. - ...and various other unique mounts that are distinct for their own reasons.
Rarity
While rare or epic rarities used to indicate a certain potential maximum speed, all mounts were standardized to scale with the player's riding level in Cataclysm. As rare mounts are only introduced with the addition of a new core race, it makes rare quality mounts like the 
[Red Mechanostrider] a remarkably accessible minority.
- The
[Chauffeured Chopper] is the only heirloom quality mount and it's "driven" by an accompanying NPC. - The
[Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal] and the 
[Lingering Echo of Tarecgosa] are the only two legendary quality mounts.
Flying in vanilla
[Eagle Eye] or 
[Far Sight], it was possible to see why Flying Mounts were not allowed in the old world until Cataclysm was released.Player-controlled flight was originally not a part of World of Warcraft, but 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 of Cataclysm. Blizzard before then 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.
Since Cataclysm, players can fly all over the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor but there are still various No-fly zones where flight isn't available for various reasons. When attempting to fly toward the Ghostlands, players encounter an invisible wall that stretches from the Forbidding Sea to the Northern Lordaeron area above the Eastern Plaguelands and northeast of the Western Plaguelands.
Notes
- Most mounts have a special emote they can do: this can be invoked while motionless on the ground, either by the
/mountspecialslash command for flying mounts or by pressing the Space key for ground-bound mounts. - Flying mounts can perform a loop! Press Pitch Up or Pitch Down (normally ⌤ Ins and ⌦ Del) while in flight to perform a loop - it's also possible to strafe while in a loop. On a Macintosh, the Help key, or the Fn+⌦ Del combination (on the laptop) will start it.
- During the vanilla beta, tauren were meant to use the
[Plainsrunning] ability instead of being able to use mounts, but this was eventually cut before release.
Patch changes
Patch 9.0.5 (2021-03-09): Replaced the "cloud" mount summon visual effect with a "distortion" effect. 
Patch 8.2.0 (2019-06-25): Added Mount equipment. 
Patch 6.2.2 (2015-09-01): The maximum size of a mount is now capped at 150% of base size for cosmetic effects (up from 100%). Additionally, the minimum size of a mount is no longer capped. - Patch 6.0.2 (2014-10-14): All flying mounts are now able to be used as a ground mount in areas that do not allow flying.
Patch 5.2.0 (2013-03-05): Upon reaching level 20 and level 60, characters will automatically receive a new quest directing them to visit the racial riding trainer and mount vendors. - Patch 5.0.4 (2012-08-28): All non-class specific mounts are now account-wide.
Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12):
- All mounts now scale to the appropriate riding skill. This means that all 310% speed mounts earned from achievements or were awarded from this patch onward are 280% in order to match the current max riding skill, Artisan. Players who already have a 310% mount are grandfathered into the system.
- Mounts that are both ground and flying will no longer need to be dismounted and then re-mounted to switch between types. This will now be automatic.
Patch 3.3.0 (2009-12-08): Knockbacks no longer dismount players. If on a flying mount, you will be knocked back a short distance before being able to resume flying. - Patch 3.2.0 (2009-08-04):
- The cast time for summoning any ground or flying mount is now 1.5 seconds, down from 3 seconds.
- Flying over Dalaran and Wintergrasp is now possible so long as players keep a healthy distance above the ground.
- Patch 3.1.0 (2009-04-14): All Ground Mounts may now swim without dismounting the rider. Flying Mounts still may NOT, and will dismount the rider upon entering water.
- Patch 3.0.8 (2009-01-20): Racial restrictions on mounts have now been lifted. Night elves on mechanostriders? Tauren on raptors? You're not seeing things.
- Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14):
- Mounting is now permitted in Ahn'Qiraj.
- New Vanity Pet and Mount changes: Players will now be able to access their non-combat pets and mounts by clicking on the pets tab in the Character Info panel. These pets and mounts will be now learnable much like spells or abilities. Once a vanity pet or mount is learned, the icon will disappear from within a player's inventory and reappear in the appropriate tab under the pet tab under Character Info. Say goodbye to your vanity pets and mounts taking up bag and bank slots! Lost pets and mounts (one time quest rewards) can be recovered by visiting a stablemaster.
Patch 2.1.0 (2007-05-22):
- Swift Flying Mounts: All the swift flying mounts will now display as epic items, rather than superior-quality items.
- Using abilities and casting spells that cannot be used while mounted will now auto-dismount players as needed. This can be disabled by turning off the auto-dismount option in the UI options.
- Patch 2.0.3 (2007-01-09): New macro command:
/dismount - Patch 1.12.1 (2006-09-26): The riding skill has been changed. A riding skill of 75 is now needed to ride level 40 mounts and a skill of 150 for level 60 mounts. Those that already have mounts will automatically be granted the appropriate level skill.
- Patch 1.12.0 (2006-08-22): The Items that summon mounts have been changed in their color/quality. Items that summon normal mounts are now blue (superior) items and items that summon swift mounts are now purple (epic) items.
- Patch 1.6.0 (2005-07-12): Clarified the error message when trying to attack while mounted.
- Patch 1.5.0 (2005-06-07): Many of the Swift Mounts have gained eye glows and some have had other tweaks made to them to improve their looks.
- Patch 1.4.0 (2005-04-19): Level 60 mounts purchased at vendors now have a whole new look. Faster undead mounts already have a different look and so have not changed. The new mounts can be seen standing near the mount vendors. If you have one of the old fast mounts, you can exchange it for one with a new look at the mount vendor.
- Patch 1.3.0 (2005-03-07): Mounts now are Horde or Alliance restricted in the tooltip. We do not intend to allow Horde players to ride Alliance vendor-purchased mounts and vice versa.
- Patch 1.2.0 (2004-12-18): Players will now be able to purchase and train mounts from other races in their faction. However, you will first need to obtain "Exalted" reputation status with that race in order to do so. Mounts of the opposing faction are not available for purchase.
See also
- Riding skill
- List of mounts (MountID)
- Mounts by source
- Transportation category for a detailed list of methods of transportation in WoW.
- Mount lore
References
- ^
[8-30] Grand Theft Palomino
- ^ The War Within Alpha Preview Dynamic Flight - Feature Overview. Retrieved on 2024-04-18.
- ^
[7-10] Finding Your Way
- ^ Has Dragonflight Been One of the Best Expansions for Collectors?. Retrieved on 2024-04-18. “When we think about desirable collectibles in World of Warcraft, it's undeniable that the most obvious ones are, at the end of the day, low droprate mounts...Mounts like Reins of Anu'relos, Flame's Guidance start out with a higher droprate for those able to complete the most difficult content in World of Warcraft...”
External links
Warcraft Mounts Images and descriptions of every mount.
Wowhead A database containing every mount.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
