Mounts, Riding and Skyriding

Mounts are beasts, machines and other rides that move you around the world much faster than on foot; aquatic mounts also speed up swimming. Flying came with The Burning Crusade, Cataclysm opened the skies over Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, and Dragonflight added Skyriding, a faster and more hands-on way to fly.

Mounts used to be one of the biggest gold costs in the game. Today new players get one early: after finishing Exile's Reach, the quest Finding Your Way in Stormwind or Orgrimmar gives a Golden Gryphon or Tawny Wind Rider, a flying mount. Summoning a mount takes 1.5 seconds and is interrupted by moving or taking damage.

Riding is a pseudo-profession. Since patch 10.1.5 every character learns each rank automatically on reaching the required level, with no trainer visit, and every rank raises the speed of all the mounts you own.

• Hybrid mounts and the druid's Flight Form stay at 310% in Steady Flight.
• Most aquatic mounts and the Chauffeured Chopper need no riding skill, so even a level 1 character can use them.
• Some extras unlock for the whole account through achievements or quests, such as +20% ground speed in the Broken Isles, Argus, Kul Tiras and Zandalar.

There are two flight styles. Steady Flight is the classic style from The Burning Crusade. Skyriding (once called Dragonriding) is based on momentum and physics and reaches up to 830% in the Dragon Isles and up to 705% in Quel'Thalas, Harandar, the Voidstorm, Khaz Algar and the old continents. It works in every zone that allows flying. From level 20 you can swap styles with Switch Flight Style.

• Unlocking: finish the quest Dragonriding in the Dragon Isles once and every character on the account can skyride there and on older continents from level 10. Khaz Algar needs the quest Secure the Beach; Midnight areas unlock right after the intro scenario The Light's Summons.
• At first only a few dragons could skyride; The War Within updated more than 440 flying mounts to use it. The first skyriding drakes can be customized at a Rostrum of Transformation.
• The Skyriding skills window, in the Mounts tab, lists the six basic abilities. There you can turn on Ride Along, which lets a party member ride along as a small whelp, and choose between Whirling Surge and Lightning Rush.
• The bronze dragonflight runs timed skyriding races across the Dragon Isles, Khaz Algar and the old world (Kalimdor, Eastern Kingdoms, Outland and Northrend Cups), each with achievements.

Right-click a mount item to add it to your Warband collection; mounts from achievements or the in-game shop go straight in. Non-class mounts have been account-wide since patch 5.0.4. Open the Mounts tab with Shift+P to see each mount's look, source and description, mark favorites and use Summon Random Favorite Mount. Mounts come from almost every kind of content, and rare drops or very hard fights make some especially prized.

• Passenger mounts carry other members of your party or raid; vendor mounts such as the Traveler's Tundra Mammoth and Grand Expedition Yak also bring NPCs for repairs, trade goods or transmogrification.
• Aquatic mounts speed up swimming, hybrid mounts work on land, in the air and in water, and transformation mounts turn you into the creature itself.
• Each allied race has its own racial mount, including the Earthen's Slatestone Ramolith and the Haranir's Ivory Grimlynx. Tailors and engineers can craft some mounts too.
• Warlocks, paladins and death knights can summon class mounts. Speed bonuses include the guild perk Mount Up (+10%, not in arenas or battlegrounds), the paladin's Crusader Aura and the death knight's On a Pale Horse (+20%), and Mount Equipment set in the Mounts tab; class bonuses do not stack with other effects.