WoW: Forever Mounts: Riding Costs and Every Racial Mount

Blizzard changed one thing about mounts in WoW: Forever on purpose, and it decides how you should save your gold. In Kotaku's September interview, lead Classic designer Tim Jones said the team "readjusted the gold cost to not be on the mount itself, but on the training." Blizzard's Deep Dive recap calls it the Burning Crusade approach: you pay for the riding skill, and the game gives you a mount when you learn it. So the number to save for is the training. This guide covers what each tier costs, where every race trains, which mounts each race vendor sells, how the Paladin and Warlock class mounts work, and the mounts that come from somewhere other than a vendor. If you are still levelling toward 40, the leveling guide covers the zones on the way.

The Cerulean Prideclaw from the Skyborne Heroic Pack. You need Journeyman Riding at level 60 to ride it (see below).

Riding costs at a glance

There are two riding tiers in Forever. Both come from your race's riding trainer.

The prices are from Wowhead's riding guide, which says reaching Honored with your race's faction takes 10% off. Blizzard has not published the numbers. Icy Veins also gives 100 gold for Apprentice Riding, Method's mount guide gives the same 100 gold and 1,000 gold training prices and the same 20 gold and 200 gold mount prices, and Warcraft Wiki's pages for the Skyborne Galestriders list the same 20 gold and 200 gold mount prices as Wowhead.

The free first mount works like this, per Wowhead: after you learn Apprentice Riding, your race's mount vendor offers a quest, such as "Your First Horse" for Humans, and you choose any of that vendor's 60% mounts as the reward. Wowhead lists no free epic mount at 60, so budget for one.

Why the training costs more than the mount

Jones explained the reason in that Kotaku interview. The team wanted a mount to show that its owner had "spent time and effort into the game," and did not want to give anyone "free training for a mount when they hit level 40." The Deep Dive recap describes the same shift. In practice, a mount on its own is cheap here. The gold goes into the skill.

There is a knock-on effect. Each race's mounts need that race's own riding skill. When you learn Apprentice Riding you also learn your race's one, such as Horse Riding for Humans or Galestrider Riding for Skyborne. That is in Wowhead's guide, and the item tooltips in Wowhead's Forever database list it too (the Swift Palomino needs Horse Riding). Warcraft Wiki's Forever mount pages give the same requirement. Wowhead says riding another race's mounts takes Exalted reputation with that race plus 100 gold to learn its riding skill. Wowhead is the only place we found that rule, so treat it as unconfirmed.

Blizzard has also made racial vendor mounts Bind-on-Pickup since its November 10 hotfix, so you cannot buy one and trade it to a character of another race.

Alliance riding trainers and mounts

Trainer, vendor and mount names are from Wowhead's riding guide. Mount speeds come from its Forever item database, where the 60% mounts we checked need level 40 and the 100% mounts need level 60.

The Striped Dawnsaber is new to the Night Elf vendor. Warcraft Wiki lists it as a mount first added in Wrath of the Lich King and brought into Forever.

Horde riding trainers and mounts

Mulgore in Blizzard's press screenshot. Tauren learn to ride at Bloodhoof Village, in this zone.

The Black Skeletal Horse and Ochre Skeletal Warhorse are also Wrath-era mounts that Warcraft Wiki lists as brought into Forever. The Undead free-mount quest has its own name, "A Steed in Death as They Were in Life". The other Horde races get a "Your First Riding..." quest.

Tauren have one extra option that the Wowhead guide leaves out. Wowhead's Forever database lists a Lavender Kodo (level 40, needs Kodo Riding) sold by Tylana Clawhoof in Stonetalon Mountains, and as a choice in a second "Your First Riding Kodo" quest there. Warcraft Wiki lists it as a Forever-only mount.

Skyborne: Galestriders

Zephras Isle, the Skyborne home, in Blizzard's press screenshot.

Skyborne are the odd one out. They have one riding trainer for both factions, Genn Fairweather, west of Valanaar on Zephras Isle (53.8, 81.2) per Wowhead. Genn also sells the mounts, so there is no separate vendor. The free-mount quest is "Your First Riding Galestrider."

Warcraft Wiki also lists a Regal Galestrider (20 gold) and Swift Regal Galestrider (200 gold) sold by Genn. Wowhead's vendor table does not include that pair, so check Genn's stock in game. Wowhead lists no other Skyborne trainer, so Skyborne who have left for Dalaran or Mulgore should expect to travel back to Zephras Isle at 40. Warcraft Wiki lists routes from the Valanaar Skydocks on Zephras Isle to Dalaran for the Alliance and to Skywatcher Plateau in Mulgore for the Horde.

Paladin and Warlock class mounts

Paladins and Warlocks get class mounts from class quests instead of buying them, per Wowhead.

The level requirements come from the spell tooltips in Wowhead's Forever database. Blizzard confirmed the Warlock quest by name in its November 9 hotfixes: completing "Summon Felsteed" now grants the riding skill too. Warlocks who finished it before the fix get Apprentice Riding the first time they summon the Felsteed, which lets them ride other mounts as well. Blizzard has not said the same about the Paladin quest. Wowhead lists the class quest as the Paladin's route at 40 as well, but we found nothing that says whether it also teaches Apprentice Riding, so check with your trainer before paying 100 gold.

Undead Paladins are new to Forever. Warcraft Wiki says they get their own Forsaken Charger at level 60, and a Forsaken version of the level 40 Warhorse. The Forsaken Charger spell is also in Wowhead's Forever database. Our classes guide covers which races can play each class.

Mounts you earn or buy another way

Blizzard's Legacy post calls the Spectral Bear a spectral mount exclusive to the Legacy System. Warcraft Wiki puts the account-wide Legacy rewards at 15 points (an Ironforge Air Rifle toy), 25 (Spectral Bear Cub), 40 (Spectral Bear Tabard) and 55 (the mount). The mount's Wowhead tooltip lists level 60 and Journeyman Riding. Our PvP guide covers the rank system, and the professions guide explains Merchant's Favor.

The Prideclaw is the one to watch. Blizzard's store page says Heroic Pack buyers "will need to purchase the riding skill in-game" to use it, and both Warcraft Wiki and Wowhead list it as a level 60 mount that needs Journeyman Riding. Buying the pack does not give you a mount at 40. The Loyal Companion does work at 40.

Warcraft Wiki also lists some Forever-only mounts without saying how to get them: the Dark Skeletal Horse, the Spectral Wolf Pack, the Crimson Rooster and the Verdant Sea Turtle. Wowhead's database has the Dark Skeletal Horse as a Horde-only level 60 mount that needs Undead Horsemanship, but lists no source for it. We found no source for the other three either, so do not plan around any of them.

Rules that catch people out

• There are no flying mounts. Warcraft Wiki lists "no flying mounts" among Forever's design pillars, and an Icy Veins news story on the question is headlined "an emphatic no." Ground speed at 100% is the ceiling.
• Mounts are account-wide. Wowhead's database marks Forever mounts "Account-wide," and Warcraft Wiki lists account-wide Collections as a Forever feature. Wowhead says you open them with Shift+P. Racial vendor mounts still need that race's riding skill to use.
• Some places block mounting. Blizzard's November 9 hotfix stopped players mounting inside Stratholme. A November 11 hotfix fixed a bug that blocked mounting in named areas of Shen'dralas, so you can ride there again.
• Level 40 is expensive. Dual Specialization also opens at 40 and costs 50 gold per Warcraft Wiki, so a non-Paladin, non-Warlock needs about 150 gold at 40 to get both. The gold-making guide covers how to earn it.

What is still unconfirmed

• The 1,000 gold Journeyman price. Wowhead and Method publish it. Blizzard has not.
• The Exalted rule for other races' mounts. Only Wowhead documents it.
• Whether the level 60 class quests also teach Journeyman Riding. Blizzard's Felsteed fix only covers the level 40 Apprentice skill.
• Which mounts Rank 11 PvP gives. Blizzard just says "Mounts."
• Where the unannounced mounts come from. See the list above.