The new World of Warcraft expansion: Dragonflight, is out, and with it come five new zones to explore in the Dragon Isles. To make traversing between these breathtaking lands easy, the new expansion includes 42 new mounts that players can ride, just like they've always had in previous expansions. Some of these are dragons that you can ride and take to the skies.
While aerial traversal wasn’t readily available in the previous expansion packs, in Dragonflight, you’ll unlock it as soon as you get your dragon mount. Now, after taking your first steps in the Waking Shores, you might be wondering, "Where’s my dragon?"
Fret not, as this guide explains everything you need to know to get your hands on your first dragon in Dragonflight.
How To Get Dragons In Dragonflight
Dragonriding is your best mode of travel in Dragonflight, and as obvious as it seems, you’ll need a dragon mount to achieve it. Currently, there are four dragon mounts, and all of them are quest rewards. Furthermore, you’ll get one from each leveling zone. We've listed all of the dragon mounts and how to obtain them in chronological order below.
1. Renewed Proto-Drake
The first Dragonriding mount that you’ll receive in Dragonflight is the Renewed Proto-Drake, and you’ll get this mount pretty early in the game, making it impossible to miss. As you make progress in the main storyline, you’ll eventually meet the Queen of Dragons, Alexstrasza. She’ll have the Dragonriding quest ready for you, and completing that will reward you with the Renewed Proto-Drake mount.
As such, upon reaching Waking Shores, you can expect at most an hour of playthrough to get this mount.
2. Windborne Velocidrake
The second leveling zone that you’ll tackle will be the Ohn'ahran Plains. This is where you’ll get your second Dragonriding mount: the Windborne Velocidrake. While you got your first Dragonriding mount fairly early in the Waking Shores, you won't get the Windborne Velocidrake until the end of the Ohn'ahran Plains campaign questline.
You’ll need to complete the “Shady Sanctuary'' quest before you get your hands on Windborne Velocidrake. This quest will have you unite the four Centaur tribes in the Ohn'ahran Plains, and once you’re done with it, you’ll be rewarded with the sweet dragon.
3. Highland Drake
Next in line is the Highland Drake, who is a part of the Azure Span main questline, which is the third leveling zone that you’ll be aiming for. After progressing through the Azure Span questline, you’ll come across the “Calling the Blue Dragons” quest. This quest is nothing more than watching a cutscene with Kalecgos, and once it finishes, you’ll get yourself the Azure Blue Highland Drake.
4. Cliffside Wylderdrake
Finally, you have the Cliffside Wylderdrake, which is the main quest reward located in the fourth leveling zone, the glorious Thaldraszus. Not only will you get the Cliffside Wylderdrake over here, but the upcoming raid, Vault of the Incarnates, is also set to take place in Thaldraszus.
With that said, to get the Cliffside Wylderdrake, you’ll need to complete the “Back to the Future” quest. This will have you defend Chromie and Eternus from the Black Empire invasion while they create the Temporal Portal. Though quite a tedious task, as you’ll have to face off against hordes of enemies, you’ll be rewarded with the mighty Cliffside companion once done.
How To Ride Dragons In WoW Dragonflight
Dragonriding is a totally different form of aerial traversal than what you’ve seen in the previous expansion packs. And what’s the point of having dragons in a game if they can’t achieve feats worthy of a dragon in the sky? Thankfully, Dragonflight got it all — barrel rolls, nosedives, you name it! However, these will require skills on your part to master.
After getting your first Dragonriding mount, you’ll unlock Dragonriding. You’ll also get access to two Dragonriding skills: Surge Forward and Skyward Ascent. The former skill gives you a burst of speed during flight, and the latter will help you lift off the ground and, if already airborne, increase your altitude.
As you unlock the dragon mounts, you also unlock new useful Dragonriding skills. However, Dragonriding isn't as easy as it sounds since the use of Dragonriding skills is limited. These skills are held back by Vigor, requiring you to consume a certain amount of Vigor to perform a skill.
If you run out of Vigor, the most obvious thing is that you’ll lose altitude and eventually land. However, Vigor can be regenerated when you land on the ground, as well as whenever you’re flying at high speeds, which you can tell by a glowing blue trail behind your dragon.
To avoid landing in an unwanted place, you can nosedive and gain a burst of speed, which will regenerate your Vigor and allow you to stay airborne for longer. Luckily, you can also upgrade your mount using the Dragonriding Talent Tree, and this will really make things easier if you’re having a hard time staying airborne.
Dragonriding Talent Tree
After progressing through the Waking Shores campaign, you’ll unlock the Dragonriding Talent Tree for your mount. This Talent Tree lets you unlock a handful of new passive and active abilities for your mount. From increased Vigor slots to higher Vigor Regeneration rates and new abilities like knocking players off their mounts, you can unlock all these things with the help of Dragon Glyphs.
Dragon Glyphs are collectibles scattered all over the Dragon Isles in World of Warcraft and can be used to upgrade your dragon’s talents, among other things. There are 48 Dragon Glyphs that are scattered all over the Dragon Isles, and you can get them all from the get-go, as these won't take more than half an hour to collect. All in all, these are really worth it if you’re having a hard time maneuvering your mount in the air.
Mount Customization
After the Talent Tree comes the customization of your dragon. Likewise, you’ll unlock various customizations as you progress through the Waking Shores questline. With this, you can give your dragons new colors, patterns, scales, horns, snouts, tails, and whatnot! However, bear in mind that these visual modifications can only be done at the Rostrum of Transformation, which is your dragon’s very own salon!
Final Thoughts
While the previous expansion Packs did have mounts that could fly, they did not have dragons with rad new abilities as Dragonflights does. Hopefully, after giving this guide a thorough read, you’ll not only get your hands on your first Dragonriding mount, but you’ll also have clarity about Dragonriding in Dragonflight.
