Posted on February 5, 2013, Dan O'Halloran World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria Mounts Guide

World of Warcraft players love new mounts. Running mounts, flying mounts, swimming mounts. Purchased mounts, quest reward mounts, raid boss drop mounts. Crafted–ok, you get the idea.

There’s a plethora of new mounts to drool over that came with the Mists of Pandaria expansion and more arriving with every major content patch. We’ve endeavored to list them all here with a brief overview of how they are attained so you can decide which ones are worth your time.

A majority of mounts in Mists of Pandria are rewarded for hitting Exalted (the highest reputation rating) with many of the new factions introduced with the expansion. Faction grinding has gotten a lot easier with the introduction of rotating dailies, commendations that double faction gains after Revered, and the upcoming ability gain faction for random dungeon runs. The rest come from Achievements, professions, drops for mobs, and a few assorted avenues.

Imperial Quilen

This mount is free when purchasing either the Collector’s Edition or Digital Deluxe Edition of Mists of Pandaria. Spectral wings appear when in flight mode.

Cloud Serpents

These are probably the most iconic of the new Pandaria mounts. Who doesn’t want to ride on a flying dragon? The earliest way to get your hands on one is to raise it yourself through Order of the Cloud Serpent daily quests that become available at level 90.

You’ll start by retrieving an azure, golden, or jade egg from a nearby island, then rearing your new buddy through dailies and training him in flying races. When you reach Exalted with the faction, you’ll be able to fly on your new mount, purchase the other colored mounts, and can capture the mini cloud serpents in the area to add to your battle pet collection. This process should take about one month if you hit all the tasks every day.

The Crimson and Onyx Cloud Serpents are obtained in different ways. The Crimson Cloud Serpent is the reward for the Glory of the Pandaria Hero achivement which is gained by completing a large number of different tasks in Pandaria’s Heroic instances. The Onyx Cloud Serpent is quest reward which sounds easier, but you have to be Exalted with the Shado-Pan faction to even get the quest, so don’t forget to do your faction dailies. Both still require you to be Exalted with the Order of the Cloud Serpent to ride this mounts, so just do it already, ok?

Thundering & Heavenly Cloud Serpents

Thundering Cloud Serpents come in three flavors currently with a fourth (Cobalt) arriving with Patch 5.2, possibly from a world boss. They have a similar appearance to the basic Cloud Serpent mounts, but have lightning coursing around their body constantly. The three current ones are August (yellow/red), Jade (green), and Ruby (red). The August mount is purchasable for 10,000 gold when you hit Exalted with The August Celestials. The Jade mount is the reward for completing the  achievements Guild Glory of the Pandaria Raider. To make that happen, you just have to complete Heroic runs of first three raids in Pandaria while in a guild group.

The Thundering Ruby Cloud Serpent is a little trickier to nab. First you must collect ten Skyshards, a rare drop from mobs in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. Then you combine those into a Sky Crystal which you can use to remove the protective shroud around Alani, a rare flying mob in the zone. After that, you can take it down solo without much problem if you are at least Heroic geared. It has a 100% chance to drop your ruby ride. You’ll need to be Exalted with the Order of the Cloud Serpent and The August Celestials to use this mount.

There are currently two Heavenly Cloud Serpents in the game, the Crimson and Onyx versions and they are both very, very hard to get. The Heavenly Crimson Cloud Serpent is the reward for completing the Glory of the Pandaria Raider achievement. That achievement includes a number of raid tasks ranging from everyone in your raid having a canine companion pet active to exact coordination of the entire raid to avoid raid boss effects entirely. Good luck with that.

The Heavenly Onyx Cloud Serpent isn’t any easier to obtain. It has 0.5% chance to drop from the Kun-Lai Summit world boss, the Sha of Anger. So you not only have to find the raid boss up, but jump in an ad hoc raid group coordinated enough to take it down, and then hope Hunter loot doesn’t drop and THEN hope you win the /random roll. That achievement-based Heavenly serpent isn’t looking so bad about now, does it?

Astral Cloud Serpent

This badass cloud serpent made of stars deserves its own section. It has a very small chance (1.4%) of dropping from Elegon, a raid boss in the Mogu’Shan Vaults. It can drop from the Normal and Heroic, 10 and 25-man versions, but not from the Looking For Raid version of Elegon. You must have Cloud Serpent Riding skill to ride this ride.