Let’s be real for a second. Warlords of Draenor was a weird time for World of Warcraft. Everyone remembers the garrison fatigue and the "selfie" patch, but if you look back at the Warlords of Draenor mounts, the expansion actually delivered some of the most distinct models we’ve ever seen. We’re talking about massive, armored clefthooves and those weirdly elegant riverbeasts that somehow don't look right anywhere except a jungle.
Collecting these things isn't just about the +1 to your mount journal anymore. It’s about the grind. Some people hate it. I actually kind of love it because it’s predictable. Unlike the RNG nightmare of modern expansions, Draenor gave us a clear path to most of these beasts, even if that path involved killing 5,000 elite hippos or camping a rare spawn in Nagrand for sixteen hours straight.
The Absolute Chaos of Draenor Rare Spawns
If you were there during the launch, you remember the madness. Everyone wanted the Voidtalon of the Dark Star. It’s basically a purple version of the Raven Lord, but the way you get it is borderline sadistic. You have to find a "Edge of Reality" portal that spawns randomly across several zones. It stays up for a few minutes. If you click it, you go to a special scenario and get the mount. If you’re ten seconds late? Too bad. It’s gone for another several days.
But the "Big Seven" rare spawns were the real heart of the expansion. Luk'hok, Nakk the Thunderer, Silthide—these guys were celebrities.
Back then, we didn't have the cross-realm tools we have now. You just sat there. You chatted in General Org or Trade. You hoped a group would pop up in the Premade Group Finder. Honestly, the social aspect of hunting Warlords of Draenor mounts was peak WoW. Nakk the Thunderer, that massive Gronnling in Nagrand, was the prize. He had a 100% drop rate for everyone who tagged him, which led to these massive 40-man raids just sitting in the dirt waiting for a giant ogre-thing to walk by. It felt like a community event.
The Garrison Stable: Your Personal Farm
Then there's the Garrison. People love to dunk on Garrisons, but the Stables were a genius way to introduce mounts. You didn't just buy them. You caught them. You’d head out into the wild, lasso a beast, and then spend several days "training" it through daily quests.
By the end, you had six mounts:
- The Trained Snarler (a wolf that looks actually intimidating)
- The Trained Icehoof
- The Trained Meadowheaper (a goat, basically)
- The Trained Silverpelt
- The Trained Rockhide Basilisk
- The Trained Riverwallow
It wasn't hard. It was just consistent. It felt like you were actually taming the world of Draenor rather than just looting a corpse. Plus, the Stables gave you that mounted combat perk which made Nagrand questing a breeze.
The Rep Grinds: A Test of Sanity
Let’s talk about the Trading Post and the faction mounts. If you wanted the Dusty Rockhide or the Pale Thorngrazer, you had to commit. We’re talking about the Council of Exarchs or the Laughing Skull Orcs. To get that Laughing Skull mount—the Ironside Warwolf—you had to slaughter thousands of mobs in the Pit or Everbloom Wilds.
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It was mindless. It was brutal. It was exactly what an MMO should be sometimes.
You’ve probably seen the Grinning Reaver in the shop, but the in-game earnable wolves have a certain grit to them. They have that "I spent three days in a pit for this" energy. Interestingly, the Sha'tari Defense faction offered the Armored Irontusk. It’s an elephant. A huge, armored, terrifying elephant. For Alliance players, this was a massive deal because, let’s be honest, we were tired of horses. Draenor finally gave the Alliance some weight.
The Wolf Problem
Okay, we have to address the elephant (or wolf) in the room. There are so many wolves.
If you look at the total list of Warlords of Draenor mounts, a huge chunk of them are just slight color variations of the same wolf model. You have the Smoky Direwolf, the Swift Frostwolf, the Ironside Warwolf... the list goes on. Blizzard got a bit lazy here. But, to be fair, the Draenor wolf model was a massive upgrade over the old vanilla wolves. They had actual fur textures. Their run animation didn't look like they were sliding on ice.
Even today, a mount like the Warsong Direfang holds up. It’s lean. It fits through doors. It doesn't have a bunch of dangling bells and whistles that clip through your character's cape.
The Iron Hoofrock and Raid Rarity
If you were a serious raider during WoD, you were chasing the Ironhoof Destroyer. Dropping from Blackhand in Blackrock Foundry on Mythic difficulty, this thing is a mechanical masterpiece. It’s a clefthoof, but it's half-machine.
Then you had the Felblood Gronnling from Mythic Gul'dan... wait, no, that was Legion. In WoD, the big "look at me" mount was the Solar Spirehawk from Rukhmar.
Rukhmar is a world boss in Spires of Arak. The drop rate is legendary. And by "legendary," I mean it’s roughly 1 in 2,000. People still park their alts in Spires of Arak to this day just to get that fiery bird. It’s one of the few Warlords of Draenor mounts that hasn't lost its prestige. When you see someone on a Solar Spirehawk, you know they either have insane luck or have been killing that bird every week for ten years.
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What About the Apexis Crystals?
Apexis Crystals were the "currency" of the expansion. You used them for everything. Gear, pets, and of course, the Corrupted Dreadwing.
The Corrupted Dreadwing cost 150,000 Apexis Crystals. Back then, that was a fortune. You had to do the daily area objectives, farm mobs, and complete garrison missions. It took weeks. But the reward was a flying mount that actually used the Anzu/Raven Lord skeleton but could fly. It’s still one of the most striking silhouettes in the game. It’s bright green, jagged, and perfectly captures the "Fel" vibe of the Tanaan Jungle patch.
Why You Should Go Back and Get Them Now
If you’re a mount collector with a gap in your journal, Draenor is a goldmine. Most of these are "guaranteed" if you put in the time.
The Medallion of the Legion: You can actually skip some of the rep grind. These medallions give you 1,000 rep with all Draenor factions. They drop from certain rares in Tanaan, but you can also just buy them on the Auction House. If you have gold to burn, you can buy your way to most of these mounts in about five minutes.
Soloing Raids: At level 70 or 80, you can blast through Mythic Blackrock Foundry or Hellfire Citadel in your sleep. You’re not just there for the Ironhoof Destroyer or the Felsteel Annihilator; the transmog is incredible.
The Rare Spawns are Lonelier: Since the world has moved on, you aren't competing with 500 people for Gorok or Pathrunner. You can park an alt, check the spawn points, and usually find them up.
Secret Finds: The Coalfist Gronnling. It’s a mission table reward. It’s usually dirt cheap on the Auction House because so many people got it during the expansion. If you don't have it, go check the AH right now. It’s probably less than 2,000 gold. It’s a giant, fiery ogre-thing for the price of a couple of potions.
A Legacy of Design
There’s a specific "heaviness" to the Warlords of Draenor mounts that I think is missing from modern WoW. In Dragonflight or The War Within, everything feels very agile and magical. Draenor was different. It was about iron, fur, and primitive survival.
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The Tundra Icehoof feels like it could actually trample a village. The Boar mounts—like the Wild Goretusk—have this disgusting, labored run that feels perfect for a beast of burden. They aren't "pretty" mounts. They’re war machines.
Even the Challenger’s War Yeti (which you can’t get anymore, unfortunately, because Challenge Modes are gone) represented a specific era of difficulty. If you missed out on that, the closest you can get is the Minion of Grumpus from the Winter Veil event, which uses the same model but with a festive skin.
Actionable Steps for the Modern Collector
If you want to start cleaning up your Draenor mount collection today, here is the most efficient path.
First, build a Level 3 Stables in your Garrison. This is a non-negotiable. It’s six guaranteed mounts for minimal effort. While those quests are ticking over daily, head to Tanaan Jungle. You want to farm the four specific rares: Vengeance, Deathtalon, Doomroller, and Terrorfist. They drop the Rattling Iron Cage, which contains one of three mounts (Tundra Icehoof, Warsong Direfang, or Armored Razorback).
Next, check your Auction House for the "Medallion of the Legion." If they are cheap (under 5k gold), buy enough to hit Exalted with everyone. It saves you months of killing mobs in a desert.
Finally, don't ignore the Garrison invasions. If you trigger a gold victory in a garrison invasion, you get a loot crate that has a chance to drop four different mounts, including the Garn Steelmaw and the Giant Coldsnout.
Draenor might have been a "failed" expansion in the eyes of some, but for anyone who likes riding around on giant, armored monsters, it was a golden age. The mounts are sturdy, the grinds are honest, and the models still look better than half the stuff we get today.
Go get that bird from Spires of Arak. You’ve probably got an alt sitting there anyway.