We’ve got horses, dead horses, wolves, big cats, and even dinosaurs. Those are just some examples of the animals that you can ride in Classic World of Warcraft. It wasn’t like the game today, with a wide selection of mounts available to both factions. Back then, the selection of mounts available to your ’toon was limited, making certain mounts even more popular and sought after.
The list is dominated by epic mounts, only available to players at the level cap of 60, but a few lower-level mounts have been included because they’re cool, too. Be warned, a few of these are rare drops, and have destroyed guilds and damaged friendships beyond repair.
10 Black War Ram
This is a purple mount you can get at level 40 as a PVP reward, provided you’re part of the Alliance faction and have a title as high as Lieutenant General or Commander. You also have to have at least a 150 riding skill and complete a token-gathering quest.
Luckily you are only required to have the specific PVP rating when you buy the mount, so if you lapse in your rank you still get to keep it. We know that “rl” (real-life) happens, so it’s nice to know that when it does, you can still keep your PVP mount.
9 Great Gray Kodo
This one is near and dear to our hearts because it’s similar to the Ivory Kodo. It’s just that slightly different design that makes it look so distinctive. Unlike the beloved Ivory Raptor, it’s available in World of Warcraft Classic, as long as you’re a Tauren or Exalted with Thunder Bluff and trained to ride kodos.
This is the standard epic mount for level 60 characters of this faction, and although there’s nothing special about obtaining it, kodos are fun because they’re so big, and when you ride a grey one it’s like you’ve got your own rhinoceros. Stomping through the battleground with this thing is going to be epic.
8 Ivory Raptor
A quirk of the original game that unfortunately won’t be available on the updated Classic WoW servers, the Ivory Raptor was one of the options for epic level 60 mounts for Trolls or those Exalted with the Darkspear Clan.
There are two versions, one with armor and one without, with the armored version an upgrade of the earlier one. Both are fan favorites, but the unarmored one is harder to find. You’ll likely see one in retail every so often, as many players still have the mount even though it was discontinued.
7 Swift White Steed
In the tradition of famous fantasy horses like Artax and Shadowfax, you too can mount a swift white steed like a proper hero. This particular horse is the epic mount for level 60 Alliance players and is an essential accessory if you’re playing a mage named Gandorf or a Hunter named Patreyu.
If you’re Human, you have access to this mount as one of your racial skills. Dwarves, Elves, and Gnomes have to grind rep with Stormwind to buy the mount, but it looks so good and it’s perfect for any old-school role-playing. Anyone who wants a swift white steed also needs to be trained in Horse Riding, which almost makes too much sense for an MMORPG game.
6 Frostwolf Howler
Another great looking mount that’s available to anyone with some patience and PVP experience, this is the epic mount that any player on the Horde side can obtain. You don’t even need a riding skill for this one, which is another quirk that makes it a popular mount.
On the downside, you have to grind rep in Alterac Valley until you’re exalted with the Frostwolf Clan and pay 640 gold to get one. Riding a sleek white wolf is so cool anyway, and they scale to the rider, so Tauren players essentially ride a giant monster of a wolf.
5 Rivendare’s Deathcharger
It’s the rarity and sheer badass design of this mount that makes it epic, even if it is one of the few blues on this list. It’s just as cool as the regular Forsaken mount, the skeletal horse, but its next level with extra armor and those massive antelope horns.
With a famously low drop rate hovering around 1%, and given that Stratholme isn’t exactly a starter dungeon, it’s a hard one to farm. The Deathcharger has a lot in common with the Swift Zulian Tiger in that respect, so it’s a coveted mount on the same level.
4 Winterspring Frostsaber
This mount was available only to the Alliance, but at least any character of that faction could get it. The Frostsaber isn’t a rare drop, nor do you need to join a raid to get it. This mount is given as a reward for grinding rep with repeatable quests, and it’s the only one of its kind in the game. A Horde equivalent wasn’t added until Wrath of the Lich King.
You have to grind rep with the trainers of Everlook until you reach Exalted status, and also be trained in Tiger Riding. That means if you’re not a Night Elf, then you also need Exalted status with Darnassus. Oh yeah, and then you pay 900 gold for the mount itself. It was all worth it, because how cool does this thing look?
3 Swift Zulian Tiger
This mount was highly sought on the Alliance side and a coveted treasure beyond all price on the Horde side. In the days of vanilla WoW, this was the only cat-form mount available to the Horde side, which made it even more distinctive. High Priest Thekal, one of the bosses in the Zul’Garab, has a less than 1% chance to drop the Swift Zulian Tiger.
The design is equally brilliant, a classic orange and black tiger crowned with gemmed Troll-style armor. No wonder players tear each other apart over this mount, which is returning in Classic WoW.
2 Skeletal Warhorse
How cool is this? It’s not just a normal horse, it’s an undead horse. Actually, it’s just a horse skeleton. Brilliant, and grotesquely beautiful, it’s actually quite similar to the Deahcharger but the difference is that this is the common Forsaken racial mount.
They even come in a few different colors. Anyone level forty and up can get one fo these. Provided, of course, that they’re Forsaken and have already purchased their riding skill. Horde players can grind rep with the undead faction and buy their own mount for the same price.
1 The Dreadsteed of Xoroth
This mount looks incredible anyway, but the backstory behind it is the really epic part. This is a demon that comes from another planet, summoned through a forbidden portal in the ruins of an ancient temple, killed and resurrected to be a Warlock’s epic mount.
The quest chain to obtain this mount is one of the most notorious in the history of the game, filled with reminders of how evil warlocks rally are, and was one of the unfortunate things that got left on the cutting room floor during the Cataclysm expansion. A lot of work, definitely, but in the end, you have the coolest mount in the whole game.
NEXT: Classic World Of Warcraft: 10 Most Epic Quest Chains, Ranked
