Top 10 Rarest WoW Mounts That Only Hardcore Players Own

Wondering the world of Azeroth and randomly seeing a player riding an extremely rare mount is almost like stumbling across a unicorn. That’s because you can easily spend thousands of hours in the game without ever catching a glimpse of the top rarest WoW mounts. A good portion of these mounts can’t even be acquired anymore, so spotting one out in the wild is akin to taking a trip back in time.

While most of us will probably never get the chance to ride the incredibly rare mounts found in the game, we can at least admire them from afar. With that in mind, today we’re taking a look at the top 10 rarest WoW mounts of all time to see how you can (or were able to) obtain them. It’s worth noting that although it’s possible to buy WoW items that are very rare, including quite a few mounts, the ones found on our list are almost never for sale. If you do come across one, it’s usually extremely expensive.

Before we get things started we also want to point out that we’re going to be looking at rare mounts for retail World of Warcraft. We might do a separate list of Classic mounts in the future, however, there are far fewer to choose from there. Also, we’re not ranking the mounts by how difficult they are to acquire but by how many players actually have them in the game.

10. Swift Shorestrider

The Swift Shorestrider was the first tallstrider mount added to World of Warcraft, however, it was never possible to obtain it by simply playing the game. Instead, the mount was introduced as part of the Throne of the Tides expansion for the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game. In order to get the mount in-game, you first needed to get the Wasteland Tallstrider, a card that was notoriously difficult to acquire even when the expansion was in full swing.

Given that Blizzard discontinued the TCG back in 2013, you can imagine how rare it is to see a Swift Shorestrider these days. The good news is that these mounts are tradable in-game, so you may occasionally spot one at the auction house. The bad news is that because this is one of the rarest WoW mounts out there, its average price is around 5 million gold. Not exactly an item that most players would be able to afford.

9. Explorer’s Jungle Hopper

Unlike a lot of the other mounts on this list, you can get this one without having to complete an extremely difficult challenge or take part in a time-limited event. In fact, all you need to do is simply play the game. The catch is that the Explorer’s Jungle Hopper is a mount you can only get via the Recruit A Friend program.

The other catch is that you can only get this mount if you manage to recruit one or multiple people who are willing to subscribe for at least nine months to World of Warcraft. The Explorer’s Jungle Hopper was added as a reward in patch 8.2.5 so it’s still a fairly new mount as of this writing. The mount is likely to become a lot more common with time but, for now at least, it’s still a very rare sight.

8. Black Qiraji Battle Tank/Black Qiraji War Tank

Next up on our list of rarest WoW mounts is a true blast from the past. Or current content if you happen to be playing World of Warcraft Classic at the moment. The Black Qiraji Battle Tank is part of a series of Sillithid mounts added in Vanilla and is by far the rarest of the bunch. The mount could be obtained from the Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal, a quest reward that required players to first acquire a very rare quest item (The Scepter of the Shifting Sands) and then use it during a time-limited event that only lasted 10 hours.

To this day, the Black Qiraji Battle Tank holds the distinction of being the only Legendary quality mount added to World of Warcraft. At least the only one that players can acquire. As far as the Black Qiraji War Tank is concerned, this is an updated version of the Battle Tank that was added in patch 7.3.5. Acquiring the War Tank is not possible unless you already own the Battle Tank. If you do you get it simply by logging into the game.

7. Amani Dragonhawk

This is another WoW TCG mount and arguably one of the best looking ones of that bunch. Dragonhawk mounts, in general, are very iconic and have always been highly sought after by collectors. Getting a regular Dragonhawk is a fairly simple task in the current version of retail, but getting this particular variant is impossible unless you’re willing to straight-up buy it.

The card that gets you this mount was released in 2011 as part of the Twilight of the Dragons expansion. The Amani Dragonhawk is part of a set that also includes the Nightsaber Cub companion and the Fool’s Gold toy. Just like all the other TCG mounts, the Amani Dragonhawk is very expensive regardless of whether you want to buy it with in-game gold or real money. The in-game price is a bit difficult to estimate since the mount is almost never on sale at the auction house. The eBay price hovers around $500-600.

6. Crusader’s White Warhorse

The Crusader’s White Warhorse is a mount that a lot of veteran players are familiar with but very few can boast about owning it. The mount was added in Wrath of the Lich King and was awarded upon earning a very difficult achievement known as A Tribute to Immortality. The achievement was tied to the Trial of the Grand Crusader raid and could be unlocked by clearing it in 25-player mode without anyone dying throughout the whole ordeal.

Trial of the Grand Crusader is remembered as one of the least interesting raids in Wrath of the Lich King. As such, only a relatively small percentage of players bothered with it in the first place. Combine that with the fact that finishing any raid without losing even a single player is never easy, and you can clearly see why this is one of the rarest WoW mounts of all time. The Crusader’s Black Warhorse, the Horde version of the mount, is almost just as rare. Both mounts were removed with the launch of Cataclysm and are no longer obtainable in-game.

5. Black Nightsaber/Ancient Frostsaber

The Black Nightsaber is an Alliance-only mount that was added way back in the day when World of Warcraft first launched. This was one of the original level 60 mounts and could be purchased by any eligible character who had enough gold. What makes this one of the rarest WoW mounts out there is the fact that it was removed just a few months after the game’s launch.

The Black Nightsaber along with the Ancient Frostsaber and other original level 60 mounts were replaced with armored variants starting with patch 1.4. The original mounts weren’t completely removed from the game with the patch, but they were made unpurchaseable. Players who owned one of the originals had the option to turn it in for one of the updated models. And it looks like most of them did because it’s almost impossible to see one in-game these days.

4. Corrupted Hippogryph

The Corrupted Hippogryph is yet another mount that can only be acquired via the WoW Trading Card Game. This one was added in the Crown of the Heavens expansion, which was released back in 2012. The mount is part of a set that also includes the Grell Moss companion and the Magical Ogre Idol. Unfortunately, you won’t get any additional benefits by collecting the entire set. Aside from bragging rights, of course.

Depending on which server you’re playing, you may come across the Corrupted Hippogryph a bit more often than the Swift Shorestrider. They’re both just as rare, however, this is a flying mount and therefore more likely to be used by the players who own it. The Corrupted Hippogryph can be traded in-game but it generally goes for about 6 million gold. Unless you’ve got huge stacks of gold just lying around, you probably won’t be able to afford it even if you somehow find one for sale.

3. White Stallion/Palomino

Original level 60 mounts are always a very rare sight in retail and the Shite Stallion is no exception. In fact, it’s believed to be the rarest of the original max level WoW mounts on the Alliance side. The mount was removed in patch 1.4 but players who didn’t want to trade theirs for one of the new armored versions were able to keep it.

The new models were seen as much better looking at the time, which is why there are only a handful of players who kept the original. And even fewer of those who still play World of Warcraft to his day, almost 16 years later. In addition to the White Stallion, players also had the option of getting a Palomino before 1.4. By all accounts, the Palomino seems to be even rarer, though it’s difficult to say for sure given the lack of data for original level 60 mounts in general.

2. Arctic Wolf/Red Wolf

Not all of the rarest WoW mounts from before patch 1.4 are exclusive to the Alliance side. There are fewer on the Horde side because the level 60 Undead mounts were armored right off the bat. Which was the reason why Blizzard decided to update the originals for all the other races in the first place But the original Troll, Tauren and Orc mounts are very rare as well. Especially the Orc ones.

The Arctic Wolf looks somewhat bland by today’s standards but riding one around Orgrimmar is certain to attract a lot of attention thanks to its extreme rarity. The other original Orc mount was the Red Wolf, which seems to be pretty much impossible to spot in-game these days. It’s likely that Orc players back in 2004 thought the Arctic Wolf looked better so not many of them opted for the red variant. Either that or more people turned in the Red Wolf in exchange for the armored version.

1. Relentless Gladiator’s Frost Wyrm (And Other PVP-Exclusive Mounts)

This should come as no surprise to anyone but the rarest WoW mounts can only be obtained via PVP. These mounts are only awarded to the top 0.5% teams during each Arena season. And you can only get them if your team ranks sufficiently high during the current season, which makes them even harder to get. The Relentless Gladiator’s Frost Wyrm is just one example of an Arena mount that has been unobtainable for more than a decade at this point.

Unique versions of Nether Drakes, Storm Dragons, Cloud Serpents, Twilight Drakes, Proto-Drakes, and Gronnlings have also been awarded exclusively to top Arena players over the years. However, Frost Wyrms are probably the most iconic of the bunch since they were made available during WOTLK when WoW was at its peak in terms of subscriber numbers. One could argue this also made them more difficult to obtain since the top teams had to compete against more players than in other expansions.

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