How to Get a Mount in WoW Forever — Real Costs, Discounts and Vendors

The figures you'll see quoted for riding in Forever are 100 gold at level 40 and 1,000 gold at level 60. Both are correct and together they understate what you'll actually pay, because of what the second one doesn't include.

Journeyman Riding at level 60 costs 1,000 gold for the skill alone. The Epic mount it lets you ride is another 200 gold.

So the honest total to be fully mounted in Forever is 1,300 gold, not 1,100. And around 150 gold of that is avoidable if you know which two things to do first.

Here's the complete picture.

The Real Cost Breakdown

The level 40 purchase is better value than people expect — 100 gold buys the skill and a mount together. The level 60 purchase is worse than people expect, because the 1,000 gold is the skill and nothing else.

Speed: 60% at level 40, 100% at level 60.

How to Save 110 to 150 Gold

Two separate discounts, and they apply to different things. Getting both right is worth more than a day of farming.

Honored With Your Home Faction — 10% Off

Reaching Honored reputation with your home faction gives 10% off both Riding skill and your own race's mounts.

This is the one that matters most, because it's the only discount that touches Riding skill — and Riding skill is 1,100 of the 1,300 gold.

Get Honored with your home faction before level 60. It's reputation you accumulate through normal questing in your own territory, and it pays 110 gold for no extra effort if you simply don't buy Journeyman Riding the moment you can afford it.

The Bartering Legacy Talent — Up to 10% Off Mounts

Bartering gives up to 10% off mounts — but not Riding skill.

Stacked with the reputation discount, that's up to 20% off mount purchases. On a 200 gold Epic mount that's up to 40 gold.

One honest caveat: how the full 20% applies isn't completely clear from the current information — it may land only on cosmetic colour options rather than on the Epic mount itself. Check the vendor price with both discounts active before assuming the saving. Either way, the reputation half is confirmed on both skill and mounts.

The Optimised Total

Worth 110 to 150 gold for two things you were likely doing anyway. Reputation with your own faction comes from questing at home; Bartering is one Legacy talent. Our Legacy Points guide covers earning the points to spend on it.

Free Class Mounts — Paladin and Warlock

Two classes don't buy their first mount.

Do the Quest Before You Buy Riding

Here's the practical instruction, and it works whichever way one open question resolves.

In Forever, Apprentice Riding's 100 gold includes a mount. What isn't clear from current information is whether a Paladin or Warlock who completes their class quest still needs to buy that 100-gold skill, or whether the quest covers what they need.

So if you're a Paladin or Warlock: do the class quest first, then go to the Riding Instructor.

• If the quest covered it, you've saved 100 gold.

• If it didn't, you've lost a few minutes and you buy the skill as normal.

There's no version of that order where you're worse off. Buying the skill first and then discovering the quest would have covered it is a 100-gold mistake that's trivially avoidable.

The Epic Class Mounts Aren't Free

Paladins and Warlocks also have level 60 Epic mount questlines — and these are difficult and require reagents costing hundreds of gold.

Price the reagents against the flat 200 gold Epic Swift mount before you commit. A questline that costs 300 gold in materials to save a 200 gold purchase is a prestige project, not a saving. Do it because you want that specific mount.

Store Mounts Don't Skip the Gold Wall

Worth stating plainly, because it's the assumption that costs people real money.

Two mounts come with purchasable packs:

You still need the Riding skill to use them. A store mount replaces the mount, not the 100 gold or the 1,000 gold. Buying a pack does not get you moving at level 40 without paying for Apprentice Riding.

And one flag on the Cerulean Prideclaw: beta data lists it as level 60, so whether it can be used at level 40 is unconfirmed. If you bought a pack expecting a level 40 mount, check before you plan around it.

Where to Buy — Every Race

Buy from your own race's vendors. Other races' vendors won't sell to you without Exalted reputation with that race.

Note that most races have two separate NPCs — one for Riding skill, one for mounts. Several are in the same spot, and in one case they share a surname, so read carefully before walking to the wrong one.

Alliance

Mount colours:

• Human — Chestnut Mare, Pinto, Brown Horse, Black Stallion

• Dwarf — Gray, Brown, White Ram

• Gnome — Red, Green, Blue, Unpainted Mechanostrider

• Night Elf — Spotted Frostsaber, Striped Dawnsaber, Striped Nightsaber, Striped Frostsaber

• Skyborne — Umber, Stormy, Empyrean Galestrider

Two gotchas on the Alliance side:

The Human Black Stallion is not sold at Eastvale. It comes from Unger Statforth in Menethil Harbor, Wetlands, at level 40. If that's the colour you want, it's a separate trip.

The Gnome vendors are Binjy and Milli Featherwhistle — same surname, same location, different jobs. Binjy sells the skill, Milli sells the mounts.

Skyborne have it easiest: Genn Fairweather sells both the skill and the mounts in one place.

Horde

Mount colours:

• Orc — Horn of the Brown Wolf, Dire Wolf, Timber Wolf

• Troll — Turquoise, Emerald, Violet Riding Raptor

• Tauren — White, Gray, Brown Kodo

• Undead — Black, Blue, Brown, Red Skeletal Horse

Collecting Other Races' Mounts

Other races' mounts are locked behind Exalted reputation with that race. There's no shortcut and no gold price that bypasses it.

That makes cross-race mount collecting a long reputation project rather than a shopping trip. If you want a Tauren Kodo on your Orc, you're grinding Thunder Bluff to Exalted first.

One alternative worth knowing: the Reins of the Pack Kodo from the trade factions costs 6,000 Merchant's Favor rather than reputation with a race — roughly 168 to 360 gold in materials depending on how efficiently you farm the crates. Our Merchant's Favor farming guide has the full method, and the Azeroth Commerce Authority guide covers the rest of that vendor.

The Gold Timeline — When to Start Saving

This is the part that catches people, and it's a planning problem rather than a farming one.

Level 40 is cheap. Level 60 is not. A hundred gold at 40 is achievable through normal questing income. A thousand gold at 60 is not something you earn in a weekend, and it arrives at exactly the point where you've just spent everything on gear, consumables and repairs across a 100-to-180-hour climb.

The mistake is waiting until 58 to think about it. A thousand gold spread across the twenty levels from 40 to 60 is 50 gold a level — comfortably achievable alongside normal play. A thousand gold in the two days after you hit the cap is a grind that stops you doing anything else.

A reasonable plan:

1. At 40, buy Apprentice Riding — ideally after reaching Honored with your home faction, for 90 gold rather than 100.

2. From 40 onward, bank toward Journeyman Riding rather than spending every copper on gear upgrades you'll replace in five levels.

3. Take Bartering in your Legacy tree if mounts matter to you.

4. At 60, buy Journeyman Riding (900 gold at Honored) and then the 200 gold Epic mount.

5. Paladins and Warlocks — do the class quest at 40 before visiting the Riding Instructor.

FAQ

At what level can I get a mount in WoW Forever? Level 40 for your first mount at +60% speed. Level 60 for Epic riding at +100%.

How much does a mount cost in total? 1,300 gold to be fully mounted at full price: 100 gold for Apprentice Riding at 40 (which includes your first mount), 1,000 gold for Journeyman Riding at 60, and 200 gold for the Epic mount itself. With discounts it comes down to roughly 1,150–1,190 gold.

Does Journeyman Riding include a mount? No. That's the detail most cost quotes miss. The 1,000 gold is the skill only — the Epic Swift mount is a separate 200 gold purchase. Apprentice Riding at 100 gold does include a mount.

How do I get mounts cheaper? Two discounts. Honored reputation with your home faction gives 10% off Riding skill and your race's mounts — this is the important one, because it's the only discount that applies to Riding skill. The Bartering Legacy talent gives up to 10% off mounts but not skill. Together, up to 20% off mounts.

Which classes get a free mount? Paladins and Warlocks. Alliance Paladins do The Tome of Nobility from The Mystic Ward in Ironforge or The Cathedral of Light in Stormwind; Horde Paladins have an equivalent quest. Warlocks of both factions get theirs from Strahad Farsan in Ratchet at level 40.

Do Paladins and Warlocks still need to buy Apprentice Riding? It isn't clear from current information, and in Forever the 100 gold skill purchase includes a mount — so the answer could go either way. Do the class quest first, then visit the Riding Instructor. If the quest covered it you've saved 100 gold; if not you've lost nothing.

Are the Paladin and Warlock Epic mounts free too? Not really. The level 60 questlines exist but are difficult and need reagents costing hundreds of gold. Price them against the flat 200 gold Epic Swift mount before committing.

Do store mounts skip the riding cost? No. You still need the Riding skill. A store mount replaces the mount, not the 100 or 1,000 gold. The Cerulean Prideclaw is also listed as level 60 in beta data, so its level 40 usability is unconfirmed.

Can I buy another race's mount? Only at Exalted reputation with that race. There's no gold price that bypasses it.

Where do I buy riding skill? From your own race's Riding Instructor — see the vendor tables above. Most races have separate NPCs for skill and mounts. Gnomes should note that Binjy Featherwhistle sells the skill and Milli Featherwhistle sells the mounts, both at Steelgrill's Depot.

How much are extra mount colours? 20 gold each, cosmetic only, from your race's mount vendor. Humans wanting the Black Stallion need Unger Statforth in Menethil Harbor, not the Elwynn vendor.

The Short Version

The real bill is 1,300 gold, not the 1,100 usually quoted — because Journeyman Riding's 1,000 gold is the skill only and the Epic mount is another 200.

Get Honored with your home faction before level 60. It's the only discount that applies to Riding skill, and it saves 110 gold on its own. Add Bartering in Legacy for up to 10% more off mounts.

Paladins and Warlocks: do your class quest before buying Apprentice Riding. There's no downside to that order and a possible 100 gold in it.

Store mounts don't skip the gold wall — you still pay for the skill.

And start banking for Journeyman Riding from level 40, not level 58. Fifty gold a level for twenty levels is easy; a thousand gold in two days is not.