Dragonriding Guide for World of Warcraft: Dragonflight

Dragonriding is a new form of aerial movement that replaces flying in the Dragonflight expansion. It lets you defy gravity while using momentum and skills to soar the higher heights and explore the Dragon Isles.

Imagine Dragonriding as a mini-game of sorts. You press the spacebar to take off and gain height and speed and must figure out how to get as far as possible before you land again. Dragonriding feels like swooping and diving through landscapes.

It takes approximately 30 minutes to unlock Dragonriding when you first enter the Dragon Isles and start leveling in the Waking Shores. Upon completing a short introductory questline, you will receive your first Dragon Isles Drake and gain access to the first set of Dragonriding skills.

Vigor is the primary resource used by Dragonriding abilities. Vigor recharges while grounded, whether mounted or not, and while dragonriding at high speeds. When you first unlock Dragonriding, you will only have three Vigor. With all talents maxed out, you will have six Vigor and rapidly increased regeneration.

You can move the Vigor Resource Bar in Edit Mode. We recommend you use AzerPUG's DragonRider addon, which displays the Vigor bar while you are dismounted.

Dragonriding abilities are used to navigate your Dragon Isles Drake and spend Vigor. You will unlock the vast majority by completing the main campaign in each of the four zones while some newly-added will be available directly in the Dragonriding Talent Tree.

You will automatically learn the following set of abilities in the Waking Shores when you first unlock Dragonriding:

• Dragonriding Basics — While falling from a high location, your Dragon Isle drake extends its wings to propel you both forward. Pointing yourself downward grants more momentum. Evening out can transfer that momentum forward. Pointing yourself upward slows you down. When at your slowest, you will start to fall slowly toward the ground. You also gain access to the following abilities — Surge Forward and Skyward Ascent.
• Vigor — Dragonriding abilities spend Vigor. Spending time on the ground, whether mounted or dismounted, regenerates one Vigor every 30 seconds.
• Lift Off — When mounted on a dragonriding mount, double jump to launch upward and start gliding forward.
• Thrill of the Skies — While dragonriding at high speeds, you regenerate one Vigor every 15 seconds.

Aerial Halt is an ability added in Patch 10.0.7, which is learned through Dragonriding talents.

The other Dragonriding abilities are unlocked once you complete the main campaign in the new zones.

Winds of the Isles (Unlocked in Ohn'ahran Plains) — You can detect and utilize gale winds that redirect your flight and propel you onward, boosting your speed in the direction of the gale.

Whirling Surge (Unlocked in Azure Span) — Spiral forward a great distance, increasing speed.

Bronze Timelock (Unlocked in Thaldraszus) — Mark a waypoint on your positional timeline. Use Bronze Rewind to rewind to this location.

Dragonriding Abilities can be found in your Spellbook and can be rearranged to your liking.

When you first unlock Dragonriding, your Dragon Isles Drake will feel weak due to having low Vigor and Vigor regeneration. Dragonriding Talents are unlockable perks that ultimately allow you to stay in the air for extended periods increasing your Dragonriding expertise. Once unlocked, Dragonriding Talents are account-wide and all characters will have access to them.

We recommend you max out the talent tree when you unlock Dragonriding for a smoother leveling experience. You will learn more about Dragonriding talents in our separate guide.

Dragon Glyphs are glowing objects you must fly through to earn talent points. Once collected, you can spend them on buying Dragonriding Talents. They are scattered through the Dragon Isles.

In our Dragon Glyphs guide, you will find the exact locations of all Dragon Glyphs and a list of add-ons you can use to make the whole collecting process easier.

Dragon Racing is an optional facet of Dragonriding that will allow you to test your flying skills on a variety of courses throughout the Dragon Isles.

You can learn more about these challenges, including tips and videos for how to achieve the gold time in every course, on our separate guide to Dragoniding Racing below.

You can earn up to 7 Dragonriding mounts in the game as of Patch 10.2.

You will unlock four Dragon Isles Drakes in the main zones of the Dragon Isles. These include the Renewed Proto-Drake, Windborne Velocidrake, Highland Drake, and Cliffside Wylderdrake. You will receive the Winding Slitherdrake while completing the campaign in Zaralek Cavern and Flourishing Whimsydrake at the beginning of the Emerald Dream campaign. The final mount is the Grotto Netherwing Drake available from the Dragon Keeping questline.

Below, we include a preview of all the Dragon Isles Drakes.

Renewed Proto-Drake is the first Dragonriding mount unlocked upon receiving the A New Friend achievement in the Waking Shores.

You will unlock Windborne Velocidrake at the end of Ohn'ahran Plains campaign when you earn the Together in the Skies achievement.

Highland Drake is unlocked in Azure Span from the An Azure Ally achievement.

Cliffside Wylderdrake, the fourth Dragonriding mount, is unlocked in Thaldraszus from Cliffside Companion.

Winding Slitherdrake is the fifth mount you unlock in Zaralek Cavern. You will receive it from Ebyssian upon completing the Worst of the Worst campaign quest.

Flourishing Whimsydrake is the siexth Dragonriding mount you will receive at the beginning of the Emerald Dream campaign.

The July Trading Post bonus reward returns permanently and you will receive Grotto Netherwing Drake from the Dragon Keeping questline in the Emerald Dream.

Dragonriding mounts are fully customizable. The individual options can be unlocked with items that come from Professions, Quests, Raids, Renown, Dragonflight Dungeons, and other sources. The drakes can only be customized at the Rostrum of Transformation.

Dragonriding mount customization options, including snouts, horns, scales, tails, and armor.

You will find all the customization options available for each mount in our guide.

Enabling the setting allows you to make your Dragon Isles Drake interactable. Any other players interacting with you will become whelps that move alongside your Dragon Isles Drake. Speak to Lithragosa near any Rostrum of Transformation, including the one at Skytop Observatory during the Dragonriding Tutorial or in Valdrakken, select the Enable Passengers option. Whelps can earn Dragonriding Glyphs but do not count as participants during Dragonriding Racing. You can disable the feature by talking to Lithragosa again.

Here is a list of recommended addons for Dragonriding.

• TomTom & personal navigation assistant.
• Macro Toolkit — Enhanced Macro frame.
• HandyNotes Dragon Glyphs Plugin — The addon displays Dragon Glyph locations on the map.
• HandyNotes — Required Addon for the Dragon Glyphs Plugin.
• DragonBinds — Provides better flying controls.
• AzerPUG's Dragonrider — Makes the Vigor bar visible while dismounted and highlights Glyph locations on your map.

You can enable them under Game Options > Accessibility > General.

Focal Circle adds a focal circle crosshair to the center of the player's screen that helps focus on a more restricted area to address motion sickness.

Landscape Darkening applies a darkening effect around the outside of the screen as the player accelerates.

You can have both Focal Circle and Landscape Darkening enabled simultaneously.

Dragonriding Speed Effects disables the visual effects that occur around the player's drake while moving at high speeds.

All options work with the Ride Along feature when enabled.