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Reins of the Red Proto-Drake

Item Level 70
Binds when picked up
Unique
Mount (Account-wide)

Use: Teaches you how to summon this mount. This is a flying mount.
Requires Level 70
Requires Artisan Riding

Achievement: Glory of the Hero
Category: Dungeons & Raids

The vrykul were the first to recognize their potential. Or maybe the second, depending on how you look at it.

Guides

A Fortnight in
Dalaran: Farming Northrend
Mounts and Pets at lvl85+

How to:
Glory of the
Hero Achievement

Mount Collecting: The
Completionist Guide

Proto-Drakes: Your
Guide to Finding
or Collecting Them All

Comments

Comment by Harson

Reward from earning this achievement.

http://www.wowhead.com/?achievement=2136

You will get it in the mail after you get the achievement. Have fun!

Comment by Kevie

Its red so it goes faster

Comment by yoshi9270

why would you try to get this mount? you could just try getting lucky on the time-lost or skadi? why? because its red!!

Comment by Robban

Why wouldn´t you want to get the red one? The drop rate on the skadi one and the extreme amount of time put into getting tlpd is things talking against them. I settle for the red one, it´s a certain way of getting an awesome looking mount.

Comment by MiyamotoMusashi

This mount increases ground speed by 100% and flight speed by 280%

Comment by TheYellowKing

I've seen proto-drakes hovering outside the banks in Dalaran. How is this possible?

Comment by TheSlime

Because someone might prefer the red drake over the blue one?

Comment by Kennie

As i seems noone have posted this so fare here is a recreation of the letter you get when you receive the mount:

"Champion.

Words have traveled to Wyrmrest Temple
of the great Heroic deeds you have
accomplished since arriving in
Northrend.

Your bravery should not go
unrecognized. Please accept this gift on
behalf of the Aspects. Together we
shall rid Azeroth of Evil, once and for
eternity.

Alexstrasza the Life-Binder"

Comment by RiceCake

Hmm, just to list all the available Proto-drakes since I'm a big fan of them.

Time-Lost Proto-Drake (Bronze/Amber): Drop 100% from a rare spawn of the same name in Storm Peaks, details of its respawn timer and flight route could be obtained from the comments on its page. Solo-able

Green Proto-Drake (very dark green): A rare drop from the Mysterious Egg item purchasable from the faction of The Oracles once you've hit Revered with them (2% chance). The catch is that you have to wait a week of real time before you can obtain what the egg (that has been sitting in your bag for 7 days) contains and you can only have one egg at a time. Solo-able

Violet Proto-Drake: A reward that's given upon completion of all the major Holiday Achievements. Apparently it's also 310% speed.

Blue Proto-Drake (light blue): A rare drop from boss Skadi the Ruthless in Heroic Utgarde Pinnacle (1% drop chance). 5-man

Red Proto-Drake (same as a regular red drake in coloration): A reward sent to you via in-game mail by Alexstrasza after you've completed the <Glory of the Hero> achievement. That's completing every single 5-man heroic achievement in Northrend. 5-man

Plagued Proto-Drake (a lighter green color, slightly yellow): I've only seen this a couple of times, but in essence it's of a light green/yellow color. A reward from completing <Glory of the Raider> achievement. That is completing all NORMAL Northrend raid achievements. 10-man

Black Proto-Drake (haven't seen it): Of course, the most difficult to obtain in this list. It's a reward from completing <Heroic: Glory of the Raider> achievement. That is completing all HEROIC Northrend raid achievements. 25-man

Now, if you're good at farming things and don't mind waiting for respawn timers for a chance at obtaining something rare and cool, the Time-Lost Proto-Drake is your best shot at getting a Proto-Drake. It also depends on your server's population for high-pop servers tend to have more people camping it. If you don't group yet don't want to farm stuff and are just very casual, it's not hard getting to revered with The Oracles then just wishing for the Green Proto-Drake to drop.

The Violet Proto-Drake is a different matter, even though most of the holiday achievements are soloed, there are a few that require instance groups (the headless horseman during Hallow's End, for example). Plus, there are quite a few with RNG factors (most recently the Candy Bags of Love is in the Air). All in all, this is quite a troublesome mount to obtain, for you need to be on your game and doing all the stuff that the Holidays have to offer within the Holiday time limit. There's one particular achievement that stands out, the Brew of the Month Club of Brewfest. This achievement requires you to taste the Brew of the Month every month for 12 months. What this means that the people who missed the last chance to obtain Brew of the Month (that would include all the Death Knights) would have to obtain it this year (2009) and THEN wait an ENTIRE YEAR (tasting the brew every month) to get the achievement (obtaining it in 2010). People have complained that it's ludicrous to have to wait one year for an achievement for this drake, but it seems like that Blizzard wouldn't want to change it (as seen on a blue post posted on mmo-champion). In the end, I have only this to say: good luck.

The Red Proto-Drake is arguably the most simple to obtain with limited amount of RNG and farm factor. There are, however, many troublesome achievements that you need to get, some of which could only be attempted once a day (The Violet Hold ones, the Occulus 20-minute, the CoS ones, and What the Eck, just to name a few). Nevertheless, if you do heroics quite often and have a solid group of people to team up with, obtaining a Red Proto-Drake should only be a matter of time.

The Plagued Proto-Drake and the Black Proto-Drake are, at the moment, mostly for the hardcore raiders. The Undying/The Immortal achievements are extremely difficult with random factors thrown in such as disconnects in boss fights. The Twilight Zone (heroic or not) is an achievement that involves you defeating the most difficult encounter yet in WotLK (not saying much, though). Another factor hindering your ability to obtain these mounts is the fact that a lot of the achievements could only be attempted once a week. I've so far only seen the Plagued Proto-Drake obtained by one guild on my server.

Just to add something more about this red drake. When it flies the wing flap sound is the same as the normal drakes (even the summon sound is the same), unlike the heavier flaps of the Nether-Drakes. It does not seem to emit any sound (such as a growl) unless you're flying into an invisible wall that restricts your access (such as flying into a zone's "ceiling" or into the Black Temple from the outside). It seems that the inside of the Proto-Drake's mouth is on fire and it leaves a small glowing trail as you fly. I also find it strange that there seems to be a set of small T-Rex like arms on its chest area. It either supports itself via its huge wings + hind legs or it runs on its hind legs (with its wings poised up off the ground), so the little tiny arms are just for show. This brings into question that since wings supposedly evolved from arms/legs (as seen most clearly on birds having only a set of legs + wings)... drakes had ancestors that had 3 sets of arms/legs? Crocolisks come into mind.

Comment by parahelios

I also find it strange that there seems to be a set of small T-Rex like arms on its chest area. It either supports itself via its huge wings + hind legs or it runs on its hind legs (with its wings poised up off the ground), so the little tiny arms are just for show. This brings into question that since wings supposedly evolved from arms/legs (as seen most clearly on birds having only a set of legs + wings)... drakes had ancestors that had 3 sets of arms/legs? Crocolisks come into mind.

Well since proto-drakes are the predecessors to drakes, it appears to me that the front arms/legs are the adaption, not the wings. Especially since dragons, at least in warcraft lore (or as far as we know), don't descend from any other creature type.

Comment by RiceCake

As of patch 3.1 currently on the PTR, the Plagued Proto-Drake and the Black Proto-Drake will no longer be obtainable via completing Glory of the Raider and Heroic: Glory of the Raider achievements respectively. Instead, new achievements will be implemented in Ulduar with their own 310% speed flying mounts, seemingly also Proto-Drakes. I'm, however, unsure if the new ones will be the metalic/rusted Proto-Drakes or if Blizzard will put the Plagued and Black Proto-Drakes onto new achievements. What they are doing is trying to make the 310% speed flying mounts very difficult to obtain.

So go out there and get your Plagued/Black Proto-Drakes now, I know I am.

Comment by Zomglazerpew

Black Proto-Drake (haven't seen it): Of course, the most difficult to obtain in this list. It's a reward from completing <Heroic: Glory of the Raider> achievement. That is completing all HEROIC Northrend raid achievements. 25-man

I disagree, Plague from the 10 man achievements its quite harder mainly because of 3D Sartharion.

Comment by ghost9er9er9

This guy brings tears to my eyes...shame by the time I get the achieve it won't be available anymore.

Comment by RiceCake

10 Man 3D Sartharion is the single most difficult encounter in the game. God knows I've been trying to get that achievement for ages since it's the only one left for me towards the Plagued Proto. However, that does not make the Plagued Proto-Drake harder to obtain than the Black. Evidence? I've observed a number of Plagued Protos from a number of guilds on my server while only 2 guilds on the alliance have the Black one. The reason for this is solely "The Immortal" (this is also the only achievement left for me for the Black Proto). While you might argue that the Undying is of the same caliber, they are clearly not. Having 25 people not die on any of the boss encounters, while it might sound easy on paper, is extremely difficult to execute due to random elements. Just the other day my guildie lost an Undying run due to a random aggro pull from a lock due to Omen Meter malfunction (he was lower on the meter than he really was). And that... was only for the 10 man version. What if someone DC'd on the Heigan dance? What if a boss or its adds decided to resist a wipe-preventing spell? A single mishap from anyone in your 25-man raid could cost you the achievement for the week... and there are so many bosses in Naxx for that to happen on. From what I've heard, the Black Protos on our server were obtained using a number of priests and their guardian angels to prevent said mishaps from killing someone. While RNG factors do exist in 10m3DOS, it's more about skill, execution, and gear there rather than luck.

Update 3/31: After receiving my own Plagued Proto-Drake, I can definitively say that the Black Proto-Drake is the hardest to get. 10 man 3 drake OS is indeed much harder than its 25 man counterpart, but with the reduced raid size means that you can fill the raid with the most competent raider from your guild. Even thought you would need to stack the raid either towards melee-heavy or caster-heavy dps alignment, the difficulty resides in not the technicality (which is almost identical to that of 25 man) but in the execution (more relative damage, less heals, more dps crunch). Immortal... forget it >.<.

On a side note, I've heard that ~4% of the guilds world wide have achieved 10 man 3d OS, but only ~1% have received The Immortal achievement.

Comment by hkgmh

how do you get the Reins of the Red Proto-Drake?

Comment by john14

Lol I just got this today (5/23/09) its so awesome mostly because its my favorite color and it has green eyes which is a nice touch to it :D

Comment by froststorm1996

Is this ridable even without the epic flying or do we need the epic flying?

Comment by Kopec

You can view the other proto-drakes via this.

Comment by Parknight

too bad i have been doing dailies at level 80 for about a month now and still dont have an epic flyer....so i dont go for these till i have epic flying anyway.

Parknight Level 80 NE DK, Ysera

Comment by Spectacular66

Only a few more achievements to go... Can't find people capable enough of doing Watch Him Die/Zombiefest/Less-rabi/Hadronox Denied/Respect Your Elders... *Sigh*

Maybe there aren't good enough people on my server or no one just wants to spend a little time...

Comment by Neldorreth

Dude, this sucks, you get almost EVERYONE on your team killed... just for 280%?

Comment by mixter

IT'S RED DAMNIT!

what more do you want?
a red 1 that goes at 311%?
its red that all that matters!

Why does it matter?

why? Becouse it's red

Comment by eskEMO

Still available as of 3.3!

Just obtained mine tonight. :)

Comment by Kreakdore

Is this confirmed? Only 280% not 310% ... ?

Comment by Shoemo

If you're talking about seeing drakes by the bank in Dalaran you're probably seeing them hovering over the well portal to the Dalaran Sewers by the north bank. There's a bug in the game that let's you stay on your flying mount in Dalaran as long as you're over that well.

Comment by gargenhesh

very nice looking mount i recieved it a couple of months ago because i really wanted a protodrake but once i got it i looked around and i would see 3 or 4 others flying around... unfortuneate its too easy to get

Comment by Kalados

Received mine 6/7/10.

It is worth noting that this is by far the easiest and most guaranteed of the Proto Drakes.

I PuG'ed most of my cheeves, spammed trade, picked up a group for a particular achievement, then we left. I rinsed and repeated until done. With Cata on the horizon, you'd be suprised at how many people are willing to get this in any shape possible.

Good luck to all!

Comment by Dairystyle

I've noticed this drake appears to rear back sometimes when standing around where as the green one does not. I don't know if the any others do but I can't recall ever seeing it.

Comment by murkyleyon

I checked today, and it's still available (3.3.5). Word is that it will be removed once Cataclysm is here.

Comment by UDNETHER

I must say. Even though this is a dragon, the way the arms look make the Red Proto-Drake look very cute. Lol. The last achievement I had to do for this was Less-Rabi, which proved to be very annoying. But in the end, I got it and it was worth all the pain. Also, if you are wondering, I did Less-Rabi the easy way and just burned him down asap. He uses quake randomly, so good luck!

Comment by Darksorrowbabeh

I especially like this drake because, unlike some other proto-drakes (Blue,Green,Time-Lost for example), this one is quite a testament to your patience and dedication to the game. The other Proto-Drakes are without doubt magnificent mounts too, but they're really just based on pure luck while this one isn't.

Just got my red one, after a lucky VH run.. (still needed Lockdown and Dehydration, and I've ran VH HC about 10 times just for Ichoron).

Goodluck to all who are farming achievements for this mount.

Comment by joelyroll

I have all the achievements needed except the oculus ones. its harder to get now with the instance locks, since i can only do oculus once a day now. :( Also I would say that the Oculus achievements are the hardest to get now cuz people (generally) dont know how to defeat the last boss effectively.

Comment by Sacrolash

I got the majority of the achievements with PUGs, usually by just doing the encounters, but there were a few that I had to ask the group to try for, and for the most part, they were willing to accommodate me.

I had to form an achievement group for:
-The "Void" achievements. (Although I think the quality of Oculus groups has improved, as they were able to adjust to the drakes, and it isn't that hard to learn a drake corresponding to a role you haven't done before)
-Zombiefest (one of the more difficult achievements considering getting the zombies inplace).
-Share the Love (Mainly for the two tanks)
-Less-Rabi (It's mainly a question of interrupting the boss at the right times, but you need a group that understands this and does high DPS)
-Watch Him Die

I consider this one of the more satisfying mounts to earn, since it represents doing many achievements in dungeons, rather than getting a single drop from a boss (which is not to say that doing so is not difficult or these achievements do not require luck, but I like being able to progress toward an achievement rather than trying time and time again and hoping I get lucky).

Comment by dongilles

Will this mount still be available after 7 december? cant find any informatie about it

Comment by Warriornewb

Honestly, This mount is a pain in the neck to get. Since Cata came out, It's impossible to get the mount now that everyone's level 85 and crap. Oh well - Maybe someday people will start going for the achievements again =P Good luck to those trying to get this mount after Cataclysm! Maybe try getting a group of friends to help :-O Still, The mount is worth the trouble in my opinion, What do you guys think?

Comment by Argae

Still available now that Cataclysm has come out. Some are now are just nuke, but some like zombiefest requires some brain and Sharing the love is tricky if you don't slack on purpose.

Comment by dyne313

I played on and off for Wrath, and I didn't get all for this achievement. So I'm going back and trying to solo all of them. I'm a hunter. So far I've soloed Chaos Theory and Intense Cold.

Intense cold was difficult. I had to basically use Master's Call, and then be out of range of her Frost Nova root when Master's Call was on Cooldown. I had to retry many times because I had to keep running in to throw a heal on my turtle pet tanking (yes it's Terrorpene) and I would get the root and be out of range of Masters Call.

I'm not sure how difficult the rest will be.

Comment by Nihilius90

Just got my Red Proto-Drake today.

The last two achievements which I needed was

Lockdown! "Zuramat the Obliterator"

A Void Dance

Comment by gribbs2822

You wouldn't think is, but the hardest achivement to get for Glory of the Hero is Zombiefest. Took me forever! You need really good coordination for this

Comment by danor19

It is a big drake, and it can fit in the mailbox.

Comment by nsol

Anyone know if this is still available in Cata?

Comment by WAKrish

Im not the only one who just noticed that the drake has tiny little arms in front of the wings?

Comment by Sewageface

I actually had a good group to help me with most of these in Wrath, but the ones I thought were the biggest pains were the Oculus "void" ones. They don't get any easier in Cataclysm either, since you have to use the stupid dragon mounts.

Comment by yourmehstake

Having obtained this in Wrath around patch 3.1 i believe its unfair that 85's with little effort can aquire these when it took me a few solid days with a dedicated group and many wipes to get these. Blizzard should discontinue expansion specific achieves in the same way they discontinued the black/plagued protos as it will be equally unfair for those in mists who obtained the drake from cataclysmic hero at 85.

Comment by Chinky

I keep getting pulled over for speeding when using my drake. It is soo annoying, I swear I'm only going the same speed as everyone else.

Comment by hugesolo

Got mine today awesome looking mount imo , the most difficult part for me was the violet hold bit waiting for the correct bosses to spawn was a pain in the Azeroth

Comment by Savonneux

If you earn the meta achievement for Glory of the Hero on multiple characters (patch 5.0.4) you do not receive a letter in the mail with the reins, the drake just appears in your mount menu. I was rather disappointed.

Comment by unholyfightr

I just completed the achievment "Glory of the Hero" but I have not recieved the mount in the mail or in my mount inventory.....is there a wait time on recieving it?

Comment by jjdhawg

I just completed the achievment "Glory of the Hero" but I have not recieved the mount in the mail or in my mount inventory.....is there a wait time on recieving it?

Just completed it myself about 20 mins ago and same deal, opened a ticket and awaiting response.

Comment by Jawesh

So I just got the Glory of the Hero achievement. I didn't get any mail, so I was pretty upset. I figured that something went wrong and I would have to submit a ticket and wait until a GM got back to me. Then I had the idea to check my mount list, and lo and behold, the Red Proto Drake was there! So, if anyone completes this achievement and does not receive mail, check your mount list. I'm not sure if this was a glitch, or if this is what is supposed to happen.

Comment by Infernofreak6

Today my brother and i got a group of 5 to do Share The Love. Seriously, it took forever. Afterwards, we helped the rest of the group with some of their achievments. I'm happy that grind is over. GL to everyone else trying for this cool mount.

Comment by Aureusy

Is it possible to solo this Insts at lvl 90 with an Aff Warlock ?

Comment by Talonstrike

Just some clarity on Share The Love and Experienced Drake Rider.
In Share the love the FURTHEST one away gets impaled. So leave one near the entrance and everyone else run around the center. Then rotate. Took us under 7 mins
In Experienced Drake Rider, it is Not possible to solo this for the achievement, but it is possible to 2 man it. You require a caster, pref an elemental shaman with you. Whoever is doing the quest stays on the drake and attacks as normal, caster dismounts in centre and attacks on foot. You will need to do this on 3 separate days with the 3 required drakes. At lvl 90 it's a piece of cake.

Reins of the Red Proto-Drake

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