Quick Facts

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Sandstone Drake

Sandstone Drake
1.5 sec cast
Requires level 1

Transforms you into a Sandstone Drake, allowing you to fly very fast and carry an ally on your back. This is a flying mount.

Buff

Profession: Alchemy

Sandstone Drakes were studied in great detail long ago by the famed alchemist Walleye Sprysprocket. It has even been said that Walleye developed potions to mimic the drakes' physiology.

Sandstone DrakeVial of the SandsRecipe: Vial of the SandsCanopic JarArchaeology

Spell Details

Duration

n/a

School

Physical

Mechanic

Mounted

Dispel type

n/a

GCD category

Special

Cost

None

Range

0 yards (Self)

Cast time

1.5 seconds

Cooldown

n/a

GCD

0 seconds

Effect #1

Apply Aura: Mounted (Sandstone Drake)

Effect #2

Apply Aura: Change Model (Sandstone Drake)

Flags

Comments

Comment by Arram

And then you were the mounts.

Edit: And now I am the mounts.

Comment by Kalx

This has been confirmed as the alchemy "mount". You transform into a drake and is allowed to carry an ally on your back.

Comment by Archaeic

Transforms you into a Sandstone Drake, allowing you to fly very fast and carry an ally on your back.

Read the tooltip next time.

Comment by shipwrecksos

I can see Druid alchemists having ALOT of fun with this...

Lowbie Passenger: "Hey man, can I get a ride to Stormwind? I'll tip you for it."
Druid Alchemist: "Surrre... hop on..."

(Ascends to over 3000 feet)

Lowbie Passenger: "Wow, this is incredible, you ROCK!"
Druid Alchemist: "Did you equip your Parachute Cloak?..."
Lowbie Passenger: "My what?"

(Druid dismounts and instantly switches to Flight Form)

Lowbie Passenger: 'NOOOOOOOO!........"
Druid Alchemist: "Thank you for flying Alchemy Airlines, SUCKA!"

Comment by rigorad

another similar mount is the http://cata.wowhead.com/spell=79361/twilight-phoenix. It is unknown how the phoenix is obtained.

EDIT: learned by Vial of the Sands

Comment by SauronBR

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7txAJXad3o

Comment by Jarkeler

Yay for RP'ing a dragon on RP servers!

>_>

<_<

... ... ...

What? <_>''

Comment by mwwdragon48

I'm so excited about this that i'll actually have one of my toons learn Alchemy lol

Comment by TheMuffinMan

No John.
You are the Dragons.

Comment by deliazard

I wonder what will happen when we use this with Iron Boot Flask O.O

EDIT: Omg I'm so awesome :D! Thanks for testing guys!

Comment by noojX9

Can you gather while in this form? Since your flagged as mounted and not shape-shifted.

Comment by scottishrew

I can also confirm that it drops from the canopic jar in archaeology. Its very pretty :P

Comment by JAYSC81

I got this mount made for me today by Alchemist and mount is now BoE so I could learn it without having Alchemy not sure if this was changed or a bug.

Comment by Ogisaki

Im 1000% sure on the match for that drake cost lot of money haha

Comment by Raika420

I had this mount crafted today and thought I'd add some information that seems not to have been mentioned here.

It's been speculated that you'll be able to drop your passengers to their death and slowfall/flight form to safety, however, this is not possible. On dismounting whilst you have a passenger, they will receive an infinite duration parachute buff, but you will not.

The tooltip says that you carry a passenger on your back, but at present passengers appear to be carried in your claws whilst they are in the mounted sitting position. (see screenshot) This appears to be a bug, as the passenger clips through your legs.

When viewed by other players, your nameplate appears below your character, rather than above it. Again, this appears to be a bug.

Comment by Simayi

Some observations on the Vial of the Sands and the Sandstone Drake:

- If someone uses a Potion of Illusion next to someone transformed into a Sandstone Drake, they will themselves turn into a Sandstone Drake that cannot fly! For added hilarity, the imbiber of the Potion of Illusion can then 'mount' the other Drake if they're in the same party for some . . . interesting graphical results.

- You can eject your passenger while still keeping your flight transformation active by using the below macro command:

/run EjectPassengerFromSeat(1)

They will get a parachute, but if they're above lava or far out into fatigue it won't help that much.

- If the passenger chooses to eject from the Drake on their own, they DO NOT get a parachute! Try taking your worst enemy (or best friend) for a flight high above, then tell them you have to go afk for a bit and see what choice they make!

- If you type /mountspecial while on the ground, you will do a nice animation of a roar.

- When you run on the ground, you make the same footstep sounds as a Core Hound - BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM

Comment by Spameaterlol

So why didn't they make it so your ally rides on your back rather then the glitchy carrying animation? I like the mount, but the carrying animation sucks.

Comment by Xenre

In Soviet Russia, Sandstone Drake rides YOU!

Comment by nolervik

Funny bug I found when using this mount with the christmas gnome transformators:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqtnbMYnAW4

Merry Christmas everyone! :)

Comment by mudcatred

Hi there mr.gold spammer want a ride? SURE *flies up* *goes out of form*
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
*slow falls*
sucker >.>

Comment by Yenoren

Wauw, I got the mount some while ago, you can actually earn an incredible amount of money on it flying with passengers.

Comment by gaashura

Dear Blizzard, This thing needs an achievement called "Rawr I'm a Dragon", Thanks in Advance.

-Gaash

Comment by Deathturtle

I must say that i have made 4 of these with my mats (sold 3 on AH with one up now) and crafted maybe 10 more for others for anywhere from 2-3k tip per. I keep making one with the intent to actually learn it, but I can't keep one on AH.

On this (a heavy population) server they are selling for about 50k (tending slowly down as mat prices get lower).

When I first got the recipe after crafting the 1st one I had about 10k gold left. As of this morning, I still have one (on AH) and I have about 85,000 gold now.

I had initially farmed the recipe to aqcuire a very unique mount. Although less unique now since it is BOE, I can certainly not complain about the gold I have aqcuired.

Kudos to Blizz for making a very cool mount. I am on the fence as to whether it should have stayed BOP, but again, I cannot complain about this very lucrative item.

Comment by aggblade

I got mine today. My speed is reported as 350%.

Comment by Droodzor

The cost to make this is pretty high, so you might want to talk to a goblin to buy atleast some of the materials for you :) Not to mention the fee if you're not making it personally.

Comment by trachia

lol anyway think of all the WORK that has to be done... gathering the reagents and paying as well ----> getting the pattern ->then fianally with maxed alchemy you can craft this with your money totalling 0 -_- typical..

Comment by MisplacedHead

this mount is BoE from what ive seen. someone can give the alchemist the money for the vendor bought items, along with all the other reagents, and have it crafted and traded back. saw someone on my server advertising he would do it for mats + 5kg.

Comment by Stormwaker

While an obnoxious bug for the other two Stonedrakes, I find it rather fitting for the Sandstone Drake to carry a friend in their claws, rather than on their back.

You're a dragon, and unlike the others, you're no one's !@#$%.

Comment by Rikaku

Anyone on the PTR have any info on whether the bugs on this mount are fixed yet? Such as the grey webbing at the end of the wings (that shouldn't be there) or the passenger-bug?

Comment by Warnipplez

There's currently no achievement for this mount.

You get an achievement for getting to da choppa but you don't get an achievement for turning into a dragon...

<_>

Comment by evango17

When doing the quest Chicken Party while mounted, each time I throw the net on the chickens, the drake does a swipe move like dragons do in battles. Pretty neat and appropriate!

Comment by hannibalektr

This this thing looks like my dog chewed up a bunch of yellow crayons and crapped out this dragon. Seriously, look at it real close, the texture and color are exactly that of dog poo. Yes I am an expert, it's always been my job to pick up around the yard :(

Comment by astr0mance

A very nice-looking mount that will definitely turn heads. It's a little buggy at the moment, as when you carry a passenger, they will sit between your front legs. Your name will also appear underneath you when you are using the mount. There is currently no roar sound effect for the /mountspecial.

Something really cool about this mount is that the gems on its tail and wings will catch the sunlight and glow when the sun is behind you.

Comment by elevendarkdays

This kinda sucks, Mechano-Hog for 12,500g gets you Get to the Choppa! Achievement.

However, the 29,000g Sandstone drake gets you nothing.... Thanks Blizzard. Had to find this out the hard way.

P.S. Fix where the passenger sits. Thanks

Comment by Goldenbite

this is bugged at the moment, instead of taking your friend in the back, he grabs it with the claws, (or looks like so) but the pasenger still has seated position, also player´s name appear much lower than where it should be and when u try passing thru places, it siems that the actual character is a little bit higher than the dragon and if u try passing with the dragon figure u cant but if u go a little lower u can :)

Comment by rajeenandra

Can you use this as a ground mount in battlegrounds, like the other crafted flying mounts flying carpet and turbo-charged flying machines? Thanks for any info!

Comment by Goldenbite

nope, you cant use them in battleground

Comment by idrecun

I'm not sure if anyone above posted this, but I'm pretty positive that this drake has the same base model as the Bronze/other color Drakes.I could be wrong though.

Comment by c0h3n

I have created a thread on the forums to collect the drop rate of Recipe: Vial of the Sands from Canopic Jar for alchemists. Alchemists interested in contributing data can visit it here.

Comment by itszutak

As of the latest patch the passenger of the sandstone drake sits on top. Furthermore, your name now appears at the head/body of the dragon, rather than at its claws.

Comment by nemspyda

They have finally made it so the rider sits on top, however it still looks bad and glitched with the rider's torso going through the saddle and sitting on the drake's shoulders so it looks like they are embedded in the saddle. Remove the saddle from the graphic and all would be well.

Comment by lazaro398

1. Go to Brunnhildar Village.
2. Lulz
3.?
4.PROFIT!

Comment by Cetlysm

I don't know if anyone done this before but if you /follow a party or raid member and they mount you while you are following them, the drake starts spinning around really fast.

Comment by fmungall

Learning this mount will now be its own achievement as of PTR 4.1 (subject to change)! 10 points.

Vial of the Sands - Learn how to transform into a dragon and carry an ally.

Source: MMO Champ Vial of the Sands

Comment by Slashrose117

What is the Minimum cost for this?

Comment by Eversion

Not sure if someone mentioned it, but using Kalytha's Haunted Locket and then mounting after that, you'll become a Ghostly Sandstone Drake.

What is the Minimum cost for this?

I'd say about 40k for most servers, vendor materials are 29k already, if you're not a Goblin. And you need 12 truegold and 16 flasks (and 5 potions, but they're cheap).

Comment by spillmind

best thing about this mount is that when you hit the ceiling of a terrain, it doesn't make that ultra annoying squawking noise.
that alone is worth the price of the mount. of course now if some blizzard hack reads this, they'll go out of their way to change that...

Comment by Elfkali

I trained mine today and when I took off I could see it has a hole in his left paw...

Comment by Alfa

So... did they change the sound it makes while running on the ground?

It was like the corehound but now its like a horse. :/

Comment by Healca

You can lower the price by having Bartering, ofc fee depends on server. Yasmin ain't <Ramkahen> or any other known faction means that you can't use rep discout, so price is affected by guild perk (at least atm).
For horde - you can use Goblin and his Best Deals Anywhere to minimize the price, unsure if it stacks with Bartering, if it does - should cost really cheap :)
*patch 4.1 - Will be an achievement for having this mount

Comment by luminalin

Looks like they changed the color of the wings and made the glow permanent.

Edit: The eyes also have a blue glow now

Comment by mouseboy53

In Soviet Russia, Dragon turn's into you!

Comment by Thortok2000

Thortok's guide to getting a Vial of the Sands!

Sandstone Drake. Two passenger flying mount. You actually transform into a dragon that has nobody sitting on your back, and can fly around that way or offer someone in your group a ride on your back. Don't have to be an Alchemist to become a dragon. Do have to be an Alchemist (and an Archaeologist) to make a vial. Don't have to own one to ride on someone else. Gives an achievement to have it: Vial of the Sands.

(Alchemists Only) Get to (at least) 450 Archaeology, and 525 Alchemy.
(Alchemists Only) Continue to do Archaelogy on the Kalimdor continent, specifically Tol'vir digsites if possible, until you get Canopic Jar. Good luck!
(Alchemists Only) Open your Canopic Jar and hope it contains a Recipe: Vial of the Sands, and if so, then learn it. Good luck! Repeat Steps 2 and 3 as necessary. While it is possible for the recipe to appear even if you are not yet at 525 Alchemy, it will only appear to Alchemists of a certain level of skill; so I recommend staying on the safe side and getting to 525 Alchemy first. You'll need it anyway to actually learn the recipe!
Gather 12x Truegold, 8x Flask of the Winds, 8x Flask of Titanic Strength, and 8x Deepstone Oil. Hopefully you can figure out how to do this on your own.
Save up 29000 gold or the following items: Pyrium-Laced Crystalline Vial will cost 5000 gold. 8x Sands of Time will cost 3000 gold each for a total of 24000 gold. These mats can only be bought from Yasmin in the far northwest of Uldum. Finding any of these mats for cheaper than the listed price on the Auction House is unlikely, but possible*, so make sure you check because it could save you money. Obviously, don't buy them for more than the listed price. Duh.
The mats from Steps 4 and 5 will be used to make the vial. If you are not an Alchemist, you will need to find one that has completed Step 3 and you'll have to give them the mats to make it.**

*The mats in Step 5 are bought from a vendor so the guild perk Bartering can be used for a discount. No other forms of discounts are currently known. If you do not have this perk, you can check the Auction House to see if someone who does is selling at a discount. Since it could potentially save you money, why not check?

**Make sure you protect yourself! If you get scammed, GM's can and will take action to get your gold and/or mats back, just open a ticket. In order for them to confirm it was a scam, make sure the entire transaction is negotiated using in-game text chat so the GM can read the chat log and confirm that you have been scammed. (Hopefully this won't happen anyway, but 29k+ in mats is a respectable chunk of money, so make sure to cover your bases.) This 'scam protection' is provided for all forms of scams, including the 'give you the mats to make an item and you keep them and give me nothing' scam, as scamming is against the ToS!

I recommend, for Alchemists making this for yourself, after you make your first one, check your realm to see if there's anyone willing to buy this for extremely high prices (like, 60k or higher, perhaps even 80k). If you get enough profit, make another one and attempt to sell it. Keep going until you don't get any buyers for awhile, making and selling one by one, and then if you go a long time and can't sell your current one for a profit, THEN learn it yourself.

Comment by renaitre

Try some Goblin Gumbo with this mount, definitely amusing.

Comment by Aatos

I think that they should add sound to the /mountspecial feature, and also give the mount emotes, that would be cool!

Comment by Skarli

Got mine today and its awesome! =)
Really like the fact that you can transform into a dragon. Awesome lore wise and from the books.

Comment by RantsiProduction

After mounting Drake and using Burgys Hat From Vash you will see some yourself as flying gnome ! I knew gnomes are good at engineering but never Excepted to see gnome flying without any sort of devices! :D

Comment by FireKatKid

Emotes allowed during this mount would make it the ultimate purchase ever.
I. WANT. TO SEE. A DRAGON DANCE.
(it'll up all my stats)

Comment by sunski

Ok, Here's a dumb question. must be dumb since no one seems to have mentioned it. Anyway here it is...

Who exactly can mount the drake? When I see other horde members in sand drake form I cannot mount them. I left my guild the day before i got the drake so I'm not sure if it's guild members who can mount it? or friends in your friends list? or just alliance (not horde)

Thanks
-confused

Comment by RantsiProduction

you can always mount Sandstone Drake , long as one with mount is on same party as you are.

Comment by Lohruminats

>Fly to Netherstorm with friend.
>Shift into flight form.
>Trololololololololol!

Comment by Munkens

Alright guys listen up, If you get Burgy Blackheart's Handsome Hat you can do lots of awesome stuff, I figured out 2 and I know 1 more which I havent found.

1. (not mine) mount up on your Sandstone Drake, equip Burgy Blackheart's Handsome Hat, you are know a flying gnome.

2. (mine) Do as number 1, but now log out, log back in again, and you are now sitting as a pirate ontop of your own Sandstone Drake.

3 (mine) Do as number 1 and 2, when sitting on your own Sandstone drake, equip your main headgear again, you are now a Sandstone Drake sitting ontop of your existing Sandstone Drake. This save you from getting a friend to use Potion of Illusion on you and then mount your drake. A little bonus to this one, while your sitting on your own Sandstone Drake as a Sandstone Drake, a friend can mount the lowest one so he is sitting between the two Sandstone Drakes.

Thats all! Enjoy :D

* Sadly these bugs didn't survive patch 4.2

Comment by dlbert2000

If you mount up on your Sandstone Drake, fly to Brunnhildar Village in Storm Peaks, you'll still gain the Lok'lira's Bargain buff and you can fly through the air like superman

Comment by Taenamyr

Just wow blizzard.... you choose the ugliest drake model and give it colors that are even worse.... I thought the whole turn into a drake thing would be cool... but yeah... so not worth it to turn into something that ugly, I'll just keep saving for the chopper.

Comment by Zacus

They should make it an instant cast :D

Comment by dlbert2000

As of patch 4.2, you can no longer use your Burgy Blackheart's Handsome Hat to transform into a flying pirate gnome

Comment by Lavalampjones

In soviet Russia, Mount is you!

Comment by laughingnome

It's nice they let you carry an ally on your back. So sad they won't let you carry a horde.

:P

Comment by Thissxtwo

do you have to be alchemist to get this to drop through archeaology. will my enchanter/ herbalist still be able to find the pattern or do i actually need to do archeaology on another toon with alchemy?

Comment by joeshmoe1089

So if you use Potions of Illusion next to certain character models you can apparently mount up and not take on the sandstone drake model, but remain whatever one you copied. From what i can tell, there are some that do not work and some that do. I know that it does work with people using Leyara's Locket and allows you to mount up in this form just like the druid Flight Form allowed except you can mount while disguised as a few select models and this one does not seem to have been discovered by Blizzard. So get your fun and screencaps out of it while you still can before Blizz discovers it on their own or jealous druids report this to Blizz.

Comment by Heyzeus7

Koo Koo Katchu!

Comment by sushibar

/mountspecial makes it raise it's wings and go through the motions of roaring, but no sound. Disappointing. I'm going to submit a bug report on this one. A mount as expensive as this needs a sound to match the animation.

Comment by CaitySezRawr

does the rider need to be a certain riding level?

Comment by Itelletas

I discovered today that you can, curiously, be dismounted from dragon form if you're struck behind enough to be dazed. Those flying over hostile territory with flying mobs be warned... it can be a long way to the ground and you aren't given a parachute as your passengers would if you'd kicked them out.

Anyone want to test the latter there, to see if a passenger gets a parachute even if you're dis"mounted"?

Edit: Got a friend to help me test! As it turns out, even if you're dismounted from sandstone drake form due to daze from an enemy, your passenger still gets a parachute to drift to safety.

Comment by heathsmith

Well, I always have wanted to mount a female Pally.

Comment by mattalingur

On a Fun note.
Whilst using the Sandstone mount and then casting Ethereal Portal Ethereal Portal
will result in a HUGE portal and if you are lucky, some confused bystanders.

Comment by Shessler

Apparently, you can't use this beast in Battlegrounds. Found this out the hard way today, just learned to use it and couldn't moun this in Isle of Conquest. Seriously, Blizz?

Comment by OnyxDrakkenblade

Has anyone thought to check how it works with the burning brazier? Would be interesting to see what that does.

Comment by Sevillia

After 4.3 they added a sound when you do a /mountspecial as a Sandstone Drake (roar sound).

Comment by lugest

this thing looks like a bamf... does anyone know if there is anything else in the game that allows you to transform (or use a regular mount for that matter) and actually carry someone else with you?
this is sick; and the carrying part looks really useful! cannot wait to get this.

...and just to clarify... you CAN learn this without alchemy, right? you only need alchemy to make it from what i see; but i dont think the profession is necessary to learn the mount. so you could mail Vial of the Sands to an alt and they could learn it, right?

Comment by Dogey

nice mounts :)

Comment by Khaoskaster

Has anyone heard if this mount is going to go account wide when achievs and such like become that way?

Comment by XylanTrueheart

Given the introduction of 5.0.4 which grants players account wide mounts I have a question that no one has been able to answer even on the Blizz forums. If I make the Vial of the Sands for one of my toons later, say in another month or so, and use it to learn the Sandstone Drake, will I see the rest of my toons getting one also?

Comment by WakemanCK

Funny bug! XD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3c_HDFiY98

Comment by cocoawolf

I'm going to warn those who are deciding on whether to farm / buy this mount or not, there is an issue at the current time with two man mounts... and it isn't pleasant.

The mount itself is absolutely fun, but there is a drawback for now, which is CRZ.
CRZ is harshly affecting these fun 2 man mounts because one minute your flying your friend through a zone and the next minute they fly off your back and disappear completely, and you have to continuously go back to pick them up, and I'm not exaggerating the 'constantly'! If you can tolerate that part, it's completely awesome. I do hope that blizzard can fix this issue in the near future but that could take strapping a grapple rope to the dragon and the rider for all I know, lol. I normally avoid it by slowly entering each zone near the ground so I don't have to wait for parachute, etc etc. It's still, even though there's that hassle, more than worth the money especially if your helping friends and family often.

Comment by TrueSinner

Gotten even worse in 5.2...now no longer boots my friends when changing phases and zones, but disconnects them from wow completely...but at least they stay mounted? Until it is fixed, this mount is pretty useless as a 2 person mount.

Comment by deatdlym

how can you carry an allied in your and

Comment by Bogdanov89

Awesome mount!
In patch 5.3 the passenger mechanics work perfectly, no issues anymore.

Also cool how you actually become the dragon, it even keeps the dragon in the middle of your screen while flying - unlike a regular mount where its a bit angled.

Comment by mortelaus

Your able to use this mount on a level 30, guess you can from level 20 and on, as long as you are under water or at the surface.

Comment by Scutshakes

Is this usable for all of your characters, or only with your alchemist?

Comment by Traxus4

I can't be the only one that's parachuted a guildie into the middle of the opposite faction's capitol...

Comment by blueberrielady

hi i am trying to find out how to farm this mount or buy the ingredients for it and have someone make it the proble is i get mega migraines from reading and i cant find what i need before i have to stop can someone please help

Comment by temprory

do you have to any spicifct prof

Comment by Almeryst

When the animation of this glitches you get some awesome visuals. I had a bug where I was still in sandstone form despite not being mounted. I was able to use some of my other mounts as a dragon.

Uploaded 3 screenshots for amusement

Comment by Grayy

BEWARE!

I was flying a friend through wintergrasp heading for the oculus instance. When the zone changed I got dismounted. I'm a druid and was able to save my self with flight form, but my passenger fell to his doom. Not sure why he didn't get a parachute.

Comment by Ozzayel

I've just encountered a weird bug with this and other 2-person mounts.
I just upgraded my riding skill (lvl 40) and then ported to my friend (RaF) and then carried him to town.
Then all of a sudden he can no longer get on the mount.
There's no button and nothing I do fixes it...

Not sure if it has anything to do with upgrading my riding training but it shouldn't have any affect.
Very annoying. Will have to ticket and wait forever for a response, wonderful.

Sandstone Drake

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