How does Dragonriding work in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight?

World of Warcraft spans four realms, eight continents, and countless zones. To traverse the wilderness teeming with unpredictable and hostile life faster and to get to your next quest of traveling to the past or stopping the ultimate villain of WoW, you need a mount that can be either ground or flying. Over the years, traveling in WoW has basically stayed the same with only a couple of upgrades like saddles and movement speed adjustments. But, in Dragonflight, the latest expansion, flying has received tons of upgrades and become what we’ll remember as Dragonriding. 

Using the laws of physics and the wind currents to your advantage, Dragonriding is a great opportunity for all those adventurous WoW players to become masters of skies. Replacing flying as it is in the Dragon Isles, Dragonriding is a new form of flying coming with a set of abilities, talents, and glyphs that takes flying to the next level, evolving it from a passive activity used only for traveling from point A to point B into a full-blown adventurous experience that will be different each time you set off. 

There’s no doubt Dragonriding will play a huge role in Dragonflight, a dragon-themed WoW expansion. So, there are loads of mechanics you need to learn about Dragonriding, including how to unlock Dragonriding, resources, abilities, talents, glyphs, customizations, and other minor mechanics.

How to unlock Dragonriding in WoW Dragonflight?

To unlock Dragonriding, you’ll first need to get to the Dragon Isles by completing The Dragon Isles Await quest you’ll get as soon as you log into your character. After delivering orders and recruiting allies to aid you on the Dragon Isles, you’ll set sail for the first time for the fabled isles. You’ll start your Dragonflight journey on the Waking Shores. 

There, you’ll have five chapters you’ll need to complete: The Dragon Isles Await, Dragons in Distress, In Defense of Life, Wrathion’s Gambit, and Waking Hope. After you finish the first two chapters of the story, in the In Defense of Life chapter, we’ll meet with Alexstraza the Life-Binder, at the Ruby Lifeshrine to finally learn Dragonriding. She will give you a quest called Dragonriding and after you speak to Lord Anestrasz, you’ll learn the Dragonriding skill and will need to take your first drake for a spin.

What is Dragonriding resource?

Unlike standard flying, Dragonriding has its own resource called Vigor. Vigor starts recharging the moment you hit the ground, no matter if you’re still using your Dragonriding drake. On top of that, it can also recharge while you’re speeding through the Dragon Isles at the highest speeds possible. Vigor is normally used on Dragonriding abilities like Whirling Surge. As you unlock Dragonriding, you can only use three Vigor points and as you progress with Dragonriding talents and the main story, you’ll have six Vigor points that will regenerate increasingly faster. 

Dragonriding abilities

As you unlock Dragonriding, you’ll first notice you have a lot of passive spells under Dragonriding in your Spellbook. Here’s the list of all passives:

• 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.
• Winds of the Isles: You can detect and utilize gale winds that redirect your flight and propel you onward, boosting your speed in the direction of the gale.

On top of this, you’ll have active spells that you can use across the Isles to speed yourself up and embrace the momentum as you surge across the skies. Here’s the list of all Dragonriding spells you’ll unlock as you progress through the main story of Dragonflight:

• Surge Forward: Flap forward, gaining a small burst of momentum. (Costs one Vigor)
• Skyward Ascent: Flap upwards, gaining a small burst of momentum and altitude. Pressing the Jump key twice while grounded will automatically use Skyward Ascent. (Costs one Vigor)
• Whirling Surge: Spiral forward to cover a great distance, gaining a large burst of momentum. (30-second cooldown and costs three Vigor)
• Bronze Timelock: Mark a waypoint of your current position for three minutes. Once you have a waypoint created, this spell turns into Bronze Rewind, which can be used to return you to that waypoint. You cannot create a waypoint while flying, but you can return to that waypoint while in the air. (three-minute cooldown)

Dragonriding talents

The first edition of Dragonriding will definitely leave you yearning for more since there isn’t much you can do with only three Vigor points and a lack of regeneration. Thankfully, the devs added the Dragonriding talents. You’ll learn all about them in your Dragon Glyphs and You quest.

To get talent points for your Dragonriding tree, you’ll need to collect Dragon Glyphs. Once you collect these shiny objects, you can spend them on your Dragonriding talents. 

To access Dragonriding skills, you need to click on the drake icon next to the mini-map that gives you the Dragon Isles summary. There, you’ll find Dragonriding: Skills and Unlocks. Click View to open your Dragonriding talents and manage them.

Here’s the list of all Dragonriding talents:

Dragon glyphs

To unlock your Dragonriding talents, you’ll need to gather Dragon Glyphs across the Dragon Isles. In total, there are 48 glyphs you can unlock in just under an hour with proper pathing. The good news is Dragon glyphs are account-wide, meaning you’ll need to collect them only once. Your best friend while finding these glyphs will be TomTom, which allows you to enter coordinates and follow them until you arrive at your location. 

Dragonriding races

Designed as a completely optional feature in Dragonflight, Dragonriding races are exactly what they seem to be—races with your Dragonriding mount. During the races, you’ll need to go through circles on your screen to finish the race. Although Dragonriding races are not mandatory, they are tied to different achievements, drake customizations, and mount rewards. 

To unlock Dragonriding races, you’ll need to learn the basics of Dragonriding in the Waking Shores. There, you’ll get your first Dragonriding race quest: The Waking Shores Tour. After you’ve completed the basic races in the Waking Shores, you’ll get a quest leading your further. This will unlock further as you progress through the main storyline of Dragonflight. After you complete all your basic races, you’ll get advanced Dragonriding races quests for each zone. 

Dragonriding drakes and their customizations

In total, there are four Dragonriding drakes you’ll get as you progress through the main story of the Dragon Isles: Renewed Proto-Drake, Windborne Velocidrake, Highland Drake, and Cliffside Wylderdrake. Each drake is tied to a specific zone, so you’ll unlock Renewed Proto-Drake in the Waking Shores, Windborne Velocidrake in Ohn’ahran Plains, Highland Drake in Azure Span, and Cliffside Wylderdrake in Thaldraszus. 

Unlike traditional mounts, Dragonriding drakes will have tons of customization options, some of which you’ll unlock immediately, and some will take time and effort to unlock. You can unlock customizations by doing professions, quests, raids, renown, and Dragonflight dungeons. Each drake can be customized separately and you can only modify their appearance at the Rostrum of Transformation.

Dragonriding Ride Along feature

If you’re timid or simply don’t feel like conquering the skies of the Dragon Isles, you can easily follow your friend or guildmate while they are Dragonriding. To enable this option, you’ll need to pay a visit to Lithragosa near Rostrum of Transformation and ask her to enable passengers for you. As your friend is soaring the skies, you’ll follow them in a whelp form. You can use this feature to gather Dragonriding glyphs since this will count toward your progress.