What is the drop rate for WoW’s Headless Horseman mount?

The annual Hallow’s End event has returned to World of Warcraft, which means countless players will be trying to get their hands on one of the game’s most prestigious and rarest mounts: the Horseman’s Reins. Although the Headless Horseman encounter received a sizable rework this year, one thing remains the same—his mount is one of the most sought-after cosmetic items WoW has to offer.

Unlike other rare mounts, though, the Horseman’s Reins are only available to loot during a brief two-week window around Halloween each year. So if you want to pick up the mount for yourself, you’ll have to devote time to running the Headless Horseman encounter before Hallow’s End comes to a close.

Whether you’re trying to get the mount in WoW Dragonflight or WoW Wrath Classic, you’re going to have to farm the Headless Horseman encounter plenty of times if you want a shot at collecting the reins.

Unluckily, the drop rate for the mount is ridiculously low. But there are ways to maximize your chances of getting your hands on the Headless Horseman’s steed.

What’s the drop chance for the Headless Horseman’s mount in WoW?

The drop chance of the Horseman’s Reins sits at roughly 0.4 percent, according to WoW item database Wowhead. That number roughly translates to a one in 250 chance that you’ll receive the mount when completing the Headless Horseman encounter. Keep in mind that even if you complete the encounter 250 times, the mount isn’t guaranteed since the drop chance remains the same each run. 

Don’t let the incredibly low drop rate for the Horseman’s Reins deter you from chasing after the mount, though. There are still ways to ensure that your chances of looting the Horseman’s Reins go up this Hallow’s End, especially if you’re a retail WoW player.

Since mounts are account-wide in modern WoW, you can run the Headless Horseman fight practically endlessly across your account’s many characters for the entire two-week span of the Hallow’s End event. Assuming you have the stamina to pull that off, you might just get the mount eventually.

How many times can you complete the Headless Horseman encounter?

You must be level 60 to receive a Loot-Filled Pumpkin, the reward given out to players for completing the Headless Horseman encounter. The Horseman’s Reins are only going to be found inside of the Loot-Filled Pumpkin. You won’t be able to receive the mount by looting the Horseman himself. 

Assuming you have multiple characters who are above level 60, you’ll be able to run the Headless Horseman encounter as many times as you want during a 24-hour reset cycle. Your WoW account is only allowed to have 50 characters across all servers, so if you were to run the encounter 50 times per day across all of your level 60 or higher characters during the entire two-week event of Hallow’s End, you’d have taken down the Headless Horseman 700 times. 

WoW‘s 2023 Hallow’s End event is scheduled to end on Nov. 1, so you’ve got until then to farm the famous mount before you have to wait until next year’s Halloween season.