Core lesson
Choose your next unlock
Every mount solves a different movement problem. Pick the one that opens the maps and activities you want to play now.
- ✦Set one movement goal
- ✦Check the collection requirements
- ✦Keep your next step visible
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House of Dragonz academy
Mounts & Masteries
Mounts and masteries change how you travel through Tyria. Choose the unlock that helps your current adventures, then build your account one useful step at a time.
Mount unlocksMastery pointsAccount progress
Guide format
Field manual
Core chapters
3 foundations
Practice sections
4 detailed lessons
The briefing
Learn the essentials
Start with these foundations, then use the detailed lessons below to turn them into habits.
Core lesson
Earn mastery points with purpose
Mastery points come from stories, map exploration, achievements, and adventures. Spend experience in a track you actively use.
- ✦Train one track at a time
- ✦Follow nearby mastery insights
- ✦Use achievements as a roadmap
Core lesson
Build for the whole account
Mounts and masteries benefit every character, so progress is never wasted when you change profession or begin a new story.
- ✦Prioritize account-wide unlocks
- ✦Keep a long-term collection goal
- ✦Return to maps you enjoy
Deep knowledge
The field manual
Field manual
Pick progress that changes your day
The best first goal is not always the most famous one. Think about where you spend your time: map exploration, story chapters, jumping puzzles, world events, or group content. Choose the mount or mastery that makes those sessions more enjoyable.
Collections look large when viewed all at once. Read only the next step, prepare what it asks for, and let the journey reveal itself gradually.
Field manual
Mastery points are an exploration guide
Mastery tracks are earned with experience and mastery points. The points are spread across story rewards, hero challenges, adventures, achievements, and map discoveries. Treat them as invitations to explore rather than chores to finish immediately.
If a track is not helping your current goal, it is fine to pause it. Focused progress feels much better than gathering points without a plan.
Field manual
An account grows with you
Account-wide progression is one of Tyria's great strengths. A mount unlocked on one character, a mastery trained in one region, or a shared utility earned through a collection can improve every future adventure.
Balance efficient goals with places you genuinely enjoy. A collection completed through maps you love will always feel more rewarding than a reward rushed only because it is popular.
Field manual
Choose the mount that solves your next problem
There is no single correct order after the Raptor. Pick Springer when high ledges and safe landings are blocking your exploration. Pick Skimmer when water, quicksand, or hostile ground makes a route frustrating. Pick Jackal when you are ready to explore the Desolation and its sand portals.
Save the larger collections for when they match the adventures you actually want. Griffon is for players who enjoy speed and flight practice; Roller Beetle is for movement and races; Skyscale is the flexible long-term exploration tool; Siege Turtle is best when you want to play with another person; and Warclaw belongs to WvW or Janthir Wilds progression.
Account progression
Mount unlock roadmap
Pick the mount that helps your current adventures first. Every completed unlock is account-wide.
Choose a route
Unlock the mount that opens your next adventure
Use the desert mounts to reach the Crystal Desert collection paths first. Then choose your goal: fast aerial travel with Griffon, flexible vertical exploration with Skyscale, combat utility with Warclaw or Siege Turtle, or a focused Living World collection.
Story firstOne collection at a timeAccount-wide rewards
Choose with purpose
Mastery progression plan
This is a guide for choosing the right route—not a checklist you need to complete all at once.
First foundation
Desert movement
Raptor, Springer, Skimmer, and Jackal open the most useful Path of Fire travel tools. Train only the next mastery tier that helps you reach your chosen stable or collection step.
RaptorSpringerSkimmerJackal
Collection route
Living World goals
Roller Beetle and the legacy Skyscale journey reward patient exploration. Pin one collection, prepare its next requirement, and let map events guide your progress.
Roller BeetleLegacy SkyscaleSeason 4
Adventure route
Specialist mounts
Griffon, Warclaw, the Secrets of the Obscure Skyscale route, and Siege Turtle are best chosen for a specific adventure—not simply because they are famous.
GriffonWarclawSkyscaleSiege Turtle
Path of Fire
Raptor
Your first long-distance travel mount.
- 1Begin the Path of Fire story.
- 2Complete the opening chapter, Sparking the Flame.
- 3Rescue Seeker's Village and claim the raptor from Aksim.
Before you start · A 10-hour trial is also available as you level, but the story unlock is account-wide.
Path of Fire
Springer
High vertical jumps and safer falls.
- 1Train the Raptor's Canyon Jumping mastery.
- 2Travel to Highjump Ranch in the Desert Highlands.
- 3Complete the ranch renown heart and buy the springer from the stablemaster.
Path of Fire
Skimmer
Hover above water, quicksand, and dangerous ground.
- 1Train the Raptor's Canyon Jumping mastery.
- 2Reach Skimmer Ranch in the Elon Riverlands.
- 3Complete the ranch renown heart and buy the skimmer from the vendor.
Path of Fire
Jackal
Sand portals and agile desert travel.
- 1Travel to the Desolation.
- 2Complete the Sand Jackal Run renown heart.
- 3Purchase the jackal from Drojkor, Spirit Squall.
Path of Fire
Griffon
Fast, skill-based aerial travel.
- 1Finish the Path of Fire story.
- 2Reach Sunspear Sanctuary and speak to the Remains of the Last Spearmarshal.
- 3Complete the three Open Skies collections: Sunspear Sanctuary, Sunspear Wisdom, and On Wings and a Prayer.
Before you start · Plan for 250 gold in collection purchases, plus exploration and events across the Crystal Desert.
Living World Season 4 · Episode 3
Roller Beetle
Extreme ground speed, drifting, and smashing through barriers.
- 1Complete Forearmed Is Forewarned in Long Live the Lich.
- 2During Tactical Triage, speak with Spearmarshal Zaeim and then Gorrik in the Domain of Kourna.
- 3Complete Beetle Juice, Beetle Saddle, and Beetle Feed collections.
Janthir Wilds or Path of Fire
Warclaw
A battle mount for WvW and fast PvE travel.
- 1For the PvE route, progress Janthir Wilds through Unknown Territory.
- 2Complete the story objective that helps the warclaw trust you.
- 3For WvW use, own Path of Fire and spend one World Ability Point in Warclaw Mastery.
Before you start · The older WvW collection is still useful history, but Janthir Wilds is the direct PvE unlock path.
Secrets of the Obscure or Living World Season 4
Skyscale
Vertical aerial exploration, hovering, and wall clinging.
- 1Fast route: complete Hell Breaks Loose in Secrets of the Obscure.
- 2Unlock Who Rescues Whom? and complete A New Friend with Skyscale Trainer Dyanne.
- 3Alternative Legacy route: complete War Eternal, speak to Gorrik in Dragonfall, and finish the Skyscale collection chain.
Before you start · The Living World Season 4 route is longer but unlocks its own mastery benefits and is required for some long-term collection goals.
End of Dragons
Siege Turtle
A two-player combat mount with driver and gunner seats.
- 1Get a Turtle Egg from the Dragon's End meta or buy one from the Peddler with Writs of Dragon's End.
- 2Speak to Rota in Arborstone to start the turtle collections.
- 3Complete Starting Small, Getting Stronger, and Suiting Up, then return to Rota.
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