Obtaining a Dreadsteed

By far the most difficult warlock quest in the game, the dreadsteed is generally regarded as well worth the trouble. As with any epic mount, 100% movement increase is great for getting around. More to the point, however, it looks fantastic. The dreadsteed is widely regarded as one of the most wicked looking mounts in the game, and will easily make you the envy of every warlock you come across who doesn’t have one.

Be ready for a lot of time, toil, and expense, though, because unlike your felsteed, you’re going to have to earn this one. Upon reaching level 60, your quest begins with Mor’zul Bloodbringer and Gorzeeki Wildeyes, a pair of warlocks in the extreme northwestern corner of the Burning Steppes. Remember the location well, because you’ll be returning here several more times.

The first part of the quest, called Rage of Blood, requires you to gather blood from the owlbeasts of Winterspring. This is very straightforward, and perhaps one of the easiest points of the quest chain. The drop is relatively frequent, and the owlbeasts themselves are no challenge at level 60. Go to Winterspring, get the 30 Raging Beast’s Blood, and return to Mor’zul.

Complete this quest chain by taking the box of blood that Mor’zul gives you and giving it to Gorzeeki, who is standing just behind him. The goblin, unfortunately, has quests of his own for you to undertake. The next part of the quest involves journeying to Felwood and getting Xorothian Stardust from Lord Banehollow, the Archimonde-esque demon at the bottom of Jaedenar.

Thankfully, getting to him is easy. Buy the potion from Gorzeeki for six gold and proceed to Felwood. Once you use the potion, everyone in Jaedenar will become friendly to you for 20 minutes. This is plenty of time to get in, complete Banehollow’s quests, and get out. If you’re worried, the potion can actually be used three times, so no need to sweat. Just pop another charge off if your timer starts to get low.

Banehollow’s quest isn’t as difficult as it sounds. Ulathek is a short walk back and fairly easy to solo at level 60, even though he has three friends with him. Still, it’s advisable to be prepared. Buff yourself and have a healthstone and a soulstone handy just in case, then kill Ulathek and bring his heart back to Banehollow.

Congratulations, you have earned the privilege of being able to buy Xorothian Stardust at 150 gold. I said there would be a lot of expense involved, didn’t I? Get used to it, as this is only the first of several payoffs you’ll need to make. Buy your stardust and return to Gorzeeki to get the last part of this quest chain.

Gorzeeki’s next task is for you to deliver his imp (contained in a jar) to the alchemy lab in Scholomance. For you level 300 alchemists out there, this is the same lab that you use to make flasks. Unfortunately, it’s not at all easy to get to, especially after the recent patches made the dungeon a five-man-only endeavor. Scholomance is unforgiving for mistakes and difficult to beat even with a well-organized, well-balanced party. Find yourself a good group who’s planning on killing Raz Frostwhisper and/or Darkmaster Gandling (Jandice Barov groups need not apply) and fight your way to the bottom of Scholomance. Once you’re at the lab, release the imp and let him do his thing. Nothing bad pops out at you, thankfully, so completing the quest doesn’t put any added strain on the party.

Once you’re done with this, return to Gorzeeki. Now that you’ve got the infused parchment and the ink, you’ll need to craft four implements for the summoning ritual: a Doomsday Candle, a Wheel of the Black March, a Bell of Dethmoora, and a Black Lodestone. Each of these is a quest in and of itself, and there’s nothing to them except to get the materials. The downside is, of course, that the materials are rare and expensive.

Here is your shopping list. You will need three arcanite bars for the Black Lodestone, 35 black dragonscales for the Doomsday Candle, six large brilliant shards and 25 dark iron ore for the Wheel of the Black March, and 10 elixirs of shadow power for the Bell of Dethmoora. All of these items can be farmed or crafted, so the expense can be minimal depending on the amount of time and effort you want to put into obtaining them. Alternately, some or all of the materials can be bought in the Auction House. Expect to pay well over 100, if not hundreds, of gold pieces if you take this route.

Once the items are constructed, the quest to actually summon the dreadsteed will finally be available. Unfortunately, you aren’t done spending money. To perform the summoning ritual, you need to purchase the ritual implements from Gorzeeki. You can’t do the ritual without all of them, and they cost a grand total of 250 gold.

There is, however, an easy way out of this. Any warlock with these components can perform the ritual, and they can be reused. Thus, if you accompany another warlock while he or she is performing the ritual, you can complete the quest and get your dreadsteed without any additional cost. My advice is to offer a reasonable sum, perhaps 50 gold or so, to another warlock to do the summoning for you. You save 200 gold, they recover some of the cost of the ritual components, and everyone goes home happy.

Whether you decide to lay the money down and perform the ritual yourself or get someone else to do it for you, your next step is to venture into Dire Maul West. This five-man dungeon is pretty tame for the most part, as many of the mobs can be skipped in the pursuit of your objective. You will first need to destroy all of the Mana Remnants surrounding each of the five crystal towers in order to bring down the shield around Immol’thar. Once he is defeated (which is no small task), the real fun can begin.

Before you start, if you are the one performing the ritual, make sure that you have lots of soul shards. Everyone should be buffed as much as possible. If you’re specced for demonology, go ahead and use Demonic Sacrifice on your voidwalker for good measure.

The ritual begins with the imp setting up all of the ritual components. Your party will be hit with waves of large, imp-like creatures as well as Dreadguards. If you are performing the ritual, concentrate on keeping the components active by using your Black Lodestone and let your party pull aggro off of you. Each use has an interruptible casting time and will drain a soul shard, but it’s well worth the cost for the buffs that you will get. About 10 soul shards are needed to finish the ritual.

Be sure to enslave the first Dreadguard as soon as it appears and keep one of the mobs Banished at all times. As long as the Wheel and Candle are active, the imps can be safely ignored, as they will do negligible damage and die quickly without your help. The ritual is finished whenever all nine of the runes around the edge of the circle are glowing, at which point the demons will stop coming.

When everyone is ready once more, use the glyphs to open the portal to Xoroth. The dreadsteed appears, and its master Lord Hel’nurath appears shortly thereafter. Both are reasonably powerful but manageable for a good party, without any special tricks other than the dreadsteed’s kick, which will send you flying a good ways out.

Finally, you can talk to the spirit of the fallen dreadsteed, which will impart you with the spell to summon it. It’s been a long, taxing process, and you’ve certainly earned the right to your own epic mount after all your trouble. At your first opportunity, go to a safe location and take a long, cathartic ride on your dreadsteed. Show it off to your guildies, your friends, or even complete strangers. You’ve earned a chance to gloat.