Guides/Mounts
Every mount, what it costs, and the order that makes sense
Nine mounts, from the free raptor to a griffon at 250 gold. A table of the real price tags and requirements, plus the order to chase them in when your wallet holds five gold.
Mounts in Guild Wars 2 are not cosmetics, and they are not about running faster. Each one opens a different way to move: one jumps straight up, one skims water, one glides across a canyon. A map you walked through on foot looks different once you have three of them.
The awkward part is that they are scattered across expansions and seasons, cost wildly different amounts, and demand different things. Here they are together.
The table
| Mount | From | Cost | What it buys you |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raptor | Path of Fire, first chapter | free | long forward leap, baseline speed |
| Springer | Path of Fire | 50 Trade Contracts + 1 g | vertical jump |
| Skimmer | Path of Fire | 50 Trade Contracts + 4 g | gliding over water and lava |
| Jackal | Path of Fire | 200 Trade Contracts + 20 g (same day as the heart) | blink through portals, sand travel |
| Warclaw | PoF or Janthir Wilds | free | speed in WvW, now in PvE too |
| Roller Beetle | Living World 4, episode 3 | no gold, three collections | fastest thing on flat ground |
| Griffon | Path of Fire, story complete | 250 g | long dives and gliding from height |
| Skyscale | Living World 4 or SotO | 41 g long route / 15 g short one | hovering, vertical walls |
| Siege Turtle | End of Dragons | Turtle Egg + collections | two seats and cannons |
Trade Contracts are a Crystal Desert map currency handed out by renown hearts. So the first three mounts after the raptor are gated less by gold than by walking the expansion’s maps.
The order that makes sense
If you have just bought Path of Fire and your wallet is thin:
1. Raptor. Arrives on its own during the first story chapter, “Sparking the Flame”. Nothing to do.
2. Springer. One gold and 50 Trade Contracts from Stablemaster Unja at Highjump Ranch. Best freedom-per-coin purchase in the game: vertical movement opens half the places that were previously closed. Needs the Canyon Jumping mastery.
3. Skimmer. Four gold from Skimmer Trainer Ardra. Water stops being an obstacle, and on later maps so does lava.
4. Warclaw. Free now: one World Ability Point in WvW, or the Janthir Wilds story. Both routes in detail.
5. Jackal. 200 Trade Contracts and 20 gold, but only if you buy on the same day you finish Drojkor’s heart. A day later it is 30 gold 40 silver. Vendor names and the right order are in the Path of Fire mounts guide.
6. Roller Beetle. Asks for no gold at all, only time. Requires the third episode of Season 4, “Long Live the Lich”. Starts by talking to Spearmarshal Zaeim in the Domain of Kourna, then Gorrik, then three collections back to back: Beetle Juice, Beetle Saddle, Beetle Feed. Fastest mount on flat ground, and the one the races are run on. Step by step.
7. Griffon. 250 gold, and the Path of Fire story finished in full. The money is paid in ten instalments of 25, so there is nothing to save up in advance. The details are here.
8. Skyscale. With Secrets of the Obscure: 15 gold and one evening. Without it: the long Season 4 route with a three-day time gate. The two routes compared.
9. Siege Turtle. Needs End of Dragons. First a Turtle Egg, either from “The Battle for the Jade Sea” meta in Dragon’s End, or from the Peddler for 200 Writs of Dragon’s End. Then collections in Arborstone with an NPC called Rota. It seats two and carries cannons, so it is for specific content rather than for getting around. How to get the egg without suffering.
If you own no expansions
The base game has no mounts, but the raptor can be tried: from level 10 there is a trial that lasts ten hours of play time. That is enough to feel how differently the maps read, and to decide whether an expansion is worth it.
What not to do
Do not chase the griffon first. 250 gold at the start is months of saving, while a Springer for one gold makes your life easier tonight.
Do not buy an expansion for a single mount. Count what else comes with it: story, maps, elite specialisations. The mount is a bonus, not a reason.
Do not put off the Warclaw. It is free now, and one World Ability Point is a few minutes in WvW.