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The Dreadsteed of Xoroth is the level 60 Epic Warlock Mount. The 
[Summon Dreadsteed] spell, which enables a Warlock to ride a Dreadsteed, is learned from a long quest line whose questgivers are primarily found in the Burning Steppes. As with all other epic mounts in the game, the Dreadsteed gives the Warlock a speed increase of 100%. As of patch 1.12.1 the mount system has been re-vamped and the Dreadsteed now also comes with the Journeyman Riding skill.
The planet Xoroth is one of the worlds ruled by the Nathrezim (or Dreadlords), and on it lives one Lord Hel'nurath, who is primarily known for his collection of Dreadsteeds, fiery horse-like demons that serve as the mounts of the Dreadlords. Only once a Warlock reaches level 60 is his or her power over the dark forces strong enough to hope to subdue such a creature. But to open a gateway to Xoroth and bring forth a Dreadsteed is a complicated and difficult process that requires many exotic components ...
The Dreadsteed Quest
If you're a Warlock, when you reach level 60, the Demon Trainer in a major city (either Kurgul [1][2] in Orgrimmar or Jubahl Corpseseeker [3][4] in Ironforge) will have a quest directing you to speak with a Human Warlock named Mor'zul Bloodbringer [5][6] in the Burning Steppes. Mor'zul is on a hill across the road from the Altar of Storms, which is in extreme northwestern Burning Steppes, west of Blackrock Mountain. He will send you on a long and expensive sequence of adventures culminating in your learning the [Summon Dreadsteed] spell.
Getting Started
| Mor'zul Bloodbringer | ||||
| Rage of Blood | ||||
| Wildeyes | ||||
| / | \ | |||
| Lord Banehollow | ||||
| Ulathek the Traitor |
Bell of Dethmoora |
Wheel of the Black March |
Doomsday Candle | |
| Xorothian Stardust |
Arcanite | |||
| Imp Delivery | ||||
| \ | / | |||
| Dreadsteed of Xoroth | ||||
Mor'zul's servant, a Goblin Warlock named Gorzeeki Wildeyes [7][8], will have to craft several items to allow you to summon and capture a Dreadsteed of Xoroth -- a bell, a wheel, a candle, a scroll, and a stone. To that end, they send you on a number of quests to obtain the arcane raw materials for these items. The sequence of quests is:
- The Demon Trainer in Orgrimmar or Ironforge sends you to speak to Mor'zul.
- (58) Rage of Blood [11][12]
- Mor'zul tells you that creating the ink with which to scribe the scroll will require 30
[Raging Beast's Blood] [13][14], which drop from the various Owlbeasts in Winterspring.
- Mor'zul tells you that creating the ink with which to scribe the scroll will require 30
- Mor'zul packages the blood into
[Case of Blood] [17][18] and wants you to deliver it to Gorzeeki Wildeyes -- luckily, Wildeyes is standing just a few feet away.
- Mor'zul packages the blood into
Although that ends this sequence, it's just the beginning. For one thing, Wildeyes can now make the ink for the scroll, but not the paper -- it has to be infused with Xorothian Stardust, and you're going to have to go to Jaedenar for that; he has a new quest sequence for you beginning with "Lord Banehollow" (see below for more about this sequence). Also, Mor'zul has three quests for you, which can be completed in any order, about gathering materials for the bell, wheel and candle:
The Materials Branch
These three quests and the one that follow them seem designed to provide income for high-level crafters. The first three, as mentioned, can be done in any order, and once they're turned in, the fourth one becomes available. Since there may be considerable expense involved here, it's good that you can work on the other branch of the overall quest (the Xorothian Glyphs branch) at the same time, although there's some expense involved there as well. But in this branch, you may well have a profession that will help you here, or you may be able to call on the help of friends or guildmates for the materials.
- Bell of Dethmoora [19][20] (Level 60)
Mor'zul tells you that in order to create the Bell of Dethmoora, you must bring Wildeyes 10 
[Elixir of Shadow Power] [21][22]. This is a fairly high-level Alchemy recipe, but even if you're not an Alchemist, they are usually available at an Auction House. You don't get an item called the Bell of Dethmoora, per se, at any point, but it does appear in the summoning ritual.
- Wheel of the Black March [23][24] (Level 60)
In order to create the Wheel, Wildeyes will need 6 
[Large Brilliant Shard] [25][26] and 25 
[Dark Iron Ore] [27][28]. Here we have an item that requires a fairly high level in a crafting profession and another that requires a fairly high level in a gathering profession. You may be sensing a theme here. Like the Bell, there's no actual Wheel item to tote around after turning this in.
- Doomsday Candle [29][30] (Level 60)
Wildeyes needs 35 
[Black Dragonscale] [31][32] to make the Candle. More about the Bell, Wheel and Candle later. Once you have completed these three quests, in any order, Wildeyes gives you a fourth one:
Finally Wildeyes will have to make you a Black Lodestone, which requires 3 
[Arcanite Bar] [35][36]. More for the Alchemists to do, I suppose. But once you turn this in, you're done with the "materials" sequence!
The Xorothian Glyphs Branch
As I mentioned above, there's another sequence that can be done concurrently with the materials quests, because it appears as soon as you give Wildeyes the Case of Blood. Wildeyes informs you that the scroll's paper needs to be infused with Xorothian Stardust before the proper glyphs can be inscribed upon it. This sequence of quests is about acquiring this rare material:
- Lord Banehollow [37][38] (Level 58)
Lord Banehollow [39][40] is a Dreadlord currently dwelling among the remnants of the Shadow Council in Jaedenar, Felwood. He is also the only being on Azeroth known to possess Xorothian Stardust. Unfortunately, the denizens of Jaedenar are hostile to anyone who is not their ally. However, Wildeyes has Shadowy Potions [41][42] that can fool them into thinking you're one of them, and he'll gladly sell 3 of them to you for 6 gold. You will probably only have to use 1 of them, though.
Buy the potions, then take 150 gold with you to Felwood. Once you get to Jaedenar, drink one of the potions and head down into Shadow Hold. Everyone you meet will be Friendly to you for the next 20 minutes, which should be plenty of time. The only things that won't be Friendly to you are the mindless oozes, which you can probably avoid for the most part as you descend to the very bottom of Shadow Hold and speak to Lord Banehollow, who has a quest for you ...
- Ulathek the Traitor [43][44] (Level 58)
Banehollow won't sell you any Stardust until you do something for him: his rival back on Xoroth, Lord Hel'nurath, is plotting against him and has a spy in Shadow Hold, an Orc named Ulathek [45][46]. Banehollow knows you want to steal one of Hel'nurath's Dreadsteeds, and he's perfectly willing to help you humiliate Hel'nurath as long as you do something in exchange -- you have to find Ulathek, kill him, and bring back his heart. Finding him isn't too difficult; he's in one of the side rooms you passed by getting down to Banehollow. When you speak to him, he will turn hostile and attack, as will his four guards (you might want to do something to keep them off you long enough to kill Ulathek and loot his still-beating heart). Kill Ulathek and take his heart back to Banehollow, who will be happy with you, as happy as a Dreadlord snacking on the freshly-ripped-out heart of his enemy. Mmm mmm.
I would advise summoning your voidwalker to tank the 4 other mobs while you burn Ulathek down. After you have slain him loot him quickly and jump down to the right when you get out of his cave and keep running back to Lord Banehollow. A smart thing to do is to sacrifce your voidwalker.
If you're demonology spec'd, your Felguard should be able to tank the mobs nicely, and a sacrifice shouldn't be required. The other mobs in Jaedenar will still be friendly to you. (Apparently they don't care much for Ulathek either). Drinking another shadowy potion to get his guards to stop attacking after Ulathek is dead will not work.
- Xorothian Stardust [47][48] (Level 60)
Banehollow will finally allow you to purchase some 
[Xorothian Stardust] [49][50] from his lackey Ur'dan [51][52] who is standing next to him for 150 gold. You're done in Jaedenar; take the Stardust back to Wildeyes in the Burning Steppes.
Wildeyes now tells you that the parchment (which he doesn't make you pay for, incredibly) must be infused with the Stardust and the glyphs must be inscribed upon it. He can't do it here -- the only place with the equipment is in Ras Frostwhisper's lab in the Scholomance. And he isn't going with you -- instead, he has a highly-trained imp named J'eevee who knows the procedure, and he won't even charge you rent to borrow 
[Imp in a Jar] [55][56]. Take the jar, form a party of 5, and go to Scholomance to fight your way into Ras's lab, where you can use the jar at one of the tables to the right, and J'eevee will come out and do his thing, completing your quest. You don't actually have to kill Ras to do this; the tables are far enough away from him that he can't see you doing this. This is the same Alchemy Lab that Alchemists have to go to in order to make Flasks. There is another Alchemy Lab in Blackwing Lair, and as of patch 2.0.1 you can open the imp jar in the BWL lab, but doing so does not complete the quest.
Once you've done all the materials quests and taken the imp to the Scholomance, there is only one step left, but it's the best one.
The Ritual
Mor'zul hands you a book, 
[Mor'zul's Instructions] [59][60], that describes all of this. Here is the gist of it. First, you must purchase 
[J'eevee's Jar] [61][62] (150 gold), 
[Black Lodestone] [63][64] (50 gold), and 
[Xorothian Glyphs] [65][66] (50 gold) from Wildeyes -- he may be a Goblin Warlock, but he's still a Goblin, so he's not giving you anything for free.
You don't have to buy these three items if you know another Warlock who has them. Warlocks who already have their Dreadsteed are able to keep these items permanently. You could offer to pay him some gold to take you on your Dreadsteed quest, or you could find another Warlock who needs their Dreadsteed and offer to split the cost of the Lodestone, Glyphs and Jar when one of you buys them. Saving anything on something that costs 250g would be the way to go.
Now you need to get a party of 5 together and head for Dire Maul West. You will have to kill Immol'thar, because you're going to use the circular dais he was imprisoned in as your summoning circle. Make sure you have plenty of Soul Shards.
Once your party has defeated Immol'thar and rested/rebuffed, activate J'eevee's Jar. The imp has your three ritual nodes (the Bell, Wheel and Candle) and sets them up; he also starts the process of forming the Circle of Greater Summoning. This process seems to attract demons; groups of Xorothian Imps and occasional Dread Guards will come to attack.
Fortunately the three artifacts will help. The Bell of Dethmoora restores health and mana to any Warlocks in the party (Ritual Bell Aura [67] restores 150 health and 150 mana, though I'm not sure how often it procs). The Wheel of the Black March protects all party members (Black March Blessing [68], which absorbs 100 points of damage from every hit on anyone in the party). These are nice, but the Doomsday Candle burns anyone not in the party with fire damage (Ritual Candle Aura [69], 250 damage per second), and because of the Candle, you can ignore the Imps. The damage they do is minimal when the Wheel is active, and they die fairly quickly when the Candle is active. The party should therefore focus on the Dread Guards; there will be a total of 10 or 11 of them, and sometimes they spawn more than one at a time.
You, however, should focus on the Bell, Wheel and Candle, which need recharging from time to time (they sag, tilt and make a noise to let you know when they need attention); this requires the Black Lodestone, but recharging an item with it costs a Soul Shard. Recharging a node (Fix Ritual Node [70]) has a 3-second casting time and is interrupted by any damage, even the damage the Imps do, so you either need party members who are good at pulling aggro off you, or you need to have your Voidwalker to taunt them off, or some similar solution. In addition, they spawn in greater numbers than before; around 10 or 11 over the course of the ritual. Just keep everything going until the circle is complete. If all three of the ritual nodes are allowed to fail completely, the ritual will end and will have to be restarted. Any Warlock in the party who has a Black Lodestone and a Soul Shard to spend can recharge a failing node, however -- it doesn't have to be the one who started the ritual. It takes around 10 Soul Shards to keep them all going until the circle is complete.
Nine symbols and vortex: success!
The circle consists of 9 glowing symbols on the floor, which will slowly appear one at a time. It takes about 6 minutes for all 9 to appear, and as soon as they're all visible, there will be a swirling red vortex around the circle, and no more demons will come. At that point, if you don't want to kill all the rest of the demons, run out of the circle -- the demons will chase you, but will disappear when they reach the edge of the circle.
If you wipe, don't worry -- as long as at least one of the nodes is still up, the symbols will keep appearing, and when the 9th one appears the circle becomes complete as usual. Just release and run back. If there are demons in the completed circle (it's obvious from the pink vortex that exists there now), just run up and lure them out -- they will disappear, and you have your circle ready.
Success, despite a wipe
You now have an opportunity to rest, heal and rebuff. The next step doesn't start until you activate your Xorothian Glyphs.
When you're ready, use the Glyphs. A portal opens, and a Xorothian Dreadsteed [71] appears. The party fights it. When the Dreadsteed is at about 50% health, Lord Hel'nurath [72][73] himself appears. He hates people who steal his horses, which is basically what you're doing, so you and your friends have to kill him too. He is, however, the only add in this fight.
- Optec of Trollbane Europe has made a useful video of this encounter (follow the link or search for "Summon Dreadsteed" on Google Video UK). Got a bit of humor in it and everything you need to know is there.
Once both targets have been taken down, you can do the last step: talk to the spirit of the Dreadsteed. It will teach you the [Summon Dreadsteed] spell. (In fact, until the spirit despawns you can have Warlocks join the group, enter the instance, get summoned to the circle, talk to the spirit, and complete the quest, as long as they're done with every quest in the series but "Dreadsteed of Xoroth." They'd miss out on the ritual, though, which is fun.) Lord Hel'nurath drops some interesting loot, too.
You are now done! Two notes: First, J'eevee's Jar, the Black Lodestone, and the Xorothian Glyphs aren't used up in the process. You can help other Warlocks get their Dreadsteeds by going to Dire Maul with them (once they've finished all the steps up to that point) and using your three items, thus saving them 250 gold. Second, more than one Warlock can complete the quest at the same time. It may be a good idea to have a couple along anyway to keep the ritual nodes up; it's nice to know that both can complete the quest. However, remember that any Warlock who plans to help maintain the bell/wheel/candle must have a Black Lodestone (50g) in order to be able to recharge them.
Total materials list
The final materials list is as follows:
- 406 (+ cost for crafting mats) in total (or 156 (+ cost for crafting mats) and a Warlock with the three ritual components accompanying you to the western wing of Dire Maul)
- 3
[Shadowy Potion] (6) - [Xorothian Stardust] (150)
- [J'eevee's Jar] (150) (Reusable)
- [Black Lodestone] (50) (Reusable)
- [Xorothian Glyphs] (50) (Reusable)
- 10 [Elixir of Shadow Power]
- 6 [Large Brilliant Shard]
- 25 [Dark Iron Ore]
- 35 [Black Dragonscale]
- 3 [Arcanite Bar]
See also
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