Reins of the Grand Black War Mammoth

Reins of the Grand Black War Mammoth is a rare three-seat ground mount from the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. The mount drops from any of the four bosses in the Vault of Archavon raid with a very low chance (around 1%). It can also be acquired at the Black Market Auction House.

The mount carries three players: a driver and two passengers from the same group. There are separate versions for the Alliance (item ID: 43959) and the Horde (item ID: 44083) — when you change faction, the mount is automatically converted to the matching variant.

• Three-seat transport — one of the few mounts in the game capable of carrying two passengers at once
• Collector's rarity — the roughly 1% drop chance from each boss makes it a coveted prize for collectors
• Status and prestige — a huge black mammoth in battle armor looks imposing and instantly draws attention
• Legacy content — the Vault of Archavon raid is easily soloed at max level, which simplifies the weekly farm
• Counts toward your mount collection — brings you closer to the achievements for the number of mounts collected

There are two ways to obtain this mount.

Method 1: Drop in the Vault of Archavon

1. Make sure your faction controls the fortress in Wintergrasp
2. Get to the Vault of Archavon — the entrance is located inside the fortress
3. Enter the raid and defeat all four bosses one after another
4. Check the loot from each boss — the mount can drop from any of them
5. Repeat weekly until you get the mount

Method 2: Black Market Auction House

1. Visit the Black Market Auction House and check the listings
2. The mount is put up for sale by the merchant Mei Francis
3. The starting bid is 20,000 gold
4. Be ready for competition — the final price can reach several million gold

The mount drops from each of the four bosses in the Vault of Archavon. Each boss has an independent drop chance, which gives you four attempts per session.

At the current max level (80), all four bosses are killed solo in a few seconds regardless of class and specialization. A full clear of the raid takes no more than 5–10 minutes.

The Vault of Archavon is located in Wintergrasp in Northrend. The raid entrance is inside Wintergrasp Fortress.

Raid entrance coordinates:

How to get there

1. Through the portal from Dalaran. Head to Dalaran (Northrend) and use the portal to Wintergrasp. The portal is located in your faction's area.
2. By flight. Fly to the nearest flight point in Northrend and head toward the fortress in Wintergrasp.

Important: control of Wintergrasp

The Vault of Archavon is only accessible to the faction that currently controls Wintergrasp Fortress. This is a PvP zone, and the battle for control formally takes place every few hours.

Situation on the retail version of the game:

• Battles for Wintergrasp are almost never fought, since it is legacy content
• One of the factions usually holds the fortress on a permanent basis
• If your faction does not control the fortress, you will not be able to enter the raid
• As a workaround, try logging in at a different time of day or on a different game shard — control may differ
• If the problem persists, create an alternate character of the opposite faction to farm this raid

With a drop chance of about 1% from each boss and four bosses per run, the expected value is roughly 4% total probability per weekly visit. To improve efficiency, use the following techniques:

• Multiple characters. Create alts and run the raid on each of them weekly. The mount is account-bound, so getting it on any character unlocks it for all of them.
• Both factions. Have both Alliance and Horde characters — this solves the Wintergrasp control problem. When one faction does not control the fortress, you can log in on a character of the other faction.
• SavedInstances addon. Install the SavedInstances addon to track weekly raid lockouts across all of your characters.
• Rarity addon. The Rarity addon counts your number of attempts and shows drop probability statistics.
• Raid mode. Before entering, make sure the desired difficulty is set. The mount drops in both 10-player and 25-player mode.