Reins of the Jade Cloud Serpent

Reins of the Jade Cloud Serpent is an epic flying mount from the Mists of Pandaria expansion (patch 5.5.0). It is an emerald-green cloud serpent, one of the three basic variants bred and trained by the Order of the Cloud Serpent in the Jade Forest. The mount is purchased from the faction's quartermaster for 3,000 gold, provided you have maximum reputation with the Order — Exalted.

Obtaining it is tied to the Pandaren questline of raising your own cloud serpent hatchling, so the process grants not only the mount itself but also unique memories of one of the most atmospheric storylines of classic Pandaria.

• Beautiful cloud serpent model — smooth flight animation, distinctive serpentine movements, and a recognizable Pandaren style. One of the most popular models among collectors.
• Part of the Order of the Cloud Serpent collection — alongside the jade variant, the same vendor offers the Reins of the Golden Cloud Serpent and the Reins of the Azure Cloud Serpent, so on a single trip to Exalted you can pick up all three mounts at once.
• Access to all cloud serpents — after completing the questline once and reaching Exalted, any cloud serpent works on all of your characters. In patch 6.0.2 the separate Cloud Serpent Riding skill was removed, so the mount flies for every character with no additional requirements.
• An entry point into Pandaren collection content — alongside the reputation you gain access to the recipes for the Jeweled Onyx Panther for jewelcrafters and a number of pets.
• Available account-wide — once purchased, the mount unlocks in the shared collection of all characters on your account regardless of faction.

• Character level: to begin the Order of the Cloud Serpent questline you formally need a Pandaria-appropriate level, but in The War Within any character from level 10 can easily reach the Jade Forest and pick up the quests.
• Access to Pandaria: fly to the continent through the portals. The Alliance has a portal from Stormwind (in the Hall of Valor), and the Horde has one from Orgrimmar.
• Exalted reputation with the Order of the Cloud Serpent: from Neutral to Exalted you need to accumulate 42,000 reputation points.
• 3,000 gold for the purchase. The amount is reduced if you are Exalted with other factions that grant a vendor discount.

1. Head to The Jade Forest — Pandaria's starting zone
2. Fly to the Arboretum on the eastern coast, just north of the Temple of the Jade Serpent
3. Find Elder Anli at the Arboretum (coordinates 57.6, 44.8) and pick up the quest "Restless Creatures"
4. Complete the introductory questline — you will receive an egg and raise your own hatchling. Daily quests open up in the process
5. Farm reputation through daily quests and Onyx Eggs until you reach Exalted
6. At Exalted, head up to the Order's vendor San Redscale (coordinates 56.6, 44.4) and buy the Reins of the Jade Cloud Serpent for 3,000 gold

The Order of the Cloud Serpent is one of the classic Pandaren factions, and grinding its reputation is slower than with modern factions. There are three parallel methods that make sense to combine.

Daily quests

The Arboretum has three Order daily quests that are available right after the introductory questline. At Honored an additional batch of quests opens up. Each quest grants about 250 reputation points, and a full circuit is roughly 750–1,000 points per day.

• Quests from Elder Anli
• Quests from Instructor Skythorn — training exercises with your hatchling
• Quests on the Windward Isle — races and hozen hunts

Onyx Eggs

The most efficient method is collecting Onyx Eggs on the Windward Isle off the northeastern coast of the Jade Forest. Each egg is turned in to Elder Anli for 500 reputation points with no daily limit. Eggs spawn at their spawn points every 30–60 minutes, and a single flyover of the island usually nets 2–5 of them.

Banner of recognition

At Honored, San Redscale unlocks the purchase of the Grand Commendation of the Order of the Cloud Serpent for 43 gold. The item grants a permanent +100% reputation bonus with the Order of the Cloud Serpent for all characters on the account. We recommend holding back some onyx eggs and turning them in only after buying the commendation — that way each egg yields 1,000 points instead of 500.

Sequence of actions

1. Complete the introductory questline and unlock the daily quests
2. Farm dailies and eggs to Honored
3. Buy the Grand Commendation of the Order of the Cloud Serpent from San Redscale
4. With the commendation active, push reputation to Exalted
5. Purchase all three cloud serpents (jade, golden, azure) from San Redscale while you are at the vendor

Tips for speed

• Farm in two passes — on a single day complete the dailies and at the same time fly around the Windward Isle collecting eggs. This maximizes reputation per hour
• Don't turn in eggs before Honored — eggs saved in advance double their value after you buy the Commendation
• Use alts to earn gold — 3,000 gold is required only once for the mount, but if you decide to buy all three variants at once, prepare 9,000 gold
• In The War Within the content is solo — the Windward Isle and the Arboretum are long outdated; no group or special preparation is required even for a level 70+ character

If you have already invested time into the reputation, it makes sense to grab the entire basic trio at once — a huge time saving.