Kaldorei Nightsaber

Kaldorei Nightsaber is a ground epic mount added in patch 8.1.0 "Tides of Vengeance" of the Battle for Azeroth expansion. It is a large black-and-purple nightsaber with a carved blanket and saddle of kaldorei craftsmanship, one of the five unique nightsabers of the Battle for Darkshore warfront. The item description nods to kaldorei tradition: "Nightsabers are all but inseparable from their riders."

The mount is intended for Horde players. It drops from the rare creature Shadowclaw in the Darkshore zone, which becomes available when the Horde controls the territory as part of the warfront cycle. Alliance players obtain the same mount through a separate item, Captured Kaldorei Nightsaber, which drops from Croz Bloodrage while the Alliance is in control.

• Unique nightsaber model — a black-and-purple coloring with kaldorei harness, absent from any other source. A must for collectors of rare feline mounts.
• Part of the warfront collection — along with the mount from Shadowclaw, a player can knock out the rest of the Horde warfront drops along the way: Umber Nightsaber, Blackpaw, Ashenvale Chimaera, as well as transmog sets and pets.
• Account-bound — once obtained, the mount is available to all Horde and Alliance characters on the account, regardless of level and specialization.
• Maximum ground travel speed — +60% or +100% depending on riding skill, matching any epic ground mount.
• Legacy content in The War Within — the warfront rares are killed solo in a few seconds at level 80, so farming requires no group or tactics against the mob itself.

The Battle for Darkshore warfront — step-by-step access for a Horde character:

1. Reach level 50 and complete the introductory Battle for Azeroth story campaign, including the "Uniting Zandalar" chain. Without it, the warfront table in Zuldazar Port will not activate
2. Fly to Zuldazar Port (the Horde capital hub in Zuldazar) and approach the warfront table. Pick up the quest Warfront Preparations. It will send you to Orgrimmar and introduce you to the warfront mechanics.
3. Complete the one-time "Battle for Darkshore" story line — a series of quests ending with a landing in Lordaeron and a visit to Darkshore. After finishing it, the warfront table gains the option to participate in warfront cycles.
4. Wait for the phase when the Horde controls Darkshore.
5. Fly to Darkshore via the portal from Orgrimmar or through the warfront headquarters in Lordaeron. Head north along the coast, to the ruins of Auberdine, then farther north — toward the Withering Thicket area (coordinates roughly 39.7, 32.8).
6. Find Shadowclaw. It is invisible, so it is best to move slowly and use area-of-effect attacks.
7. Kill the rare creature and grab the loot. With about a 3–5% chance, the Kaldorei Nightsaber will appear in your bags.

The Battle for Darkshore warfront alternates with the Battle for Stromgarde in Arathi Highlands, and each zone changes hands roughly once every two weeks. The full cycle consists of four phases:

1. Enemy contribution phase — the hostile faction turns in resources to prepare for the assault
2. Enemy assault phase — the enemy storms Darkshore; the Horde rares are unavailable during this time
3. Horde contribution phase — after the defeat, the Horde gathers resources for a counterattack
4. Horde assault and control phase — the Horde reclaims the zone, and all Horde rares, including Shadowclaw, become available to kill again

Key rules:

• Shadowclaw can be killed once per full cycle per character. Killing it again during the same phase grants no new loot
• The cycle takes roughly one week per phase, meaning new attempts on the same character come every 3–4 weeks
• Alliance rares (for example, Croz Bloodrage) are unavailable to Horde characters and vice versa
• Participating in the assault scenario during this cycle is not required to access the rares — it is enough that the zone has the correct phasing set

The fight with the rare creature itself is not hard — at level 80 in The War Within any character kills Shadowclaw in a few seconds. The difficulty lies precisely in finding it.

Searching for an invisible enemy

Shadowclaw moves while stealthed and is ignored by ordinary NPC trackers. To detect it:

• Use the NPCScan, SilverDragon or RareScanner addon — they shout when rares appear within sight range
• Smoothly fly around the patrol area on a mount and periodically use area-of-effect attacks: Arcane Explosion, Volley, Bladehail. Once its stealth is broken, Shadowclaw becomes visible to everyone
• In-game racial abilities that remove disguise do not work on Shadowclaw because of its stealth level
• The patrol area is limited to the Withering Thicket stretch and the surroundings of the Auberdine ruins. If you cannot find it in 5–7 minutes — it was most likely already killed in this phase, try switching realms via a group

Through group finder

Warfront rares are shared loot for several killers. If you assemble a party of 3–5 players through Group Finder, the odds of finding Shadowclaw within a phase rise many times over.

Multi-account on alts

Since the loot lock is individual, on each Horde character that has completed the introductory warfront campaign you can make an independent attempt to get the mount within a single cycle. If you have 3–5 Horde characters with active warfront access, each warfront cycle yields just as many attempts.

1. On each character, complete "Uniting Zandalar" and the "Battle for Darkshore" chain
2. During the Horde control phase, fly in on each alt and kill Shadowclaw
3. When the mount drops on one character, it automatically unlocks across the entire account, including Alliance characters

Movement speed

For searching for rares in a large zone, a mount with maximum flight speed comes in handy. These help:

• Reputation boosters at the Kirin Tor Enclave in Dalaran — increased mount speed
• Speed potions
• Specializations with their own speed boost: a druid in cat or cheetah form, a monk with Zen Pilgrimage

Switching realms via a group

If Shadowclaw has already been killed on your realm during this phase, create a group through the Group Finder and join a party from another realm — this transfers you into their phasing. The rare may be available again if it is still alive there. The loot lock on your character does not interfere: the "once per cycle" rule is tied to the player, not to the specific instance of the rare.

While you farm Shadowclaw, take note of the other unique Horde rewards of the Battle for Darkshore warfront. All rares are killed once per cycle, and a route through them takes 20–30 minutes:

Additionally, a Frightened Kodo spawns in Darkshore — an interactive summon object with no rare creature. It appears at one of six points in the center of the zone and grants the Frightened Kodo mount to a random player who is first to activate the interaction. Check coordinates in the 41–44 / 54–67 range during your warfront patrols.