Purple Hawkstrider

Purple Hawkstrider is one of the four blood elf racial ground mounts, added to the game with The Burning Crusade (patch 2.0.1). It is a large flightless bird with purple-violet plumage, a bright mane, and the characteristic loud, screeching "song" familiar to anyone who has spent time around Silvermoon City.

The mount is sold for 1 gold by the hawkstrider breeder Winaestra in Silvermoon City; the vendor used to stand by the gates at the stables. Blood elves buy it without any additional requirements, while other Horde races must raise their reputation with Silvermoon City to Exalted. In patch 12.0 the mount is fully available and has not undergone any changes.

• Blood elf racial mount — the Purple Hawkstrider is part of the base set of four colors alongside the Red Hawkstrider, Black Hawkstrider and Blue Hawkstrider. This color is mandatory for a complete Horde racial mount collection
• Cheap purchase — 1 gold, one of the most budget-friendly ways to add a mount to your collection at any level
• Counts toward meta achievements — the mount counts for quantity rewards such as Cavalier and Mountain o' Mounts
• Account-wide — once purchased, the mount automatically unlocks on all your Horde characters, and through allied races and faction change it becomes available on the Alliance as well
• A reason to buy Winaestra's entire stock — while at the vendor, it is convenient to immediately buy all four base colors and three swift variants, closing out the racial collection in a single trip

With the release of Midnight, Winaestra was moved; where she previously stood in the stables outside Silvermoon, she is now inside the city. Approximately at these coordinates: 67.2 66.0

For all Horde races except blood elves, Silvermoon is locked until Exalted — this is the longest step in obtaining the hawkstrider. Grinding it will take several hours, but the process does not require any specific content.

Main ways to raise reputation

• Argent Tournament — daily quests in Icecrown within the tournament grounds grant reputation points for a chosen capital. After earning the Silvermoon City Champion achievement, an additional source of reputation opens up along with access to the elite hawkstrider vendor Trellis Morningsun
• Capital city tabards — get the Silvermoon City Tabard from Magister Niserra in Silvermoon City. With the tabard equipped, all reputation earned in Heroic dungeons and Mythic+ goes to Silvermoon

1. Stand next to Winaestra
2. Open the dialog with a right-click and go to the trade tab
3. Find the Purple Hawkstrider in the list and confirm the purchase for 1 gold
4. Open the item from your inventory — the mount learns automatically and appears in the "Hawkstriders" section of the collections journal (the C key)
5. If you don't have a riding skill yet, Apprentice Riding unlocks automatically at level 10 in the current patch; there's no need to pay or visit a trainer separately

What else you can buy on the same visit

Winaestra sells all four base hawkstriders at the same price and with the same requirements. If you're building the racial collection, it makes sense to grab the entire set for 4 gold:

• Red Hawkstrider
• Blue Hawkstrider
• Black Hawkstrider
• Purple Hawkstrider

Besides the base ones, she also sells three swift (epic) variants for 10 gold each: Swift Pink Hawkstrider, Swift Green Hawkstrider and Swift Purple Hawkstrider. For the swift white one (Swift White Hawkstrider), you'll need to go to the Heroic version of Magisters' Terrace — that's a separate farm.