Reins of the Crimson Cloud Serpent

Reins of the Crimson Cloud Serpent is an epic flying mount added in the Mists of Pandaria expansion (patch 5.5.0). It is a crimson variant of the cloud serpent, awarded exclusively for completing the Glory of the Pandaria Hero meta-achievement. You cannot buy the mount from a vendor or farm it off a boss — it comes only through the achievement.

Before patch 6.0.2, using cloud serpents required a separate "Cloud Serpent Riding" skill, which unlocked only at Exalted with the Order of the Cloud Serpent faction. In 2026 that restriction is gone: the mount works like any normal flying mount. A basic riding skill is enough, and the serpent is learned account-wide into your collection.

• A unique crimson coloring — this shade of cloud serpent cannot be obtained by buying it from the vendor San Redscale or through reputation with the Order.
• A status reward — the mount serves as a marker of a collector who has cleared every heroic Pandaria dungeon with extra conditions
• Account-wide — once earned, it is available to every character on your account.
• An easy catch at level 80 — on TWW (patch 11.1) a max-level character clears heroic MoP dungeons in mere minutes.
• A path to 28 achievements — along the way you collect achievement points and individual rewards for every condition completed.
• Available without Mists of Pandaria Classic — it is farmed in the regular retail version of the game and does not require a subscription to the classic realms.

Step 1: Prepare your character

The optimal level is 80 (TWW Season 2). At max level you solo down any heroic MoP boss in 5–15 seconds, which simplifies most of the achievements. Gather the following in advance:

• A riding skill (any of them; it is only needed to use the mount after you earn it)
• A /bow macro for the "Respect" achievement
• A free bag slot for elixirs and potions
• An achievement-tracking addon (for example, Overachiever) — handy for marking progress inside the dungeon

Step 2: Get the polyformic acid potion

The Polyformic Acid Science achievement requires you to defeat six bosses in different dungeons while under the potion's effect. The elixir itself sits in Scholomance on the professor's table in the second room. The potion lasts 1 hour of real time, but you can grab several flasks in a row to stretch the effect across runs.

The bosses to defeat while under the potion:

• Lorewalker Stonestep (Temple of the Jade Serpent)
• Yan-Zhu the Uncasked (Stormstout Brewery)
• The Trial of the King (Mogu'shan Palace)
• Sha of Violence (Shado-Pan Monastery)
• Commander Ri'mok (Gate of the Setting Sun)
• Vizier Jin'bak (Siege of Niuzao Temple)

Drink the potion right before the finishing blow on the boss — that way you are guaranteed credit even if the effect runs out in the middle of the fight.

Step 3: Temple of the Jade Serpent

Clear the dungeon and complete three achievements:

• Hydrophobia — defeat Wise Mari without taking damage from his water attacks. At level 80 the boss dies in seconds, so nothing can interrupt you
• Cleaning Up — kill the Sha of Doubt within 5 minutes of receiving the Cleansing Waters buff from Mari. Just don't linger in the dungeon
• Seeds of Doubt — defeat the Sha of Doubt with 4 stacks of Seeds of Doubt accumulated. Activate the crystals in the corners of the room one after another before the fight starts and keep the boss alive

Step 4: Stormstout Brewery

There are four achievements here, and some can be taken on normal difficulty:

• Hopocalypse Now! — kill 100 virmen with a single hammer blow on Ook-Ook (heroic)
• Keep Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' — hit Uk-Uk with 20 kegs (heroic). Roll the kegs into the boss yourself
• How Did He Get Up There? — make a Sticky Hozen fall off the wall. Works on any difficulty
• Ling-Ting's Herbal Journey — collect all 30 golden hoplings throughout the dungeon. Works on any difficulty

Step 5: Mogu'shan Palace

• Quarrelsome Quilen Quintet — find 5 jade quilen statues throughout the dungeon
• Glintrok N' Roll — kill Gekkan within 5 minutes of being spotted by the scout. At level 80, no problem
• What Does This Button Do? — use Xin the Weaponmaster's secret gems during the fight with him. Press pairs of gems simultaneously at 66% and 33% of the boss's health. Solo — beat him to 66%, activate the gems, then to 33% and activate again

Step 6: Scarlet Halls

• Humane Society — defeat Houndmaster Braun without killing a single dog in the entire dungeon. Use the chunks of meat on the floor to calm the hounds. Solo run: just run past the dogs without picking up aggro
• Mosh Pit — catch 8 targets in Armsmaster Harlan's "Blades of Light" attack. Harder solo — you need allied adds or mogu pre-pulled in advance

Step 7: Scarlet Monastery

• Burning Man — set 6 training dummies ablaze with Brother Korloff's fire. Just fight him next to the training dummies
• And Stay Dead! — allow a mass resurrection, kill the adds, then Whitemane herself

Step 8: Shado-Pan Monastery

• Respect — bow to the defeated Shado-Pan novices. The /bow macro helps
• The Obvious Solution — defeat all the Sha in the sealed room, then the Sha of Violence. Click the central camera for an instant summon
• Hate Leads to Suffering — kill Taran Zhu when all players have the maximum stacks of Hatred. Stop DPS at 500k health, build up stacks, finish him off

Step 9: Gate of the Setting Sun

• Bomberman — trigger 15 explosions in 15 seconds on Kri'thik. Let the boss launch 5 series of bombs, then beat him down to 70% — all the bombs detonate at once
• Conscriptinator — get 3 stacks of Tar Residue by killing mantid recruits

Step 10: Scholomance

• Attention to Detail — defeat Jandice Barov without killing a single false image. Watch the models — the real one has active cast animations
• Rattle No More — defeat Rattlegore with a maximum of 5 stacks of Rusting
• Sanguinarian — defeat the Krastinovian Carver with 99 stacks of Boiling Bloodthirst. Kill the adds in sequence for exponential stack growth
• School's Out Forever — kill 50 test subjects in 20 seconds. Kite them, then blow them up with AoE
• Polyformic Acid Science — the potion sits right here, in the professor's office

Step 11: Siege of Niuzao Temple

• Where's My Air Support? — defeat Commander Vo'jak after killing the airborne Sik'thik. Ranged switches to the flying ones
• Return to Sender — defeat General Pa'valak with 20 stacks of Detonation. Kick the bombs back into the boss
• Run with the Wind — defeat Nadun under the effect of Tan-wu's Resolve. Jump off the platform during the boss's wind cast and talk to Tan-wu to receive the buff

Step 12: Claim your reward

After you complete the last achievement, the Glory of the Pandaria Hero meta-achievement closes automatically, and the mount arrives in your in-game mail within a minute. Drag the item out of the letter, use it — and the Crimson Cloud Serpent is in your collection forever.

• Take all the achievements in one dungeon per run — don't re-enter 3 times. Draw up a checklist for each instance in advance and complete every condition in a single run.
• Use the polyformic acid potion as efficiently as possible — grab 2–3 flasks from Scholomance and clear all 6 bosses within one hour of real time.
• Solo at level 80 — practically all the achievements that used to require a group are now taken solo thanks to the monstrous DPS overkill.
• Invite a friend for "Mosh Pit" — the only achievement where it's harder alone because of the "Blades of Light" adds. One more player in a pair solves the problem instantly.
• Farm transmog along the way — many MoP bosses drop unique armor and weapon models. Don't skip the loot even if you're in a hurry.
• Don't rush the acid potion — if the effect runs out between bosses, head back to Scholomance for a fresh flask. Credit is given only at the moment of the boss's death.