Reins of the Golden King

Reins of the Golden King is an Alliance faction ground mount added to World of Warcraft in the Cataclysm expansion (patch 4.0.3a). The Golden King is a massive riding beast with a saddle and harness. While using the mount, your character holds a banner bearing the crest of their guild. If the character is not in a guild, the banner displays the standard Alliance symbol.

• Symbol of the Alliance — the Golden King is one of the most recognizable mounts of the faction. The majestic lion with its royal harness embodies the might and nobility of the Alliance
• Guild banner — a unique feature of the mount: while riding, your character carries a flag bearing their guild's crest. No other mount lets you display guild heraldry in this way
• Accessibility — unlike many collectible mounts, the Golden King does not require farming raids or dungeons. You simply need to earn reputation with your guild and pay in gold
• Two mounts in one — when you learn it, you automatically also receive the Horde version (Reins of the Kor'kron Annihilator), adding two mounts to your collection at once
• Mount collection — every mount brings you closer to the achievements for the number of mounts collected. The Golden King is one of the easiest mounts to add to your collection

Character Requirements

• Level: 10 (lowered from 20 in patch 9.0.1)
• Riding skill: Apprentice Riding
• Faction: Alliance (to purchase the item)
• Reputation: Exalted with your guild
• Guild membership: the character must be in a guild

Guild Requirements

In the past, a guild had to reach level 25 to unlock the mount at the vendor. Starting with the Warlords of Draenor expansion, all guilds are automatically level 25, so this condition is met by default. The only thing you need is Exalted reputation with your guild.

Where to Find the Guild Vendor

Guild vendors are located in the Alliance capital cities.

The most convenient vendor is Shay Pressler in Stormwind. He is located in the Visitor's Center — the first building on the left from the main gate when entering the city from Elwynn Forest.

Step 1: Join a Guild

If you are not yet in a guild, join any active guild. You can find a guild through the built-in guild finder tool (press J → "Guild Finder" tab). Any guild will do — size and activity do not affect access to the mount, since all guilds are automatically at maximum level.

Step 2: Earn Exalted Reputation with the Guild

Guild reputation accumulates automatically as you perform various activities:

• Quests — every quest of green quality or higher grants about 167 guild reputation. This is the main and fastest way to earn reputation
• Dungeons and raids — killing bosses as part of a guild group grants reputation
• PvP — wins in arenas and rated battlegrounds as part of a guild group
• Honorable kills — about 1 reputation point for every 20 honor points

Important: the weekly cap on guild reputation gain was removed in patch 5.0.4 (Mists of Pandaria). You can earn reputation without limit.

Step 3: Buy the Mount from the Guild Vendor

1. Open your map and find the nearest guild vendor in any Alliance capital city
2. Talk to the vendor and find Reins of the Golden King in the list of goods
3. Purchase the item for 1,500 gold (or 1,350 gold if your guild has the "Bartering" perk, which reduces the cost of items at the guild vendor by 10%)
4. Use the item — the mount is added to your collection permanently

Step 4: Check Your Collection

After learning the mount, open your collection (Shift+P) and confirm that both mounts have appeared in it: the Golden King (for Alliance characters) and the Kor'kron Annihilator (for Horde characters).

The Fastest Method

Do quests. This is the main source of guild reputation. Every quest of green quality or higher grants a fixed amount of reputation. If you have just joined a guild on a max-level character, head out to do world quests and story chains of the current expansion.

Effective Methods

• World quests — completed quickly at level 80 and each grants guild reputation
• Story chains of older expansions — if you have not done them before, every quest turned in counts. Chains from Dragonflight, Shadowlands and earlier expansions all work
• Dungeons with a guild group — gather a group of guild members (at least 3 out of 5 participants) and run dungeons. Bosses grant reputation
• A new character — if you create a new character and play through the story campaign from scratch, you will naturally earn reputation as you level up

Approximate Timeframe

Going from joining a guild to Exalted usually takes anywhere from a few days to a couple of weeks of active play. If you focus on doing quests, the process takes 3–5 days. At a normal pace of play — about 1–2 weeks.