Reins of the Volcanic Stone Drake

Reins of the Volcanic Stone Drake is a flying mount originating from the Cataclysm expansion, awarded for the meta-achievement Glory of the Cataclysm Hero. Visually, it is a massive stone drake with smoldering veins of lava running through the cracks in its body. The model is unique: the ordinary stone drakes from Cataclysm are colored gray and emerald-green, while the volcanic one stands out with a fiery, ashen-red hue.

The mount is granted once for completing a set of achievements in Cataclysm Heroic dungeons. After obtaining it, it unlocks account-wide and is available to any character at level 30 with the "Expert Riding" skill.

• Unique drake model — an ashen-red coloring with a glowing lava effect. Among its fellow Cataclysm drakes, the volcanic one is the most frequent pick for lists of the most beautiful mounts of the era
• 305 achievement points — the meta-achievement Glory of the Cataclysm Hero immediately closes out 305 achievement points, and also pulls in dozens of sub-achievements for individual dungeons
• A prestigious veteran marker — earning this reward without a fight is nearly impossible: some of the sub-achievements require a group. The mount makes it clear right away that you either played Cataclysm at launch or gathered friends and ran the dungeons in 2026
• Available to your entire account — the mount unlocks on all of your characters regardless of faction and class
• A reason to revisit Cataclysm content — along the way you will collect transmogs from bosses, rare recipes, and complete individual achievements for clearing Cataclysm dungeons

The only path is to complete the meta-achievement Glory of the Cataclysm Hero. This is a guaranteed reward: an envelope with the mount arrives in the mail the moment you earn the meta-achievement.

• Character level 30 and the "Expert Riding" skill (for flying). Technically the mount works on any continent with flying enabled
• Any character at the maximum level of the current expansion is suitable for clearing Cataclysm Heroic dungeons. Gear from the current patch kills Cataclysm bosses in just a few hits
• A number of sub-achievements require a group. Without 2–5 live players, some criteria are impossible to complete — more on this below

In total, the meta-achievement consists of 25 sub-achievements, divided across nine Cataclysm Heroic dungeons. After a February 2025 hotfix, the requirement to defeat Umbriss was removed, so some older guides mention 26 entries — in the current version there are 25.

Blackrock Caverns

The Deadmines

Shadowfang Keep

The Vortex Pinnacle

The Stonecore

Grim Batol

Lost City of the Tol'vir

Halls of Origination

1. At the current level, open the "Dungeon Finder" tool and select "Dungeons — Normal" or "Heroic" mode. The achievements strictly require Heroic mode — set it through the difficulty menu before entering or via the "Set Difficulty" command at the dungeon entrance
2. Start with the solo dungeons — those sub-achievements where a single character is enough. These include most of the sub-achievements in Blackrock Caverns, The Vortex Pinnacle, and The Stonecore. At level 80 bosses fall in a few hits, so the mechanics only trigger if you deliberately play around them
3. Gather a group of 3–5 acquaintances or friends from your guild for sub-achievements with group mechanics. In Halls of Origination and The Deadmines, some criteria depend on live team members
4. Go down the list of dungeons sub-achievement by sub-achievement. After each completed achievement, check the "Achievements → Dungeons and Raids → Cataclysm" tab
5. When you complete all 25 sub-achievements, you will automatically receive Glory of the Cataclysm Hero and a letter in the mail with the mount

At level 90, all Cataclysm dungeons are cleared solo without problems: bosses die faster than they can activate key mechanics. However, some sub-achievements require live players in the party — they cannot be completed with a single character.

Sub-achievements requiring a group:

• Arrested Development — during a solo run, Corla's zealots don't "power up" properly, since they need beams from players
• Ascendant Descending — requires controlling the stacks on several group members
• Rat Pack and Prototype Prodigy — the Deadmines mechanics are tied to targets on different players
• Faster Than the Speed of Light — it is physically impossible to kill four bosses in a minute with a single character within this dungeon
• Loyalty Fee — one of the targets must be alive at the moment of synchronized death

Sub-achievements convenient for solo:

• Crushing Bones and Cracking Skulls, Careful, Hot!, No Static at All, I'm on a Diet, and others, where everything depends only on your attentiveness

If gathering a group is difficult, complete the solo sub-achievements, then invite 2–4 people from your guild once for a half-hour run through The Deadmines and Halls of Origination.

How long it takes

• One Cataclysm Heroic dungeon at level 80 — 5–10 minutes without achievements, 10–15 minutes when completing sub-achievements
• A full run of all 25 sub-achievements — about 3–5 hours, if you go down the list without stopping
• With a group of 5 people and coordination, the entire run can realistically be wrapped up in one evening

• Don't try to complete all achievements on the first attempt — many require precise timing. Try, fail, kill the boss, leave, and re-enter. Resetting a dungeon takes mere minutes
• Difficulty is set from the outside — if you accidentally enter Normal mode, achievements won't count. Right-click on your portrait and select "Dungeon Difficulty → Heroic"
• Take slow damage — at level 80 you knock off half the boss's health with a single hit. For timing-based sub-achievements, it's better to take a simpler class or strip off some of your stats
• Collect clear achievements along the way — individual "Clear dungeon X on Heroic" achievements give extra points and are also part of the Cataclysm collection
• The mount is account-wide — as soon as one character earns the meta-achievement and the envelope with the reins, the mount appears in the collection of all your heroes with no need to mail the item over