Smoldering Ember Wyrm

Smoldering Ember Wyrm is a flying mount in the form of a burning dragon skeleton, added to World of Warcraft alongside the Mythic dungeon Return to Karazhan in patch 7.1 of the Legion expansion. The model is an undead dragon whose bones are soaked in fire: according to the lore, this is Arcanagos, Medivh's former mentor, who turned into a demonic being after the fall of his ward.

The mount drops from Nightbane — the secret ninth boss of the Mythic dungeon. The boss only appears after completing a separate timed challenge inside the dungeon: players must collect five soul fragments within a limited time and summon the dragon through the Echo of Medivh. Once unlocked, he can be killed once a week on each character.

• A unique undead dragon model — a burning skeleton with blazing bones, one of the most striking skeletal dragons in the game. Similar models are extremely rare — a handful of skeletal mounts from raids
• A flying mount with full speed — +150 %, +280 % or +310 % flight speed depending on your riding skill. On the ground it grants +60 % or +100 %
• Rare and prestigious — the drop chance is low, and the process of obtaining it requires attentiveness and coordination. Owners of the mount stand out in a crowd
• Account-wide unlock — once it drops, the mount will appear on all your characters
• An accompanying achievement — together with the mount you will earn One Night in Karazhan, a unique feat that confirms you managed to collect all the fragments and summon the boss
• A Medivh theme — Karazhan and its story have long become iconic for the Warcraft series. The mount references the dramatic scene of the clash between Arcanagos and Medivh from classic Karazhan

The mount drops from the boss Nightbane in the Mythic dungeon Return to Karazhan. The boss does not appear automatically: he must be summoned through a separate timed challenge. After summoning, he remains available until the end of the current run, even if you die and start the fight over.

Key conditions:

• The dungeon difficulty is strictly Mythic. On the normal and heroic versions Nightbane is unavailable
• The five soul fragments must be collected before a certain timer (initially 8 minutes, each fragment extends the timer by 5 minutes)
• After collecting all fragments you need to talk to the Echo of Medivh on the Master's Terrace
• The mount drop chance is 20 % per player in the group with current loot status (up to 100 % in a full group of five)

The minimum level for entry is formally lower, but at level 90 in Midnight the dungeon can be cleared solo in 10–15 minutes. Trying to collect fragments at a low level is pointless — you won't be able to kill the intermediate bosses before the timer runs out.

The entrance to Return to Karazhan is located in the Deadwind Pass zone (Eastern Kingdoms), next to the old Karazhan raid tower.

1. Open the dungeon interface and select Mythic difficulty before entering the instance. For Return to Karazhan you don't need a Mythic+ keystone; ordinary Mythic difficulty is activated directly
2. Teleport to the Karazhan tower by any convenient means: a portal from the capital, a traveler's crystal, a mount with a transportation function, or flying from Stormwind or Grom'gol
3. Go up the side path of the tower — the dungeon entrance is located on the bridge connecting the two sections of the castle
4. Interact with the doors — you will end up in a transitional location at the start of the dungeon

Alternative ways of quick access

• Paladins and monks — use meditative abilities of instant teleportation to the Gates of Stormwind
• Demon hunters — glyphs and gliders allow quick travel from Valdrakken

Step 1. Entrance and the first fragment

At the moment the main doors open you will hear a whisper and see text about a dark presence. At this moment an 8-minute timer starts. Your task is to complete the event in the Opera Hall and take the first soul fragment right on the stage.

• Run past the standard mob packs if you are playing solo — you don't have to kill them
• Complete the opera event (one of three random performances: Romulo and Julianne, Big Bad Wolf, or The Wizard of Oz)
• After the victory, the first Soul Fragment will appear right on the stage — click on it
• You will receive the Echo of Medivh buff with a duration of 5 minutes

Step 2. The second fragment — before the Maiden of Virtue

Go to the upper chambers and stop before the hall of the Maiden of Virtue. You don't have to kill the boss herself — the fragment lies in a side room to the left of the arena entrance.

• Enter the side room and clear out a few mobs
• Click the fragment — the buff will update to 2 stacks
• If you want to save time, skip the Maiden of Virtue and move on to the next stage

Step 3. The third fragment — Moroes

Go down to the Banquet Hall and kill Moroes, the butler of Karazhan. The fragment will appear behind the dining table right after his death.

• In solo it is recommended to first kill all of Moroes' adds, and then deal with the boss himself
• Take the fragment — 3 stacks of Echo of Medivh

Step 4. The fourth fragment — the spider room

Go down to the spider cellar under the dining hall. The route goes through the left staircase toward the stables.

• Clear out the spider-like servants — their frontal attack deals cone damage, be careful
• The fragment lies in the center of the cellar room
• After clicking — 4 stacks of the buff
• Use the portal at the end of the cave to quickly return to the entrance of the Curator's wing

Step 5. The fifth fragment — after the Curator

Complete the fight with The Curator in the Menagerie. The last fragment will appear right at the spot of his death.

• After clicking the fragment, your Echo of Medivh buff will turn into Medivh's Presence — it is this buff that lets you see and talk to the ghostly Medivh
• You have 5 minutes to summon the boss

Step 6. Summoning Nightbane

Return to the Master's Terrace — to the staircase that leads outside from the main entrance. On the left part of the balcony the Echo of Medivh will appear.

1. Approach the Echo of Medivh and select the dialogue
2. A short scenario will start with Medivh's monologue and the summoning of the dragon
3. You will receive the achievement One Night in Karazhan
4. After the scenario, Nightbane appears on the terrace — the boss will no longer disappear until the end of your current run

Step 7. The fight with Nightbane

At level 90 the boss goes down in 20–40 seconds.

In solo you can completely ignore most of the boss's mechanics — the damage of a level 80 class overrides everything.

Step 8. Collecting the loot

After the victory, click the chest. If the mount didn't drop — leave the dungeon and try again next week. The lockout on the boss is weekly, but the instance itself can be reset as many times as you like (to replay the timed event without summoning Nightbane again, you need to reset the instance through the dungeon menu).

Group farm — the fastest way

The chance for the mount stacks from each player in the group who does not have weekly lockout loot. In a full group of five, the drop is guaranteed — at least one player will get the mount. This gave rise to a market of carry groups, where five collectors cooperate and run Karazhan together every week.

• Gather four friends without the mount
• Organize a weekly raid day
• In a single run someone is guaranteed to get the mount
• With a party that swaps players, you can farm out the mount in 4–5 weeks

If there are fewer than five players, the rule applies:

• 1 player (solo) — 20 % chance
• 2 players — 40 %
• 3 players — 60 %
• 4 players — 80 %
• 5 players — 100 %

Important: players who have already obtained the mount earlier are counted in the chance calculation, but cannot get a duplicate themselves. Therefore, invite into the group precisely those who have not yet obtained the mount — the probability of an instant drop will increase.

Solo farm

Clears without problems in Midnight (level 90). The main difficulties are meeting the timer for collecting fragments:

1. Enter the instance only at max level — your damage should be enough for quick kills
2. Don't get distracted by intermediate mobs — go in a straight line
3. Use quick movement: hearthstones, class jumps, mounts with acceleration
4. Focus on classes with high speed and large group damage — paladins, demon hunters, monks, warriors
5. If the mount didn't drop, be sure to save one successful run as a reference and repeat the route

Alt farm

The dungeon can be run on each character once a week. If you have 5–10 leveled characters at level 90, the probability of getting the mount in the next few weeks increases significantly.

• Each alt is a separate roll with a 20 % chance
• Knock out the week in one evening: 10–15 minutes per character
• By forecast, with 10 alts the average time to obtain is 2–3 weeks

Farm math

With a 20 % chance per attempt, the probability of not getting the mount in N attempts equals 0.8^N:

• 5 attempts — 67 % won't drop, 33 % obtained
• 10 attempts — 89 % obtained
• 15 attempts — 96 % obtained
• 20 attempts — 99 % obtained

For a solo player without alts this is roughly 5–15 weeks until the drop. Group farming or leveling alts shortens the term to 1–3 weeks.

• Wrong difficulty — if you entered the normal or heroic version, the soul fragments will not appear. Before entering the instance, open the dungeon menu and switch the difficulty to Mythic. Inside you can no longer change it
• A missed first fragment — the timer activates the moment the doors open. Don't waste time on extra mobs, hurry to the Opera Hall
• Splitting the group — the Echo of Medivh buff works within the group's radius. If one of the players runs far away, he won't get the stacks
• Death at the fragment — upon death the buff is removed. If you are the only player with the buff, return to the place of death in good time
• No keystone — a Mythic+ keystone is not needed, ordinary Mythic difficulty is enough
• The Curator without a fragment — on some runs the fragment does not appear instantly, it appears after the boss's death animation ends. Wait a few seconds