Get Stonehide Elderhorn mount

Stonehide Elderhorn is a ground mount shaped like a huge elk with a dark gray, almost black hide and massive antlers. The mount was added in the Battle for Azeroth expansion with patch 8.1.0 "Tides of Vengeance" and is a rare reward from Island Expeditions. Visually it is a grimmer cousin of the Highmountain Elderhorn — the model is the same, but with a unique ashen-stone coloring that gave the mount its name.

The mount drops directly from the elk found on the islands during expeditions, and it can also appear in the blue and purple junk crates sold for the Seafarer's Dubloon by Captain Nightrunner (Alliance) and Captain Kitt (Horde). The drop chance is low — around 1% — so prepare for a long farm in advance.

• Unique coloring — the only elk with a stone-gray hide that cannot be obtained anywhere except Island Expeditions. A great visual addition to your collection, especially for tauren and druids.
• Bundled with a pet — a pet drops from the same sources alongside the mount, letting you collect two rewards in parallel.
• Fast content at max level — at level 80 Island Expeditions can be cleared solo in 3–5 minutes, giving a high rate of attempts
• Account-wide — once obtained, the mount unlocks for all your characters, and faction does not matter.
• Collecting other rewards in parallel — while farming you simultaneously gather currency, Kul Tiras and Zandalar pirate transmog sets, rare pets and toys from the same content.

There are two main paths: kill the elk directly on the islands or buy junk crates from the captain vendors and open them. The optimal strategy is to combine both methods.

Path 1: Direct drop from elk on the islands

1. Fly to Boralus (Alliance) or Dazar'alor (Horde) — the main cities of Battle for Azeroth
2. Alliance: head to Flynn Fairwind in the Boralus harbor. Horde: find Captain Rez'okun in the Port of Zandalar.
3. Choose the option "I'd like to board an Island Expedition" and check the "private tour" box — this gives you a solo queue.
4. Pick the "normal" or "heroic" difficulty for speed. The elk drop chance does not depend on difficulty.
5. You will land on one of several random islands — Havenswood, Rotting Mire, Dread Chain, Whispering Reef, Un'gol Ruins, Skittering Hollow, Jorundall or another.
6. Find the elk — usually creatures with the keywords "stonehide", "thunderhoof" or "mammoth stonehide". They appear most often on Havenswood.
7. Kill every elk you see. Each one has an independent chance at the mount.
8. Finish the expedition, collect the dubloons from the final chest and repeat.

Path 2: Buying crates from the captains

Patch 8.3 added vendors from whom you can buy junk crates from specific islands.

1. Alliance: find Captain Nightrunner in the Boralus harbor, next to the other expedition NPCs.
2. Horde: Captain Kitt stands in the Port of Zandalar.
3. The captain sells three random crates per week — the stock changes every Wednesday (Europe) or Tuesday (North America)
4. Prices: island crates — 175 dubloons, invasion crates — 75 dubloons.
5. Buy only blue and purple crates — only they can contain the mount. Gray and green ones do not give it.
6. Open the crates right away — inside there may be the Stonehide Elderhorn, transmog items, pets or reputation tokens.

Dubloons are the main currency for speeding up the farm. They drop from mobs on the islands and from the final chest at the end of an expedition.

One purple crate (175 dubloons) takes 4–6 solo runs on normal difficulty. Since the mount chance from a crate is low, expect to open dozens of crates before the drop.

Class choice

The most effective classes are those with strong area damage and mobility:

• Demon Hunter — fast movement between elk packs, high area damage
• Rogue — can skip extra mobs through stealth and focus only on the elk
• Mage — instant teleport to cities plus area fire damage
• Druid — Travel Form for moving around the island, fast clearing in cat form
• Paladin — high survivability for tough packs, area strikes

Optimal route

1. Enter the island and quickly scan the map — elk usually group in forest zones or at the foot of mountains
2. Ignore other mobs unless they block your path to the elk
3. Kill every elk along the route, sparing no cooldowns
4. After clearing the elk, top off the azerite threshold by quickly killing other mob packs — this speeds up finishing the expedition
5. Take the final chest and repeat

Multi-farming on alts

Island Expeditions have no weekly loot lock on direct drops from mobs, but the weekly quest "The Legend of the Tides" can only be completed once per character. Use alts:

• Each alt gets an extra chance at the mount from the elk with no limits
• Each alt can complete the weekly quest and collect additional dubloons
• Switching between characters is especially effective for farming crates

Havenswood — the priority island

Among all the islands, Havenswood more often than others holds packs of elk and their kin. If you roll this island, clear out every last elk. On the other islands elk appear less often, but they are still possible.