Swift Green Hawkstrider

Swift Green Hawkstrider is an epic ground mount added to the game in The Burning Crusade expansion (patch 2.0). It is one of three swift hawkstriders bred by the blood elves in the stables outside the walls of Silvermoon. The green coloration is the brightest and most "forest-like" of the entire line: the plumage shimmers with dark emerald and swampy hues, and the crest on its head is slightly lighter than the main tone.

The mount is sold directly by hawkstrider tamer Winaestra at Thuron's Livery — a small farm just beyond the eastern gate of Silvermoon. The price is 10 gold. Blood elf players have access to the mount immediately, while all other Horde races must first earn Exalted reputation with the Silvermoon City faction.

• Blood elf racial mount — hawkstriders are considered a symbol of Silvermoon, and the green variant looks organic on characters in green armor or druidic-style sets. An excellent option for racial mount collectors
• +100% ground movement speed — this is a full-fledged epic ground mount running at Artisan Riding speed. In terms of stats, it is no worse than a raptor, dire wolf, or warhorse
• Low entry barrier for blood elves — just 10 gold and Apprentice Riding. You can buy the mount as early as level 10, as soon as basic riding is granted
• A plus to your overall collection — the mount counts toward meta-achievements for the number of mounts collected
• Account-wide — after purchase, the Swift Green Hawkstrider automatically becomes available to all of your Horde characters. Even if your main is not a blood elf, you can use the mount on a blood elf alt without buying it again

In the current patch 11.1, riding skills unlock automatically upon reaching the required level — you no longer need to pay for training separately. Apprentice Riding unlocks at level 10, and from that point on you can buy and summon the hawkstrider.

Winaestra is a blood elf hawkstrider breeder. She stands next to the pens full of birds, at a small farm just beyond the eastern border of Silvermoon, in the Eversong Woods zone. This has been the traditional spot for buying blood elf racial mounts since The Burning Crusade.

In addition to the swift ones, Winaestra also sells ordinary hawkstriders (red, blue, black, and purple) for 1 gold each. Her line of swift hawkstriders consists of three colors.

If you are collecting all Horde racial mounts, it makes sense to buy the whole trio at once in a single trip — it saves time and effort on travel.

For a blood elf player, the procedure is as simple as possible — literally a few minutes if you are already near Silvermoon.

1. Fly to Silvermoon. The easiest way is to take a portal from the portal room in Orgrimmar or use a Hearthstone bound to the blood elf capital
2. Leave the city through the eastern gate (on the side of the Court of the Sun)
3. Cross the small bridge and follow the road to the left toward the hawkstrider farm — that is Thuron's Livery
4. Find Winaestra next to the pens, at coordinates 61.0, 54.6
5. Open the dialogue and switch to the trade tab
6. Buy the Swift Green Hawkstrider for 10 gold
7. Right-click the item — the mount is permanently added to your collection
8. Summon the hawkstrider via the collections menu (key C by default, the "Mounts" tab)

From logging in to adding the mount to your collection takes no more than 3 minutes.

If you play an orc, troll, tauren, Forsaken, goblin, Horde pandaren, Dracthyr, or any other race, Winaestra will by default refuse to trade with you. On your first interaction, she will state plainly: come back when you have proven your loyalty to the blood elves. To access her assortment, you need to earn Exalted reputation with the Silvermoon City faction.

Quick ways to gain reputation with Silvermoon City

• Reputation bonus windows — every few weeks WoW runs the "Reputation in the Air" event, granting +50%-100% to reputation gains. Farming during these windows is noticeably faster
• Old quest chains in Ghostlands, Tirisfal Glades, and the Plaguelands — even at max level they still grant reputation with Silvermoon City. Complete everything available before settling in for further grinding
• Turning in cloth to the Horde quartermaster — the Horde cloth quartermaster in Orgrimmar accepts batches of cloth in exchange for reputation points with Silvermoon City. This is the main way to close out the final levels from Revered to Exalted
• Argent Dawn daily quests in the Eastern Plaguelands also grant small portions of reputation with Horde cities, including Silvermoon City

How long it takes

For a Horde player starting from scratch, the path to Exalted with Silvermoon City takes 5-15 hours of real time depending on the chosen method. The fastest option is to combine old quests, cloth turn-ins, and reputation bonus windows.

The fastest way to bypass the reputation requirement is to create a blood elf alt. The procedure takes about 15-20 minutes:

1. Create a blood elf character of any class on the same account
2. Run through the starting zone to level 10 — that is at most 10-15 minutes, especially via the Chromie Time system and accelerated leveling
3. Riding is granted automatically — fly or run to Thuron's Livery
4. Buy the Swift Green Hawkstrider for 10 gold (you can transfer the gold from your main in advance by mail)
5. The mount automatically unlocks for all characters on the account, including your main

This method is many times faster than farming Exalted with Silvermoon City from scratch. The same scheme lets you close out all three swift hawkstriders and the four ordinary ones at once.