Swift Orange Raptor

The Swift Orange Raptor is an epic ground mount from classic World of Warcraft, added to the game in patch 1.4. It is a large predatory raptor with bright orange scales and a dark battle harness, one of three "swift" variants of the Darkspear Trolls' racial raptors. Visually it stands out among the other raptors thanks to its vivid coloring, which is why it is often chosen by collectors and players who have grown tired of the standard Horde wolves.

The mount is sold by Zjolnga — a raptor handler from Sen'jin Village in Durotar. Trolls get it almost for free right from the start of the game, while characters of other Horde races need to earn Exalted with the Darkspear Trolls to buy it. For Alliance players the mount is unavailable entirely — it is tied to the Horde's racial faction.

• Unique racial model — raptors appear in collections far less often than wolves or kodos, and the orange coloring in particular makes this one of the most recognizable models among troll mounts
• Full ground mount speed — +100% movement speed with the Apprentice Riding skill, meaning it travels just as fast as any other "epic" ground transport of the current patch
• Account-bound — once obtained, the Swift Orange Raptor becomes available to all characters on your account, regardless of race and faction
• Part of a six-raptor set — Zjolnga sells six color variants at once, including three regular and three swift variants. In a single visit you can close out an entire block in your mount collection
• Useful for collector achievements — it counts toward your overall mount total and toward the achievements that unlock reward mounts for quantity
• Minimal investment for trolls — if you have a troll of any class, the mount costs 10 gold and a few minutes of travel, with no raids, farming, or waiting for the weekly reset

Zjolnga stands by the southern wall of Sen'jin Village, in an open area next to the raptor pens. There are several ways to get to him.

Quick route from Orgrimmar

1. Take a portal or hearthstone to Orgrimmar
2. Leave the city through the main southern gates into Durotar
3. Head south along the main road past Skull Rock
4. After a few minutes you will arrive in Sen'jin Village
5. Zjolnga is in the southern part of the village, among the raptors

Coordinates for your navigator:

Via flight point

If you have already discovered the flight point in Sen'jin, simply take a flight from the flight master in Orgrimmar or any other location in Durotar. The flight point is located right in the village, about ten seconds on foot from Zjolnga.

The path to the mount depends on which race you play. For trolls everything is sorted in five minutes; for the other Horde races you will need to build up reputation in advance.

If you have a troll character

1. Create a troll character of any class (or use an existing one)
2. Level it to at least level 10 to remove any possible restrictions on using mounts
3. Learn the Apprentice Riding skill from any riding trainer — for trolls this is done in Orgrimmar
4. Head to Zjolnga in Sen'jin Village
5. Open his trade window — for trolls all six raptors are available without any reputation requirements
6. Buy the Swift Orange Raptor for 10 gold
7. Use the item — the mount is automatically added to your collection and becomes available on all characters of the account

If you play another Horde race

Non-trolls need to earn Exalted with the Darkspear Trolls. Without it Zjolnga simply will not open the trade window with the raptors.

The Darkspear Trolls faction is one of the Horde's "city" factions, so reputation with it accumulates through practically any method you can use to gain reputation with the capital factions.

Tabard and dungeons

The fastest and most consistent method for a max-level character:

1. Put on the Darkspear Tabard
2. Choose dungeons where farming reputation is efficient — instances from previous expansions, soloable in a few minutes, work well
3. Each kill of a normal enemy in the dungeon grants reputation, and finishing off bosses grants large bonuses
4. Continue the runs until you reach Exalted

At level 90 any old dungeon is cleared in one or two hits, so within a couple of hours you can easily bring reputation up to the required value.

Troll starting-zone quests

An alternative method is to complete all the quests in troll zones:

• Valley of Trials and Echo Isles (the starting zone for trolls and orcs)
• Durotar and the Razor Hill area
• Quests in Sen'jin Village itself

Each such quest grants noticeable reputation with the Darkspear Trolls. At max level this is done quickly, but the method requires plotting the route manually.

Reputation spillover

For quests of other Horde factions (Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff, Undercity, Silvermoon) the Darkspear Trolls receive a reputation bonus through "spillover." If you are leveling reputation with other capital factions in parallel, the progress happens on its own.

If you are already heading to Zjolnga for the orange raptor, it makes sense to close out the whole line at once — he sells six raptor models in three colors in regular and swift versions.

• Make the run to Zjolnga first thing on a troll — if you have a free character slot, the fastest way to get the mount on your account is to create a troll, level it to 10 through the starting quests, and buy the raptor for a few gold. After that it becomes available to all your other characters
• Don't buy raptors at low level for just one model — if you are already planning to level your racial faction to Exalted, it makes sense to buy all six variants at once. That is faster than coming back again later
• Check the trade window after the "Revered" rating — players sometimes mistakenly think the mounts unlock only at Exalted. In reality, before Exalted the trade window does not show the raptors to a non-troll at all — none of the models will be visible
• The tabard works in all old dungeons — not just those relevant to the current patch. If you are already Exalted with one capital's faction, you can keep using the same farming route, simply by swapping the tabard
• The mount is account-bound, not character-bound — there is no need to buy it again on each troll or each Exalted character. A single purchase is enough for the whole collection
• Account for the riding skill — the mount requires "Apprentice Riding," which is learned at level ten. The raptor's actual ability fully depends on your current skill: if you only have the basic one, it will travel at +60%, and with a higher skill — at the maximum ground mount speed
• The raptor model is unique to the old game — in modern expansions Blizzard very rarely adds new variations of regular raptors, so these six models are practically the only way to get a troll raptor without special achievements or rare quests