How to Get Your First Mount

To get your first mount in RuneScape: Dragonwilds, defeat General Velgar, enter Fellhollow, and complete The Wild Hunt side quest for Vannaka. The quest sends you to defeat three Nature Spirits and collect one Primordial Heart from each. Return all three hearts to Vannaka to unlock the standard Terrorbird and the ability to summon a mount.

The mount is a quest reward, so you do not need to craft a saddle, build a stable, tame a wild creature, or buy your first ride. The main obstacle is finding Vannaka and the three unmarked Nature Spirits. Once unlocked, the Terrorbird improves overland travel and adds 200 maximum carry weight, but you cannot fight or gather while riding, and taking damage removes the mount.

The mount unlock route at a glance

The three spirits do not have to be defeated in a particular order. The practical route is to accept the quest first, then sweep through western Fellhollow while using ponds and willow groves as the identifying landmarks.

Reach Fellhollow before searching for a mount

The Wild Hunt is not an early tutorial quest. You must progress far enough to defeat General Velgar and enter Fellhollow before you can reach Vannaka. If you are still exploring the earlier regions or preparing for Velgar, there is no mount item hidden there that can bypass this progression requirement.

Once Fellhollow is open, prepare for three separate combat encounters rather than a gathering task. The targets are ghostly, glowing Terrorbird-like Nature Spirits. Nearby undead or other enemies can turn an isolated fight into a larger encounter, so bring your normal healing supplies and repair or replace weak equipment before beginning the route.

You only need the three quest drops to finish The Wild Hunt. There is no supported requirement to bring building materials, mount food, a saddle, or currency to Vannaka.

Start The Wild Hunt in Bleakfields Valley

Travel into Bleakfields Valley, the first part of Fellhollow, and look for the road that divides into three branches. Vannaka's makeshift camp is near this fork, positioned between the left and center routes. It is also west of the area where you meet Cathan in this part of the region.

Use the map marker at the road fork to find Vannaka and begin The Wild Hunt.

Speak to Vannaka and begin The Wild Hunt. He asks you to hunt three Nature Spirits and bring back their Primordial Hearts. Neither the NPC nor every target is presented as an obvious conventional map marker, which is why players can pass through the region without noticing the mount quest.

Accepting the quest before searching gives the trip a clear objective and prevents an unnecessary return journey. From the camp, concentrate on the western parts of Fellhollow. Each target is associated with a small water source and willow trees, giving you a repeatable visual rule when the map itself is not enough.

Find the three Nature Spirits

The targets resemble spectral Terrorbirds rather than ordinary wildlife. Look for a glowing, ghostly bird inside or beside a willow grove. Defeat it and loot the Primordial Heart before moving on. You need three hearts in total, one for each spirit.

The spectral Nature Spirits are the targets for collecting Primordial Hearts.

The supplied routes consistently place useful targets in Witchwillow Range, Emberwood, and Dragon's Run. Other Nature Spirits may exist around western Fellhollow, but these three areas form a straightforward quest route.

Nature Spirit in Witchwillow Range

From the fork near Vannaka, take the left route into Witchwillow Range. Check your map as you enter and work toward the southern end of the area. Look for the small body of water and the willow grove around it. The glowing Nature Spirit should be visible once you are close enough to the correct grove.

Defeat the spirit, then confirm that you picked up its Primordial Heart. The quest requires the dropped hearts, not simply three defeated enemies. If your inventory or objective still shows no progress, return to the combat area and check the ground before leaving.

Nature Spirit in Emberwood

The Emberwood target is on the western side of the area. The research describes it near a small water source, south of a dungeon and close to a large circular landmark associated with a Green Dragon. Another route description approaches it above a Stonehenge-like landmark. Use the pond and willow trees as the final confirmation rather than relying on only one distant landmark.

Clear or avoid unrelated enemies before engaging the spirit. The Nature Spirit itself is the required target; getting surrounded by nearby creatures only makes the encounter harder without advancing the quest. Loot the second Primordial Heart after the fight.

Nature Spirit in Dragon's Run

Travel northwest into Dragon's Run and watch the map carefully because its paths can make it easy to turn the wrong way. The useful target is near the main route running between two ponds. As with the other encounters, search for water and willow trees, then look for the spectral Terrorbird inside the grove.

Defeat it and collect the final Primordial Heart. Before returning to Vannaka, check that you have all three hearts. Leaving with only two creates an avoidable trip back across Fellhollow.

Return the Primordial Hearts to Vannaka

Go back to Vannaka's camp in Bleakfields Valley after collecting all three hearts. Speak with him and hand them over. He completes the ritual, finishes The Wild Hunt, and unlocks the standard Terrorbird variant together with the mount action.

Returning three Primordial Hearts unlocks the standard Terrorbird mount.

You do not receive a physical animal that must be placed at a base. You also do not need to visit a stable after the quest. The unlocked Terrorbird is summoned through the mount input and appears with your character already riding it.

If the quest conversation ends but you are unsure whether the reward registered, look at the action prompts at the bottom-right of the screen. A mount prompt should now be present. The standard Terrorbird should also be available in the Mounts section of the Spell Book.

Summon and dismiss your Terrorbird

The mount input is a hold action, not a quick tap. Use the appropriate default control for your platform:

Hold the button briefly until the summon completes. If pressing it once appears to do nothing, try holding it while watching the mount prompt. The input was adjusted to work as a hold action, so tapping is a common reason the mount seems unavailable.

The Terrorbird is designed for moving between objectives, fast-travel points, and resource areas. It travels faster than ordinary movement, supports longer journeys, and raises maximum carry weight by 200 while summoned. That carry bonus makes the Terrorbird especially useful when returning from a gathering trip with a heavy inventory.

Understand the mount restrictions

A mount improves travel but does not replace normal movement in every situation. Plan around these restrictions:

• You cannot fight while mounted.
• You cannot gather resources while mounted.
• Taking damage causes the mount to vanish and ejects you.
• Being attacked can remove the mount even if you intended to ride past the enemy.
• Building up Wither can also make the mount disappear.
• Mounts cannot be used in dungeons.
• Damage-dealing terrain can dismount you just as an enemy attack can.

This means the Terrorbird works best on open, relatively safe routes. Dismount before approaching a resource node, entering a dungeon, or starting a fight. In Fellhollow, be particularly careful around damaging mire: crossing it can count as taking damage and leave you on foot in a dangerous position.

The mount's extra carrying capacity is active when the mount is summoned. Treat that as travel capacity rather than permanent inventory space. If the Terrorbird vanishes because of combat, damage, or Wither, the situation can become more difficult while you are carrying a large resource load.

Change your mount appearance

Additional Terrorbird breeds and Magic Carpet variants do not automatically replace your current appearance when they are obtained. Open the Spell Book, switch from the spell view to the Mounts tab, and select a variant you already own. Locked variants appear greyed out, while unlocked variants can be selected freely.

Open the Mounts tab to distinguish owned variants from locked ones.

This menu is also the place to verify whether a newly obtained cosmetic variant registered. Changing the selected breed changes the mount you summon; it does not require repeating The Wild Hunt. Most Terrorbird breed differences are cosmetic, so the standard quest reward is enough to use the core Terrorbird benefits.

Terrorbird and Magic Carpet differences

RuneScape: Dragonwilds has two base mount types. The Wild Hunt unlocks the Terrorbird, while the Magic Carpet becomes available later through the first section of Icthlarin's Little Helper in Umbral Sands.

The Magic Carpet is specialized for the desert. It moves faster in Umbral Sands, jumps higher, and takes less fall damage, but it does not provide the Terrorbird's carry-weight bonus. Unlocking it later does not make the Terrorbird obsolete: use the carpet for desert mobility and the Terrorbird when hauling resources is more important.

The first standard variant of each type comes from its associated quest progression. Further appearances can come from enemy drops, chests, vendors, or mount vestiges, depending on the specific variant. Those collection paths are optional and are not required to get your first working mount.

Fix common mount unlock problems

If the mount is not available, identify where the route stopped instead of searching for a crafting recipe.

Vannaka is not accessible

You must first defeat General Velgar and gain access to Fellhollow. The quest giver is in Bleakfields Valley, not one of the opening regions. Reaching the early-game map alone is not sufficient.

The Nature Spirits are hard to locate

Search western Fellhollow and use the environment as your guide. Each of the three practical targets is near a small pond or water source and willow trees. Witchwillow Range, western Emberwood, and Dragon's Run provide a complete three-spirit route.

The quest does not complete

Killing three spirits is not enough unless you loot their drops. Confirm that you collected three Primordial Hearts, then return to Vannaka and finish the conversation at his camp.

The summon button does nothing

Make sure The Wild Hunt is complete and that the mount prompt appears in the action list. Then hold the platform-specific button instead of tapping it. On PC, hold Alt; on Xbox, hold Y; on PlayStation, hold Triangle; and on Nintendo Switch 2, hold X.

The mount disappears immediately

Move away from enemies, damaging terrain, and areas that build Wither. Taking damage or being attacked dismisses the mount. You also cannot keep riding into a dungeon, fight from the saddle, or gather materials without dismounting.

Once these conditions are understood, the unlock is permanent and repeatable: complete The Wild Hunt once, select an owned appearance in the Mounts menu when desired, and hold the mount control whenever you need faster overland travel.