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Protoform Synthesis: every Zereth Mortis mount and pet, and how to craft them

Updated 2026-09-27 · checked against Midnight 12.1, build 12.1.0.69933

Protoform Synthesis is Zereth Mortis’s own crafting system, and the single biggest source of profession-style collectibles in the game: 24 mounts and 28 battle pets. It is not a profession — any character can use it once the zone unlocks it. The catch is the unlock, which runs on research timers measured in days, and a handful of schematics and parts that only come from the Sepulcher of the First Ones raid.

Unlocking it

1. Push the Zereth Mortis campaign to its third chapter, which opens Cypher of the First Ones research at the Cypher Console in Exile’s Hollow. On alts, Tal-Inara’s introduction can be skipped.
2. Pets: research Dealic Understanding, then take the quest Protoform Synthesis from Pocopoc.
3. Mounts: research Sopranian Understanding, which needs Dealic first, then do the quest chain that starts with Finding Tahli from Elder Amir and ends with A New Architect. Some of it is elites and group-suggested quests in the Endless Sands.

The research is the bottleneck: Dealic takes nearly four days and Sopranian nearly six. Start it the moment the console opens, and gather reagents while you wait. Once a character has finished an Understanding, alts research it far faster.

What every craft needs

Each synthesis takes a schematic, a lattice (which sets the creature’s body), Genesis Motes, and one more ingredient: a Glimmer for a pet, a rare part for a mount.

• Genesis Motes drop from most enemies in Zereth Mortis and stack to 5,000. A mount costs a few hundred, a pet a little less.
• Lattices drop from enemies of the matching family — Vombata from vombata, Raptora from raptora — except the Poultrid Lattice, which comes from Avian Nest treasures.
• Glimmers mostly drop from creature families too. Glimmer of Focus comes from any Zereth Mortis rare; Glimmer of Satisfaction from eating a feast inside the Sepulcher.
• Mount parts are the hard ones. The Lens of Focused Intention needs Revered with the Enlightened. The Mawforged Bridle comes from the Sepulcher’s High Value Cache, and the Tools of Incomprehensible Experimentation from its boss Lihuvim.

The pet forge and the mount forge are in different places. The mount forge sits in the Arrangement Index in the north-east; the road there is lined with elites, so take the eastern path.

The hard ones

Raid-gated mounts. Everything that uses Lihuvim’s Tools of Incomprehensible Experimentation — the Deathrunner, Prototype Leaper and Unsuccessful Prototype Fleetpod — and everything that uses the Mawforged Bridle — the Darkened Vombata, Mawdapted Raptora and Sundered Zerethsteed — needs Sepulcher of the First Ones. So do the schematics for the Curious Crystalsniffer and Serenade, found inside the raid.

Rare-drop schematics. The Heartbond Lupine, Goldplate Bufonid and Mawdapted Raptora schematics are chance drops from specific enemies; Buzz comes from a randomly spawning relic; the Russet Bufonid from the Enlightened Paragon cache and the Bronze Helicid from the Enlightened’s weekly tribute.

Hard pets. The Ambystan Darter schematic is under water off the Sepulcher’s island, the Stabilized Geomental is a chance drop from Lihuvim, and the Omnipotential Core is hidden in the Rondure Alcove.

The Pale Regal Cervid schematic is mailed by the Cyphers of the First Ones achievement. Players have reported it missing from the mail; one found it already learned at the mount forge, so check there first.

The checklist

Every mount and pet the game lists as coming from Protoform Synthesis. Ticks are the same as on the collection pages.