World of Warcraft

Secret mounts and pets in retail WoW — every puzzle, and what it takes

Updated 2026-09-26 · checked against Midnight 12.1

Some of the best collectibles in the game have no source listed in the journal at all. They sit behind puzzles that Blizzard hid and players solved together — notes in odd corners, minigames in old raids, a dead horse that needs feeding for six days. Once solved, every one of them became a set route, and every route still works.

What makes them different from a normal farm is that they end. There is no drop chance on most of them: do the steps in order and the mount or pet is yours. That is why each one here is being written up as a step-by-step checklist you can tick through, starting with the two most sought after.

Every secret, and what it takes

Takes is the honest length: one sitting, days when steps are gated by a daily lockout or a respawn, weeks when something rotates. Solo, Group and Partly group say whether you can do all of it alone. Ticks are the same as on the mounts and pets pages.

Things that apply to all of them

Do the steps in order. In most chains the next note, object or NPC only appears once you have done the step before it, so skipping ahead does not work.

Old content is the easy part. Several of these send you through old raids — Ulduar, Ahn’Qiraj, Firelands, Siege of Orgrimmar. At max level those are solo walks; the puzzle is the only obstacle.

Addons help, and some chains assume them. The Lucid Nightmare maze and the Long-Forgotten Hippogryph hunt both have community addons that map what you have seen. The pages for each say which ones and what they do.

Mind-Seeker

Midnight added a reward for doing enough of these. The Mind-Seeker Feat of Strength and title go to players who have solved 17 of the 34 secrets the game counts, then reach the Mind-Seekers’ hidden sanctuary through a pearl in the deep water off Vash’jir and speak to Anakron. A pet bought from the Auction House does not count towards it; the secret has to be solved on your own account.