Sign inSwift Zulian Tiger
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The Swift Zulian Tiger is a rare epic mount that drops from High Priest Thekal in Zul'Gurub. Together with its partner, the Swift Razzashi Raptor from Bloodlord Mandokir, it was one of the two mount drops of the troll raid, and both were prized because they let players ride animals their own faction otherwise could not.
How to get it
The tiger
[Swift Zulian Tiger] drops from High Priest Thekal, the tiger-aspected High Priest of Shirvallah in Zul'Gurub. Thekal is fought with his two lieutenants, Zealot Lor'Khan and Zealot Zath, and all three have to die close together or the others bring the fallen back to life. When they are dead, Thekal rises again in tiger form for the second half of the fight. The tiger mount drops about 2 percent of the time in our data.
The raptor
[Swift Razzashi Raptor] drops from Bloodlord Mandokir, the raptor-riding champion of the Gurubashi. Mandokir rides his raptor Ohgan into battle, gains strength each time he kills a player, and periodically watches a raider: anyone who moves or acts while being watched is struck down. The raptor drops at about the same 2 percent rate.
Both mounts bind on pickup. Zul'Gurub is a 20-player raid that resets every three days, more often than the weekly 40-player raids, so a dedicated guild could see Thekal and Mandokir about twice a week. That still meant many months of clears for most groups.
What makes them special
In Classic, each race had its own mount. Night elves rode nightsabers, and trolls rode raptors. The tiger and raptor from Zul'Gurub broke that rule:
- The Swift Zulian Tiger was the first saber-type mount available to Horde characters.
- The Swift Razzashi Raptor was the first raptor mount available to Alliance characters, and it was originally the only way for tauren to ride a raptor as well.
Both move at epic mount speed. They were first usable with no riding skill requirement. Patch 1.12.1 made the tiger require Journeyman Riding, the same as other fast mounts. For a player with an epic mount already, the reason to farm them was simply looks and rarity.
Lore
The trolls of the Gurubashi Empire worship the loa, primal animal gods. Their high priests each take on the aspect of one: Thekal is the champion of Shirvallah, the tiger god, which is why he takes tiger form during the fight. The mount's journal text in later versions says the last known Zulian tigers were kept by Thekal and have since been hunted to extinction. Bloodlord Mandokir's raptors, the Razzashi, are similarly said to be a lost breed.
History
Zul'Gurub opened in patch 1.7 in September 2005, as the first 20-player raid and the stage for the return of Hakkar the Soulflayer. Both mounts arrived with it. When the old raid was removed in patch 4.0.3a, ahead of Cataclysm rebuilding Zul'Gurub as a five-player dungeon, the originals stopped dropping. They were replaced there by the Swift Zulian Panther and Armored Razzashi Raptor, and the original tiger and raptor later appeared on the Black Market Auction House.
Sources
Categories: Items