The Ultimate Argent Tournament Guide v1.0

I. Quest Walkthrough
II. The Black Knight Quest Chain
III. The Art of Mounted Combat
IV. Achievements

After 8 days, the Argent Tournament Dailies will net you 172g/day, and all the quests can be done in under an hour, and that’s generous. You can do them in about 30 minutes if you’re fast, and most of that will be travel time. Once you get the hang of mounted combat, you can make boatloads of gold and get some pretty neat rewards along the way. The Argent Tournament dailies have become the Sunwell Isle of Wrath of the Lich King, so if you’re one of the unlucky few still flying around on a failmount, or need to get Artisan Riding for an alt, these dailies should be done, well, daily…

The real gold starts flowing once you get Champion, which will take 8 days (3 days for Valiant, 5 days for Champion.) The maximum number of Seals (Aspiriant, Valiant, and Champion) you can get per day is 5. For Champion quests, you will be rewarded Seal(s) and either a Champion’s Writ (which you can use to purchase a Commendation Badge to increase your rep with any faction by 250) or a Champion’s Purse, which contains 10 gold. Add that 10 gold to the standard 13 gold reward for doing the quest. Not bad, eh?

It doesn’t end there, however. Once you become a Champion for your faction, you can become a Valiant of another faction! The quests are almost identical, so basically you will be getting double credit for almost
all the quests! You cannot, however, be a valiant of two factions at the same time.

The only limiting factor is that once you defeat a rider of any faction you cannot challenge a rider from that faction for an hour. You will get a debuff: “Bested [Insert Major City Here].” This really isn’t a problem at all, since the Valiant version of the quest asks you to defeat 3 riders, and the Champion’s version 4. There are 10 factions in the game. The easiest way is if you’re horde, beat 3 horde riders in the Valiant’s Ring and 4 Ally riders in the Champion’s ring. (If you’re alliance, just do the opposite..oh yeah, and reroll horde ).

I. Quest Walkthrough

To begin fly to Northern Icecrown:
Speak with Justicar Mariel Trueheart in the Argent Pavillion (7). She will send you to the Sunreaver Pavillion (Big Map, 1) for Horde or the Silver Covenant Pavillion (2) to start the process of becoming an Argent Champion.

Inside you will find some dudes (and dudettes) from each faction standing around. Your first time there they won’t have any quests for you, but you can look at the gear rewards from the quartermasters. As a side note, the Tournament Grounds is littered with trainers and vendors, and you can set your hearth to your faction’s Pavillion. It is only a cheap (54s) flight back to Dalaran, so you may want to.

Once you talk to the Sunreavers (or Silver Covenant types) you automatically become an Aspirant for your faction, and quests will open up.

The names of the quests change as you turn from Aspirant to Valiant to Champion, but they are basically the same. The quests involve:

• killing any Icecrown scourge outside of The Bombardment
• practicing mounted combat (vs. targets and NPCs)
• a random “blade” quest

After you become a Valiant, there is another quest involving fighting elite scourge (mounted) at the foot of Icecrown Citidel, and after becoming a Champion, there will be a group quest to kill a level 82 Elite. This quest is important because it is the only one that awards 2 Champion’s Seals.

Mounted Combat Quests:

To do any quest involving mounted combat, you must first find and equip a lance. Lance racks are all over the place, and lances don’t cost you anything, so go ahead and pick one up:

You must also use a mount from the argent tournament. During the Aspirant phase, you will be using the Sunreaver chicken mount, but once you hit Valiant you will use your faction’s mount. The mounts are right outside the pavilion  and next to the Ring of Champions. You may not participate in mounted combat on your own mount.

Once you mount, you will be given a new action bar. These are: Thrust, Shield Breaker, Charge, Defend, Refresh Mount, and Duel. To duel other players with mounted combat, you must use this button or it will be a standard duel.

See “The Art of Mounted Combat” section if you are having trouble with these quests.

Aspirant:
As an aspirant, you will be practicing your skills against targets. Be sure to find an appropriate target for the skill you want to get credit practicing. That’s why they are labled “Melee, Carge, and Ranged”
Targets. They are all around the area.

Valiant:
As a Valiant, things get more interesting as you must fight and defeat 3 NPCs in mounted combat. These NPCs are in each faction’s Valiant Ring (Small Map, 3). You can go to the Ally ring and challenge their Valiants for the “Lance-a-lot” achievement if you want.

Forward Base Quests:
Valiants and Champions get a second mounted combat quest to travel to the Forward Base and kill elite scourge there on mounts. Use the horses at the forward base to kill the required number and types of
scourge. Until you’re more experienced with mounted combat, you may want to avoid the Champions, they are tough for beginners. Use Shield Breaker to kill the Gargoyles and just trample over the footmen.

The Blade Quests

These quest all require travel, but they are the most important because they reward 2 Seals (Aspirant, Valiant, and Champion). This is why you may want to set your hearth here. The three “blade” quests are:

• A Worthy Weapon
• The Edge of Winter
• A Blade Fit for a Champion

A Worthy Weapon

At the gate between Icecrown and Crystalsong (Big Map, 4) you will find Winter Hyacinths. COLLECT FOUR OF THEM! My first time I flew all the way out to Zul’Drak with only one and was severely disappointed when I had to go back for 3 more.

Then you’ll have to fly to the lake on the border between Dragonflight and Zul’drak. The fastest way is to take a taxi to Ebon Watch and go South. In the middle of the lake there will be a circle of stones that are impossible to miss. Hop in there and use the 4 Winter Hyacinths in your inventory. The troll lady will blab on about how no one visits here anymore and then a blade will spawn that you have to use to loot.

The Edge of Winter

Go South of Dalaran to the Crystal Vice on the border with Crystalsong and Dragonblight (1). There you must defeat Lord Everblaze, a fire revenant, and loot his Everburning Ember (2). Then fly out to Camp Winterhoof in the Howling Fjord and go to the middle of the lake to the southwest (3).

There will be a dryad encased in ice on a small platform. Use the Everburning Ember to free her. This one you don’t have to wait for her to talk or loot anything, as soon as you free her the sword goes in your inventory (so make sure you have a slot open).

A Blade Fit for a Champion

This is probably the most fun blade quest. On accepting the quest, you will receive Warts-B-Gone Lip Balm, “for all your frog kissing needs.”  Fly to Camp Oneqwah in the Grizzly Hills (if you’re alliance- reroll horde). Either way, go to the lake southwest of Oneqwah and find Lake Frogs. Target a frog, drink the Warts-B-Gone, and type /kiss. If you’re lucky, like Lawbringer was, you’ll get it on the first try. If you’re like me, it took 4-5 frog kisses before it turned into a princess. You’ll have to drink the Warts-B-Gone before each kiss (don’t worry, it has a short cooldown). When you find the frog princess, talk to her to receive the blade.

Extra Dailies:

There are two dailies that reward no Seals, but if you’re out and about you may find them worth 13 gold. The goblins (Small Map, 6) Each have a quest for you.

Jack me Some Lumber

I do this quest EVERY time for two reasons. 1) It’s right next to Dalaran, and 2) You can farm quest items. What I mean by farm quest items is that you can use the goblin’s axe to collect as much lumber as you want without turning the quest in. If you’ve got the time, stock up! Each turn in requires 12 lumber, and each tree gives you 2.

After chopping the tree, an angry tree ghost (usually lvl 77) will attack you. Use the Dalaran Crystal to teleport down to the Violet stand. Look for the “Crystalsong Oaks.” They look different from any other tree in Crystalsong and are targetable. Target the tree, click the axe. This quest literally takes about 2 minutes starting from Dalaran.

A Chip Off the Ulduar Block

For this one, fly to Grom’ash Crash Site (or reroll Horde) and go north to the Inventor’s Library. Look for the large stone blocks around the area, use the bomb on them, and stand back for five seconds. The stone will explode into 3-4 lootable blocks. Repeat until you have 15. Unfortunately, though, once you have 15, you can’t blow up any more blocks.

Threat From Above (Group Daily)

In order to be eligible for this quest, you must have completed the Black Knight quest chain (see below). The elite Frost Wyrm, Chillmaw, is level 82 (Big Map, 3). He hits pretty hard and has some adds that will come off of his back and lay bombs on the ground just like the bombs from Chip off the Ulduar Block Quest if you’re trying to 2-man it without a healer (which is possible), just get away from the bombs and kill the adds as soon as you can. The suggested players is 3, and you should probably take that advice. Still, so many people are doing this quest it’s almost impossible not to find a group, even on a low-pop server.

All you need to do is start asking in Icecrown general chat for a group for the quest while you work on the other dailes. You should find at least 2 other people that still need to do it. On top of that, there will probably be other groups standing around waiting for him to spawn.

II – The Black Knight

The quest chain involving the Black Knight is important to do because it unlocks the Daily Group quest Threat From Above. The chain starts with Crusader Rhydalla with The Black Knight of Silverpine? (for horde) and The Black Knight of Westfall? (for alliance).

The second quest, The Seer’s Crystal involves killing a satyr in the Folorn Woods, just south of Dalaran.You shouldn’t have to kill many before one drops.

For the third quest, The Stories Dead Men Tell, take the crystal and use it in front of three graves in the graveyard (Small Map, 9).

There’s Something About that Squire asks you to go back to Crystalsong. Next to Maloric (who will be neutral to you) will be several skeletons chopping wood. Kill one of the skeletons and loot the femur. Use the femur to hit Maloric. He will crouch down and become lootable. Right click on him to get the Murderer’s Toolkit.

When you turn in the Murderer’s Toolkit, Crusader Rhydalla will give you some Enchanted Reigns.  Take them to the Black Knight’s camp and use them. The Gryphon will automatically take you to the Black Knight’s house on a small, floating ice block to the northwest. There will be a few mobs to fight, but inside the house you will find the Stolen Tournament Invitation and the Black Knight’s Orders. Fly back to Crusader Rhydalla and turn in.

For the final quest, talk to a squire (look for a tiny orc kid standing on a box) on the northern side of the Ring of Champions. He will summon the Black Knight, mounted on his gryphon, and you fight him. Midway through the fight he will dismount and challenge you to fight on foot. Get off your ride and kill him. He’s a normal level 78-79 mob.  [Tip: When you dismount, you will still have your Lance equipped, which only does 1-2 damage. Equip your normal weapon(s) when you dismount.

III. The Art of Mounted Combat

Learning the ropes of mounted combat is a bit tricky, and is mostly trial and error. But with these strategies you won’t waste any time figuring it out, you’ll be fighting like a champion from the get-go and maximizing your rewards while minimizing your effort.

To start, let’s look at the new action bar. The new abilities are (from left to right): Thrust, Shield Breaker, Charge, Defend, Refresh Mount, and Duel.

Thrust

Don’t believe the tooltip. Thrust does not remove a charge of Defend. I tested this over and over, and it’s just not true. With the combat strategy I developed, I rarely have to refresh defend in a fight.  Thrust also does not share cooldowns with the other abilities, so if they’re in range, you should be thrusting.

Shield Breaker

This is your bread and butter. Why? Thrust and Charge don’t do much damage if the enemy has three charges of Defend. In fact, if your enemy has more Defend charges than you, YOU will be damaged if you Charge and/or Thrust. So the key to winning mounted fights is having more Defend Charges up than your opponent. Champion level opponents start with 3 charges and are very quick to refresh them, so mastering Shield Breaker is a must.

Charge

Charge does massive damage on a target with no Defend charges. You have to be a certain distance away to Charge, and after you charge it takes longer to turn around because of momentum. As I said before, it is VITAL that you have more charges of Defend up for your charge to be beneficial.

Defend

Thrust does not take away Defend Charges, only Shield Breaker and Charge do. The mistake people make with mounted combat is they refresh Defend as much as possible. That’s why they lose or think it’s hard. Only refresh Defend after you see your three little green shields turn into two little yellow ones. If you are in melee range the only thing that will take away your charges is the 1 minute timer. [Tip: Never start a fight until you’ve have all 3 charges of Defend.]

Refresh Mount

Only usable out of combat. Heals your mount to full health.

Duel

Use this button to request a mounted duel with other Player Characters.

Strategy:

The idea of the strategy is to dance around the minimum range of Shield Breaker. Get just enough range to throw yours, then immediately close in towards your opponent to prevent them from throwing theirs. This way you will rarely (if ever) have to refresh defend. Wait until they back off to set up a charge, and either charge yourself or stay close behind and hit them with Thrust a few times.

Here is a video of this strategy at work.  Honestly once you practice this a few times you’ll see how easy it really is.

Argent Tournament Mounted Combat Tutorial Video

IV – Rewards

When you reach Champion, you get 10 Champion’s Seals and an Argent Gruntling;

Talk to the gruntling and he will carry the banner of any faction you have reached champion for.All of the purchasable rewards are the same except for the race-specific tabards, rare pet companions, and banners. The banners just place banners on the ground. There are no special effects, and they have a 3 min cooldown.

V – Achievements

There are many achievements for the Argent Tournament, but if you’re like me, you only care about ones that give you titles.

Each race/faction has an achievement starting with “Exalted Champion of…” To get this achievement, you must reach become a champion and exalted with that faction’s home city. Then you get the title “<[Your Name] of [City]>.” Pretty cool, huh?

The other achievements will be easy for you. Complete the Black Knight chain, Win a mounted duel vs. another player, and defeat riders from all Horde and Alliance factions.

Thanks for reading guys, now you have the knowledge and tools to take advantage of the Argent Tournament