Reins of the Onyx Cloud Serpent
Family: Dragon
Type: Reputation / Quest Line
Reputation: Shado-Pan
Faction: Both
Zone: Townlong Steppes
Recommended Level: Level 95
Skill Level: 1/10
Time to Get: 8 hours+
The Reins of the Onyx Cloud Serpent is rewarded from the quest Surprise Attack. This quest is the final in a two part chain but to unlock the quest chain you must be Exalted with the Shado-Pan Faction.
If you’re already Exalted then simply head over to Master Snowdrift in the Shado-Pan Garrison within Townlong Steppes. He will provide you with the quest Mogu Incursions. This is a very simple quest, complete it and then he will follow up with the quest Surprise Attack. This is the quest that awards the mount at the end but requires you to go through an event style quest which will take a few minutes to complete.
Once done, hand it in back at the Shado-Pan Garrsion to get your mount!
If you aren’t Exalted then I will run through the various methods of gaining reputation. This reputation grind can be completed within a few hours but it will be a consistent grind to get it completed.
You have two options for gaining reputation with the Shado-Pan. Which is best will depend on your goals.
Fastest Method
The best method is to defeat the Zandalari Warbringers and Warscouts found across Pandaria. When killed they can drop Stolen Insignia which will award 1,000 reputation with either the Golden Lotus, August Celestials, Shado-pan or Klaxxi depending on which tokens drop. Not only that but the Zandalari Warbringers also have a chance of dropping the Amber, Jade or Slate Primordial Direhorn.
This method will take a few hours if you don’t have much competition for these rare spawns and will progressively get you Exalted with multiple factions at once.
The Zandalari Warbringers have roughly a 30 to 60 minute respawn time and have one spawn location within Kun-Lai Summot, Jade Forest, Krasaranng Wilds, Dread Wastes and Townlong Steppes. They stay stationary once spawned.
The Zandalari Warscouts on the other hand can have two up at once in each of the mentioned zones. They typically spawn near to the Warbringers, they will however patrol around a far distance before beginning to return. Their respawn timer is around 45 minutes.
So you should be checking the mentioned zones for both the Warbringers and Warscouts and killing them whenever possible for the reputation tokens. These tokens are also Bind of Account, so you can check various realms if you have characters on them and are still able to send them to your main character.
There is an additional rare that will also drop these reputation tokens, War-God Dokah. He can be found on the top of the ship in the Isle of Giants and has roughly a 30 minute respawn timer but is a bit more awkward to reach due to the location of the Isle of Giants
Alternative Method
The other method for gaining reputation is by far the worst but I wanted to quickly mention it. These is simply doing the dailies you can find in the Shado-Pan Garrison within Townlong Steppes. These provide around 300 reputation per hand in.
Regardless of the method you choose, it is vital that once you reach Revered, you head over to Rushi the Fox and purchase Grand Commendation of the Shado-Pan. This will provide you with 100% more reputation which will aid you to reach Exalted faster.
Extra Tips
Humans receive 10% extra reputation from all sources due to their racial buff. Additionally, countless reputation buffs can be utilized to speed up your reputation gains further, such as the WHEE! (DMF is around for one week every month), WOW Anniversary buff or other mini-holiday related buffs such as Grim Visage.
If the Mists of Pandaria Timewalking event is active then you can also make use of the 50% bonus reputation provided by Sign of Mists during this event or trade in Timewarped Badges for reputation tokens from Mistweave Xia on the Timeless Isle.