How to Kill Alani The Stormborn (Reins of the Thundering Ruby Cloud Serpent)

My last Alani post was written and edited throughout various points during mop beta and ended up being sort of a timeline of discoveries, rather than a straight forward, this is how to Kill Alani and get an awesome mount post. I figured it was about time to condense everything into one clean spot for her - so without further adieu:

Like the Time-Lost Proto-Drake, Aeonaxx, Poseidus and even that pesky mysterious camel figurine before her, Alani the Stormborn is Mist of Pandaria's rare that drops a mount. Unlike her predecessors, the method of killing her and obtaining the mount she drops is far different from anything we've seen until now. 

Alani has a 100% chance to drop the Reins of the Thundering Ruby Cloud Serpent. She can be found flying high above the Vale of Eternal Blossoms protected by a Nimbus Shroud, which completely protects her from any type of harm.

Rares in previous expansions required us to wait around for hours, days, even weeks on end waiting for them to show up. Many of us would afk with our volume turned up so that if our coveted rare did spawn we'd hear the blazing horn of npcscan and drop whatever we were doing for a chance at downing them. Often times a lucky person questing on an alt would just happen to run into said rare only moments before we could tag them, destroying all hope of obtaining what we had been waiting for for so long. 

Well Alani changes the game entirely, making sure that only those that really truly want her are going to get her. Anyone looking to get their hands on the Reins of the Thundering Ruby Cloud Serpent are going to have to farm for it plain and simple. The only thing that will break Alani out of her Nimbus Shroud and make her attackable is a Sky Crystal. A Sky Crystal is created when ten Skyshards are fused together.

Skyshards will drop from pretty much any mob in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms. The drop chance is incredibly low though (roughly anywhere from .01 - .4%). Mobs with lower health pools that respawn quickly make a good target for farming these things. In the screenshot below you can see my friend Reinoverall farming Stonebark Tricksters in Ruins Rise for his very last Skyshard.

These mobs have 236k health and respawn fairly quickly making them ideal mobs to farm for Skyshards. The tricksters in Mistfall Village are also popular mobs to farm for the same reason. Reinoverall ended collecting seven of his Skyshards from these Tricksters. He also received two from mogu mobs at Autumnshade Ridge, and one from a spider at the Ruins of Guo-Lai while doing dailies for the Golden Lotus. It took him many weeks of farming on and off for several hours each day to finally obtain all ten Skyshards.

Skyshards can also be looted out of Treasures of the Vale - the item that you receive at the end of the series of Golden Lotus daily quests on any given day. It has also been reported that they can drop from Small Bag of Goods from rares located in the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.

Once you have all ten Skyshards you simply click on them in your bag to fuse them together into a Sky Crystal.  (See screenshot below.)

After you have your Sky Crystal you will need to find a safe spot to kill Alani. Note that once you have used your Sky Crystal on Alani the Crystal will be used up and it will disappear from your inventory - so make absolutely sure that your in a safe area and ready before you engage her! Simply right click the crystal in your bag and it will aggro Alani as well as take out a percentage of her health. 

The fight itself is fairly simple. She only has one attack called Lightning Breath, which she'll channel at you. (Pictured below.) 

She only has about 1.2M health and doesn't deal much damage with her only attack, so downing her should not be difficult. The fight is actually over fairly quickly! She has a huge hitbox too, so melee don't need to worry. 

After she has been killed she will drop the gorgeous mount resembling her. Her loot box is quite large as well - notice in the screenshot below that my friend was able to loot her from the mountaintop as she fell to the ground below. Also take note that I was able to roll on the mount because I was grouped with him. Only take someone with you to down Alani that you absolutely trust - or that you have sold or plan on giving her to. 

Here is the video I took of my friend downing her. ~

Now that you have this amazing new mount, if you aren't already, you will need to be exalted with not only the Order of the Cloud Serpent, but the August Celestials as well in order to ride it. 

Becoming exalted with Order of the Cloud Serpent will allow you to learn Cloud Serpent Riding and will reward you with three different cloud serpent mounts the moment you hit exalted. Their main quest hub is located at the The Aboretum in Jade Forest. Reputation is increased with them by completing daily quests and handing in Onyx Eggs (similar to the Netherwing rep grind back in BC). The eggs can be found scattered about near the area that the dailies are completed. They award +500 rep each.

Gaining reputation with the August Celestials is done through dailies. There are several different hubs located throughout Pandaria and the locations rotate on a daily basis. To find out which hub is open for dailies you can speak with the August Celestials Quartermaster for your faction: Sage Whiteheart (Alliance) located at the Shrine of Seven Stars, or Sage Lotusbloom (Horde) located at the Shrine of Two Moons.

Thankfully now that patch 5.1 is here both of these reputation grinds are a little quicker thanks to the Grand Commendations purchasable at revered.

Reins of the Thundering Ruby Cloud Serpent

I'd like to thank Reinoverall (Elune - US) for sending me so many helpful screenshots and sharing his experience with me. Congrats again on finally obtaining your beautiful new mount, she's just gorgeous!