How to get the Mawsworn Soulhunter, one of the few ways to mount in The Maw

The Maw is the seat of the Jailer’s power where he likes to torment souls for all eternity, so it’s a pretty scary place — so scary that our usually fearless mounts who’ve carried us off of cliffs and through swarms of enemies on our way from quest to quest are too frightened to show up. So we’ve had to get creative. Whether that means riding a friendly Druid from quest to quest or straight up stealing a trained Shadehound from one of the Jailer’s minions, we have a couple of options. But the stolen Shadehounds are temporary, and friendly Druids aren’t always around, or sometimes they jump off of cliffs — by accident — sending you both plummeting to your doom. What you really need is to get your own mount for the Maw — the Mawsworn Soulhunter.

The Mawsworn Soulhunter is actually one of two versions of a Shadehound that you can ride in the Maw. The other is the Corridor Creeper which you get from completing layer 8 of Torghast’s Twisting Corridors. That’s a lot of Torghast though. If you’re not feeling battling through 144 floors of enemies, the Mawsworn Soulhunter is your other option. Good news! The Mawsworn Soulhunter is a drop from one of the Beastwarren hunts in the Maw.

In order to gain access to the Beastwarrens, you’ll need to have progressed your relationship with Ve’nari to Ambivalent, which is the equivalent of Revered in a normal reputation. When she’s finally warmed up enough towards you to feel Ambivalent about whether or not you live and die, she’ll offer the quest Concealment is Everything. Once that’s been completed you’ll start seeing Hunts show up in the Beastwarrens. There are four total hunts and the active one will rotate every half of a week. So you’ll be able to try for the Shadehound once per character every two weeks. Completing the mini-quest will reward you with a nice bunch of extra rep with Ve’nari — and in the case of the Shadehound Hunt a chance at the Mawsworn Soulhunter mount.

How to find your own Shadehound mount when it comes back around

Once you’ve got your reputation up, and the hunt rotation has come back around to the Shadehounds, what does this Hunt actually entail? Lucky for us, it’s pretty straightforward. There are only two steps! Once you’ve arrived at the area marked on your map with the ominous skull, you’ll have to stop the Jailer’s forces from feeding lost souls to some lesser Shadehounds. There are a bunch of rituals scattered around outside of a big cave, when you’ve stopped six of them you’ll be able to move onto step two.

You might’ve noticed the extra-large Gorged Shadehound fighting with its handlers in the middle of the area. It finally decides that it’s had enough and it breaks free to go back to its cave. It’s up to you to stop that monstrosity from becoming a threat. Descend into the cave and take the fight to it. When you get it down to half health, it’ll retreat further into the very bottom of the cave and you’ll have to chase further down. Finish the fight and you’ll have your chance to loot the mount!

This giant Shadehound is a pretty tough customer. It’s got a ton of health so soloing it can be a bit tough for any class that isn’t a Tank or super well geared. Bring some friends with you while you’re hunting. Just remember that using the group finder in The Maw is tricky. You may have to go back to the sanctuary area around Ve’nari in order to be in the same phase as anyone you group up with through the finder. While you’re fighting the Shadehound keep an eye out in the cave for strange green crystals on the ground. These Stygic Dampener crystals debuff the Shadehound making it take more damage from you, while also reducing the damage you take! But they only last a short time so make sure you have cooldowns at the ready to take advantage of the extra damage.

Remember that completing any of the Hunts in the Beastwarrens will add one full rank of the Jailers eye to your bar. If you’re making the Hunt your last stop for the day, you might want to bring along a Cypher of Relocation to get out quickly — it’s a long run back to the gateway back to Oribos.

Good luck — and happy hunting!