How to make your very own golden hand mount so you can ride around the Maw in style on Hand of Nilganihmaht

If you’re anything like me when you saw the pictures of the new mounts coming in patch 9.1 from BlizzConline one of them stood out to you. I of course mean the Infinite Pirate Dragon, but since that’s not actually a mount (yet) the next best thing was a giant severed hand with a saddle sticking out of the wrist. It was just such a unique mount that I knew I had to have one. I was initially worried that it would be the Mythic-only mount from Sylvanas, as it was a pretty unique model and historically the Mythic-only mounts have been standouts. We’ve had eyeball jellyfish, water elementals, the tortured souls of Draenei fused together into a slavering horror that’s as likely to drive you insane as it is to get you from point a to b — things like that. So when I realized that there was not one, but four different hand mounts to get from the Maw and Korthia I was very happy.

So how do you get your hands on one of these unique mounts? Let’s take a look.

• Hand of Bahmethra — Drops from Tormentors of Torghast caches
• Hand of Hrestimorak — Complete the Glory of the Dominant Raider achievement
• Hand of Salaranga — Complete the Breaking the Chains achievement
• Hand of Nilganihmaht — Collect the five pieces to unlock it

It’s that fourth one, the Hand of Nilganihmaht that we’re looking at today, because it’s the simplest to get, and can mostly be acquired solo. This shiny golden hand is obtained by collecting five rings of power that have been hidden around the Maw. Simply gather all five rings and find the chained Hand of Nilganihmaht inside the Rift and you’ll be riding in style.

You’ll be able to get four of the Nilganihmaht rings at any time. However, Nilganihmaht’s Stone Ring is only available during a Necrolord Assault in the Maw, so if the current Maw assault isn’t Necrolord you’ll have to wait until it comes around again.

Now let’s talk about where to get all five rings.

Ring One: Nilganihmaht’s Runed Band

For this ring, you’ll need to be able to get into the Rift phase of the Maw. The ring is a 100% drop from a rare at the northern end of the Maw named Torglluun the Lord of Shades, located at 28.67, 25.04. He’s not the hardest-hitting rare in the world and only has roughly 230k health, so he’s fairly average when it comes to the Korthia and Maw rares. If that’s something that you don’t normally do by yourself you can always wait for a friend to come to help you. You’ll both need to use a Repaired Riftkey in Korthia or use a Collapsing Riftstone right at the rare’s location in the regular phase of the Maw. You can get Collapsing Riftstones from the Zovaal’s Vault daily in the Rift.

Ring Two: Nilganihmaht’s Signet Ring

To get this ring you’ll need to kill Exos, Herald of Domination. This is another 100% drop, so getting him to spawn is the tricky part. To spawn him you’ll need someone with the Domination’s Calling item, which you assemble from pieces you collect from three other rares in the Maw — Talaporas, Herald of Pain, Apholeias, Herald of Loss, and Ekphoras, Herald of Grief. Each of those rares requires four people to activate by standing on the four corners of their platforms and using the extra action button provided.

If you don’t want to go to the trouble of making your own Domination’s Calling, you can ask a friend who already has theirs. All that matters is that it’s used to summon Exos — you don’t actually need the summoning item yourself. If you can line your visit up with the Necrolord assault on Perdition Hold then you’ll also be able to use Draka’s Battlehorn to summon some extra help from the Necrolord forces in the area.

Ring Three: Nilganihmaht’s Gold Band

Break out your climbing shoes for this ring, because you’ll need to get to the highest point in the Maw. Start by heading to coordinates 18.6, 39.0 and climb up the giant mountain there. Demon Hunters will of course have the easiest time with this because of their double jumps, but they aren’t necessary. Good old-fashioned running and jumping is all you need to get to the top of the mountain where the Gold Band is just sitting out for any enterprising climber to take. Of course, if you want to cheat just a little, Warlock Gateways, Warrior Heroic Leap, Venthyr Door of Shadows, or Borr’Geth’s Fiery Brimstone and a Goblin Glider are all good ways of getting up ledges a little easier.

Ring Four: Nilganihmaht’s Silver Ring

It’s time to open a locked chest in the Desmotaeron area of the Maw. You’ll need to find four different Seal Breaker Keys to unlock the cage and the chest that contains the Silver Ring. The order of these keys isn’t important, and they’ll drop from their sources no matter if they’re the first or last key that you’re getting.

• First Key — The first key is located on the wall in the building near where the Val’kyr was held on the quest Birds of a Feather –coordinates (66.9 56.2). Go inside, and on the right wall next to the named Mawsworn Kjellrun you’ll find the Harrower’s key ring. Just walk up and click it and you’ll have your first key.
• Second Key — For the second key, you’ll need to open one of the Helgarde Supply Caches located around the Desmotaeron. These treasure chests are a little hard to see, but if you have your Trained Gromit from Korthia they can help point them out to you.
• Third Key —  For the third key, you’ll need to kill Maldraxxi Defectors that are all over the Desmotaeron. Any of these elites have a chance to drop the key for you, so just start killing and don’t stop until you’ve got it. You can also kill the elite Maldraxxi that are all over the House of the Chosen back in Maldraxxus which can sometimes drop the key as well.
• Fourth Key — You’ll need to defeat the rare Ylva, Mate of Guarm. This fearsome three-headed dog has apparently bitten the hand that feeds her, and as such has a key in her stomach. Unlike the rare Torglluun, this is something that you’ll need a group for. She has nearly a million health, and there are numerous patrols of elites nearby. You can always try and convince your guildmates to make a little detour before your next trip to the Sanctum of Domination or use the premade group finder to assemble your own party.

Once you’ve gotten all four keys, the Domination Sealed Chest you’ll need to open is located at coordinates 66.1, 57.5.

Ring Five: Nilganihmaht’s Stone Ring

This is the ring that is only available from the Necrolord Assault when the quest Putting a Plan Together is available. You’ll need the Kyrian Construct that you assemble during that quest to collect some of the pieces of the Stone ring. So if the Necrolord assault isn’t currently up, go and get the other four rings and then wait for the assault to change over.

• Piece one — After assembling your Kyrian Construct for the quest Putting a Plan Together, use it to climb onto the walls of Perdition Hold. There are several Mawsworn Caches that are on the walls and towers of the hold. They have a chance to contain the first Quartered Ancient Ring piece that you need.
• Piece two — While opening those Mawsworn chests for the first piece you’ll need to keep an eye out for a quest item. You should loot a Defense Map that starts a quest to destroy the pylons on the walls with your Kyrian Construct. This quest rewards your next Quartered Ancient Ring piece. If for some reason you’ve opened every chest and still haven’t found a Defense Map, it is possible to have the quest shared with you by another player who is on it. Ask your friends for help, or check the premade finder to see if a nice person has listed a group to share it out.
• Piece three — Occasionally while you’re in Perdition Hold you may see something called the Maw Mad Construct yell about its precious, and that your character won’t be able to take it from them. This abomination will yell whenever it spawns, and then run around Perdition Hold — kill it and retrieve the Quartered Ancient Ring piece from its body.
• Piece four — The final piece of the ring can be found on the ground of Perdition Hold once you’ve gotten any of the other pieces. It can spawn in a variety of different places, so you’ll need to make sure you have sharp eyes.

Once you have the four quarters of the ring, take them to any Soul Forge in Zovaal’s Cauldron and you’ll be able to melt them back together.

Free Nilganihmaht and collect your new mount!

Now that you’ve found the five rings necessary to unbind Nilganihmaht from his prison it’s time to actually find him. You’ll need to make another trip into the Maw for this last step. Nilganihmaht is located in the Rift phase of the same cave where we met Jaina all the way back in the introductory quests of Shadowlands, at coordinates 25.7, 32.5. Place each of the rings on his fingers and he’ll give you the quest Gotta Hand it to Ya, which rewards the Nilganihmaht Control Ring. If you’re interested in more lore about the beings that these hands came from he’s also got a book next to him with their full story — the moral of which is don’t mess with the Jailer. Good thing we’re not doing that!

The final step is to go show off your brand new mount. You’ve worked hard to combine those five rings and unlock your new handy method of transportation. Go get some high-fives from everyone!