How to get the Winter Veil Armor for your Highland Drake

It’s time for Winter Veil in World of Warcraft and your Dragonriding mount is ready to enjoy the festivities with their own special Winter Veil Armor. Unlike the Day of the Dead Armor you’ll need to hope for some loot luck as the Highland Drake: Winter Veil Armor manuscript is found at random in the Stolen Present you get for defeating The Abominable Greench.

Unlike other holiday bosses however, your rewards for defeating the Greench come from a quest, not a drop. The daily quest is gained in Orgrimmar or Ironforge from the local Smokywood Pastures representative, or if you’ve made your way to Hillsbrad Foothills without it you can pick up the quest from the Strange Snowman lurking in a small grove of trees by the Greench’s cave. Note that while all characters can pick up this quest, only those of level 60 and higher will get the “rare” Stolen Present which can contain the Winter Veil Armor manuscript.

The Greench is located in the southwest corner of the Ruins of Alterac in Hillsbrad Foothills. Getting there can be a little tricky as it’s out of the way; Horde players can typically get there fastest via the portal from Orgrimmar to Undercity, while Alliance players should check to see if they hold the Arathi Highlands and if so take the portal from Boralus. The fastest way to get there is with the help of a mage who has the Ancient Portal: Dalaran but be prepared for the drop at the end.

Once the Greench is defeated — don’t forget to click on one of the bags of stolen presents outside the cave, and wait for Metzen to be freed! –you’ll need to return to Orgrimmar or Ironforge to turn in the quest and receive the Stolen Present and hope you receive the armor. While not officially confirmed, it is expected that the drop rate is increased for the first Stolen Present you receive each day (similar to what happens to the X-45 Heartbreaker during Love is in the Air), however there are reports of it dropping on subsequent attempts so you may want to visit the Greench on as many level 60+ characters you can tolerate making the trek each day.

The Winter Veil armor is account-wide so you only need to have it drop once, although remember that the only Dragonriding mount that can equip it is the Highland Drake — if you were hoping to be festive on your Renewed Proto-Drake or your new Flourishing Whimsydrake you’re sadly out of luck. To switch to this armor appearance head to your nearest Rostum of Transformation, select the Highland Drake’s body customizations, make sure Armor is on and select the Winter Veil Armor.

While the Winter Veil Armor can only be earned during the holiday, it can be equipped on your Highland Drake for the entire year. So be sure to keep defeating the Greench until you get it so you can make merry the whole year long while cruising through the Dragon Isles — and once patch 10.2.5 arrives the rest of the world (where flying is permitted).