Navigating through the Maw has become much more convenient with the introduction of the Bound Shadehound mount in 9.0.5. This is a craftable mount through a stygia based crafting system that takes only a few hours to obtain. Previously, aside from being a druid, the only way to mount in the Maw was by completing layer 8 of Twisting Corridors or by getting insanely lucky with the shadehound hunt.

The only catch with the bound shadehound is that it requires Appreciated rep with Ve’nari along with 3500 stygia. Because of this, for those who don’t spend a large deal of time in the maw, there’s a choice to be made between convenience and a gem socket. 

Beginning the Hunt

Upon reaching Apprecated status with Ve’nari in patch 9.0.5, she now sells new items for stygia. To begin the quest for the bound shadehound, you must first purchase the Stygia Dowser from her for 1500 stygia. Once purchased, this item allows you to track stygia nexuses on your minimap and interacting with them awards stygia along with some dust and slivers. These nexuses appear as glowing green orbs in various places around the Maw; some only accessible by using the grapple points scattered around.

After acquiring this Stygia Dowser it’s time to uncover the very first puzzle which is located in Domination Keep. 

First, travel to 23,68 and use your grappling hook to reach the platform. The platform is shrouded in a green mist similar to the Stygia nexuses. Once on the platform, an extra action button will now appear prompting you to use your dowser.

Next, after using the stygia dowser you will now be phased out. appearing as a ghost. On this platform, a chest will appear with 6 glowing runes above it. These runes must be reordered to match the symbols on the 6 spikes surrounding the platform in order. ** Attempts at this puzzle are limited so remember to be precise or you’ll be locked out from trying for another two hours **

Restoring the Codex

After opening the chest and looting the Crumbling Stele, return to Ve’nari to purchase the Partial Rune Codex for 2000 stygia. This codex is missing three pages that must be found scattered around the maw.

• Rune Codex Page: Forging is located deep within the Death’s Howl cave. The entrance to this cave is located at 48.8,84.7
• Rune Codex Page: Souls is located in Perdition Hold near Thanassos at 27.2,72.3
• Rune Codex Page: Binding is located in the upper levels of the Tremaculum at 24.6, 12.6

Once all of these pages have been returned to the Partial Rune Codex, it will provide a walkthrough for the rest of the steps of the puzzle. The Crumbling Stele inside the chest is now translated into a series of runes. These runes will be important for the final step.

Crafting the Armored Husk for the Bound Shadehound

Stygia crafting is a new system released with patch 9.0.5 and is used to craft the Bound Shadehound mount. Using the Stygia Dowser from earlier, you must interact with enough stygia nexuses throughout the maw to obtain a total of 200 stygia dust and 200 stygia slivers.

Crafting the Armored Husk for the mount will require 20 Stygia Bars and the Soulforger’s Tools, a drop from Soulforger Rhovus (35.8, 41.8). This drop will only become available after completing the above steps with translating the Rune Codex.

After you have enough of the materials, you must then locate the Soulsteel Anvil in Domination Keep. This anvil allows you to convert all of the dust and slivers into Stygia Bars and is accessible with a grappling point located at 23, 68.4 (the same as the puzzle platform). The soulsteel anvil is located at 20.2,67. Interacting with it opens up a special crafting menu where you will be able to forge everything into the Armored Husk.

Tracking down the Soul

The codex will then lead you to obtaining a lost soul to bind to the husk we just crafted. The clues point straight to Gorgoa, the River of Souls within which you will find a wandering wolf spirit. The stray soul wanders down the river path continuously and is interactable. Once you have found him, he will enter your Soulkeeper, granting you a Willing Wolf Soul.

Obtaining the Bound Shadehound

Finally, after gathering the Armored Husk and the Willing Wolf soul, the quest for the mount is nearly complete. Following this, the only step left is binding the two together at the altar south of Ve’nari’s Refuge (45.1, 48.3). Interacting with the altar automatically binds the two, granting you the Feral Shadehound along with a quest of the same name.

Once mounting the Feral Shadehound, it will begin running frantically across the maw. During this, a vehicle bar will pop up displaying 4 runes. Finally, you must input the runes in the corresponding order to the translated Crumbling Stele. Doing this correctly successfully binds the mount to you. Congratulations, the Bound Shadehound mount is now yours and you can traverse the Maw much more efficiently!

While the wait for path 9.1 will be a lengthy one, it will bring with it the ability to use ANY mount within the maw. Until that time comes, however, we only have the three shadehound mounts for now. The bound shadehound is the most easily accessible as it is the quickest to obtain provided you have the reputation.