Quick answer: how much gold, and how fast?
Epic flying on TBC Anniversary realms costs 5,000 gold for the Artisan Riding skill, plus about 200 gold for a basic 280% flying mount — roughly 5,200g total, and reputation discounts do NOT apply. You also need Expert Riding first (800g skill + ~100g mount = ~900g), so from a standing start at level 70 the full flying-to-epic bill is close to 6,000g. There is no shortcut price: Blizzard hard-codes those training costs. The realistic way to fund it on the current Phase 2 realms is gathering + consumable sales, netting a focused player ~150–300g/hour, which puts the 5,000g wall at roughly 20–30 hours of farming — or a couple of weeks of casual play. This guide breaks down the exact costs, the fastest legit gold engines right now, and why it pays to bank your 5,000g before Black Temple lands.
Key takeaways
- Epic flying (Artisan Riding, 280% speed) = 5,000g to train + ~200g mount. Rep does not reduce it. (Warcraft Tavern)
- Regular flying (Expert Riding, 60% speed) = 800g + ~100g mount = ~900g — the prerequisite step most players buy at 70 first.
- The 310% Netherdrakes require Artisan Riding. Those mounts (and the Netherwing daily-gold hub) arrive with Phase 3 / Black Temple — which is NOT live yet (Blizzard roadmap: "Summer 2026," no confirmed date). Banking 5,000g now = Netherdrake-ready on day one.
- Current live content is Phase 2 (Serpentshrine Cavern + Tempest Keep, Arena Season 2), launched May 14, 2026. Level cap 70.
- Best gold engines on Phase 2: herbalism + mining (raid consumables always sell), Engineering-as-gathering (TBC-only quirk), and Auction House flipping — not daily quests yet.
The Burning Crusade Classic Anniversary Edition went live on February 5, 2026, and if you have hit level 70, you have already met the Outland wall every player hits: the 5,000-gold epic-flying paywall. It is the single biggest gold sink in the entire expansion, and it gates everything from raid logistics to gathering efficiency to those coveted 310% Netherdrakes. Below is the straight math on what it costs, the fastest honest ways to earn it on the realms as they exist today (Phase 2), and the timing angle most guides miss.
How much gold is epic flying in TBC Anniversary, exactly?
Flying in The Burning Crusade is tiered, and you pay at each step. Here is the full ladder from "grounded at 70" to "280% epic flight," with the exact numbers confirmed against community trainers' data:
- Expert Riding (60% flight speed): 800g to train + ~100g for a basic slow flying mount = ~900g total. This is the entry ticket to the skies and the step almost everyone buys first at 70.
- Artisan Riding (280% flight speed): 5,000g to train + ~200g for a basic fast flying mount = ~5,200g total. This is "epic flying."
- From scratch to epic: if you have neither skill, budget ~6,000g for the whole climb (Expert + Artisan + mounts).
Two facts trip people up. First, reputation discounts do not touch the flying-skill prices — the honored/exalted riding discounts that lower ground-mount costs do not apply to Expert or Artisan Riding. As Warcraft Tavern's trainer breakdown puts it plainly: "Learning Artisan Riding will cost you 5,000 gold... Reputation doesn't modify these prices." (Warcraft Tavern) Second, the 310% flying mounts (the Netherwing drakes, Ashes of Al'ar, and PvP drakes) also require Artisan Riding — 310% is a faster mount, not a separate riding skill. So the 5,000g you spend now is the same skill that later unlocks the fastest mounts in the game.
Why rush epic flying before Black Temple?
Here is the timing edge. Phase 3 — Black Temple, Battle for Mount Hyjal, and Arena Season 3 — is not live yet. Blizzard's official roadmap lists it as "Summer 2026" with no confirmed date; community estimates cluster around mid-to-late summer, with a PTR expected before it drops. Treat any specific date you see on a boosting site as a rumor, not a fact — Blizzard has not announced one.
What matters for your wallet: Phase 3 (patch 2.1 in original TBC) is the update that brings Netherwing — the daily-quest reputation grind that unlocks the 310% Netherdrake mounts — plus the Ogri'la and Sha'tari Skyguard daily hubs. Two consequences:
- Netherdrakes need Artisan Riding. You cannot even begin to use a 310% drake without epic flying trained. If you show up to Phase 3 grounded, you are locked out of the headline reward until you cough up 5,000g.
- Phase 3 is when daily-quest gold explodes. The big repeatable gold dailies (Netherwing, Ogri'la, Skyguard) arrive with Phase 3. Right now, on Phase 2, gold comes from professions and the Auction House — not a daily circuit. So the smart play is to stockpile your 5,000g during the current quieter economy, before a raid tier and a fresh gold-sink meta send consumable and material prices swinging.
In short: fund epic flying on Phase 2 time, and you walk into Black Temple week already airborne and Netherdrake-ready — instead of grinding gold while everyone else is farming rep.
What's the fastest way to make 5,000 gold on Phase 2 realms?
Fresh-realm TBC gold is a professions game before it is a daily-quest game. The reliable engines right now, ranked by consistency:
1. Gathering — herbalism and mining. This is the backbone. Raiders burn through flasks, elixirs, and potions every single week, so the herbs feeding them never stop selling. On the current realms, one veteran gatherer summed up the meta directly: herbalism is "probably the best gathering profession... for the agi elixirs you can get a lot of terocones and felweed easy," and node competition is far lighter than people fear — "can't even compare how few bots there are compared to [the old] Classic TBC." (paraphrased from r/classicwow discussion, source). Mining is the strongest all-round earner because so many professions consume ore and bars.
2. Engineering as a gathering profession (a TBC quirk). In The Burning Crusade, Engineering can gather from special gas clouds floating around Outland zones — a lucrative, low-competition income stream that is far more profitable in TBC than in later expansions. If you are already an Engineer, work it into your farm route.
3. Auction House flipping and crafted consumables. Buy underpriced materials during off-peak hours, resell into raid-night demand. Alchemists and their transmutes, and enchanters disenchanting cheap greens into Large Prismatic Shards, are steady earners because demand is structural, not seasonal.
4. Dungeon and instance farming. Targeted farm runs (cloth, greens for DE, BoE drops) convert time into gold predictably, and stealth or self-healing classes can multi-task farms like Mana-Tombs cloth runs.
What to avoid: chasing "get rich quick" schemes or, worse, GDKP-and-gold-buying shortcuts (more on that below). Trade chat is currently flooded with GDKP and gold-selling spam — one player noted, "the second I walk into trade chat literally all I see is GDKP spam" (r/classicwow) — and that ecosystem is exactly where account-risk lives.
How long does it actually take to farm epic flying?
Realistic math, using the current Phase 2 economy:
- A focused gatherer on a good route nets roughly 150–300g/hour (herbs + ore, sold into raid-consumable demand).
- At ~200g/hour average, the 5,000g Artisan skill is about 25 hours of active farming.
- Spread over a normal play schedule — say 1–2 focused hours a night — that is two to three weeks to bank epic flying, less if you funnel Auction House profits and profession crafts on top.
That is the honest answer: epic flying is a project, not an afternoon. It is deliberately expensive to feel like an achievement. The players who hit it fastest do not grind harder — they grind consistently, keep a gathering profession on their main, and sell into raid nights when prices peak.
Is buying gold a shortcut worth the risk?
Plenty of players eye the 5,000g wall and consider just buying it. Be clear-eyed: there is no Blizzard-sanctioned way to buy gold on Classic Anniversary realms — the WoW Token is retail-only — so every purchase is a third-party transaction against the EULA, and the stated penalty runs from gold removal up to account suspension. We cover exactly what triggers a ban (and what does not) in our companion guide, Is Buying TBC Anniversary Gold Safe? — read that before you make any decision.
If you do choose to save time, the only thing that reduces the risky part is clean, careful delivery from a reputable source rather than a random trade-chat seller. That is the entire reason services like ours exist — to make the delivery side as low-profile as possible. But the zero-risk route is always the same: earn it in-game with the plan above.
Frequently asked questions
How much gold is epic flying in TBC Anniversary? Epic flying is 5,000 gold to train Artisan Riding, plus about 200 gold for a basic 280% flying mount — roughly 5,200g total. Reputation discounts do not apply to the riding-skill price.
What is the difference between Expert Riding and Artisan Riding? Expert Riding gives 60% flight speed and costs ~900g total (800g skill + 100g mount). Artisan Riding is "epic flying" at 280% speed and costs ~5,200g total. You must learn Expert Riding before you can train Artisan Riding.
Do I need epic flying for the 310% Netherdrakes? Yes. The 310% flying mounts — including the Netherwing Netherdrakes — require Artisan Riding trained. 310% is a faster mount, not a separate skill, so epic flying is the gate.
Is Phase 3 / Black Temple live on Anniversary realms yet? No. As of July 2026 the current live content is Phase 2 (Serpentshrine Cavern and Tempest Keep, Arena Season 2). Blizzard's roadmap lists Phase 3 / Black Temple as "Summer 2026" with no confirmed date — treat specific dates from third-party sites as rumor.
What is the fastest legit way to make 5,000 gold? Gathering — herbalism and mining — sold into weekly raid-consumable demand is the most consistent engine on Phase 2, roughly 150–300g/hour. Engineering gas-cloud gathering (a TBC-only perk) and Auction House flipping stack on top.
Can I get epic flying cheaper with reputation discounts? No. Reputation discounts lower ground-mount and some vendor costs, but they do not modify the Expert or Artisan Riding training prices. The 5,000g is fixed.
Skip the 25-hour grind and get airborne now
Timesaver.gg keeps you flying instead of farming:
- WoW Classic Era Gold — fund your 5,000g epic-flying wall fast, clean delivery
- WoW Classic Era Hub — leveling, carries, and services for fresh-realm players
Content current as of July 9, 2026. Phase and date details reflect Blizzard's official roadmap; unconfirmed Phase 3 dates are noted as estimates, not fact.
