One of my early goals in Dragonflight was to get Gold in all Dragon Riding races. The standard races? Not too bad.
Advanced? Someone really likes Orbs and timing is strict, but enough attempts you’ll get it.
Reverse is when the course designer is having a bad day. Trust me, I know how that goes…
It sounds simple: The same course but reversed, but this dramatically changes not only how you navigate the course but how the obstacles impact you. It also, I believe, has even stricter timing than even Advanced, so collecting power ups and boosts are even more important.
There are a few tricks I can recommend to help you in your goal to be the fastest there’s ever been: To be a Reverse Racer!
~Utilize The Bronze Warp Ability!
In most situations you only use two of your Dragon abilities: The dash and the ascend. The spin is only used in few WPvP situations and the warp…well, you never use it for anything, right?
That will change real quick in Reverse Racing.
Unlike the standard courses, where the starting point is generally right in front of you and you’re usually on a ledge, Reverse Races usually start a fair distance from your starting position. You either have to walk for a few seconds or ascend immediately which is slow and consumes precious Vigor unless the starting point is immediately above you. Both will cost you Gold.
The Bronze warp ability, however, can make up for this. At least every minute.
Before or after the race starts, place the warp as close as you can to the first ring, and then (re)start the race. Normally during the countdown you are left immobile, but your Bronze warp functions perfectly fine. This can shave seconds off your time and it’s a big difference maker between getting Gold and Silver in all too many courses.
…I think it’s intentional? I don’t think it’s an exploit because on a few of the races I have no idea how you’re supposed to get Gold besides. But it’s a huge help! It’s annoying it has a minute long cooldown but the benefit it provides is very much worth waiting for.
~Get The Vigor Orbs!
More important than ever before, the green Vigor orbs are essential to your Gold. On most courses missing a single one can cost you Gold. During your attempts, it’s very important to map and plan your racing line around their placement. You will often either have to veer a bit off course or risk crashing into obstacles to collect them but the timing is so strict that going less than max speed at any point can cause you to lose.
…Well, not lose, but get Silver, and we’re not after that!
There is one course in particular: Flashfrost Flyover in Waking Shores. It starts with a sharp descent into a sharp left around a rock formation. There’s a Vigor orb in a tiny space within that formation. You may think, ‘Oh, that’s obviously a trap! I’m going to stay on course and simply ignore that Vigor because otherwise I’d have to fly in there, hook sharp right to get the ring, and then hook sharp left anyway!’
You will fail Gold if you do this.
You have to fly in that space, hook sharp right to get the ring and then hook sharp left to finish the course. I tried countless times to complete the course with Gold otherwise and it’s simply not possible. I’m talking Vanilla C’thun pre-nerf levels impossible.
Do not ignore the Vigor orbs! They’re very important!
~Be Wary Of Ascending!
The ascending ability is of course useful to gain verticality, in addition to a speed boost if you’re looking upwards. 99% of the time in these reverse races, however, this will result in at best, a speed loss. At worse, you missing a ring. Both are really bad.
Even worse, to get optimal speed for the ascend you have to hard tilt your camera skyward, leaving you effectively blind to the course. And as stated previously Vigor is a precious resource: Using it on an ability that is slower and blinding is a bit less than optimal.
Unless your starting ring is directly above you, it’s almost always better to be mashing that dash key, basically at all times. There’s one or two courses where you need to be strategic on it’s use (namely on Tyr courses where they place stun orbs directly in your racing line) but in most cases you’ll be constantly chugging Vigor to dash, never to ascend.
~Never Stop Dashing!
Finally, aside from the aforementioned case never stop dashing. Mash that dash key! The speed boosts are only in one or two courses so you almost never want to stop unless you’re completely out of Vigor.
It should go without saying that you have maxed out your Dragon Riding abilities by this point, as soon as you regen a Vigor point you should be chugging it to maintain your top speed for as long as possible. Ascending, descending, swerving around trees you need to be going as fast as possible at all times.
One mistake is often enough to scrap a Gold race, so don’t get discouraged! Dust yourself off, give it another go, and keep on striving for that Gold!
Best of luck!
(Courtesy of Karzyr!)