How to Get an Ikran Mount in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

This guide will tell you how to get an Ikran Mount in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and how to get a Direhorse Mount in the Upper Plains.

The Map in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is absolutely massive and it'd be a total slog to travel it all on foot. Fortunately, this game will let you team up with the iconic flying Ikran and six-legged Direhorse once you progress through some of the story. Read on to learn everything you need to know about Mounts!

How to Get an Ikran Mount in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora

You can get an Ikran Mount by progressing through the Story Quests and completing The Eye of Eywa. Shortly afterward, you'll be given the quest "Take Flight" which will challenge you to tame your first Ikran.

The "Take Flight" Story Quest requires you to climb up the iconic floating rocks of Pandora and make your way to the Ikran Rookery. Once you're there, you'll have to chase an Ikran down until you eventually can tame it.

Once tamed, you'll be able to choose your Ikran's name and set its skin color. You can also equip your Ikran with accessories, some of which you can unlock by finding Ikran Gear Baskets in Pandora.

How the Ikran Works

As a flying mount, the Ikran is infinitely more versatile than anything on the ground. You can fly terribly high and you can move pretty fast, too. You don't even have to sacrifice your fighting capabilities -- you can use most (though not all) of your Weapons while you're flying on your Ikran.

Your Ikran does not have its own dedicated Health Bar. However, it does have its own dedicated Hunger Bar and Stamina Bar. You'll have to feed your Ikran or it will be unable to regenerate Stamina while it's flying. Critically, your own Hunger will still deplete while you're flying and you'll have to land if you want to eat some Food.

You cannot call your Ikran anywhere -- it's prohibited from going into certain areas such as inside of buildings or certain areas that block Ikran flight due to Story progress. Outside of those areas, you can summon your Ikran anywhere, anytime -- even if you're falling from a tall cliff.

Ikran No-Fly Zone Map

There are a total of four zones where your Ikran cannot fly for any reason until you've completed certain Story objectives.

1. Upper Plains: You won't be able to use your Ikran for the first few Story Quests in the Upper Plains. You can eventually gain this ability once you interface with the Zeswa Clan's Tree and you'll be able to fly almost anywhere in the Upper Plains.
2. Weeping Gorge: The Weeping Gorge is spouting out a terribly loud noise that terrifies your Ikran; this is due to the Aeolian Wind Flutes in the Zakru Graveyard being horribly out of tune. Completing the Story Quest "The Weeping Gorge" will fix the Aeolian Wind Flutes in this area and allow your Ikran to fly in it.
3. Clouded Forest: The third and final area of the game is cut off for about the same amount of time as you lack your Ikran in the Upper Plains; therefore, it's best to progress through the Story Quests as fast as possible to get your Ikran back. Until then, you can quickly make your way across the Map using fast travel if needed.
4. Atkay's Mantle: The green fog known as the Yava is deadly to any creatures that stay in it for just a few seconds. While you will eventually get immunity to the Yava for a late-game story quest, this immunity does not extend to your Ikran; this means you won't be able to fly low in this area with your Ikran. You will, however, be able to fly above it as long as you avoid the Yava fog.

Losing your Ikran for short periods of time is an awful inconvenience, but you can get it back pretty quickly as long as you focus on progressing the Story Quests as fast as possible. I strongly recommend that you get access to your Ikran in a new area as soon as you can -- this makes exploring the Map a heck of a lot easier!

How to Get a Direhorse Mount

You can get a Direhorse Mount by progressing through the Story Quest "The Wandering Clan," just after completing the Story Quest "Pushing Back."

When you get to the Upper Plains, you are given a threadbare excuse that you cannot fly your Ikran there because it does not know how to deal with the high winds. Your only access to a mount for a few story quests will be a Direhorse.

As the game explains, Direhorses do not bond for life with a Na'vi like an Ikran does. If you want a Direhorse, you'll have to tame a new one every time. Hold the interact button (E on PC) to target a Direhorse and approach it very slowly; do not move forward when it's rearing its legs up into the air. If you're slow and patient, you'll be able to mount it.

A paired Direhorse will hang around you if you dismount it to go into town, but it will eventually run off on its own. While Direhorses look pretty cool, they pale in comparison to the mighty Ikran -- make sure to get through the next few Story Quests as fast as possible so you can get your precious Ikran back!

That's the end of our guide on how to get an Ikran Mount in Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. Gallop on over to our other guides below!