Russet Bufonid

Craft it at the mount forge of Protoform Synthesis in Zereth Mortis from Schematic: Russet Bufonid, 350 Genesis Motes, a Bufonid Lattice and a Lens of Focused Intention. The schematic is the part left to luck: it is a chance find in Enlightened Broker Supplies, the cache Vilo in Haven hands over for every 10,000 reputation earned with The Enlightened past Exalted. Vilo also sells the lens.

Chance 8.03% per try, so about 12 tries on average — The chance here is that of one Enlightened Broker Supplies holding the schematic; the craft itself is certain. Wowhead: 375 schematics in 4,672 recorded openings of the cache (item 187780, read 2026-10-11). The count pools every opening since patch 9.2, those by characters without mount crafting among them, which by players' reports cannot find the schematic, so the chance for an eligible character may be somewhat higher

Time there about 5 min a visit

Guides Wowhead: Protoform Synthesis: Eternity's End Mount and Pet Crafting System · Wowhead: The Enlightened Reputation Guide

• Cypher research timers: Aealic 18 h, Dealic 3 d 18 h, Sopranian 5 d 18 h, one after another · 10.25 days
• Zereth Mortis campaign to chapter 3, which opens the Cypher Console, and 470 Cyphers of the First Ones · about 5 h
• The quests that open the mount forge once Sopranian Understanding is researched: Finding Tahli and the chain after it, then after a daily reset the second chain, ending with A New Architect. The forge is in the Protoform Repository, a cave in the west of the Arrangement Index. Do this before opening any cache: the schematic and the lens show up only for a character that has mount crafting open · about 1.5 h over 2 days
• Exalted with The Enlightened: 42,000 reputation from Neutral. The Zereth Mortis campaign gives about 4,050 in all; after that each Zereth Mortis world quest gives 125 (two or three a day), the weekly Patterns Within Patterns 1,250, the world boss's world quest 500, a clear of the Sepulcher of the First Ones 50 a boss and more for the Jailer, once a week on one difficulty, and each rare 10-15 once a day. The quartermaster's daily quests give none. The reputation is shared by the whole Warband since patch 11.1.5, so alts' weekly quests and raid clears add to it · about 40 h over 8 weeks
• 10,000 reputation with The Enlightened past Exalted for each cache (same sources): it opens the quest Supplies from The Enlightened, handed in to Vilo for one Enlightened Broker Supplies · about 8 h over 2 weeks
• 1 Lens of Focused Intention from Vilo in Haven, sold at Revered with The Enlightened
• 350 Genesis Motes (most creatures in Zereth Mortis) and a Bufonid Lattice, a low-chance drop from the zone's frog creatures, likelier from rare ones · about 1.5 h

In all: about 56 h of play, spread over 8 weeks, 300 gold, starting from nothing.

/way is for the TomTom addon. Travel times are estimates: flying at 55 yards a second in a straight line and 30 seconds for a portal. A star marks a portal that needs a quest or other unlock done first.

The journal says only 'Protoform Synthesis'. The place and drop chance given here are for the cache at Vilo, the one part left to luck; there is no lockout, only the time it takes to earn another 10,000 reputation. At 8.03% it is about 12 caches on average, some 120,000 reputation past Exalted.

Players' reports on the schematic's page: the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th, 13th and 19th cache; nothing after 20 (2024) and after more than 40 (2025). The best-rated comment there (2022) complains that Blizzard had said it would stop putting such things in paragon caches.

The recipe is 350 Genesis Motes, 1 Lens of Focused Intention and 1 Bufonid Lattice (Wowhead's Protoform guide, wiki). The schematic binds when picked up and starts the quest Schematic Reassimilation: Russet Bufonid, handed in at the forge (Wowhead, wiki).

A 2025 commenter found that the quest for the cache came up only on the character whose reputation gain filled the bar, so the last gain should be made on the character that has mount crafting open. Whether a character without it can find the schematic was a question that commenter left open, and a 2022 reply says it cannot.

The lens binds to the Warband and is Unique (2) (wiki); the Adorned Vombata uses it too. Its price is the one figure sources differ on: 300 gold in Wowhead's guide, wow.gg and a comment of the patch's first week, 40 gold on the wiki. Wowhead's page for the lens, which would settle it, was not read.

wow.gg's guide for this mount (updated 2026) is not linked: it calls the cache a reward of the weekly quest, names the lattice a 'Bufonid Matrix' and puts the lens at Honored. It adds that the lattice can be had from other players, a mention only.

Reputation: the daily quests in Haven give none (comments of 2022 and 2025). A 2025 commenter reckoned five to six weeks for the last 10,000 to Exalted doing everything, and another of 2025 found the account already Revered on a new alt and got nothing from skipping the first three chapters. A Contract or the Darkmoon Faire's reputation buff helps a little (wow.gg; a 2024 comment).

The forge: Wowhead's guide puts the Protoform Repository's cave at 68.5, 30.1; this guide's other Protoform mounts use 70.2, 28.6 for the Servitor Interface inside, which matches a waypoint in a comment on the schematic's page. Vilo's spot is the one the Anointed Protostag has. The mount shares its research gate of about 10 days and the forge unlock with the other Protoform Synthesis mounts. Wowhead's Protoform guide was last updated in 2025, its Enlightened guide in 2022.

Confidence in this entry: medium. Looked up in 2026.

Sources

• Wowhead: schematic russet bufonid
• Wowhead: protoform synthesis crafting system mounts pets zereth mortis
• Wowhead: the enlightened reputation rewards zereth mortis
• Wiki: Russet Bufonid
• Wiki: Schematic: Russet Bufonid
• Wiki: Enlightened Broker Supplies
• Wiki: Supplies from The Enlightened
• Wiki: Lens of Focused Intention
• Wiki: The Enlightened
• wow.gg: russet bufonid mount guide