War stories, articles & game guides
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2026
Expeditions,
War Stories &
Culture
War stories, articles & game guides
Gamer
Tribute
2026
Expeditions,
War Stories &
Culture
“Jotunheim has aerial defenses, both in terms of proto-drake riders and harpoon guns. They’ve concentrated these on their northern and western facings where they are most vulnerable. Let’s use their defenses against them!
<The Leaper pierces you with his single eye and cackles maniacally.>
Take control of a harpoon gun on the platforms that overhang the cliffs on either side of Valhalas to the southwest. Take out the proto-drakes and their riders. Shoot ’em up!”
-The Leaper
The Leaper at The Shadow Vault wants you to use a Jotunheim Rapid-Fire Harpoon to shoot down 15 Jotunheim Proto-Drakes and their riders.
You will be able to choose one of these rewards:
You will also receive:
Upon completion of this quest you will gain:
Quest Giver: The Leaper — The Shadow Vault, Icecrown [43, 25]
Objective: Use Jotunheim Rapid-Fire Harpoons to shoot down 15 Jotunheim Proto-Drakes and their riders.
Quick Facts
Walkthrough
Locate the Harpoon Launchers
| Button | Ability | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Energy Reserve | Restores energy for continued firing. Use when depleted. Has a cooldown. |
| 3 | Rapid-Fire Harpoon | Fires a harpoon at your crosshair. Costs 5 energy per shot (reduced from 10 in Patch 3.0.8). Spam this. |
How to Kill Proto-Drakes
Efficiency Tips
| Problem | Solution |
|---|---|
| Harpoon won’t fire at all | Disable addons (QuestHelper, Carbonite especially). Relog if needed. |
| Can only aim to the right | This was a known launch bug that was hotfixed. If it persists, switch to a different harpoon or relog. |
| Kills not counting | Proto-drakes can become “tapped” by other players. If you hit a drake once without killing it, it stays tapped to you, and other players can’t get credit for it either. This means you may need to kill a few extra to clean up previously-tapped drakes flying around. |
| Camera blocked by building | Use the outer harpoons on the edges of the platform instead of the middle ones. |
Lore Context
The Leaper is one of the more colorful NPCs at the Shadow Vault. He’s described as piercing you “with his single eye” and “cackling maniacally” in the quest text. He runs the harpoon daily with undead glee, telling you to “Shoot ’em up!” and urging you to come back tomorrow for more.
The quest’s premise: the vrykul conveniently stationed their proto-drake patrol route directly in front of their own harpoon batteries, which are helpfully aimed over open air. The Ebon Blade is turning Jotunheim’s own defenses against them.
Explore Icecrown’s hidden easter eggs, lore mysteries, and connections across Warcraft history in Vikstone’s Icecrown Chronicles, along with the complete quest storyline.
Vikstone's War Journal“Jotunheim has aerial defenses, both in terms of proto-drake riders and harpoon guns. They’ve concentrated these on their northern and western facings where they are most vulnerable.”
That is The Leaper. In full, in order, with the reasoning attached. “Let’s use their defenses against them!”
The Leaper pierced me with his single eye and cackled maniacally.
“Take control of a harpoon gun on the platforms that overhang the cliffs on either side of Valhalas to the southwest. Take out the proto-drakes and their riders. Shoot ’em up!”
The platforms hang out over the drop on both sides of Valhalas and the guns are already mounted on them: the vrykul built these to keep things off their sky and never considered that the platform faces both directions.
The harpoon takes time to arrive. You cannot put it where the drake is; you have to put it where the drake will be, and then wait through the flight with the bolt already gone and nothing left to do about it. That is the third machine this month that has asked me to do that. I am better at it than I was over the Bombardment.
They come in on the same approach lines all morning because the guns are theirs and they have never had to think about them.
The riders go down with the drakes. There is no separating the two from a platform at that range, and if there were it would take longer, and I did not look for a way.
“You are a true champion for the cause, Vikstone! Won’t you please come speak to me again tomorrow? I’m certain that there will be more of those nasty proto-drakes to shoot down.”
The Ebon Blade’s way into Valhalas was never going to be the front gate, which is why the next thing anyone offered Vikstone came wrapped as Parting Gifts.
