Dragonriding Challenge: Dragon Isles: Gold

Every single race is extremely forgiving if you stop using Surge Forward and instead use Skyward Ascent with the upward momentum trick.

For anyone that doesn't know: if you quickly aim your dragon slightly upwards and use Skyward Ascent then correct your aim to a horizontal direction the game will transfer the upward momentum into forward momentum.

The reason that this is better is because the amount of TIME that the momentum lasts is much longer from Skyward Ascent than from Surge Forward, which proves invaluable in these challenge style races where your not being flooded with Vigor charges.

Happy racing ;)

Since most of these races require the [spell=372610] trick, this is as good a place as any to explain how it works.

First consider the basics:

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• If you are pointed downward, then you can speed to about 929%, but no higher. You will be gaining vigor, and will see the white swoopy lines. As most of us know by now, "down" can be a very slight angle.
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• Point up (or even flat), and you will slow down. The more you point upward, the faster you will lose speed. Once you go below 929% 856%, you will stop gaining vigor. (Thanks, Kanegasi!) But if you can maintain your speed, then you can continue to get vigor while flying up.
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• [spell=372608] can only speed you up to about 1100%, which is good but not enough to win most races. It also tends to drain your vigor.
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• [spell=372610] can speed up to 1400%, but accelerates you upward.
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Now for the trick:

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• If you are pointed "down", then [spell=372610] will push you up. You speed will go no higher than 929%.
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• But if you point "up" (i.e. you are decelerating), then you can speed up much greater.
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Put it all together: Point "up" (which includes flying level) so that you are losing speed, then push [spell=372610]. Then immediately return to the direction that you want to go. If you do it right, then you will get the 1400% speedup. The greater speed also ensures that you will get just enough vigor to do it again. Repeat this until you win the race.

If you do it wrong, then you'll stay at 929% or slower. If you sort of manage it, then you'll be around 1100%-1200%, in which case you would have been better off using [spell=372608]. If you *really* goof it up, then you'll still be at 929% and did nothing but waste your vigor.

When and how you can do this depends greatly on the track, but for the most part, you have more time than you think you do. Tunnels can be hard, and flying downward can be even harder, since you can't point "up" easily. But with enough practice, it's almost always possible to get a 1400% boost. However, if you're not comfortable and have vigor to spare, just [spell=372608].

I recommend getting a weak aura to track your speed. It can be hard to tell the difference between 1000% and 1400% since they are both "swoopy", and being near the ground can make things seem faster than they are.

I was able to finish most races with seconds to spare, but two in particular were very difficult:

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• Tyrhold Trial normal (Thaldraszus)
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• Morquet Ascent reverse (Forbidden Isle)
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Those probably took over one hundred attempts, and were eventually finished milliseconds. In both cases, you had to do almost every single [spell=372610] boost correctly.

(For Morquest Ascent, see suggestion by @Jaheesh: set the time lock to a very high position and fly down at the start, rather than pushing yourself slowly upward. And ignore my skeptical comments.)

I loathed these challenge modes ... extremely frustrating and unsatisfying.