Gearing up in World of Warcraft has always been a challenge for both new players and seasoned veterans. Whether you’re leveling a fresh alt, prepping your main for a big raid, or catching up after a break, you’ll always find yourself chasing better gear to stay competitive and push tougher content.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through tried-and-true methods to gear up and boost WoW characters in The War Within. With new gearing options added in Patch 11.0.7, we’ll break down everything from beginner-friendly basics to the best BiS item sources to make sure you’re fully equipped for the upcoming Season 2.
Gearing Up Fast in WoW The War Within
World Events, Quests & Bosses
World Quests are your go-to for quick and easy gear upgrades. You can get up to ilvl 571 Explorer/Adventurer pieces, which is great when you’re just starting out on a fresh level 80 character. If you’re after something more serious, Weekly Events offer guaranteed Veteran-track pieces up to ilvl 584 with solid upgrade potential. World Bosses drop ilvl 603 gear that you can take all the way to ilvl 619.
On top of that, most World activities fill your Great Vault reward bar, giving you even more chances to stack up some decent loot.
Siren Isles
Introduced with Patch 11.0.7, Siren Isles is the ultimate spot to snag starting gear for your fresh character or help your main catch up if you’re feeling behind.
If you’ve never set foot on Siren Isles, start by taking the quest The Expedition Awaits in Dornogal. Completing objectives and slaying mobs in the zone will get you Flame-Blessed Iron that you can spend at Quartermaster Argarom to buy Veteran-track ilvl 584 gear for every slot, as well as weapons, trinkets, and rings. Gear prices don’t exceed 350 Flame-Blessed Iron per piece, and all of them can be upgraded to ilvl 606. The currency is Warband transferable, so you can pass it to your alts and gear them up with ease.
Completing the introduction quest also rewards you with Cyrce’s Circlet, a very powerful ring that’s BiS for almost every class. While the ring itself starts with just baseline Stamina, it has three slots where you can socket Citrine gems for stat bonuses. The ring’s initial ilvl is 639, which practically rivals fully upgraded Mythic raid loot and can be boosted all the way to ilvl 658. That’s a crazy amount of power, especially considering how easily you get it! Upgrading requires Raw Singing Citrine, dropped from Siren Isles weekly quests, and takes about six weeks to max out.
Citrine gems are Warbound-until-equipped and can be looted by completing Excavation Events on Siren Isles. Once you get a drop of a particular gem, it can also be purchased from zone vendors Apprentice Tanmar, Angoria, Didi the Wrench, or Taljori.
Dungeons
Normal-tier instances drop 554 ilvl Explorer gear, Heroics offer 580 ilvl Adventurer gear, and on Mythic, you can expect 593 ilvl Veteran-track pieces. Mythics now have a daily lockout, so you can run each dungeon on this difficulty once per day. Completing dungeons on Heroic and Mythic also contributes to your Great Vault progress, with rewards scaling to 593 and 606 ilvls, respectively.
The Catalyst
The Catalyst system is back in The War Within, offering a powerful way to boost your gear. Located right in the middle of Dornogal, the Catalyst lets you transform non-crafted Veteran or higher items into set pieces, granting you access to the 2-set and 4-set bonuses that significantly improve your performance. Each transformation costs one charge, and you can hold a maximum of 8 charges, which are automatically replenished every two weeks.
All the pieces from Siren Isles can be turned into tier gear, so if you farmed there, you’ll have a full set ready to be transformed and then further upgraded to 610 ilvl with Weathered Crests. Once you get Heroic-track items, you’ll be able to convert them into your second tier set, which you can then take to 626 ilvl using Runed and Gilded Crests.
Nerub’ar Palace Raid
As usual, raids give you a chance at some of the best loot available in the entire game. Right now, we have a huge damage and healing buff active in Nerub’ar Palace, meaning the more bosses you kill, the easier your run becomes, which makes gearing a lot more manageable than before.
LFR rewards start at ilvl 584 and go up to 593 on the final bosses. On Normal mode, you’ll start at ilvl 597 and scale up to 606, while Heroic drops range from 610 to 619 ilvls. Mythic, the highest raid difficulty, will reward you with 623-632 ilvl gear. Throughout the raid, you’ll also find rare items that have a higher ilvl than the standard drops on that difficulty, so getting your hands on those will be a huge upgrade.
Mythic+ Dungeons
In Mythic+, end-of-dungeon rewards start at ilvl 597 Champion gear and go up to 613 Heroic gear on level 10 Keystones. Great Vault loot ranges from 606 to 623 ilvl.
Mythic+ dungeons are also the best way to farm Crests for your gear upgrades. The higher the key level you’re running, the higher tier of Crests you’ll get, so if you do your regular M+ runs, you’ll always have plenty of upgrade materials to work with.
Crafting
Crafting is a fantastic way to get gear, especially if your character has the necessary professions leveled up. Crafted items cap out at 590 ilvl at lower tier, while higher-tier gear can reach all the way up to 636.
To make lower-tier items, you’ll need Enchanted Weathered Harbinger Crests. If you have the Enchanting profession, you can craft them yourself, or otherwise, place a crafting order to have someone else do it for you. The main component for the enchantment is the Nascent Weathered Crest, which you can buy from Llande, the Enchanting Supplies vendor, for 30 Weathered Crests. Then, simply look for blue recipes and add the Enchanted Crest to the Optional Reagents slot. If your item is crafted at Rank 5, you’ll get the maximum 590 ilvl.
For higher-tier crafted gear, the key component is Sparks of Omens. Those can only be obtained by combining 250 Valorstones with two Fractured Sparks of Omens that drop from weekly quest caches, raid bosses, dungeon runs, and some other activities. Once you have your Sparks of Omens, grab the epic recipes, gather the necessary materials, and craft the gear—or place a crafting order for someone else. At Rank 5, you’ll create 606 ilvl gear. Enchanted Runed Crests can upgrade your craft to 619 ilvl, and Enchanted Gilded Crests will push it all the way to 636.
You can also add Embellishments to most crafted pieces to give them special effects. You can only equip two Embellished items at once, so it’s a good idea to check class guides to see what fits your character best before spending resources on the actual craft.
Bountiful Delves
The Delves system allows you to earn fast and easy rewards even if you’re a solo player. You can jump in on your own or with a group and walk away with new gear for your character in just 15-20 minutes. Plus, you can get pieces up to 616 ilvl in the Great Vault, with the level defined by the highest Delve tier you manage to complete.
The best items come from special Bountiful Coffer chests available only in Bountiful Delves. These chests can only be opened using the Restored Coffer Key. The gear you get varies by the tier of the Delve: Tier 1-2 will give you 561-564 Explorer gear, Tier 3-4 will reward 571-577 Adventurer pieces, Tier 5-6 brings 584-590 Veteran items, and higher tiers will earn you from 597 up to a cap of 603 ilvl at Tier 8. So, after Tier 8, there’s no real need to push higher difficulties as you’ll always get 603 pieces.
While doing your Delve runs, there’s also a chance you’ll find special Delver’s Bounty maps, which, when used, guarantee that your next run will reward you with a hidden chest that contains extra gear. These bonus rewards scale with the Delve difficulty, so a high-tier Bountiful Delve run could reward you with a guaranteed 610 ilvl gear and some Gilded Crests completely for free.
