Want to gear up quickly in WoW but don’t know where to start? This guide gives you everything you need to know about gearing and breaks down the most efficient methods so you can power up your characters with less grind and more rewards.
Gearing Basics
Before we dive into the actual gearing methods, let’s quickly go over how gear progression works in modern WoW.
The most important stat on any piece of equipment is its item level (ilvl) that basically shows how powerful that piece is. Also, most items belong to one of five upgrade tracks: Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Mythic. Each track covers a specific ilvl range and consists of six ranks. You can gradually improve a piece within its track using a certain amount of gold and seasonal Crests.
Gear Sources
Open-World Content
- World Quests are the easiest entry point into endgame gearing, allowing you to earn Adventurer-track gear that scales with your character.
- Pinnacle Events include zone events, Special Assignments, weekly quests, and other world content. Completing them rewards a Pinnacle Cache containing Veteran-track gear, Crests, gold, and other loot.
- World Bosses can be defeated once per week and reward Champion-track gear.
- Timewalking Events provide access to Champion and Hero-level gear.
Prey
Prey system offers endgame challenges focused on hunting special targets. Preys come in three difficulties, each offering its own track of loot:
- Normal — Adventurer
- Hard — Veteran
- Nightmare — Champion
Great Vault (GV) rewards from Preys can range from Veteran to Hero track depending on the difficulty you’ve completed.
Delves
Bountiful Delves contain a special reward chest with a guaranteed piece of loot. To open it, you’ll need a Restored Coffer Key. These keys are mainly obtained from Pinnacle caches, but you can occasionally earn Key Shards from World Quests and other activities. 100 of those will turn into a full Key.
You can also get gear from a Trovehunter Chest once per week. This chest will spawn if you’ve used a Trovehunter’s Bounty and got the so-called “map buff.”
Tier 1-4 Bountiful Delves will give you Adventurer pieces, Tiers 5-6 drop Veteran gear, and on Tier 7 and above, you’ll get Champion-track loot. Trovehunter Chests start dropping rewards at T4 and range from Veteran all the way up to Hero gear. GV rewards from Delves (even non-Bountiful ones) are available from any tier and can range from Veteran to Hero.
Dungeons
Heroic dungeons give Adventurer-track gear, and their GV rewards reach Veteran level. Mythic 0s drop Champ gear and maxed-out Champ gear through the Great Vault.
As for Mythic+, keys from +1 to +5 provide Champion gear, and higher keys reward Hero-track items as end-of-run drops. Keys from +1 to +9 will score you Hero pieces in the Great Vault, and anything at +10 and higher will guarantee Myth-track gear.
Raids
Raid rewards are probably the simplest to understand, even if the content itself is far from easy. Each difficulty simply corresponds to its own gear tier:
- LFR — Veteran
- Normal — Champion
- Heroic — Hero
- Mythic — Myth
GV rewards follow the same progression but provide higher ilvls within those tracks.
Patch 12.0.7 also introduced the Sporefall mini-raid. Unlike regular gear, its rewards do not have upgrade tracks, but every difficulty drops items that are already at the maximum ilvl normally available for their equivalent progression tier.
Crafting
Crafted gear doesn’t belong to traditional upgrade tracks, but it can reach specific ilvls, depending on the quality of materials used, specifically Crests. You can choose your preferred secondary stats and even add Embellishments for unique bonus effects. Of course, you’ll need the appropriate profession to craft the item yourself, or you can simply place an order through the Crafting Orders system and have another player make it for you.
The Best Way to Gear Up
There isn’t a single “correct” gearing route. The most efficient gearing strategy depends on what kind of player you are, what skill level and goals you have, and what activities you prefer to do. For example, someone pushing high M+ keys every week will naturally aim for full Myth-track gear, and a more casual player who prefers solo content may be perfectly happy stopping at Champ or Hero items.
The progression path below is designed for players who want to reach the highest possible ilvl, so feel free to stop whenever your character feels powerful enough or skip activities you simply don’t enjoy:
- Max-Level Crafted Gear: For many Mythic players, crafted pieces most likely will be Best-in-Slot. Once you get to running +9 keys or T11 Delves, Myth-level Crests will start dropping, and you’ll have no problems obtaining the required amount for your crafting needs.
- Mythic Raiding: This is the only source that can provide multiple Myth-track items every week. Mythic raids are very hard to beat, so it’s better to run with your guild or with professional teammates through a WoW boosting service.
- Farming Eight Mythic +10 Keys: If your goal is Myth-track gear, you won’t need to do more than eight dungeons every week (unless you’re specifically chasing additional Crests), as eight is enough to guarantee Myth gear in your Great Vault.
- Tier 11 Delves: This is an excellent alternative for players who either cannot farm or simply aren’t interested in Myth gear. Tier 11 Delves give you easy access to Myth Crests for crafting, along with a guaranteed Hero piece in the Vault, plus they can be completed solo and much faster than dungeons.
- Heroic Raiding: If you have a reliable group, Heroic raids are one of the best ways to fill your slots with Hero-track items. If your ultimate goal is Mythic content, though, you shouldn’t spend too much time on this step.
- Tier 8 Delves & Mythic+ (+ Nightmare Preys as an option): If Tier 11 Delves feel too difficult, T8 is still an excellent stopping point. It already unlocks Hero-track GV rewards, and if you combine it with M+ dungeons at whatever key level feels comfortable, you’ll get a steady flow of Hero gear. Nightmare Preys can also be added to the mix for extra rewards.
- Weeklies & Hard Preys: If Hero-level content feels too demanding or simply isn’t necessary for your goals, farming Pinnacle caches, open-world content, and Hard Preys is absolutely fine. It’s easy to complete, can be done solo, and provides reliable Veteran gear with occasional Champ upgrades. You’ll also collect Coffer Keys for Bountiful Delves.
If you’ve just hit max level, we recommend starting at the bottom of this list and gradually working your way upward. Stop whenever you feel comfortable or when the difficulty starts being too much for you. Of course, you can always mix in Heroic dungeons, Mythic 0 runs, and other activities, but if you want maximum efficiency, following this progression path will save you time and help you gear up much faster.
