The War Within gearing guide: Fastest ways to increase your ilvl
Let’s discover the fastest ways to increase your main and alts ilvl with our The War Within gearing guide!
Table of Contents
When the new expansion releases, players have many things to keep them busy in the game: class changes, story content, new dungeons, etc. When all of this is done, the gameplay loop stabilizes, and players start to do their usual activities in the new environments.
The same can be said about The War Within. Now that many players have completed the main campaign and tried out other new content, preparations for the upcoming Season 1 of the War Within are the biggest issue. Raids, Mythic+ dungeons, higher-tier Delves. Players need to be ready so the moment Season 1 goes online, they can dive into new adventures and experiences.
Getting gear is one of the aspects of preparation, as better gear equals easier time clearing content. Or be able to clear it at all. This is why we at WowVendor created this The War Within gearing guide. With it, we aim to help you learn all you need about how to gear up fast in The War Within before Season 1 starts. Without further ado, let’s dive in.
The best way to gear up in TWW preseason
As you probably know, gear is split into categories that define its item level range and the content that drops it.
- Explorer. iLvl 558–580. Received from World Quests, Tiers 1–2 of Bountiful Delves, and Normal Dungeons, Rare gear drops (sold through Auction House).
- Adventurer. iLvl 571–593. Received from World Quests, Weekly World Events, Tiers 3–4 of Bountiful Delves, Heroic Dungeons.
- Veteran. iLvl 584–610. Received from Renown Rewards, Weekly World Events, Tiers 5–6 of Delves, Mythic Dungeons, LFR Raid Bosses, Great Vault Rewards for Delves Tiers 1–3 and Heroic Dungeons.
- Champion. iLvl 597–619. Received from World Bosses, Tiers 7–11 of Delves, Mythic+ Dungeons (Key level 2–6), Great Vault Rewards for Mythic Dungeons and Delves Tiers 4–6.
- Hero. iLvl 610–626. Received from Mythic+ Dungeons (Key level 7–10), Heroic Raid Bosses, Great Vault Rewards for M+ Dungeons Keys 3–9 and Delves Tiers 7–11.
- Myth. iLvl 623–639. Received from Mythic Raid Bosses and Great Vault rewards for Mythic+ Dungeons (Key level 10).
In the preseason, the highest available gear track is Veteran. This is because all the content that rewards better gear is locked until Season 1 starts. Even the Veteran gear is limited, as the only way to get it right now is through Renown and occasional weekly drops.
Renown rewards
The easiest and currently strongest gear pieces one can get are from Renown Vendors. Depending on the faction, raising your Renown to levels 7–8 opens access to Chest, Shoulder, and Helm slot items. Each of them costs 2600 of Resonance crystals.
- Council of Dornogal. Provides a Shoulder slot piece. Requires to reach Renown Level 7. The vendor is Auditor Balwuz (39.2; 24.2) in Dornogal.
- Hallowfall Arathi. Provides a Chest slot piece. Requires to reach Renown Level 7. The vendor is Auralia Steelstrike (41.2; 53.0) in Mereldar.
- Assembly of the Deep. Provides a Head slot piece. Requires to reach Renown Level 8. The vendor is Waxmonger Squick (47.2; 32.8) in Gundargaz.
These are the only three pieces of gear available in Preseason from Veteran gear track. Since Renown is quite easily farmed, especially if you are actively leveling alts through your Warband. Getting these items should not be a problem.
There is also another Renown reward. This is a trinket called Nerubian Pheromone Secreter. It still has the high item level for Preseason although it’s not on the Veteran track. You can get it from The Severed Threads faction after reaching Renown 6.
Explorer gear
The lowest gear on the track, but still can be quite useful, as it is easy to get in most cases. The reason for that is that this gear is awarded for some of the easiest world activities and can be sold on Auction House. Such gear can be easily upgraded to iLvl 580 using just Valorstones. This item level is enough for many people in Preseason, especially if you don’t plan to do early high-key Mythic+ or Heroic raids.
There are also nice trinkets that can be useful and better than other options to fill the slot. We are talking about iLvl 577 Darkmoon Card Decks. There are 4 decks: Symbiosis, Vivacity, Ascension, and Radiance. Each provides unique bonuses, and some can be useful even later in the Season.
The biggest problem with these can be the price. As the primary way of getting them is buying from the others on AH, prices can be the real stopper. Since these items are Bind on Equip, you can use your Warband bank to transfer such items from your alts on other servers. Use this information to find cheaper options.
Heroic dungeons
Dungeons are known as classic content when it comes to leveling and gearing. Heroic dungeons in preseason provide the highest item level accessible after the Renown rewards and random weekly event drops.
With the changes to the Mythic+ progressions, Heroic dungeons became more relevant. They replaced the first 10 keys of the old M+. Now, they are a proper way to prepare for early Raids and current Mythic 0. In Preseason, the starting iLvl of such gear is 571, with 1/8 upgrades on the Adventurer track.
The only downside of doing dungeons to get gear in The War Within is that you have to play with other players. If you’re a DPS player, this may lead to long queues. We recommend farming with your friends or guild members for quicker results.
Bountiful Delves
These delves are different from normal Delves, as in the end, they reward you with Bountiful Coffers. These can be unlocked with Restored Coffer Keys. Although Bountiful Delves are available in Preseason, you can only clear them up to Tier 3. Opening the chest on such a Tier rewards you with iLvl 571 Adventurer gear. This can be used in Preseason as an alternative to Heroic dungeon farming.
Weekly World events
After reaching a new level cap of 80 and a certain level of Renown in some cases, a character can participate in Weekly World events. These rewards include many things, such as Renown, currencies for upgrades, and, more importantly, the gear. These events are crucial, as they fuel your gearing process in several ways, direct and indirect.
For participating in those quests, you will receive caches with rewards that include all the mentioned above. And even though the general item level of the gear is on the Adventurer track, sometimes you may get lucky and receive a Veteran piece.
Another important item from those caches is a Restored Coffer Key for the Bountiful Delve chests. These chests also include gear rewards, but we recommend saving them for Season 1, as you can get a limited amount of these keys per week.
- Spreading the Light. This event takes place in Hallowfall. The only requirement to participate is Lv. 80 of your character. This is the first event you can do if you don’t have the necessary Renown. It is especially great to get gear for those who just finished the Main Campaign. The reward for completing the main objective is a Radiant Cache. It includes a piece of Adventurer gear with a chance to grant a Veteran one, 50 Valorstones, a single Restored Coffer Key, and 5 Carved Harbinger Crests. Each additional objective completed grants an extra Lamplighter Supply Cache, 200 Resonance crystals, and some reputation with Hallowfall Arathi.
- Theater Troupe. This event takes place in the Dornogal, on the Isle of Dorn. In this event players have to help the theater hands with the play, completing various interactive objectives. The reward for that is a Theater Troupe’s Trove. Like the other weekly World Events, it contains gear, a Key for Bountiful Delve chest, currency, and reputation. An additional reward, based on the crowd’s approval grants a bag with extra currencies.
- Awakening the Machine. This event takes place in Gundagaz, Ringing Deeps. It requires you to have Renown 3 with The Assembly of the Deep. This one is more combat-oriented as the goal is to protect an NPC from waves of mobs that become harder. Successfully completing the event grants Awakened Mechanical Cache. It includes similar rewards to other Weekly Event chests but also has a low chance of dropping a rare mount.
Doing Weekly Events is a great way to farm gear for Preseason. It also helps to prepare for further gearing when the Season actually starts.
Crafted gear
Another option that is on the table, but it’s the least accessible one. There are good pieces of gear one can craft, but it requires time and money. This is more of an option for either rich players or self-sufficient crafters. If you’re not a crafter yourself, you can ask Guild members, your friends or commission other players to craft you the desired piece of gear.
If you decide to go this route, you should use some Wethered Harbinger Crests to get a Nascent Weathered Harbinger Crest. These can be enchanted for later use in crafting Rare (blue) recipes, increasing the item level of the resulting gear up to 590. Adding on top of that Sparks of Omen, which are granted for doing a weekly quest, you can raise the item level of Epic (Purple) recipes even higher to iLvl 606. You can upgrade such crafted gear further if you plan to do high-end content, with crests from Season 1 for even better item levels. So, crafted gear is a nice option for those who can afford it.
The War Within gearing guide for Season 1
When Season 1 finally begins, all the other gear tracks will become available for players. All the previous methods will still be viable, and some even better. For example, Heroic Dungeons will start to drop Adventurer 4/8 gear. But there are other new options for gearing in The War Within.
World bosses
In total 4 bosses around The War Within zones will become available with the start of the season. Each has a chance to drop an iLvl 603 piece of Champion gear.
Bountiful Delves
Even though we mentioned such Delves earlier, there is a way to get better gear from them. As the amount of keys to Bountiful Chests has a weekly limit, we advise you to save as many of these keys as you can during the Preseason. That way you can get better rewards from the high-tier Delves. Starting from Tier 8, they are dropping Champion 3/8 gear, so this is where your keys should go.
Mythic+ Dungeons
Now that is definitely not the easiest, but one of the two primary ways to get stronger gear in Season 1. We are talking about items with Hero. The rewards for completing Mythic+ dungeons increase with the key level. Starting with Keystone 2, you already get Champion items, and from 7 you begin to get Hero ones.
Of course, one must consider that Mythic+ became harder. The current key 7 is roughly equal to the old key 17. To consider Mythic+ dungeons as the primary way of gearing, one needs a strong coordinated group of players.
Raids
Raids are the second way to get gear beyond Champion track, and the only content that drops Myth track items. As Raids have different levels of difficulties, they cover the gearing range nicely. By doing raids you can prepare for more challenging challenges.
- LFR. iLvl 584–600.
- Normal. iLvl 597–613
- Heroic. iLvl 610–626
- Mythic. 623–639
The Great Vault
This awesome feature awards you extra gear options each week for just playing the game. All you have to do is to meet specific quotas to unlock additional pieces for choosing. You can only pick one per week. There are 3 categories, and each can add 3 items to your weekly selection.
- Raids. Requires you to defeat 2/4/6 raid bosses.
- Dungeons. Requires you to complete 1/4/8 dungeons.
- World. Requires you to complete 3/6/16 Delves or World activities.
What is great is that the maximum item level of the gear you can receive through the Vault can be higher than anything dropped in related categories. For example, the highest iLvl for Delves is 603 Champion 3/8, but in the Vault you can get 616 Hero 3/6.
The item level depends on the difficulty/tier/key level of completed activities. The higher they are, the better the item level will be.
Gear upgrades
As you noticed through our guide, we often mention a gear track and a number, like Veteran 1/8. The Veteran means the item level range, while the number is where this piece of gear is within that range. Both Veteran and Champion gear pieces may be iLvl 603, but Champion gear will be better as it can be upgraded to 619. While the Veteran’s limit is 610.
You can upgrade your gear using special currency, Harbinger Crests. These are rewarded for clearing various content.
- Weathered. Used to upgrade Adventure and Veteran gear. You can receive them from World Quests, Outdoor Treasures, Delves, Heroic Dungeons, and LFR Raid.
- Carved. Used to upgrade Veteran and Champion gear. You can receive them from Weekly World Events, World Bosses, Mythic Dungeons, Mythic+ Key 1–3, and the Normal Raid.
- Runed. Used to upgrade Champion and Hero gear. You can receive them from Mythic+ Key 4–8 and Heroic Raid.
- Gilded. Used to upgrade Hero and Myth gear. Mythic+ Key 9+ and Mythic Raid.
The War Within gearing recommendations
We have the following The War Within gearing recommendations for Preseason.
- Do World Weekly Quests to accumulate Renown, Keys for Bountiful Delve coffers, and a chance to get Veteran gear.
- Buy 3 Renown rewards when you reach the necessary level.
- Farm Heroic dungeons to get the gear for the rest of the slots.
- Use Weathered crests to upgrade your Adventurer and Veteran gear.
As alternatives, you can consider the following.
- Get the Adventurer gear from Tier 1–3 Bountiful Delves. Faster than Heroic spam. The drawback is that it spends precious keys you can use later when the Season starts.
- Buy and upgrade Explorer gear from AH. This may require some Valor Stones farming. Still a decent and easy way for those who don’t plan to optimize in Preseason.
- Craft gear using Weathered crests to buy enhancing reagents for crafting. For those who have professions, or crafter friends, or a lot of money to afford commissions.
With the start of Season 1, there will be new possibilities to gear characters in The War Within. Your goal should be Champion gear. We recommend going for high-tier Bountiful Delves, using your accumulated keys to open the rewards. Delves are easier to do, as they can be done solo or just with a friend or two.
With full Champion gear, you can consider going for higher Mythic+ keys or Heroic/Mythic Raid to get yourself Hero and Myth items.
And do not forget to check your weekly Great Vault!
Conclusion
And this is it for WoW The War Within gearing guide. We hope it provided some insight into The War Within gearing. As you’ve seen, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, but we hope the information above can prove useful on your gearing journey. With this, we wish you luck and better drops, as you prepare your character for epic encounters WoW has to offer. Happy hunting!
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