WoW gearing guide: Fastest ways for The War Within 11.1.7
Discover the fastest ways to increase your main and alts item level in Patch 11.1.7 with our The War Within gearing guide, now updated for Turbo Boost!
Table of Contents
- Gear categories and item level range
- Solo gearing activities
- Advanced group gearing activities
- Overall War Within gearing tips
- Conclusion
- FAQ
Key takeaways:
- Gear tiers and sources: Gear is categorized from Explorer (iLvl 597-606) to Myth (iLvl 662-678), with increasing quality from World Quests and Delves to Mythic+ and Raids.
- Upgrading gear: Use Undermine Crests and Valorstones to enhance gear quality. Higher-tier upgrades require rarer Crests from tougher content.
- Upgrade discounts: Achieving specific item levels in all slots grants discounts on future upgrades, reducing farming time for alts.
- Catalyst system: Convert PvP and PvE gear (Veteran rank or higher) into Tier Set items using Harmonized Silk charges.
- Entry-level gearing: Best starting gear comes from Renown rewards, Heroic Dungeons, Low-Tier Bountiful Delves, and Weekly World Events.
- Fastest gearing path: Once you reach a higher gear level, focus on Mythic Plus pushing, higher tiers Bountiful Delves, and raids to improve item level and achieve Best-in-Slot build.
- Gear catch-up: Use Puzzling Cartel Chips to gear up quickly and efficiently.
Better gear means smoother runs, faster clears, and sometimes the difference between success and failure. To make the process easier, here’s a constantly updated WoW gearing guide packed with the latest information in The War Within to help you quickly improve your item level (ilvl).
Related posts:
In this guide, you’ll learn about gear categories, their item level ranges, and the best solo and group activities to upgrade your gear. Plus, we’ll cover general gearing tips and answer common player questions.
Gear categories and item level range
In World of Warcraft, gear is divided into different categories, each with its own item level range and specific sources. Here’s a breakdown of how it works:
- Explorer. iLvl 597-606. Received from World Quests, Tiers 1–2 of Bountiful Delves, and Normal Dungeons, Rare gear drops (sold through Auction House).
- Adventurer. iLvl 610-632. Received from World Quests, Weekly World Events, Tiers 3–4 of Bountiful Delves, Heroic Dungeons.
- Veteran. iLvl 623-645. 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 636-658. 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 649-671. 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 662-684. Received from Mythic Raid Bosses and Great Vault rewards for Mythic+ Dungeons (Key level 10).
Note:
Previously, Hero and Myth gear could only be upgraded up to level 6. However, following the Turbo Boost event, their upgrade track has been extended, allowing you to enhance them up to level 8.
How to upgrade your gear
Each gear track in WoW has a specific ranking. For example, Veteran 1/8:
- The Veteran label indicates the item level range
- The number shows where that piece of gear is within that range
Two pieces of gear can have the same item level, but their upgrade potential differs. For example, if you have both Veteran and Champion gear at item level 645, Champion gear is the better option since it can be upgraded to 658, while Veteran gear remains capped at 645.
You can upgrade your gear using special currency: Undermine Crests and Valorstones. 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, and the Normal Raid.
- Runed. Used to upgrade Champion and Hero gear. You can receive them from Mythic+ Key 2–6 and Heroic Raid.
- Gilded. Used to upgrade Hero and Myth gear. Mythic+ Key 7+ and Mythic Raid.
Once you want to upgrade your gear from the previously mentioned categories, you will need to find two Vendors in Dornogal:
- Cuzloth will upgrade your gear.
- Vaskarn can exchange your crests.
Both of these vendors can be found at the Mythic Aspiration shop, located at
/way 51.8 42.1If you’ve unlocked Gallagio Loyalty Rewards club Renown 3, you can upgrade your gear in Undermine. Look for Grit Alphadrill at the Incontinental Hotel at
/way 43.6, 50To find out more about Valorstones, Crests, and how to obtain them, be sure to read our guides:
Upgrade discount
A new upgrade discount mechanic was introduced to help with your gear progression in WoW The War Within. If you meet certain conditions, upgrade costs will be reduced by one-third. Here’s how it works:
- For any item slot, once you reach a specific item level, future upgrades for that slot will be discounted up to that level. This saves both currency and farming time, especially when gearing alts.
- Valorstones discounts apply Warband-wide, meaning all your characters can benefit.
- Harbinger Crest discounts are not Warband-wide until you unlock specific achievements:
- Weathered of the Undermine: Obtain ilvl 636 item in every armor slot.
- Carved of the Undermine: Obtain ilvl 649 item in every armor slot.
- Runed of the Undermine: Obtain ilvl 662 item in every armor slot.
- Gilded of the Undermine: Obtain ilvl 675 item in every armor slot.
Catalyst
Catalyst is used to convert any PvP gear and PvE gear of Veteran rank or higher into Tier Set items. This means you can transform Head, Shoulders, Hand, and Legs armor via Catalyst and get powerful buffs for your class.
We recommend using the Catalyst only to upgrade Champion, Hero, or Myth gear. Since tier pieces can also drop from raids and the Great Vault, it’s best not to rush and use the Catalyst on low item level gear.
To use Catalyst, you need to charge it with Essence of Kaja’mite. You get this currency at the beginning of the Season and one more every two weeks. You can also earn 1 additional Essence of Kaja’mite by completing the Master Blaster achievement.
Note
Keep in mind that you can only accumulate 8 charges from Essence of Kaja’mite on one character.
Solo gearing activities
If you’ve just hit level 80 and are wondering how to gear up solo in Season 2, check out this section of the guide first. The gearing methods we cover later will be too difficult—or even impossible—without proper preparation and support from other players.
Dastardly Duos
The Dastardly Duos event kicks off on June 3 (or June 4, depending on your region) and introduces new gear that can help you gear up more efficiently.
You can earn a Dastardly Prize Purse once per week—and even more if you run the event on multiple characters. This purse guarantees Champion-track gear, and you’ll also receive guaranteed Veteran gear from the final chest at the end of the event.
While it’s not the absolute best gear available, it’s a solid level-up—especially for gearing up your alts.
Explorer gear
Explorer gear is the lowest gear on the track, but it 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 quests, some of the easiest world activities, Rares defeating, found treasures, and can be sold on Auction House. Such gear can be easily upgraded to iLvl 606 using just Valorstones. However, you will quickly start getting better gear from other activities.
The biggest drawback of Explorer gear is its price. Since they are primarily obtained through the Auction House, high costs can be a major obstacle. However, because these items are Bind on Equip, you can use your Warband bank to transfer them from alts on other servers.
Valorstones for Champion-track gear
With the release of the Turbo Boost event, you can now trade Valorstones for Champion-track gear. Head to Agmera in Dornogal at coordinates [53, 38], where she sells the Undermine Equipment Chest for 325 Valorstones.
However, use this option wisely—Valorstones are also needed for upgrading your gear further, so don’t rely solely on this method. But more on that later.
Gear catch-up
With the release of patch 11.1.5, two new gear catch-up options have been introduced. Let’s take a closer look at them.
Puzzling Cartel Chips gear
Puzzling Cartel Chips, also known as Dinars, are a new currency you can now start earning with the launch of the Turbo Boost event. To collect them, complete the weekly quest by defeating 4 Liberation of Undermine bosses on any difficulty, including LFR. You can earn up to 9 Dinars per character. With just 3 Dinars, you can purchase any Heroic-level item from the Undermine raid.
For full details on how the Dinar system works, including vendors, quests, and available loot, check out our Dinar Gear Guide.
Horrific Visions
Horrific Visions are new instances that you can play solo or with a group, even without a tank or healer. There are two versions of the scenarios, where you fight through corrupted versions of Stormwind and Orgrimmar. You can increase the difficulty by applying Faceless Masks. The more masks you use, the greater the rewards you’ll receive.
Aside from various unique mounts and pets, you can also earn decent loot: from the Veteran Reward Track (626 ilvl) up to Heroic BiS-level gear (658 ilvl).
Read more about this game mode in our Horrific Visions Revisited Guide.
Bountiful Delves
In The War Within, Bountiful Delves are a great way to farm decent gear, comparable to Mythic+ and even raid items in terms of ilvl. This is because your progress in Bountiful Delves upgrades the Great Vault with better rewards. Thanks to Brann, Bountiful Delves aren’t too difficult to complete even solo. You just need to choose the best Brann curios for Tier 8+ Delves and farm the easiest Delves based on our Season 2 Delves tier list.
Bountiful Delves are different from normal Delves, as they reward you with Bountiful Coffers in the end. These can be unlocked with Restored Coffer Keys. Bountiful Delves scale from 1 Tier up to 11 Tier. Such Delves reward varies from ilvl 610 on the Explorer track up to ilvl 639 on the Champion track.
In order to prepare for further advanced group gearing, we recommend you farm 1-3 Tier Delves. This will help you to gain an overall ilvl of 610 and higher, so your adventure can become easier. Once you feel more confident, you can always make your way to Tier 8 and higher to receive the best rewards while solo gearing.
To find out more about Delves and their rewards, check out our other articles:
Note
Delves contribute to upgrading your Great Vault.
You need 8 Delves or World Events per week to fully your Great Vault World category rewards.
Overcharged Delves and DISC Belt
By progressing through Overcharged Delves, you will get Valorstones, Crests, Champion-track items, and the Durable Information Securing Container (DISC) Belt: an upgradeable waist item that starts at item level 691 and can reach 701.
The DISC Belt stands out not just for its item level, but for its modular effects, which can be customized using Miniature Titan Discs collected from Delve chests. Upgrading the DISC Belt further requires Titan Memory Cards, crafted after finishing four weekly quests.
Read more about Overcharged Delves and DISC Belt in our guides:
Renown rewards
The easiest gear upgrades come from Cartels of Undermine Renown Vendors. Reaching Renown 7 and Renown 14 unlocks:
- Item Level 623 Feet at Renown 7: Costs 2,600 Resonance Crystals
- Item Level 636 Hands at Renown 14: Costs 3,600 Resonance Crystals
Since Renown is quite easily farmed, especially if you are actively leveling alts through your Warband, getting these items should not be a problem.
Weekly World events and quests
After reaching the level cap of 80 and a certain level of Renown in some cases, a character can participate in Weekly World events and quests. 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, directly and indirectly.
For participating in those quests, you will receive caches with rewards that include all the things mentioned above. And even though the general item level of the gear is on the Adventurer and Veteran track, these increase Great Vault progress. Doing Weekly Events is a great way to farm gear and prepare for further gearing.
Another important item from those caches is a Restored Coffer Key for the Bountiful Delve chests. These chests also include gear rewards, but you can get a limited number of these weekly keys.
Below, you’ll find all the weekly World events and quests along with their requirements and rewards:
- 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 (577 ilvl) with a chance to grant a Veteran one (623 ilvl), and some useful recourses. - Theater Troupe. This event takes place in Dornogal, on the Isle of Dorn. In this event, players have to help the theater hands with the play and complete various interactive objectives.
The reward for completing Theater Troupe 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.
The reward for successfully completing Awakening the Machines is an Awakened Mechanical Cache. It includes similar rewards to other Weekly Event chests but also has a low chance of dropping a rare mount.
Note
World Events contribute to upgrading your Great Vault.
The Dornogal Weekly Quest in Season 2 follows this rotating schedule:
- Complete 3 Delves.
- Complete activities in Undermine.
- Collect 100 Titan Disc Fragments.
For completing these quests, you will receive Pinnacle Cache, which contains useful resources like Fractured Spark of Fortunes. These resources can be extremely helpful during your leveling.
Crafted gear
Crafted gear is another option 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 Undermine Crest. These can be enchanted for later use in crafting Rare (blue) recipes, increasing the item level of the resulting gear up to 632.
Adding on top of that Sparks of Fortunes, which are granted for doing a weekly quest, you can raise the item level of Epic (Purple) recipes even higher to iLvl 675. You can upgrade such crafted gear further if you plan to do high-end content, with crests from Season 2 for even better item levels. So, crafted gear is a nice option for those who can afford it.
Sparks of Fortunes
Sparks of Fortunes are The War Within Season 2 main ilvl enhancement component for crafting. Adding Spark of Fortunes to your Epic (purple) quality gear while crafting can increase the starting ilvl of the item up to 662. Using these sparks is essential for better gear crafting, as without them, ilvl of the crafted gear leaves much to be desired.
Recipes upgraded with Sparks of Fortunes can be viable during end-game and even BiS for some classes. To make sure which gear is best for you, check our The War Within BiS lists for all 13 playable classes in Season 2.
One Sparks of Fortunes can be made from two Fractured Spark of Fortunes. You can obtain one Fractured Spark of Fortunes every week from various activities (weekly quests, dungeon runs, raid boss kills, etc.), so make sure to complete them in time.
Great Vault for solo players
If you’re mostly playing solo, doing Delves and World Events, you can get some pretty solid loot from the Great Vault.
The item level of your Vault reward depends on the highest tier of Delve you complete each week:
- Tier 1-2 Delves give you Vault gear at ilvl 623 (Veteran 1/8).
- Tier 3 bumps that up to ilvl 626 (Veteran 2/8).
- Tier 4 rewards you with ilvl 636 (Champion 1/8).
- Tier 5 gets you ilvl 642 (Champion 3/8).
- Tier 6 offers ilvl 645 (Champion 4/8).
- Tier 7 pushes it to ilvl 648 (Hero 1/6).
- Tier 8 and up unlock ilvl 655 (Hero 3/6).
If you want to get the best possible loot just from solo content, aim to finish at least eight Tier 8 Delves in a week. That’ll max out your Vault rewards without needing to touch dungeons or raids.
Overall solo gearing recommendations
We have the following The War Within gearing recommendations for preparation before further gearing:
- Do World Weekly Quests to accumulate Renown, Keys for Bountiful Delve coffers, and a chance to get Veteran gear.
- Buy Renown rewards when you reach the necessary level.
- Use Weathered crests to upgrade your Adventurer and Veteran gear.
- The Great Vault is your key tool for consistently acquiring high item level gear, making it essential to your weekly progression. Try not to skip it. Even if you’re not running group content, you can still make solid progress through solo-friendly activities like World Events and Bountiful Delves.
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 the Auction House. 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.
Your goal should be Champion gear. 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 continuing your further gearing, which we discuss in the next guide section.
Advanced group gearing activities
Further gearing involves activities that require some baseline gear and can be too difficult without proper preparation. We recommend attempting these methods only after reaching item level 615. Otherwise, this can become a painful and even impossible journey.
Liberation of Undermine raid
Raiding is one of the most efficient ways of gearing in The War Within Season 2. Defeating bosses in Liberation of Undermine will let you get gear up to ilvl 672 (678 if you are fortunate). You can also get your Tier Set items here and even very rare gear like Test Pilot’s Go-Pack, Best-in-Slots, Capo’s Molten Knuckles, and The Jastor Diamond.
Raiding demands teamwork and a solid understanding of boss mechanics. If you’re not looking to join a guild or pre-made group, you can queue for Looking For Raid (LFR) through the Group Finder.
Here’s the minimum item level required for each difficulty:
- LFR – ilvl 606
- Normal Raid – ilvl 632
- Heroic Raid – ilvl 645
- Mythic Raid – ilvl 658
If you’re aiming for Heroic or Mythic difficulty without using LFR, we highly recommend joining a guild. These raid difficulties are extremely challenging, especially in the first few weeks after release, and are nearly impossible to clear without a coordinated group.
Here is information about ilvl of the gear in the current raid:
| Difficulty | Boss 1 | Bosses 2-4 | Bosses 5-6 | Bosses 7-8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LFR | 623 | 626-639 | 629-639 | 632-639 |
| Normal | 636 | 639-652 | 642-652 | 645-652 |
| Heroic | 649 | 652-665 | 655-665 | 658-665 |
| Mythic | 662 | 665-678 | 668-678 | 672-678 |
To learn more about the Liberation of Undermine raid, check our:
Mythic plus dungeons
Mythic plus dungeons are more challenging than Heroic ones. Fortunately, they also reward you with much better gear. Gear from these dungeons scales from M0 to M+10 level and varies from ilvl 636 on the Veteran track up to ilvl 655 on the Hero track.
Mythic plus dungeons can be very challenging and require good skill and group in order to succeed. We recommend you start visiting M0 and continue with M+2 and M+3 after you reach at least ilvl 632. As it should be enough to complete them. Once you feel more powerful, try higher Keys.
If you are unfamiliar with this type of content, we recommend that you study our The War Within Mythic plus guide for newbies.
Your Great Vault rewards improve significantly with Mythic+ progress. Here’s a table showing all the M+ reward for the end of the dungeon and Great Vault.
| M+ difficulty | End-of-dungeon rewards ilvl | Great Vault rewards ilvl |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 636 (Champion 1/8) | 646 (Champion 4/8) |
| 1 | 636 (Champion 1/8) | 646 (Champion 4/8) |
| 2 | 639 (Champion 2/8) | 649 (Hero 1/6) |
| 3 | 639 (Champion 2/8) | 649 (Hero 1/6) |
| 4 | 642 (Champion 3/8) | 652 (Hero 2/6) |
| 5 | 645 (Champion 4/8) | 652 (Hero 2/6) |
| 6 | 649 (Hero 1/6) | 655 (Hero 3/6) |
| 7 | 649 (Hero 1/6) | 658 (Hero 4/6) |
| 8 | 652 (Hero 2/6) | 658 (Hero 4/6) |
| 9 | 652 (Hero 2/6) | 658 (Hero 4/6) |
| 10+ | 655 (Hero 3/6) | 662 (Myth 1/6) |
Great Vault
The Great Vault is an awesome feature that rewards you with extra gear options each week for just playing the game. You can also obtain Tier Set gear from the Great Vault, which will definitely be important for your build. All you have to do is meet specific quotas to unlock additional pieces—but you can only pick one per week.
There are three reward categories in the Great Vault, and each can contribute up to three choices to your weekly selection. If you complete all requirements, you’ll have a maximum of nine reward options to choose from:
- Raid: Requires you to defeat 2/4/6 raid bosses.
- Dungeons: Requires you to complete 1/4/8 dungeons.
- World content and Delves: Requires you to complete 2/4/8 Delves or World activities
One of the best things about the Great Vault is that it can reward higher item-level gear than what drops directly from related activities. For example, the highest item level from Delves is 639 (Champion track). However, in the Vault, you can get 649 (Hero track) gear.
The item level of your Vault rewards depends on the difficulty, tier, or key level of the activities you completed. The harder the content, the better the gear you’ll receive.
Plan your BiS gearing
Best-in-Slot (BiS) gear is what you’ll want to aim for to maximize your performance in any activity. It offers the best stats and effects for your class and spec, making a significant difference in any activity you decide to participate.
To find out more about BiS gear and where you can look for it, check our The War Within BiS lists for all 13 playable classes in Season 2.
Overall War Within gearing tips
The best and optimal way of gearing requires both solo and group activities. If you’re willing to invest time and effort, here are some key recommendations to increase your item level in The War Within:
- Complete raids, Mythic plus, or Bountiful Delves with your friends, other players, or solo.
- Consider reaching Great Vault goals to get the most out of the items it offers.
- Use crests to upgrade obtained gear.
- Convert your gear pieces into Tier Set items, which empowers you hard if Tier Set passives are active.
- Continue farming renown to get more currency to upgrade your gear.
- Don’t hesitate to buy crafted slots if you can afford them.
- Always try aiming for your BiS gear.
And if you feel like the time resources needed are too much, you can always rely on WoW gearing boost!
Conclusion
And this is it for WoW The War Within gearing guide. We hope it provided some insight into The War Within Season 2 gearing. As you’ve seen, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, but we hope the information above can prove helpful on your gearing journey. With this, we wish you luck and better drops as you prepare your character for the epic encounters WoW offers. Happy hunting!
Which way do you think is the best for gearing out of all we mentioned? Do you plan to min-max your gear and get all BiS items for your character? Let us know in the comments!
FAQ
What is the best way to gear up in WoW?
The most efficient and optimal way is to farm Mythic Keystone dungeons. This activity has no cap and can help you achieve maximum ilvl gear faster than during other activities.
However, spamming Mythic+ runs can be exhausting, so we recommend simply combining all gearing activities to have a pleasant and joyful experience.
How to level up gear in WoW?
You can upgrade your gear by using Valorstones and various crests. Speak to Cuzloth in the Mythic Aspiration shop in Dornogal [51.8 42.1].
If you’ve unlocked Gallagio Loyalty Rewards club Renown 3, you can upgrade your gear in Undermine. Grit Alphadrill can be found at the Incontinental Hotel [43.6, 50].
What is the maximum gear level for The War Within?
In TWW Season 2 maximum ilvl is capped at 678.
How do I get better gear in WoW The War Within?
To get gear in WoW TWW, you can participate in the following activities:
– Quests and main campaign
– Dungeon runs
– Raiding
– Gear crafting
– World Bosses
– World quests
– Reputation and Renown leveling
– Weekly Caches opening
– Auction House trading
How many Puzzling Cartel Chips (Dinars) can I acquire in WoW The War Within?
You can earn up to 9 Puzzling Cartel Chips per character, which can be exchanged for up to 3 LoU Heroic or Mythic gear pieces—including chances for Very Rare item drops.
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