WoW gearing guide: Fastest ways for The War Within 11.2
Discover the fastest ways to increase your main and alts item level in Patch 11.2 with our The War Within gearing guide, designed specifically for the first week of Ghosts of K’aresh!
Table of Contents
Key takeaways:
- Gear tiers and sources: Gear is categorized to several tracks like: Explorer (iLvl 642-665), and Myth (iLvl 707-723). It mostly depends on type of activity like World Quests, Delves, M+, and Raids.
- Upgrading gear: Use Ethereal Crests and Valorstones to enhance gear quality. Higher-tier upgrades require rarer Crests from tougher content.
- 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.
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:
| Gear Item level | Upgrade crests | Upgrade track |
|---|---|---|
| 642 | No crests required, only Valorstones | Explorer 1 |
| 645 | No crests required, only Valorstones | Explorer 2 |
| 649 | No crests required, only Valorstones | Explorer 3 |
| 652 | No crests required, only Valorstones | Explorer 4 |
| 655 | No crests required, only Valorstones | Explorer 5, Adventurer 1 |
| 658 | No crests required, only Valorstones | Explorer 6, Adventurer 2 |
| 662 | No crests required, only Valorstones | Explorer 7, Adventurer 3 |
| 665 | No crests required, only Valorstones | Explorer 8, Adventurer 4 |
| 668 | Weathered Ethereal Crest | Adventurer 5, Veteran 1 |
| 671 | Weathered Ethereal Crest | Adventurer 6, Veteran 2 |
| 675 | Weathered Ethereal Crest | Adventurer 7, Veteran 3 |
| 678 | Weathered Ethereal Crest | Adventurer 8, Veteran 4 |
| 681 | Carved Ethereal Crest | Veteran 5, Champion 1 |
| 684 | Carved Ethereal Crest | Veteran 6, Champion 2 |
| 688 | Carved Ethereal Crest | Veteran 7, Champion 3 |
| 691 | Carved Ethereal Crest | Veteran 8, Champion 4 |
| 694 | Runed Ethereal Crest | Champion 5, Hero 1 |
| 697 | Runed Ethereal Crest | Champion 6, Hero 2 |
| 701 | Runed Ethereal Crest | Champion 7, Hero 3 |
| 704 | Runed Ethereal Crest | Champion 8, Hero 4 |
| 707 | Gilded Ethereal Crest | Hero 5, Myth 1 |
| 710 | Gilded Ethereal Crest | Hero 6, Myth 2 |
| 714 | Gilded Ethereal Crest | Myth 3 |
| 717 | Gilded Ethereal Crest | Myth 4 |
| 720 | Gilded Ethereal Crest | Myth 5 |
| 723 | Gilded Ethereal Crest | Myth 6 |
TWW Season 3 gearing strategy
The first week of Season 3 is mostly focused on preparation, setting up your characters with early gear, and farming resources to take advantage of the major systems coming on Week 2, August 12. Here’s how to approach gearing in the most efficient way possible:
Campaign Questline
Note
The first two segments—campaign quests gear and World Quests—are relevant for fresh alts or players who skipped Season 2. If you actively played during Season 2, your character should already have stronger gear and can safely skip these early gearing steps.
However, for under-geared characters, these sources provide a quick way to build a functional gear base for Season 3 content.
Doing the main story rewards 642 ilvl Explorer-tier gear through multiple quests. Although the full story won’t be available from the start, there will be lots of minor quests which will give gear.
World Quests
World Quests are active from launch and drop 655 ilvl Adventurer gear. Grab any useful pieces to fill weak slots and improve performance in early activities.
Season 2 DISC Belt
If you have the DISC Belt from Overcharged Delves (702 ilvl), equip it for a strong early ilvl increase. It’ll be replaced later but is still valuable during Week 1. It would be better to get DISC belt before patch 11.2, as with Ghosts of K’aresh you will have to develop it from the start, while currently you can run multiple Delves fast. For more info, check out Overcharged Delves guide.
Reshii Wraps Cloak
The Artifact Cloak is a must-have, regardless of your current gear. It begins at item level 694 and can be upgraded to 730, making it one of the most powerful and long-lasting pieces throughout Season 3. Make it a top priority to acquire and upgrade this cloak as early as possible. For step-by-step instructions on unlocking and upgrading the Reshii Wraps, check out our dedicated guide.
Run Mythic 0 Dungeons
Mythic 0 dungeons are available starting Day 1 of Patch 11.2 and are one of the best gearing opportunities this week. These dungeons drop Champion-track gear at 684 ilvl, making them the most efficient source of powerful loot during Week 1. Since Mythic+ isn’t active until Week 2, M0 dungeons are the top-tier endgame activity currently available.
Note
Mythic+ will open on Week 2, but the Great Vault will be tracking your progress since Week 1. That means any dungeons you run this week will count toward your rewards when the Vault unlocks on August 12. To get the best possible gear from it, try to complete at least 8 Mythic 0 dungeons during Week 1. It’s a great way to get a head start on next week’s loot.
Farm Restored Coffer Keys and Undercoins
Delver’s Journey and Season 3 loot from Delves will unlock on August 12. During Week 1, farm Undercoins and Restored Coffer Keys, but do not spend them yet. One important item to purchase later with 2000 Undercoins is the Shrieking Quartz, which allows you to summon Nemesis, a boss encounter inside Delves that guarantees bonus loot.
Don’t forget to complete Great Vault this week!
Note
The real rewards(Season 3 loot) won’t be active until August 12. Spending these currencies early would just give you outdated gear, so stock up now and cash in next week when the good stuff becomes available.
Start Zone Renown Grind
New zone Renown K’aresh Trust rewards gear, crests, and progression items. Start the grind early to unlock upgrades and crafting materials faster once full content rolls out.
Tip
The Darkmoon Faire will be available during the first week of Patch 11.2, giving you access to the WHEE! buff, which increases reputation gains. While the reputation buff is small, it’s still a nice early advantage—especially if you’re working on new Renown tracks. Every bit helps when you’re starting from scratch.
TWW Patch 11.2 Week 1 gearing priorities checklist
- Complete questline – 642 ilvl Explorer gear
- Do World Quests – 655 ilvl Adventurer gear
- Equip DISC Belt (702 ilvl) from Season 2
- Get and begin upgrading Reshii Wraps cloak (694+ ilvl)
- Run Mythic 0 dungeons – 684 ilvl Champion gear
- Farm Undercoins and Coffer Keys – save them for Week 2
- Begin gaining Renown with K’aresh Trust
All of these steps apply during the first week of Patch 11.2, from August 5 to August 12. They’re meant to help you prepare and get ahead before the real progression begins. Once Season 3 fully launches on August 12, you can shift your focus to Bountiful Delves, Mythic+ dungeons, and the new raid. We’ll cover those in more detail later in our The War Within Season 3 gearing 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 3 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 655 on the Explorer track up to ilvl 684 on the Champion track.
| Tier | Bountiful Delves | Delver’s Bounty ilvl gear | Great Vault rewards ilvl | Crest Drops |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 655 | 668 | ||
| 2 | 658 | 671 | Weathered | |
| 3 | 662 | 675 | ||
| 4 | 665 | 671 | 678 | Weathered, Carved |
| 5 | 668 | 674 | 684 | |
| 6 | 671 | 678 | 687 | Carved, Runed |
| 7 | 681 | 684 | 694 | |
| 8 | 684 | 684 | 694 | Runed, Gilded |
| 9 | 684 | 684 | 694 | |
| 10 | 684 | 684 | 694 | |
| 11 | 684 | 684 | 694 |
In order to prepare for further advanced group gearing, we recommend you farm 1-3 Tier Delves during Season 3 launch. This will help you to gain an overall ilvl of 660 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.
Tip
Delves count toward upgrading your Great Vault. To fully unlock the World category rewards, you’ll need to complete 8 Delves or World Events each week. The best part? Delves completed during Week 1 of Patch 11.2 will drop Season 3-scaled loot on the second week!
To find out more about Delves and their rewards, check out our other articles:
Note
Although Great Vault rewards don’t scale after Tier 8 Delves, you will get Gilded Ethereal crests from Tier 11 Delves more consistently. So run those only for future gear upgrades.
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.
| Item Quality | Enchanted Weathered | Spark of Starlight | Enchanted Runed | Enchanted Gilded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 662 | 678 | 691 | 707 |
| 2 | 665 | 681 | 694 | 710 |
| 3 | 668 | 684 | 697 | 714 |
| 4 | 671 | 688 | 701 | 717 |
| 5 | 675 | 691 | 704 | 720 |
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 Weathered Ethereal Crests to get a Nascent Weathered Ethereal Crest.
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 720. You can upgrade such crafted gear further if you plan to do high-end content, with crests from Season 3 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 3 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 720. Using these sparks is essential for better gear crafting, as without them, ilvl of the crafted gear leaves much to be desired.
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.
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 681 on the Veteran track up to ilvl 701 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.
| Level | Loot | Great Vault | Crest Drops |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heroic | 665 | 678 | Weathered |
| Mythic | 681 | 691 | 15 Carved |
| Mythic +2 | 684 | 694 | 10 Runed |
| Mythic +3 | 684 | 694 | 12 Runed |
| Mythic +4 | 688 | 697 | 14 Runed |
| Mythic +5 | 691 | 701 | 16 Runed |
| Mythic +6 | 694 | 701 | 18 Runed |
| Mythic +7 | 694 | 704 | 10 Gilded |
| Mythic +8 | 694 | 704 | 12 Gilded |
| Mythic +9 | 697 | 704 | 14 Gilded |
| Mythic +10 | 701 | 707 | 16 Gilded |
| Mythic +11 | 701 | 707 | 18 Gilded |
| Mythic +12 | 701 | 707 | 20 Gilded |
Manaforge Omega raid
Raiding is one of the most efficient ways of gearing in The War Within Season 3. Defeating bosses in Manaforge Omega will let you get gear up to ilvl 717. It also serves as source for Season 3 Tier Sets items.
| Difficulty | Bosses | Loot | Crest Drops |
|---|---|---|---|
| LFR | 1-3 | 671 | 10 Weathered |
| LFR | 4-6 | 675 | 15 Weathered |
| LFR | 7-8 | 678 | 15 Weathered |
| Normal | 1-3 | 684 | 10 Carved |
| Normal | 4-6 | 688 | 15 Carved |
| Normal | 7-8 | 691 | 15 Carved |
| Heroic | 1-3 | 697 | 10 Runed |
| Heroic | 4-6 | 701 | 15 Runed |
| Heroic | 7-8 | 704 | 15 Runed |
| Mythic | 1-3 | 710 | 10 Gilded |
| Mythic | 4-6 | 714 | 15 Gilded |
| Mythic | 7-8 | 717 | 15 Gilded |
Note
Great Vault gear ilvl is directly connected to the bosses you’ve defeated. For more information on how does the Great Vault work, read our TWW weekly to-do list.
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.
To learn more about Manaforge Omega raid, check our:
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!
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 3.
How to upgrade your gear
Tip
Although gear upgrades are always beneficial, it’s important to note that Valorstones won’t reset in Season 3. This means you can start stockpiling Valorstones before the release of The War Within Season 3 to prepare for better and stronger upgrades.
While this strategy will definitely give you an edge, keep in mind that more powerful upgrades will still require Crests so plan accordingly!
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 684, Champion gear is the better option since it can be upgraded to 704, while Veteran gear will cap at 691.
You can upgrade your gear using special currency: Ethereal 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. Drops from last heroic raid bosses, highest M+ dungeons, and Tier 11 Bountiful Delves
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 42.1There are additional details to consider, such as discounted upgrade costs once a character reaches certain item levels, multiple sources for acquiring crests, and more. For a deeper dive, check out our comprehensive Ethereal Crests guide:
And that wraps up our guide! 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!
Gearing in WoW can be challenging, and if you’re struggling to obtain the best gear, a WoW Gearing Boost can be a reliable way to give you the edge you need.
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 3 maximum ilvl is capped at 723. The only exception for this rule is Reshii Wraps Artifact which scales up to 730 ilvl.
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
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