Complete Azerite Armor Guide
Azerite Armor, traits, Essences, sources and tips in one place!
Battle for Azeroth Armor Guide is finally here! Today we’ll tell you about the new Azerite system, that adds a breath of fresh air to your previous World of Warcraft experience.
Artifact System, that was introduced in Legion, had several flaws and mistakes, that could seriously hinder or even lock your progression in some way – you were strictly tied to your chosen artifact and specialization. Such system ruined multi-specialization gameplay and cause some other difficulties. Now, there is a new mechanic known as the Heart of Azeroth – it is a single item (common for all your specializations) that will level up as you continue your journey. You will find Battle for Azeroth Azerite Armor – new type of gear, that can be imbued with Azerite Infusions, that’ll unlock some special Azerite Traits. Sounds interesting? Sure it does.
Azerite Armor is a completely new mechanic, and today we want to tell you about it – so get comfortable and soon you’ll know everything about WoW’s Azerite Armor!
Heart of Azeroth – the heart of the world
Battle for Azeroth has introduced something interesting as for gearing system. There are no Artifact Weapons now (they have all gone – they were drained by the World Wound till the last drop of their might) and no Legendary Items, like it was in World of Warcraft Legion. This time you’ll get something completely unique – a necklace, that represents the Heart of the World – the Heart of Azeroth herself.
The Heart of Azeroth is a magical necklace, that will be given to you in the first few moments of Battle for Azeroth story. In future, it will allow you to infuse Battle of Azeroth Armor with Azerite – meaning, that you will unlock the true power of Azerite Armor.
At the beginning of Battle for Azeroth story, you’ll get a quest from the dwarven king Magni – he’ll ask you to go to Silithus and check out what’s happened after Sargeras hit Azeroth’s body. You will find a massive wound there – and it’ll be bleeding with a unique material, which has never been seen before – Azerite, the blood of the Titan. Both the Alliance and the Horde are now ensnarled in an exhausting war, and both sides believe that the power of Azerite is the key to final victory.
In order to receive such quest, you need to finish the Battle for Lordaeron scenario, which can be started in your faction’s capital – you won’t miss it, it will pop out automatically. If the scenario is completed, you’ll then get Magni’s quest instantly upon logging in. In case you’ve done it on your main and just want your alt ready for some new content, don’t worry – you can speak to the quest NPC and select an option to skip the scenario. Yeap, it’s that easy. It will allow you to instantly continue to Magni’s request.
Azerite will be your future key to earning Power by way of Azerite infusions while completing quests, raiding, exploring dungeons, and so on. When you collect some Azerite, it’ll be added to your Heart of Azeroth Power level – and here your Azerite Armor race begins!
Azerite – blood of the titan
Azerite… A crystalline shape of the Azeroth’s blood (yes, Azeroth is a living planet, you got it right), which began to flow out after the catastrophic events of the Legion. It’s a unique resource, that you can now claim – but be careful, there will be a lot of willing ones! Azerite is extremely powerful (so as Azerite Armor), and you need a lot of it if you want to power your Heart of Azeroth up to its full glory and might.
Azerite sources and extraction points
Enhancing your Heart of Azeroth is important for your further progression. So you will be searching for Azerite in every hole and place in Battle for Azeroth. You can earn Azerite from almost anything that’s fun to do – quests, dungeons, Mythic+ Keystones, world bosses, arenas, battlegrounds, Island Expeditions, Warfronts, world bosses, and small treasure chests hidden in different zones. However, consider going to distant islands on your Island Expeditions – it is the best (and repeatable, even more – replayable) way to earn tons of Azerite.
Your Heart of Azeroth starts at 280 item level and will acquire item levels and stats as you get more Azerite. Your necklace has a power level which is used to track Azerite points required to level it up. Amount of Azerite needed to increase your Heart of Azeroth’s level will increase drastically with a higher level.
While completing quests in Battle for Azeroth, you’ll get a reputation with a new faction – the Champions of Azeroth, led by Magni the Speaker. They are based at the Silithus camp, near the World’s Wound. You’ll get a reputation with this faction by completing their Azerite-themed World Quests, and at each reputation level you will also get an increase in your necklace item level (15 levels per upgrade).
Battle for Azeroth armor overview
Azerite Armor is a special type of armor that was infused by Azerite – and it can be awakened by your Heart of Azeroth and Azerite chunks you’ve collected during your hunt for Battle for Azeroth Armor. You can find such gear in the same places you would usually find gear – quest rewards, raid drops, dungeon drops, and so on.
Some pieces can be acquired only after completing some special prerequisites – so keep in mind Azerite lockouts that will prevent you from collecting full armor set until you reach the required level.
Battle for Azeroth Armor pieces with Azerite infusion exist only for three slots: Chest, Helm, and Shoulders, each having its base item level. There are different Azerite Rings available for each piece – and they’re unique. You should check your Azerite Traits via the in-game tools (like browsing different items in your Dungeon Journal) for more information on what you’ve found and what abilities or effects they have.
It’s always profitable to switch up your old gear for Azerite Armor as soon as you have one because that will immediately give you access to its traits and passive effects.
Battle for Azeroth armor enhancement
Do everything to collect as much Azerite as you can. It should be one of your goals for Battle for Azeroth Armor race anyway. These aforementioned rings in each Battle for Azeroth Armor piece are your key to unlocking your full potential – and getting the best results in PvE and PvP.
Battle for Azeroth Armor progression is represented by 5 rings for any piece above item level 370. Your Azerite Armor item level will raise the required amount of Azerite from the Heart of Azeroth accordingly, and you’ll need more Azerite the higher your Artifact’s overall level is.
You can select your first Azerite Trait, and it will rotate the whole ring around like in a giant puzzle – it will display your chosen talent. Of course, the higher the item level your Azerite Armor is, the more powerful it will be. Later you’ll unlock additional parts of the rings and the middle sphere of pure Azerite. Other rings will contain Specialization Traits for your class and a Location Trait, that will be specific for the zone you found this piece in. Finally, the center of each Azerite Armor has that sphere of pure Azerite — it ultimately gives a +5 to the armor’s item level and upgrades all your previously chosen Azerite talents.
As a bonus to incredibly high main stats, the core mechanic of the Heart of Azeroth is to awaken latent magic in special pieces of your Azerite Armor – and doing so unlock custom and, sometimes, zone or story-unique talents within this item.
You should also know, that your Azerite Armor doesn’t (!) feature secondary stats (Critical Strike, Mastery or Versatility) – it has only a number of Azerite Power slots. To view your Azerite Armor interface use Shift + Right-click on certain armor piece. There you’ll see a rounded interface, that will probably remind old players about previous Glyph system, that was introduced in Wrath of the Lich King.
The Azerite Traits available on each piece of Battle for Azeroth Armor are already specified for every specific item. It means that two identical gear items will offer the exact same Azerite Traits. This allows you to search for specific pieces for your favorite bonuses and talents, especially taking into account that you can check the piece before acquiring it – just to see which traits are available right there.
Your available traits depend on that specific piece of gear and on your role, specialization, and class. For instance, if you’re a damage dealer, you can choose from damage-increasing traits, but may not (it depends, really) be able to choose a healing trait on the same ring. Yes, this can make choosing these traits annoying, but if you’re fond of changing roles (for example, if you like playing tank as off-spec or a healer), you should probably have several pieces of gear for your different roles or specializations.
Oh, wrong trait! How can I undo it?
Yeap, sometimes you can missclick or simply make the wrong choice. Wrong trait – useless trait! But don’t worry – you can undo your incorrect choice. Ethereals are again here and ready to reforge your Azerite Armor! For a price, of course… You’ll want to use such a reverse feature if you end up with a useless or poor combination of Azerite talents or traits that just aren’t suitable for your gameplay. To get your “choice option” back, you need to visit the Azerite Reforgers. The Reforger can “reset” your traits and you can have a fresh start. Nevertheless, you need to spend your Gold every time you visit the Reforger.
The Alliance Reforger, an Ethereal guy, can be found in the Tradewinds Market (Boralus Harbor) in Tiragarde Sound. He looks like a purple mummy with fluttering windings and his name is Razzi the Shaper. As for the Horde, you can find their Reforger in the Grand Bazaar (Dazar’alor City). Look for a similar-looking Ethereal there – his name will be Nudara the Shaper.
Reforging starts out cheap, but you’ll pay a double price each time you use reforge. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing it with a completely new item or the same one you’ve just reset 6 times in a row – the price will continue to grow. Such a mechanic is a restraining measure to prevent you from pointless choices now and then.
But there’s a sort of respite for those, who got extremely high gold costs for their reforge – if you’ve really messed up with your traits, some patience will grease things again. Just wait three days, and the cost will be reduced by half, and so on. We can say that this system rewards you for being patient and precise when choosing your talents, in some way, at least.
Azerite, Essence… Wait, what’s an ESSENCE?
In Rise of Azshara, your Heart of Azeroth was upgraded to be a more interesting Essence system, which will be introduced to you with a number of introductory quests. These quests will ultimately lead you to The Chamber of Heart (Silithus), where you will get access the Heart Forge. Yes, you will still have to level your Heart of Azeroth up by collecting Azerite, but instead of unlocking Azerite Traits for gear, you will get a Major slot (your main Essence), two Minor slots (that require Heart Levels 55 and 65, respectively), and bonus Stamina nodes at Heart Levels 52, 57, 62, and 67, each giving a +3% Stamina boost (for a total bonus of +12%, when everything will be unlocked).
Placing an Essence in the Major slot of your Heart of Azeroth gives you both powers of an Essence, while placing an Essence in the Minor slot grants you only the Minor (Passive) power of the second Essence.
Every Essence has four ranks, starting from rank 1 (Uncommon) to rank 4 (Legendary). They all can be acquired from a specific activity in the game – and the higher the Essence rank you want, the higher the requirement it will have. The higher the rank of your Essence, the stronger its powers (except for the legendary rank – it only gives a cosmetic animation). You can create your Essence setting at any time you wish by using Shift + Right-click buttons on your Heart of Azeroth. This works in rested XP areas and during the effect of Tome of the Tranquil Mind and similar items, as long as you aren’t involved in combat.
Due to their diverse effects, Essences will be valued differently by each role and class. It is strictly advised to get every possible Essence and here’s why: different Essences excel in different environments; Essences keep getting rebalanced by Blizzard all the time; having multiple Essences will give you additional flexibility in terms of finishing any possible encounter or boss. Battle for Azeroth Armor Guide is completed – and you now know everything about your Azerite Armor.
Now it’s time to save the World… of Warcraft!
