WoW BFA: Leveling Guide

Hi everyone! Today I want to show you some very useful tips for World of Warcraft – it’s my huge and thorough Battle for Azeroth Leveling Guide 1-120.

If you’re doing your allied races or just wondering how you can level up efficiently, here it is – the fastest options to level in modern WoW. Get a cup of tea or something similar – you’ve got a lot of information incoming!

Leveling speed was seriously increased by devs in patch 7.3.5 because the previous system was way too long and tedious. Before that, progression was slowed down to increase the amount of time which people will spend on raising their characters, taking into account that even some experience buffs were drastically changed.

Now, leveling speed is increased by up to 40% for some ranges, and by 22% for level range 20-120 in general. It makes leveling much faster, especially if you’ve decided to do it now! Here you will find everything that can be interesting or helpful in your leveling – you’ve just found the perfect method to level up!

General Information

Before beginning your maximum level race, you should consider some aspects: your eagerness, your time, your reasons. Eagerness – to get things done fast without being morally burnout, you must want to get that level for your character. If you have 50 characters, you may find it extremely frustrating to raise another one. If you don’t have the right mood or inner energy for this – don’t start. Seriously, it will save your nerves and time, just get a leveling service or a boost of some sort.

Time – if you have two, one or even fewer hours a day to play World of Warcraft, you should also consider getting a boost or abandoning your idea. Such leveling will take a month or more of your time – and you probably won’t be satisfied with the result in the end (if you want FAST leveling, of course). Reasons – you must answer to yourself “why do I want this\another character”? If you can’t give a clear answer, then, probably, you don’t want that character for sure (and you must again consider getting a boost token from Blizzard or a leveling service.

If you’re determined, confident and ready to level up your character – well, then welcome to the world of fastest leveling you’ve ever seen (without RAF bonuses, of course). I’ll tell you some useful things that can save your leveling time.

Additional Experience Sources

Heirlooms: most powerful bonus experience source. You should easily acquire heirlooms of all types, excluding rings. If you weren’t playing during the Warlords of Draenor, or you don’t have a last-level shipyard in your garrison – don’t bother with it, it’ll take a ridiculous amount of time. A full heirloom gear gives more than 50% of additional experience. Heirloom items with Critical Strike are the best – you want everybody dead in a few swings or casts while leveling.

Enchants: get all possible or available enchants– bonus effects from enchants will allow you to kill monsters even faster.

Recruit a Friend: Recruit a Friend and inviting your friend in a group provides an extra 50% experience. It’s an ULTIMATE way to speed up your leveling – if you have a friend, who can or want to play World of Warcraft, it’s your best choice. I strongly recommend it, it’s superior!

Rest Zone: leave your protege in an Inn or in an Inn-like (try to read this sentence fast, it sounds fun) place to get the “well-rested” Bonus. To define if you’re resting, check your hero portrait and find a ZZZ mark instead of level depiction. If you still see your current level – then you’re not in the Rest Zone.

Experience Potions: Elixir of the Rapid Mind and Elixir of Ancient Knowledge are two extremely rare items with unique experience buff. In case you want to find them on your server (and even more – afford them), you can also use them. But seriously, I don’t recommend it – it’s overpriced as hell.

The Excess Potion of Accelerated Learning MUST be used while you’re in Draenor. Don’t forget to buy it from your garrison quartermaster. It can be used at level range 91 to 99, and it will allow you to get through Warlords of Draenor in a day.

Draught of Ten Lands is an item from Battle for Azeroth with a 10% experience buff with one-hour duration. Good thing.

War Mode: activate War Mode as soon as possible in your talent menu. It’ll give you from 10% to 30% bonus experience, it depends on your Faction. For Alliance, it’s almost a must-have! Nevertheless, you can be attacked by Hordies or Alliance and killed. Yes, there is an ‘anti-gank system’ that allows all players to have a chance against higher level players, but I don’t think that it’s that useful. In case of faction deficiency (Alliance, it’s our case), you’ll get a temporary call to arms buff with enabled War Mode.

Darkmoon Faire: it appears every month and has two options of experience buffs. You should use the carousel to get the WHEE! buff for 10% additional experience with one-hour duration. There is also the Darkmoon Top Hat which you can get by playing a few games, that will also give you a 10% bonus experience buff for a week. Still, it’s quite debatable – getting these buffs may take longer than actually doing some quests.

Insightful Rubellite: you can also use an Insightful Rubellite for your items with sockets for an additional 5% experience.

Guild Bonuses

It’s very useful to search for guilds that are aimed at alts or toons, especially if you’re not new to World of Warcraft. Also, try to find random people who will join you in your leveling process – it doesn’t matter, will it eventually last till the 120 level or end up after 30 seconds – leveling in a group is ALWAYS faster.

Guild Perks: There are some pleasant guild perks that you may find useful while leveling – faster mount speed, short hearthstone cooldown, and so on.

Useful Tips

Capacious bags: I always buy giant bags for my characters, although it won’t enhance my leveling. At least you won’t sell grey trash items that often!

Mount Speed: Always use your mount – learn the riding skill as soon as you can.

Food: Buy some food and drink to reduce your idle periods between fights and quests.

Hearthstone: Always tie your stone to the nearest Inn when you change your questing zone.

Goblin Glider Kit: it can be useful to get to some places when you can’t fly, but you can cope easily without it – it’s just your choice, it’s not that important, really.

Professions

Professions won’t help you significantly, but they will provide substantial chunks of experience at some point. Consider choosing Herbalism and Mining – it’s the perfect profession combination during your leveling. Later you will be able to sell your ore and herbs and earn some gold, and in addition to that, you’ll also get some free experience.

Don’t hunt for ore and herbs while leveling – just pick everything on your way. Leveling with such technique is rewarding, especially at some level ranges. Don’t forget these if you gather something during such leveling:

Sky Golem: Famous mount. With it, you can take items and interact with objects without dismounting.

Monel-Hardened Stirrups: the same effect as the Golem, but it has a 2-hour duration.

Coarse Leather Barding: Prevents daze debuff when hit on a mount.

Enchant Gloves – Kul Tiran Herbalism / Enchant Gloves – Kul Tiran Mining: Makes herb or ore gathering really faster.

Addons

Azeroth Autopilot (my personal number one)

It’s THE BEST leveling addon I’ve ever seen. No, literally! The author of this guide finished all his Allied Races only with the help of Azeroth Autopilot. 😉 It’s very simple and convenient, and it’s the top-tier solution among leveling mods!

Azeroth Autopilot shows your optimized quest path and what quests should be generally taken, speeding up your leveling significantly. Azeroth Autopilot is nearly obligatory for those, who are trying to get the fastest results in the shortest period of time. Azeroth Autopilot, by the way, has some other very convenient features – like auto-repair, auto-sell trash items and so on. 100% quality, super leveling guaranteed!

Legion Invasion Addon

This addon just informs you about the next Demonic Invasion on Broken Isles. Invasions give you A LOT of experience for the level range from 100 to 110 – a single invasion can provide you with enough experience for 1-2 full levels.

Handy Notes

Well-known gatherer-style addon. It shows you all the treasures on your map. Also, don’t forget to install all Handy Notes extensions (modules?) for all expansions!

Dungeon Leveling (15+)

You can start doing dungeons now. Obviously, to save your leveling time, you need to complete each dungeon only once. Each dungeon run sometimes gives you a serious number of quests – take ‘em all, they are very easy and useful. Always do only random dungeons – there’s a huge experience gain after the completion of the dungeon. Also take notice, that for some level ranges (for example, 1-60) this ‘random dungeon queue’ bonus is sometimes equivalent to a whole level! Use dungeon queue whenever it’s possible.

The best option for Dungeon ‘farm’ is visiting each random dungeon only one time, and then continue questing while queued for next instances. The group finder tends to send you to a place you haven’t visited yet. If you have a full heirloom set equipped, you will reach 60 long before visiting all the vanilla dungeons (if you do your questing stuff while standing in dungeon queue, of course!).

You should also know that instances differ, especially at the beginning. Some are way better than others, because long dungeons take your time, while others are almost a one-shot style. There are also dungeons that have few tasks, while others have many of them. In theory, the perfect dungeon has several quests and is relatively quick, without multiple zones or floors.

A good point to save your time – if you get to a tiered or giant instance, especially that you’ve already finished, leave. It will save your time and nerves – you’ll get a “leaver” debuff, that prevents immediate queueing, but you’ll get more benefit from quests during this debuff.  Believe me, it works. But on the other side, some instances are extremely short and simple (Stormwind Stockade, Razorfen Kraul, Sunken Temple and so on), so it can still be a good run if you get here several times.

PvP & Battlegrounds

It is also an option if you prefer PvP over PvE in general. You’ll get some experience for your first random battleground. But it only works if you win, yes.

Nevertheless, such leveling MUST be diluted with standard leveling and by herbs and ore farm, because you’ll wait long minutes (sometimes – really long) waiting for the next battleground.If you decide to level up with PvP, consider getting a Defending Champion – a famous Gurubashi Arena PvP item. It’ll increase your battleground XP by 50%, that can give you a serious leveling speed advantage in some PvP ranges.

Vanilla

You won’t miss Vanilla, so let’s find out the beginning of your path. Nowadays all the zones scale, and as for the Vanilla, all zones here scale up to level 60.

WoW Leveling 1 – 20

If you’re not an Allied Race, then you’ll get your 15 to 20 levels in your safe starting zone. Such places have a big number of simple and small quests, that you’ll do in no time. 1 to 20 will take a few hours if you’re a complete novice in World of Warcraft. At level 20, don’t forget to learn the first riding skill.

WoW Leveling 21-60

Whole Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms are now open for you. Almost all areas are good and convenient, but consider the following ones for the smoothest walkthrough.

Eastern Kingdoms Leveling 21-60

• Westfall
• Redridge Mountains
• Duskwood
• Stranglethorn

Kalimdor Leveling 21-60

• Southern Barrens
• Dustwallow Marsh
• Thousand Needles
• Tanaris
• Un’goro Crater
• Silithus

Outland and Northrend

If you’re not tired of red (Red… red everywhere!) Hellfire Peninsula in Burning Crusade, you can move on to it. As for me and all new players out there – skip Burning Crusade, you can get there later. The expansion itself is really bad in terms of quest locations and quest chains – it’s not worth it. If you choose TBC over WotLK, you will simply slow down your leveling. And don’t forget to learn flying (it’s crucial!) as it will increase your questing speed tremendously!

You should still choose where you want to level in – either Outland or Northrend.  But nevertheless, I strongly suggest choosing Northrend – just believe my expertise. Its areas are less time-consuming than Outland ones by all means, but it’s just my preference, I guess. You still can use the dungeon queue here to get additional experience chunks.

You can stay here till 80 – after this level, you should immediately go the next expansions.

Alternative Path 60 – 80

You may have some issues with the 60 to 80 range and may look for other options. Currently, our only other options for that 60 to 80 range are gathering and battlegrounds.

A battleground win grants 60% of a level experience requirement at 58-79 range. If you believe that you can win most of the time, you may find this option valuable for your progression. A battleground loss (an ordinary thing as for me, I honestly tell you, it happens all the time) gives only a 15-20% of a level.

In respect that, you’ll be waiting in PvP queues – continue your questing or gathering herbs/ore anyway.

Collecting herbs or ore can bring you a nice amount of experience. It’s the same in every zone, but you probably can concentrate on Sholazar Basin (Northrend) or Zangarmarsh (Outland), because most of the creatures there are neutral and have a good emplacement – you can get tons of herbs and ore that you can easily take! Farming ore and herbs will bring you approximately a level with every hour spent on such an activity.

Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria

Choose between Cataclysm or Mists of Pandaria areas after hitting level 80. Unlike previous expansion, choose really anything you want – because both options are absolutely good. Some players prefer Cataclysm, some players prefer Mists of Pandaria, and some prefer even a mix of both expansions! In Cataclysm, you probably should pay attention to Hyjal and Vashj’ir, and in Mists of Pandaria, you may like Jade Forest and the Kun-Lai Summit. These locations are the best places to play until your level 90.

In Pandaria, use your previously installed (you didn’t forget about my recommendations, did you?) Handy Notes – Pandaria Module for an additional free experience – just collect different treasures and you’re good! By the way, pay your attention to this continent and its lore – it’s magnificent! Dive deep into the river of Wisdom and calm your soul in these spiritualized places, traveler! Pandaria can give you more than you think. Believe me, I know it.

As for Cataclysm, don’t forget that all its zones have their portals in your main city (Stormwind and Orgrimmar)!

Warlords of Draenor

Draenor… It’s good if you’re leveling an alt and have Draenor Pathfinder completed. If you don’t have flying in Warlords of Draenor, you’ll just need to spend more time in this expansion. Nothing serious, but it will slow you down for a while. With flying unlocked in Warlords of Draenor, getting through the whole expansion will take only several hours! You’ll complete it within a day, literally – I’ve tested it myself and I was able to do that without any obstacles. Personally, I did it multiple times recently (yeah, allied races, you name it) and I’m glad I have my flying in Draenor completed back those days. Your future alt leveling will be unbelievably faster with flying it this expansion – so, if you know that you will (or at least there is a realistic probability) level up your other characters here – get that Draenor Pathfinder thing, seriously. It’s completely worth it. Mixing quests and big local tasks, while flying around and gathering treasures will shorten your indwelling here ten times.

Even if you can’t fly in Warlords of Draenor, don’t forget to install the Warlords of Draenor Handy Notes Module! In case of unlocked flying just fly and pick up all the treasures that you see on your map – free experience everywhere! But you should also know, that some treasures are not worth it – they can be located in a deep cave, hang in a secluded area, surrounded by packs of monsters or have an internal mini-event, that will take your time. And your time is valuable! So in case you realize you spend more that one or two minutes per treasure – forget about it, it’s not useful for your leveling. Just skip this one and continue your questing or search for other treasures – there are plenty of them in each Warlords of Draenor location.

You don’t need to gather all treasures in a certain zone – just take the most convenient and easy to get ones. As for my personal experience, you will enter only three zones on your 90-100 level range – your Warlords of Draenor starting zone (they differ for each faction), Gorgrond, and, in some very rare cases, Spires of Arak.

The same rule is true for bonus objectives – some are really quick while others are quite long or have some special requirements. You probably don’t need to do all the bonus objectives out there, but in my case, I’ve completed them all.

Oh, and another really IMPORTANT THING! Remember to get an Excess Potion of Accelerated Learning from your garrison! A free (yes, for some garrison resources, but you’ll have those) 20% additional experience flask, which effect lasts even after your death. Excellent!

Range 100 to 101 only took 10-15 minutes – I’ve gathered some treasures and completed some initial quests. The whole level range 90-100 was completed in under 8 hours – even though I was playing completely in a relaxed state. Bonus objectives, combined with some questing and treasures gave me the most intense experience boost I ever saw in terms of “casual fast” leveling.

Legion

Leveling in this section is also extremely quick, even though it may not seem that at the very beginning. If you have your heirlooms upgraded all the way to 110, you’ll do it even faster. As for me, I’m always too poor for upgraded heirlooms, so I did it without them.

Legion Invasions are a TREMENDOUS experience boost and you can always get at least a level or almost two just from one invasion! Here you should use Invasion Timer to know the exact time of the next invasion on Broken Isles.

In Legion, you can also find the same local objectives in the zone you are playing now in. Finish them as well, because the also give you a serious amount of experience. And finishing all the zone quests, you’ll find a dungeon quest that also rewards you with a massive experience lump.

As for the Broken Isles in general, you can choose any area you prefer –  you’ll be doing everything with the same speed in each, they all are well-balanced. In general, one level takes 45-60 minutes if you possess full Heirlooms, all leveling in Legion must be really quick for you.

If you ask the author of this guide, where does he start, the answer will be Azsuna. Why? I’m fond of elven spirits, this premonition of impending storm and naga threat… and Runas the Shamed. This guy is one of my favorite characters in World of Warcraft, and his phrases about Zarkenar are pure gold. And every time I finish his quest line, I stand there during his last moments. It’s sheer epic, guys. That’s the character we all deserve! (*Presses F). When I’m done with Azsuna, I go to Highmountain, and if I’m not 110 after it, I do some tasks in Val’sharah.

Battle for Azeroth

Finally, you’re in Kul-Tiras or Zandalar! Your power ascension is almost completed, hero! Battle for Azeroth leveling, in my opinion, is one of the most interesting of all the Azeroth – I really enjoyed every location and its story, even after doing them multiple times.

If you want some additional experience bonus, get your Insightful Rubellite and use War Mode bonuses.

Continue using your Azeroth Autopilot – it’ll make things much quicker. In Battle for Azeroth expansion, I suggest you questing only because dungeons here won’t have that effect in terms of saving our time. Use Handy Notes Treasures here as well. It’ll mark all the BfA treasures on your map – just loot most of these treasures while questing.

If this character is your first one, you also need all the main storylines completed in each zone, as well as those foothold dislocations for the 7th Legion (Alliance) or the Honorbound (Horde). Doing so will allow you to get your Pathfinder, Part One. And, of course, you will be prepared for the Pathfinder, Part Two! Personally, I wasn’t prepared for it – Nazjatar and Mechagon simply killed my brain at the beginning, so much grind there was…

You can go to any area you want, but there is an order that may be faintly efficient than others:

• Kul-Tiras: Drustwar > Tiragarde Sound > no difference
• Zandalar: Vol’dun > Zuldazar > no difference

All Battle for Azeroth quests are solvable by all classes. If you find a hard one (you can’t kill some elite target from the first attempt) just wait for other champions (if there are some leveling players around you), or join this quest via group finder (green eye icon). Don’t wait too long for that to happen, anyway. We do want your maximum level as soon as possible, don’t we?

Complete Battle for Azeroth dungeons ONLY when you get the appropriate dungeon quest at the end of your current storyline. Otherwise, BfA dungeons are a huge waste of time in terms of fast and efficient leveling.

Honorable Mention

Timewalk Farm

If you have an active timewalk event now, participate in it – it’s quite a way to level up. Approximately twenty runs will give you your desired 120 level (if you’re 110 at the moment).

Island Expedition Farm

Try some Islands and see for yourself, what amount of experience you’ll get. Unfortunately, they were nerfed (or should I say “fixed”) some time ago, and you can’t use the “locked experience” character in your group anymore. There’s a “Set Sail” task that can be completed once a week – it’ll give you 100k+ experience.

Professions 110-120

Collecting herbs and ore won’t be better than classic questing. But it’s a good option to distract yourself from your current activities and earn some gold – you’ll be gathering modern ore and herbs, that will be 100% sold on your AH. With a rested bonus, one level takes roughly two hours – but you can make 10-25k gold per hour, in case you need it badly.

Incursions

They should be mentioned here as well, but I personally don’t even bother doing them. They can’t be compared to Legion Invasion by any means. But yes, if there is an Incursion nearby, it is still some free experience.

My sincere congratulations on reaching level 120! You did it! I honestly hope you will discover hidden pleasure and mysteries of the Battle for Azeroth – it’s still a good expansion, even though it has some drawbacks for sure. Stay calm and keep playing.

You now have all the leveling expertise you need. Enjoy World of Warcraft – and we’ll see you in Azeroth!