We’re here in the third week of the Battle for Azeroth, and Uldir (OOL-deer) opens next week. I’m sure you’ve seen or heard about a bunch of great gear, but I bet you’re wondering, in general, what’s the best way to gear up for Uldir?
We’re looking at ways to gear up, for new characters and alts, this week as well as in weeks to come. Not all of the Expansion’s features are yet active — including those raids — and so we’re looking at both existing, active content as well as what opens up in the coming weeks.
There’s a ton of ways to gear up, so let’s get started with my two main recommendations.
First is World Quests. By far the best thing about world quests is that you can pick and choose. If you see a reward that will fill in an item slot you need, it’s an easy 10 minutes to just get it. Bam. No praying to RNGesus, no grind, no endless stream of content. The downside is that there’s no guarantee of anything you need in a World Quest; you get what’s on offer at a given time and if you don’t see anything, you gotta try another option.
Second is dungeons. If you’ve got the gear requirements to get into normal or heroic dungeons, do it. It’s the next fastest way to gear up. You’ll probably want to pick a couple dungeons to focus on to get the drops you want, so make sure you search around to find out what each boss drops for you. There’s only one loot option this expac, Personal, so at least you don’t have to fight off some greedy hunter to get the item you want. Damn hunters.
The remaining options depend on what you want. Should you finish the home quests? What about the War Campaign quests? Should you do world quests all day? What about Islands? Champion missions? Let’s now dive into specifics.
1. Get to 120. You really need to be level 120 to get the gear you need. Questing will help you get up to ilevel 300, but beyond you need to be at max level. While you’re leveling, you have the option of killing rares and doing bonus areas and world quests nearby. Should you do them? That’s up to you. Personally, I know it’s going to be a long haul to get my reputation up with everyone, so I tried to hit every quest I could. The extra boost in loot you get from killing rares at 120 is, in my opinion, not worth the time to go back and hunt for them at max l evel; flying isn’t yet enabled and won’t be for months so, whenever I saw a rare or a chest, I just grabbed it.
2. Questing. You *do* want to finish the three major quest chain arms. You’re going to want faction rep with everyone, and the main way to do that is by completing those quest chains. Plus, you need to be friendly with everyone to unlock World Quests, and the achievements for finishing the quest chains unlock other content. Questing won’t get you good 120 gear, hence I recommend focusing on questing while you level up, and then once you hit 120 try to finish up the chains as quickly as you can.
3. Speaking of Questing, don’t forget the War Campaign. There’s three easy chapters, one for each foreign zone, and doing them is quick. After that, subsequent chapters will require rep with the 7th Legion, and to get that you’re going to need to open up World Quests . Also, finishing the initial quest hubs will get you a Follower to use at your mission table, which will be an important way to gain rep.
4. Crafting. Also, while you’re levelling, there’s a few pieces of crafted gear that can get you a boost. Although there’s some very sexy high-level crafted gear, they require drops from raids and Mythic dungeons. You’re already going to be a high ilevel before you can craft those items so I wouldn’t sweat it. Once you unlock World Quests and do a few dungeons, you’ll replace all of the 300 gear you have, so don’t obsess too much about crafting gear except to fill in unlucky slots.
5. Rep grinding is also something that will take a long time to finish. There’s no need to focus on it right away, although it’s worth it to finish the Emissary quests each day to get that luscious 1500 rep bonus. Once you get to Honored (with anyone) you’ll be able to buy a 320 cloak, which should be a big upgrade at the time. For each faction, there’s one piece of 335 ilevel gear at Revered one piece of 350 at Exalted. This is true for each of your home three factions, plus Champions of Azeroth, plus the Tortollan, plus your expedition faction (7th Legion for the Alliance, Honorbound for the Horde). For me, Those exalted items will probably be worthless, since I’ll be getting a warforged or titanforged or raid drop before I hit exalted. Note that the options for rep grinding are limited; once you clear out the World Quests for that faction, you’ve got 8 hours or so til a few new ones pop up. Eventually I’ll hit exalted and I can wait til then.
6. You’re much better off chain-running dungeons. Normal dungeons drop 310 gear, Heroics drop 325, and Mythics drop 340. Definitely try for the highest-difficulty dungeons that you’ve got the gear for, and definitely read ahead. As usual, failing to understand encounter mechanics leads to group wipes, frustration, and blacklisting. You don’t want to be a fail player.
7. In addition to normal gear upgrades, you’ve also got Azerite gear. The best way to level up your Azerite level is by doing the Island Expeditions. You’ve got forever to finish the 40,000 azerite goal for the Expeditions, but practically it’s best to complete it each week. You can’t finish it more often than that, although if you dont hit the goal, any progress you’ve made will carry over into the next week.
8. World Quests can fill in missing pieces of your gear set, but WQ never offer over 330 ilevel — but you can get lucky with a Warforge or Titanforge. At some point, they’ll no longer be a viable option for gear. Personally, I ignore about half of the World Quests, focusing on the Emissary, rep quests, and gaining azerite power.
When the raids open, the ilevel chase will continue. Warfronts supposedly require roughly the same gear that raiding does, so that won’t be an option for gearing up for raids. Word Bosses will be very tough without raid gear, although they’ll be a shot at very high-level gear.
In summary, here are my recommendations:
* Before 120, work on the three faction-based quest chains and the three war campaign minis
* At 120, complete those quest chains, primarily to unlock new features
* Run dungeons as your primary means of getting new gear (310, 325, and 340 ilevel)
* Hit WQs to fill in needed slots or to work on rep
* As rep items become available, grab them, but don’t chase them
* Complete Island Expeditions each week to up your Azerite level
Once the new features open (and you unlock them), your options will also include:
* Mythic+ Dungeons (340-385)
* World Bosses (355-370)
* Raids (340-385)
* Warfront (340-370)
There are some other options for high-level gear, like crafting, but I don’t consider those good, general goals to pursue.
Best of luck out there, may RNGesus always be by your side.