How to best farm Anima in World of Warcraft? Our guide provides you with valuable tips and tricks for the coveted resource of the Shadowlands.
In WoW: Shadowlands, there is a lot for players to do. One of the biggest and long-term activities is collecting Anima to unlock countless rewards. Our guide will show you how to collect Anima particularly easily and what things you should consider.
What will you learn in this guide? This article aims to provide you with some skills and tips. You will learn:
- How to farm Anima as efficiently as possible.
- What repeatable sources of Anima exist.
- Which addons are helpful when farming Anima.
- How to avoid unnecessary Anima expenditures.
- How to set motivating, achievable Anima goals.
What is Anima used for? Essentially, one must realize that Anima in WoW: Shadowlands is largely an optional resource. While you do need it in small quantities for a weekly quest or to upgrade the Covenant sets, which primarily benefits twinks.
However, fundamentally, Anima is a currency that is primarily necessary for cosmetic rewards from many vendors. Almost all purchasable items are not necessary for character progression and are just optional fun.
Tips before farming Anima
Before you start farming, you should make a few preparations. In the long run, this saves time and results in less frustration.
Helpful addons: Generally, no addons are needed to farm Anima efficiently. However, the tool “World Quest Tracker” can be helpful. It lists all active world quests, allowing you to see at a glance where there are currently any Anima rewards to be earned. This saves a few seconds that you would otherwise spend manually scanning the map. Furthermore, having such an overview is simply practical, and once you get used to it, you won’t want to miss it.
You can download the World Quest Tracker addon directly from Curseforge.
Activate War Mode – and always: War Mode is the PvP mode of World of Warcraft and can only be activated in Orgrimmar (Horde) or Stormwind (Alliance). However, you can deactivate it in any peaceful zone, should it become bothersome. For effective Anima farming, War Mode is essential. Depending on the region, you receive an additional 10% to 30% Anima from world quests. Even a small bonus of 10% adds up significantly over time. After all, it massively reduces your farming time when you get an extra 1,000 Anima “on top” for farming 10,000 Anima.
In many cases, hardly any PvP takes place in War Mode, and players pass by each other “peacefully”.
If you do have too much stress in War Mode from PvP actions, you can temporarily deactivate it. However, it’s better to get used to completing quests with War Mode activated.
Repeatable sources of Anima
The most Anima can be obtained from repeatable sources. These are missions or treasures that you can complete or open daily or at certain intervals. These include:
- All content in Korthia
- World quests
- Daily quests
- Weekly quests
- Special event quests
- Treasures
- Rare enemies (Rare Mobs)
Anima in Zereth Mortis
In Zereth Mortis, the endgame area of Patch 9.2 and 9.2.5, the same rules apply as further down for Korthia. Here, you can earn absurd amounts of Anima in a relatively short time just by completing daily quests, defeating rare enemies, or opening treasure chests. The special thing about the treasure chests here is that they don’t have a daily limit, so you can open many of them infinitely.
However, note that you must unlock flying in Zereth Mortis separately.
Anima in Korthia
With Patch 9.1, collecting Anima in WoW: Shadowlands has drastically changed. While all other sections of this guide still remain fundamentally valid, there is one source of Anima that stands out above the rest: Korthia.
The new area Korthia is located in the Maw and is unlocked during the questline of Patch 9.1.
In Korthia, you will be practically flooded with Anima. Whether through daily quests, (daily) treasures scattered all over the area, or countless rare enemies.
Anyone who completes “everything” in Korthia in a single day can easily go home with 4,000 to 5,000 Anima after about 90 minutes.
Even if you only sporadically explore Korthia, you can still easily get 1,500 to 2,000 Anima within about 45 minutes.
If you want to efficiently farm Anima, Korthia is currently the place to be. Nowhere else is there more and easier Anima.
This is especially lucrative because almost everything in Korthia also grants additional rewards such as equipment, transmog, twink equipment, and reputation. Anima here is more of a “byproduct” that ends up in your inventory.
So if you only have a few minutes or an hour each day and want to collect Anima: Head to Korthia. Nowhere else can you find more Anima.
What is the best way to approach Korthia? Basically, it’s simple. Take all available daily quests in the camp and then simply set off to complete them. However, you should constantly keep an eye on the chat, as the appearance of most rare enemies is announced with an emote or another sentence in the chat. Then just open your map and look for a star – that’s where the rare enemy is. Ride over quickly, as many players are likely already pounding on the rare enemy.
If you want to travel especially quickly in Korthia, we recommend this whistle – it’s an essential toy for fast travel.
Anima in the rest of the Shadowlands
If you have completed Korthia for the day, there are still many other ways to maximize your Anima income.
Anima from World Quests
World quests are missions available from level 60 that appear all over the Shadowlands. You can see them on the world map in advance. New world quests appear roughly every 6 hours, while old quests rotate out of the game. World quests typically remain active for between 24 and 72 hours before they disappear. The only exception here is the PvP world quest, which changes locations every 6 hours.
Some world quests reward Anima. They grant badges that award 35 Anima upon completion. As a reward, there are always between 1 and 4 of these badges, so between 35 Anima and 140 Anima. If you have little time, you should only complete missions that grant 3 or 4 of these badges to maximize yield for minimal effort.
Generally speaking, longer world quests are always worth it if they grant 4 Anima badges. Even if you are busy for a while, the yield is worth the Anima.
Elite world quests, which take place in the respective elite area of a zone, also have a high chance of offering 250 Anima as a reward. These quests are therefore particularly lucrative and should be prioritized. Usually, you can simply find players in groups looking to complete these quests. Together with the war mode bonus, these quests yield around 300 Anima.
If you have already reached glory level 47, these quests are even more lucrative – as they then grant double the reward, meaning 2 badges for 250 Anima each.
By the way: You should also complete quests that grant you media for your class. Once you have unlocked all media, world quests then have a good chance of offering Anima as a reward instead of media.
Daily Quests
Currently, there are only a few daily missions. One of them is “Bet on Yourself” from Maldraxxus. You can accept it every day east of the arena after completing the questline. The mission asks you to defeat a specific enemy in the arena and rewards you with 105 Anima every day.
This is particularly lucrative when the arena world quest is also active and also grants Anima. This way, you can kill two birds with one stone.
Aside from this quest, there are other daily missions that are tied to your covenant and do not always grant Anima. Night Fae, for example, can talk to the mushroom Marasmius and receive up to three daily missions. However, these do not always grant Anima.
Weekly Quests
Weekly dungeon quests can be obtained in Oribos at the inn. There are 2 missions for different dungeons every week. The quests grant reputation and both reward 5x 35 Anima each, totaling 350. Since the quests can be completed on any difficulty (Normal, Heroic, Mythic, Mythic+), this will likely be done “in passing” by PvE players.
Other weekly quests are likely to be of interest primarily to PvP players. At the PvP vendors in Oribos, you can accept different quests that vary each week. Usually, you need to complete a specific type of PvP, which can involve arena fights, battlegrounds, or heroics. Sometimes you only need to earn honor, while in other cases, you have to win.
The quests reward Anima between 250 and 500. The time investment for that is relatively high, as you have to win many battles.
So this is only worth it for players who enjoy PvP. If you’re only forcing yourself for Anima, you might quickly become frustrated and should rather avoid these quests.
Both PvP quests and dungeon quests become significantly more attractive starting at glory level 73, as the amount of rewards received increases significantly then.
Special Event Quests
In WoW, there are regularly special bonus events. The world quest bonus week is particularly interesting. There is an overarching quest that you can pick up in Oribos or directly from the adventure guide. This big quest wants you to complete 20 world quests over the course of a week, rewarding you with an additional 750 Anima. A large amount for players who complete 2-3 world quests daily to refresh their Anima reserves.
Just check the calendar every Wednesday to see which bonus event is currently active. The next World Quest event starts on July 28, 2021.
Treasures
Numerous treasures in the Shadowlands can be looted anew every day, in all 4 zones. Usually, you only get small amounts of Anima here, typically in the form of badges that grant 5 Anima. A treasure yields between 0 and 6 of these badges, amounting to up to 30 Anima – in rare cases even more.
As a reliable source for Anima, treasures are not worth it. However, if you happen to be “nearby”, you can certainly pick up the treasure. However, you shouldn’t expect a significant Anima yield here.
Rare Enemies (Rare Mobs)
Like treasures, rare enemies are available daily and can be fought again each day. They can also leave small amounts of Anima, usually between 5 and 35.
The pure yield is not worth it here. However, it can be lucrative if you want to farm rare enemies anyway, perhaps because you want additional rewards from them, such as mounts, toys, or pets. It’s not worth specifically hunting rare enemies just for the Anima.
Dungeons and Raids
Bosses in dungeons and raids can also leave Anima behind, although in very small amounts. Since February 9, there is more Anima from difficult dungeons – depending on the level, 35, 70, or 105. Anima from raids has also been increased, as each boss drops between 105 and 175 Anima, which makes weekly farming quite worthwhile.
One-Time Sources
Apart from all the repeatable sources, there are also a few unique quests that can only be completed once. For example, there is a dungeon quest for the Theater of Pain that rewards 750 Anima once. Other dungeons also have such quests that you unlock throughout the areas and can complete at max level.
For completing Castle Nathria, you even receive 1,250 Anima when you loot Remornia from Denathrius.
Even though these quests can only be completed once, they provide a nice boost that you should take advantage of on your character.
Covenant Sanctum brings more Anima
Blizzard has integrated a series of new achievements into the game in the course of Patch 9.0.5, which further increases your Anima gain. To do this, it is necessary to upgrade your Covenant Sanctum as evenly as possible.
What kind of bonuses are there? Depending on how far you have upgraded your buildings in the Covenant Sanctum, you receive new achievements. These achievements increase the amount of Anima rewards gained from most sources (world quests, treasures, table missions, Mythic+, and raid bosses) by 1 per level.
This means:
- All buildings at level 1: Anima badges +1
- All buildings at level 2: Anima badges +2
- All buildings at level 3: Anima badges +3
In plain terms: A world quest that used to give only 1 badge (35 Anima) can give up to 4 badges (140 Anima) at a fully upgraded sanctum. World quests that previously rewarded 4 badges (140 Anima) can rise to up to 7 badges (245 Anima).
In the long and medium term, it is therefore extremely advisable to upgrade the Covenant Sanctum, as the bonuses increase your Anima income by 25% to 300%, depending on the quest!
Note that the bonus only applies to quests and content that inherently already grant Anima. World quests that promise gold as a reward do not provide additional Anima badges.
How should one proceed? To quickly get the most benefit from collecting Anima from achievements, you should upgrade the Covenant Sanctum evenly. First, bring all 4 buildings to level 1 before upgrading them to level 2 and then to level 3. Only then should you upgrade your specific Covenant feature to level 5.
Avoid unnecessary Anima costs
To come out ahead in farming Anima, you should also consider a number of game content that consumes large amounts of Anima. If you are inattentive here, you can waste several thousand Anima without any real benefit. These traps of Anima costs should be avoided. If you can, never spend Anima on the following things:
Healing adventurers at the adventure table: When you send your followers and adventurers on missions, they will inevitably get injured or defeated. With just two clicks, you can spend Anima to heal them instantly. However, you should never utilize this. Full healing can cost between 2,000 and 3,000 Anima.
Instead, just wait. The adventurers heal themselves over time. Let your heroes rest for 12-24 hours, and they will be back in tip-top shape – completely without spending valuable Anima.
Avoid expensive missions: Completing adventure missions can also cost valuable Anima. Generally, it is:
- Normal missions cost 10 Anima.
- Rare missions (silver dragon) cost 25 Anima.
- Elite missions (gold dragon) cost 50 Anima.
Additionally, there are small increases when you add troops. Avoid rare and elite missions while saving Anima. You should only accept normal missions if they offer Anima as a reward. If you do this, you will even come out ahead in Anima during the adventures!
Avoid upgrades if unnecessary: This is generally self-explanatory, but it should be mentioned again. You can spend Anima on two types of upgrades.
On the one hand, you can upgrade the Covenant set to item level 197. This is only worth it if you want to equip second characters or otherwise do not play any PvE or PvP content. Then it’s a worthwhile investment that can speed up farming Anima in the long run. Because with better equipment, you will also complete world quests faster.
The second type of upgrade involves the various buildings in your Covenant Sanctum. These consume large amounts of Anima. A single upgrade costs between 1,000 and 15,000 Anima. This is an investment that you should think carefully about.
Generally, it is not necessary to completely upgrade the Covenant Sanctum. Almost everything here is purely cosmetic, with few exceptions, such as a portal directly to Oribos. However, every player should consider upgrading because since April, there is a nice Anima bonus when evenly upgrading your sanctum (see above).
Setting Goals for Motivation
One of the big advantages and at the same time the biggest disadvantages is the sheer amount of items that can be purchased with Anima. Depending on the covenant and class, there are about 300 different objects available to purchase. This can seem overwhelming and hinder motivation.
Therefore, you should set small, achievable goals for yourself and work through them step by step.
Choose what you want to buy first with your Anima. Maybe it’s a specific transmog set, an upgrade for a Covenant building, or a fancy mount.
It is much better for motivation to set small goals that can be achieved in the near future. You will see that you can fulfill your Anima objectives much easier if you think in small steps and keep cashing in small rewards.
Ultimately, you should realize that Anima is a long-term resource. It has been designed by Blizzard in such a way that you probably always have something you can buy with Anima throughout the duration of the Shadowlands expansion. If you really want to have everything, you should plan a lot of time and think carefully about how to proceed.
Are you still farming Anima? Do you have more tips and tricks on how to obtain the resource?
