Quickly reaching the maximum level in World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is useful for new players and veterans alike. With the tips from MeinMMO, you’ll find the leveling phase easier.
Leveling faster in WoW: There are many reasons to level a new character in WoW. Whether you need a twink for professions, raids, or PvP, want to play allied races, or are starting anew, it’s always useful to know how to quickly get your character to the maximum level.
If you return, you might wonder what has happened to your characters, as Shadowlands introduced a level squish. Instead of leveling to 120 like in BfA, you now only level up to level 60 in the new expansion.
MeinMMO provides you with a practical guide to help you easily and quickly reach the new max level.
This article was originally published on July 4, 2018, and was updated on November 27, 2020, for the level squish and Shadowlands.
From 1-60 – WoW Level Guide in English
The journey from character creation has become significantly faster with the new expansion Shadowlands. If you put in the effort, you can even go from level 1 to the new level 60 within a day.
There are many different ways to level a character. We show you how to use these options effectively.
Leveling Tips for Beginners
The Boost: If you purchase the new expansion Shadowlands, you instantly receive a character boost to level 50. With this boost, you can immediately set a newly created character to level 50 and also receive a set of armor and weapons. The boost typically costs 60€ in the store.
Story Lovers? As a newcomer, you will generally find it more challenging to level quickly and effectively in WoW, and you may miss a lot of the game’s storyline. If you’re interested in the world and the game, we recommend you to follow your own path. You can hardly go wrong.
Main and Twink: If your only goal is to quickly get new characters to the maximum level, use this boost immediately and establish the foundations with your main character. With a character at maximum level (this will be your “Main”), you can pave the way for new characters (referred to as “Twinks” or “Alts”).
Level Together: If you don’t want to tackle World of Warcraft alone, it’s best to find a partner. You can quickly find teammates in the MeinMMO Discord and our WoW communities.
Preparations for Fast Leveling
The fastest way to the highest level requires some preparation. Preparing everything for a new character can take some time. However, if you plan to level multiple twinks, the effort pays off – you only need to do it once.
Leveling Faster with Heirlooms: An important point for faster leveling is heirlooms. Heirlooms are pieces of armor and weapons that are account-bound and can be used by any character on the account, provided the armor type matches.
The Items Grow with You: Heirlooms level up with you and thus always have stats that match your level. They may not always be the best items in terms of damage and stamina, but the armor pieces provide a bonus when you wear multiple of them, known as a “set bonus”:
- 2 pieces: Recovery is consumed 30% slower
- 3 pieces: Increases regeneration in the outdoor world, in regular dungeons and battlegrounds, when not in combat
- 5 pieces: When you reach a new level, you deal damage to nearby enemies and gain 40% of your main attribute for 2 minutes. Killing enemies extends this bonus by up to an additional 2 minutes
- 6 pieces: Recovery is consumed an additional 30% slower
Since the pre-patch of Shadowlands, heirlooms no longer grant bonus experience; instead, they reduce the consumption of rest experience. Rest experience is gained in cities and inns and increases the experience gained from killing enemies. It is consumed up to a maximum value, and you benefit longer from wearing heirlooms.
Where to Get the Items? Heirlooms can be obtained from the guild vendor in the major cities and from Estelle Gaundry in Orgrimmar on the wall (Horde) and Krom Starkarm in Ironforge (Alliance). Some heirlooms require reputation with your guild and a guild achievement – it’s best to search through the guild browser for leveling guilds and earn reputation with quests or through PvP and PvE with other guild members.
Once you’ve purchased heirlooms, you can easily create them in your collection under the “Heirlooms” tab on any character. The crafted items go directly into your inventory, and you can equip them.
Unlocking Flight Paths: To travel quickly in the world during the leveling phase, you’ll need to rely on flight masters for a significant amount of time. However, you need to discover or unlock new routes first. Heirloom vendors also have items for this:
- Alliance
- Modernizing the Supply Lines of Azeroth – Eastern Kingdoms, 10,000 gold
- Survival Assistant: Kalimdor – Kalimdor, 10,000 gold
- Horde
- Campaign Azeroth – Eastern Kingdoms, 10,000 gold
- Kalimdor, Following in the Mother of Earth’s footsteps – Kalimdor, 10,000 gold
The items are toys and only need to be purchased once. From then on, they apply to all current and future characters, making them a one-time investment.
Level Guide for Shadowlands – Here’s How
Shadowlands has completely reinvented leveling in World of Warcraft. Instead of fighting through different expansions, you can now choose an expansion via the “Chromie Time” feature and play through it to reach the starting quest for the new expansion.
Even in Shadowlands itself, leveling is different than what you’ve experienced before. As a new character, you have to play through the campaign there and have no choice over the areas. In the end, you join one of the new covenants, which will gradually introduce you to the endgame.
As a second character, you have the option to skip the entire story and directly join a covenant. This way, you can immediately complete world quests and other activities to earn experience points and work on your covenant’s progression.
New Starting Experience – The Exile’s Island
If you start WoW as a completely new player, you will play your first 10 levels on the “Exile’s Island”. This is a new zone specifically for newcomers, where many mechanics of the game and your class are explained to you.
Here you complete numerous quests, earn your first levels and loot, and experience an exciting, small story. At the end of the island, there is a dungeon that introduces you to various boss mechanics.
The island is optional for those who have already leveled a character. If you do not wish to see it, you can instead choose the leveling experience of your own race during character creation.
However, the island provides everything you need in a compact form and plays more fluidly, tailored specifically to new players. For Cortyn, the starting island is even the new favorite zone in Shadowlands.
Leveling with “Chromie Time” in an Addon of Your Choice
Upon reaching level 10, you can choose an expansion from Chromie in the major cities to level with. All six expansions prior to Battle for Azeroth are available – BfA is played automatically if you choose nothing else.
Your choice determines which starter quest you receive, allowing you to essentially play through the expansion again and level from 10-50 there. It also indicates which dungeons you are queuing for with the dungeon browser.
However, it can happen that not enough players are listed for your expansion. If you search too long, the search radius will be expanded to instances from all expansions.
Which expansion you want to play is entirely up to you. However, BfA is suitable for making the story connection, or Warlords of Draenor, where the density of bonus objectives and other extras can increase the leveling speed a bit.
Tips for Leveling from 1-50
Dungeons Leveling: Once you reach level 10, you can use the dungeon browser. From here on, it is advisable to always look for a “random dungeon”. Dungeons scale, just like the areas, with your level. Completing a random dungeon grants you bonus experience.
Important Quests: In dungeons, you will find dungeon quests that you should definitely complete. With full heirloom gear, a dungeon can roughly grant you one to two levels. However, keep in mind that a dungeon is generally only worthwhile if you can still complete the quests. If you have already completed them, quests outside of that dungeon are more effective.
The Waiting Times: Healers and DPS classes generally wait quite a long time for the next invitation. You can best bridge the waiting times by completing other quests in the world.
Warning: If you play a class that can tank but do not want to tank, do not take advantage of this option in the dungeon browser! It is unlikely that you can complete dungeons without a proper tank, and you will ultimately waste time for yourself and the other players.
Leveling through Rare Enemies: You should not only limit yourself to dungeons while leveling. In the open world, you can earn similar experience, and also have another source of quick experience points: rare enemies (“rare mobs”).
Since the overhaul, rare enemies reward you with a significant amount of experience. Defeating a rare mob typically takes only a few seconds and you are rewarded with a bit over half the experience points that a quest would provide.
Rare mobs can be found throughout the world in various locations. Many players do not pay attention to them and ignore them, so you will often encounter them. If, however, a player from your faction is already fighting one, just join in. You both receive the experience. You can recognize the enemies by their silver dragon around their portrait.
Leveling through Bonus Objectives and Items
In Mists of Pandaria, Warlords of Draenor, Legion, and Battle for Azeroth, you have additional ways to quickly and easily gain experience beyond normal quests.
Valuable Treasures: In Pandaria, you find treasures everywhere that you also need for the achievement “…is the other’s bread”. Finding such treasures grants you gold, rare items, and always a decent amount of experience.
Bonus Objectives: Such treasures also exist in Draenor and later expansions. However, what’s even more interesting here is that there are “bonus objectives.” Bonus objectives are open quests that you do not need to pick up or turn in. You enter the designated area and complete the tasks. The experience from these objectives has been somewhat toned down, but they are still worth it.
Invasions: Both in the areas of Legion and those of Battle for Azeroth, invasions (Legion) or incursions (BfA) occur repeatedly. These are marked on the map with a large symbol above the area.
This indicates that specific world quests are now available there. These grant plenty of experience, resources, and even a buff for 10% more experience for an hour.
Leveling Faster for Allied Races
What are Allied Races? With Battle for Azeroth, a new gameplay aspect was added to World of Warcraft through the Allied Races. Allied Races are new races with new abilities that join the factions and assist them.
Special Cosmetic Gear: Allied races start at level 10 regardless of their class. If you level a character from an allied race from level 10 to the maximum level without using a boost, you receive the “Heritage Armor,” special cosmetic gear that reflects the style of the races.
So far, the following races are available:
Alliance
- Lightforged Draenei
- Void Elves
- Dark Iron Dwarves
- Humans from Kul Tiras
- Mechagnomes
Horde
- Highmountain Tauren
- Nightborne
- Mag’har Orcs
- Zandalari Trolls
- Vulpera
Since Patch 8.3, the Mechagnomes and Vulpera are available. Although both races are quite well received, a popular race is missing for the fans.
Useful Addons for Fast Leveling
Especially for rare enemies and treasures, it’s beneficial to use addons that show you the locations or alert you to nearby enemies. Some addons are particularly useful for leveling.
With the useful addon manager WoWUp, you can easily manage your addons. In our guide, we explain how to install addons with WoWUp.
NPCScan: NPCScan is an addon that continuously searches your surroundings for rare enemies. It shows you the paths of rare mobs on the map and alerts you with sounds and flashing when an enemy is nearby. If NPCScan finds a rare mob, it marks it with a skull, and you can hunt it directly. You can download NPCScan from the curse website.
HandyNotes: HandyNotes shows you treasures on the map. So you don’t have to constantly check where the next treasure is that gives you experience, you can simply look it up in-game with HandyNotes. HandyNotes also adds small notes to the icons on the map indicating what exactly you receive from the treasure – this way you don’t run unnecessary routes just to grab a cape. You can also get HandyNotes from curse.
Leveling Tips and Tricks
With our guide, you already have a solid framework to quickly and pleasantly reach the maximum level. However, there are still some tips and tricks that can help you get even more from the methods.
Utilizing the Darkmoon Faire: You receive a significant experience bonus when the Darkmoon Faire is taking place. If you visit the island and ride one of the animals on the carousel, you receive the “Yippie!” buff for up to an hour. This grants you 10% bonus experience and reputation. The same effect comes from the Darkmoon Cylinder, which you can buy and consume (not stackable).
Learning to Ride: You should visit your riding instructor at intervals to travel faster. The faster you move, the quicker you can complete and turn in quests.
- Novice Rider – 4 gold (level 10): You can ride ground mounts with +60% movement speed. Some classes and races receive this ability for free. If you do not obtain the skill for free, just find a riding instructor.
- Skilled Rider – 50 gold (level 20): You can ride ground mounts with +100% movement speed.
- Experienced Riding – 250 gold (level 30): You can ride flying mounts with +150% movement speed in the air and +100% on the ground.
- Master Riding – 5000 gold (level 40): You can ride flying mounts with +310% movement speed in the air and +100% on the ground.
Enchanting Heirlooms: You can apply enchants to some heirlooms. Since Shadowlands, most gear can be re-enchanted.
Create the heirlooms on a character at maximum level and acquire the desired enchants. Attributes like strength can be enchanted on cloaks and chest pieces, while the Mark of the Hidden Satyr can be enchanted on necklaces to deal damage to enemies. The various expansions offer different enchants that might be useful for leveling.
You can then send the items to the character who will wear them – even across factions. The enchants remain on the items, even if their item level decreases.
Buying Level Boosts: There is the option to purchase a level boost for 60€ in the in-game shop, which instantly sets your character to level 50. Depending on whether time or money is more important to you, this option may also be worth considering.
Shadowlands revolutionizes the leveling experience in WoW and it’s worth it even for veterans to start a new character to check it all out. With our guide, you can quickly and comfortably navigate through the leveling phase without missing anything.
As a newcomer, WoW can be a bit overwhelming, but if you take a little time to learn the important things about the game and prepare yourself, jumping in will be no hurdle anymore. In the MeinMMO podcast, editor Leya Jankowski, GameStar community manager Marylin Marx, and WoW expert Benedict Grothaus discuss whether it’s still worth it to jump into WoW after 16 years. You can find the podcast on Spotify, iTunes, and here on MeinMMO.
