Leveling an alt roster in WoW Forever works best when no character sits idle for nothing. While you play one, the others wait in an inn or a capital city and bank rested XP, and every herb, ore, hide and scrap of cloth travels by mail to the alt whose profession needs it. This matters more than it did in Classic, because the Legacy System pays one account-wide Legacy Point for each class you bring to level 25 and for each crafting profession you raise to 150. Four characters with six crafting professions between them are worth ten points before anyone reaches level 30.
This guide walks through a Horde route tested on the beta build of October 8. Below you will find which Legacy Perks to buy first, how to pair classes with professions, the dungeon chain from Ragefire Chasm to Blackfathom Deeps, and the moment to bring five more alts into the plan. The beta level cap was 30 and experience values are still being tuned, so treat every number here as a beta result.
Legacy Points belong to your whole Battle.net account, but every character spends them on its own, in its own copy of the Legacy trees. At launch a single character can hold up to 16 points in perks, so a crafter and a fresh alt can run completely different setups. The Legacy window opens with the Y key once the account has earned its first point.
On this route the first five points go into Working Overtime. Each rank adds 2% to your chance of gaining a skill point from any tradeskill, which makes 10% at five ranks. You feel it most on recipes that have already turned yellow or green: on the beta, green Tailoring recipes past 150 were still giving skill-ups with the perk maxed. Blacksmithing, the most material-hungry craft of the six, gains the most from it.
Well Rested comes next. Each rank makes rested XP build up 4% faster and raises the rested cap by 4%, and the whole plan is built on characters resting while you play someone else. It is also the way into Talented: on the beta tree Talented opens only after five points in Well Rested, so the pair costs ten points. Talented moves your first talent point one level earlier per rank. At five ranks a new alt starts earning talent points at level 5, although the total still stops at 51.
Thrill of Adventure is the alternative for classes that like to chain-pull. Each rank returns 1% of your maximum health and mana over 10 seconds after a killing blow on a non-trivial enemy, so a Warrior keeps moving and a caster drinks less often. The catch is that it does nothing in dungeons, raids and battlegrounds. On a route that leans on dungeon quests it only pays off during the questing and grinding stretches.
The table sums up how the four perks fit this plan.
| Legacy Perk | Effect at 5/5 | Where It Fits in This Route |
|---|---|---|
| Working Overtime | 10% higher chance to gain a tradeskill skill point | First five points on each of the four crafters |
| Well Rested | Rested XP builds 20% faster, rested cap is 20% larger | Points six to ten, and the first five on every later alt |
| Talented | Talent points start at level 5 instead of level 10 | Second five points on the five later alts |
| Thrill of Adventure | 5% of health and mana back over 10 seconds after each kill | Swap-in for Talented on classes that chain-pull in the open world |
Legacy perks can be refunded, but not for free. Resets are paid in gold and the price climbs when you repeat them, the same way class talent resets work. On the beta there was a second catch: points placed in Talented could not be refunded until the character had reset its class talents first, which means two bills instead of one. Pick a setup for the stage a character is in and keep it until you have a real reason to change.
Every perk in the three trees, with ranks and numbers, is covered in our WoW Forever Legacy Points guide.
Only crafting professions count toward Legacy Points. There are six of them: Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Enchanting, Engineering, Leatherworking and Tailoring. Each pays one point at 150 skill, another at 225 and a third at 300, and only the first time your account gets there. Four characters have eight profession slots between them, which is enough for all six crafts plus the gathering skills that feed them early on.
The route starts with a Mage, a Warlock, a Paladin and a Hunter. These are comfortable classes for levels 1 to 25 rather than a requirement, so swap in the ones you enjoy. The order has a reason, though: the easier levelers go first, and the slower starters come later, when Legacy perks are already helping. The Hunter is fourth because its first ten levels without a pet drag. A Druid is another solid pick, but its first twenty levels are slow.
What matters more than the classes is how the professions feed each other.
| Character | Professions | Main Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Mage | Tailoring and Herbalism | Makes bags for the roster and gathers herbs for the Alchemist |
| Warlock | Alchemy and Herbalism, later Enchanting in place of Herbalism | Brews elixirs for every alt, then disenchants crafted greens |
| Paladin | Mining and Blacksmithing, later Engineering in place of Mining | Gathers ore and stone, crafts gear to disenchant, then builds explosives |
| Hunter | Skinning and Leatherworking | Supplies its own leather for the sixth craft |
Tailoring comes first because a Linen Bag in every slot gives each character room for quest items and materials. Once the Mage reaches level 10, craft eight of them, keep four and mail four to the next alt.
The Warlock takes Herbalism at the start, so two characters are picking herbs for one Alchemist. The early elixirs, Elixir of Minor Defense, Elixir of Minor Strength, Elixir of Minor Fortitude and Minor Troll's Blood Elixir, all stack with each other, and you can mail them to a level 1 alt to speed up its first ten levels. When Alchemy is running on banked herbs, the Warlock drops Herbalism for Enchanting.
The Paladin feeds that Enchanter. Ore goes into Blacksmithing, and the green items it produces, such as Copper Chain Pants, go by mail to the Warlock to be disenchanted. Keep every stone you mine. When you have a stock of Rough Stone, Copper Bar and Linen Cloth, replace Mining with Engineering: the first 150 points are cheap if Rough Dynamite, Rough Copper Bomb and, later, Coarse Dynamite are made from your own materials.
The Hunter closes the set with Skinning and Leatherworking. On the beta Leatherworkers could also put down a Camp Tent that tops rested XP up to 5% of a level for everyone sitting nearby, which suits this plan well.
Two level gates decide how early the points arrive. On the beta, training a craft up to 150 needs character level 10, and going beyond 150 toward 225 needs level 20. All six crafts can reach 150 long before the characters reach level 25.
Some players open with Tailoring and Enchanting on the first caster. An Enchanter can craft a Lesser Magic Wand within the first few levels, and a wand carries a Mage, Warlock or Priest through the early zones. The downside is that the first character gathers nothing. Since many cloth wearers will do the same at launch, cheap wands on the auction house may cover this without spending a profession slot.
Nothing has to stay on the character that found it. Mail herbs to the Alchemist, cloth to the Tailor and Engineer, green gear to the Enchanter. On the beta each starting zone also had a quest that teaches a gathering profession before you reach the first town, so an alt can start collecting from level 1.
Recipes, trainers and leveling paths for each craft are in our WoW Forever professions guide.
Two kinds of Legacy Challenges carry this plan. Class challenges pay a point when a class reaches level 25 for the first time on your account, then again at 45 and 60. Tradeskill challenges pay at 150, 225 and 300 in each crafting profession, starting with ones like Journeyman Tailor. A second character of the same class or a second Tailor adds nothing, which is why every alt here is a different class with a different craft.
The long-term target is four characters at level 35 with their crafts at 225, plus five more classes at level 25. Level 35 itself awards nothing: the points come from the professions and from the level 25 milestones.
| Milestone | Legacy Points | Running Total |
|---|---|---|
| Six crafting professions at 150 | 6 | 6 |
| First four classes at level 25 | 4 | 10 |
| Six crafting professions at 225 | 6 | 16 |
| Five more classes at level 25 | 5 | 21 |
The early dungeons can add one more point through the Novice Spelunker challenge. It asks for six dungeons: Ragefire Chasm or The Hall of Thanes, Wailing Caverns, Shadowfang Keep, Ruins of Lordaeron, The Deadmines and Excavation Site: Wetlands. This route covers five of them, so a Horde roster needs one extra run of The Deadmines in Westfall to collect the point. Twenty-one points is more than the 16 a single character can spend at launch, but nothing is wasted. Each character spends its own 16, and cosmetic Legacy Rewards unlock by total points earned no matter how many are spent. The first two are the Replica Ironforge Air Rifle at 15 points and the Spectral Bear Cub at 25.
The first milestone is 150 skill in all six crafts, which is six points before any character is level 25. You will rarely have the cloth, herbs, ore and gold to push all six at once. Level the crafts your bags can already support and come back to the others later. Alchemy, Enchanting, Leatherworking and Engineering are usually the first to get there on this roster, with Tailoring and Blacksmithing close behind.
As soon as the account has five points, put 5/5 Working Overtime on each of the four crafters. From then on every remaining skill-up toward 225 and 300 costs fewer materials. Do not hold a character's leveling back because one profession is short on supplies.
The first stretch runs through three Horde-side dungeons in a row: Ragefire Chasm, Ruins of Lordaeron and Wailing Caverns. What makes it fast is the quests, not the kills. Dungeon quest rewards were reduced during the beta and are still large, and the October 8 build raised experience from dungeon creatures by about 20%. The rule for the whole route is one run per dungeon with every quest already in your log.
Several of the best dungeon quests sit at the end of short chains, so start them as early as level 11, in this order.
Do not plan around another player sharing these quests with you. The beta builds of September 24 and October 1 stopped several dungeon quests, and quests that hand you an item, from being shared.
Go into Ragefire Chasm at level 13 and a half or, better, 14. With all quests done you should leave at about 16. If you come out short, quest or grind in the Barrens first, because several Ruins of Lordaeron quests require level 16.
In Ragefire Chasm, complete every quest you carried in, including the dungeon step of Hidden Enemies.
Ruins of Lordaeron sits above Undercity and is tuned for levels 16 to 22. Its quests need no chains: you can pick all of them up and finish them in a single run. Three things are easy to miss:
After turning in the Ruins quests, finish the two chains in the Barrens. The Stagnant Oasis is followed by Altered Beings, which asks for eight drops of Altered Snapjaw Shell at the same oasis. Two short quests, Hamuul Runetotem and Nara Wildmane, then take you to Thunder Bluff, where you finally receive Leaders of the Fang. It is worth the walk: about 7,000 XP on the beta and one of the best early weapons for several classes.
In Wailing Caverns, four quests fit comfortably into one run:
For Leaders of the Fang, loot the Gem of Cobrahn from Lord Cobrahn, the Gem of Anacondra from Lady Anacondra, the Gem of Pythas from Lord Pythas and the Gem of Serpentis from Lord Serpentis. Deviate Hides and Serpentbloom rarely finish in a single run, so the route skips them. If you want them anyway, Serpentbloom respawns and can be picked on the way back through the cleared dungeon, and the hides also drop from the deviate creatures in the cave outside the entrance.
Keep a bag slot free for the Glowing Shard that drops from Mutanus the Devourer. It starts The Glowing Shard, a chain through Ratchet that ends with In Nightmares and was worth about 10,000 XP on the beta, and a full bag means a second trip.
On the beta the whole sequence took a character from level 13 or 14 to level 20 or 21 in two to three hours. That depends on experience tuning and on your group, so take it as a result from testing, not a promise.
Locations, level ranges and bosses for every instance are collected in our WoW Forever dungeons overview.
The rotation exists to make sure every dungeon run is done on rested XP. Rested experience doubles what you get from kills, not from quest turn-ins, so the best place to spend it is where you kill the most: dungeons and grinding spots. That is why each character is parked right before its next dungeon and comes back to it with a full bar.
Run the three-dungeon sequence on the Mage, then on the Warlock and the Paladin. Next, bring the Hunter from level 10 to about 14 and finish its Ragefire Chasm and The Forgotten Pools preparation. By then the Mage has been resting through two full sequences, so return to it for the next step. The exact order is flexible. What you want to avoid is a whole session on one character while the others sit outside a rest area.
A character builds rested XP properly only when it logs out in an inn or a capital city. Two quick checks tell you that you are in a rest area: the level number on your portrait is replaced by a rest icon, and logging out is instant, without the 20-second countdown. Park freshly created alts the same way, even at level 1.
Do not let professions hold up the rotation. If the Paladin needs more ore or the Warlock is short on herbs, move on and come back later. At any moment each character should be either gaining levels or resting somewhere that counts.
The next stop for a rested character is Shadowfang Keep, which should carry it to about level 22. The run has one objective that most groups walk past. After Archmage Arugal dies, a book on the table in his room can be clicked, and it gives you the Black Tome. Groups tend to leave the moment the boss falls, and getting back into that room later is a full extra run.
The tome is the key to a secret boss in the City of Dalaran dungeon, with better loot for levels 27 to 31. Carry it to Ambermill in Silverpine Forest and use it next to the Ambermill Leyline Focus inside the keep. That turns it into the Tome of Dalaran. Later, inside the City of Dalaran, kill the first boss, Atrexis the Grave Knight, follow the sewer straight ahead instead of turning right toward the surface, and use the tome at the purple rune on the ground to summon Lyn the Ignored.
After Shadowfang Keep, quest to level 23. The route uses Hillsbrad Foothills, but any zone for levels 20 to 23 works, and varying it between alts keeps the repetition down.
At about level 23, travel to the Zoram Strand on the Ashenvale coast, take the flight path and pick up every Blackfathom Deeps quest. Two of them are finished in the tunnels before the instance: collecting each Sapphire of Aku'Mai for The Essence of Aku'Mai and looting the Damp Note from a Blackfathom Tide Priestess for Allegiance to the Old Gods. Do both before the run, because the note has to be handed in at the Zoram Strand to open the follow-up quest. Then park the character at an inn and repeat the preparation on the next alt.
Come back for the dungeon itself with rested XP. You should enter with three quests from outside and pick up one more inside. After Aku'mai is dead, do not leave with the group: swim under the bridge and take the Fathom Core from the Fathom Stone for Amongst the Ruins. Skipping it means running Blackfathom Deeps a second time.
On the beta the Blackfathom Deeps turn-ins alone were worth almost a full level, which together with rested kills was usually enough to reach 25. If you end up short, a few quests in Ashenvale close the gap.
Level 25 completes the first class challenge for that character, Novice Mage in the Mage's case, and pays one Legacy Point. With all four characters there and the six crafts at 150, the account stands at ten points.
Ten points is the moment to create the remaining five classes: Druid, Priest, Rogue, Shaman and Warrior on the roster used here. They start with a build the first four never had. Give each of them 5/5 Well Rested and 5/5 Talented, so they bank rested XP faster and get talent points from level 5. For a class that prefers to chain-pull in the open world, Thrill of Adventure can take the place of Talented.
On the four crafters, keep 5/5 Working Overtime and put the remaining points into Well Rested. If the account is below ten points at this stage, check which profession is still under 150 before you grind more levels to make up the difference.
There is no need to push the new characters through the same content right away. Level each one to 6 or 7, walk it to an inn and leave it there. While they rest, go back to the first group and work toward level 30 and the 225 profession milestones. The second wave can then be leveled at a relaxed pace, on rested XP from the first minute.
Between 25 and 27 the route goes back to the open world. Thousand Needles has quests for level 26, and Hillsbrad Foothills is a good place to burn rested XP on mobs until 27 or 28. From there two new dungeons take over.
Excavation Site: Wetlands arrived in the October 1 beta build as a dungeon for levels 26 to 31. The run itself is quick. For Horde characters the journey is the slow part, so make it once: go through the Arathi Highlands, take the flight path there and pick up the quest for the dungeon on the way. Horde players also get Changing Tastes from Borstan in Orgrimmar and Open the Maw from a Deathstalker Agent hiding in the hills by the entrance, and the last boss drops a Titan Relic that starts Elder Knowledge.
Excavation Site: Wetlands is also the last entry on the Novice Spelunker list. If the account has already cleared Ragefire Chasm, Wailing Caverns, Shadowfang Keep, Ruins of Lordaeron and The Deadmines, this run pays one more Legacy Point. Progress is account-wide, so the six dungeons do not have to be done on the same character. Blackfathom Deeps is not on the list.
One of the dungeon quests is turned in at the Skywatcher Plateau, a hub with four quests packed close together. They reportedly reward a 12-slot bag and a trinket that increases movement speed, and the mobs there give good experience. With rested XP, the dungeon and this hub can bring a character close to level 30.
The City of Dalaran dungeon opened for testing in the October 8 build, and getting in takes preparation. The entrance needs a key, the Dalaran Sewer Key, from a quest chain in the Alterac Mountains next to Dalaran. During the beta that chain was slow, with several groups competing for the same named mobs and long respawn timers; one tester's group needed over three hours. You do not have to own the key, though. Anyone who has it can open the door for the group.
Testers at levels 28 and 29 also reported dungeon mobs here giving around 200 XP each, which is comparable to open-world mobs and well above other dungeons. That looks unintended, so check it on the live game before you build a plan on it. If you do run the City of Dalaran, pick up the quest items inside, including the book in the library, and bring the Tome of Dalaran for the secret boss.
The beta level cap was 30, so the route past this point is untested. The principle carries over: quest and grind on rested XP, park the character before its next dungeon, and switch.
Once the roster is set up, you do not need a new plan for every alt. Each session follows the same loop.
The Cozy Sleeping Bag quest chain from Season of Discovery is back in WoW Forever, per beta data. The bag is an item with a 1-hour cooldown: unroll it, lie down, and you gain 1% bonus experience for every minute of rest, up to 3%. On nine characters that small bonus is paid out over hundreds of levels.
The chain opens at level 14. Horde characters start it in the Barrens, south of Camp Taurajo, and follow it through Stonetalon Mountains, Loch Modan and Hillsbrad Foothills to the final quest, This Must Be The Place. One of the steps on the way, Stepping Stones, also rewards a 12-slot bag, which is a welcome upgrade over the Linen Bag at that level.
The timing suits this route. Level 14 is when a character is preparing for Ragefire Chasm in the Barrens anyway, and Hillsbrad Foothills is the questing zone used after Shadowfang Keep. Do not make a separate trip for it: complete each step when the route brings you near it. Student Fodder, the other reward of the chain, no longer grants rested XP in Forever and only restores health.
A few habits from the beta save hours across nine characters.
If one of the nine classes is a chore for you in the early levels, our WoW Forever leveling boost can cover that part.
These are the questions players ask most often when they first look at an alt plan built around Legacy Points.
No. Blizzard has said that the 16 points a character can spend at launch are reachable on a single character, which can earn up to 29 through leveling, tradeskills, PvP, exploration, dungeons and raids. Alts are simply the fastest source early on, because a level 25 character and a craft at 150 take far less time than a PvP rank or a raid clear.
Not at launch. Points above 16 still count for every other character you create and for the cosmetic Legacy Rewards.
Yes. They are Battle.net account-wide and available to all of your non-Hardcore characters. Each character then chooses its own perks.
No. Class and tradeskill challenges complete once per account, so a second Mage or a second Alchemist earns nothing new.
The rotation does, the quest list does not. Everything named here is picked up in Horde towns. Ruins of Lordaeron and Excavation Site: Wetlands are open to both factions and have their own Alliance quests, so an Alliance roster can follow the same loop with different pickups.
Because rested XP only builds on characters you are not playing. With four in rotation, almost every dungeon run and grinding session happens at double kill experience.
The shape of the route is clear, but several details can still change it before November 4.
These guides cover the systems this route relies on in more depth.
