In Season 2 of The War Within, there’s a new upgrade currency in town — Undermine Crests. Together with Valorstones, they’re essential for improving your gear. If you played Season 1, you might remember Harbinger Crests — well, this is their fresh new replacement. There are four different types of Undermine Crests, and how you get them (and what they’re worth) depends on which type you’re after.
This guide is all about helping you get your hands on Undermine Crests in Season 2 of The War Within. Some farming methods won’t be a walk in the park — especially if you’re aiming for the higher-tier Gilded Undermine Crest. This is where our PROs can step in and help you hit the weekly Crest cap in no time!
Gear upgrades in The War Within’s second season wouldn’t be possible without Undermine Crests — they’re the core materials you’ll need to push your items to higher levels. The crests themselves aren’t all the same: each type connects to a different kind of content and fits into its own spot within the overall gearing process.
Important aspects about Undermine Crests in Season 2:
Up next, we’re breaking down every way you can collect Undermine Crests in Season 2 of The War Within. Different types of content reward different crests, and each type plays its own role in upgrading your gear to certain item levels. Let’s dive into all the ways you can farm Undermine Crests this season:
Right now, the top sources for farming Undermine Crests are Mythic+ dungeons and the Liberation of Undermine raid. These two activities are where you’ll find the rarest crests, like the coveted Gilded Undermine Crest — but they won’t come easy. To get there, you’ll need to work your way up through progressively tougher content until you reach the highest tiers, where crests for item level 662 and beyond are up for grabs.
If you’re looking to farm Undermine Crests in The War Within, Mythic+ dungeons are a solid place to start. The higher the key, the better the crests you’ll walk away with. Stick with Mythic+ as your main focus, and you’ll slowly end up with a nice stockpile of upgrade materials along the way. Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect to earn:
If, for some weird reason, you'll need the Weathered Crests, you can obtain them from Season 2 Heroic Dungeons.
The Liberation of Undermine raid is another solid source of Undermine Crests, with the type of crest you get depending on the difficulty. At the top end, Mythic bosses drop Gilded Undermine Crest, while Raid Finder offers the more common the Weathered Crests. Here’s a quick look at what kind of crests every Liberation of Undermine difficulty drops:
Delves are another reliable source of Undermine Crests, and just like with dungeons, the higher the tier, the better the rewards. If you’re into smaller-scale solo PvE content, this might be the perfect fit for you. Here’s what you can look forward to:
While completing Delves at Tier 4 and above, don't forget to use Delver's Bounties to generate additional loot, including the precious Undermine Crests.
If you prefer open-world content, doing weekly Outdoor Activities are another option to farm crests. Although this method is way way slower than not just Mythic+ and Raids, but also Delves.
You will get the Weathered Crests from skyriding races, one-time Renown rewards and doing dailies and other world activities. To get Carved Undermine Crest you can also do Spreading the Light, Theater Troupe, Awakening the Machine and other events that drop caches upon completion. But once again, the amount of Crests from this kind of activities is very low.
Enchanted Undermine Crests work a bit differently from regular crests — they’re specifically used to upgrade crafted gear to highest item levels. However, you can’t just farm them like normal crests. Instead, they have to be created through the Enchanting profession.
If you want to craft Enchanted Undermine Crests yourself, you’ll need to level up your Khaz Algar Enchanting skill first. But don’t worry if you’re not an Enchanter — you can alwasy place a Crafting Order.
What makes Enchanted Crests such a big deal? Simple — they’re the only way to boost crafted gear all the way to top-tier item levels in The War Within Season 2. If you’re aiming for BiS gear in Season 2, you’ll need Enchanted Gilded Undermine Crest to take your crafted items to the absolute max ilvl.
As always, Enchanted Crest recipe always starts with a Nascent version of that Crest. For example, crafting an Enchanted Weathered Undermine Crest will require 1 Nascent Weathered Undermine Crest, along with a few extra reagents (which are cheap and easy to buy on Auction House).
Here’s the amount of crests required to craft Enchanted Undermine Crests:
Blizzard continues to slow down PvE gearing by placing a very high x90 Gilded Undermine Crest requirement for Nascent Gilded Undermine Crest, which is very much needed to fill in the usual 2-3 gear slots with crafted items.
