20 Tips for HC Levelling

WoW Classic WoW Classic Hardcore
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JOB #1: Create an Orc or Human and run your banker to the AH at Orgrimmar or Stormwind.

  1. Don’t carry more than a few gold. Send excesses to your banker regularly.

  2. The best profession combo for hardcore levelling is Herbalism/Alchemy.

  3. Fishing not only helps to level Cooking much faster for those Stamina buffs, it allows you to get the most out of Alchemy.

  4. Horde racials are far better than those of the Alliance for hardcore. The most useful ones for Horde are: Toughness, Cannibalize, Cultivation, Regeneration, Berserking, War Stomp. (The heal debuff with Orc’s Blood Fury is a deal-breaker for an alchemist melee class.)

  5. Some good race/class combos for hardcore: Tauren Shaman, Tauren Warrior, Undead Priest, Undead Rogue, Troll Mage.
    For alliance: Gnome Mage/Warlock, Dwarf Priest/Rogue, Human Paladin/Warrior.

  6. You can choose the Softcore option instead of Hardcore if you wish. In the Character Creation Screen select the Hunter class.

  7. Do not die and level to 60 - That is your goal. To accomplish this you need to manage risk.

  8. For experienced players the most likely places to die are dungeons and caves. Just sayin’.

  9. Soloing or duoing with a friend are the safest ways to level, preferably the latter but more likely the former for most of us.

  10. Keep ahead of the level curve. If the zone mobs are 33-34, make sure you are level 35-36 before starting that zone.

  11. Grinding is a great alternative when you need some xp, cloth for first aid, or more herbs for alchemy. It’s relatively very safe, a good way to get gold, (you may even find a rng blue or purple item), and it’s often the best way to get ahead of the level curve for the next zone.

  12. There is currently a bug with Wands. After you pull a mob from range with a wand, you won’t be able to attack it with a wand once the mob enters melee range, you will start hitting it with your 1H weapon. To keep shooting with the wand in melee range do this: Press Escape and choose Options->(Gameplay)Combat. Scroll to the bottom and Uncheck Auto Attack/Auto Shot. This will override using the 1h weapon and you’ll use the wand even in melee range. Note: this is not an issue in Classic and I’ve reported it as a bug in hardcore.

  13. Unless you have Vanish or everyone in your groups exceeds the recommended level, avoid dungeon pugs.

  14. Safety > speed > gold.

  15. Death is a fugazi with Feign Death.

  16. The wandering elite mobs in Silverpine, Un’Goro Crater, Duskwood and Azshara can be deadly.

  17. Deathlog is a hardcore add-on that has a map of each zone indicating the “hot spots”, ie. the areas which have caused the most deaths and the exact mobs responsible. This add-on may help.

  18. If you are using Autorun and you DC, you greatly increase the chance of logging back as a ghost.

  19. Never go afk, login your banker instead.

  20. Elite quests usually increase risk significantly. Grind if you can’t find a group.

  21. In the land where the people laugh and tell Chuck Norris jokes, death is far away. - I mean, who ever dies in The Barrens? It’s a gift from the hardcore gods. The Alliance has to survive the Redridge Mountains of Pain…and many will not. The Horde, however, has arguably the most difficult must-do, non-elite quest in the game, Scarlet Diversions in WPL. Rerolling at 16 is a tickle compared to ghosting at 54.

Tips for warrior and priest:

Warrior levelling is not quite as bad as people think, imo, but you do need to be mindful at all times.

  1. Herb/Alchemy/Fishing. No class benefits more from Alchemy than a warrior for levelling in hardcore.
  2. Get a new green 2H (or better) from the AH every 5 or six levels. Polearms are usually cheapest.
  3. Overuse your range pull and stay on the perimeter of mob camps. Charge when it’s safe.
  4. If you feel pro, Cannibalize will speed up the levelling process.

Priest hardcore levelling is straight forward. In general, you are very safe to level 25 (wand power) and from level 40 to 60 (Shadowform). The levels in-between (25-40) will pose the most risk.

  1. Go Undead. Devouring Plague hits hard and heals you for the full amount. It is overpowered, but manage it as both a Quest Boss Terminator and Get-out-of-jail-free card.
  2. Herbalism/Alchemy
  3. Spec shadow and wand your way to 25. From the AH get a Lesser Magic wand at 5, and a Greater Magic wand at 13.
  4. Talents: 1.Spirit tap, 2.Blackout…fill in the rest. Don’t waste talents in Wand Specialisation, pour them into Shadow to get Shadowform.
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You’ve got some good tips. But, with the “horde racials are better”, makes it seem like horde propaganda to get people to play horde. I prefer dwarf, to remove bleeds, diseases, and poison.

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Great tip! :+1:

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This is true stoneform is very useful for classes that don’t have a defensive cleanse. Classic does have the occasional very annoying diseases with some lasting five or ten minute or poisons that slow your character by like 25%

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Cool points … though I think +25% wand damage is the best priest talent for lvling…

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This is only true if you can’t trade. Engineering is by far the best, you can simply buy the alch pots

Horde racials are far better than those of the Alliance for hardcore

It isn’t that straight forward. Night Elves can eat and drink in stealth with almost no cooldown. Dwarves have a Bleed/Poison/Disease removal plus a 10% armor increase cooldown. Humans using Swords and Maces will straight up have an edge on everything (Granted Orc gets Axe which is huge around Corpsemaker/WW Axe/Ravager/BRD Axe). I’m not saying Horde don’t have good racials, but to say Horde’s are “Far better”, nah.

Everything else sure

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Racials don’t compare to pink pigtails.

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Lots of good tips for people. Thank you for sharing!

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People sleeping on escape artist. :open_mouth:

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Tip 8 blew my mind.

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The Silithid Pox which is like a 30% physia demage debuff for 30 minutes…

I promise I know how to spell correctly.

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Caves + hyper spawns.

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I should probably just stop reading here…

But on I go.

No racial is better than being a gnome. Everyone knows this.

Okay, these tips are getting out of hand. This is the worst advice yet.

So far the only pro tip on the list

Anyway, I decided to use the addon so half this crap is out.

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Avoid large caves. Respawn boss is the worst.

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I’ve like died in the Barrens, but then again skill is something I lack, my only attempt at HC I failed to make it to the Barrens.

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I ve been doing this for more than a decade so let me tell you what my 3 main rules are:

  1. No caves
  2. Always and I mean ALWAYS have a path to an escape route. If one other person is around questing or grinding this will screw the respawn rates and you need to be able to run. Running into respawns is not good. Always have an exit path before you attack mobs
  3. Plan for the unexpected DC or server crash…it WILL happen. If you attack that mob and DC can you survive for 20 seconds or more?

Bonus Rule
4) See rule 1

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Also I think you should add.

  1. For melee: Weapon chain is really strong if and when you can get one.
  2. killing green mobs > yellow mobs and just forget about going ham on higher.
  3. Avoid “CAVE” quests unless you’re +7 levels higher.
  4. Avoid dungeon groups unless you really know the players in them.
  5. Haste makes Waste.
  6. Horde: Tauren Warstomp is BiS if you can get it.
  7. Alliance: Dwarf Stone Form is BiS if you can get it.
  8. Best not to “go it alone” if you can avoid it.
  9. Spirit (the stats) is incredibly good if you play accordingly.
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Debatable.

Target dummies are OP for messed up pulls. Engi bombs can save your life as well.
LW is very good for druid/rogue leveling.

I know you think this is funny and witty but to me you playing hardcore instead of pvp is just what you said… it s all softcore

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Unless you’re a mage :smiley: or huntard

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Unless you run the mod. There are some achievments to treating your hunter pet better than a disposable meat shield and run away when it goes bad lol.

Be as careful with the pet as yourself if one cares about that. One of the pet achievements also has the pet death ='s delete too.

Releveling pets is not always fun if going for no revive mod achievement.