Solo Guide to Gearing

Guides New Player Help and Guides
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Hello everyone!
So we are pretty deep into the expansion and I am seeing some people come back as they prepare for Shadowlands. Therefore I wanted to give you a quick guide to gearing fast since coming back can be overwhelming. Feel free to add anything helpful.

This is assuming you have nobody to play with or just prefer to solo play as I do (478 ilvl MW monk). If you have friends then mythic zero carries, etc. become better options.

Step 1: Right when you hit 120 you will want to do two things. Que up for those dungeons (timewalking if you can) and WORLD QUEST. Try to complete your emissary world quests for azerite gear at the end of your day so your item level is highest. Then go turn them in for higher gear.

Step 2: Once your item level is appropriate for Heroic Dungeons, starting doing them to get that sweet sweet 400+ item level gear, if timewalking is available do timewalking dungeons and use the currency for gear from time walking vendors. Make sure you learn the MECHANICS in the heroic dungeons so your mythic dungeons are easier.

Step 3: Once you’re around 400-415 item level go start the Nazjatar questline. Going to early will be difficult as the mobs hit pretty hard. Waiting a little will save you a headache. Get as far into the quest line as you need to so that Magni brings you to silithis to upgrade your heart of azeroth (HOA). This is an easy 50 levels on your HOA and bumps that item level up. Now you can use azerite traits!

Step 4: Legendary cloak time. Start the Black Temple quest line. First timers should expect it to last around 3 hours but it’s worth it. After you get the cloak talk to Wrathion to get a Vessel of Horrific Visions and start ranking your cloak up. I think rank 4-5 is possible day one. If this is difficult to understand watch some youtube videos theres some good ones out there.

Step 5: So you’re now close to 425 item level or already there. Que for Mythic zero dungeons to get 430 item level gear. Here you really want to learn mechanics to be a better teammate.

Finally: Now you’re on the mythic grind, doing higher keys as you learn and gear. I’d also recommend queuing for the normal tier nyalotha raid to get 445 gear and prepare for the heroic version.

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Problem here…these “loners” typically don’t like to LFR or do any group content, so queing for a group is basically pointless since they are loners for a reason. To stay away from other players for one reason or another.

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I suppose I meant loner in the sense that we just don’t have friends to play with. Like I don’t really have friends on anymore so I just play solo and have to find groups to play with. I should have used a different word I suppose. Thanks for the input, will change title.

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You have a very weird definition of solo. :wink: I can almost allow the automated grouping content like heroics and such, but once you bust out the premade group finder for any level of Mythic, you ain’t even close to solo.

Getting essences unlocked is priority number 1, and waiting until ~ilvl 400-415 is a big waste as any AP you earn before the essence quest is essentially lost when it gets bumped to 50. I’d say you should head to Naz’jatar by ilvl 350. (The content was originally designed to be started at 350-370ish.) You only need to get through the early parts (and you get a 370 weapon early on, which helps.) Horde characters even get a special zone ability for the first part which helps when undergeared.

It’s also a quick source of gear. Once you’ve done the heart quest, you’ll quickly get a quest to upgrade a piece of Benthic gear. You can hold off on completing the quest and use the pearls the quest gives you for 4 ilvl 385 tokens.

At that point, you’ll probably have enough gear (depending on class and skill) to start the 8.3 content. If not, Naz’jatar and it’s plentiful Benthic gear is a good place to gear up without needing to deal with groups.

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Love the contribution! I did’t do much in Naz after getting the HOA stuff going but next alt I’ll give the benthic a go. Wasn’t sure if mana pearls were plentiful enough. As far as solo goes I mostly mean just playing without friends. All my friends have quit wow :confused:

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To quickly touch on benthic when gearing alts as well, if you already have a main that has some pearls saved up and nothing to use them on otherwise, you can pick up pieces for your fresh 120 alts on your main for only 5 pearls per piece and send them through the mail. It’s a great way to give your new character an instant ilvl boost with 9 shiny 385 items. :smiley:

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@Orgânic

Is it worth to get a high iLvl since Shadowlands will release in 2-3 months? I want to main this lock, and I’m still level 60. I plan to hit 120 within 3 weeks.