What is the best leveling path right now?

[SirCowdog]

I did it as holy priest holy nova spam. Beast quarter clear+boss then alltrash to horse boss moroes maiden then reset do again things die very easy use loom trinket that gives health on kill

Doesn't holy Nova heal at the same time as doing damage? I guess a lot of classes have similar abilities, but that still seems highly dependant on spec.

Oh well, while I didn't personally test it, I'll take your word for it and add it into the list.

[Corroc]

Doesn't holy Nova heal at the same time as doing damage? I guess a lot of classes have similar abilities, but that still seems highly dependant on spec.

Oh well, while I didn't personally test it, I'll take your word for it and add it into the list.

Nova doesn't heal that much or do that much damage. I remember having problems with clearing heroic ramparts at 74 if I pulled more than one or two packs. But I dont know how karazhan trash compares to heroic dungeon trash.

[BicycleMafioso]

Although I was not the one asked.
My Warlock is just before that stretch at 9 hours 26, level 57 (orc so not allied race at 20)
My Rogue just got done with Karazhan so has just hit 80, at 14 hours and.. 16min? Undead, so all the way from 1. Forget to bring that screenshot, can do tomorrow morning.

Here is the screenshot of my Rogue. 15 hours 52 minutes to 80 (and 8 minutes at 80). But I was apparently mis-remembering it too positively, just like the quote suggested; the time seemed to fly by!

Wait...you got to level 57 in 9 1/2 hours? Was this without using exp pots? Because that's beating my Method-0 passive leveling by like 5 hours(14h 27m to level 58).

Granted this was a panda, so I was stuck on that stupid turtle starting experience with no mount. But that's not going to account for 5 hours. I hadn't tried random queue dungeons since the buff, so maybe it really IS just that good now.

Without enchants! ... But truth be told, I used method 0 for 37-48, and it was super quick. In Stratholme main gate. Route (not my original picture)
Use a class that has a teleport to-and-from class hall (Monk, Death Knight for instance, idk if Druids' take you back if you remain in the dreamhall), so they can teleport from boss and then back to the nearest graveyard. Use Bear Tartare, since you won't need to get exp/honour to receive the effects, and method 0 as normal. I did 10 runs (editer hour) of this and then logged off during lockouts to preserve /played time. 1-39 day 1, 39-57 day 2, 9 hours 26 min total on my Warlock.

Took longer (an hour?) on my Rogue despite enchants, but I did not do Stratholme with it. Hope to beat the time to 80 on my Warlock as I'll start my session shortly.


Edit: forgot a don't/won't with bear tartare

[Berndorf]

The path of Titans is the only correct answer.

[Deleted]

They did nerf the amount of experience you get with a higher level character in the dungeon. But they didn't remove it entirely. At level 20 you'll be getting around 33% of a level per run of Stockades. That slowly lessens until around level 58 where you'll only be getting about 14% of a level per run. But keep in mind that each stockades run only takes about 2-3 minutes. Compared to quest exp, that's still insanely good.

Then at 58 you can start doing ramparts, which is about 4-5 minutes per run, but once against gives ~30% of a level. That also slowly drops to something like 15-20% of a level by 74(where I started running heroics and Kara trash).

This. Method zero is still significantly faster than any other approach.

So it was 300% faster, now its 150% faster.

[Danvash]

Choose a monk for an hour of +50% exp every day.

From 20-50, spam dungeons as Brewmaster. After 50, you start getting a lot of slow dungeons like Zul Ferrak. So swap to Windwalker and quest in a 10-60 zone for your faction until you are 61.

From 61-72, quest in Borean Tundra and spam queue dungeons as a tank or healer. Leave if you get halls of stone.

72-81: Farm Karazhan trash without killing any bosses. Do it as brewmaster until you have no problem as WW.

82-90: Quest in Pandaria and do dungeons.
90-100: Pick up treasures in Draenor and do all the bonus objectives. It's only 1-3 hours for 10 levels there if you have flying. If you don't, you'll spend a bit longer running around.
100-110: Either log on only to do invasions, which give a level each, or complete Val'sharah > High mountain > Stormheim > Azsuna in order of efficiency. The latter two have great stories, don't get me wrong, but are full of slow story quests and long RP scenes. Don't do the thing with the Exodar and Xera unless you are a paladin or have never seen it before, as it's not worth the time from an efficiency perspective.

[Wildpantz]

Doesn't holy Nova heal at the same time as doing damage? I guess a lot of classes have similar abilities, but that still seems highly dependant on spec.

Oh well, while I didn't personally test it, I'll take your word for it and add it into the list.

It dosent heal anymore. I got from a guide maker on youtube he used a mage for it. Beast quarter mobs have alot less health then rest of trash do that part fee times and youre lvl should be ok

- - - Updated - - -

100-110 if you have gold this takes 4 hours or so. At 101 stop using heirlooms get legendary item as cloth user i got all slots but wrists legs chest feet at 840+. I got lucky with invasion during my evening and you 1 shot everthing makes questing super fast. This cost me about 200k gold

[Aphrel]

Skip all the endzone quests. They take forever due to rp and excessive vehicle combat.

[Eurhetemec]

20-58:

Loch Modan, Westfall, Redridge, Darkshore, and Bloodmyst Isle while queuing for Ragefire Chasm and Stockades.

58-73:

Northrend quests while queuing for Utgarde Keep, Ramparts, and Blood Furnace. TBC quests, despite seeming nostalgic, are literally twice as slow as Northrend.

74-81:

Set your dungeon difficulty to heroic and proceed to solo every TBC dungeon. Alternatively, Karazhan trash clears serve the same purpose.

81-82:

You could potentially continue doing Kara trash clears til 82, but you might be better off doing Serpentshrine trash clears instead.

82-84:

Set dungeon difficulty back to normal and solo ramparts. Some classes can start at 82, others at 83. YMMV

83-87:

Back to questing/queuing for dungeons. Pick Cata or MoP, whichever you're most familiar with. Speed will rely greatly on how focused you are. MoP has the advantage of treasures which can be grabbed along the way for a little boost. Personally I'd stick with questing, since the speed is based entirely on you, whereas a group is random, and you could suffer a lot of wasted time if you get a bad group.

88-90:

Heroic Zul'Gurub. You can clear all the trash(and I do mean ALL the trash, including the fish and gators in the water) for a LOT of experience. Kill the sub-bosses, but do not kill any main bosses. Again, you might struggle a bit right at 88. A lot depends on familiarity and persistence.

90-98:

Use the Timeless Isle portal to Gorgrond to skip the WoD intro scenario. Fly to your garrison and do the quests to set it up. Buy exp pots and start doing bonus objectives and treasures. Potentially buy a 630 weapon from the AH if it's available and not too expensive. This will be more powerful than your heirlooms. At level 96 go to Spires and set up the Inn for another 20% experience.

Note: Some people have expressed difficulty with WoD right at level 90 due to scaling and heirlooms not leveling up correctly. If this is a problem, grab some free gear from Timeless Isle, or simply wait to start WoD until 91.

98-102:

Go get your artifact weapon. Some classes will have an easier time passing the required quests. Go back to WoD and continue clearing treasures and bonus objectives on EZ mode because your weapon is OP.

100-110:

Quest, queue for dungeons. Again, go to whatever zone you're most familiar with. Flying will help immensely. Invasions are technically the fastest, if you can do them.


This has all been tested pretty extensively by many people. There are ways to cheese the leveling process using something called "Method zero", but it's questionable whether or not it's against the ToS. Google it and do it at your own risk, and I expect Blizzard to nerf it somehow soon.

Love this, Cowdog. Probably won't follow it because I'm generally happy with "do quests whilst queuing dungeons", but it's really good to know the information is out there and is tested.

[Mad_Murdock]

Then at 58 you can start doing ramparts, which is about 4-5 minutes per run, but once against gives ~30% of a level. That also slowly drops to something like 15-20% of a level by 74(where I started running heroics and Kara trash).

I didn't find Kara trash to be better. I guess the advantage is, I have 2 accounts, so a full Ramparts clear takes me 1m 10 secs. (Frost DK with speed boots and bear tarts). I had trouble with kara trash even at level 73, by 75 it wasn't too bad, a level about every 20 mins. I'm currently trying it with a level 76 shadow priest, but it's much slower than speed running ramps

Right now I'm at the brick wall of 83-90. if only Jade Serpent didn't have all those stupid fights, it would be a perfect dungeon to Method 0 to 90.

[SirCowdog]

Spriest AoE is poop. That explains your trouble.

Remember that at 88 you can do heroic ZG trash runs.

83-87 is a slog no matter how you swing it. You can take a little sting out by doing MoP treasures, although I think Mt Hyjal into Deepholme is faster (that might be because I know the quests like the back of my hand).

With dual accounts you could do Lost City of Tol'Vir. That's the dungeon they used in the Method 0 video.

[Mad_Murdock]

Spriest AoE is poop. That explains your trouble.

Remember that at 88 you can do heroic ZG trash runs.

83-87 is a slog no matter how you swing it. You can take a little sting out by doing MoP treasures, although I think Mt Hyjal into Deepholme is faster (that might be because I know the quests like the back of my hand).

With dual accounts you could do Lost City of Tol'Vir. That's the dungeon they used in the Method 0 video.

I might give Lost city a try. Right now, Jade serpent is annoying, but still fast. Right at 4 minutes a run(from the point I zone in, until I zone out and hit reset). 84K XP at level 82 and 92K XP at 87. So 10 runs in 40 mins is a hair shy of 2 levels. I'd be surprise if Lost city is faster, seems like it would have a lot more running and I don't kill the last boss fairly close to the exit, unless I'm forgetting something.
** Update. I stand corrected, didn't realize how easy it was to ignore everything. From doorstep to exit, takes me 2m 30secs. I switched from DK to Hunter, just so I could Feign death if i did pick up trash

I am curious to see how fast Heroic ZG trash is, can't see it being faster than 90K every 4 mins or 2m 30secs for Lost city. I know this is mostly for pure solo people, So I'm the exception here.

Just a side note for anyone doing Jade Serpent carries, gotta be careful not to attack(1 shot kills) Wise Mari's water elemental before they target you. Else Mari goes into a loop of never casting more and you're stuck. You then have to drop group and get teleported out to reset him. That one fight really ruins that dungeon form being perfect

[Makatafinger]

I just skipped WoD intro and stuck at Gorgrond since the fly point is not connected to anything I'm so sad now...

[BicycleMafioso]

I just skipped WoD intro and stuck at Gorgrond since the fly point is not connected to anything I'm so sad now...

Yeah, that's for people with flying. For those of us without, doing the intro scenario for the umpteenth time is the way to go, do some bonus objectives in Shadowmoon (alliance) and then at 92 do Gorgrond objectives whilst you do the quest line until 96, where you go to spires instead.

[SirCowdog]

Yeah, that's for people with flying. For those of us without, doing the intro scenario for the umpteenth time is the way to go, do some bonus objectives in Shadowmoon (alliance) and then at 92 do Gorgrond objectives whilst you do the quest line until 96, where you go to spires instead.

Realistically speaking, knocking out WoD pathfinder shouldn't take THAT long. Hit the dailies in Tanaan. Run the missions in your garrison. Kill the world bosses. Check the AH for medallions. Check this guide for farming the medallions: http://www.wowhead.com/item=128315/m...egion#comments

But really Pathfinder needs to DIAF, especially from old expansions. The second a new expansion launches, flight should be purchasable for gold in the older one.

[Deleted]

Imo:

1-60 feels normal.
61-80 is ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS. This on its own took more time than everything else combined.
81-90 is super fast.
91-100 is pretty fast if you treasure hunt and do bonus objectives.
101-110 is normal.

If the 60-80 bracket was better then the heritage armour grind would actually not be too bad, but as it is, it's just a massive wall.

This is with both heirlooms and flying. I would refuse to do anymore without them.

[SirCowdog]

Imo:

1-60 feels normal.
61-80 is ABSOLUTELY HORRENDOUS. This on its own took more time than everything else combined.
81-90 is super fast.
91-100 is pretty fast if you treasure hunt and do bonus objectives.
101-110 is normal.

If the 60-80 bracket was better then the heritage armour grind would actually not be too bad, but as it is, it's just a massive wall.

This is with both heirlooms and flying. I would refuse to do anymore without them.

You can continue doing 1-60 quest zones until level 62 and maintain good exp/h. Between flight speed and convenience, and increased kill speed due to scaling, it's probably faster than going to Northrend quests straight away.

Depending on your class and heirlooms (enchants, flasks, food, pots) you could start Kara trash as early as 70. I wait until 73-74, but you could give it a shot.

Between that and heroic TBC clears, your 60-80 bracket should be a lot more painless. You'd only really have to quest/dungeon from 62 to 70-74 or so.

[schwarzkopf]

Well - now that they've sped things up, what I'd do is just work out from where ever your races starting zone is.

Then I'd choose LK for 60->80 - which is twice as fast as it used to be.
Then I'd choose MoP for 80->90 - which is twice as fast as it used to be.

Then you are into WoD and Legion.

If you want to get really technical, Bellular did a 'quest density' style calculation on each zone.

[SirCowdog]

Speaking of dungeons:

Has anyone tested the old BRD detention block runs? Where you take the shortcut, jump down and kill 2 bosses and you're done? Is that still a good thing to queue for in that level range?

[Spiral Mage]

The best path is ...... to actually go level and not ask on the forums.
Seriously. Just go play.
Do whatever you want to do.

And further more, asking us to recommend areas is silly.
Pick the zones YOU know the best and that you can do the quickest because of that.
Always stay in queue for a dungeon, the entire time.

The more you play, the faster you'll go.