WoW Forever Professions by Class: My BiS List Picks

Which WoW Forever professions by class should you pick before the November 4 launch? My answers come down to four ideas. Professions are paramount in Forever: 30% of the best items known before the raids, those of the level 60 tier of the BiS List, are crafted. Leatherworking is the number 1 pick to arrive ready for the first raids. Tailoring dresses the Mage, the Warlock and the Shadow Priest, and Tailoring plus Enchanting on one character is my gold duo. Engineering, for its part, mostly serves in PvP.

• Summary by class
• 28 specializations
• The six professions
• Gathering
• Making gold
• PvP
• Secondary
• Camp
• To confirm
• Questions

Each class’s profession at a glance

A character learns two primary professions (gathering or crafting) and all three secondary professions, according to Blizzard. Choosing WoW Forever professions by class therefore comes down to two slots.

Scrolling table: swipe to see every column.

Figures: BiS List of October 23, level 60 pre-raid tier, with the raids planned for December 9 according to Blizzard’s roadmap (relayed by Insider Gaming). The beta stops at level 30: everything about level 60 is a calculation to confirm at launch.

WoW Forever professions by class, specialization by specialization

For each of the 28 specializations (the Feral Druid has two entries, cat and bear), the BiS List looks for the best combination of the 17 slots available before the raids. The table gives my two professions per specialization and the crafted pieces they cover, out of the crafted total. Each name opens its full selection in the BiS List.

Scrolling table: swipe to see every column.

* « On paper » figure: the Fury Warrior, for example, needs three Blacksmithing specializations (Armorsmith, Weaponsmith, Master Hammersmith). The guides say you learn only one per profession, which the beta does not prove: to be confirmed. For the Mage and the Warlock, I keep Enchanting rather than Blacksmithing, which only adds one weapon.

What the BiS List counts

My picks for WoW Forever professions by class rest on this list. Stat weights come from wowsims for 20 specializations and from the site’s estimates for the other 8, and MythicSim breaks ties. A recipe that needs a raid material is left out of this tier. Result: 142 of 466 slots are crafted pieces, spread over 51 different items.

Scrolling table: swipe to see every column.

Engineering and Alchemy have no piece selected by the BiS List in PvE. The tool excludes items reserved to a profession (engineer goggles, for example), so that zero does not judge these two professions: they serve another purpose, which the rest of the article details.

Learning the profession is not enough to own the piece. For 34 items, the recipe origin is known: 18 recipes drop from a monster, 14 are bought with reputation and 2 from a vendor. None is taught by a trainer. The other 17 have no recorded origin. Ten items are bound when picked up: only the crafter can wear them. The other 41 are tradeable, so a player without the profession can buy them from a crafter if the market allows it.

The six crafting professions, one by one

Six professions craft gear or tools. Here are the WoW Forever professions by class, one profession at a time, in BiS List order: from the most useful before the raids (Leatherworking) to those that supply no piece (Engineering and Alchemy).

Leatherworking: number 1 before the raids

If I could keep only one profession to arrive ready for the first raids, it would be this one. The BiS List gives it first place: Leatherworking supplies 58 slots, 20 items, 19 of 28 specializations and seven classes out of nine. Only the Mage and the Warlock get nothing from it. The Shaman takes 15, the Hunter 12 and the Druid 11.

The most shared pieces, with the number of specializations that wear them:

• Devilsaur GauntletsHands · 7 specializations · Tribal
• Dawn ArmorChest · 6 specializations
• Devilsaur LeggingsLegs · 6 specializations · Tribal
• Hide of the WildBack · 5 specializations · Tribal
• Red Dragonscale BreastplateChest · Dragonscale
• Skirmisher’s Mail BracersOnly bound leather item · Enhancement Shaman

The Devilsaur gauntlets and leggings need the Tribal specialization, like 5 other items (including the Hide of the Wild): 24 slots and 7 items depend on it. Dragonscale, which opens the Red Dragonscale Breastplate, takes 2 more. If you can learn only one specialization per profession, as the guides say (to be confirmed), the two exclude each other.

Only one leather item is bound, the Enhancement Shaman’s Skirmisher’s Mail Bracers. Everything else can be bought from a crafter.

Recipe explorerLeatherworking: all 510 recipes in the game★ 277 new◆ 197 changed36 same as the original gameOpen the list ▾Close the list ▴

Turn on JavaScript to browse the recipes here, or open the full guide: Leatherworking guide

Tailoring: Mage, Warlock and Shadow Priest

My cloth classes go to the tailor, and the BiS List proves me right: Tailoring supplies 47 slots, 15 items, 14 specializations. The Mage and the Warlock find 4 of their 5 crafted pieces there, the Shadow Priest 5 of 5.

The most frequent pieces, then the ones bound to the tailor:

• Belt of the ArchmageWaist · 9 specializations
• Mantle of the TimbermawShoulders · 7 specializations
• Robe of the ArchmageBound to the tailor · the three Mages
• Robe of the VoidBound to the tailor · the three Warlocks
• Netherpearl CuffsBound to the tailor · Shadow Priest

So a Mage without a tailor will never have the robe, even by paying for it.

Healing Priests gain less: Tailoring gives them only 2 pieces (the Mooncloth Gloves and the Mooncloth Boots), against 1 for Leatherworking or Enchanting. I keep it for them because of gold and bags, not for power.

A bottleneck awaits tailors: Mooncloth, 4 to 8 per piece. The pattern tooltip limits the purification to once every 4 days, a brake for anyone who wants to craft everything alone. Mooncloth itself is not bound: a tailor can buy it.

Recipe explorerTailoring: all 406 recipes in the game★ 180 new◆ 201 changed25 same as the original gameOpen the list ▾Close the list ▴

Turn on JavaScript to browse the recipes here, or open the full guide: Tailoring guide

Blacksmithing: Warrior, Paladin and a weapon for spellcasters

Blacksmithing supplies 32 slots, 13 items and 18 specializations. Added up over each class’s specializations: Paladin 11, Warrior 8, Rogue 4, Hunter, Mage and Warlock 3 each. It is the plate profession: the Retribution Paladin finds 6 of its 9 crafted pieces there, the Fury Warrior 4 of 6, and the two tanks their 2 crafted pieces.

It is also the profession where specialization weighs most in proportion: 21 of the 32 slots require one (for leather: 26 of 58). The pieces and the specialization they need:

• Lionheart HelmArmorsmith
• Titanic LeggingsArmorsmith
• Dawnbringer ShouldersArmorsmith
• HeartseekerWeaponsmith
• PersuaderMaster Hammersmith
• SagebladeMaster Swordsmith · Mage and Warlock

The blacksmith therefore only dresses the Fury Warrior by picking Armorsmith, and cannot have everything (see the table’s asterisk).

Three Blacksmithing pieces are bound when picked up:

• Legionite GlaiveRetribution Paladin and the three Hunters · reputation recipe
• Sentinel’s GlovesThe two tanks
• Prefect’s WristguardsHoly Paladin

The tanks therefore have 2 crafted pieces, only one of them bound: the Persuader is tradeable.

Recipe explorerBlacksmithing: all 431 recipes in the game★ 197 new◆ 181 changed53 same as the original gameOpen the list ▾Close the list ▴

Turn on JavaScript to browse the recipes here, or open the full guide: Blacksmithing guide

Enchanting: necklaces are indispensable, no ring enchant

Enchanting crafts little gear (5 slots, 3 items), but it weighs on everyone because of the neck. All 28 specializations in the BiS List carry a necklace enchant, and the five that exist are all new in Forever. Each bonus stays modest (5 Strength or Agility, for example), but I find them indispensable: necklaces could not be enchanted in the original game, and the BiS List picks one for each of the 28 specializations.

Scrolling table: swipe to see every column.

Each necklace formula is learned at 210 skill and is bound when picked up. According to wowforevertalents.com, it costs 120 Merchant’s Favor from Alynsia at Three Corners, in Redridge Mountains (price seen on the beta). That crossroads gathers the merchants of the new patterns, one per profession, paid only in Merchant’s Favor. You earn this currency by turning in crates to the Azeroth Commerce Authority (Alliance) or to Durotar Supply and Logistics (Horde). The tooltip also requires Friendly standing with a faction it does not name. classicwowforever.com (a datamine of the beta client dated October 9) already reported a vendor that depends on faction: the Horde one remains to be confirmed.

What about rings? A third-party guide and Icy Veins announce that the enchanter will be able to enchant their own rings. The client’s 224 Enchanting recipes, read by wowforevertalents.com, contain none: five necklace enchants, zero ring enchants. So I do not count on it before launch. None of the BiS List’s 56 ring slots is enchanted.

The enchanter crafts three of the best items known before the raids, all bound when picked up:

• Brilliant WandDiscipline and Holy Priests
• Totem of ThunderElemental and Enhancement Shaman
• Libram of InvocationRetribution Paladin

For Enhancement as for Elemental, the Totem of Thunder is the relic MythicSim picks: the tool does not score relics, so its effect (+1% Lightning Bolt crit chance) does not enter the BiS List calculation. The same goes for the Retribution Paladin’s Libram of Invocation.

Recipe explorerEnchanting: all 219 recipes in the game★ 63 new◆ 103 changed53 same as the original gameOpen the list ▾Close the list ▴

Turn on JavaScript to browse the recipes here, or open the full guide: Enchanting guide

Engineering: a PvP profession first

Engineering has no piece selected by the BiS List in level 60 PvE. I bet it mostly serves in PvP, and the details are in the PvP section. According to the community transcription of the BlizzCon demo reproduced on our page on the bonuses of every profession (source credited on that page: WoW Forever Talents), it remains « one of the most powerful combat professions »: announced, not confirmed. I read that power as the power of the tools described in the PvP section, not that of a piece of gear.

Recipe explorerEngineering: all 242 recipes in the game★ 78 new◆ 32 changed132 same as the original gameOpen the list ▾Close the list ▴

Turn on JavaScript to browse the recipes here, or open the full guide: Engineering guide

Alchemy: flasks and transmutations

Alchemy supplies no piece selected by the BiS List either, but it feeds Blacksmithing: the Titanic Leggings need two Flasks of the Titans and the Sageblade two Flasks of Supreme Power, according to their recipes. Transmutations require a Philosopher’s Stone, an item bound when picked up.

Recipe explorerAlchemy: all 179 recipes in the game★ 72 new◆ 35 changed72 same as the original gameOpen the list ▾Close the list ▴

Turn on JavaScript to browse the recipes here, or open the full guide: Alchemy guide

Miner, herbalist, skinner: the profession that feeds the other

Skinning, Mining and Herbalism take one of the two primary profession slots and supply no piece selected by the BiS List. Their role is to supply a crafter: Skinning for Leatherworking (rugged leather goes into 15 of the 20 leather items), Mining for Blacksmithing and Engineering, Herbalism for Alchemy.

For specializations whose pieces fit in a single profession, the pairing is logical: Blacksmithing with Mining for the two plate tanks, Leatherworking with Skinning for the Feral and Guardian Druid. It is supply logic, not a BiS List measurement. Passive bonuses are announced for these three professions (Mining: +5% health, Skinning: +5% damage to beasts and dragonkin, Herbalism: magic resistance), but they are not confirmed.

Making gold: Tailoring plus Enchanting, and bags

I found no reliable auction house price before November 4: the only gold amounts in this article are the mount prices reported by Method. What follows is my player’s bet.

Tailoring plus Enchanting on one character: it is my most promising early gold duo. You craft, then you disenchant your own creations for materials. Among the 344 Tailoring armor and cloak pieces (shirts excluded), 330 are green or better, 107 of them bound when picked up. Those cannot be resold to another player: only disenchanting remains (the original game’s mechanic, to be confirmed on a bound item). The same character wears the enchanted necklaces every specialization wants, and can offer them to other players.

I bet on bags: they are easy gold at launch. Everyone runs out of bag space, and the tailor crafts most of the bags. Forever also adds reagent bags (6, 8 then 10 slots, bound when equipped), whose recipes are bought from a vendor at skills 5, 70 and 125. The table gives ordinary bags, from the Linen Bag to the 12-slot Mageweave Bag.

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To me, they pay for the level 40 mount and help with the level 60 one. According to Method (a third-party guide of October 21), the level 40 riding skill costs about 100 gold, first mount included, and level 60 about 1,000 gold, plus about 200 gold per epic mount. Method places the first mount at level 40: there is none at level 20. The Warlock and the Alliance Paladin get their level 40 mount from a free quest: for them, bag gold goes straight toward level 60. Method adds that the similar Horde Paladin quest could not be tested in the beta yet: to be confirmed at launch. Blizzard has not confirmed these amounts.

PvP: Engineering, tools rather than power

According to Blizzard, Forever’s PvP gear is bought with Honor and unlocked by rank: rank 2 trinket, rank 3 cloak, rank 4 necklace, rank 5 combat potions, epic pieces from rank 8. The post mentions no profession. My PvP player’s view: a profession gives you tools, not the power of a piece of gear. The engineer is the best example: PvP trinkets and gadgets, the gnomish net launcher, grenades. That is where I bet on Engineering.

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Two mechanisms reserve an item to the engineer. First, a profession requirement: the Gnomish Net-o-Matic Projector (bound when equipped) needs Engineering 210 to be used, like the Iron Grenade (Engineering 175) and the Thorium Grenade (Engineering 260) of the original game. Second, binding: the Gnomish Poultryizer and the Emergency Field Cloak show no profession requirement, but they are bound when picked up, so only their crafter wears them.

The bombs, the EZ-Thro Thorium Grenade and the SAF-T belts show no « Requires Engineering » line: bombs and EZ-Thro grenades have no binding, the belts are bound when equipped, so another player can throw them, or buy them before equipping them (Icy Veins nonetheless speaks of gadgets reserved to Engineering: to be confirmed). The three engineer trinkets and the rank 2 trinket share two slots. The Gnomish and Goblin schools, announced at the BlizzCon demo, are not confirmed.

For a Priest who plays PvP, I pick Tailoring plus Engineering: Tailoring dresses the Shadow Priest (5 pieces out of 5) and leaves Engineering for control and escape. It is a player’s choice, the BiS List does not measure it.

Two other professions supply tools. Alchemy offers three potions, the last two with the same effect as in the original game:

• Free Action PotionImmunity to stuns and movement-impairing effects, 30 s, without removing an effect already on you
• Restorative PotionRemoves one effect every 5 s for 30 s
• Limited Invulnerability PotionImmune to physical attacks for 6 s

First Aid crafts healing potions and bandages. A table of tooltips says nothing about behavior on a battleground, and no source I read mentions arena.

Cooking, First Aid, Fishing: secondary professions matter

You can learn all three secondary professions without touching your two primary slots. Cooking gives the Well Fed bonus: eat for at least 10 seconds, and experience gained from killing monsters increases by 5%, according to the tooltip. That is read on 103 of the 107 Cooking items with a known tooltip that give Well Fed (dishes and drinks); the other 4 lack the experience bonus. The Bear Bruscitti (level 45 required) adds 20 Strength for 15 minutes; low-level dishes give much less (1 to 5 Strength up to skill 110), but almost all keep the 5% experience bonus, useful for leveling. Cooking also opens the camp, below.

Recipe explorerCooking: all 125 recipes in the game★ 44 new◆ 1 changed80 same as the original gameOpen the list ▾Close the list ▴

Turn on JavaScript to browse the recipes here, or open the full guide: Cooking guide

First Aid gained the six healing potions, from the Minor Healing Potion to the Major Healing Potion, which left Alchemy (it makes six « discolored » versions: they heal about twice as much at once, but you then suffer 75% of that amount as poison or disease). It also crafts bandages, including the Heavy Runecloth Bandage. For Fishing, Blizzard announces a Fishing Bowl: +8% stats at the camp, not stacking with Blessing of Kings, for a profession that costs no primary slot. I have no yield or price data for the Fishing Bowl, so no gold promise; the fishing zones for leveling the profession are in the guide.

Recipe explorerFirst Aid: all 30 recipes in the game★ 17 new◆ 1 changed12 same as the original gameOpen the list ▾Close the list ▴

Turn on JavaScript to browse the recipes here, or open the full guide: First Aid guide

The camp: what each profession brings to the fire

Blizzard described the camp in a post of October 21, which the beta tooltips confirm. The basic fire is made by Cooking and holds up to 3 camp objects contributed by nearby players, one each. Higher kits go up to 5 then 10 objects. The recipes are learned at 20, 90 and 200 skill (the Cooking guide shows these thresholds) and the kits are usable from 1, 140 and 220 according to their tooltips. Players seated or crafting nearby for one minute receive the effects. Camp objects share a one-hour cooldown, the fire kits 5 minutes. A campfire must be nearby: without anyone nearby who can cook (the kit requires Cooking 1, a secondary profession open to everyone), no fire, so no camp.

These effects are variants of class buffs and do not stack with them (if a Paladin blesses you with wisdom, the Mana Well does not add to it): the camp mostly serves groups missing the class they want. According to Blizzard, each profession’s first object (except Cooking, usable from 1) is obtained at skill 20 from a starter-zone quest or a trainer, and objects requiring 140 and above drop in dungeons and raids.

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Values depend on level: at 30, a player sees the level 30 band. Fishing Bowl, Incense Candle and Camp Chair are announced by Blizzard and absent from the site’s tooltip database, so their names are not checked against the game data. Mining also has the Rock Garden (140) and the Molten Foundry (300) in the tooltips.

What we will check at launch

Frequently asked questions about WoW Forever professions by class

What is the best profession before the raids?

Leatherworking: 58 of the BiS List’s 142 crafted slots, for seven classes out of nine. It is my number 1 to arrive ready for the first raids. Only the Mage and the Warlock get nothing from it.

Which profession should a Mage take?

Tailoring: 4 of its 5 crafted pieces come from it, including the Robe of the Archmage, bound to the tailor. As a second profession, I take Enchanting for gold and the Spell Power necklace.

Should you take Enchanting with Tailoring?

Yes, on the same character: you craft, then disenchant your own pieces, and you wear the necklaces every specialization wants. It is my bet, to be confirmed by launch prices.

Which profession for a Priest who plays PvP?

Tailoring plus Engineering. Tailoring gives the Shadow Priest’s 5 pieces, Engineering the control and escape tools. It is a player’s choice, not a BiS List measurement.

How do you pay for your mount with a profession?

With Tailoring bags: I bet on them to pay for the level 40 mount (about 100 gold according to Method) and to help with the level 60 one (about 1,000 gold). Blizzard has not confirmed these amounts.

Can you craft everything yourself?

No: only two primary professions, and five specializations need three (Holy and Retribution Paladins, Discipline and Holy Priests, Elemental Shaman). Of 51 items, 41 can be bought from a crafter; 10 require the profession.

Going further

The 12 profession guides detail recipes, trainers and the camp: Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Tailoring, Leatherworking, Engineering, Enchanting, Cooking, First Aid, Herbalism, Mining, Skinning and Fishing.

Pick your profession once you have settled on a class: my takes on the nine classes and the leveling duos help you decide. What comes next is in the builds, the tier list and the survival guide.

Sources: Blizzard’s posts on the camp and on PvP progression, the Method mount guide, Blizzard’s roadmap relayed by Insider Gaming, wowsims and MythicSim for the BiS List, wowforevertierlist.com, wowforevertalents.com, classicwowforever.com and Icy Veins for announced bonuses and recipes.