Jonnes
Level One-Derful
Hello! I had been planning to make an all-in-one guide for level ones for quite some time, and thought now would be a good opportunity with the new forum category. This guide will be edited as new information comes out, as I would like to take every effort to keep it up to date.
Please leave as many comments with up to date information as possible so that I might amend any wrong or missing information. I will be covering as many topics as as I can, with the exception of achievement hunting. This guide is being written from perspective of an alliance rogue, and that is what I am most knowledgeable about, but contains relevant information for all classes.
I would like to give special thanks to @Winterly, who has been my partner in crime regarding level one twinks, and has helped me test basically everything regarding level ones for over a year. He deserves as much credit as I do for this guide and all of my findings leading into shadowlands.
If you're interested in level one twinking, you should join our discord (Find us in #1-9 under Retail); but please don't join immediately and start asking questions that are answered in this guide. Have a good, thorough reading of this post first.
https://discord.gg/Ug4MUct
This guide was up to date through patch 9.2.7 until the launch of 10.0 (Dragonflight Pre-patch). It is being preserved as-is, and will be copied over and remade into a Dragonflight guide once the expansion is out fully.
Part A: Introduction
Level one twinking is a niche playstyle that has been enjoyed since the launch of the game, and became most popular in WoTLK when experience could be locked. It aims to keep a character at the lowest possible level, while achieving the maximum level of power and accolade possible. While the immediate appeal is strength in duels and against NPCs, many also choose to hunt for achievements, reputation, and other miscellaneous feats. There are limitless options for open world group content, and an active community across both factions, many realms, and multiple regions. If this interests you, you have come to the right place.
Let's talk about creating your level one twink. There are plenty of good options for races and classes, so let's start by talking about those.
Once you have made your twink, get to Stormwind/Orgrimmar immediately, and visit the NPC that locks your experience. For Horde, visit Slahtz. For Alliance, visit Behsten.
Part B: Gear
Getting the best gear possible is the most common goal among level one twinks. If you aren't interested in every single option and all the context possible, and just want to know where to get the best stuff, feel free to skip sections B1 and B2.
Part C: Gems and Enchants
In Shadowlands, level one twinks have access to both gem sockets and enchants to increase our power. We have several, but limited, options.
Part D: Consumables, Toys, and Mounts
There are a great deal of items that give level one twinks boosts in power and mobility. Here are the ones you should get. I won't include anything related to grandfathered level 1 twinks with engineering.
Part E: Conclusion
Thank you for reading my guide. I hope that it was as comprehensive as possible. It should give you the information you need to make the most effective Level 1 Twink possible in the Shadowlands. With a level squish, and many undocumented changes, there is much testing to be done. Things are constantly changing, and no one person can keep up with all of it. If you run into anything that helps level ones, please post it in this thread so that I can add it to the guide.
Please leave as many comments with up to date information as possible so that I might amend any wrong or missing information. I will be covering as many topics as as I can, with the exception of achievement hunting. This guide is being written from perspective of an alliance rogue, and that is what I am most knowledgeable about, but contains relevant information for all classes.
I would like to give special thanks to @Winterly, who has been my partner in crime regarding level one twinks, and has helped me test basically everything regarding level ones for over a year. He deserves as much credit as I do for this guide and all of my findings leading into shadowlands.
If you're interested in level one twinking, you should join our discord (Find us in #1-9 under Retail); but please don't join immediately and start asking questions that are answered in this guide. Have a good, thorough reading of this post first.
https://discord.gg/Ug4MUct
This guide was up to date through patch 9.2.7 until the launch of 10.0 (Dragonflight Pre-patch). It is being preserved as-is, and will be copied over and remade into a Dragonflight guide once the expansion is out fully.
Part A: Introduction
Level one twinking is a niche playstyle that has been enjoyed since the launch of the game, and became most popular in WoTLK when experience could be locked. It aims to keep a character at the lowest possible level, while achieving the maximum level of power and accolade possible. While the immediate appeal is strength in duels and against NPCs, many also choose to hunt for achievements, reputation, and other miscellaneous feats. There are limitless options for open world group content, and an active community across both factions, many realms, and multiple regions. If this interests you, you have come to the right place.
Let's talk about creating your level one twink. There are plenty of good options for races and classes, so let's start by talking about those.
Section 1 - Race)
Races have different base attributes. By and large, the majority of your stats will come from gear and enhancements to that gear, so you can safely pick your favorite race and not be hampered significantly. The greatest difference in stats among races is 4 or less of one primary stat. The more important differences between the races are their racial abilities.
Here's a quick breakdown of the races - bear in mind that the primary stat listed is what they are when you're using a class that utilizes it.
Stamina is in the Low category for Mages and Shamans.
Stamina is in the middle category for Paladins, Hunters, Rogues, Priests, Druids, and Monks.
Stamina is in the high category for Warriors and Warlocks.
Credit to this chart made by Pokspell for the stat values, both here and later on in a chart later in the guide.
If you want to make your twink a Worgen or Goblin, you have to unstuck out, be summoned out, or glitch out using creative abuses of boundaries and suicides.Currently, Pandaren are assumed unable to leave their starting zones, and all "Allied Races" start at level 10. (Edit: There's currently a method to get a Pandaren out to the real world at level 1, but as of 9.1.0 it may be nonfunctional.)
Races have different base attributes. By and large, the majority of your stats will come from gear and enhancements to that gear, so you can safely pick your favorite race and not be hampered significantly. The greatest difference in stats among races is 4 or less of one primary stat. The more important differences between the races are their racial abilities.
Here's a quick breakdown of the races - bear in mind that the primary stat listed is what they are when you're using a class that utilizes it.
Stamina is in the Low category for Mages and Shamans.
Stamina is in the middle category for Paladins, Hunters, Rogues, Priests, Druids, and Monks.
Stamina is in the high category for Warriors and Warlocks.
Human
Strength: 17
Agility: 18
Intelligence: 20
Stamina: 15, 19, 23
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=59752/will-to-survive
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20599/diplomacy
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20598/the-human-spirit
Strength: 17
Agility: 18
Intelligence: 20
Stamina: 15, 19, 23
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=59752/will-to-survive
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20599/diplomacy
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20598/the-human-spirit
Dwarf
Strength: 19
Agility: 16
Intelligence: 19
Stamina: 16, 20, 24
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20594/stoneform
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20596/frost-resistance
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=59224/might-of-the-mountain
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=92682/explorer
Strength: 19
Agility: 16
Intelligence: 19
Stamina: 16, 20, 24
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20594/stoneform
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20596/frost-resistance
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=59224/might-of-the-mountain
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=92682/explorer
Night Elf
Strength: 15
Agility: 20
Intelligence: 20
Stamina: 15, 19, 23
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=58984/shadowmeld
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20583/nature-resistance
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20582/quickness
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=154748/touch-of-elune
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20585/wisp-spirit
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=21009/elusiveness
Strength: 15
Agility: 20
Intelligence: 20
Stamina: 15, 19, 23
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=58984/shadowmeld
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20583/nature-resistance
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20582/quickness
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=154748/touch-of-elune
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20585/wisp-spirit
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=21009/elusiveness
Gnome
Strength: 14
Agility: 19
Intelligence: 23
Stamina: 14, 18, 22
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20589/escape-artist
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20592/arcane-resistance
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20591/expansive-mind
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=92680/nimble-fingers
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20593/engineering-specialization
Strength: 14
Agility: 19
Intelligence: 23
Stamina: 14, 18, 22
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20589/escape-artist
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20592/arcane-resistance
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20591/expansive-mind
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=92680/nimble-fingers
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20593/engineering-specialization
Draenei
Strength: 19
Agility: 16
Intelligence: 21
Stamina: 17, 21, 25
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=28880/gift-of-the-naaru
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=6562/heroic-presence
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=59221/shadow-resistance
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=28875/gemcutting
Strength: 19
Agility: 16
Intelligence: 21
Stamina: 17, 21, 25
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=28880/gift-of-the-naaru
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=6562/heroic-presence
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=59221/shadow-resistance
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=28875/gemcutting
Worgen
Strength: 19
Agility: 19
Intelligence: 17
Stamina: 15, 19, 23
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=68992/darkflight
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=68975/viciousness
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=68976/aberration
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=68996/two-forms
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=68978/flayer
Strength: 19
Agility: 19
Intelligence: 17
Stamina: 15, 19, 23
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=68992/darkflight
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=68975/viciousness
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=68976/aberration
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=68996/two-forms
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=68978/flayer
Pandaren
Strength: 17
Agility: 16
Intelligence: 20
Stamina: 17, 21, 25
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107079/quaking-palm
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107072/epicurean
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107076/bouncy
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107073/gourmand
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107074/inner-peace
Strength: 17
Agility: 16
Intelligence: 20
Stamina: 17, 21, 25
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107079/quaking-palm
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107072/epicurean
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107076/bouncy
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107073/gourmand
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107074/inner-peace
Orc
Strength: 20
Agility: 15
Intelligence: 19
Stamina: 16, 20, 24
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=33697/blood-fury
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=21563/command
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20573/hardiness
Strength: 20
Agility: 15
Intelligence: 19
Stamina: 16, 20, 24
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=33697/blood-fury
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=21563/command
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20573/hardiness
Undead
Strength: 19
Agility: 17
Intelligence: 18
Stamina: 16, 20, 24
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=7744/will-of-the-forsaken
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20577/cannibalize
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=5227/touch-of-the-grave
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20579/shadow-resistance
Strength: 19
Agility: 17
Intelligence: 18
Stamina: 16, 20, 24
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=7744/will-of-the-forsaken
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20577/cannibalize
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=5227/touch-of-the-grave
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20579/shadow-resistance
Tauren
Strength: 19
Agility: 16
Intelligence: 18
Stamina: 18, 22, 26
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20549/war-stomp
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=154743/brawn
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20550/endurance
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20551/nature-resistance
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20552/cultivation
Strength: 19
Agility: 16
Intelligence: 18
Stamina: 18, 22, 26
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20549/war-stomp
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=154743/brawn
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20550/endurance
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20551/nature-resistance
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20552/cultivation
Troll
Strength: 18
Agility: 20
Intelligence: 17
Stamina: 15, 19, 23
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=26297/berserking
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=58943/da-voodoo-shuffle
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20555/regeneration
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20557/beast-slaying
Strength: 18
Agility: 20
Intelligence: 17
Stamina: 15, 19, 23
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=26297/berserking
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=58943/da-voodoo-shuffle
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20555/regeneration
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=20557/beast-slaying
Blood Elf
Strength: 14
Agility: 19
Intelligence: 22
Stamina: 15, 19, 23
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=25046/arcane-torrent
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=154742/arcane-acuity
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=822/arcane-resistance
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=28877/arcane-affinity
Strength: 14
Agility: 19
Intelligence: 22
Stamina: 15, 19, 23
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=25046/arcane-torrent
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=154742/arcane-acuity
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=822/arcane-resistance
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=28877/arcane-affinity
Goblin
Strength: 14
Agility: 19
Intelligence: 23
Stamina: 14, 18, 22
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=69070/rocket-jump
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=69041/rocket-barrage
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=69046/pack-hobgoblin
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=69042/time-is-money
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=69044/best-deals-anywhere
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=69045/better-living-through-chemistry
Strength: 14
Agility: 19
Intelligence: 23
Stamina: 14, 18, 22
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=69070/rocket-jump
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=69041/rocket-barrage
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=69046/pack-hobgoblin
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=69042/time-is-money
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=69044/best-deals-anywhere
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=69045/better-living-through-chemistry
Pandaren
Strength: 17
Agility: 16
Intelligence: 20
Stamina: 17, 21, 25
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107079/quaking-palm
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107072/epicurean
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107076/bouncy
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107073/gourmand
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107074/inner-peace
Strength: 17
Agility: 16
Intelligence: 20
Stamina: 17, 21, 25
Racial Abilities:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107079/quaking-palm
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107072/epicurean
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107076/bouncy
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107073/gourmand
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=107074/inner-peace
Credit to this chart made by Pokspell for the stat values, both here and later on in a chart later in the guide.
If you want to make your twink a Worgen or Goblin, you have to unstuck out, be summoned out, or glitch out using creative abuses of boundaries and suicides.
Section 2 - Class)
Your class choices are every class in the game, save for Death Knight and Demon Hunter. The most popular level 1 twink class is Rogue, followed by Hunter/Warrior/Shaman, followed by everything else.
Level 1 characters used to have a specialization that was given to them, unchangeable until level 10, but recently blizzard made all new characters unspecced until level 10. This sometimes affects ability damage and other traits, as shown below. The major power imbalance between rogues made before and after the spec change, for instance, has made them a much less appealing option. Most of this community, however, has been around long enough that they are still the majority of level one twinks.
The "meta" shifts occasionally, but it is currently the case that physical damage dealing classes outperform spellcasting classes, save for Shamans.
The abilities available to you at level one are -
Warrior:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=1464/slam
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137049/arms-warrior (Newly created warriors without the spec deal less damage with Slam than warriors with the spec. - Grandfathered)
Hunter:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=56641/steady-shot
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=1462/beast-lore (Was available from an Azuremyst Isle trainer for a short time - Grandfathered)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=83242/call-pet-2 (Same as above - Grandfathered)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=6991/feed-pet (Same as above - Grandfathered)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=1515/tame-beast (Same as above - Grandfathered)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=883/call-pet-1 (Same as above, and also from before pets were no longer default on ones - Grandfathered)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=2641/dismiss-pet (Same as above, and also from before pets were no longer default on ones - Grandfathered)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=982/revive-pet (Same as above, and also from before pets were no longer default on ones - Grandfathered)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137015/beast-mastery-hunter (Hunters with and without the spec deal the same amount of damage with Steady Shot. - Grandfathered)
Mage:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=116/frostbolt
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=56384/arcane-momentum (Learnable from certain mage trainers around the world. Useless since Blink is unavailable, but appears in your spellbook nonetheless.)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=109400/portals (Was available from portal trainers for a short time - Grandfathered, with the exception of the portal to Stonard for Horde mages.)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137020/frost-mage (Mages with the spec deal less damage with Frostbolt than mages without the spec. - Grandfathered)
Rogue:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=1752/sinister-strike
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137037/assassination-rogue (120 Max Energy, newly created rogues without the spec only have 100. Also, rogues with the spec hit harder with sinister strike than newly made rogues. - Grandfathered)
Priest:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=585/smite
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=2006/resurrection (You must speak to https://www.wowhead.com/npc=50504/belysra-starbreeze or https://www.wowhead.com/npc=16660/belestra to learn this)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137032/discipline-priest (Priests with the spec deal less damage with Smite than priests without the spec. - Grandfathered)
Warlock:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=686/shadow-bolt
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=697/summon-voidwalker (You must speak to https://www.wowhead.com/npc=6251/strahad-farsan to learn this. Credit to Darron for this find.)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137043/affliction-warlock (Warlocks with and without the spec deal the same amount of damage with Shadow Bolt. - Grandfathered)
Paladin:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=35395/crusader-strike
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137027/retribution-paladin (Paladins without the spec hit harder with crusader strike than old paladins with the spec. For once, this is a negative GF that can't be fixed without remaking your character. - Grandfathered)
Druid:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=5176/wrath
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137013/balance-druid (Druids with and without the spec deal the same amount of damage with Wrath, but druids with the spec have no mana cost. - Grandfathered)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137011/feral-druid (When specs were first introduced, druids were feral, but later changed to Balance. Some are still feral. Druids with this spec deal more damage than druids without the spec. In addition to this, feral druids have higher crit and use Agility instead of Intellect - Grandfathered)
Shaman:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=188196/lightning-bolt
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=2645/ghost-wolf (You must speak to https://www.wowhead.com/npc=17204/farseer-nobundo to learn this)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137040/elemental-shaman (Shamans with and without the spec deal the same amount of damage with Lightning Bolt. - Grandfathered)
Monk:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=100780/tiger-palm
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137025/windwalker-monk (Monks with the spec hit harder with their Tiger Palm, have reduced GCD, generate chi, and are able to dual wield. Monks without the spec hit softer with their Tiger Palm, have a longer GCD, have no chi, and cannot dual wield. - Grandfathered)
Your class choices are every class in the game, save for Death Knight and Demon Hunter. The most popular level 1 twink class is Rogue, followed by Hunter/Warrior/Shaman, followed by everything else.
Level 1 characters used to have a specialization that was given to them, unchangeable until level 10, but recently blizzard made all new characters unspecced until level 10. This sometimes affects ability damage and other traits, as shown below. The major power imbalance between rogues made before and after the spec change, for instance, has made them a much less appealing option. Most of this community, however, has been around long enough that they are still the majority of level one twinks.
The "meta" shifts occasionally, but it is currently the case that physical damage dealing classes outperform spellcasting classes, save for Shamans.
The abilities available to you at level one are -
Warrior:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=1464/slam
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137049/arms-warrior (Newly created warriors without the spec deal less damage with Slam than warriors with the spec. - Grandfathered)
Hunter:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=56641/steady-shot
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=1462/beast-lore (Was available from an Azuremyst Isle trainer for a short time - Grandfathered)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=83242/call-pet-2 (Same as above - Grandfathered)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=6991/feed-pet (Same as above - Grandfathered)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=1515/tame-beast (Same as above - Grandfathered)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=883/call-pet-1 (Same as above, and also from before pets were no longer default on ones - Grandfathered)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=2641/dismiss-pet (Same as above, and also from before pets were no longer default on ones - Grandfathered)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=982/revive-pet (Same as above, and also from before pets were no longer default on ones - Grandfathered)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137015/beast-mastery-hunter (Hunters with and without the spec deal the same amount of damage with Steady Shot. - Grandfathered)
Mage:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=116/frostbolt
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=56384/arcane-momentum (Learnable from certain mage trainers around the world. Useless since Blink is unavailable, but appears in your spellbook nonetheless.)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=109400/portals (Was available from portal trainers for a short time - Grandfathered, with the exception of the portal to Stonard for Horde mages.)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137020/frost-mage (Mages with the spec deal less damage with Frostbolt than mages without the spec. - Grandfathered)
Rogue:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=1752/sinister-strike
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137037/assassination-rogue (120 Max Energy, newly created rogues without the spec only have 100. Also, rogues with the spec hit harder with sinister strike than newly made rogues. - Grandfathered)
Priest:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=585/smite
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=2006/resurrection (You must speak to https://www.wowhead.com/npc=50504/belysra-starbreeze or https://www.wowhead.com/npc=16660/belestra to learn this)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137032/discipline-priest (Priests with the spec deal less damage with Smite than priests without the spec. - Grandfathered)
Warlock:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=686/shadow-bolt
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=697/summon-voidwalker (You must speak to https://www.wowhead.com/npc=6251/strahad-farsan to learn this. Credit to Darron for this find.)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137043/affliction-warlock (Warlocks with and without the spec deal the same amount of damage with Shadow Bolt. - Grandfathered)
Paladin:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=35395/crusader-strike
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137027/retribution-paladin (Paladins without the spec hit harder with crusader strike than old paladins with the spec. For once, this is a negative GF that can't be fixed without remaking your character. - Grandfathered)
Druid:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=5176/wrath
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137013/balance-druid (Druids with and without the spec deal the same amount of damage with Wrath, but druids with the spec have no mana cost. - Grandfathered)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137011/feral-druid (When specs were first introduced, druids were feral, but later changed to Balance. Some are still feral. Druids with this spec deal more damage than druids without the spec. In addition to this, feral druids have higher crit and use Agility instead of Intellect - Grandfathered)
Shaman:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=188196/lightning-bolt
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=2645/ghost-wolf (You must speak to https://www.wowhead.com/npc=17204/farseer-nobundo to learn this)
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137040/elemental-shaman (Shamans with and without the spec deal the same amount of damage with Lightning Bolt. - Grandfathered)
Monk:
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=100780/tiger-palm
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=137025/windwalker-monk (Monks with the spec hit harder with their Tiger Palm, have reduced GCD, generate chi, and are able to dual wield. Monks without the spec hit softer with their Tiger Palm, have a longer GCD, have no chi, and cannot dual wield. - Grandfathered)
Once you have made your twink, get to Stormwind/Orgrimmar immediately, and visit the NPC that locks your experience. For Horde, visit Slahtz. For Alliance, visit Behsten.
Part B: Gear
Getting the best gear possible is the most common goal among level one twinks. If you aren't interested in every single option and all the context possible, and just want to know where to get the best stuff, feel free to skip sections B1 and B2.
Section 1 - Tony's Law Preface)
EDIT: As of January 2021, Tony's Law may have been significantly reduced in significance, or perhaps removed entirely. I am preserving this section regardless because it has not been completely confirmed.
Gear for level one twinks has been an ever shifting list of BiS pieces, but never has it been so varied as in Shadowlands. Before we get into which pieces of gear you need, let's talk about something that is very important to keep in mind when gearing out your level one twink.
Tony's Law, a bug/feature/unfortunate mechanic discovered by TinyTony and his friends, severely hampers the hit rate of any level one twink attempting to attack another player with lower Ilvl than them. Tony's Law includes bag Ilvl. (Tony absolutely deserves a tester badge for this btw)
If you are a well geared level one twink with a few of the odd high Ilvl pieces, and you're fighting someone who has ilvl5 gear across the board, most of your strikes will miss and you will be at a significant disadvantage. If you happen to be that Ilvl 5 twink, and you duel a twink who is Ilvl 0.1, only lifesteal enchanting two starter daggers and a grey necklace with Satyr, you will hardly be able to hit them while they're slowly whittling you down and self healing.
Tony's Law does not effect PvE, or PVP at levels higher than 10. This number could have been lowered to 5 after the shadowlands prepatch, but further testing is required. The best way to circumvent Tony's Law is to keep any unused high Ilvl pieces that are soulbound in Void storage, and any high Ilvl pieces that are not soulbound in your guild bank. Your normal bank does not nullify bag Ilvl.
The one benefit to Tony's law is that if you're dueling someone higher level than you, the effects drop off immediately, and typically work in your favor. Generally, it's only something to be concerned about when dueling fellow level 1s.
EDIT: As of January 2021, Tony's Law may have been significantly reduced in significance, or perhaps removed entirely. I am preserving this section regardless because it has not been completely confirmed.
Gear for level one twinks has been an ever shifting list of BiS pieces, but never has it been so varied as in Shadowlands. Before we get into which pieces of gear you need, let's talk about something that is very important to keep in mind when gearing out your level one twink.
Tony's Law, a bug/feature/unfortunate mechanic discovered by TinyTony and his friends, severely hampers the hit rate of any level one twink attempting to attack another player with lower Ilvl than them. Tony's Law includes bag Ilvl. (Tony absolutely deserves a tester badge for this btw)
If you are a well geared level one twink with a few of the odd high Ilvl pieces, and you're fighting someone who has ilvl5 gear across the board, most of your strikes will miss and you will be at a significant disadvantage. If you happen to be that Ilvl 5 twink, and you duel a twink who is Ilvl 0.1, only lifesteal enchanting two starter daggers and a grey necklace with Satyr, you will hardly be able to hit them while they're slowly whittling you down and self healing.
Tony's Law does not effect PvE, or PVP at levels higher than 10. This number could have been lowered to 5 after the shadowlands prepatch, but further testing is required. The best way to circumvent Tony's Law is to keep any unused high Ilvl pieces that are soulbound in Void storage, and any high Ilvl pieces that are not soulbound in your guild bank. Your normal bank does not nullify bag Ilvl.
The one benefit to Tony's law is that if you're dueling someone higher level than you, the effects drop off immediately, and typically work in your favor. Generally, it's only something to be concerned about when dueling fellow level 1s.
Section 2 - Party Sync)
As of 9.0.5, most of the gear provided by party sync isn't worth the trouble to get. The only real reason to bother getting party sync gear are the weapons, and unless you have the later mentioned unscaled vanilla BoE weapons, or grandfathered SoO heirloom weapons, you can't get anything better. If you just want to throw something on until you have your farmed BoEs, visit the vendor linked at the bottom of this section.
Party Sync is a feature introduced in BFA that allows group members to all synchronize at the lowest level of content in the party, and the lowest quest progression. This allows players to repeat quests, though instead of receiving the same rewards twice, players have a chance to receive a lootbox that contains a green item scaled to their level. This gear is Ilvl5, has secondary stats, and is the "baseline" of our good gear. Essentially, every gear option that we have will be compared against Party Sync Gear.
As party sync lets you repeat quests, that means you need to do the quests normally in the first place. It will take 24 hours from you doing a quest normally until the game allows you to repeat it with party sync. While you are doing these quests and receiving the normal rewards, you might notice that they can upgrade in rarity. Sometimes, they can even be Epic. These epic items were quite powerful in Legion, but ever since the level squish they are very lackluster, and it is recommended not to use them over party sync rewards (with the exception of hunter ranged weapons, see below). The questing zones available to level ones are:
HORDE:
Durotar
Mulgore
Tirisfal Glades
Eversong Forest
Ghostlands
ALLIANCE:
Elwynn Forest
Dun Morogh
Teldrassil
Azuremyst Isle
Bloodmyst Isle
To get party sync gear on your own, it is recommended that you make a separate starter account and link it to your main account. From there, make a fresh level one and invite it to a group from your main level 1 twink. Go to your quest log, then hit party sync and accept it on the other character. You do not need to move the starter level one to the questing area, or perform any actions - just make sure it doesn't get logged off. You may now repeat quests freely. This is the most consistent way to get passable gear on your own. Make sure that you right click your portrait and select the proper loot specialization. This is important for people like Rogues, who can't get swords unless they select Outlaw.
You can get some party sync equivalent gear from the following vendors, but the jewelry sucks and a few of the pieces for each armor class have mastery on them - it's fast and better than nothing if you want to get some stats quickly though.
https://www.wowhead.com/npc=56705/singegruff#sells
https://www.wowhead.com/npc=61598/silkweaver-rui#sells
https://www.wowhead.com/npc=56406/rivett-clutchpop#sells
As of 9.0.5, most of the gear provided by party sync isn't worth the trouble to get. The only real reason to bother getting party sync gear are the weapons, and unless you have the later mentioned unscaled vanilla BoE weapons, or grandfathered SoO heirloom weapons, you can't get anything better. If you just want to throw something on until you have your farmed BoEs, visit the vendor linked at the bottom of this section.
Party Sync is a feature introduced in BFA that allows group members to all synchronize at the lowest level of content in the party, and the lowest quest progression. This allows players to repeat quests, though instead of receiving the same rewards twice, players have a chance to receive a lootbox that contains a green item scaled to their level. This gear is Ilvl5, has secondary stats, and is the "baseline" of our good gear. Essentially, every gear option that we have will be compared against Party Sync Gear.
As party sync lets you repeat quests, that means you need to do the quests normally in the first place. It will take 24 hours from you doing a quest normally until the game allows you to repeat it with party sync. While you are doing these quests and receiving the normal rewards, you might notice that they can upgrade in rarity. Sometimes, they can even be Epic. These epic items were quite powerful in Legion, but ever since the level squish they are very lackluster, and it is recommended not to use them over party sync rewards (with the exception of hunter ranged weapons, see below). The questing zones available to level ones are:
HORDE:
Durotar
Mulgore
Tirisfal Glades
Eversong Forest
Ghostlands
ALLIANCE:
Elwynn Forest
Dun Morogh
Teldrassil
Azuremyst Isle
Bloodmyst Isle
To get party sync gear on your own, it is recommended that you make a separate starter account and link it to your main account. From there, make a fresh level one and invite it to a group from your main level 1 twink. Go to your quest log, then hit party sync and accept it on the other character. You do not need to move the starter level one to the questing area, or perform any actions - just make sure it doesn't get logged off. You may now repeat quests freely. This is the most consistent way to get passable gear on your own. Make sure that you right click your portrait and select the proper loot specialization. This is important for people like Rogues, who can't get swords unless they select Outlaw.
You can get some party sync equivalent gear from the following vendors, but the jewelry sucks and a few of the pieces for each armor class have mastery on them - it's fast and better than nothing if you want to get some stats quickly though.
https://www.wowhead.com/npc=56705/singegruff#sells
https://www.wowhead.com/npc=61598/silkweaver-rui#sells
https://www.wowhead.com/npc=56406/rivett-clutchpop#sells
Section 3 - BoE Farming)
Before I talk about BoE Farming, I'd like to point out that I'm going to talk about everything in the context of Legion BoEs, rather than both Legion and BFA BoEs, which follow essentially the same loot rules concerning level 1 gear. The reasons for this are threefold.
1) Legion mobs do not drop useless weapon BoEs, whereas BFA mobs do. This means you are getting less effective drops by farming BFA mobs. If you don't know what I mean, all weapon BoEs that drop in any expansion only scale down to usability at level 3+, for some reason.
2) The broken Isles contains 4 zones that scale to 10, rather than only 2 for BFA (Tiragarde Sound and Zuldazar). This means that there are significantly more spots for us to farm, with more condensed mobs that have force spawns due to quest requirements. Also, Jewelry and Trinkets are unique-equipped, so you'll need more than one zone worth of BiS rings at the very least.
3) Legion lockboxes can be opened on a level 10 character for BoE loot that scales to 1. BFA lockboxes require a level 50, making it a waste.
-
With the launch of the Shadowlands Prepatch, loot changed drastically with the level squish and zone scaling. Now, any zone from any expansion in the game that scales to a minimum of 10 can be farmed by level 1-10 twinks for BoE green drops. All BoEs greens that are lootable at character level 1-10 have so far been limited to Ilvl 5, the same Ilvl as party sync gear, but with varying budgets. All green weapon BoEs, however, have dropped requiring level 3 and above, limiting our farming to armor and jewelry.
Most of the BoEs have the same stat budget as party sync, or slightly less/more. The loot rules for the Legion expansion, however, allows us to farm gear with the same or superior budget (and occasionally you get a single stat suffix rather than a split. Read more on item stat suffixes here) as Party Sync gear as well as having sockets and tertiary stats. This makes it the best choice in the game for all slots that can't have some high Ilvl "broken" item. The grind for getting the perfect pieces from this is a nightmarish combination of 7 layers of RNG, so it is absolutely recommended that you kit out with whatever you can first, and slowly work on this.
Something VERY IMPORTANT to keep in mind with BoE farming in legion is that unlike party sync, which has predetermined stat budget and weight, the BoEs are randomized. I am not talking just about the name suffixes which determine the secondary stats you're getting, but how much of each is given for that item. Your ratio could be 50/50, 40/60, 80/20, and so forth. At level one, scaling puts the numbers so low that having a stat on the very low end of a ratio on some slots prevents you from getting that stat at all, leaving you with some cloaks and bracers which have only 1 secondary stat. Alternatively on some other slots, it can make you miss a stat that would otherwise be a 2 instead of a 1.
In addition, and also very importantly, the item stat suffixes (noted earlier) that can give you a large amount of 1 secondary stat are oddly effected by scaling. These suffixes are only beneficial (as a side grade) on our Shoulder, Hands, Waist, and Feet drops as they give +2 instead of +1/+1, and are entirely a negative on any other slot.
The reasons for these differences-
Head, chest, and leg items have the highest secondary stat budget out of the non jewelry armor slots. They can provide you either +1/+1, +2, or +2/+1 secondary stats, making +2/+1 the obvious goal.
Shoulders, hands, waist, and feet items have a moderate stat budget and can only provide you with either +1/+1 or +2 secondary stats, making either option the best one. These are the only slots where the all-in-one suffixes are useful.
Back and Wrist items at Ilvl5 have such a low budget for secondary and tertiary stats that one of the two stats are sometimes rounded down to 0. You can sometimes only get 1 single secondary stat out of these slots, which will be the one that was given a “low weight" compared to the other for its suffix. You also only get +1 from the all in one suffixes. You need to find one with a balanced weight for each stat to get the most out of it at +1/+1.
Neck and Fingers, which have a high secondary stat budget to compensate for the lack of primary stats, can be +3/+1, +2/+2, +3/+2, and +4 secondary stats, making +3/+2 the best option. Unique-Equipped, so farm multiple zones.
Trinkets lack the suffixes of other slots and simply give you two of a random secondary stat, and a primary that depends on the item type. It too is capable of proccing a socket and tertiary stat. Unique-Equipped, so farm multiple zones.
In addition to this, the flat value of a tertiary stat given to these items are too low to show up at level one, meaning no Cloak or Bracer will ever have a tertiary stat besides Indestructible. This means that your BiS BoE Cloak and Bracer will have only one single secondary stat, and a socket, with no tertiary stat. As of 9.0.5, all slots can have tertiary stats.
As I mentioned before, DO NOT GET RID OF YOUR LEYSTONE LOCKBOXES WHILE FARMING!!!!! Get them unlocked and open them on a level ten character. They will contain wearable Ilvl5 legion greens for your level 1, including Suramar loot table gear that you normally wouldn't be able to farm!
This BoE gear can unfortunately also contain mastery, which is completely useless to us. We also don't take durability damage, so Indestructible is useless as well. Avoidance is mostly useless, but better than no tertiary stat at all.
In addition to those BoE drops that follow standard rules and are scaled to our level, there are currently an assortment of 6 confirmed seemingly random vanilla-era BOEs of different rarities, and two grey items from BFA that remain unscaled despite having no level requirement. I will post more about these in the next section. It is currently unknown how to farm these, as they appeared on the AH the same moment the Shadowlands pre-patch released, and continue to appear still, both with and without the proper level requirements. Make sure to check your auction house often and filter by usable items!
For my guide on how to go about farming your gear in the best way, visit this thread;
https://xpoff.com/threads/a-comprehensive-guide-to-farming-bis-boe-greens-in-shadowlands.94810/
Before I talk about BoE Farming, I'd like to point out that I'm going to talk about everything in the context of Legion BoEs, rather than both Legion and BFA BoEs, which follow essentially the same loot rules concerning level 1 gear. The reasons for this are threefold.
1) Legion mobs do not drop useless weapon BoEs, whereas BFA mobs do. This means you are getting less effective drops by farming BFA mobs. If you don't know what I mean, all weapon BoEs that drop in any expansion only scale down to usability at level 3+, for some reason.
2) The broken Isles contains 4 zones that scale to 10, rather than only 2 for BFA (Tiragarde Sound and Zuldazar). This means that there are significantly more spots for us to farm, with more condensed mobs that have force spawns due to quest requirements. Also, Jewelry and Trinkets are unique-equipped, so you'll need more than one zone worth of BiS rings at the very least.
3) Legion lockboxes can be opened on a level 10 character for BoE loot that scales to 1. BFA lockboxes require a level 50, making it a waste.
-
With the launch of the Shadowlands Prepatch, loot changed drastically with the level squish and zone scaling. Now, any zone from any expansion in the game that scales to a minimum of 10 can be farmed by level 1-10 twinks for BoE green drops. All BoEs greens that are lootable at character level 1-10 have so far been limited to Ilvl 5, the same Ilvl as party sync gear, but with varying budgets. All green weapon BoEs, however, have dropped requiring level 3 and above, limiting our farming to armor and jewelry.
Most of the BoEs have the same stat budget as party sync, or slightly less/more. The loot rules for the Legion expansion, however, allows us to farm gear with the same or superior budget (and occasionally you get a single stat suffix rather than a split. Read more on item stat suffixes here) as Party Sync gear as well as having sockets and tertiary stats. This makes it the best choice in the game for all slots that can't have some high Ilvl "broken" item. The grind for getting the perfect pieces from this is a nightmarish combination of 7 layers of RNG, so it is absolutely recommended that you kit out with whatever you can first, and slowly work on this.
Something VERY IMPORTANT to keep in mind with BoE farming in legion is that unlike party sync, which has predetermined stat budget and weight, the BoEs are randomized. I am not talking just about the name suffixes which determine the secondary stats you're getting, but how much of each is given for that item. Your ratio could be 50/50, 40/60, 80/20, and so forth. At level one, scaling puts the numbers so low that having a stat on the very low end of a ratio on some slots prevents you from getting that stat at all, leaving you with some cloaks and bracers which have only 1 secondary stat. Alternatively on some other slots, it can make you miss a stat that would otherwise be a 2 instead of a 1.
In addition, and also very importantly, the item stat suffixes (noted earlier) that can give you a large amount of 1 secondary stat are oddly effected by scaling. These suffixes are only beneficial (as a side grade) on our Shoulder, Hands, Waist, and Feet drops as they give +2 instead of +1/+1, and are entirely a negative on any other slot.
The reasons for these differences-
Head, chest, and leg items have the highest secondary stat budget out of the non jewelry armor slots. They can provide you either +1/+1, +2, or +2/+1 secondary stats, making +2/+1 the obvious goal.
Shoulders, hands, waist, and feet items have a moderate stat budget and can only provide you with either +1/+1 or +2 secondary stats, making either option the best one. These are the only slots where the all-in-one suffixes are useful.
Back and Wrist items at Ilvl5 have such a low budget for secondary and tertiary stats that one of the two stats are sometimes rounded down to 0. You can sometimes only get 1 single secondary stat out of these slots, which will be the one that was given a “low weight" compared to the other for its suffix. You also only get +1 from the all in one suffixes. You need to find one with a balanced weight for each stat to get the most out of it at +1/+1.
Neck and Fingers, which have a high secondary stat budget to compensate for the lack of primary stats, can be +3/+1, +2/+2, +3/+2, and +4 secondary stats, making +3/+2 the best option. Unique-Equipped, so farm multiple zones.
Trinkets lack the suffixes of other slots and simply give you two of a random secondary stat, and a primary that depends on the item type. It too is capable of proccing a socket and tertiary stat. Unique-Equipped, so farm multiple zones.
As I mentioned before, DO NOT GET RID OF YOUR LEYSTONE LOCKBOXES WHILE FARMING!!!!! Get them unlocked and open them on a level ten character. They will contain wearable Ilvl5 legion greens for your level 1, including Suramar loot table gear that you normally wouldn't be able to farm!
This BoE gear can unfortunately also contain mastery, which is completely useless to us. We also don't take durability damage, so Indestructible is useless as well. Avoidance is mostly useless, but better than no tertiary stat at all.
In addition to those BoE drops that follow standard rules and are scaled to our level, there are currently an assortment of 6 confirmed seemingly random vanilla-era BOEs of different rarities, and two grey items from BFA that remain unscaled despite having no level requirement. I will post more about these in the next section. It is currently unknown how to farm these, as they appeared on the AH the same moment the Shadowlands pre-patch released, and continue to appear still, both with and without the proper level requirements. Make sure to check your auction house often and filter by usable items!
For my guide on how to go about farming your gear in the best way, visit this thread;
https://xpoff.com/threads/a-comprehensive-guide-to-farming-bis-boe-greens-in-shadowlands.94810/
Section 4 - Recommended Gear List)
The example gear I will be posting here will be legion gear, as expected. The scaling won't show up on the tooltip if you hover over it, but rest assured it does scale. There isn't too much in this guide that is focused on one class - you can extrapolate from this section what your class needs no matter which it is.
The example gear I will be posting here will be legion gear, as expected. The scaling won't show up on the tooltip if you hover over it, but rest assured it does scale. There isn't too much in this guide that is focused on one class - you can extrapolate from this section what your class needs no matter which it is.
Head
Your BiS head option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+2 Stamina
+2 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+1 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121076/icepine-hood
Special options - There are some grandfathered items with old head enchants, and the grandfathered weather beaten fishing hat, but nowadays these underperform Psync gear and the perfect Legion/BfA drop.
Your BiS head option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+2 Stamina
+2 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+1 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121076/icepine-hood
Special options - There are some grandfathered items with old head enchants, and the grandfathered weather beaten fishing hat, but nowadays these underperform Psync gear and the perfect Legion/BfA drop.
Neck
Your BiS neck option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Stamina
+3 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+2 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121083/thunder-totem-spirit-necklace
Special options - The heirloom necklaces provide unique effects. The ones that heal provide only a pathetic 16 hp heal and no stats, so those are not recommended. https://www.wowhead.com/item=153130/manari-training-amulet?bonus=0 however, provides you with a 10 second sprint, which could be worth taking over an option with stats depending on what you're doing.
Your BiS neck option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Stamina
+3 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+2 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121083/thunder-totem-spirit-necklace
Special options - The heirloom necklaces provide unique effects. The ones that heal provide only a pathetic 16 hp heal and no stats, so those are not recommended. https://www.wowhead.com/item=153130/manari-training-amulet?bonus=0 however, provides you with a 10 second sprint, which could be worth taking over an option with stats depending on what you're doing.
Shoulder
Your BiS shoulder option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+1 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+1 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
OR
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+2 Secondary Stat (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121078/icepine-shoulders
Special options - One of the confirmed previously mentioned random unscaled BoEs is a cloth shoulder (Magician's Mantle). Not actually BiS for anyone.
Your BiS shoulder option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+1 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+1 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
OR
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+2 Secondary Stat (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121078/icepine-shoulders
Special options - One of the confirmed previously mentioned random unscaled BoEs is a cloth shoulder (Magician's Mantle). Not actually BiS for anyone.
Back
Your BiS back option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+1 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+1 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121122/stormwing-drape
Special options - https://www.wowhead.com/item=22782/sindorei-cloak-of-warding is a grandfathered cloak (but BoE, so you can still find them) which provides and additional armor and stamina. This makes it a tankier option than a party sync cloak, but becomes underwhelming compared to a legion cloak that has a socket and tertiary stats.
Your BiS back option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+1 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+1 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121122/stormwing-drape
Special options - https://www.wowhead.com/item=22782/sindorei-cloak-of-warding is a grandfathered cloak (but BoE, so you can still find them) which provides and additional armor and stamina. This makes it a tankier option than a party sync cloak, but becomes underwhelming compared to a legion cloak that has a socket and tertiary stats.
Chest
Your BiS chest option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+2 Stamina
+2 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+1 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121077/icepine-jerkin
Special options - One of the confirmed previously mentioned random unscaled BoEs is a mail chest (Icemail Jerkin). This is a seriously impressive piece of gear that beats out a socketed green by quite a bit. A true BiS for anyone who can wear mail.
As a side note, the Frost Resistance on this is actually confirmed to be functional, giving you occasional frost spell damage mitigation or outright resistance. Very strong versus mages.
Your BiS chest option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+2 Stamina
+2 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+1 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121077/icepine-jerkin
Special options - One of the confirmed previously mentioned random unscaled BoEs is a mail chest (Icemail Jerkin). This is a seriously impressive piece of gear that beats out a socketed green by quite a bit. A true BiS for anyone who can wear mail.
As a side note, the Frost Resistance on this is actually confirmed to be functional, giving you occasional frost spell damage mitigation or outright resistance. Very strong versus mages.
Shirt/Tabard
Neither shirts nor tabards contribute to Ilvl, and therefore Tony's Law. None of them have stats, either. Pick ones with interesting appearances, icons, or swag effects.
Neither shirts nor tabards contribute to Ilvl, and therefore Tony's Law. None of them have stats, either. Pick ones with interesting appearances, icons, or swag effects.
Wrist
Your BiS wrist option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+1 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+1 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121072/icepine-bindings
Special options - None.
Your BiS wrist option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+1 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+1 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121072/icepine-bindings
Special options - None.
Hands
Your BiS hands option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+1 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+1 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
OR
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+2 Secondary Stat (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121075/icepine-gloves
Special options - None.
Your BiS hands option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+1 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+1 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
OR
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+2 Secondary Stat (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121075/icepine-gloves
Special options - None.
Waist
Your BiS waist option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+1 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+1 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
OR
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+2 Secondary Stat (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121079/icepine-waistband
Special options - One of the confirmed previously mentioned random unscaled BoEs is a cloth belt (Sage's Sash). The stat budget is significantly higher than party sync equivalent gear, but depending on the gem, it might not be an absolute BiS especially when factoring in Tony's Law. (Note, some Sage's Sashes give +2/+3 secondaries instead of +3/+3)
Your BiS waist option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+1 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+1 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
OR
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+2 Secondary Stat (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121079/icepine-waistband
Special options - One of the confirmed previously mentioned random unscaled BoEs is a cloth belt (Sage's Sash). The stat budget is significantly higher than party sync equivalent gear, but depending on the gem, it might not be an absolute BiS especially when factoring in Tony's Law. (Note, some Sage's Sashes give +2/+3 secondaries instead of +3/+3)
Legs
Your BiS legs option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+2 Stamina
+2 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+1 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121074/icepine-britches
Special options - None.
Your BiS legs option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+2 Stamina
+2 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+1 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121074/icepine-britches
Special options - None.
Feet
Your BiS feet option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+1 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+1 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
OR
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+2 Secondary Stat (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121073/icepine-boots
Special options - None.
Your BiS feet option will be a Legion or BfA green BoE, which provides -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+1 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+1 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
OR
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+1 Stamina
+2 Secondary Stat (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Example
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121073/icepine-boots
Special options - None.
Fingers
Your BiS finger options will be Legion or BfA green BoEs, which provide -
Item Level 5
+1 Stamina
+3 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+2 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Examples
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121137/stormwing-band
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121082/thunder-totem-band
Bear in mind that the Legion/BfA BoE rings are all Unique-Equipped. This means you need to get two different Legion/BfA BoE rings. The four different farming zones on the Broken Isles (Legion) have different loot tables, so just get two or more rings from different places. You can also get normally unavailable rings such as the Nightfall Loop from Leystone Lockboxes.
Special options - None.
Your BiS finger options will be Legion or BfA green BoEs, which provide -
Item Level 5
+1 Stamina
+3 Secondary Stat A (Not Mastery)
+2 Secondary Stat B (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Examples
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121137/stormwing-band
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121082/thunder-totem-band
Bear in mind that the Legion/BfA BoE rings are all Unique-Equipped. This means you need to get two different Legion/BfA BoE rings. The four different farming zones on the Broken Isles (Legion) have different loot tables, so just get two or more rings from different places. You can also get normally unavailable rings such as the Nightfall Loop from Leystone Lockboxes.
Special options - None.
Trinkets
Your Offensive BiS trinket options will be Legion or BfA green BoEs, which provide -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+2 Secondary Stat (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Examples
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121181/manglers-mark
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121124/stormforged-idol
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121070/hexweavers-charm
Your Defensive BiS option is https://www.wowhead.com/item=74034/pit-fighter due to the massive 13 stamina bonus.
Thankfully, unlike the AGM of old, these are the ones you get out of the chest in the DMF arena rather than the quest reward for looting 12 chests. The mastery proc is useless, unfortunately. As of 9.0.5, the tooltip for the epic reward for turning in 12 of them claims to be usable at any level, but actually still requires 32 if you attempt to wear it.
Special options - If you were around long enough to have a https://www.wowhead.com/item=19024/arena-grand-master then it will net you 5 stamina and a paltry shield of 65 damage that does not work in PVP.
Since the Shadowlands Prepatch robbed everyone of their honorable medallions, you can use these insignia heirlooms to the same effect.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=122371/inherited-insignia-of-the-alliance?bonus=0
https://www.wowhead.com/item=122370/inherited-insignia-of-the-horde?bonus=0
If you were lucky enough to get WoD heirloom when they were still attainable, the shadowlands prepatch has scaled them down to level one. As of 9.0.5, the abilities on all of these are pretty bad, but they still provide unique effects.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=133597/infallible-tracking-charm?bonus=0
https://www.wowhead.com/item=133598/purified-shard-of-the-third-moon?bonus=0
https://www.wowhead.com/item=133596/orb-of-voidsight?bonus=0
https://www.wowhead.com/item=133585/judgment-of-the-naaru?bonus=0
https://www.wowhead.com/item=133595/gronntooth-war-horn?bonus=0
Your Offensive BiS trinket options will be Legion or BfA green BoEs, which provide -
Item Level 5
+1 Primary Stat
+2 Secondary Stat (Not Mastery)
+1 Tertiary Stat (Speed or Leech)
[] Socket
Examples
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121181/manglers-mark
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121124/stormforged-idol
https://www.wowhead.com/item=121070/hexweavers-charm
Your Defensive BiS option is https://www.wowhead.com/item=74034/pit-fighter due to the massive 13 stamina bonus.
Thankfully, unlike the AGM of old, these are the ones you get out of the chest in the DMF arena rather than the quest reward for looting 12 chests. The mastery proc is useless, unfortunately. As of 9.0.5, the tooltip for the epic reward for turning in 12 of them claims to be usable at any level, but actually still requires 32 if you attempt to wear it.
Special options - If you were around long enough to have a https://www.wowhead.com/item=19024/arena-grand-master then it will net you 5 stamina and a paltry shield of 65 damage that does not work in PVP.
Since the Shadowlands Prepatch robbed everyone of their honorable medallions, you can use these insignia heirlooms to the same effect.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=122371/inherited-insignia-of-the-alliance?bonus=0
https://www.wowhead.com/item=122370/inherited-insignia-of-the-horde?bonus=0
If you were lucky enough to get WoD heirloom when they were still attainable, the shadowlands prepatch has scaled them down to level one. As of 9.0.5, the abilities on all of these are pretty bad, but they still provide unique effects.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=133597/infallible-tracking-charm?bonus=0
https://www.wowhead.com/item=133598/purified-shard-of-the-third-moon?bonus=0
https://www.wowhead.com/item=133596/orb-of-voidsight?bonus=0
https://www.wowhead.com/item=133585/judgment-of-the-naaru?bonus=0
https://www.wowhead.com/item=133595/gronntooth-war-horn?bonus=0
Weapons
Your baseline weapon option will be your party sync gear, which provides varying stats depending on your class, and enabled loot spec.
Examples
https://www.wowhead.com/item=173557/outlaws-cutlass
https://www.wowhead.com/item=173569/marksmans-recurve-bow
https://www.wowhead.com/item=173542/restorative-ashwood-staff
Legion mobs do not drop weapons, as everyone had artifacts at the time. Also, every other expansion's mobs do not drop weapons usable at level one under the normal loot rules, as for some reason they are locked to level 3 and above even when looted by a level one.
Special options - Three of the confirmed previously mentioned random unscaled BoEs fit in the "weapons" category. One is a one handed sword, one is a staff, and the last is a shield.
These weapons/this shield are substantially more powerful than your party sync options.
For rogues, even though you do not utilize strength, unscaled Knightly Longswords blow Outlaw's Cutlasses out of the water (Note, some Knightly Swords give +2/+2 secondaries instead of +3/+2).
Staff of Jordan is almost certainly the strongest for anyone who can use staves and casts spells.
Redbeard Crest is probably the best shield you can use if you don't have a grandfathered Warcraft movie promotion shield with elemental force on it.
In addition to those items, there are two grey items with high damage from BFA that have no level requirement. Both of these items drop from Chief Mek-mek, a rare spawn from one of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms invasions. They also drop from the surrounding Hozen.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=173935/nik-niks-slicky-sticker
https://www.wowhead.com/item=173936/dookin-ookin-quarterstaff#dropped-by
Note that these items are both classified as main hand (yes, even the staff), so you can only use one. As of 9.0.5, both of these items have a tooltip that claims you must be level 50 to wear them. Despite this, you can still equip and use them without penalty.
Finally, there are the MoP era Heirloom weapons from the Siege of Orgrimmar. These are now grandfathered, just like the WoD Trinkets. They now scale to 1. Their stats are paltry, but one thing that makes them notable is that they all have two sockets, ̶w̶h̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶p̶u̶t̶ ̶u̶n̶s̶c̶a̶l̶e̶d̶ ̶B̶C̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶o̶i̶c̶ ̶g̶e̶m̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ (Patched). This doesn't make them better than Knightly Longswords or Staff of Jordan, but for hunters they will be desirable due to the sockets, and potentially ranged enchants (most are confirmed not to work currently, though). The preferable versions are the Heroic and Mythic ones, as the normal versions have no stats (H and M have the same stats currently in 9.0.5). Visit HERE for a full list.
Hunters should also take note of epic upgraded ranged weapons from quests, as they have slightly higher base damage and more stats (+3/+3 versus +1/+2/+1/+1) than the party sync weapons.
If you are a hunter and unable to get the previously mentioned SoO BoA bow or an epic upgrade quest reward bow, you are stuck with Party Sync weapons. Of the two, you should use the Bow over the Gun, as it is slightly better in 9.0.5. Choose the Marksmanship loot specialization to ensure you get it.
Your baseline weapon option will be your party sync gear, which provides varying stats depending on your class, and enabled loot spec.
Examples
https://www.wowhead.com/item=173557/outlaws-cutlass
https://www.wowhead.com/item=173569/marksmans-recurve-bow
https://www.wowhead.com/item=173542/restorative-ashwood-staff
Legion mobs do not drop weapons, as everyone had artifacts at the time. Also, every other expansion's mobs do not drop weapons usable at level one under the normal loot rules, as for some reason they are locked to level 3 and above even when looted by a level one.
Special options - Three of the confirmed previously mentioned random unscaled BoEs fit in the "weapons" category. One is a one handed sword, one is a staff, and the last is a shield.
These weapons/this shield are substantially more powerful than your party sync options.
For rogues, even though you do not utilize strength, unscaled Knightly Longswords blow Outlaw's Cutlasses out of the water (Note, some Knightly Swords give +2/+2 secondaries instead of +3/+2).
Staff of Jordan is almost certainly the strongest for anyone who can use staves and casts spells.
Redbeard Crest is probably the best shield you can use if you don't have a grandfathered Warcraft movie promotion shield with elemental force on it.
In addition to those items, there are two grey items with high damage from BFA that have no level requirement. Both of these items drop from Chief Mek-mek, a rare spawn from one of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms invasions. They also drop from the surrounding Hozen.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=173935/nik-niks-slicky-sticker
https://www.wowhead.com/item=173936/dookin-ookin-quarterstaff#dropped-by
Note that these items are both classified as main hand (yes, even the staff), so you can only use one. As of 9.0.5, both of these items have a tooltip that claims you must be level 50 to wear them. Despite this, you can still equip and use them without penalty.
Finally, there are the MoP era Heirloom weapons from the Siege of Orgrimmar. These are now grandfathered, just like the WoD Trinkets. They now scale to 1. Their stats are paltry, but one thing that makes them notable is that they all have two sockets, ̶w̶h̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶p̶u̶t̶ ̶u̶n̶s̶c̶a̶l̶e̶d̶ ̶B̶C̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶o̶i̶c̶ ̶g̶e̶m̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶t̶o̶ (Patched). This doesn't make them better than Knightly Longswords or Staff of Jordan, but for hunters they will be desirable due to the sockets, and potentially ranged enchants (most are confirmed not to work currently, though). The preferable versions are the Heroic and Mythic ones, as the normal versions have no stats (H and M have the same stats currently in 9.0.5). Visit HERE for a full list.
Hunters should also take note of epic upgraded ranged weapons from quests, as they have slightly higher base damage and more stats (+3/+3 versus +1/+2/+1/+1) than the party sync weapons.
If you are a hunter and unable to get the previously mentioned SoO BoA bow or an epic upgrade quest reward bow, you are stuck with Party Sync weapons. Of the two, you should use the Bow over the Gun, as it is slightly better in 9.0.5. Choose the Marksmanship loot specialization to ensure you get it.
Section 5 - Stat Scaling)
Another thing to keep in mind is that at level one, secondary stat scaling isn't very good. I won't be recommending you one to target, so pick whichever one you can get the most of. Haste, Versatility, and Critical strike are all good, though you get the most percent stat out of haste by a small margin. Mastery however, is completely useless.
The only specific recommendation I'd have is that if you're a ranged class who's trying to kite, ditch versatility for more haste or crit. You ideally are not going to be hit, at least for the entire fight, meaning the defensive component of versatility has less value, and versatility is otherwise the worst scaling of the three.
Look at this graph for more exact values.
There's diminishing returns for every one of these stats once you hit 30%, though Blizzard has not made it clear if this applies to all levels. You will never ever reach diminishing returns on a level 1 character, as it is currently understood that DR are independent of procs or additional effects such as Enchants/Sockets, basing itself on native gear stats only.
I didn't include block on this graph because even the lowest Ilvl shield you can use at level 1 has a block reduction value higher than diminishing returns, meaning we can't pull an exact number per "block rating" that means anything to us. It's largely irrelevant, if you're using shields you'll be using a Redbeard or a grandfathered ele force movie shield, and if not you're using party sync. Unlike parry and dodge, there are no block rating enchants and gems.
Another thing to keep in mind is that at level one, secondary stat scaling isn't very good. I won't be recommending you one to target, so pick whichever one you can get the most of. Haste, Versatility, and Critical strike are all good, though you get the most percent stat out of haste by a small margin. Mastery however, is completely useless.
The only specific recommendation I'd have is that if you're a ranged class who's trying to kite, ditch versatility for more haste or crit. You ideally are not going to be hit, at least for the entire fight, meaning the defensive component of versatility has less value, and versatility is otherwise the worst scaling of the three.
Look at this graph for more exact values.
There's diminishing returns for every one of these stats once you hit 30%, though Blizzard has not made it clear if this applies to all levels. You will never ever reach diminishing returns on a level 1 character, as it is currently understood that DR are independent of procs or additional effects such as Enchants/Sockets, basing itself on native gear stats only.
I didn't include block on this graph because even the lowest Ilvl shield you can use at level 1 has a block reduction value higher than diminishing returns, meaning we can't pull an exact number per "block rating" that means anything to us. It's largely irrelevant, if you're using shields you'll be using a Redbeard or a grandfathered ele force movie shield, and if not you're using party sync. Unlike parry and dodge, there are no block rating enchants and gems.
Part C: Gems and Enchants
In Shadowlands, level one twinks have access to both gem sockets and enchants to increase our power. We have several, but limited, options.
Section 1 - Gems)
Gems are a new feature for us in shadowlands, thanks to the legion loot rules we have available to us now. Currently, all gems from Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King are available to us, with their epic gems scaling best. Any gems from Cata, MoP, WoD, Legion, Bfa, and Shadowlands contain built in Ilvl requirements way beyond Ilvl5.
Your BiS is https://www.wowhead.com/item=27809/jagged-deep-peridot which costs ten https://www.wowhead.com/item=24579/mark-of-honor-hold and is unique equipped (meaning you can only use one at a time). Gives +3 stamina and +4 crit. Level ones are confirmed to be able to farm the tokens by killing high level enemy players (35+) in the PvP towers of Hellfire Peninsula. I recommend you have a friend or alternate account drop to low hp (via falling or a duel) on an enemy faction character before attacking them, or have a high level same-faction friend in your party kill them for you.
Beyond that, you'll want to fill your gear up with Epic quality BC/WotLK gems with +2/+2 and/or +3 stat budgets. Check Wowhead and your auction house for the stats you want, making sure it's a gem that doesn't demand a certain Ilvl. You're going to be looking at, for example: https://www.wowhead.com/item=35759/forceful-seaspray-emerald. I would highly recommend farming Sunwell Plateau on a high level character, or buying the base material gems from the auction house and finding a JC with the recipes over just buying the cut ones, as the materials are dirt cheap/drop like candy. BC epic gems are preferable as they are much easier to acquire than WotLK epic gems, and typically much cheaper.
For some quick and easy gems, you can also get the BC gems purchasable with Marks of honor in your capital PVP building, such as https://www.wowhead.com/item=28363/deadly-ornate-topaz.
Gems are a new feature for us in shadowlands, thanks to the legion loot rules we have available to us now. Currently, all gems from Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King are available to us, with their epic gems scaling best. Any gems from Cata, MoP, WoD, Legion, Bfa, and Shadowlands contain built in Ilvl requirements way beyond Ilvl5.
Your BiS is https://www.wowhead.com/item=27809/jagged-deep-peridot which costs ten https://www.wowhead.com/item=24579/mark-of-honor-hold and is unique equipped (meaning you can only use one at a time). Gives +3 stamina and +4 crit. Level ones are confirmed to be able to farm the tokens by killing high level enemy players (35+) in the PvP towers of Hellfire Peninsula. I recommend you have a friend or alternate account drop to low hp (via falling or a duel) on an enemy faction character before attacking them, or have a high level same-faction friend in your party kill them for you.
Beyond that, you'll want to fill your gear up with Epic quality BC/WotLK gems with +2/+2 and/or +3 stat budgets. Check Wowhead and your auction house for the stats you want, making sure it's a gem that doesn't demand a certain Ilvl. You're going to be looking at, for example: https://www.wowhead.com/item=35759/forceful-seaspray-emerald. I would highly recommend farming Sunwell Plateau on a high level character, or buying the base material gems from the auction house and finding a JC with the recipes over just buying the cut ones, as the materials are dirt cheap/drop like candy. BC epic gems are preferable as they are much easier to acquire than WotLK epic gems, and typically much cheaper.
For some quick and easy gems, you can also get the BC gems purchasable with Marks of honor in your capital PVP building, such as https://www.wowhead.com/item=28363/deadly-ornate-topaz.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=33782/steady-talasite which unlike other crafted BC gems didn't scale down until patch 9.1.5. It was a tanky option that gave 6 stamina and 4 armor. It had the highest stat budget we could use before it was nerfed to +1/+1.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=49110/nightmare-tear which used to give 3 to stamina and 3 to your primary stat. As of 9.1.0, these gems started to only give +2 to each stat, making them unremarkable. The tooltip still says +3 to stats and this may change again, but as of 9.1.5 this gem is still nerfed.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=49110/nightmare-tear which used to give 3 to stamina and 3 to your primary stat. As of 9.1.0, these gems started to only give +2 to each stat, making them unremarkable. The tooltip still says +3 to stats and this may change again, but as of 9.1.5 this gem is still nerfed.
Section 2 - Enchants)
Enchants following the prepatch have been severely weakened for most of our slots and strengthened for a couple. Something to know is that we are currently dealing with the worst "false tooltips" that we have ever had before. Many enchants will say they provide a large amount of a stat when you read them, but in reality display less once applied and then provide none. Here is an example:
This means you need to be really careful! There is a lot of testing to be done, especially with wowhead's enchant scaling not being displayed. This screenshot's details are out of date as of 9.0.5, but what is being shown regarding enchant tooltips is still true.
I will go over the ones that we KNOW work and are good slot by slot.
Head - There are no longer any head enchants.
Neck - https://www.wowhead.com/item=128553/enchant-neck-mark-of-the-hidden-satyr provides the highest and most consistent damage boost. It procs fairly often, and deals damage in the twenties. It outperforms mark of the distant army considerably.
Shoulder - All current shoulder enchants that give stats make your target item soulbound, and have a level requirement. However, now that we have BoE greens, it may be possible to trade bug shoulder enchants. I have not seen this happen yet, as this is all very new, so as time passes I can more concretely provide information. If you want something to fill the slot, you can get the Zookeeper or any of the legion item boon enchants.
Back - https://www.wowhead.com/item=38993/enchant-cloak-shadow-armor provides 2 agility and 4 armor now. For rogues, this is far and away our best enchant. Everything else that I have tested provides no stats at all, or just one. For casters, you might consider getting one of the WoD cloak speed enchants. You won't get any stats from them, but 2% movement speed can add up when you're trying to kite.
Chest - Another terrible change is that +4 all stats to chest has been grandfathered in a way that I have never seen before. If you try to apply it now, you gain no benefit and it appears to be level locked. If you had it applied before prepatch, it still functions. Proof here. This goes for ALL of the chest enchants that display +4 stats. My wallet hurt testing every single one. Your best bet is to use +1 all stats, as the other single stat enchants do not function.
Wrist - https://www.wowhead.com/item=38898/enchant-bracer-stats is still functional, providing +1 to all stats. Every other enchant is either entirely non functional or one single stat.
Hands - The only functional hand enchants (Outside of +profession skill enchants) are for casters; https://www.wowhead.com/item=38887/enchant-gloves-frost-power and https://www.wowhead.com/item=38886/enchant-gloves-shadow-power. It is possible that https://www.wowhead.com/item=38888/enchant-gloves-fire-power works as well, but no level one class benefits from fire spell damage. Only Mages (Frost) and Warlocks (Shadow) will benefit from the other two.
Waist - The best enchant for your waist would be trade bugged BFA engineering belt effects, as they are still working in Shadowlands for level 1s without engineering. This can only be done on BoE belts. Here are your options.
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=269205/belt-enchant-holographic-horror-projector
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=269126/belt-enchant-miniaturized-plasma-shield
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=269208/belt-enchant-personal-space-amplifier
Legs - The only leg enchant that you can put on an Ilvl 5 pair of pants is the https://www.wowhead.com/item=2304/light-armor-kit, which claims to give you an additional armor but infact gives you nothing. Attempting to put any special armor kit on a BoE from another character results in the message "Target is too low level". I attempted this with a statted kit from each expansion. The three Pandaria direct application leg enchants can be trade bugged to a level one, but none of them actually provide any stats despite displaying +1/+1. Please let me know if you find one that works.
Feet - Every single stat enchant for boots appears to be completely nonfunctional. Please let me know if you find one that works. https://www.wowhead.com/item=38837/enchant-boots-minor-speed and (only) the speed component of enchants like https://www.wowhead.com/item=38944/enchant-boots-boars-speed are still functional.
Fingers - Every single enchant for rings appear to be completely nonfunctional. Please let me know if you find one that works, I tested the vast majority of them and none were found to provide any bonus.
Weapons - There are multiple good choices.
For melee fighters, here are the golden four.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=74725/enchant-weapon-elemental-force - A high PPM proc enchant that deals between 36-40 damage each time. The best option for pure DPS.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=38871/enchant-weapon-lifestealing - A moderately high PPM proc enchant that deals a flat 30 damage each time, and heals you for the same amount. The best option for sustained self healing.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=38998/enchant-weapon-deathfrost - A moderately high PPM enchant that deals between 36-40 damage each time, and slows them for 8 seconds. Debuff is not removed if you switch off of this enchant to other weapons during combat. The best option for fighting someone who might otherwise kite you to death. (NOTE - The application of the debuff is currently bugged, and using this is not currently recommended due to unreliability)
For hunters, options are more limited. As of 9.2, the only decent ranged weapon enchants that are confirmed to be working at level 1 are https://www.wowhead.com/item=172368/enchant-weapon-sinful-revelation and https://www.wowhead.com/item=172370/enchant-weapon-lightless-force. You will need someone above the level of 50 to apply the Shadowlands enchants to your BoP weapons for you, as use of the scroll requires such.
Previously functional and more attractive options like
https://www.wowhead.com/item=44739/diamond-cut-refractor-scope
https://www.wowhead.com/item=153480/enchant-weapon-gale-force-striking
https://www.wowhead.com/item=70139/flintlockes-woodchucker
no longer give stats or proc properly.
For casters, you will want to use Elemental Force. If anyone knows a better weapon enchant for casters, please post it.
Shields - All of the enchants for Shields/Offhands gives either 0 stats or one single stat (Armor only). https://www.wowhead.com/item=12645/thorium-shield-spike however, returns a decent amount of damage on block, roughly 9-12. This should be used if you don't have the bugged Warcraft movie promotional shield enchanted with elemental force. (Credit to Darbit for testing the shield spikes)
@Swoops made an awesome spreadsheet for enchant scaling in SL, though most everything is broken by the time it hits 10, let alone 1. Here's a link - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12xz0243YlWix58YrVRZqdg4xLaszpxjr2gfAMt7XZBs/edit?usp=sharing
Enchants following the prepatch have been severely weakened for most of our slots and strengthened for a couple. Something to know is that we are currently dealing with the worst "false tooltips" that we have ever had before. Many enchants will say they provide a large amount of a stat when you read them, but in reality display less once applied and then provide none. Here is an example:
This means you need to be really careful! There is a lot of testing to be done, especially with wowhead's enchant scaling not being displayed. This screenshot's details are out of date as of 9.0.5, but what is being shown regarding enchant tooltips is still true.
I will go over the ones that we KNOW work and are good slot by slot.
Head - There are no longer any head enchants.
Neck - https://www.wowhead.com/item=128553/enchant-neck-mark-of-the-hidden-satyr provides the highest and most consistent damage boost. It procs fairly often, and deals damage in the twenties. It outperforms mark of the distant army considerably.
Shoulder - All current shoulder enchants that give stats make your target item soulbound, and have a level requirement. However, now that we have BoE greens, it may be possible to trade bug shoulder enchants. I have not seen this happen yet, as this is all very new, so as time passes I can more concretely provide information. If you want something to fill the slot, you can get the Zookeeper or any of the legion item boon enchants.
Back - https://www.wowhead.com/item=38993/enchant-cloak-shadow-armor provides 2 agility and 4 armor now. For rogues, this is far and away our best enchant. Everything else that I have tested provides no stats at all, or just one. For casters, you might consider getting one of the WoD cloak speed enchants. You won't get any stats from them, but 2% movement speed can add up when you're trying to kite.
Chest - Another terrible change is that +4 all stats to chest has been grandfathered in a way that I have never seen before. If you try to apply it now, you gain no benefit and it appears to be level locked. If you had it applied before prepatch, it still functions. Proof here. This goes for ALL of the chest enchants that display +4 stats. My wallet hurt testing every single one. Your best bet is to use +1 all stats, as the other single stat enchants do not function.
Wrist - https://www.wowhead.com/item=38898/enchant-bracer-stats is still functional, providing +1 to all stats. Every other enchant is either entirely non functional or one single stat.
Hands - The only functional hand enchants (Outside of +profession skill enchants) are for casters; https://www.wowhead.com/item=38887/enchant-gloves-frost-power and https://www.wowhead.com/item=38886/enchant-gloves-shadow-power. It is possible that https://www.wowhead.com/item=38888/enchant-gloves-fire-power works as well, but no level one class benefits from fire spell damage. Only Mages (Frost) and Warlocks (Shadow) will benefit from the other two.
Waist - The best enchant for your waist would be trade bugged BFA engineering belt effects, as they are still working in Shadowlands for level 1s without engineering. This can only be done on BoE belts. Here are your options.
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=269205/belt-enchant-holographic-horror-projector
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=269126/belt-enchant-miniaturized-plasma-shield
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=269208/belt-enchant-personal-space-amplifier
Legs - The only leg enchant that you can put on an Ilvl 5 pair of pants is the https://www.wowhead.com/item=2304/light-armor-kit, which claims to give you an additional armor but infact gives you nothing. Attempting to put any special armor kit on a BoE from another character results in the message "Target is too low level". I attempted this with a statted kit from each expansion. The three Pandaria direct application leg enchants can be trade bugged to a level one, but none of them actually provide any stats despite displaying +1/+1. Please let me know if you find one that works.
Feet - Every single stat enchant for boots appears to be completely nonfunctional. Please let me know if you find one that works. https://www.wowhead.com/item=38837/enchant-boots-minor-speed and (only) the speed component of enchants like https://www.wowhead.com/item=38944/enchant-boots-boars-speed are still functional.
Fingers - Every single enchant for rings appear to be completely nonfunctional. Please let me know if you find one that works, I tested the vast majority of them and none were found to provide any bonus.
Weapons - There are multiple good choices.
For melee fighters, here are the golden four.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=74725/enchant-weapon-elemental-force - A high PPM proc enchant that deals between 36-40 damage each time. The best option for pure DPS.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=38871/enchant-weapon-lifestealing - A moderately high PPM proc enchant that deals a flat 30 damage each time, and heals you for the same amount. The best option for sustained self healing.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=38998/enchant-weapon-deathfrost - A moderately high PPM enchant that deals between 36-40 damage each time, and slows them for 8 seconds. Debuff is not removed if you switch off of this enchant to other weapons during combat. The best option for fighting someone who might otherwise kite you to death. (NOTE - The application of the debuff is currently bugged, and using this is not currently recommended due to unreliability)
For hunters, options are more limited. As of 9.2, the only decent ranged weapon enchants that are confirmed to be working at level 1 are https://www.wowhead.com/item=172368/enchant-weapon-sinful-revelation and https://www.wowhead.com/item=172370/enchant-weapon-lightless-force. You will need someone above the level of 50 to apply the Shadowlands enchants to your BoP weapons for you, as use of the scroll requires such.
Previously functional and more attractive options like
https://www.wowhead.com/item=44739/diamond-cut-refractor-scope
https://www.wowhead.com/item=153480/enchant-weapon-gale-force-striking
https://www.wowhead.com/item=70139/flintlockes-woodchucker
no longer give stats or proc properly.
For casters, you will want to use Elemental Force. If anyone knows a better weapon enchant for casters, please post it.
Shields - All of the enchants for Shields/Offhands gives either 0 stats or one single stat (Armor only). https://www.wowhead.com/item=12645/thorium-shield-spike however, returns a decent amount of damage on block, roughly 9-12. This should be used if you don't have the bugged Warcraft movie promotional shield enchanted with elemental force. (Credit to Darbit for testing the shield spikes)
@Swoops made an awesome spreadsheet for enchant scaling in SL, though most everything is broken by the time it hits 10, let alone 1. Here's a link - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12xz0243YlWix58YrVRZqdg4xLaszpxjr2gfAMt7XZBs/edit?usp=sharing
Part D: Consumables, Toys, and Mounts
There are a great deal of items that give level one twinks boosts in power and mobility. Here are the ones you should get. I won't include anything related to grandfathered level 1 twinks with engineering.
Section 1 - In-Combat Items)
https://www.wowhead.com/item=118/minor-healing-potion - The most plentiful of our healing options. Heals 81 health upon use at level 1.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=175241/expedition-healing-potion - A new addition in shadowlands, these are looted by players during the new Exile's Reach starting zone, in a chest in the Harpy area. Healing 111 upon use at level 1, it has the same numbers as the lesser healing potion without the level requirement. Annoying to farm, as you cannot leave Exile's Reach until you finish it, nor can you summon a mailbox via a toy or summon your guild bank via the ability.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=23329/enriched-lasher-root - A healing item farmable in the Draenei starting zone. Heals a pitiful 24 health at level one, but does not share a cooldown with healing potions, meaning you can use it right after using a healing potion for extra health. (EDIT: As of shadowlands, this item now shares a cooldown with other healing items.)
https://www.wowhead.com/item=124660/darkmoon-healing-tonic and https://www.wowhead.com/item=124661/gladiators-healing-potion - Both of these potions heal for a static 20% of your max health, and are looted from their respective arena evens in the Darkmoon Faire and Gurbashi. These are only better than the other potions if 20% of your health is more than 81 or 111.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=128647/fizzy-apple-cider - Heals for 25% of your maximum health. This is BoA, so when the Feast of Winter Veil shows up, do the cookie quest on as many characters as possible, earning you 5 ciders each. They are also (somtimes, they don't always appear) sold by the https://www.wowhead.com/npc=157756/waiter during the anniversary events. These are only better than the other potions if 25% of your health is more than 81 or 111.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=32578/charged-crystal-focus - A recently grandfathered healing item that heals for a massive 2,701 HP. Given that you can no longer farm apexis shards via the nodes, you cannot attain these anymore. If you still have them, they are still usable.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=8544/mageweave-bandage - The best scaling bandage we have available. Heals you for 810 damage over 8 seconds.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=19440/powerful-anti-venom - The most potent antivenom available to us. Clears a poison debuff from ourselves or a target.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=4388/discombobulator-ray - Zaps the target into a leper gnome. At level one, this only reduces SP by 2 and movement speed by 1%. Not very useful, but better than nothing against a kiting caster.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=38300/diluted-ethereum-essence - Grants invisibility detection for 30 seconds. Requires an https://www.wowhead.com/spell=49964/ethereal-soul-trader .
https://www.wowhead.com/item=153490/f-r-i-e-d - Deals 12 damage to everyone in the targeted area. With a large windup time, this is only really useful in an AoE situation, or getting someone out of a Shard of Archstone.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=153494/thermo-accelerated-plague-spreader - Deals 3 damage every 3 seconds in an area for 15 seconds. With a large windup time, this is only really useful in an AoE situation, to keep someone in combat, or getting someone out of a Shard of Archstone.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=153487/organic-discombobulation-grenade - An AoE polymorph that does not work reliably work in PVP (summons what are essentially npc landmines that poly on contact, but they dont always come out).
https://www.wowhead.com/item=46725/red-rider-air-rifle - Allows classes with no ranged attacks to cheaply and reliable pull at range. Deals no damage, but causes threat. Has a chance to stun you, but this debuff can be removed with a right click or a /cancelaura macro.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=128632/savage-snowball - Also engages enemies at a range, but is single use and more expensive. This item used to proc effects like Ele Force, though it doesn't anymore.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=7676/thistle-tea - Rogue only; These restore 100 of your 120 energy. Don't bother having these made via cooking, you can buy them for about 1 silver apiece in your capital city.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=120257/drums-of-fury - A heroism/bloodlust lite, this gives your whole party 15% more haste for 40 seconds. Any of the drums will do, but these are the cheapest to make.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=23381/chipped-power-core and https://www.wowhead.com/item=23334/cracked-power-core - Gives a short intellect buff. Unique, so you can only hold one at a time, but they can be stacked and stored in your guild bank with no issue.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=23386/condensed-mana-powder and https://www.wowhead.com/item=23354/crystalized-mana-residue - Our only (harmless) mana potions available. Restores 40 and 24 mana each, respectively.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=20520/dark-rune - Restores 73 mana at the cost of 36 HP.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=178108/wool-of-dredbat - Exchanges stamina for leech, but as of 9.1.5, it takes 0 Stamina in exchange for giving 1 leech. This essentially gives you 1 leech for no cost for 2 minutes. Use during a fight to make the most of the short duration.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=118/minor-healing-potion - The most plentiful of our healing options. Heals 81 health upon use at level 1.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=175241/expedition-healing-potion - A new addition in shadowlands, these are looted by players during the new Exile's Reach starting zone, in a chest in the Harpy area. Healing 111 upon use at level 1, it has the same numbers as the lesser healing potion without the level requirement. Annoying to farm, as you cannot leave Exile's Reach until you finish it, nor can you summon a mailbox via a toy or summon your guild bank via the ability.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=23329/enriched-lasher-root - A healing item farmable in the Draenei starting zone. Heals a pitiful 24 health at level one, but does not share a cooldown with healing potions, meaning you can use it right after using a healing potion for extra health. (EDIT: As of shadowlands, this item now shares a cooldown with other healing items.)
https://www.wowhead.com/item=124660/darkmoon-healing-tonic and https://www.wowhead.com/item=124661/gladiators-healing-potion - Both of these potions heal for a static 20% of your max health, and are looted from their respective arena evens in the Darkmoon Faire and Gurbashi. These are only better than the other potions if 20% of your health is more than 81 or 111.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=128647/fizzy-apple-cider - Heals for 25% of your maximum health. This is BoA, so when the Feast of Winter Veil shows up, do the cookie quest on as many characters as possible, earning you 5 ciders each. They are also (somtimes, they don't always appear) sold by the https://www.wowhead.com/npc=157756/waiter during the anniversary events. These are only better than the other potions if 25% of your health is more than 81 or 111.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=32578/charged-crystal-focus - A recently grandfathered healing item that heals for a massive 2,701 HP. Given that you can no longer farm apexis shards via the nodes, you cannot attain these anymore. If you still have them, they are still usable.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=8544/mageweave-bandage - The best scaling bandage we have available. Heals you for 810 damage over 8 seconds.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=19440/powerful-anti-venom - The most potent antivenom available to us. Clears a poison debuff from ourselves or a target.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=4388/discombobulator-ray - Zaps the target into a leper gnome. At level one, this only reduces SP by 2 and movement speed by 1%. Not very useful, but better than nothing against a kiting caster.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=38300/diluted-ethereum-essence - Grants invisibility detection for 30 seconds. Requires an https://www.wowhead.com/spell=49964/ethereal-soul-trader .
https://www.wowhead.com/item=153490/f-r-i-e-d - Deals 12 damage to everyone in the targeted area. With a large windup time, this is only really useful in an AoE situation, or getting someone out of a Shard of Archstone.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=153494/thermo-accelerated-plague-spreader - Deals 3 damage every 3 seconds in an area for 15 seconds. With a large windup time, this is only really useful in an AoE situation, to keep someone in combat, or getting someone out of a Shard of Archstone.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=153487/organic-discombobulation-grenade - An AoE polymorph that does not work reliably work in PVP (summons what are essentially npc landmines that poly on contact, but they dont always come out).
https://www.wowhead.com/item=46725/red-rider-air-rifle - Allows classes with no ranged attacks to cheaply and reliable pull at range. Deals no damage, but causes threat. Has a chance to stun you, but this debuff can be removed with a right click or a /cancelaura macro.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=128632/savage-snowball - Also engages enemies at a range, but is single use and more expensive. This item used to proc effects like Ele Force, though it doesn't anymore.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=7676/thistle-tea - Rogue only; These restore 100 of your 120 energy. Don't bother having these made via cooking, you can buy them for about 1 silver apiece in your capital city.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=120257/drums-of-fury - A heroism/bloodlust lite, this gives your whole party 15% more haste for 40 seconds. Any of the drums will do, but these are the cheapest to make.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=23381/chipped-power-core and https://www.wowhead.com/item=23334/cracked-power-core - Gives a short intellect buff. Unique, so you can only hold one at a time, but they can be stacked and stored in your guild bank with no issue.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=23386/condensed-mana-powder and https://www.wowhead.com/item=23354/crystalized-mana-residue - Our only (harmless) mana potions available. Restores 40 and 24 mana each, respectively.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=20520/dark-rune - Restores 73 mana at the cost of 36 HP.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=178108/wool-of-dredbat - Exchanges stamina for leech, but as of 9.1.5, it takes 0 Stamina in exchange for giving 1 leech. This essentially gives you 1 leech for no cost for 2 minutes. Use during a fight to make the most of the short duration.
Section 2 - Buffs/Food)
https://www.wowhead.com/item=1180/scroll-of-stamina
https://www.wowhead.com/item=1181/scroll-of-versatility
https://www.wowhead.com/item=3012/scroll-of-agility
https://www.wowhead.com/item=954/scroll-of-strength
https://www.wowhead.com/item=955/scroll-of-intellect - All of the scrolls we have access to give +1 to any specific stat, and count as a battle or guardian elixir.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=2454/elixir-of-lions-strength - Gives +2 strength. A good option for warriors and paladins. Battle elixir.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=3382/weak-trolls-blood-elixir - Advertises 1hp/5s, but doesn't actually do anything.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=5997/elixir-of-minor-defense - Advertises +1 armor, but doesn't actually do anything.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=1177/oil-of-olaf - Gives +1 armor. Guardian elixir.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=2862/rough-sharpening-stone and https://www.wowhead.com/item=3239/rough-weightstone - add +1 damage to your melee weapon.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=5206/bogling-root - Makes the user deal +1 physical damage for 10 minutes. Much easier to farm now that party sync can spawn the boglings over and over. Read more about this here.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=124656/darkmoon-tincture-of-alacrity and https://www.wowhead.com/item=124651/darkmoon-draught-of-deflection and so on - The different darkmoon draughts and tinctures, of which there are 16 total, give a flat 2% increase to any stat they advertise. They recently added a 7 day duration to these, so they have fallen out of favor. You should take advantage of them when the faire is going, though.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=23985/crystal-of-vitality
https://www.wowhead.com/item=23989/crystal-of-ferocity
https://www.wowhead.com/item=23986/crystal-of-insight - All of these crystals give +2 to their advertised stat. Alliance only, requires you to do the bloodmyst isle quests and turn in 10 https://www.wowhead.com/item=23984/irradiated-crystal-shard for each.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=22710/bloodthistle - Gives you +10 spellpower for 10 minutes. Reduces your intellect by 5 for 20 minutes after the buff wears off. Blood elf only.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=166750/draught-of-ten-lands - Gives +1 all stats for 1 hour. Stacks with other buffs, not limited by Guardian/Battle elixirs.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=21744/lucky-rocket-cluster - Gives you +513 HP (As of 9.0.3). Requires you to place down a https://www.wowhead.com/item=21570/cluster-launcher to use. Can be used year round but only farmed during the Lunar Festival.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=21519/mistletoe - Gives a friend 20 versatility. Can only be used during Winter Veil.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=116138/last-deck-of-nemelex-xobeh - Gives you a random crazy buff/debuff. A list of these effects are on the wowhead page.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=33930/amani-charm-of-the-bloodletter
https://www.wowhead.com/item=33932/amani-charm-of-the-witch-doctor
https://www.wowhead.com/item=33933/amani-charm-of-the-raging-defender
https://www.wowhead.com/item=33931/amani-charm-of-mighty-mojo - These amani charms are not supposed to work outside of ZA. They do not function like other zone specific buffs, however, and allow you to keep the buff for a second before it is removed. With the Bloodletter charm, especially, you can have some powerful openers. Unique, so you can only hold one at a time, but they can be stacked and stored in your guild bank with no issue.
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=818/cooking-fire - For those of you with grandfathered cooking - increases versatility by 1.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=126934/lemon-herb-filet
https://www.wowhead.com/item=6888/herb-baked-egg
https://www.wowhead.com/item=2680/spiced-wolf-meat - Easy to make food that can give you a Well Fed food buff of either 1 versatility or 1 stamina. For the stamina buffs, there are a half dozen more options available, so just pick whatever is easiest to farm or most available on your auction house.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=77272/small-sugarcane-stalk
https://www.wowhead.com/item=77264/small-bamboo-shoot
https://www.wowhead.com/item=77273/small-rice-cake - Pandaren starting zone food that provide 1 primary stat.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=116406/twice-baked-sweet-potato
https://www.wowhead.com/item=116409/gourmet-pumpkin-pie - Pilgrim's Bounty food that do not expire and provide 1 secondary stat. Stuffing not included due to just giving 1 stamina, which you can get more easily elsewhere.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=116407/slow-smoked-turkey
https://www.wowhead.com/item=116405/congealed-cranberry-chutney - Slightly more powerful food that can be farmed during Pilgrim's Bounty. Does not expire, and can be sold and traded freely. These used to have much stronger effects, but as of 9.2.0 they give one of each listed stat. The cranberry provides casters with 1 SP and 1 stamina, and the turkey provides melee with 1 attack power and 1 stamina.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=101618/pandaren-treasure-noodle-soup - The best food that we can get year round. Provides 7 of your primary stat. Attaining this food requires some roundabout work, you need someone else to use a https://www.wowhead.com/item=101662/pandaren-treasure-noodle-cart-kit for you. Then, click on the cart and purchase your soup. You may only have 5 at once, and they are BoP. There are lower stat versions of this (https://www.wowhead.com/item=101661/deluxe-noodle-cart-kit https://www.wowhead.com/item=101630/noodle-cart-kit) that are strictly worse, but might be nice to have as spares given the Unique (5) property of the best version.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=162010/valley-truffle - Our fastest HP restoring food, at the cost of applying a movement speed debuff.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=174351/kbab - Our highest base HP and Mana restoring food, and one that doesn't remove your well fed buff for something useless (like the other BfA vision food).
https://www.wowhead.com/item=1180/scroll-of-stamina
https://www.wowhead.com/item=1181/scroll-of-versatility
https://www.wowhead.com/item=3012/scroll-of-agility
https://www.wowhead.com/item=954/scroll-of-strength
https://www.wowhead.com/item=955/scroll-of-intellect - All of the scrolls we have access to give +1 to any specific stat, and count as a battle or guardian elixir.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=2454/elixir-of-lions-strength - Gives +2 strength. A good option for warriors and paladins. Battle elixir.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=3382/weak-trolls-blood-elixir - Advertises 1hp/5s, but doesn't actually do anything.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=5997/elixir-of-minor-defense - Advertises +1 armor, but doesn't actually do anything.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=1177/oil-of-olaf - Gives +1 armor. Guardian elixir.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=2862/rough-sharpening-stone and https://www.wowhead.com/item=3239/rough-weightstone - add +1 damage to your melee weapon.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=5206/bogling-root - Makes the user deal +1 physical damage for 10 minutes. Much easier to farm now that party sync can spawn the boglings over and over. Read more about this here.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=124656/darkmoon-tincture-of-alacrity and https://www.wowhead.com/item=124651/darkmoon-draught-of-deflection and so on - The different darkmoon draughts and tinctures, of which there are 16 total, give a flat 2% increase to any stat they advertise. They recently added a 7 day duration to these, so they have fallen out of favor. You should take advantage of them when the faire is going, though.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=23985/crystal-of-vitality
https://www.wowhead.com/item=23989/crystal-of-ferocity
https://www.wowhead.com/item=23986/crystal-of-insight - All of these crystals give +2 to their advertised stat. Alliance only, requires you to do the bloodmyst isle quests and turn in 10 https://www.wowhead.com/item=23984/irradiated-crystal-shard for each.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=22710/bloodthistle - Gives you +10 spellpower for 10 minutes. Reduces your intellect by 5 for 20 minutes after the buff wears off. Blood elf only.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=166750/draught-of-ten-lands - Gives +1 all stats for 1 hour. Stacks with other buffs, not limited by Guardian/Battle elixirs.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=21744/lucky-rocket-cluster - Gives you +513 HP (As of 9.0.3). Requires you to place down a https://www.wowhead.com/item=21570/cluster-launcher to use. Can be used year round but only farmed during the Lunar Festival.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=21519/mistletoe - Gives a friend 20 versatility. Can only be used during Winter Veil.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=116138/last-deck-of-nemelex-xobeh - Gives you a random crazy buff/debuff. A list of these effects are on the wowhead page.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=33930/amani-charm-of-the-bloodletter
https://www.wowhead.com/item=33932/amani-charm-of-the-witch-doctor
https://www.wowhead.com/item=33933/amani-charm-of-the-raging-defender
https://www.wowhead.com/item=33931/amani-charm-of-mighty-mojo - These amani charms are not supposed to work outside of ZA. They do not function like other zone specific buffs, however, and allow you to keep the buff for a second before it is removed. With the Bloodletter charm, especially, you can have some powerful openers. Unique, so you can only hold one at a time, but they can be stacked and stored in your guild bank with no issue.
https://www.wowhead.com/spell=818/cooking-fire - For those of you with grandfathered cooking - increases versatility by 1.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=126934/lemon-herb-filet
https://www.wowhead.com/item=6888/herb-baked-egg
https://www.wowhead.com/item=2680/spiced-wolf-meat - Easy to make food that can give you a Well Fed food buff of either 1 versatility or 1 stamina. For the stamina buffs, there are a half dozen more options available, so just pick whatever is easiest to farm or most available on your auction house.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=77272/small-sugarcane-stalk
https://www.wowhead.com/item=77264/small-bamboo-shoot
https://www.wowhead.com/item=77273/small-rice-cake - Pandaren starting zone food that provide 1 primary stat.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=116406/twice-baked-sweet-potato
https://www.wowhead.com/item=116409/gourmet-pumpkin-pie - Pilgrim's Bounty food that do not expire and provide 1 secondary stat. Stuffing not included due to just giving 1 stamina, which you can get more easily elsewhere.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=116407/slow-smoked-turkey
https://www.wowhead.com/item=116405/congealed-cranberry-chutney - Slightly more powerful food that can be farmed during Pilgrim's Bounty. Does not expire, and can be sold and traded freely. These used to have much stronger effects, but as of 9.2.0 they give one of each listed stat. The cranberry provides casters with 1 SP and 1 stamina, and the turkey provides melee with 1 attack power and 1 stamina.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=101618/pandaren-treasure-noodle-soup - The best food that we can get year round. Provides 7 of your primary stat. Attaining this food requires some roundabout work, you need someone else to use a https://www.wowhead.com/item=101662/pandaren-treasure-noodle-cart-kit for you. Then, click on the cart and purchase your soup. You may only have 5 at once, and they are BoP. There are lower stat versions of this (https://www.wowhead.com/item=101661/deluxe-noodle-cart-kit https://www.wowhead.com/item=101630/noodle-cart-kit) that are strictly worse, but might be nice to have as spares given the Unique (5) property of the best version.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=162010/valley-truffle - Our fastest HP restoring food, at the cost of applying a movement speed debuff.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=174351/kbab - Our highest base HP and Mana restoring food, and one that doesn't remove your well fed buff for something useless (like the other BfA vision food).
Section 3 - Mobility)
https://www.wowhead.com/item=107640/potion-of-slow-fall - A freely tradeable potion acquired from a 1 time per character treasure in WoD. You can find these pretty often on the AH.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=8529/noggenfogger-elixir - Newly available to us since the Shadowlands Prepatch. A more affordable and logistically reliable way to get slow fall, at 35s a pop.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=109076/goblin-glider-kit
https://www.wowhead.com/item=167862/horde-glider-kit
https://www.wowhead.com/item=167861/alliance-glider-kit - A high momentum and steerable slow fall item. All of these three function in the same way.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=132516/gunshoes - The closest thing we have to a sprint potion. Not usable in combat, but persists through it.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=132513/gunpack - Knocks you around, and then up a good distance. Can get you into places you otherwise couldn't, and combined with a decent /cancelaura macro can help you get more height on your glides.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=171196/spellstone-delight - Gives you a 100% speed boost for 30 seconds. Works only during the WoW anniversary event, but does not expire once it ends. Canceled by damage.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=153573/electroshock-mount-motivator - increases mount speed in small bursts. Functions on the Chauffeur mount.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=153123/cracked-radinax-control-gem - Gives you a massive speed bonus. Similar in function to gunshoes, but faster and doesn't last as long. Be careful when you buy these, as newer ones looted by high levels have a level requirement.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=154169/shimmerscale-diving-helmet - Grants underwater breathing for 15 minutes.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=154168/shimmerscale-diving-suit - Grants underwater swimming speed for 15 minutes.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=153512/xa-1000-surface-skimmer - Moves you quickly over bodies of water.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=151239/felslate-anchor - Gets you to the bottom of whatever body of water you're in quickly.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=136606/leystone-buoy - Gets you to the top of whatever body of water you're in quickly.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=107640/potion-of-slow-fall - A freely tradeable potion acquired from a 1 time per character treasure in WoD. You can find these pretty often on the AH.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=8529/noggenfogger-elixir - Newly available to us since the Shadowlands Prepatch. A more affordable and logistically reliable way to get slow fall, at 35s a pop.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=109076/goblin-glider-kit
https://www.wowhead.com/item=167862/horde-glider-kit
https://www.wowhead.com/item=167861/alliance-glider-kit - A high momentum and steerable slow fall item. All of these three function in the same way.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=132516/gunshoes - The closest thing we have to a sprint potion. Not usable in combat, but persists through it.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=132513/gunpack - Knocks you around, and then up a good distance. Can get you into places you otherwise couldn't, and combined with a decent /cancelaura macro can help you get more height on your glides.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=171196/spellstone-delight - Gives you a 100% speed boost for 30 seconds. Works only during the WoW anniversary event, but does not expire once it ends. Canceled by damage.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=153573/electroshock-mount-motivator - increases mount speed in small bursts. Functions on the Chauffeur mount.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=153123/cracked-radinax-control-gem - Gives you a massive speed bonus. Similar in function to gunshoes, but faster and doesn't last as long. Be careful when you buy these, as newer ones looted by high levels have a level requirement.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=154169/shimmerscale-diving-helmet - Grants underwater breathing for 15 minutes.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=154168/shimmerscale-diving-suit - Grants underwater swimming speed for 15 minutes.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=153512/xa-1000-surface-skimmer - Moves you quickly over bodies of water.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=151239/felslate-anchor - Gets you to the bottom of whatever body of water you're in quickly.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=136606/leystone-buoy - Gets you to the top of whatever body of water you're in quickly.
Section 4 - Toys & Mounts)
https://www.wowhead.com/item=116435/cozy-bonfire
https://www.wowhead.com/item=128536/leylight-brazier
https://www.wowhead.com/item=70722/little-wickerman - The many different bonfire toys can provide you with the same versatility bonus as the cooking fire if you weren't around long enough to learn cooking before its grandfathering.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=166461/gnarlwood-waveboard - Allows you to surf quickly on the water surface. Does not require fishing like the iceberg and fishing raft do.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=131933/critter-hand-cannon - Spawns attackable critters. Good for self healing off of if you cant get out of combat but can get out of line of sight.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=86573/shard-of-archstone - Prevents you from being targeted. Good to open up duels with someone with no AoE attacks, or remain out of combat if you are able to leave it and have low HP.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=142542/tome-of-town-portal - Allows you to delete your hearthstone which saves you a bag space. This applies to any hearthstone toy. This formerly allowed you to retain the ability to hearth while also being able to kill yourself on command with the unstuck feature, but that has been fixed.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=82467/ruthers-harness - Summons an immobile yak that during PVP, shows up as attackable to your enemies. Can be combined with the shard of archstone to throw them off.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=43499/iron-boot-flask - Zaps people who attack you with lightning. This lightning doesn't do damage anymore at level one, but appears to still proc effects.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=168016/hyper-compressed-ocean - The only way to fish at level one. Someone else needs to use the toy, though.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=129165/barnacle-encrusted-gem - Provides water breathing and ocean floor walking speed. Breaks upon mounting or in combat.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=131811/rocfeather-skyhorn-kite - A free glider that only works in the broken isles. Since you're going to be spending a lot of time there farming BoEs, this is more helpful than not.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=131900/majestic-elderhorn-hoof - Increases mount speed in Highmountain. Useful for the same reason as above.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=153293/sightless-eye - Heavily reduces your aggro range in the Broken Isles. Useful for the same reason as above.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=122703/chauffeured-chopper - The fastest ground mount we can use.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=23720/riding-turtle
https://www.wowhead.com/item=46109/sea-turtle - Amphibious mounts. They move slowly on land and quickly in the water.
https://www.wowhead.com/spells/mounts/aquatic-mounts - All of the aquatic mounts can be used at level one. However, only the turtles don't dismount out of water.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=116435/cozy-bonfire
https://www.wowhead.com/item=128536/leylight-brazier
https://www.wowhead.com/item=70722/little-wickerman - The many different bonfire toys can provide you with the same versatility bonus as the cooking fire if you weren't around long enough to learn cooking before its grandfathering.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=166461/gnarlwood-waveboard - Allows you to surf quickly on the water surface. Does not require fishing like the iceberg and fishing raft do.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=131933/critter-hand-cannon - Spawns attackable critters. Good for self healing off of if you cant get out of combat but can get out of line of sight.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=86573/shard-of-archstone - Prevents you from being targeted. Good to open up duels with someone with no AoE attacks, or remain out of combat if you are able to leave it and have low HP.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=142542/tome-of-town-portal - Allows you to delete your hearthstone which saves you a bag space. This applies to any hearthstone toy. This formerly allowed you to retain the ability to hearth while also being able to kill yourself on command with the unstuck feature, but that has been fixed.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=82467/ruthers-harness - Summons an immobile yak that during PVP, shows up as attackable to your enemies. Can be combined with the shard of archstone to throw them off.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=43499/iron-boot-flask - Zaps people who attack you with lightning. This lightning doesn't do damage anymore at level one, but appears to still proc effects.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=168016/hyper-compressed-ocean - The only way to fish at level one. Someone else needs to use the toy, though.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=129165/barnacle-encrusted-gem - Provides water breathing and ocean floor walking speed. Breaks upon mounting or in combat.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=131811/rocfeather-skyhorn-kite - A free glider that only works in the broken isles. Since you're going to be spending a lot of time there farming BoEs, this is more helpful than not.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=131900/majestic-elderhorn-hoof - Increases mount speed in Highmountain. Useful for the same reason as above.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=153293/sightless-eye - Heavily reduces your aggro range in the Broken Isles. Useful for the same reason as above.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=122703/chauffeured-chopper - The fastest ground mount we can use.
https://www.wowhead.com/item=23720/riding-turtle
https://www.wowhead.com/item=46109/sea-turtle - Amphibious mounts. They move slowly on land and quickly in the water.
https://www.wowhead.com/spells/mounts/aquatic-mounts - All of the aquatic mounts can be used at level one. However, only the turtles don't dismount out of water.
Part E: Conclusion
Thank you for reading my guide. I hope that it was as comprehensive as possible. It should give you the information you need to make the most effective Level 1 Twink possible in the Shadowlands. With a level squish, and many undocumented changes, there is much testing to be done. Things are constantly changing, and no one person can keep up with all of it. If you run into anything that helps level ones, please post it in this thread so that I can add it to the guide.
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