NOTE: This guide is currently in the process of being upgraded for Patch 6.1. I’m going to save the updates I make as I make them, so be aware that at this time there are portions of this guide that have been updated and other portions that have not. Once all updates have been made I will remove this notification.



You can take a look at this Wowhead Link for a full list of heirloom gear.

With my interest in WoW renewed, thanks almost entirely to people asking me to update this guide and me in turn looking into the game again, it’s time to get this puppy updated with the most recent changes to heirlooms in Warlords of Draenor.

The table below provides links for you to jump straight to your class and spec to find out which heirlooms you should be using in order to optimize your performance. Once you go to the section for your class and spec you will find a table that lists all of the heirloom items for each slot, at the bottom of that table you will find another link to see which enchants you should use on those heirlooms while you level.

That’s your new intro, now let’s get to the good stuff!

If you have a particular class in mind that you want to see the information on, you can click on any of the links below to jump right to that class’s information.

This table points towards the new posts I”m making for patch 6.2. If there’s a link missing, it’s because I haven’t finished the guide for that class yet. As soon as I do, I’ll have this post updated as well. In the mean time, you can find the information you’re after by using the table below this one.

Class Death Knight Druid Hunter Spec Blood

Frost

Unholy Balance

Feral

Guardian

Restoration Beastmaster

Marksman

Survival Class Mage Monk Paladin Spec Arcane

Fire

Frost Brewmaster

Mistweaver

Windwalker Holy

Protection

Retribution Class Priest Rogue Shaman Spec Discipline

Holy

Shadow Assassination

Combat

Subtlety Elemental

Enhancement

Restoration Class Warlock Warrior Spec Afflicition

Demonology

Destruction Arms

Fury

Protection

The following table will keep you in this post, which is outdated by several patches but still works if not necessarily optimized.



Recent Changes to Heirlooms

The most recent changes to heirlooms come in the form of the Heirloom Tab, which gives all of your characters easy access to all of your heirlooms. Because heirlooms now count as a collection, once you’ve “unlocked” an heirloom to be able to use it, you can use the new heirloom tab to make as many copies of those heirlooms as you want. So, if you’ve unlocked a one-handed weapon and you have a character that wants to equip two of them, you can make two copies of it even though you only paid for the heirloom once. You can make an unlimited number of copies of any heirloom now.

They have also changed the heirlooms to have 3 different “tiers”, so to speak. The first tier will cause the heirloom to work from levels 1-60 and is the default tier for any new heirloom that you purchase. The second tier works up to level 90, and requires an item to be upgraded from Tier 1 to Tier 2. Tier 3 versions require another item and increases their level range up to 100.

Any heirlooms that you had prior to Patch 6.1 were automatically upgraded to Tier 2 when the patch went live. You’ll still need to get your hands on the items to upgrade them to Tier 3. I’ll give more information about upgrading your heirlooms to the different tiers in the next section.



What Levels Can I Use Heirlooms?

Tier 1: Levels 1-60

Tier 2: Levels 1-90

Tier 3: Levels 1-100

Heirlooms that you purchase from a vendor right now will be considered Tier 1, and scale with your character up to level 60. If you purchased your heirlooms before patch 6.1, then your heirlooms are automatically upgraded to Tier 2 for free.

Upgrading from Tier 1 to Tier 2

In order to upgrade an heirloom from Tier 1 to Tier 2 you need to have one of the following items for each heirloom item:

Ancient Heirloom Armor Casing: Use: Upgrade an heirloom armor, trinket, shield or off-hand [or ring] allowing it to increase in power up to level 90.

Ancient Heirloom Scabbard: Use: Upgrade an heirloom weapon allowing it to increase in power up to level 90.

These items aren’t exactly cheap, but the good news is that once you use it on an heirloom, all copies of that heirloom are upgraded on your account. For example, if you happen to have several copies of the Dignified Headmaster’s Charge because you like to play a lot of spellcasters, you only need to buy a single Ancient Heirloom Scabbard in order to upgrade all of your Dignified Headmaster’s Charge heirlooms to Tier 2. So one item increases all copies of a single heirloom item (so all items of the same name).

If you have a cloth chest, a leather helm, and a cloth helm then you’re going to need three different Ancient Heirloom Armor Casing items in order to upgrade all three of them. Remember, these upgrade items upgrade all heirlooms with the same name, not the same type.

Upgrading from Tier 2 to Tier 3

In order to upgrade an heirloom from Tier 2 to Tier 3 you need to have one of the following items, and you need to have already upgraded from Tier 2, you can’t skip from Tier 1 to Tier 3 directly:

Ancient Heirloom Armor Casing: Use: Upgrade an heirloom armor, trinket, shield or off-hand [or ring] allowing it to increase in power up to level 100. Only works on heirlooms that scale to level 90 (Tier 2).

Ancient Heirloom Scabbard: Use: Upgrade an heirloom weapon allowing it to increase in power up to level 100. Only works on heirlooms that scale to level 90 (Tier 2).

These items cost quite a bit of gold, and they work exactly the same way as the Tier 2 items mentioned above. So a single Timerworn Scabbard will upgrade all copies of a single (by name) heirloom weapon, allowing it to scale all the way up to level 100.



Using This Guide

I’m going to go with a different format this time than I did last time. Rather than breaking it down for every class and spec in the game, I’m going to build sets of gear (enchants included) and tell you which classes and specs would benefit from it. If you end up with any questions, then of course I’ll be more than happy to answer them. In some cases, I do break it down into more detail for class/spec. For example, a Leather Agility Druid isn’t going to use the same weapons as a Leather Agility Rogue, and a Mail Agility Shaman isn’t going to use the same weapons as a Mail Agility Hunter.

We’re trying to accomplish two things here. First, giving you a guide of which pieces to buy if you have a particular character in mind. Second, giving you the best options for enchanting those heirlooms to get the maximum potential out of them. As far as the enchants are concerned, I’ll give you multiple options for each piece in case you have trouble finding the “best” enchants because they are rare world/raid drops or require reputation grinds, or you just can’t afford the optimized enchant and need a cheaper option.

If you’re the kind of player who feels that heirlooms are already powerful enough in their own right that they make all leveling content a joke, then enchanting them will only make that situation worse. I treat my leveling game like other people do their end game, so I like to have my gear enchanted properly and with the best enchants available. This guide is applicable to people with either point of view.



Cloth Armor Set

All of the cloth classes are casters, so there’s not much wiggle room here. If you’re a Mage, Priest, or Warlock then this is the setup for you. If you’re a Druid, Shaman, Monk, or even Paladin caster then you can get by with this set for a time, but I wouldn’t suggest it in the long run unless you just cannot afford the armor pieces that fit your class. Now that heirlooms are purchased primarily with gold, but can even be purchased by doing holiday events like the Darkmoon Faire, I don’t think most players will have a hard time now unlocking all of the available heirlooms.

Primary Classes (Specs): Mage, Priest, Warlock

Secondary Classes (Specs): Druid (Balance/Restoration), Shaman (Elemental/Restoration), Monk(Mistweaver), Paladin (Holy)

What About the Off-Hands? While the heirloom off-hand is a nice item to have in the mix, when you look at all of the heirlooms together it falls short. Of the three cloth casters, only the Priest is able to wield a the caster maces that would allow you to equip this item, and even then the staff is better. None of the cloth wearers can equip shields, so those are out as well.

Trinkets: In general, I would suggest using dual Discerning Eye of the Beast for casters because they offer Intellect as well as restoring 2% of your maximum mana any time you kill a target that grants experience or honor. However, the Swift Hand of Justice offers Haste and restores Health when you kill targets that grant experience or honor, and that Haste is especially useful to some casters (especially those with DoT’s or HoT’s).

So here is my personal preference for caster trinkets by class:



Leather Agility Set

Agility Leather is one of the strongest in terms of feeling over powered at low levels. The Agility classes already deal really high DPS on their own, but when you stack Agility on them they just multiply into insane one-shotting machines. You’ll do just fine using this gear on a Shaman or Hunter, even though I have them listed as secondary classes. The only difference between the Agility Leather and Agility Mail is that Mail pieces have higher armor values. While that will become an issue for a Shaman who stays in melee range, a Hunter can get by just fine if you can’t get your hands on the Mail pieces.

Primary Classes (Specs): Rogue, Druid (Feral), Monk (Brewmaster/Windwalker)

Secondary Classes (Specs): Shaman (Enhancement), Hunter

What About Brawler’s Claws? Well, so far I’m having a hard time finding the correct stats to compare the weapons. Are they good for Rogues? Maybe. Shamans? Probably. Druids? Definitely not. Monk? Probably, if you’re going for dual wield. I’m looking into this one.

Rogue Weapons: Rogues are one of the most weapon-dependent classes in the game, and each of their specs have different priorities for weapon selections. As this is not a Rogue-specific post I’m not going to go into detail. However, I will gladly link you to the most extensive analytical site I’ve ever found for Rogue gear: ShadowPanther.net I’ll go ahead and list my suggestions, though:

Dual Wield Monk: If you want to dual wield as a Monk, then you’ll want a Venerable Dal’Rend’s Sacred Charge (Agi, Stam, Crit) and a Venerable Mass of McGowan (Agi, Stam, Crit, Haste) as your two weapons. The staff gives better stats, but there may be a reason for you to dual wield at some point. I have not researched Monk spells to see how much advantage you get out of dual wielding, if any, but if there aren’t great spells that require it then you’re better off just getting the staff.



Leather Intellect Set

The Intellect Leather was the last set that I purchased before Cataclysm was launched. The nature of casters is to stay out of melee combat which means that Armor is rather low on your priority list, which in turn means that you can get by just fine with the Cloth sets for these classes. However, after 4.0 was released you now miss out on 5% of your primary stat from level 50+ if you’re not wearing the right type of armor for your class. That 5% is really small when you first have access to it, but the higher your level gets the higher that number goes.

Primary Classes (Specs): Druid (Balance/Restoration), Monk (Mistweaver)

Secondary Classes (Specs): Shaman (Elemental/Restoration), Paladin (Holy)

The staff beats out the one handed options at every level. You can occasionally get higher stats for a level or two when you combine a one-handed BoA caster mace with an Inscription-made off-hand item or a shield, but the staff will top the combination again within a few levels until you get near to not using the 1-80 heirlooms any more anyway. Even the heirloom off-hands and shields in 5.x won’t top the staff for you.

What About Off-Hands? The leather casters (Druid & Monk) can’t use shields, so those are out. While you can wield the off-hand as well as the caster maces, the staff is better than the two combined so there’s no reason to really bother with the off-hand.

Trinkets: In general, I would suggest using dual Discerning Eye of the Beast for casters because they offer Intellect as well as restoring 2% of your maximum mana any time you kill a target that grants experience or honor. However, the Swift Hand of Justice offers Haste and restores Health when you kill targets that grant experience or honor, and that Haste is especially useful to some casters (especially those with DoT’s or HoT’s).

So here is my personal preference for caster trinkets by class:



Mail Agility Set

With only two classes that can wear the Mail Agility set with any real amount of usefulness, it’s one of the least flexible. The only reason I bought the Mail chest was so that I could stop bothering with having to mail the Leather chest back and forth between my characters all the time. As I mentioned in the Agility Leather section above, you can get by just fine on a Hunter with the Leather gear, but on a Shaman I’d strongly suggest you upgrade to Mail for the added survivability.

Primary Classes (Specs): Shaman (Enhancement), Hunter

Secondary Classes (Specs): none

Sorry Hunters, the expansion where they finally decide to give you a solid two-handed Agility staff is the same expansion that they removed your ability to wield melee weapons all together.

What About Brawler’s Claws? Well, so far I’m having a hard time finding the correct stats to compare the weapons. From what I can tell so far, I’m going to say that these are probably a good option for you if you’re an Enhancement Shaman. Are they the best? I honestly don’t know yet, but I’m working on it.

Weapon: Shamans cannot use Ranged weapons, and Hunters cannot use Melee weapons. Otherwise, both classes will utilize the exact same gear.



Mail Intellect Set

The Mail Intellect set is a lot like the Leather Intellect set for me, meaning I don’t put a whole lot of value on it due to the nature of those who’ll use it. Casters don’t get into melee if they can help it so additional armor isn’t necessary. It’s always helpful, but not necessary. I went through 90% of Wrath using the cloth heirlooms on every caster I had for that very reason. But again, from level 50+ you will miss out on a 5% bonus to your Intellect if you’re not using the appropriate armor type so it’s best to stick to what you’re supposed to be using.

Unfortunately for Holy Paladins, there is no Plate Intellect set, so you have the choice of missing out on your 5% bonus from Armor Specialization, or not using heirlooms and missing out on your experience bonus and level-based stats.

Primary Classes (Specs): Shaman (Elemental/Restoration)

Secondary Classes (Specs): Paladin (Holy)

Weapon & Off-Hand Combinations

You do have some things to consider here when it comes to which weapon you wield and whether or not you should look for an off-hand item.

1. Dignified Headmaster’s Charge: Your best option for caster stats over all.

2. Devout Aurastone Hammer & Weathered Observer’s Shield: Second best option for Resto Shaman.

3. Devout Aurastone Hammer & Musty Tome of the Lost: Second best option for Elemental Shaman.

My suggestion is to just stick with the staff. If you’re going to do a lot of PvP, then I’d probably go with the Hammer and Shield for the extra survivability that you’ll get from that combination, but otherwise I’d just keep on rocking the staff.

Trinkets: In general, I would suggest using dual Discerning Eye of the Beast for casters because they offer Intellect as well as restoring 2% of your maximum mana any time you kill a target that grants experience or honor. However, the Swift Hand of Justice offers Haste and restores Health when you kill targets that grant experience or honor, and that Haste is especially useful to some casters (especially those with DoT’s or HoT’s).

So here is my personal preference for caster trinkets by class:



Plate DPS Set

Primary Classes (Specs): Death Knight (Frost/Unholy), Paladin (Retribution), Warrior (Arms/Fury)

Secondary Classes (Specs): Death Knight (Blood), Paladin (Protection), Warrior (Protection)

Even though the Skullforge Reaver is a tanking weapon, it’s the only one-handed heirloom that has Strength on it, and all Plate DPS classes benefit more from Strength than they do Agility, so it gets my personal recommendation if you’re looking for the best you can get. Unfortunately, it’s a Main Hand weapon instead of a One Hand weapon, so you can’t wield two of them. If you can’t get your hands on the tanking sword, then just go with either the Venerable Maces of McGowen or Venerable Dal’Rend’s Sacred Charge instead.

If you take your Fury Warrior into the Titan Grip talent to wield dual two-handers, then you’ll want a pair of the Arcanite Reapers, though you’ll use the one-handed options before you pick up that talent.



Plate Tanking Set

Primary Classes (Specs): Death Knight (Blood), Paladin (Protection), Warrior (Protection)

Secondary Classes (Specs): Death Knight (Frost/Unholy), Paladin (Retribution), Warrior (Arms/Fury)

Only the DK will make use of the two-handed tanking weapon, while Paladins and Warriors will both make use of the new tanking sword and shield.



Plate Intellect Set

This one’s a bit of a joke as there are almost no Plate caster pieces. There’s only one Plate caster in the game, so I guess I can understand it, but the whole concept of Armor Specialization directly contradicts it. Either you miss out on a bonus to your primary stat or you miss out on bonus experience.

Pieces marked with an asterisk (*) after their name are not Plate pieces. You could fill them with any lesser armor type, but I’ve listed Mail since they’re “the best” due to higher armor values.

Primary Classes (Specs): Paladin (Holy)

Secondary Classes (Specs): none

I sent the question out on twitter, “Which is more important, Haste or Spirit?” and got pretty mixed answers from the Paladin healers. I’ve listed the Mail pieces here to fill in the empty slots, all of which have Spirit on them, but if you feel like you’d rather go the Haste route for faster casts then I suggest you fill those slots with the Cloth pieces instead as they have Haste instead of Spirit. Personally, I would probably err on the side of Spirit to begin with, but if I’m not having mana issues then I would definitely switch over to the Haste pieces. The same applies to trinkets, if you’d rather have Haste then go with Swift Hands, otherwise the Intellect from Discerning Eye’s is still a great investment, and one of each is perfectly fine as well.

What About Off-Hands? Shamans, you’ll need to decide for yourself whether you’re interested in getting more defensive strength by wielding a mace and shield, or if you want stronger caster stats overall by wielding the staff. Personally, I prefer to kill things before my defense really matters so I’d go for the staff. Paladins on the other hand, you don’t have access to the staff, so you’re definitely going to want to utilize an off-hand. My personal suggestion for Paladin healers is to use the Shield as it gives higher Intellect and it has Spirit as well. If you’re more interested in Haste than Spirit, then you might go ahead and consider the Musty Tome instead.

Trinkets: In general, I would suggest using dual Discerning Eye of the Beast for casters because they offer Intellect as well as restoring 2% of your maximum mana any time you kill a target that grants experience or honor. However, the Swift Hand of Justice offers Haste and restores Health when you kill targets that grant experience or honor, and that Haste is especially useful to some casters (especially those with DoT’s or HoT’s). You can mix and match these as you please for a Paladin, though I would personally lean towards the Intellect trinkets since two of your main heals while leveling (Holy Shock and Word of Glory) are both instant casts anyway, and Paladin’s aren’t known for their HoT’s.



Enchanting Heirlooms

This document was put together by @Aelobin, and links to a Google Doc spreadsheet: Enchants by Level

Enchanting is one of the things I take a great deal of pleasure in. I’m a collector of enchants and it’s easily my favorite profession in the game. PvP Twinking is something I really enjoy doing, and twinking involves min/maxing your character’s gear and enchants. Coincidentally, the best in slot enchants for level 19 Twinks are also the best in slot enchants for heirlooms, so I’m quite familiar with enchanting gear to maximize your potential.

For those slots that I give multiple options for enchanting I have listed the enchants in the order that I would suggest them. As this guide is directed at leveling, I’m going to put my focus on leveling and not PvP twinking. What this means is, I’m going to lean heavily towards enchants that will benefit you through the entire leveling process as much as possible. If you are looking at this list for your twinks then you shouldn’t necessarily assume that it’s the best enchant for a PvP twink. If you have questions about enchanting heirlooms for your twinks, leave me a comment and I’ll be happy to help.

Enchanting: Important Notes

Many of the enchants that I’m going to list here require you to do reputation grinds to either purchase the pattern for the enchant, or to purchase the item you use for the enchant (like those for shoulder enchants). While the enchants themselves may require you to have the reputation to purchase/use them, the reputation is not required to benefit from those enchants. These enchants also do not cause the heirlooms to bind to a specific character.

Since I’ve been asked several times, I’m going to say here – heirlooms are always bound to your account, never to individual characters. It doesn’t matter if you use reputation-only enchants that would normally cause them to become soulbound, or if you use your professions-only enchants that do the same, all heirlooms remain bound to your entire account, no matter what.

Keep in mind though, shoulder enchants have requirements on them that you have to meet before they become active. In most cases this is a level requirement, so you’ll go the first 60 or so levels with the enchant being inactive and providing you with no benefit at all. If you choose to use professions-based enchants on your shoulders/rings/cloak, then only characters with that profession and a high enough skill in the profession will benefit. The Inscription profession can now make shoulder enchants for other players, but they require level 85 which is higher than the max benefit of the heirlooms in the first place, so that change makes no difference to us here.

Also, in the case of Shoulder enchants, I want to keep the level requirement for them low so that your leveling toons can benefit as much as possible for as long as possible. Because of this I’m only looking at enchants that require level 60-70 maximum. Heirloom shoulders should be replaced by the time level 80 enchants are available for them



Enchanting Heirloom Legs

I’m going to hold off on posting the enchants right now because even though there are a lot of leg enchants that appear to be available for these heirlooms, some of them do have item level requirements that don’t show up on their tooltips. That being the case, I’m going to try to do some more in-depth research on the leg enchants before I go ahead and post the information. Unfortunately, I don’t know of a good place to find the information on those hidden tooltips, so I’m going to have to either experiment in game or find another source online.

For now, just know that your only low level options offer a nearly worthless amount of bonus Armor rating which is decent if you’re going to have a low level twink but otherwise a waste of materials. The higher level enchants offer much better stats, but the drawback of their stats not being in effect until you reach a higher level. So do you want good stats for 25 levels, or do you want crappy stats for all 85? That’s up to you, but I’ll take the good stats for 25.

Collecting More Information

If any of you happens to know specifically of any of the enchants that have hidden item level requirements, I would appreciate the help cutting down the list.

Enchanting Armor Sets



Cloth Intellect Set

Cloak: (Return to Gear)

Stealth requires a reputation grind, but has no level requirement. The Embroideries require Tailoring of 400 to activate. Flexweave Underlay requires Engineering 380 to activate and use.

If you’re wondering where the caster enchants are for cloaks, welcome to the club. Your best choices are professions-specific and will give you no benefit until you’re in your 60’s at the earliest. If you’re a solo player or like to level in PvP, then Stealth and Superior Defense are your best options because they’ll add some survivability. If you prefer to stay in groups then Subtlety is a decent option to help reduce your threat. My personal preference is Stealth, though I do have Subtlety on one of mine and a +5 to All Resistances on another. There just isn’t a good caster option outside of professions.

Shoulder: (Return to Gear)

The Inscriptions and Greater Inscriptions (except Gladiator) all require reputation grinds. Inscriptions require level 64 to activate, and Greater Inscriptions require level 70 to activate. Master’s Inscriptions require the Inscription profession and a skill level of 400 to activate.

My personal preference on Shoulder enchants is the level 64 Inscriptions, Discipline in this case, because it gives me 16 full levels of benefit before I stop wearing the heirloom shoulders. Next up for me would be the Greater Inscriptions to use from 70-80. The Inscription profession is one that gives little benefit to having on more than one character on the same server, so I wouldn’t personally use the Master’s Inscriptions.

Chest: (Return to Gear)

While an extra 100 health or mana is a pretty big deal early on, it doesn’t take long to become nearly worthless. For that reason my personal recommendation is that you go with either the +4 or +3 Stats enchants. Intellect no longer gives you mana, so it’s your call whether or not you want to increase your power or try to stretch your mana a bit so that you can kill longer.

Weapon: (Return to Gear)

Casters have some really great enchants to choose from. With the changes in MoP, there’s no longer a great need for you to stack Intellect as it no longer increases the size of your mana pool. In Cataclysm, +22 Intellect was the enchant for casters, but that changed once again, making the Intellect enchants less appealing. Now, it’s time for Spell Power to once again reign supreme.

Off-Hand: (Return to Gear)

For right now I’m not going to include the off-hand enchants because until patch 5.4 goes live you can’t cast the enchants on it anyway.

Ring: (Return to Gear)

These ring enchants require reputation grinds to purchase the patterns for, they both require you to be an Enchanter to activate them, and they both require character level 25 to activate. I don’t have the heirloom ring to try it out myself, but there are mixed replies as to whether or not there is an Enchanting skill level requirement to activate them as well, though it would be 300 if so.

Since only enchanters can enchant their own rings, I’m only going to list these two since they have the most benefit with the lowest level requirement. If you level an enchanter high enough to use the other enchants possible, the mats are cheap to re-enchant it with whatever you want instead.



Leather Agility Set

Cloak: (Return to Gear)

Stealth requires a reputation grind, but has no level requirement. The Embroideries require Tailoring of 400 to activate. Flexweave Underlay requires Engineering 380 to activate and use.

Unlike casters, Agility classes make out like a bandit on the cloak enchants. Stealth is by far your best option thanks to the change it received in the Shattering making it what it is today. Superior Defense is a great enchant when you’re at a low level, but the higher you go the less important it becomes, so from a leveling perspective I’d even take +3 Agility over +70 Armor.

Shoulder: (Return to Gear)

The Inscriptions and Greater Inscriptions (except Gladiator) all require reputation grinds. Inscriptions require level 64 to activate, and Greater Inscriptions require level 70 to activate. Master’s Inscriptions require the Inscription profession and a skill level of 400 to activate.

My personal preference on Shoulder enchants is the level 64 Inscriptions, Vengeance in this case, because it gives me 16 full levels of benefit before I stop wearing the heirloom shoulders. Next up for me would be the Greater Inscriptions to use from 70-80. The Inscription profession is one that gives little benefit to having on more than one character on the same server, so I wouldn’t personally use the Master’s Inscriptions.

If you’re a Feral Tank, then you’ll want to look at the last 3 for your tanking stats.

Chest: (Return to Gear)

While an extra 100 health or mana is a pretty big deal early on, it doesn’t take long to become nearly worthless. For that reason my personal recommendation is that you go with either the +4 or +3 Stats enchants. With Stats you’re getting 10 health, plus you’re getting that buff to your primary and secondary attribute stats as well.

Agility-based classes get more benefit from Stats enchants than anyone else because they get benefits from more than one. Rogues get attack power from agility at 2:1, but also from strength at 1:1. I believe the same is true for feral druids, but I could be wrong.

Weapons: (Return to Gear)

This is where things get tricky, because of the different weapons used by the classes and specs in this category. Rogues I suggest you go with dual +15 Agility enchants as 60 Attack Power all the time is better than 100 Attack Power sometimes (though Crusader’s heal is nice). Druids I think as long as you’re using either +25 Agility or Crusader then you can’t go wrong either way. I’ve played with both of them on my druids and I can’t give a definitive answer as to which one is technically better.

Ring: (Return to Gear)

This ring enchant requires a reputation grind to purchase the pattern for it, requires you to be an Enchanter to activate it, and requires character level 25 to activate. I don’t have the heirloom ring to try it out myself, but there are mixed replies as to whether or not there is an Enchanting skill level requirement to activate them as well, though it would be 300 if so.

Since only enchanters can enchant their own rings, I’m only going to list this one since it has the most benefit with the lowest level requirement. If you level an enchanter high enough to use the other enchants possible, the mats are cheap to re-enchant it with whatever you want instead.



Leather Intellect Set

Cloak: (Return to Gear)

Stealth requires a reputation grind, but has no level requirement. The Embroideries require Tailoring of 400 to activate. Flexweave Underlay requires Engineering 380 to activate and use.

If you’re wondering where the caster enchants are for cloaks, welcome to the club. Your best choices are professions-specific and will give you no benefit until you’re in your 60’s at the earliest. If you’re a solo player or like to level in PvP, then Stealth and Superior Defense are your best options because they’ll add some survivability. If you prefer to stay in groups then Subtlety is a decent option to help reduce your threat. My personal preference is Stealth, though I do have Subtlety on one of mine and a +5 to All Resistances on another. There just isn’t a good caster option outside of professions.

Shoulder: (Return to Gear)

The Inscriptions and Greater Inscriptions (except Gladiator) all require reputation grinds. Inscriptions require level 64 to activate, and Greater Inscriptions require level 70 to activate. Master’s Inscriptions require the Inscription profession and a skill level of 400 to activate.

My personal preference on Shoulder enchants is the level 64 Inscriptions, Discipline in this case, because it gives me 16 full levels of benefit before I stop wearing the heirloom shoulders. Next up for me would be the Greater Inscriptions to use from 70-80. The Inscription profession is one that gives little benefit to having on more than one character on the same server, so I wouldn’t personally use the Master’s Inscriptions.

Chest: (Return to Gear)

While an extra 100 health or mana is a pretty big deal early on, it doesn’t take long to become nearly worthless. For that reason my personal recommendation is that you go with either the +4 or +3 Stats enchants.

Weapon: (Return to Gear)

Casters have some really great enchants to choose from. With the changes in MoP, there’s no longer a great need for you to stack Intellect as it no longer increases the size of your mana pool. In Cataclysm, +22 Intellect was the enchant for casters, but that changed once again, making the Intellect enchants less appealing. Now, it’s time for Spell Power to once again reign supreme.

Off-Hand: (Return to Gear)

For right now I’m not going to include the off-hand enchants because until patch 5.4 goes live you can’t cast the enchants on it anyway.

Ring: (Return to Gear)

These ring enchants require reputation grinds to purchase the patterns for, they both require you to be an Enchanter to activate them, and they both require character level 25 to activate. I don’t have the heirloom ring to try it out myself, but there are mixed replies as to whether or not there is an Enchanting skill level requirement to activate them as well, though it would be 300 if so.

Since only enchanters can enchant their own rings, I’m only going to list these two since they have the most benefit with the lowest level requirement. If you level an enchanter high enough to use the other enchants possible, the mats are cheap to re-enchant it with whatever you want instead.



Mail Agility Set

Cloak: (Return to Gear)

Stealth requires a reputation grind, but has no level requirement. The Embroideries require Tailoring of 400 to activate. Flexweave Underlay requires Engineering 380 to activate and use.

Unlike casters, Agility classes make out like a bandit on the cloak enchants. Stealth is by far your best option thanks to the change it received in the Shattering making it what it is today. Superior Defense is a great enchant when you’re at a low level, but the higher you go the less important it becomes, so from a leveling perspective I’d even take +3 Agility over +70 Armor.

Shoulder: (Return to Gear)

The Inscriptions and Greater Inscriptions (except Gladiator) all require reputation grinds. Inscriptions require level 64 to activate, and Greater Inscriptions require level 70 to activate. Master’s Inscriptions require the Inscription profession and a skill level of 400 to activate.

My personal preference on Shoulder enchants is the level 64 Inscriptions, Vengeance in this case, because it gives me 16 full levels of benefit before I stop wearing the heirloom shoulders. Next up for me would be the Greater Inscriptions to use from 70-80. The Inscription profession is one that gives little benefit to having on more than one character on the same server, so I wouldn’t personally use the Master’s Inscriptions.

Chest: (Return to Gear)

While an extra 100 health or mana is a pretty big deal early on, it doesn’t take long to become nearly worthless. For that reason my personal recommendation is that you go with either the +4 or +3 Stats enchants. With Stats you’re getting 10 health and 15 mana for each point, plus you’re getting that buff to your primary and secondary attribute stats as well.

Enhancement Shamans get more use out of Stats enchants than any other class in the game. You get attack power from Agility at 2:1 and Strength at 1:1, but they’re also the only real melee/caster hybrid in actual playstyle, which means you’re also getting extra spell power and spell crit from the bonus to Intellect. Hunters also get a lot of benefit from stats since the stats of their pets are based on their own, just not on the same level as Shamans do.

Weapons: (Return to Gear)

Here again we end up with different priority based on the class you’re playing since I’ve grouped these by armor type and stats rather than class and spec. Hunters since there is no two-hand Agility weapon that you can use, you want to use +15 Agility for both of your weapons. Shaman you need to make a choice here between Crusader’s potential benefits and +15 Agility’s insured benefit. I’ve been running with dual Crusader enchants on my Enhancement Shaman and it’s worked great for me. As long as you’re using any combination of these two, I think you’ll be just fine.

Ranged Weapon: (Return to Gear)

The only enchants for ranged weapons right now are scopes which are crafted by Engineers. Luckily, you don’t have to be an engineer to use them.

The Standard Scope has no level requirement, and that’s the reason why I use it on my own. The Deadly Scope requires level 30, so while you get no benefit for those first 30 levels (not that you need it), you still have another 50 levels to enjoy the extra damage. The Khorium Scope requires level 55, giving you 25 levels of enjoyment.

Ring: (Return to Gear)

This ring enchant requires a reputation grind to purchase the pattern for, requires you to be an Enchanter to activate it, and requires character level 25 to activate. I don’t have the heirloom ring to try it out myself, but there are mixed replies as to whether or not there is an Enchanting skill level requirement to activate them as well, though it would be 300 if so.

Since only enchanters can enchant their own rings, I’m only going to list this one since it has the most benefit with the lowest level requirement. If you level an enchanter high enough to use the other enchants possible, the mats are cheap to re-enchant it with whatever you want instead.



Mail Intellect Set

Cloak: (Return to Gear)

Stealth requires a reputation grind, but has no level requirement. The Embroideries require Tailoring of 400 to activate. Flexweave Underlay requires Engineering 380 to activate and use.

If you’re wondering where the caster enchants are for cloaks, welcome to the club. Your best choices are professions-specific and will give you no benefit until you’re in your 60’s at the earliest. If you’re a solo player or like to level in PvP, then Stealth and Superior Defense are your best options because they’ll add some survivability. If you prefer to stay in groups then Subtlety is a decent option to help reduce your threat. My personal preference is Stealth, though I do have Subtlety on one of mine and a +5 to All Resistances on another. There just isn’t a good caster option outside of professions.

Shoulder: (Return to Gear)

The Inscriptions and Greater Inscriptions (except Gladiator) all require reputation grinds. Inscriptions require level 64 to activate, and Greater Inscriptions require level 70 to activate. Master’s Inscriptions require the Inscription profession and a skill level of 400 to activate.

My personal preference on Shoulder enchants is the level 64 Inscriptions, Discipline in this case, because it gives me 16 full levels of benefit before I stop wearing the heirloom shoulders. Next up for me would be the Greater Inscriptions to use from 70-80. The Inscription profession is one that gives little benefit to having on more than one character on the same server, so I wouldn’t personally use the Master’s Inscriptions.

Chest: (Return to Gear)

While an extra 100 health or mana is a pretty big deal early on, it doesn’t take long to become nearly worthless. For that reason my personal recommendation is that you go with either the +4 or +3 Stats enchants. With Stats you’re getting 10 health and 15 mana for each point, plus you’re getting that buff to your primary and secondary attribute stats as well.

Weapons: (Return to Gear)

Casters have some really great enchants to choose from. With the changes in MoP, there’s no longer a great need for you to stack Intellect as it no longer increases the size of your mana pool. In Cataclysm, +22 Intellect was the enchant for casters, but that changed once again, making the Intellect enchants less appealing. Now, it’s time for Spell Power to once again reign supreme.

Off-Hand: (Return to Gear)

Until patch 5.4 you will not be able to enchant the Musty Tome if you choose to use it, but there are some options for enchanting your shield if you decide to use it rather than the staff. Regardless of your spec, if you’re going to use a shield as a caster Shaman or Paladin, you want to use Vitality. If you can’t get your hands on Vitality for some reason, you can go ahead and use Lesser Protection, but it is significantly less beneficial.

Ring: (Return to Gear)

These ring enchants require reputation grinds to purchase the patterns for, they both require you to be an Enchanter to activate them, and they both require character level 25 to activate. I don’t have the heirloom ring to try it out myself, but there are mixed replies as to whether or not there is an Enchanting skill level requirement to activate them as well, though it would be 300 if so.

Since only enchanters can enchant their own rings, I’m only going to list these two since they have the most benefit with the lowest level requirement. If you level an enchanter high enough to use the other enchants possible, the mats are cheat to reenchant it with whatever you want instead.



Plate DPS Set

Cloak: (Return to Gear)

Stealth requires a reputation grind, but has no level requirement. The Embroideries require Tailoring of 400 to activate. Flexweave Underlay requires Engineering 380 to activate and use.

Plate classes are all Strength-based, so you’re similar to the casters in that you’re kind of screwed when it comes to cloak enchants. Your best option is most likely Stealth, which is the one that I use on mine, but even as the best it’s not all that great.

Shoulder: (Return to Gear)

The Inscriptions and Greater Inscriptions (except Gladiator) all require reputation grinds. Inscriptions require level 64 to activate, and Greater Inscriptions require level 70 to activate. Master’s Inscriptions require the Inscription profession and a skill level of 400 to activate.

My personal preference on Shoulder enchants is the level 64 Inscriptions, Vengeance in this case, because it gives me 16 full levels of benefit before I stop wearing the heirloom shoulders. Next up for me would be the Greater Inscriptions to use from 70-80. The Inscription profession is one that gives little benefit to having on more than one character on the same server, so I wouldn’t personally use the Master’s Inscriptions.

Chest: (Return to Gear)

While an extra 100 health or mana is a pretty big deal early on, it doesn’t take long to become nearly worthless. For that reason my personal recommendation is that you go with either the +4 or +3 Stats enchants. With Stats you’re getting 10 health and 15 mana for each point, plus you’re getting that buff to your primary and secondary attribute stats as well.

Weapons: (Return to Gear)

There’s really no contest for these enchants, you want Crusader. Nothing beats a 200 Attack Power proc that also has a built in heal. On a Strength-based class Crusader is the single most powerful enchant in the heirloom world. If you can’t find it, and I hear it’s significantly harder to farm since the expansion was released, then +15 Strength will work.

Ring: (Return to Gear)

This ring enchant requires a reputation grind to purchase the patterns for, requires you to be an Enchanter to activate, and requires character level 25 to activate. I don’t have the heirloom ring to try it out myself, but there are mixed replies as to whether or not there is an Enchanting skill level requirement to activate them as well, though it would be 300 if so.

Since only enchanters can enchant their own rings, I’m only going to list this one since it has the most benefit with the lowest level requirement. If you level an enchanter high enough to use the other enchants possible, the mats are cheat to reenchant it with whatever you want instead.



Plate Tanking Set

Cloak: (Return to Gear)

Stealth requires a reputation grind, but has no level requirement. The Embroideries require Tailoring of 400 to activate. Flexweave Underlay requires Engineering 380 to activate and use.

Even though the Plate tanks are all Strength-based, Stealth is a pretty great option for you here. Superior Defense wouldn’t hurt either, even if that 70 Armor is just a dinky little drop in the bucket of Armor you’re likely to have.

Shoulder: (Return to Gear)

The Inscriptions and Greater Inscriptions (except Gladiator) all require reputation grinds. Inscriptions require level 64 to activate, and Greater Inscriptions require level 70 to activate. Master’s Inscriptions require the Inscription profession and a skill level of 400 to activate.

My personal preference on Shoulder enchants is the level 64 Inscriptions, Warding in this case, because it gives me 16 full levels of benefit before I stop wearing the heirloom shoulders. Next up for me would be the Greater Inscriptions to use from 70-80. The Inscription profession is one that gives little benefit to having on more than one character on the same server, so I wouldn’t personally use the Master’s Inscriptions.

Chest: (Return to Gear)

While an extra 100 health or mana is a pretty big deal early on, it doesn’t take long to become nearly worthless. For that reason my personal recommendation is that you go with either the +4 or +3 Stats enchants. With Stats you’re getting 10 health and 15 mana for each point, plus you’re getting that buff to your primary and secondary attribute stats as well.

Even though it might be tempting to reach for the extra health as a tank, I would still recommend that you go with Stats instead. You miss out on 60 health, but you get better threat from increasing your Strength as well as a small amount of avoidance from the increases in Agility and Strength.

Weapon: (Return to Gear)

There’s really no contest for these enchants, you want Crusader. Nothing beats a 200 Attack Power proc that also has a built in heal. On a Strength-based class Crusader is the single most powerful enchant in the heirloom world. If you can’t find it, and I hear it’s significantly harder to farm since the expansion was released, then +15 Strength will work.

The only reason I bother leaving the Agility enchants up there is because they are a somewhat decent alternative since they provide a small amount of avoidance. I still suggest you go with Crusader above all else, but these could potentially be used in its place.

Shield: (Return to Gear)

Until patch 5.4 you will not be able to enchant the Musty Tome if you choose to use it, but there are some options for enchanting your shield if you decide to use it rather than the staff. Regardless of your spec, if you’re going to use a shield as a caster Shaman or Paladin, you want to use Vitality. If you can’t get your hands on Vitality for some reason, you can go ahead and use Lesser Protection, but it is significantly less beneficial.

Ring: (Return to Gear)

This ring enchant requires a reputation grind to purchase the pattern for, it also requires you to be an Enchanter to activate it, and requires character level 25 to activate. I don’t have the heirloom ring to try it out myself, but there are mixed replies as to whether or not there is an Enchanting skill level requirement to activate them as well, though it would be 300 if so.

Since only enchanters can enchant their own rings, I’m only going to list this one since it has the most benefit with the lowest level requirement. If you level an enchanter high enough to use the other enchants possible, the mats are cheap to re-enchant it with whatever you want instead.



Plate Intellect Set

Cloak: (Return to Gear)

Stealth requires a reputation grind, but has no level requirement. The Embroideries require Tailoring of 400 to activate. Flexweave Underlay requires Engineering 380 to activate and use.

If you’re wondering where the caster enchants are for cloaks, welcome to the club. Your best choices are professions-specific and will give you no benefit until you’re in your 60’s at the earliest. If you’re a solo player or like to level in PvP, then Stealth and Superior Defense are your best options because they’ll add some survivability. If you prefer to stay in groups then Subtlety is a decent option to help reduce your threat, though as Holy Paladin you likely have spells that are far more useful than a dinky enchant if you do happen to get agro. My personal preference is Stealth, though I do have Subtlety on one of mine and a +5 to All Resistances on another. There just isn’t a good caster option outside of professions.

Shoulder: (Return to Gear)

The Inscriptions and Greater Inscriptions (except Gladiator) all require reputation grinds. Inscriptions require level 64 to activate, and Greater Inscriptions require level 70 to activate. Master’s Inscriptions require the Inscription profession and a skill level of 400 to activate.

My personal preference on Shoulder enchants is the level 64 Inscriptions, Vengeance in this case, because it gives me 16 full levels of benefit before I stop wearing the heirloom shoulders. Next up for me would be the Greater Inscriptions to use from 70-80. The Inscription profession is one that gives little benefit to having on more than one character on the same server, so I wouldn’t personally use the Master’s Inscriptions.

Chest: (Return to Gear)

While an extra 100 health or mana is a pretty big deal early on, it doesn’t take long to become nearly worthless. For that reason my personal recommendation is that you go with either the +4 or +3 Stats enchants. With Stats you’re getting 10 health and 15 mana for each point, plus you’re getting that buff to your primary and secondary attribute stats as well.

Weapon: (Return to Gear)

Casters have some really great enchants to choose from. With the changes in MoP, there’s no longer a great need for you to stack Intellect as it no longer increases the size of your mana pool. In Cataclysm, +22 Intellect was the enchant for casters, but that changed once again, making the Intellect enchants less appealing. Now, it’s time for Spell Power to once again reign supreme.

Shield: (Return to Gear)

Until patch 5.4 you will not be able to enchant the Musty Tome if you choose to use it, but there are some options for enchanting your shield. Your best bet is going to be Vitality as it provides both survivability from Stamina and mana regen thanks to the Spirit. Lesser Protection isn’t a terrible option, but it’s not particularly good either.

Ring: (Return to Gear)

These ring enchants require reputation grinds to purchase the patterns for, they both require you to be an Enchanter to activate them, and they both require character level 25 to activate. I don’t have the heirloom ring to try it out myself, but there are mixed replies as to whether or not there is an Enchanting skill level requirement to activate them as well, though it would be 300 if so.

Since only enchanters can enchant their own rings, I’m only going to list these two since they have the most benefit with the lowest level requirement. If you level an enchanter high enough to use the other enchants possible, the mats are cheap to re-enchant it with whatever you want instead.

Update Log

[UPDATE 4.2: No changes were made in this patch that has any impact on this information.]

[UPDATE 4.3: No changes were made in this patch either, so all information remains relevant.]

[UPDATE 5.0: Head enchants removed (now removed from the guide as well). Heirloom legs added. Monk class added.]

[UPDATE: Agility Staff and Brawler’s Claws added.]

[UPDATE: Heirloom shields have been added.]

[UPDATE: All info current through patch 5.3.]

[UPDATE: Patch 5.4 shook up the world of enchanting quite a bit, allowing enchants from later content to now be applied to low level items with scaling effects. Testing these enchant changes is not possible for me at this time as I am not currently subscribed to the game and do not plan to be until the Warlords of Draenor expansion releases at the very least. While I cannot currently do all of the necessary tests because I’m not playing the game, there are other people who have done some research and made their findings available to everyone. I will put a link to that guide here so that you can check to see if you would rather have a different enchant than the ones I have listed in this guide. You’ll still do just fine with my suggestions even if there is a better option now available, but if you’re looking to fully optimize your characters then you might want to scour this list and make some educated decisions.

[Update: Patch 6.1 brough some of the changes we’ve looked forward too the most since Heirlooms came to be. Primarily, we got the Heirloom Tab, which gives us a way to access all of your heirlooms on any character rather than having to keep track of which items where in which toon’s bank/bags.]