Mists of Pandaria Classic Gearing Guide

You need high item level gear to get access to endgame content, also known as the most interesting part of the content in any expansion. If you’re kind of new to the game or someone who doesn’t really remember well enough how gear progression worked during the Pandarian expansion, you’re in the right place.

Welcome to our Mists of Pandaria Classic gearing guide. In this guide, you’ll learn how to efficiently gear up starting at level 85 and continue progressing through all the key systems at level 90, including dungeons, crafted gear, world content, reputation rewards, PvP, and more.

You can also Get Max ILvL Gear for your class at SkyCoach. There are sets from any dungeon and raid in the expansion, as well as Valor Points and PvP sets waiting to be claimed. All sets are farmed and provided by professional and veteran WoW players.

Read our other Mists of Pandaria Classic guides:

• Leveling Guide
• Gold Farming Guide
• Class Tier List
• Best Mounts

 

 

Pre-90 Gearing (Level 85–89)

Let’s kick off the MoP Classic gearing guide with what the gearing process looks like before you hit the level cap.

At level 85, there are ways to improve your gear score even before going to Pandaria. If you do this, it will set you up for faster leveling, smoother dungeon queues, and an easier path into heroic content. The Cataclysm endgame still holds valuable rewards that can push your item level high enough to skip normal Pandaria dungeons entirely. The following methods are the most efficient ways to begin your gearing journey.

Baradin Hold & Late Cata Raids

One of the quickest ways to WoW MoP Classic gear up fast at level 85 is Baradin Hold, a short three-boss raid located in Tol Barad. Each boss has a chance to drop tier gear or PvP items, and since the raid can be done in both 10- and 25-player formats each week, you effectively get two shots per boss. The loot is simple, the encounters are fast, and the raid is widely pugged, making it an ideal starting point for most classes.

Monks are the one exception here, as tier 13 was never designed with them in mind and they have no set pieces to gain. If you're playing a Monk, your time is better spent elsewhere. Everyone else, however, can benefit from potential upgrades in several slots—especially if your current gear is mostly greens or leveling blues.

Beyond this, the Cataclysm raid tier still holds valuable rewards. Both Firelands and Dragon Soul drop gear that remains relevant for pre-Pandaria content. These raids demand more time and coordination, but they're often pugged by players gearing alts or pushing for specific weapons or trinkets. Most importantly, they offer tier tokens, which can be redeemed for set bonuses that remain competitive well into your leveling journey.

If you're trying to prepare multiple characters or simply want to skip normal Pandaria dungeons, these raids offer a fast-track solution. Prioritize Baradin Hold for speed, and turn to Dragon Soul if you're after gear that will hold value well into level 90 content.

PvP for PvE: Honor to Justice Conversion

Don’t look at PvP as just a gimmick activity in the game—it’s also one of the fastest ways to gear a fresh level 85 for PvE content. Through a combination of Wintergrasp quests and victories in the battleground itself, you can quickly earn enough Honor Points to unlock significant upgrades or convert that currency into Justice Points for PvE gear.

The most efficient method is to head to Wintergrasp, where five quests reward large amounts of Honor. Four of them can be completed during the battle itself, while one requires looting items from NPCs after the match. A single Wintergrasp win can yield close to 800 Honor, and the associated quests bring you very close to the 4,000-point Honor cap in just one or two battles. BLOG20

Once capped, you’ll have two strong options. First, you can buy Honor gear, which offers item level 458 PvP pieces. While not ideal for PvE performance, they’re a quick way to replace weaker greens or blues and boost your overall item level for dungeon access. Second, and more importantly, you can convert Honor to Justice at a rate of 375 Honor for 250 Justice Points.

Here’s how to make the most of this conversion path:

1. Farm Wintergrasp:

• Win the battle and complete quests
• Reach the 4,000 Honor cap quickly

2. Convert Honor to Justice:

• Visit your capital city’s PvP area
• Exchange points at the appropriate vendor

3. Buy Justice Gear (ilvl 397):

• Fill in key armor slots like chest, gloves, and helm
• Many pieces are BoE and usable across characters
• High enough ilvl to access heroics and Twilight dungeons

If you already have a main with Justice Point reserves, you can speed things up even further. Buy BoE Justice gear ahead of time and mail it to your alt the moment they hit 85. It’s a low-effort, high-reward strategy that pushes your item level past early bottlenecks without running a single dungeon.

Twilight Heroics & Obsidian Fragments

The final stretch of Cataclysm’s dungeon content introduces three special heroic dungeons: End Time, Well of Eternity, and Hour of Twilight. These “Twilight Heroics” offer some of the best dungeon loot available before MoP content, including guaranteed epic drops and a unique currency used to purchase even more high-level gear.

Now, you actually need at least ilvl353 gear to be able to run these Twilight dungeons on Heroic difficulty. But, luckily for you, this is not that hard to reach if you do a little bit of everything: buying gear with Justice Points, doing a bit of crafting, or PvP, or straight up buying something you miss from AH. Inside, each dungeon drops ilvl 378 epic gear from bosses and includes one-time quests that reward guaranteed gear, worth grabbing while you're there.

In addition to the loot, these dungeons also hand out Obsidian Fragments. You can trade these in at vendors in Stormwind or Orgrimmar for ilvl 384 to 397 gear, covering almost every slot and offering a solid way to catch up if you're behind on upgrades.

Twilight Heroics Quick Reference

Access Requirement:

• 353 item level

Eligible Dungeons:

• End Time
• Well of Eternity
• Hour of Twilight

Loot and Currency:

• Bosses drop ilvl 378 epics
• Dungeon quests grant guaranteed epic rewards
• Obsidian Fragments can be exchanged for ilvl 384–397 gear

Vendors offer a full spread of upgrades: armor, trinkets, weapons, and tier tokens
Twilight Heroic dungeons could be kind of hard because they do come with actually challenging enemies and mechanics that you can’t just ignore. So, you know, play to your role when you’re in there.

By the way, right at the start of each Twilight Heroic, look for the NPC near the entrance. Everyone in the group can choose a buff—extra damage, healing, or survivability—and they stack. These buffs make a noticeable difference, especially if your team’s gear isn’t quite up to par

Auction House & Crafted BoE Gear

The Auction House can be one of the most efficient tools for boosting your item level quickly—especially if you're sitting just below the requirement for heroics or Twilight dungeons. Players leveling professions often flood the market with crafted blues and epics, many of which are available at surprisingly low prices during the early phase of an expansion.

Several professions offer strong crafted BoEs, including tailoring, blacksmithing, leatherworking, jewelcrafting, and engineering. While some of these pieces require daily cooldowns or rare materials, others are mass-produced and inexpensive. Look specifically for items in the 450–476 item level range, which are more than enough to push you over key gearing thresholds.

In addition to armor and weapons, trinkets are a critical upgrade slot. The Ghost Iron Dragonling, crafted by engineers, offers an accessible 450 ilvl trinket with three cogwheel slots—perfect for an early power spike. For those with gold to spend, Darkmoon Faire trinkets like the Relic of Xuen provide best-in-slot quality effects, though their price can be steep in the early weeks.

Useful purchases to check on the AH:

• Crafted PvE BoEs: ilvl 450–476 gear from all armor types
• PvP-crafted gear: High ilvl (458+) items usable for PvE ilvl padding
• Jeweler’s rings and necklaces: Often cheap due to mass production
• Trinkets:
  • Ghost Iron Dragonling (engineered, 450 ilvl)
  • Relic of Xuen (Darkmoon Faire, expensive but strong)

Gear from the Auction House is especially helpful if you're undergeared on a new alt or don't want to grind dungeons for minor upgrades. A few targeted purchases can easily get you into heroics or Twilight Heroics without running a single normal dungeon.

Reaching Item Level Breakpoints

Prepping for Pandaria content isn’t just about upgrading gear—it’s about clearing key item level thresholds that unlock heroics and high-reward dungeons. These breakpoints determine what content you can access and how quickly you can transition from catch-up gearing to real progression.

There are two major breakpoints to aim for at level 85:

• 326 item level – Required for Heroic Cataclysm dungeons
• 353 item level – Required for Twilight Heroics (End Time, Hour of Twilight, Well of Eternity)

Reaching these numbers early allows you to skip slower, less rewarding normals and jump straight into more lucrative content like Justice Point farming or Obsidian Fragment gear.

1. To efficiently hit these breakpoints, follow this progression path:
2. Buy Justice Gear (ilvl 397): Convert Honor to Justice and gear up through vendors
3. Fill Gaps with Auction House BoEs (ilvl 450–476): Prioritize cheap blues and crafted epics in weaker slots
4. Use Honor Gear (ilvl 458): Equip PvP pieces temporarily to push your average item level
5. Equip Reliable Trinkets: Ghost Iron Dragonling or quest rewards can stabilize your stats

Once both thresholds are met, you’ll be in a strong position to either finish leveling in Pandaria or begin targeting heroic MoP content immediately after hitting 90. These early decisions save time, reduce grind, and keep your gearing momentum going as you transition into the expansion’s endgame.

Gearing at Level 90

Once you’ve made the leap to level 90, the gearing game shifts. While pre-90 gear focused on unlocking Cataclysm heroics and Twilight dungeons, your priority now is preparing for MoP's endgame: heroic dungeons, scenarios, reputation gear, LFR, and eventually raiding. The systems are layered, and progressing efficiently means hitting specific item level benchmarks to unlock the best gear at level 90 MoP Classic and content as soon as possible.

Let’s start with the essentials: what to do the moment you ding 90.

Your First Steps at 90

The moment you hit level 90, you’ll be handed a new set of quest hubs, dailies, and gear rewards across Pandaria. While these quests aren’t designed to replace all of your gear, they do provide a solid baseline—especially if you didn’t gear heavily before arriving. Most zone quest rewards fall in the 429 to 440 item level range, with the higher end coming from questlines in later zones like Dread Wastes or Townlong Steppes.

This gear is serviceable, but your focus should immediately shift to meeting the next round of item level requirements. These determine which content you can access and when:

• 431 ilvl – Required to queue for Heroic Pandaria Dungeons
• 460 ilvl – Required to queue for LFR: Mogu’shan Vaults
• 470 ilvl – Required to queue for LFR: Heart of Fear / Terrace of Endless Spring

If you geared aggressively before hitting 90, you might already be close to these benchmarks. If not, it’s time to start filling weak slots with crafted gear, PvP pieces, dungeon drops, or cheap Auction House finds.

Keep in mind that while these thresholds unlock queue access, they don’t guarantee success in the content itself. Gear quality, stat balance, and optimization all still matter—but reaching these ilvl numbers is the first step toward getting your foot in the door.

Up next, we’ll look at where to find your first real gear upgrades: World Bosses and Bonus Rolls.

World Bosses & Bonus Rolls

Once you've reached 90 and started gearing through quests or dungeons, world bosses become one of the most impactful early activities. In this section, we’ll talk about how to gear up in MoP Classic farming world bosses. 

These open-world encounters offer some of the highest item level drops available early in the expansion and can significantly accelerate your progression if targeted correctly. To make the most of them, it’s essential to understand how bonus rolls work and how to prepare for them in advance.

Sha of Anger & Galleon

The first two world bosses in Mists of Pandaria are Sha of Anger and Galleon. Both operate on a weekly lockout, meaning you can kill each boss once per week for loot. These bosses are often camped and pugged frequently, so finding a group usually isn't difficult—especially early in the expansion cycle.

• Sha of Anger drops a mix of PvP gear (ilvl 483) and tier PvE gear (ilvl 496). Importantly, he also drops a Claw of Anger, which starts a quest that awards a guaranteed 476 ilvl pair of boots—one of the easiest guaranteed upgrades available at 90.
• Galleon (Salyis’s Warband) drops purely PvE gear at ilvl 496, making him an essential weekly target. While Galleon’s respawn timer is longer, his loot table can help fill out key armor slots early on.

If you’re fortunate, these kills can push your item level up significantly. But to double your chances, you’ll want to use bonus rolls in the form of Elder Charms of Good Fortune, which let you roll a second time for loot after each boss kill.

How to Earn Lesser Charms

To use Elder Charms, you’ll first need to collect Lesser Charms of Good Fortune, which are earned primarily through daily quests. Each zone with a faction reputation will offer dailies, and most of them reward these charms in small stacks. Expect to receive around 1–3 charms per quest, depending on the area and type.

Once you’ve collected 50 Lesser Charms, you can turn them in through a weekly quest in your capital city or the faction hub at the Shrine of Two Moons (Horde) or Shrine of Seven Stars (Alliance). This quest gives you 3 Elder Charms, which can be used on raid bosses, world bosses, or LFR encounters.

Here’s how to keep your rolls flowing:

1. Do dailies from Golden Lotus, Klaxxi, Shado-Pan, and August Celestials
2. Complete the weekly turn-in: 50 Lesser Charms → 3 Elder Charms
3. Use Elder Charms on Sha of Anger and Galleon for double loot chances

Planning your charm farming early in the week allows you to enter world boss groups fully prepared. A single lucky bonus roll can mean skipping several hours of dungeon grinding, so don’t waste the opportunity. Next, we’ll cover how to continue gearing through MoP’s dungeon system.

 

Dungeon Progression at 90

After grabbing your world boss kills for the week, the next consistent source of the WoW Classic MoP best gear and currency comes from dungeons. At level 90, Pandaria’s dungeon system is split into normal and heroic difficulty, with each offering a reliable mix of gear, Valor Points, and Justice Points. These runs are quick, queueable through the Dungeon Finder, and scalable to how much time you have to play on any given day.

Normal & Heroic Dungeons

Normal dungeons in MoP are accessible immediately at 90 and serve primarily as a stepping stone. Their gear rewards are limited (mostly ilvl 435–442), but they’re worth running at least once for the dungeon quests and guaranteed blue-quality drops. They’re also a fallback if you’re slightly undergeared for heroics.

Heroic dungeons, however, are where real progression begins. You’ll need at least 431 item level to queue, and the bosses drop ilvl 463 rare-quality gear. These runs also reward Valor Points, which you’ll use to purchase powerful epic items from reputation vendors. BLOG20

Here’s a basic route to follow:

1. Run normal dungeons if your ilvl is below 431
2. Once 431+, queue for heroics to begin collecting ilvl 463 gear
3. Cap Valor weekly through daily dungeon completions and random queue bonuses
4. Use Justice Points to fill weaker gear slots or prep alt characters

In most cases, you’ll want to move out of normals as soon as your item level allows. Heroics provide better returns across the board, both in terms of stats and long-term currency investment.

Scenarios & Heroic Scenarios

As you begin your daily WoW MoP gearing strategy at 90, scenarios are a flexible and time-efficient addition to your gearing strategy. These 3-player, no-tank-required encounters offer a mix of gear rewards and Valor Points and can be completed much faster than full dungeons.

Normal scenarios become available as soon as you hit 90. While the gear drops are minor (usually blues in the 450–463 range), the Valor rewards are worth the short investment—especially early in the expansion when you need every point.

Heroic scenarios unlock later in the patch cycle and typically require a pre-made group and slightly higher gear. In exchange, they reward ilvl 516 gear in later phases and provide better Valor efficiency per minute played than most other content at the time.

Key benefits of scenarios:

• Fast Valor farming for your weekly cap
• Short queue times and no role restrictions
• Efficient gear source once heroic versions are available

While dungeons remain the backbone of gearing at 90, scenarios fill the gaps—both in time and in Valor. With a few smart runs per day, you can stay on pace with currency generation while also rounding out your gear. Up next, we’ll look at how reputation factions factor into your progression.

Reputation Gear & Daily Factions

As you settle into level 90 content, daily quests become a central part of your gearing strategy. Most of Pandaria’s key factions offer powerful epic gear, but it’s gated behind reputation levels—Friendly, Honored, Revered, and in some cases, Exalted. While daily questing can feel repetitive, the rewards are some of the best outside of raiding or world bosses, with items ranging from ilvl 458 to 489.

To start progressing through reputation gear efficiently, you’ll first need to unlock the correct factions. Unlike other expansions, most reputations in MoP are unlocked sequentially, not all at once. That means your path through them matters.

Each faction has its own daily hub, and completing quests increases your standing while also rewarding Lesser Charms of Good Fortune, adding value beyond gear. You can further accelerate reputation gains by wearing faction tabards in dungeons (if enabled in MoP Classic) or focusing on one faction at a time instead of splitting your efforts.

If you’re looking to maximize return on time:

• Prioritize Golden Lotus first, as it gates others
• Buy Valor gear as soon as you hit Revered
• Use Elder Charms from dailies to double dip on rewards with world bosses

Focusing on reputation dailies early on gives you access to consistent, phase-relevant gear and helps fill out slots that dungeons or world drops might miss. In the next section, we’ll dive deeper into how to make the most of your Valor and Justice Points once you’ve started stockpiling them.

PvP Gear at 90

PvP gear isn’t just for arenas and battlegrounds—it can play a useful supporting role in your early PvE gearing path at level 90. If you're just shy of the item level required for heroic dungeons or LFR, a few well-placed PvP pieces can close the gap quickly without the need to grind lower-yield content.

The Honor vendors in your faction’s capital city offer a full set of ilvl 458 gear, including rings, cloaks, bracers, and other off-pieces. While PvP stats like Resilience and PvP Power take up budget space, the raw item level still contributes to your queue eligibility. For many fresh 90s, these items are a fast and affordable way to patch weak slots—especially trinkets, rings, or other pieces that are hard to upgrade immediately through dungeons or quests.

When PvP Gear Makes Sense in PvE

• You’re stuck below 431 ilvl and can’t access heroic dungeons
• You need a couple of quick upgrades to queue for LFR (460/470)
• Dungeon drops haven’t been kind and your weakest slots are holding you back
• You want to avoid buying expensive crafted gear on the Auction House

PvP gear becomes less viable the moment you enter serious PvE content. Its stat scaling falls behind dungeon and raid loot, and you'll want to replace it as soon as possible. But in terms of reaching your next item level breakpoint, it's often the most efficient stopgap available.

To gear this way efficiently:

• Queue for battlegrounds or join Wintergrasp for fast Honor
• Purchase specific PvP pieces that fill missing gear slots
• Avoid stacking PvP gear beyond what's needed, as stats are suboptimal

Replace with dungeon or reputation gear as soon as you get upgrades
A few PvP pieces won’t make or break your performance in heroic dungeons or early raids, but they will unlock the content you need to progress. Next, we’ll look at another flexible source of upgrades: crafted gear and professions.

Crafted Gear & Professions

If you’d rather spend gold than grind out dungeons, crafting is one of the most efficient and fastest ways to gear at 90 WoW Classic to raise your item level after hitting 90. Many professions offer gear in the 450–496 range, and during the early weeks of a patch, prices are often reasonable as crafters race to skill up and flood the market. Some crafted gear can be sent across characters, while others provide fast power spikes ideal for fresh 90s or gearing alts.

Crafted items cover nearly every armor slot—helm, chest, bracers, belts, and more—and many include weapons, trinkets, and rings. Some are tied to daily cooldowns or rare materials, while others are mass-produced and cheap.

It’s also worth noting that crafted PvP gear from the Dragon Soul phase (ilvl 458+) is commonly used to fill early gear gaps. These items aren’t ideal for long-term PvE, but the raw item level helps meet ilvl thresholds for heroics or LFR. Tailors, blacksmiths, and leatherworkers can typically craft full PvP sets early in the expansion.

Here’s what the major professions bring to the gearing table:

The Ghost Iron Dragonling is a standout early trinket for any class. It’s cheap, flexible, and includes customizable cogwheel sockets, making it far more valuable than its item level suggests. Meanwhile, Bind-on-Account (BoA) crafted gear is excellent for alt gearing—craftable by your main and mailed straight to your fresh 90.

To make the most of the crafted gearing route:

1. Check the Auction House often for underpriced blues, PvP pieces, and early epics
2. Use alts to craft or mail BoA pieces for quick gear bumps
3. Focus on high-impact slots like trinkets, weapons, and underperforming greens

Prioritize stats that complement your spec—raw ilvl doesn’t always mean better
Crafted gear won’t carry you through endgame raiding, but it does what you need in the short term: smooths your item level curve, unlocks new content faster, and buys you time while farming dungeons or world bosses. With a few smart purchases (or crafts), you’ll be LFR- or heroic-ready in no time.

Treasure Gear & Bind-on-Account Items

Not every upgrade requires running dungeons or spending gold. Some of the easiest early gear at level 90 comes from looting static treasures in the Dread Wastes, which reward item level 450 Bind-on-Account (BoA) items—including weapons, trinkets, and accessories—that can be freely shared across your characters.

These items are not random world drops—they spawn at fixed locations and are tied to clickable objects like cocoons, chests, or relics scattered throughout the zone. Each treasure can be looted once per character, making them especially useful for freshly dinged 90s or leveling alts.

To efficiently find these treasures, install the HandyNotes add-on along with the Mists of Pandaria Treasure plugin. This overlays precise icons on your world map and minimap, so you can route your way through the zone without missing anything.

These are all BoA, meaning you can mail them to other characters on your account. If your main is already geared, sweep the Dread Wastes once, and send the items to an undergeared alt—they’ll gain a big head start without running a single dungeon.

Treasure items are especially helpful if:

• You're just short of the ilvl requirement for heroics or LFR
• You want fast filler gear without running content
• You’re prepping alts and want to skip the early grind

Because they require zero combat and almost no setup, these treasures are one of the highest return-on-time gearing methods at 90. Add them to your early routine and save hours down the line. BLOG20

Gear Optimization

Once you've filled most of your MoP Classic pre-raid gearing slots, the next step is refining your stats to maximize your performance in dungeons, raids, or open-world content. This is where reforging, gems, and enchants come into play—tools that let you squeeze extra value out of each piece of gear, even before stepping into serious endgame.

Reforging is available at class trainers in major cities and lets you shift 40% of one secondary stat (like Hit, Crit, Haste, Mastery) into another. If you’re falling short on hit/expertise caps or want to fine-tune your build for smoother rotations, this is a quick and affordable fix.

Most gear at level 90 comes with gem sockets or can be enhanced through enchants from various professions. While min-maxing isn’t strictly necessary at this stage, small stat boosts can help smooth out healing, threat, or DPS output—especially if you're jumping into group content.

Quick Checklist for Optimizing Early Gear

• Reforge stats you don’t need into ones you do
• Socket gems that match your primary stat or fill secondary caps
• Apply enchants (even lower-tier ones) to major gear pieces
• Use profession-crafted enhancements, like:
  • Engineering cogwheels (Ghost Iron Dragonling)
  • Inscription shoulder enchants
  • Tailoring cloak enchants
  • Enchanting or blacksmithing stat bonuses

When it comes to stat priorities, most classes follow familiar rules: primary stat first (Strength, Agility, Intellect), followed by secondary stats based on role and spec. For tanks, survivability and mitigation matter more; for DPS, it's about maximizing uptime and throughput.

If you’re unsure of the ideal breakdown for your spec, check a trusted class resource or sim site—especially once you start accumulating Valor gear and tier pieces.

Conclusion

Gearing in Mists of Pandaria Classic doesn’t need to be overwhelming—especially if you follow a focused path from 85 to 90 and beyond. From Baradin Hold and Justice gear to Twilight Heroics, world bosses, and faction vendors, every step builds toward a smoother endgame experience. Knowing which item level breakpoints to hit and where to find your next upgrade lets you skip wasted time and get straight into the content that matters.

Whether you're pushing progression on your main or getting alts raid-ready, smart gearing choices early on will save hours of grinding later. Prioritize upgrades that unlock new content, plan around weekly lockouts and currency caps, and make use of crafted gear, BoAs, and efficient reputation grinds.

F.A.Q.