MoP Classic Cooking Leveling Guide 1-600

This Cooking leveling guide will show you the fastest way how to level your Cooking skill from 1 to 600 in Mists of Pandaria Classic.

Major Changes in MoP

In Mists of Pandaria Classic, leveling Cooking is faster and easier than ever. You can go from 1 to 520 in about 20 minutes using mostly vendor-bought ingredients.

You must be at least level 85 to use this guide. If you're not 85 yet, check out my Cataclysm Cooking leveling guide, but it's usually better to just wait until you reach 85.

This method skips all the tedious steps from older expansions like daily quests and recipe farming. It saves you hours of time and effort. Definitely worth the wait.

Cooking Leveling Guide 1-520

You can level Cooking from 1 to 520 in MoP Classic using mostly vendor-sold ingredients. Almost all recipes give 5 skill points per craft while they’re orange. There's no need to gather rare materials or farm old recipes.

1. Shopping List

You'll only need a few ingredients that aren't sold by the vendor. You can either farm these or buy them from the Auction House:

• 42x Golden Carp
• 2x Wildfowl Breast

Everything else is sold by the vendor (see below).

2. Cooking Vendor and Trainer

Head to Halfhill Market in Valley of the Four Winds and talk to Sungshin Ironpaw. She sells all the materials you’ll need to level Cooking up to 520.

3. Buy Ingredients from Sungshin Ironpaw

Buy these ingredients from the vendor:

• 6x Instant Noodles
• 18x Needle Mushrooms
• 27x Pandaren Peach
• 6x Silkworm Pupa
• 15x Yak Milk
• 12x Rice
• 6x Red Beans
• 6x Farm Chicken
• 6x Barley
• 2x Ginseng

4. Leveling Cooking to 520

You don’t need a step-by-step list of every recipe. The process is very simple:

1. Learn a new recipe from Sungshin Ironpaw.
2. Craft that recipe until it turns yellow or green. Before skill 480, most recipes turn yellow after 6 crafts. After that, they usually turn yellow after 3.
3. Learn the next recipe and repeat.

Don't forget to upgrade your Cooking skill at the following levels: 50, 125, 275, 350, and 425. If you skip one, you won’t gain any skill points until you train the next rank.

The total cost from 1 to 520 is around 340 gold.

Choosing a Way (520 - 600)

After you reach 520, talk to Sungshin Ironpaw again at Halfhill Market and accept the quest So You Want to Be a Chef.... You'll need to make 5x Sliced Peaches and turn in the quest.

Next, she'll give you Ready for Greatness, which requires making 5x Rice Pudding. After that, all six Cooking specializations (called Ways) will become available.

Each Way is tied to a different stat (except Brew):

• Way of the Brew - No stat gain
• Way of the Grill - Strength
• Way of the Oven - Stamina
• Way of the Pot - Intellect
• Way of the Steamer - Spirit
• Way of the Wok - Agility

You can learn and level up all six Ways on the same character. Each one has its own separate skill bar, but your overall Cooking skill is based on your highest Way. So if you reach 600 in just one Way, your Cooking will show as 600.

At skill 575, each Way unlocks Banquet recipes that provide a buff to your main stat for 10-man and 25-man raids. These Banquets work for all classes regardless of which Way created them. For example, a rogue will still get +Agility from a Banquet of the Steamer (Spirit).

To get started with a Way, accept the corresponding quest from Sungshin Ironpaw. Each quest sends you to a trainer nearby and requires a few ingredients. You can find the full list of required materials under each Way below.