WotLK Classic Mining Leveling Guide 1-450

This WotLK Classic Mining leveling guide will show you the fastest way to level your Mining profession up from 1 to 450 in Wrath of the Lich King Classic.

I recommend trying Zygor's 1-80 Leveling Guide if you are still leveling your character or you just started a new alt. The guide will help you to reach level 80 a lot faster.

Table of contents:

Mining Trainers

WoW Classic

Horde trainers:

Alliance trainers:

TBC Classic

You can learn the TBC Mining skill from Fono or Hanlir in Shattrath City and Hurnak Grimmord or Krugosh in Hellfire Peninsula.

WotLK Classic

You can learn the new WotLK Classic Minning skill from these NPCS:

Both factions can learn it from Jedidiah Handers at Dalaran.

Horde:

Alliance:

Smelting to 340

If you have enough gold, you can actually skip the first 340 skill points by simply smelting ores. But, if you need the ores for Jewelcrafting, or you simply prefer leveling Mining regularly, then scroll down a bit in the guide for farming routes.

Most smelting recipes are yellow or green, so I cannot list the exact number of ores that you will need. These are all approximate numbers below. It's possible you will need even more ores if you are unlucky with the skill gains.

Skill

Notes
1-65 110-130x Smelt Copper until you reach 65.
65-75 70x Smelt Tin. This one will be grey after 75, but you will need these later.
75-105 70x Smelt Bronze. You might not reach 105, your skill will be somewhere between 100 and 110.
105-125 25-35x Smelt Silver until you reach 125.
125-155 50-65x Smelt Iron until you reach 155
155-175 20-25x Smelt Gold until you reach 175.
175-200 40x Smelt Mithril until you reach 200, then visit your trainer and learn Artisan Mining.
200-230 170-240x Smelt Mithril until you reach 230.
230-275 90x Smelt Thorium until you reach 275. You can also make some Smelt Truesilver if you can get cheap Truesilver Ore.
275-325 250x Smelt Fel Iron until you reach 325. This smelting recipe requires two ores instead of one, so you will need around 500x Fel Iron Ore.
325-340 90x Smelt Adamantite until 340. You will need around 180x Adamantite Ore.

Mining Leveling Routes

Don't forget to buy a Mining Pick from the Mining Supply vendor near your trainer! You don't have to equip it, but you have to have one in your inventory.

Make sure that you turn on the Find Minerals filter on your minimap!

1 - 65

Every starter zone is filled with Copper Ore. It doesn't really matter which one you choose.

Night Elf players must wait until they get to Darkshore before they can start leveling mining because Teldrassil doesn't have any Copper Ore.

After you pass Razor Hill, go inside the cave marked on the map before you jump down!

High level players should always enter the Venture Co. Mine because you will get around 8 Copper Veins from clearing both the mine and the small area after the mine at the side the mountain. (you can only access this area from the mine)

It can be a nightmare to find the exit the first time you are there so I included a small map. You won't see this map in-game, because it's from the Cataclysm expansion, but the layout is the same. Make sure to go to every corner of the cave!

Low level players should skip both caves.

Low level players should skip both caves.

The respawn rate is fast enough that you don't have to loop around the whole zone, so you can use these two routes. If you have competition, you should move between the two routes while mining copper between them.

65 - 125

Visit your trainer and learn Journeyman Mining. (You need to level up Mining to at least 50)

Ores in these zones: Tin Ore, Copper Ore, Silver Ore

Low-level players should skip the two caves marked with red circles.

Sometimes you get bad respawns, and all three nodes in the Yeti cave will be Mithril or Iron. You can't mine them yet because they require higher mining skill, and if there is no one else farming in the zone, they can't respawn as Tin without someone mining them, so if this happens, just skip the cave.

Low level players should skip both caves and stick to the east side of Redridge.

The respawn rate should be fast enough that you don't have to enter the cave marked on the map, but there is always two Tin Veins inside, so I think it's worth to go inside with high level characters.

There is more Tin/Copper at the southern route, but you can use the northern route as an alternative if there are too many people farming in the zone. The difference between the two is not that big.

125 - 175

Visit your trainer and learn Expert Mining. (Requires level 10)

Ores in these zones: Iron Ore, Tin Ore, Gold Ore

There are 4 caves marked with red circles on the map. Make sure to go all the way to the end of each cave because you won't see all the mining veins from the entrance.

Low level players should skip all 4 caves, and low level Alliance players should take a detour and go south of Hammerfall!

175 - 245

Don't forget to visit your Mining trainer and learn Artisan Mining between 200 and 225! (Artisan Mining Requires level 25 and Mining skill 200)

Ores in these zones: Mithril Ore, Truesilver Ore

Low-level players should skip the red route because the area is filled with level 62 elites. Lower-level players might also want to consider skipping the cave marked with a red circle on the map. (depends on your gear/class)

Players below level 60 should skip the 4 caves marked with red circles.

245 - 275

Ores in these zones: Mithril Ore, Truesilver Ore, Thorium Ore

There are 2-3 mineral veins in the two caves marked with the red circles on the map.

Lower level players should probably skip the cave to the south. It really depends on your level/gear/class.

There are two caves marked with a red circle on the map, both of them have a lot of mobs inside, so I would only recommend this farming place to level 60 players with good gear, or for Druids and Rogues with stealth.

It's really hard to navigate inside the Garrison Armory mine, so I included a small map. Alliance players can't mine inside the Garrison Armory!

There are usually 2 mining nodes insides the cave marked with a red circle. It's worth going inside the cave because it's not too large and there aren't that many mobs inside, and if you are high level, you can pass some of them without aggro.

I recommend skipping the other two caves at Jaednar, especially Shadow Hold. (maybe if you have stealth it's worth to go inside them)

275 - 300

Ores in these zones: Thorium Ore, Mithril Ore

Now you can mine Rich Thorium Veins too.

Almost the same as the previous Un'Goro route, but now it includes Rich Thorium Veins.

The red line is filled with level 57-58 elites, so if you have bad gear, you should probably just skip that part entirely unless you have stealth. With some practice, you can usually get through only aggroing a few of them.

All of these notes below are for players below level 70. If you are already at max level, just ignore these, you can farm the full map without problems.

  1. The mobs in this cave are not that hard to kill, so it's worth clearing for most classes. (depends on gear)
  2. Most classes can enter at least the first part of the cave without pulling aggro. You can try going deeper depending on your gear.
  3. There are a lot of elites patroling inside this gorge, but you can usually pass most of them without pulling aggro. Sometimes you have to kill 1 or 2.
  4. This area is not recommended for most players because it's hard to farm here without dying. Really depends on your class and your experience in avoiding mobs.

The two caves marked with red circles are filled with level 50 mobs, so lower level players might want to skip them. (depends on gear and level)

Burning Crusade Classic (300-350)

You can learn the TBC Mining skill from Fono or Hanlir in Shattrath City and Hurnak Grimmord or Krugosh in Hellfire Peninsula.  (Requires level 40)

300 - 325

There is not much difference between the two routes, I got roughly the same number of Fel Iron on both routes.

Small Thorium Veins will give skill points up to 345, and Rich Thorium Veins up to 350. If you have a lot of competition in Hellfire Peninsula or don't have a flying mount, I recommend mining more Thorium at the previous zones up to 325.

325 - 350

There will be a few Rich Adamantite nodes in Terokkar Forest that you can't mine until you reach 350. But, they can only spawn in the areas accessible by flying mount, so this is not an issue for lower level players. (Skettis and the area above Shattrat City)

There are two caves marked with red circles on the map. You should go inside both of them and make sure that you go all the way to the end because sometimes you won't see the Mining nodes from the entrance.

You will need a flying mount for this route, use route 3 if you don't have one.

Alternative route for players without flying mount.

Wrath of the Lich King Classic

You can learn the new WotLK Classic Mining skill from these trainers below. (Requires level 55)

Both factions can learn it from Jedidiah Handers at Dalaran.

Horde:

Alliance:

350 - 400

Both Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord are great zones for leveling to 400. But, I recommend using the "no flying" routes if you are still leveling and don't have a flying mount yet. Lower level players also might want to skip some of the caves in Borean Tundra (depends on your level and gear).

400 - 450

I think Sholazar Basin is the better zone for leveling to 450, and the route is much easier to follow. But, you can use Storm Peaks as an alternative if you have a lot of competition in Sholazar Basin.

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