How Is Your Gold Situation Right Now?
Have you already purchased your fast flying mount?
Are all your professions at 375?
Have you finished grinding your reputations and applying the necessary enchants?
And most importantly — do you still have extra gold sitting in your bags?
For most players on WoW TBC Anniversary realms, the honest answer is probably: Not Yet.
TBC comes with significant gold sinks, and maintaining a steady income source is essential. One of the most stable and efficient WoW TBC gold farming strategies in the current phase is farming elemental Motes and converting them into Primals
In TBC, elemental mobs drop small materials known as Motes. Once you collect 10 Motes of the same type, they can be combined into one Primal. Primals are the tradable crafting materials most players buy and sell on the Auction House (see Wowpedia for detailed elemental ingredient information).
1. Why Choose to Farm Primals
Primals are involved in almost every crafting profession. Whether it’s Blacksmithing, Engineering, Leatherworking, Tailoring, or Jewelcrafting, they are essential materials. As long as players on the server are crafting gear or leveling professions, Primals will always be in demand.
Stable demand, wide usability, and the ability to farm them directly from mobs — these three factors make Primals one of the most reliable gold-making materials throughout the TBC phase.
2. Always Check the Auction House First
Before farming, always evaluate your server’s market conditions. Profitability varies depending on supply and demand, so checking prices is essential.
Create a level 1 alt in Stormwind and, if possible, set up a personal guild for convenient material storage through the guild bank.
At the Auction House, search for the word “Primal” and sort by price from highest to lowest. Currently, there are 7 types of farmable Mote materials, which can be combined into 7 different Primals:
● Primal Shadow (from 10 Motes of Shadow)
● Primal Mana (from 10 Motes of Mana)
● Primal Life (from 10 Motes of Life)
● Primal Water (from 10 Motes of Water)
● Primal Fire (from 10 Motes of Fire)
● Primal Earth (from 10 Motes of Earth)
● Primal Air (from 10 Motes of Air)
Whichever Primal is currently selling for the highest price should become your farming priority.
3. Best Locations to Farm Each Primal
The key principle is simple: prioritize low-level, non-elite mobs with high drop rates and fast respawn density. Efficiency comes from kill speed and spawn volume.
1) Primal Shadow (From 10 Mote of Shadow)
The best place to farm it is in Hellfire Peninsula from Voidwalkers and Voidcallers. They have roughly a 41% chance to drop one or two Motes of Shadow. They are low-level non-elites, and there are plenty of them. It’s a very straightforward farm.
2) Primal Mana (From 10 Mote of Mana)
Theoretically, the best mob in the game is the Angered Netherwraith. It has a 95% chance to drop Mote of Mana and an 82% chance to drop Mote of Fire. However, it does not naturally spawn in the open world. It only appears when a tailor creates Spellcloth in Netherstorm. If you ever see one spawned, prioritize killing it immediately. The drop value is extremely high.
For consistent farming, the best option is Ethereum mobs in Blade’s Edge Mountains, with about a 32% drop chance. If competition is heavy, head to Netherstorm and farm Warp Aberrations, which have around a 30% drop chance, though they are slightly higher level.
3) Primal Life (From 10 Mote of Life)
The best mobs to farm Mote of Life are the walking trees in Terokkar Forest. Both large and small versions have approximately a 21% chance to drop one or two Motes.
If you are not yet exalted with Sporeggar, consider farming Bog Lords and Fungal Giants in Zangarmarsh. Their drop rate is similar, and each kill grants 15 reputation, along with items that can be turned in for additional reputation — effectively combining gold farming with reputation grinding.
4) Primal Water (From 10 Mote of Water)
The best mobs are located in Terokkar Forest in a hidden water elemental area. These water elementals have around a 35% drop chance for one or two Motes of Water, making it a strong and stable farming location.
5) Primal Fire (From 10 Mote of Fire)
The lowest level mob with the highest drop chance is the Incandescent Fel Sparks in Hellfire Peninsula.
Although located in Hellfire Peninsula, these are level 70 elementals. They have roughly a 35% chance to drop one or two Motes. Lower-level fire elementals exist elsewhere, but their drop rates are significantly worse.
6) Primal Earth (From 10 Mote of Earth)
The best mobs to farm are Shattered Rumblers in Nagrand.
They have about a 21% drop chance and are relatively consistent to farm, often with lower competition compared to more popular spots.
7) Primal Air (From 10 Mote of Air)
It's best farmed from Storming Wind Rippers in Nagrand.
These mobs have around a 33% drop chance. Primal Air is frequently in high demand due to its use in multiple high-end crafts, making it one of the more valuable farming targets, depending on the server economy.
