Introduction
Patch 12.1 and Season 2 bring a wide range of new gearing opportunities, but the best approach changes significantly between the first week and the weeks that follow. This guide, shared by SoulSoBreezy on his YouTube channel, focuses on where to get gear efficiently, which activities are worth prioritizing, and how to make the most of Great Vault rewards, Voidcores, Crests, Delves, Prey, Mythic+, and raids.
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WoW Season 2 Week 1 Gearing Guide
The first week of Patch 12.1 is relatively limited. Hero-track and higher gear are not yet widely available, while Champion gear is also relatively scarce. As a result, the main goals during Week 1 are to unlock the new systems, collect easy Veteran gear, prepare for later content, and take advantage of the available Mythic Zero runs.
Check the Field Accolade Vendor
One of the first places worth checking is the Field Accolade vendor in Silvermoon City. On the PTR, this vendor offers Soulbound loot boxes containing random Veteran gear for 500 Accolades. You can spend 750 Accolades to target a specific equipment slot. So, it is worth checking the vendor early if you have spare Accolades.
Visit the Faction Quartermasters
The renowned quartermasters in each zone may also provide an easy source of Veteran gear. On the PTR, the quartermasters offered a zone-related quest that rewards a piece of Season 2 Veteran gear after completing the corresponding zone activity. This is particularly useful for freshly geared alts.
Unlock the Prey and Delve Campaigns
Week 1 should also be used to unlock the new features. The Prey and Delve campaigns are relatively straightforward. Visit their respective hubs to get started, and progressing through the campaign will eventually direct you toward the main hub in Zul'Aman. Even if these activities are not your primary endgame focus, unlocking them early prepares you for the gearing opportunities available later in the season.
Run Mythic Zero for Early Champion Gear
If your character is already reasonably well geared and your priority is getting the best available gear as quickly as possible, Mythic Zero dungeons should be one of your first destinations. During Week 1, Mythic Zero provides access to Champion gear, making it one of the strongest early gearing options. However, Mythic Zero has a weekly lockout during this first week, so there is no need to rush through everything immediately.
Complete the Weekly Quests
Pick up the weekly quests around the center of Silvermoon. These quests are particularly important because they can provide Crafting Sparks, which allow you to begin crafting gear. Early crafted gear can be useful, especially for filling important equipment slots.
Progress through the Campaign
The campaign is relatively lengthy, but it is worth completing. It eventually leads to a campaign quest requiring you to complete the raid during the following week. Completing this progression prepares you for a quest that rewards a Champion-level ring. The campaign itself may not provide outstanding gear at every stage, but it also introduces systems and activities that become important if Delves and Prey are part of your endgame routine.
Develop Your Prey and Delve Powers
Players who intend to spend considerable time in Prey and Delves should start working on their related progression early. By completing activities and farming Souls, you can unlock special World Tier buffs and powers through a progression tree. These powers are shared across your Warband and can be used in both Prey and Delves. This means that time spent developing these systems during Week 1 can continue to benefit your characters later.
Collect Venom-Cursed Fragments
One of the weekly activities can reward a Venom-Cursed Fragment. Collecting two fragments allows you to combine them into special Champion gear. On the PTR, there were two versions of the related quest: one connected to the campaign and another recurring weekly quest.
Defeat Layers
Layers, the new world boss content, is also available during the first week at its easiest difficulty. The initial difficulty rewards Veteran gear, so it should be a quick activity to complete. Progress from this activity also contributes toward the Great Vault, making it worthwhile even if the direct gear reward is not an upgrade.
Fill the Great Vault
As usual, try to fill as much of the Great Vault as possible during Week 1. Tier 8 Delves represent the top item-level reward from the available Delve options, although you may also want to consider a Voidcore. Voidcores are new to this patch and, based on PTR testing, did not appear to have a cap. They provide gear equivalent to the Great Vault reward associated with the relevant activity, making them potentially powerful tools for targeting specific upgrades.
Start Crafting
Week 1 is also the time to begin your crafting progression. Weapons are likely to be a popular first choice, and depending on your realm, there should be players capable of crafting weapons using your first set of Sparks. However, crafting with Veteran Crests or PvP Heraldries is not particularly efficient if you already have Myth gear from Season 1 that has been upgraded with Season 1 Voidcores.
Week 1 Priority Checklist
- Pick up the weekly quests in Silvermoon, especially those awarding Crafting Sparks.
- Progress through the campaign to unlock its rewards and prepare for the raid quest.
- Unlock and explore Layers, Delves, and Prey.
- Check the Field Accolade vendor and the faction quartermasters for easy Veteran gear.
- Run Mythic Zero dungeons for Champion gear.
- Fill your Great Vault as much as possible.
- Begin planning your first crafted item.
For already-geared characters, there is little reason to spend excessive time on lower-value world activities during this stage. Week 2 is where the gearing system opens up considerably.
WoW Season 2 Week 2 and Beyond: How to Gear Efficiently
Starting in Week 2, substantially more gearing options become available. At this point, the priority shifts toward combining Great Vault rewards, Voidcores, Prey, Delves, raid content, Mythic+, and crafting.
Check the Great Vault First
Your first stop should generally be the Great Vault. Voidcores make the decision more complicated because they can provide gear equivalent to Great Vault rewards. Because of this, it is usually better to consider your other gearing options before locking in your Vault selection. Unless the Vault contains a particularly valuable upgrade, you may find that saving your options for later gives you greater flexibility.
Complete the Silvermoon Weeklies
Return to the Silvermoon weekly quests for another Crafting Spark and two Veteran gear pieces from Pinnacle Caches. Complete whichever zone activities you prefer to meet the requirements and collect these rewards.
Start Nightmare Prey
Visit Astalor's Place and select your first Nightmare Prey target. The recommended approach is to choose a target in the Coiled Isle if possible. Run two Nightmare Preys, preferably targeting Champion gear, and complete the weekly quest in the Vaults of Atal'Utek. Although the Champion gear from the weekly reward will be relatively slow to accumulate throughout the season, the quest also provides a Trovehunter's Bounty, which can reward Hero gear when completed at a sufficiently high tier. The weekly Prey progression can also provide an item used to summon the Delve Nemesis, which leads to another Trovehunter's Bounty. This item can be saved for later or transferred to an alt.
Run Raid Finder for Tier Set Pieces
Raid Finder Wing 1 becomes available alongside the other raid difficulties and requires item level 273. Running Raid Finder can be worthwhile if you are trying to complete your tier set early. However, whether you should prioritize it depends heavily on your specialization. In many cases, breaking an existing four-piece bonus simply to equip a new piece is not worthwhile, so check the value of the tier upgrade before replacing existing gear.
Use Bountiful Delve Keys
Delves are another major gearing destination in Week 2. Spend your Bountiful Keys on high-level Delves, ideally targeting the highest tier you can comfortably clear. These can provide Champion gear and may also help unlock upgrade levels that you would otherwise need to spend Crests to reach.
An important early goal is reaching Rank 4 on the Delve reward track. Once you reach this point, clearing Tier 11 Delves can begin providing Myth Crests. The Cracked Keystone quest can also provide additional Myth Crests by asking you to complete a key of any level. While the amount is limited, Delves can provide a useful source of Crests if you are not regularly running Mythic+ dungeons around +9 or higher.
Progress through All Layer Difficulties
Layers become more important during Week 2 because multiple difficulties open up. You can run the Normal, Heroic, and Mythic versions of the Layer boss for opportunities at higher-end gear. Check the loot table before investing significant time here, since the available gear is relatively limited and the value varies depending on your class and specialization.
Mythic+ Gearing in Season 2
Eventually, the main goal is to transition into Mythic+. The key thresholds are:
- Mythic +6: Hero gear begins dropping at the end of the run.
- Mythic +9: Myth Crests become available.
- Mythic +10: Myth-track gear becomes available through the Great Vault.
A +10 key is also an ideal level for using a Voidcore when targeting a specific piece because it can provide the corresponding Myth-track version. If your priority is quickly building a Hero-track set while avoiding unnecessary Crest upgrades, Mythic+ is one of the most effective options, although it can require a significant amount of grinding.
Raid Gearing and Voidcores
Raids are also extremely valuable during Season 2. You can run your preferred raid difficulty to complete the raid quest, or wait until the following week when Story Mode becomes available.
One of the biggest changes is that raiders can benefit from Voidcores in much the same way as Mythic+ players. A single Voidcore can be used to roll for a gear piece, and the resulting item can roll one upgrade track higher than the current content. In other words, the Great Vault now works around the same principle: regardless of the difficulty you complete, the Vault can offer gear from one track above that content. For raiders, this means that defeating Heroic bosses can potentially lead to Myth-track gear through either Voidcores or the Great Vault.
How to Use Voidcores Effectively
Voidcores are one of the most important tools for targeted gearing in Season 2. If you have enough self-control to save them rather than immediately spending them, they can be particularly useful for targeting Best-in-Slot pieces. For example, using a Voidcore with a +10 Mythic+ source allows you to target a Myth-track version of a specific dungeon item. The more you use Voidcores to target individual pieces, the more effectively you can gradually eliminate unwanted items from the available dungeon or raid loot pool.
Mythic raiders should also consider saving your rolls specific for particular bosses. Having a Voidcore available when you reach a boss that drops an important item can improve your chances of obtaining the piece you need.
At the highest Mythic+ levels, some Mythic raid items can also drop at an item level higher than anything else currently available. However, the full impact of this system is expected to become more noticeable later in Season 2.
Great Vault vs. Voidcore: Which Should You Choose?
When the Great Vault does not offer an obvious Best-in-Slot item, taking a Voidcore can often be the more flexible choice. Voidcores allow you to continue targeting specific gear outside the Vault rather than being locked into an item that may soon become obsolete. The general recommendation is to favor the Voidcore unless the Great Vault offers an especially strong upgrade, such as a genuine Best-in-Slot item.
Season 2 Catalyst and Tier Set Changes
The Catalyst also becomes important for high-end gearing. In Season 2, transforming gear into class-set pieces through the Catalyst preserves the item's secondary stats and cantrip effects. This gives high-end players more flexibility when converting strong gear into tier pieces. However, retaining cantrip effects is not necessarily a major advantage in every situation. Only a relatively small number of items can take advantage of this interaction, and players who want to preserve a particular cantrip will also have to accept the associated secondary stats. In some cases, optimizing secondary stats may be more valuable than preserving the cantrip.
How to Save Crests When Upgrading Gear
Crest management becomes increasingly important as your item level rises. Reaching certain item-level thresholds on one character can unlock upgrade discounts for your alts. For this reason, it is generally more efficient to develop one primary character first before heavily investing in multiple alts. Mythic+ is once again a strong way to reach these thresholds.
There is also a useful upgrade trick: Fully upgrading a Champion item can effectively unlock an equivalent Hero upgrade level. For example, fully upgrading a Champion piece can make it count as the equivalent of a Rank 2 Hero item. This means you can unlock that upgrade level without spending additional Hero Crests to move another item from Rank 1 to Rank 2. The savings are relatively small, but they can add up over time.
When Should You Spend Crests?
Avoid upgrading gear below the Hero track whenever possible. Instead, allow your item level to plateau before making major Crest investments. Hold onto the gear you obtain, particularly Champion pieces, and use the upgrade trick to reduce the number of Crests required when you eventually begin upgrading Hero gear. The same principle can be applied once you start obtaining Myth-track gear.
Early in the season, Myth Crests are often best spent on crafted gear, helping maintain your item-level progression even when dungeon and raid RNG is unfavorable. If you reach the weekly Crest cap, that is a good outcome. However, make sure you retain enough Myth Crests to guarantee a crafted item approximately every other week.
WoW Season 2 Gearing Priority: Week 2 and Beyond
Once the second week begins, the recommended gearing route can be summarized as follows:
- Pick up the Silvermoon weekly quests for Crafting Sparks.
- Check the Great Vault and decide between a strong item and a Voidcore.
- Choose a Nightmare Prey target, preferably in the Coiled Isle.
- Complete your Prey target and the weekly quest for the Trovehunter's Bounty.
- Continue completing Prey activities and then move on to Bountiful Delves at the highest tier you can clear, preferably Tier 11 for Myth Crest progression.
- Run Raid Finder if you need additional opportunities to complete your tier set.
- Return to the Coiled Isle and clear the available Layer difficulties.
- Progress into Mythic+ and raids for higher-level gear.
- Use Voidcores strategically to target important gear pieces.
Final Gear Progression Goals for WoW Midnight Season 2
The gearing plateau is relatively high during the first part of Season 2, with characters able to progress well into the Hero gear track before upgrades begin to slow down. After reaching that point, Myth-track gear becomes more limited. Voidcores can provide at least one Myth-level gear opportunity per week, with additional opportunities available to regular Mythic raiders. Players who consistently earn enough Myth Crests will also have opportunities to craft Myth-level gear.
For the first couple of months, item level should generally be the primary gearing priority. As Season 2 progresses, additional gearing opportunities should make it easier to target specific Best-in-Slot items. Later patches may also introduce additional systems and activities, but for the early season, focusing on the gearing sources above provides a straightforward and efficient progression path.
