WoW Midnight Leveling 80-90 Guide

I leveled my first character in just over 6 hours, and my second alt in 4. Below is everything I learned from my own experience, plus data from the community.

There is no need to farm gear in The War Within before starting Midnight. Quest rewards in the new zones will quickly replace everything you are wearing. I spent an evening upgrading my gear before the release - and by level 82 I had already completely re-equipped with quest rewards. Do not repeat my mistake: enter Midnight in whatever you have.

• Clear Quest Log of old quests
• Free up bag space (minimum 20 free slots)
• Set Hearthstone to Silvermoon City
• Pick up a Gathering profession (Herbalism or Mining)
• Enable War Mode in a capital city
• Install addons: RestedXP or BTWQuests

The campaign in Midnight is built on a scheme: linear start → three parallel branches → final zone. Here is how it looks:

All three branches (2a, 2b, 2c) must be completed in full - without this Voidstorm will not open. The choice of order is yours.

I tried different combinations on two characters and consider this order optimal:

• Zul’Aman - the densest zone in terms of quests, minimal movement between hubs
• Harandar - here you unlock the Haranir Allied Race, and that is additional motivation
• Arator’s Journey - lots of flights across Eastern Kingdoms, better to leave for the end

The zone has been completely reworked: the former Eversong Woods and Ghostlands have been merged into a single space. Dead Scar is practically healed, the graphics have been updated to a modern level. Silvermoon City is now a full-fledged hub for both factions.

• Complete the Intro Scenario (Sunwell defense)
• Complete Main Story Quests (shield icon)
• Set Hearthstone to Silvermoon
• Complete dungeon Windrunner Spire (via campaign quest)
• DO NOT get distracted by side quests (on your main)

Eversong surprised me with its scale. The zone is truly beautiful, but quests are spread across a large territory. I recommend grouping tasks by hubs: first complete all quests in one area, then fly to the next. Do not jump between distant points - this eats up time.

At level 81 the dungeon Windrunner Spire opens. Complete it exactly once when you receive the campaign quest. Spamming dungeons for XP is not worth it - the campaign gives more experience per hour.

The former 10-man raid from TBC has turned into a full-fledged open zone. Dense forests, mountain trails, ruins of Loa temples and the Amani capital - Atal’Aman. Here the grandchildren of the legendary Zul’jin lead: Zul’jarra and Zul’jan.

• Campaign quests for Amani Tribe
• Dungeon: Den of Nalorakk
• Dungeon: Maisara Caverns
• Delves: The Darkway, Twilight Crypts, Atal’Aman
• Renown faction: Amani Tribe

Zul’Aman is the most pleasant zone for speed-leveling. Quests follow one after another, mobs are densely packed, and Den of Nalorakk is tied to the campaign - you don’t need to farm it separately. Set your Hearthstone to Amonizar Village if you want to optimize movement.

One trap: the zone has many attractive side quests from Amani NPCs. On your main, skip them; on alts, take them for Renown.

A completely new zone - an underground world of fungal jungles grown among the roots of World Trees. Here live the Haranir - the new Allied Race, which is unlocked specifically through completing the Harandar campaign.

• Campaign quests for Haranir
• Dungeon: Blinding Vale
• Delves: The Grudge Pit, Gulf of Memory
• Raid: Dreamrift (available at 90)
• World Boss: Thorm’belan
• Renown faction: Hara’ti

Completing the Harandar campaign is the only way to unlock the Haranir Allied Race. If you plan to play as Haranir, this is not optional content.

Personally, Harandar seemed to me the most atmospheric zone of the expansion. Visually - a wow-effect at every step. But from a leveling speed perspective it is slightly slower than Zul’Aman: more movement, some quests require pushing through dense packs of mobs. Use the portal from Silvermoon City (western side) for quick entry into the zone.

The third campaign branch - a questline together with Arator, the son of Turalyon and Alleria Windrunner. The uniqueness is that this chain takes you beyond Quel’Thalas into Eastern Kingdoms.

• Travel across several locations in Eastern Kingdoms
• Exploration of the history of Light and relationships within the Windrunner family
• Reward: Key to the Arcantina (important hub for weekly content)
• Reward: Arator’s Journey toy - Hearthstone with 1.5-minute cooldown

Arator’s Journey is the best branch story-wise, but the worst in terms of speed. Lots of flights, no loading screens (thanks Blizzard), but the distances are serious. However, the toy-Hearthstone with a one-and-a-half-minute cooldown is a game-changer for further questing. Worth the patience.

The final zone, which opens only after completing all three branches. The territory is completely consumed by the Void: unstable gravity, Stormfields, Nexus Points and the citadel of Xal’atath. The most difficult and visually impressive zone of the expansion.

• Main campaign finale (chapters 14-17)
• Dungeons: Voidscar Arena, Nexus-Point Xenas
• Raid: The Voidspire (6 bosses)
• World Boss: Predaxas
• Delve: Shadowguard (best spot for XP farming on alts)
• Renown faction: The Singularity

Quest rewards in Voidstorm scale with your level. The later you enter here - the better starting gear you will receive at 90. Optimally start Voidstorm at level 86-87.

Be careful with map boundaries: flying beyond the zone limits can kill your character instantly. I learned this from personal experience when I decided to fly around “to see what’s there.”

One of the keys to fast leveling is stacking as many XP bonuses simultaneously as possible. Here is the complete list:

On your first character you will not have the Warband Mentor Buff - that is normal. Enable War Mode, pick up a Gathering profession and do not forget about Rested XP. On alts you can already stack everything together, and the difference is colossal. My third alt with 15% Warband + War Mode + Darkmoon WHEE! was gaining levels literally before my eyes.

Midnight launches with 8 new dungeons. During leveling, 4 of them are available:

In short - no. Complete each dungeon exactly once when you receive the campaign quest. Spamming through Looking For Group is inefficient: XP in dungeons is reduced, and the queue for DPS can take 15-20 minutes. The campaign provides stable XP without downtime.

Exception - if you are a Tank or Healer with instant queue. Then you can queue for a dungeon while questing and enter when a group pops.

Delves returned from The War Within and have become even more useful. In Midnight the companion becomes Valeera Sanguinar. For leveling, the key trick is Delve Quest Hoarding.

1. During leveling, enter each Delve and complete it once
2. Receive the quest for first completion (each Delve - a separate quest)
3. DO NOT turn in these quests
4. Accumulate 8 quests by level 88-89
5. Enable War Mode + Darkmoon WHEE! (if available)
6. Turn in all 8 quests simultaneously
7. Each quest gives ~85,000-90,000 XP

On alts, Shadowguard in Voidstorm is the best place for XP farming. Quick runs of one minute each, high mob density, ~5% of a level per clear. Especially good for Havoc Demon Hunter and other mobile classes.

After your first character reaches 90 and completes the campaign (achievement “Midnight”), Adventure Mode is unlocked for all alts in the Warband.

• Free zone order (you can start from any)
• Access to World Quests from the very beginning
• Intro skip (via NPC Image of Lady Liadrin - option “I have heard this tale before”)
• All portals in Silvermoon are active immediately

1. Skip the Intro through Lady Liadrin
2. Buy 4 items of ilvl 180 from Renown vendors (1 from each faction)
3. Enable War Mode, pick up a Gathering profession
4. Farm Delves (Tier 1) and side quests for Renown
5. At 88-89 turn in accumulated Delve quests + First Craft
6. Finish off to 90

Another powerful lifehack for the final levels:

1. Learn a crafting profession (Blacksmithing, Leatherworking, etc.)
2. Craft each recipe once - each First Craft gives ~85,000-90,000 XP
3. Unlearn the profession, learn the next one, repeat
4. Cost: ~20,000-30,000 gold per switch
5. Potential output: 500,000-650,000+ XP in 10-15 minutes

I will honestly say: the First Craft trick is the most broken aspect of leveling right now. I would not be surprised if Blizzard nerfs it.

Personally, I use RestedXP - it literally leads you by the hand and shows the optimal path. On alts this saves a ton of time because you don’t need to remember where to go.

Leveling is only the beginning. Here is a checklist for the first days after reaching the cap:

• Complete the campaign (all 17/17 chapters) - mandatory for your main
• Set Hearthstone to Silvermoon City
• Unlock World Quests
• Start Renown farming with all factions (goal: level 8-9 for Champion gear, ilvl 246)
• Complete all 8 dungeons on Normal
• Run Mythic 0 (available from the first week)
• Prepare for Season 1 (raids from March 17)

Renown gear with ilvl 246 is Champion track, which is higher than Veteran track from Mythic 0. This means that side quests and World Quests for Renown are not just “additional content,” but a direct path to the best pre-raid gear.

I saw (and made) these mistakes myself. Sharing them so you can avoid them:

• Farming gear in The War Within - useless, quest rewards from Midnight will replace everything
• Spamming dungeons through Group Finder - slower than campaign, DPS queue is killer
• Skipping a Gathering profession - free XP (2,500-4,000 per node) throughout the entire journey
• Turning in Delve quests immediately - save them until 88-89 for maximum effect
• Ignoring War Mode - +10-15% XP with minimal risk (zones are not that PvP-active)
• Skipping the Arator’s Journey toy - Hearthstone with 1.5-minute cooldown will be useful until the end of the expansion
• Entering Voidstorm too early - rewards scale with level, better to enter at 86-87

Leveling in Midnight is one of the best leveling experiences in recent expansions. Blizzard assembled four zones with unique visual styles, tied leveling to a strong storyline (Xal’atath and Voidstorm - seriously, the finale is impressive), and at the same time gave enough tools for those who want to speed things up.

My advice: on your first character, do not rush. Enjoy the story, explore the zones, read the quests. Eversong Woods after the remake is a work of art, and Harandar is one of the most unusual visual experiences in WoW. On alts - enable all buffs, use Delve hoarding and the First Craft trick, and in 4-5 hours you will be at 90.

Good luck with your leveling, and see you in Voidstorm!