Real money
In Forever, riding is the expensive part: 100 gold at level 40 and 1,000 at level 60. Gathering while you level and selling on the auction house is the most direct way to pay for it without farming.
WOW FOREVER · PROFESSIONS
Professions in WoW Forever
In WoW Forever, professions aren't an extra: they're half the game. They pay for your mounts, gear you up for raids and PvP, bring camping to life and earn Legacy points for your whole account. It's the same 12 as always (two primary plus all three secondary, capped at 300), but with over 600 new recipes. Here's what each one does and which ones suit you.
Guides from 1 to 300
Step by step, with materials and where to get them. We update them with every Blizzard change.
HerbalismGatheringMiningGatheringSkinningGatheringAlchemyCraftingBlacksmithingCraftingEnchantingCraftingEngineeringCraftingLeatherworkingCraftingTailoringCraftingCookingSecondaryFirst AidSecondaryFishingSecondary
Why they matter
Raids and PvP
The first raids open on December 9. Flasks, potions, enchants, bombs and food make the difference, and whoever crafts them depends on nobody.
Camping
Each profession has three camp objects: the first is learned at skill 20 (Cooking's Basic Campfire, at 1) and the best come from blueprints dropped by dungeon bosses. Next to the campfire they give one-hour buffs.
Legacy
18 of the 65 Legacy points come from professions (150, 225 and 300 in the six crafting ones), and they have a whole tree of account-wide perks.
Their own rewards
Waylaid Supplies are back: supply crates that give XP, money and rewards. And reaching 300 earns you an account-wide title.
Play with room to spare
Bandages so you don't stop to eat, food that gives XP, your own consumables… Leveling with professions is faster and more comfortable.
Gathering
They pull materials from the world. They don't cost money: they make it.
Herbalism
You pick herbs all over the world. They show on your minimap and always sell well. At camp it adds an incense candle that grants Intellect.
Mining
You mine ore and stone from veins and smelt it into bars. Good veins are hotly contested.
Skinning
You skin the beasts you kill: leather and hides. You barely go out of your way, because you're killing them anyway.
Crafting
They turn materials into gear and consumables. Each one goes hand in hand with a gathering profession.
Alchemy
Mana potions, elixirs and, at high level, flasks and transmutes. In Forever it no longer makes healing potions: they move to First Aid. At camp it places an alchemy lab.
Blacksmithing
Weapons and mail and plate armor, sharpening stones and weightstones. At camp it places a sharpening stone that grants attack power.
Enchanting
You enchant gear (permanent extra stats) and disenchant what you don't need to get materials.
Engineering
Bombs, grenades, gadgets, goggles and gizmos. It keeps its Gnomish and Goblin specializations.
Leatherworking
Leather and mail armor, armor kits and special bags. Its camp hide rack is required for its most advanced recipes.
Tailoring
Cloth armor and, above all, bags: everyone buys them. Cloth drops from humanoid enemies. At camp it plants a faction banner that grants Spirit.
Secondary: get them all
They don't take a primary profession slot. Anyone can have Cooking, First Aid and Fishing, all at once.
Cooking
In Forever almost all food gives 5% more experience per kill, on top of stats (seen in the beta). And Cooking is the base of camping: its fire becomes the Basic Campfire, and cooks craft improved campfires that hold 5 to 10 objects.
First Aid
The big change: in Forever it crafts healing potions, which no longer belong to Alchemy. Besides bandages, it makes poultices against diseases, tourniquets against bleeds and anti-venoms. See its section below.
Fishing
See the next section: there's a lot to it.
First Aid: the big change
In Forever, healing potions are crafted with First Aid, not Alchemy. That way any character, whatever their class, can make their own potions.
| Potion | Skill · reagents |
|---|---|
| Minor Healing Potion | 55 · Empty Vial, Mild Spices, Peacebloom |
| Lesser Healing Potion | 85 · Empty Vial, 2 Mild Spices, Briarthorn |
| Healing Potion | 135 · Leaded Vial, Hot Spices, Bruiseweed |
| Greater Healing Potion | 155 (manual) · Leaded Vial, 3 Hot Spices, Liferoot |
| Superior Healing Potion | 215 (manual) · Crystal Vial, Soothing Spices, Sungrass |
| Major Healing Potion | 275 (manual) · Crystal Vial, 3 Soothing Spices, Golden Sansam |
They all share a 2-minute cooldown. Spices (Mild, Hot and Soothing Spices) are bought from trade vendors; herbs come from Herbalism or the auction house. The last three recipes are learned from manuals.
Poultices
Cure diseases. Four ranks (Simple, Clever, Superior and Powerful). Not usable in combat.
Tourniquets
Stop bleeds. Three ranks (Woolen, Leather and Surgical). Not usable in combat.
Anti-venoms
Against poisons, with new ranks up to Powerful Anti-Venom. These can be used in combat.
Dense Runecloth Bandage
New bandage at skill 300: heals 3,400 over 8 seconds. Made from two Heavy Runecloth Bandages.
For camping
First Aid Kit (Stamina for everyone sitting nearby; doesn't stack with Power Word: Fortitude), Toxin Study (140) and Plague Doctor's Laboratory (300).
Fishing in depth
Fishing is the most underrated profession in WoW, and even more so in Forever, because Cooking matters more than ever. Here's what it gives you:
- Good, cheap food. Almost all the food with the best effects comes from fish. You fish, cook at your campfire and skip the auction house.
- Money. High-level fish sells very well to people leveling Cooking or preparing for raids.
- Surprises. Besides fish you can reel in chests, rare items and materials you can't get any other way.
- Downtime. While you wait for your group, the boat or a respawn, you fish. It's the most relaxing thing in the game.
- Legacy. The “Luremaster” perk gives up to a 50% chance of an extra fish when fishing with a lure, for your whole account.
Getting started: learn it from the fishing trainer in any city, buy a pole from the trade supplies vendor and find water for your level: in high-level zones with low skill, fish get away. Lures raise your skill for a while.
What each profession brings to camp
Around level 5, some quests teach you camping. With Cooking you set up the campfire; everyone else adds one object each. Sit (or craft) for a minute by the fire and you keep the buffs for an hour. Each object has three ranks: the first is learned at skill 20 (Cooking's Basic Campfire, at 1) and each rank includes the previous one. Look for the camp that suits you: with a strength character, the blacksmith's.
Official Blizzard data (October 21), rank 1 to level 60: first aid kit, up to +56 stamina; mana well, up to 29 mana per 5 sec; sharpening wheel, up to +34 strength; enchanted lute, up to +260 armor, +13 to all stats and +22 to all resistances; incense candle, up to +25 intellect; faction banner, up to +32 spirit (only for your faction). Items requiring 140 skill or more come from dungeons and raids. Careful on PvP realms: enemies can find your camp and wreck it, so choose carefully where to set it up.
| Profession | Rank 1 | Rank 2 | Rank 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cooking | Basic Campfire: holds 3 items | Officer's Campfire: holds 5, and its feast grants Stamina | Expert's Campfire: holds 10 |
| First Aid | First Aid Kit: more Stamina (doesn't stack with Fortitude) | Toxin Study: healing potions and anti-venoms | Plague Doctor's Laboratory: potions and poultices |
| Fishing | Fish bowl: +8% to all stats (doesn't stack with Blessing of Kings) | Fishing display: catch unusual fish | Fishing shack: uncommon fish |
| Alchemy | Mana well: more mana regeneration | Fermenter: craft reagents | Alchemy lab: advanced recipes |
| Blacksmithing | Sharpening wheel: more Strength (doesn't stack with Strength of Earth Totem) | Anvil you can use at camp | Master's forge: advanced recipes |
| Enchanting | Enchanted lute: more armor, stats and resistances (doesn't stack with Mark of the Wild) | Arcane reclaimer: better disenchanting | Arcane forge: advanced recipes |
| Engineering | Reagent bot: sells reagents | Repair bot: sells and repairs | Anarchist's workbench: advanced recipes |
| Leatherworking | Camp tent: rested XP (up to 5% of a level) | Hide rack: craft reagents | Sewing machine: advanced recipes |
| Tailoring | Faction banner: more Spirit (doesn't stack with Divine Spirit) | Spinning wheel: craft reagents | Loom: advanced recipes |
| Herbalism | Incense candle: more Intellect (doesn't stack with Arcane Intellect) | Greenhouse: plant seeds that grow into herbs | Seed hybridizer: multiply and combine seeds |
| Mining | Lodestone: more melee attack power (doesn't stack with Blessing of Might) | Stone garden: spawns ore over time | Magma smelter: advanced recipes |
| Skinning | Camp chair: +2% critical strike | Field guide: track beasts | Trapper's workbench: gives you a trap |
Merchant's Favor
It's the new professions currency and reputation, and it keeps you hooked the whole way up:
- Waylaid supplies. Any enemy can drop them, and you can also buy them on the auction house. Each one asks for specific materials (ore, cloth, leather, herbs, dusts…): you fill it from your bags.
- Trade camps. You turn them in at the profession camps: near the Crossroads for the Horde and in the Redridge Mountains for the Alliance. The first quest gives 50 Favor and each crate about 5 more.
- Profession quartermasters. With Favor you buy recipes: leveling gear (levels 12 to 50), bags, new enchants… There are pages and pages for every profession.
- Forgotten materials. Many new recipes use Classic materials that used to be worthless, so they sell again.
- Account title. The profession certificate unlocks its title for all your characters (you need 300 skill to display it).
What's new in Forever
| 600+ recipes | Useful while leveling, not just at level 60. |
|---|---|
| Camping | Every profession has three camping items: the first is learned at skill 20 (from trainers or from the NPCs who introduce camping) and the advanced ones from blueprints dropped by dungeon bosses. A Basic Campfire holds three items, one per player, with a shared one-hour cooldown; cooks' improved campfires hold 5 to 10. To get the buffs you have to sit by the fire; they're variants of class buffs and don't stack with them. |
| Food | Almost all dishes now give 5% more experience per kill, on top of stats (seen in the beta). |
| New interface | A recipe search and a dedicated slot for a reagent bag. |
| Waylaid Supplies | Season of Discovery's supply crates are back: turn in materials and get XP, money and rewards. |
| Manuals | Gathering manuals in the starting zones so you can begin on day one. |
| Titles | Reaching 300 in a profession grants an account-wide title. |
| Legacy | Professions tree: Working Overtime (+20% skill-up chance), Bountiful Harvest (more scarce materials), Bartering (−10% vendor prices), Master Chef, Luremaster, Dedicated Study and Performance Bonus (more Merchant's Favor). |
| Mages | They also have their own Research system, separate from professions. |
| Jewelcrafting and Inscription? | There are hints in the beta: an apprentice jeweler in Dalaran who tells you to come back later, a scribe in Durotar doing the same, and Inscription skill already shows on the character sheet. Blizzard hasn't announced it: if they come, it'll be in 2027. |
Which ones should I pick?
| Level fast and make money | Herbalism + Mining, or Skinning + another gathering profession. Plus Cooking and First Aid. |
|---|---|
| PvP and duels | Engineering + Mining. Grenades, nets and gadgets win duels your build alone would lose. |
| Raids (PvE) | Alchemy + Herbalism for your own flasks, or your armor type's crafting profession with its gathering one. |
| Cloth classes | Tailoring + Enchanting: cloth drops on its own and you disenchant what you don't use. |
| Leather and mail | Leatherworking + Skinning (Hunter, Druid, Rogue, Shaman). |
| Plate | Blacksmithing + Mining (Warrior and Paladin). |
| No self-healing | Warriors and Rogues: level First Aid well, because it gives you your own healing potions, bandages and anti-venoms. |
| If you're not sure | Start with two gathering professions: they cost nothing, they make money, and at 60 you swap one for its crafting profession. |
Tips you won't regret
- Learn your two primary professions as soon as you reach your first city and gather from level 1: going back later is no fun.
- Don't level a crafting profession early if you're short on gold: save or sell the materials and level it calmly from 40 on.
- Cooking and First Aid, always. They cost little and you'll feel them every day.
- Think about your account: with Legacy it pays off for your characters to have different professions and craft for each other.
The Forever-specific details come from Blizzard and the beta client, and may change before launch. Blizzard is preparing another professions update for summer 2027. Everything else works as in Classic.
Sources: Blizzard: camping (10-21) · Blizzard: Forever deep dive (camping and professions) · Blizzard: Legacy · Beta client data: First Aid (Icy Veins) · AlterTime: camps · AlterTime: Merchant's Favor · AlterTime: jewelcrafting and inscription. Data checked on October 15, 2026; subject to change until launch.