The Ultimate WoW Midnight Gearing Guide

Wondering how to get and upgrade your gear in the new Midnight expansion? This guide breaks down everything you need to know about the new upgrade currency (Dawncrests), the removal of Valorstones, upgrade costs, caps, and exactly where to farm the best loot.

Midnight Gearing: Quick Summary

Goodbye Valorstones: They’ve been entirely removed. The new crest currency for Midnight is called Dawncrests.
Gear Tracks: Dawncrest naming directly reflects your gear track: Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, and Myth.
Loot Sources: Gear drops from Prey, Delves, the Great Vault, Dungeon Chests, Rare Drops, and Raid Bosses.
Weekly Caps: You are capped at 100 Dawncrests for each type per week.
Season 1 Dates: Mark your calendar for March 17, 24, and 31 if you want to stay ahead of the curve.

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Midnight Gearing Explained

If you played through Dragonflight and The War Within, you're familiar with the gear upgrade system. Midnight is taking that foundation and cleaning it up.

At max level, the gear you earn can be upgraded to increase its item level (ilvl) and stat distribution. Previously, balancing Crests and Valorstones felt like a chore. Midnight fixes this by completely removing Valorstones and replacing that secondary requirement with standard gold. For example, if you want to upgrade a Champion piece of gear to the sixth tier, it’ll simply cost you 150 gold alongside your crests.

Endgame gear is divided into tracks, and each track requires a specific Dawncrest to upgrade. Here is the breakdown:

Explorer Track: Does not use Dawncrests.
Adventurer Track: Requires Adventurer Dawncrests. Upgrades gear from ilvl 224 to 237. Earned from repeatable outdoor events and Tier 4 Delves.
Veteran Track: Requires Veteran Dawncrests. Upgrades gear from ilvl 237 to 250. Earned from repeatable outdoor events, LFR, Heroic season dungeons, Tier 5-6 Delves, and Tier 4-5 Trovehunter’s Bounty.
Champion Track: Requires Champion Dawncrests. Upgrades gear from ilvl 250 to 263. Earned from weekly outdoor events, Normal raids, Mythic season dungeons, low Mythic+ (+2 to +3), Tier 7-10 Delves, and Tier 6-7 Trovehunter’s Bounty.
Hero Track: Requires Hero Dawncrests. Upgrades gear from ilvl 263 to 276. Earned from Heroic raids, mid Mythic+ (+4 to +8), Tier 11 Delves, and Tier 8+ Trovehunter’s Bounty.
Myth Track: Requires Myth Dawncrests. Upgrades gear from ilvl 276 to 289. Earned from Heroic raids and high Mythic+ (+9 and up).

This 1:1 parity makes it incredibly easy to remember which currency belongs to which gear. Keep in mind that each gear track has 6 upgrade tiers. Every new rank costs 20 Dawncrests more than the last—but you can reduce those costs.

Dawncrest Discounts in Midnight

You can actually slash the cost of gear upgrades, which is a massive win for anyone playing alts. Your main character will need to pave the way by earning specific achievements.

Upgrade Achievements (Warband Discounts)

Whenever your character's average item level exceeds the maximum ilvl of a specific gear track, you earn an achievement.

For example, if your average ilvl hits 240, you surpass the Adventurer track (224–237). You’ll unlock the Adventurer of the Dawn achievement, which cuts the Dawncrest upgrade cost for the Adventurer track by 50% for every other character in your warband.

Here are the milestones:

Adventurer of the Dawn
Veteran of the Dawn
Champion of the Dawn
Hero of the Dawn
Myth of the Dawn

The Slot-Specific Discount

There is a second discount that applies directly to your main character, making certain upgrades effectively free of crests.

Once you upgrade a piece of gear in a specific slot to a certain level, upgrading a different piece of gear in that exact same slot to the same level will cost fewer Dawncrests.

How it works:

You upgrade your Chest piece to Champion 4/6.
Later, a piece of Chest gear with better secondary stats drops on the same track.
Bringing that new Chest piece up to 4/6 costs significantly less because you've already unlocked that tier for the slot.

Where to Get Gear in WoW Midnight

If you're wondering exactly what content to farm for the gear track you need, use this breakdown to plan your weekly grinds. Notice the ilvl overlap between tracks; this is designed to smooth out your progression as you push harder content.

Explorer Gear (ilvl 208–220): Best farmed from outdoor content and early progression. Supporting sources include early Delves (Tiers 1–3) and basic Prey/Hunts.
Adventurer Gear (ilvl 220–237): Best farmed from repeatable outdoor activities and entry Delves. Supporting sources include normal Prey/Hunts and Delves (Tiers 1–4).
Veteran Gear (ilvl 233–250): Best farmed from Raid Finder and structured group content. Supporting sources include Heroic dungeons, Delves (Tiers 5–6), and the Great Vault.
Champion Gear (ilvl 246–263): Best farmed from Normal raids and the early endgame loop. Supporting sources include Mythic dungeons, low Mythic+ keys, Delves (Tiers 7–10), and the Great Vault.
Hero Gear (ilvl 259–276): Best farmed from Heroic raids and mid-to-high Mythic+. Supporting sources include high-tier Delves and Great Vault rewards from mid-to-high keys.
Myth Gear (ilvl 272–289): Best farmed from Mythic raids and high Mythic+ keys. Supporting sources include top-end Great Vault rewards.

Target Farming Raid Gear

If you want to target specific tier pieces or rare jewelry rather than waiting on Vault RNG, here is where the tier tokens drop in Season 1:

Hands: Drops from Vorasius in The Voidspire.
Legs: Drops from Vaelgor & Ezzorak in The Voidspire.
Chest: Drops from Chimaerus in The Dreamrift.
Head: Drops from War Chaplain Senn in The Voidspire.
Shoulders: Drops from Fallen-King Salhadaar in The Voidspire.
Omni-Token: Drops from L'ura in the Isle of Quel'Danas.

Season 1 Content Schedule

Pre-season is all about hitting max level, but the real gear chase starts a couple of weeks after launch. Raids and higher-difficulty content are time-gated, so memorize these dates to plan your progression.

March 17 – Season Launch

Season 1 kicks off on the standard Tuesday reset.

Unlocks: Normal & Heroic Voidspire + Dreamrift, Seasonal Dungeons (Normal, Heroic, Mythic 0), PvP Season 1, Prey system, all Delve tiers.
Max Gear Cap: Up to Hero track gear (upgrades to 276 at 6/6).

March 24 – Mythic Difficulty Unlock

The second reset introduces the hardest content.

Unlocks: Mythic Voidspire + Dreamrift, Mythic+ keys, Nightmare Prey.
Max Gear Cap: Up to Myth track gear (upgrades to 289 at 6/6).

March 31 – Full Raid Access

The final piece of the Season 1 puzzle falls into place.

Unlocks: March on Quel’Danas opens on all difficulties.
Max Gear Cap: Stays at Myth 6/6 (289).

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