WotLK Mining Guide

Mining Overview

This Wotlk Mining guide will show you the fastest and easiest way to level your Mining skill from 1 to 450.

To get started let me give you a list of what skill levels you will need to mine each type of ore.


Required Mining Levels

Required Skill for each Ore:

Getting Started

To start out with mining there is going to be a difference at the beginning for Alliance and Horde because each faction starts in different zones. Once you get a little higher in level you can freely roam through the same zones.

I could list the zones that you should be in at each level range but I think drawing the routes out on maps would be best! Don’t forget to go back to your trainer to keep increasing your level cap as you level up. If you don’t, you will not be able to advance your skill level and will mine ore without getting additional levels.

Mining 1 to 65 – Copper

Horde

Undead – The undead path is fairly simple. You can pick a starting point anywhere on the line and just run the path. If you are low level you may want to take into consideration areas on the map that might be too high for you to cross, if that is the case then just skip them and meet up with the path further down.

Tauren – Mulgore is just a big oval so this route is really simple to run. Mob levels and aggro are not that important of a factor since you’ll be sticking to the outer edges of the map you should be fine. You may want to skip going into the Venture Co Mine if you are too low of a level.

Alliance

Human – This mining path is kind of obvious since Elwynn forest isn’t surrounded by mountains on all 4 sides. Remember that when you get to the south river border and head northwest to Goldshire that there are two mines on the way back to town.

Night Elves – Darnassus is pretty ghetto so you have to come to Darkshore to do your mining. Darkshore is a huge zone so to ease the pain there are two routes you can alternate between which are both highlighted.

Dwarves and Gnomes – I pretty much just randomly picked a mining route that I’ve used before. You can literally make your own route in this zone because it is so mountainous. Just stick to the mountain edges, caves, and rises in land and you’ll be set to mine in this zone.

Mining 66-125 – Tin and Silver

Horde and Alliance

You can do these mining routes as horde or alliance PVP server or not. To run to the southern regions of barrens be sure you are capable of fighting level 25 mobs effectively otherwise you may want to consider halving this route through the lower level areas.

Same thing as the above paragraph, areas like High Perch are higher level and you want to be able to ensure that you can effectively get to the veins in these areas. Any place on the routes that show an obvious indicator like a “V” mark, are showing that you should also head into a cave in that area for additional veins.

In addition to these mining routes above you could also perform full circuits of Wetlands, Ashenvale, and Redridge mountains.

Mining 126-175 – Iron and Gold

Horde and Alliance

Don’t forget to go back to the mining trainer so that you can continue to skill up. This is an easy route to follow; both Horde and Alliance should have no problems doing this route. Ensure you are wary of Shadowprey Village if you are Alliance and the same goes for the Horde with Nijels Point.

This mining route can suck without a mount, most do at this level. I don’t recommend going east of this route because all of the whelps will just become annoying in the eastern region. Ensure you hit the cave/rock elemental area northeast of Kargath and the cave at Camp Cagg.

Horde can go around behind Hammerfall on this route, ensure that you check the caves to the east of Hammerfall, there are some gem veins in the cave that could provide skill-ups in addition to iron and gold.

You could also do the Thousand Needles route in the previous section but go into the Shimmering Flights and do a full circuit as well.

Mining 176-250 – Mithril and Truesilver

Horde and Alliance

Don’t forget to go back to the mining trainer at 225 so you can advance your skill. I’ve personally never done this route but I hear it is good. I spent most of my time in Tanaris when I leveled mining to 300.

This is a nice short mining loop. You could grind on mobs on the way to mines and level up pretty quick as well. If you are a skinner you could really make out when you hit the eastern shores, there are quit a few turtles there.

This is where I spent most of my time riding around in circles to level up mining. I always equipped my enchanted riding gloves, my mithril spur boots, and my carrot to increase mount speed because this is a long run. Also, if you drop down into some of the cave areas around the Noxious Lair you’ll find the leveling is good there too; it’s a lot less competitive and you are almost guaranteed to have it all to yourself.

You could also try places like the Hinterlands and Blasted Lands.

Mining 251-300 – Thorium

Horde and Alliance

Ungoro Crater, one of the most highly competitive zones known to the game. Good luck here! Don’t forget to drop down in the Slithering Scar.

This zone has added benefit. You can gain skill-ups off Dark Iron Ore in addition to finding Thorium Veins.

This is the easiest route to follow since most people enter by flying into Light’s Hopes Chapel. If you came in from the west on a mount you could form another circular pattern from the river to Fungale Vale and then south to the mountains, follow them west to the river and then north again.

I would use this route if the other ones are taken. Thorium is very competitive so you have to be creative with your routes and look where most people don’t spend the time going. Routes that are away from flight paths or hard to get to could be quite beneficial to you.

Mining 301-325 – Fel Iron

Horde and Alliance

The easiest route to farm some Fel Iron is to stay in Hellfire Peninsula. Is looping around the Orcs near the citadel but if you follow the entire route around the map it will also be beneficial. Watch out for the elite area in the northwest area and there are some other crowded areas like the Pools of Agonnar that can be a headache. Remember Fel Iron can be skilled up all the way to 375 if you wish.

Fel Iron can also be found in the souther portion of Zangarmarsh, I would stick to this simple route if you don’t have any luck in Hellfire Peninsula.

Mining 326-350 – Adamantite

Horde and Alliance

From 325-350 continue mining Fel Iron when possible but begin to look for the non-rich Adamantite veins which become available for mining at skill 325. The best zone is Nagrand where almost anywhere you look in the zone you can find Adamantite veins. Start by performing a full-circuit as shown below and then move into the inner water areas if those are camped or you prefer a change.

Mining 351-375 Rich Adamantite

From this point, you will be mining Rich Adamantite, you can get levels off of regular Adamantite but the Rich veins are going to be what take you to 375. You can also switch to Cobalt early if you get to the back end of this and are having trouble finding Cobalt veins.

Mining 376-400 Cobalt / Rich Cobalt

Remember you must be at least 350 to start mining the regular cobalt nodes, the rich cobalt requires 375. You can actually take Rich Cobalt to 450 if you wanted to (just like Fel Iron in Hellfire Peninsula for TBC) but just to pretend like you need to go outside of the first zone in The Wrath of the Lich King to max your mining we will put up more zones and have you mine the other minerals. But keep in mind you do not have to leave these zones. The first map is for Howling Fjord, it’s pretty simple to follow, just remember the lines that go over caves want you to follow the line from inside the cave and not outside.

Mining 376-400 Rich Cobalt in Zul’Drak

There will be more Rich Cobalt Nodes in Zul’Drak if you are interested in taking your skill beyond 400 on Rich Cobalt.

Mining 401-450 Saronite / Rich Saronite

You must be 425 to mine Rich Saraonite, you will find Titanium Veins along the way but you must be 450 to mine these. Sholazar Basin is a miner’s heaven due to it’s structure. This zone will probably be overcrowded when WOTLK first comes out so I’ve included a lot of different areas on this map you can farm. If you could get one of the Pillar’s to yourself you could farm / kill mobs for exp while working mining up. Otherwise you can see that the main ridge around the zone is the hotspot, as well as, all of the pillars and streams/lakes connecting them.

Thank you for reading this guide, please remember that all of the mining ores from the Burning Crusade can be found in almost all of the new Burning Crusade zones so if you find one of the routes above doesn’t work for you then try to follow mountain ridges, run through caves, and explore wetland areas to find and create your own unique mining routes.

(If you feel alittle slacky you can go melt the first 100-200 lvls by buying from the AH.)