Reaching max level in WoW Ascension unlocks the real progression system – gearing your character for endgame content. This guide covers everything from understanding Ascension’s unique stat systems to optimizing your daily routine for maximum efficiency in Season 9 (PvP Season 4). This Guide covers information for Gearing at Level 70 – in PvP or PvE.
Jump to What You Need
Level 70 players should aim to reach Shattrath, a Major City in the Outlands, as this is where most end-game content is based.
What is Ilvl, PvE Power, or PvP Power
WoW Ascension uses three core stats that determine your progression: Ilvl, which applies to all gear in World of Warcraft Ascension, and two unique stats that contribute towards their intended use: PvE Power and PvP Power.
Item Level (ilvl) Explained
Your overall gear quality. Higher ilvl means better base stats and determines what tier of loot you receive from caches. This is crucial because caches scale based on your equipped ilvl when opening them.
Generally, higher Ilvl yields more stats – though sometimes the stats gained cannot be what you want. Keep those for opening caches to ensure higher Ilvl gear is picked up from those caches, and wear whichever gear is most optimal for your build.
PvE Power Explained
Player Vs Environment – Increases damage/healing in dungeons, raids, Mana Storms, and world content. Essential for progressing through Heroics (~350 PvE Power), Mythics (~400+), and Mythic+ content. It’s not horrendous to have PvE Power in PvP, though it’s a loss of 20-30% damage, which can be impactful.
PvP Power Explained
Player Vs Player – Increases damage/healing in PvP content only. Found on two gear types:
- Blood Forged gear – Lower quality with red “Blood Forged” label, drops from PvP caches
- Season 4 PvP gear – Higher quality (146-156 ilvl) purchased with Honor from Shattrath vendors, has PvP Power but no Blood Forged label
You can gain Season 3 PvP Gear for fewer Honor Points, though this route is typically slower and less efficient than saving all honor towards the Season 4 equipment. For cheap PvP power boosts/ilvl increase, buy season 4 off gear from the Season 3 Vendor.
Making Gear Sets for Different Activities
Maintain three separate gear sets:
- PvE Set – Full PvE Power for dungeons/raids
- PvP Set – Full PvP Power for competitive PvP
- Cache Opening Set – Highest ilvl possible (mix both) worn ONLY when opening caches
Early on, you’ll mix both types for ilvl to fill slots, then separate them as you progress.
How to Create Gear Sets for Quick Switching:
In WoW Ascension, you’ll want to create separate saved gear sets so you can instantly switch between your PvE Set, PvP Set, and Cache Opening Set without manually re-equipping everything each time.
Using the Equipment Manager (Built-in):
- Press C to open your character panel
- Click the Equipment Manager button (icon looks like a helmet at the bottom)
- Equip your first complete set (e.g., all your PvE gear with PvE Power)
- Click “Save” in the Equipment Manager window
- Name it something clear, like “PvE Set” or “Raid Gear” – then drag it to an action bar slot
- Repeat for your PvP Set and Cache Opening Set
This is essential for the cache optimization strategy – you keep your “Cache Opening Set” (highest ilvl) saved, swap to it before opening caches, then swap back to your proper PvE or PvP set for actual gameplay. Without saved sets, you’d waste 5+ minutes manually re-equipping 16+ pieces every time you want to open caches.
How to get PvE Gear
Callboard Dailies (Primary Method)
Callboard quests are your primary PvE progression source. Located in all capital cities (Orgrimmar, Stormwind, Shattrath).
How it works:
- Quests refresh daily and stack up to 7 repeats if incomplete
- Each day features PvE quests in one specific zone (Netherstorm, Hellfire, etc.)
- Accept all PvE tab quests, teleport to zone (M key → right-click map)
- Group with other players in zone for faster completion
- Turn in at Callboard for Callboard Caches + Marks of Ascension
Wanted Quests: Elite bosses that reward 2 caches instead of 1. Group with 3-5 players. If someone places a Portable Callboard (cash shop item), you can repeatedly turn in and re-accept while killing the boss multiple times.
Rewards:
- Callboard Caches (PvE gear scaling with your ilvl)
- Marks of Ascension (exchange at Silas for Scrolls/card packs)
- Up to 200k Runes of Ascension if completed efficiently
For maximum efficiency when completing multiple quests quickly, see our complete Callboard optimization guide. Keep your character type selection flexible rather than locking to one stat (Strength/Intelligence) to adapt your strategy.
Mana Storms
Solo/group instanced content scaling from level 50-106+. Faster than Callboard for initial gearing if you’re efficient. Rewards caches, Scrolls of Fortune, and card packs. Each difficulty and group size (solo/duo/trio/full) gives first-time completion rewards.
Best for players who prefer solo content or need Scrolls quickly. Full strategies in our Mana Storm guide.
Cache Optimization
Caches scale to your equipped ilvl when opened, not when received. This is the most important optimization technique:
- Complete all dailies, collect all caches
- DO NOT open yet
- Equip absolute highest ilvl gear (mix PvE/PvP, doesn’t matter)
- Open ONE cache at a time
- If upgrade → equip immediately
- Open next cache at higher ilvl
- Repeat
Why this matters: Opening 10 caches at 105 ilvl = all drops from 105 pool. Opening one at 105, equipping a 110 piece, then opening next at 110 = better drops from remaining 9 caches. This maximizes every cache’s potential.
Treasure Hunter Thresholds
Check your tier at High-Risk NPC (preview only, don’t enable):
- ~108+ ilvl = Sunwell tier caches
- ~134+ ilvl = Black Temple tier caches
- Higher equipped ilvl = better loot pool
Dungeon Progression
Heroics (Entry): ~75+ ilvl, 350+ PvE Power. Drops 120-130 ilvl gear.
Mythics (Mid): ~108+ ilvl, 400+ PvE Power. Drops 130-140 ilvl gear.
Mythic+ (Endgame): ~108+ ilvl, 6.5k+ single-target DPS for +10 keys. Drops 137-156+ ilvl. Requires 10k+ overall DPS for comfortable +10s, 19k+ single-target for +14-15 keys.
All have Callboard dailies that reward caches + Marks.
Raiding
Ultimate PvE endgame. Current tiers: Karazhan/Gruul/Magtheridon (T1), Serpentshrine/Tempest Keep/Black Temple/Hyjal (T2). Requires guilds or PUGs from trade chat.
How to Get PvP Gear
Honor Farming
WoW Ascension is in Season 9 overall, PvP Season 4 for competitive gear – buy gear from the PvP Vendors in Shattrath.
The Honor Loop:
- Open Duty Finder (I key) → queue Battlegrounds
- Accept BG daily from Callboard (PvP tab, repeatable, stacks to 7)
- Win the match (otherwise, play another game – roughly a 50% chance).
- Turn in at the Callboard = 30,000 honor – should be a piece of gear or a weapon.
- Repeat until fully geared with Season 4 PvP Gear.
Honor per BG win: Base match honor + win bonus + 30k from quest = ~35-40k total per win.
Season 4 Vendors (Shattrath City)
Location:
- The PvP Goblins can be found on the right side entrance, entering the central part of Shattrath, under a PvP tent
Gear Stats:
- Main pieces: 146 ilvl with PvP Power
- Off-pieces: 156 ilvl with PvP Power
- No Blood Forged label (higher quality than caches)
Why buy even if you don’t PvP: High ilvl (146-156) perfect for boosting your cache opening set. “You just need to hit the item level threshold for better caches.”
PvP Caches
From PvP Callboard quests (BG wins, participation, Duel daily). Reward Blood Forged gear for entry PvP or ilvl padding. Duel daily is easiest – just duel someone at capital entrance.
Profession & Weekly Quests
Profession Dailies: Complete only when materials are cheap/available, or you already have them. Alternative: Pay gold or Bazaar Tokens directly via Callboard buttons (compare costs – sometimes tokens are cheaper).
Weekly Quests: Complete opportunistically when you have items/time. Don’t prioritize over dailies.
Auction House using Gold Alternative
Skip early grinding by buying gear from AH:
- Open AH → set level filter to max
- Scroll past junk listings
- Look for 120-162 ilvl pieces (70-85+ gold)
When to buy: You have excess gold, need to meet a specific item level threshold, or want to skip the BG grind. Personally, I wouldn’t do this, as the gear selection process is quite streamlined. However, if you’ve gotten really unlucky and one gear piece won’t drop/is falling behind drastically, then this might be an option.
Build Switching at Endgame
At max level, you can switch specializations with no penalty – all gear, gold, and progression retained. This allows you to experiment with different playstyles if your current class doesn’t suit you.
Finding Better Archetypes
Not all builds perform equally. Check our All DPS Damage Classes Ranked guide, which breaks down performance across:
- Magic DPS – Spell-based damage
- Ranged DPS – Physical ranged
- Melee DPS – Close-range physical
- Hybrid DPS – Multi-role damage
Each of these guides provides a detailed analysis of which specific archetypes excel in their category, helping you make an informed decision when switching builds.
Switching Builds can be done in the Archetype pane, via Character Advancement – Simply “Deactivate Build” and choose your new build. This avoids the need to find and optimise enchants, as builds here don’t require any.
Optimizing Your New Build
Mystic Enchants: Enhance gear with powerful bonuses. Some work better with certain archetypes. See our Mystic Enchants Guide for synergies. Some can be found in the open world – The Light’s Hammer legendary has a specific quest chain.
Legendaries: Swap legendaries to match your build’s needs. Some excel in PvP, others in PvE. Check our Best Build Legendaries for recommendations.
No penalty experimentation: Try Magic DPS, switch to Melee if you don’t like it, swap back anytime – all without losing progress. (Though gear swapping is most likely needed, sell your PvP Gear to regain the honor spent)
Prestige Alternative to End Game
Prefer leveling over endgame gearing? Use the Prestige System to reset a specialization to level 1 while keeping all items and gold.
Rewards: 50k Runes of Ascension per prestige
Comparison: Efficient PvE dailies can yield up to 200k Runes, making them more lucrative for Runes alone. However, Prestige offers the leveling experience again for players who enjoy that gameplay loop.
Heirlooms for Prestige: Make leveling more powerful with Heirlooms (XP bonuses, scaling gear). Purchase with Marks of Ascension. See our Heirlooms guide for details.
When to Prestige: You enjoy leveling more than endgame, want a fresh build from level 1 to level with.
When NOT to Prestige: Making good cache progress, close to BiS gear, want max Runes (dailies better), want current endgame content.
Full details in our Prestige System Explained guide.
Quick Reference FAQ
Q: Heroics ilvl requirement?
A: 75+ ilvl, 350+ PvE Power
Q: Mythics ilvl requirement?
A: 108+ ilvl, 400+ PvE Power
Q: Open caches immediately?
A: No. Save until highest ilvl equipped, open one at a time
Q: PvP gear for PvE?
A: Yes for ilvl, but PvP Power doesn’t work in PvE
Q: How much honor for full Season 4 PvP set?
A: Approximately 500-800k honor total (varies by piece costs)
Q: Do Profession dailies?
A: Only when materials cheap or you have them
Q: Mana Storms vs Callboard?
A: Mana Storms faster for solo, Callboard more consistent with Marks
Q: Gear I don’t need?
A: Vendor for gold or bank for alternate specs
For more WoW Ascension guides, visit our complete guide collection.
