TL;DR – WoW 11.2 Crest Farming & Gearing
- Run Tier 8+ Delves and use Bounty Maps for up to 30 Gilded Crests per week.
- Clear Manaforge Omega raid weekly — last two bosses drop top-tier loot.
- Kill Reshanor every week for easy Champion-track upgrades.
- Farm Mythic+ dungeons (+7 and up) for Gilded Crests and Hero track gear.
- Save Runed & Gilded Crests early and upgrade gear using Ethereal Strands and Sparks of Starlight.
This comprehensive guide to 11.2 in World of Warcraft is your complete roadmap to WoW’s Ethereal Crests system. Here, you’ll learn how to master the new Ethereal Crests, optimize your Great Vault rewards, and navigate the gear upgrade tracks to maximize your item level. We cover the most efficient War Within Crest farming strategies for Mythic+, delves, and crafting, break down the nuances of Warband discounts, and provide a weekly WoW 11.2 gearing checklist to ensure you’re ready for the endgame.
You may also be interested in:
| Class Tier List | Ghost of K’aresh Overview & release date | BiS Gear Guide | Tier sets overview |
| K’aresh Zone overview | Ecological Succession guide | Ethereal Crests guide | Untethered Coin Farm Guide |
| Mythic+ guide | Season 3 PvP guide | Manaforge Omega guide | Delves guide |
| Mount guide | Reshii wraps artifact cloak guide |
An Overview of the Patch 11.2 Gearing System
Welcome to Patch 11.2, “Ghosts of K’aresh.” With Season 3 kicking off on August 12th, the week prior (started on August 5th) is your golden opportunity to get ahead. The core of gearing in this game revolves around two currencies: Valorstones and the new WoW gear upgrade currency, Ethereal Crests. In a huge quality-of-life win, Valorstones no longer reset, so any you’ve saved are ready to spend. Crests and delve keys (Restored Coffer Keys), however, will get a fresh start.
A central piece of gear this season is the new artifact cloak, the Reshii Wraps. Acquiring this 11.2 cloak early in the campaign is a key moment in your progression. It starts at a whopping 694 item level and is tied to the “Phase Diving” mechanic. Upgraded with time-gated Ethereal Strands, the phase diving item will take five weeks to max out at a formidable 730 item level, making it one of the most powerful items of the season.
WoW 11.2 Upgrade Materials: An Ethereal Crest Breakdown
For Season 3, say goodbye to Undermine Crests and hello to Ethereal Crests. While the name has changed, these upgrade tokens in The War Within function the same way: serving as the primary resource for upgrading your hard-earned gear.
There are four main types to collect for upgrading gear, plus two special types just for crafting:
- Weathered Ethereal Crest
- Carved Ethereal Crest
- Runed Ethereal Crest
- Gilded Ethereal Crest
- Nascent & Enchanted Ethereal Crests (Crafting Only)
There is a weekly cap on how many of the upper-tier Crests you can earn: 90 Runed and 90 Gilded Crests per week. For the truly dedicated (or those who missed a week), a cumulative catch-up system is in place, increasing your cap for each week you’ve missed. Weathered and Carved Crests, on the other hand, are essentially uncapped, so you can farm them to your heart’s content.
To spend or exchange these Crests, you’ll want to visit the gear upgrade vendors in Dornogal:
- Upgrades: Cuzolth at /way 51.9 42.1
- Exchanges: Vaskarn at /way 52.0 42.0
WoW 11.2 Item Level Brackets Explained
Every piece of endgame gear comes with an “upgrade track,” which dictates its potential ilvl progression. To get gear on a higher track, you’ll need to tackle tougher content. This is the best Crest upgrade path in WoW TWW, with a key goal being to upgrade Hero track items for a significant power spike:
| Upgrade Track | Activities | Item Level Range | Crests Required for Upgrade |
| Explorer | Normal Dungeons, Outdoor Activities, Campaign Quests | 642 – 665 | None (Valorstones only) |
| Adventurer | World Quests, Heroic Dungeons, Delve Tiers 3-4 | 655 – 678 | Weathered (Ranks 5-8) |
| Veteran | LFR, Weekly World Events, Delve Tiers 5-6 | 668 – 691 | Weathered (Ranks 1-4), Carved (Ranks 5-8) |
| Champion | Normal Raids, Mythic 0, M+ Keys (+2 to +6), Delve Tiers 7-11 | 681 – 704 | Carved (Ranks 1-4), Runed (Ranks 5-8) |
| Hero | Heroic Raids, M+ Keys (+7 and up), Tiers 7-11 Delve Vault Farming | 694 – 710 | Runed (Ranks 1-4), Gilded (Ranks 5-6) |
| Myth | Mythic Raids, M+ Keystone 10+ Vaults | 707 – 723 | Gilded (All Ranks) |
Mythic+ Prep Guide for Season 3: Your Week 1 Strategy
While you’re waiting for Season 3 to officially begin, this preparation phase is crucial. After all the work you put in here, you’ll have a major head start for Mythic Plus dungeons.
- Reshanor, The Untethered: The world boss is active starting Week 1 (August 5th). Make sure to kill it for an easy piece of Champion-track gear before proceeding to other tasks.
- Mythic 0 Dungeon World Tour: Completing all available Mythic 0 dungeons is a top priority. This not only provides 681 item level gear but also fills your weekly reward chest. Run eight Mythic 0s (the unique six, plus two repeated) to maximize your vault options.
- Delves for the Vault: Solo dungeon runs, or delves, are also crucial. The objective is to complete eight delves at the highest tier possible (ideally Tier 8+) to unlock a Hero track reward from the Great Vault.
- Heroic Dungeons: Only run these as filler to replace very low item level pieces. Mythic 0 and World Boss loot are far more valuable.
- Crest and Resource Management:
- Spend your uncapped Weathered and Carved Crests on good Mythic 0 pieces. Save any Runed or Gilded Crests you happen to acquire.
- If you’re wondering if you should use Restored Coffer keys, the answer is simple: you shouldn’t. Hold onto your seasonal loot tokens until Season 3 loot is active.
- Hold onto your Sparks of Starlight. Its true value comes in week two with better crafting recipes for high-impact slots like weapons or embellishment pieces.
War Within Crest Farming: A Complete Source List
With the official start of Season 3, all forms of content become available. Here are the best Crest farming routes. In the Manaforge Omega raid, the final two bosses drop higher-item-level gear than the earlier ones, so make sure to take them on with your team.
| Ethereal Crest | Primary Sources |
| Weathered | Repeatable Outdoor Events (SCRAP Jobs, etc.), Treasures, Heroic Dungeons, LFR, Delve Tiers 1-5 |
| Carved | Weekly Outdoor Events, World Bosses, Mythic 0 Dungeons (10 Crests per run), Normal Raids, Delve Tiers 6-7 |
| Runed | Mythic+ Dungeons (+2 to +6), Heroic Raids, Delve Tiers 8-11 |
| Gilded | Mythic+ Dungeons (+7 and up), Mythic Raids, Weekly Tier 11 Delver’s Gilded Stash |
Best Ways to Farm Gilded Crests in Patch 11.2
If you’re wondering how to farm Gilded Crests in WoW efficiently, Delves are your answer. They are among the best for Crest farming.
- Acquiring Keys: You can earn four Restored Coffer Keys per week: two from weekly activities in K’aresh, and two more by combining shards from older weekly chests.
- Bountiful Delves: These are more rewarding than ever, likely due to player feedback. Starting in Week 2, a Tier 11 Bountiful Delve rewards a Gilded Stash containing 10 Gilded Crests, lootable three times a week for a total of 30 Gilded Crests.
- Delver’s Bounty Maps: These maps, used in a Tier 8+ Delve, now grant a whopping 20 Gilded Crests. If you get lucky with an Overcharged Delve, this can increase to 30 Crests, making Delves a highly competitive and casual-friendly farm.
- Crafted gear remains a powerful option, using the new, time-gated Spark of Starlight. This creates a robust in-game economy with opportunities to make gold.
- Enchanted Ethereal Crests are required to push crafted gear to its maximum item level of 723. This makes crafting an excellent way to target specific slots, but be warned: an Enchanted Gilded Crest costs 60 Gilded Crests.
| Item Quality | Enchanted Weathered (ILVL) | Spark of Starlight (ILVL) | Enchanted Runed (ILVL) | Enchanted Gilded (ILVL) |
| 1 | 662 | 678 | 691 | 707 |
| 2 | 665 | 681 | 694 | 710 |
| 3 | 668 | 684 | 697 | 714 |
| 4 | 671 | 688 | 701 | 717 |
| 5 | 675 | 691 | 704 | 723 |
The system offers a helpful, Warband-wide service for gearing alts, but it has a catch. As Blizzard continues to review the security and integration of account-wide systems, the conditions for these discounts have become more nuanced. To unlock the discount for a specific Crest tier, you must first earn an achievement by equipping an item of that tier’s target item level in every single gear slot on one character.
- Example: To unlock the Warband discount for Weathered Crests, a character must have an item level of at least 681 in all slots.
Once that achievement is unlocked, the slot-based discount applies across your Warband, meaning alts pay 33% fewer Crests to upgrade a piece in a given slot, but only up to the highest item level your Warband has achieved in that specific slot.
- Outdoor Activities & World Quests: Weekly chests from older content—those harbinger items of past seasons—now reward Weathered Crests. The new Season 3 weekly chests in K’aresh reward Carved Crests and Veteran gear.
- The Great Vault’s Consolation Prize: Got a disappointing vault? You can take Algari Tokens of Merit instead, which can be exchanged for a satchel of 15 Carved Crests.
- K’aresh Trust Renown: Gaining reputation with the new K’aresh Trust faction grants one-time Crest rewards that don’t count toward your weekly cap. This gives you a strong early boost to your Crest supply and culminates in a free Enchanted Runed Ethereal Crest at Renown 20.
Weekly WoW 11.2 Gearing Checklist
This checklist provides a quick review of your weekly goals. How you respond to the challenges of endgame Warcraft will determine your success. While many guides exist on YouTube, following this structured approach ensures you’re always on the right path to power and that you’re ready to play at your best.
Week 1:
- Complete the campaign as far as possible to unlock the Reshii Wraps.
- Kill the world boss, Reshanor, The Untethered.
- Run eight Mythic 0 dungeons for a full row of vault rewards.
- Complete eight delves at the highest tier possible (at least Tier 8).
- Farm, but do not spend, Restored Coffer Keys and Undercoins. The expected outcome is a massive head start for Week 2.
Week 2 and Onward:
- Kill the weekly world boss.
- Clear the Manaforge Omega raid on the highest difficulty possible.
- Run Mythic Plus dungeons, focusing on +7 or higher for Hero track gear and Gilded Crests.
- Complete weekly activities to gather your four Restored Coffer Keys.
- Run three Tier 8+ Bountiful Delves for your weekly Gilded Crests.
- Earn the weekly Ethereal Strand to upgrade your Reshii Wraps artifact cloak.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Ethereal Crests in WoW 11.2?
Ethereal Crests are a gear upgrade currency introduced in Patch 11.2: The War Within. They replace the old Undermine Crests and are now the core system for item level progression. Crests come in four tiers—Weathered, Carved, Runed, and Gilded—corresponding to increasingly difficult endgame content. They are used in conjunction with upgrade tracks to push your gear to higher item levels and are essential for Mythic+, raids, delves, and crafted item enhancements.
How do I get Weathered Ethereal Crests?
Crests are earned by completing various types of content, each suited to different crest tiers. For example, Weathered Crests come from outdoor events and Heroic dungeons, while Runed and Gilded Crests are obtained from Mythic+ keys, Heroic or Mythic raids, and high-tier delves. You can also earn bonus crests from Bountiful Delves and the Great Vault’s fallback tokens. Higher-tier content gives better crests, so plan your weekly runs accordingly.
How many Ethereal Crests can I earn per week?
The most efficient Gilded Crest farming methods include completing +7 or higher Mythic+ dungeons, Mythic raids, and Tier 11 Bountiful Delves. Each Tier 11 Delve can reward up to 10 Gilded Crests per run, and you can loot this reward three times per week. Using Delver’s Bounty Maps in Tier 8+ Delves can further boost Gilded Crest gains, with chances to receive 20 or even 30 crests from a single run.
What is the Warband Crest Discount system?
Upgrade tracks and their ilvl ranges:
- Explorer: 642–665 (no crests, Valorstones only)
- Adventurer: 655–678 (Weathered Crests)
- Veteran: 668–691 (Weathered + Carved Crests)
- Champion: 681–704 (Carved + Runed Crests)
- Hero: 694–710 (Runed + Gilded Crests)
- Myth: 707–723 (Gilded Crests only)
Higher tracks require tougher content like higher-tier delves, raids, or Mythic+.
What are Warband Crest discounts and how do they work?
Once you equip a full set of gear at a specific item level tier on one character, your entire Warband unlocks a discount. This means all other characters will need 33% fewer crests to upgrade gear in the same slot, up to that item level. This makes alts much easier to gear and supports multi-character play.
When does WoW Season 3 start and why is Week 1 important?
Season 3 begins on August 12th, 2025. The week prior (August 5–12) is crucial because players can farm Mythic 0 dungeons, delves, and the world boss to fill their Great Vault. Although crests are capped or restricted in Week 1, maximizing your vault choices sets you up with high ilvl gear (potentially 694+) the moment Season 3 launches.
What is the Reshii Wraps artifact cloak and why is it important?
Reshii Wraps is a new legendary-quality cloak obtained early in the 11.2 campaign. It starts at 694 ilvl and upgrades weekly with Ethereal Strands up to 730 ilvl, making it the highest ilvl item in the patch. It’s also tied to the new Phase Diving mechanic and acts as a central gearing pillar for all classes and roles.
How do Restored Coffer Keys work in Season 3?
Restored Coffer Keys are used to open special chests in Delves, especially Bountiful Delves. You can earn four per week—two from K’aresh’s weekly quests and two from shards gathered in older content. Keys should be saved during Week 1 and used starting in Week 2 when high-reward Delves become available.
What’s the best Week 1 gearing strategy in Patch 11.2?
Focus on completing:
- All six unique Mythic 0 dungeons (plus 2 repeats)
- Eight Tier 8+ delves
- The world boss, Reshanor
This preps all vault rows and gives you a strong gear baseline for Season 3. Hold onto Restored Coffer Keys, Sparks of Starlight, and high-tier crests until Week 2 for maximum efficiency.
Where are the upgrade vendors located in 11.2?
Upgrade and exchange vendors for crests are located in Dornogal:
- Cuzolth (Upgrades) – /way 51.9 42.1
- Vaskarn (Exchanges) – /way 52.0 42.0
They handle all crest-based gear upgrades and allow you to swap lower-tier crests for higher-tier versions and vice versa (within limits).
Can you catch up if you miss a week of crest farming?
Yes. A catch-up system increases your weekly crest cap by 90 (Runed or Gilded) for each week missed. This helps returning or alt players catch up quickly without falling behind permanently.
What’s the best gear to upgrade with crests first?
Prioritize key gear slots: weapons, trinkets, and tier pieces. These slots provide the highest performance boost per ilvl gained. Use lower-tier crests on temporary filler gear and save Runed or Gilded Crests for BiS or long-term slots.
How do Sparks of Starlight factor into crafting?
Sparks of Starlight are a time-gated crafting currency required for powerful crafted gear. Combine them with Enchanted Crests to craft gear up to 723 ilvl. Most players hold onto their first spark until Week 2 when better recipes and materials are available.
How do Bountiful Delves reward crests?
Bountiful Delves, available in Week 2 and beyond, reward players with Gilded Crests and high-ilvl loot. Tier 11 Delves reward 10 Gilded Crests per run, up to 30 per week. They’re one of the most efficient solo or duo-friendly ways to farm high-end upgrade currency.
What are Delver’s Bounty Maps and how do they work?
These maps are used inside Tier 8+ Delves and spawn a special chest. When opened, the chest rewards 20 Gilded Crests. If the Delve is Overcharged (a bonus difficulty), the reward increases to 30 crests. These maps are a must-have for advanced crest farming.
How does the Great Vault interact with the crest system?
Vault rewards scale based on the highest level of content completed in the previous week. Even if loot is disappointing, you can opt for a currency reward—Algari Tokens of Merit—which are exchangeable for 15 Carved Crests per token.
Can Ethereal Crests be used for crafting gear?
Yes. Enchanted versions of the crests (crafted by Enchanters) are used alongside Sparks to create powerful gear.
- Enchanted Weathered = Up to 691 ilvl
- Enchanted Runed = Up to 704 ilvl
- Enchanted Gilded = Up to 723 ilvl
Crafting is ideal for targeting specific gear slots or stat combinations.
Are crests account-wide in WoW 11.2?
Crests themselves are not account-wide, but the discount system is Warband-wide. Once you unlock a crest tier achievement on one character, all your alts get reduced crest costs for upgrading the same slot to the same ilvl.
What outdoor content gives crests in Season 3?
Outdoor activities like SCRAP jobs, weekly zone events, world quests, and treasure hunts award Weathered or Carved Crests. These activities are ideal for solo players or those who prefer casual content over group PvE.
Is Mythic+ still the best way to gear in 11.2?
Yes, especially for high-end gear. Mythic+ dungeons reward Runed and Gilded Crests based on keystone level. +2 to +6 gives Runed Crests, while +7 and above gives Gilded Crests. It’s also the fastest way to fill Great Vault rows and earn high-level loot quickly.
