While many players are using the prepatch as a time to level alts or a new main in preparation for the launch of Shadowlands, it can be confusing just what you should do to prepare characters for a smooth experience. Especially with the usual availability of strong catch-up gear in prepatch events. While the Scourge Invasion events haven’t started yet, it can still be very valuable to have a plan and know what you should be aiming for!
Step one on every fresh 50 will be to acquire your upgraded Heart of Azeroth and the legendary cape. Both of these significantly outpace the gear available from the prepatch event and don’t require any forays into actual endgame progression. If you choose to complete the rank-up quests for the legendary cape, it will only be outleveled by level 60 dungeon gear in Shadowlands, which keeps it relevant for quite a long time. Outside of these two gear slots, you’ll be looking primarily to source a weapon and your remaining jewelry slots.
The Heart of Azeroth and Ashjra’kamas
As soon as you hit level 50 you’ll get a quest from Magni requesting your presence in Silithus; this gets you the Heart of Azeroth at all, but you can get it to level 50 for free after a brief questline. This doesn’t get immediately given to you the way the quest to get the necklace at all does, and was initially broken for Alliance players leaving no way to begin it. The screenshots here will be from Alliance side, but the basic premise is the same.
To start, if you went through a Chromie Time campaign, you’ll need to start your faction’s war campaign by attending a meeting of leaders in your capital city. You can pick up a quest to do this from near the Hero’s Call board or some of the associated NPCS in Stormwind or Orgrimmar. This will start the ‘Tides of War’ or Mission Statement quests, after which just following the objectives of each chain will land you in your Faction’s Battle for Azeroth Capital; Boralus or Dazar’alor.
From here, you’ll want to start the Nazjatar storyline. These start from the flagships in each faction’s harbor, this is where you’ll find Halford on Alliance side and Nathanos on Horde Side. The quests in question are both named Send the Fleet and come from the versions of Genn and Nathanos that are specifically on their ships. You will likely be able to find other instances of these characters in various places but they won’t be able to offer this quest. Follow that chain as it guides you to Mezzamere or Newhome.
Once you’ve created a portal back to Boralus or Dazar’Alor you’ll receive another visit from Magni. You don’t need to continue the war campaign from this point, and should instead follow Magni’s questline. Completing it rewards a free level 50 upgrade to your necklace, this makes it item level 104. With prepatch gear at level 100, this makes the Heart of Azeroth preferable even without further levels though any you get will boost its item level further.
Completing this will open the questline for the Legendary cape as soon as you leave the Chamber of Heart. Don’t bother with Back out to Sea, instead follow the quests that pop immediately afterward without speaking to an NPC beginning with An Unwelcome Advisor. The quest chain will take you through Wrathion’s Black Empire Campaign, which awards the legendary cape just before introducing you to Horrific Visions and sending you to the Ny’alotha raid. Throughout this sequence, the chain shouldn’t ever leave you without knowing where to go, as each quest ends where the next begins. As a rule of thumb, you don’t have to do anything that doesn’t go under the black empire heading in your quest journal. Once you’ve completed that you’ll receive an item level 125 cloak. You then have the option to upgrade it further to a maximum item level of 155.
Upgrades to Quest Items and Remaining Slots
Once you’ve completed those questlines, you’re left with a few options. That minimum amount of work opens up the possibility of working on World Quests and Horrific Visions, both of which can be completed solo, to upgrade those specific items. However, there are still some item slots that can be hard to cover in the upcoming scourge invasion. Weapons and your rings and trinkets will be available in Death Rising, but they aren’t guaranteed like the general armor pieces are. You’ll need to find specific bosses in Icecrown Glacier to drop them if you want to cover those slots with item level 100 event gear; this might not be easy if they’re on long spawn timers depending on the population of your server.
I’d recommend skipping out on leveling Ashjra’kamas much unless you want its appearances as it is already nearly Mythic Raid quality without upgrades and the upgrade process can be quite a grind for something you’ll be replacing with dungeon loot in Shadowlands. Your Heart of Azeroth will be much easier to level and getting it up a bit higher will help it remain viable long into your Shadowlands leveling. As for the other slots, I would recommend making your decision based on how populated your server is. With heavy population, your Icecrown bosses will likely be dying almost as soon as they spawn and it may require camping their spawn to get the pieces you need from them. If this happens, and you’re averse to pursuing Mythic Dungeons or Normal Raid where you’ll have to venture into pug groups you have a few options. You can either pursue LFR or Heroic Dungeons which reward item level 78-85 gear for those slots or generally increase your item level and complete any World Quest Emissary offering Jewelry or Weapons. Either option can get you started, but LFR will involve the least grinding but most reliance on getting lucky drops. Ultimately it’s probablybest to just let those slots go if the bosses that drop your Death Rising loot for them prove elusive. and prioritize quest rewards for those slots in Shadowlands.