The War Within Season 2 makes gearing more accessible than ever before

It’s almost time for World of Warcraft players to dive into the second season of The War Within, Undermine(d)! Whether you played through all of Season 1 or you’ve been away and are coming back to check out what the Goblins are up to down in Undermine, one thing that’s guaranteed with a new patch is that it’s time to get your hands on some sweet, sweet new loot.

Wondering what the easiest way to get your hands on some shiny new weapons and armor are? Here’s a breakdown of easy ways to grab some new gear in patch 11.1 and hit the ground running.

Season 2 Delves accelerate even solo gearing

Undermine(d) brings some big changes to Delves — for one thing, Brann had his hat stolen, which apparently taught him how to tank. Alongside the other 11.1 Delve changes — including new Delves, Sidestreet Sluice and Excavation Site 9, as well as new Goblin-themed variants for all the current Delves — there are a variety of changes that will make this a premiere method of gearing up if you’re a player who prefers to go on solo excursions (not that you can’t go into Delves in groups!). The aforementioned Brann tanking change is a huge one: players of all armor types and skill levels should find that with Brann tanking, they no longer have to worry about having the sustain to outlast the frankly absurd amounts of melee autoattacks Delve enemies were capable of putting out — and higher-level Delves mean higher-level rewards!

On top of that, rewards have been improved across the board from Delves, with item levels increased at all stages. The Delver’s Bounty maps that guarantee even better loot than before now have bad luck protection, making it easier to find one to begin with, but you’re limited to one a week now, so make the best of it. Also, you’ll be able to grab upgrade materials now too — Delves start dropping upgrade crests as early as tier 1, with tier 11 Delves even dropping a total of 21 bonus Gilded crests per week. These are normally reserved for Mythic raids or the upper levels of Mythic+ dungeons, so this will make a nice additional source of these for pretty much everyone — especially if you’re looking for crafted gear.

Improved Mythic 0 rewards are great news for gear-seekers

Blizzard still wants Mythic 0 dungeons (that is the non-timed, non-keystone versions) to be a valid entry point for people to both gear up in The War Within as well as a way to learn a dungeon without the time pressure of Mythic+. As such, the item level of Mythic 0 dungeons has been boosted to be Champion 1 — that is, equivalent to Normal raid gear, and able to be upgraded to where it is equivalent with entry-level Heroic raid gear. This is a pretty huge boost!

The downside is that to compensate for this, Mythic 0 has been tweaked to be a bit harder (again) and each Mythic 0 instance is now on a weekly lockout, rather than a daily lockout. You’ll also still have to party up with guildmates, community friends, or brave the premade Party Finder to get into these — but with the lower pressure, Mythic 0 will ideally be a good way to get started with gearing up your characters.

Crafting can help fill in those missing slots — and for less money, too

Last but not least, crafting professions continue to be useful for filling in gear slots. There are lowered costs in terms of Crests and also money to make empowered crafted gear with the new Spark of Fortunes. The lowered costs from late in Season 1 to convert upgrade Crests into Enchanted Crests carry over to Season 2, so it costs 30 Carved Undermine Crest, 45 Runed Undermine Crest, or 60 Gilded Undermine Crest to make an Enchanted Crest. Also, you don’t need to jump through the additional hoop (and materials cost) of finding an enchanter to convert Nascent Crests to Enchanted Crests — you can now just directly buy an Enchanted Crest (like Enchanted Gilded Undermine Crest) from the Enchanting supply vendor in Dornogal.

This means that at the very minimum, doing three tier 11 Delves per week for your 21 Gilded Crests means that after three weeks you can get yourself a crafted piece of gear that’s item level 675 — effort, definitely, but not overwhelming effort, and a good payoff for filling in those slots that you may be getting unlucky on getting drops for. If you want something sooner, however, without an Enchanted Crest, Spark of Fortunes gear will be item level 645 at maximum quality — definitely worth considering early, then getting recrafted later once you get a crest!