Mining is used for Blacksmithing, Jewelcrafting, and Engineering…this means that the Auction House is usually LOADED with ALL the Mining supplies you’d ever need for leveling.
This mining leveling guide was last updated for patch 3.3.
It is highly advised that if you get stuck on a mining route in this guide, have problems finding nodes due to overcrowding of zones, or want to be lazy, you should smelt as much as you can for parts of this mining leveling guide.
Smelting and Ore Info
To start out with leveling mining there’s obviously going to be a difference in the beginning for Alliance and Horde for this guide because each faction starts in different areas until after a certain level when they freely roam through the same zones. I could explain the preferred routes to you in this mining guide, but I think by drawing them you will have a better understanding of how to go about leveling. Don’t forget to go back to the mining trainer at the appropriate times so that you can advance your mining skill to each new maximum.
Horde Mining 1 to 65 – Copper
The undead path for this mining leveling guide is fairly simple. You can pick a starting point anywhere on the line and just run the path mining along the way. 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 while leveling your mining.
Mulgore is just a big oval so this mining route is really simple to run while leveling. 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 following this part guide. You may want to skip leveling mining in the Venture Co Mine if you are too low of a level.
This mining route is shorter than the others above, but just as efficient for leveling. Durotar is full of mountains and you could probably develop your own mining route if this one doesn’t work for you. I like to keep the mining leveling routes nice and simple in this guide. Durotar is a deformed piece of land and you would have to run all over the place to utilize a full mining circuit of it which can be tedious while leveling.
This route is the simplest route to follow. There are other mines near West Sanctum and West of Sunsail Anchorage but if you’re looking for simplicity this is the route to take. The Deadscar is loaded with mines so if you get bored of going in circles I’ve added a point you can break off at halfway through.
Alliance Mining 1 to 65 – Copper
This mining path is for this part of the guide 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.
Darnassus is pretty ghetto so you have to come to Darkshore to do your mining leveling. Darkshore is a huge zone so to ease the pain there are two mining routes you can alternate between which are both highlighted in the map zone guide.
I pretty much just randomly picked a mining route that I’ve used before for leveling. You can literally make your own mining leveling 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 as shown in the zone mining map guide below.
Dun Morogh Copper Mining Route
There are two caves you want to hit up. If you are low enough level to get experience in the cave to the north you could basically just sit in there and grind / mine at the same time. If not then follow the entire route. There’s kind of a dead spot transition while going to the next good area when you go passed the lakes but it’s that or loop back the way you came, either is fine.
Mining 66-125 – Tin and Silver
If you 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 while you’re following the mining leveling guide on the zone map below.
In addition to these mining routes above you could also perform full circuits of Wetlands, Ashenvale, and Redridge mountains for this part of the mining guide.
Don’t forget to go back to the mining trainer so that you can continue leveling up.
Mining 126-175 – Iron and Gold
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 can spend most of your time in caves if you want grinding.
You could also do the Thousand Needles route, it’s one big loop into the Shimmering Flights. There are two caves on the route that you wasn’t to make sure you hit up.
There are 3 caves in the Stranglethorn Vale right, really fun farming routes especially if you are looking to get experience. If not, the mobs might be kind of annoying, but the caves are worth going into for ore. This route you can basically grind most of the way while leveling mining.
Don’t forget to go back to the mining trainer at 225 so you can advance your leveling skill.
Mining 176-250 – Mithril and Truesilver
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 following the mining maps in this leveling guide.
You probably want to spend most of your time in the eastern loop or in the cave in the southwest. It’s not bad to alternate between the two spots but the eastern loop and southwestern cave are where you will level mining the fastest.
This is where I spent most of my time riding around in circles while leveling 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 all to yourself.
I believe you can smelt to about 290 at which point you will have to go out and actually hit mines for 10 skillups before you can continue to smelt Fel Iron at 300 for a while.
Mining 251-300 – Thorium
Ungoro Crater, one of the most highly competitive zones known to the game (or used to be). Good luck here! Don’t forget to drop down in the Slithering Scar for some extra leveling.
This is one of the best zones for Thorium. The north cave that’s marked on the map is a full cave system that you can go in to, the bottom cave is just very small caves but thorium spawns in that area. The very bottom area in green is full of level 60ish Elite mobs and nothing but it. There are thorium veins down there but if you aren’t a higher level, you might have a tough time getting to them.
Silithus is another good zone to farm Thorium Ore in. The areas marked in orange are hive areas, there are complex tunnel systems in each area that you can follow down to get Thorium. If you don’t want to drop into the tunnel systems, there is still a decent amount of thorium if you just perform the circuit indicated on the map.
Mining 301-325 – Fel Iron
Hellfire Peninsula
The easiest leveling route to farm some Fel Iron is to stay in Hellfire Peninsula.
You can just loop around the Orcs near the citadel but if you follow the entire leveling route around the mining 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 while leveling. Remember Fel Iron can be skilled up all the way to 375+ if you wish and you can skip the other sections of this leveling guide.
Mining 326-350 – Adamantite
Nagrand
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 adamantite mining 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 while leveling.
Mining 351-400 Cobalt / Rich Cobalt
Remember you must be at least 350 to start mining the regular cobalt nodes, the rich cobalt requires 375 mining. You can actually take Rich Cobalt to 450 for leveling 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 for leveling. But keep in mind you do not have to leave these zones. The first leveling 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 leveling 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 Titanium. Sholazar Basin is a miner’s heaven due to its structure and it’s very easy to follow the zone guide for leveling. 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 for mining titanium and saronite, as well as all of the pillars and streams/lakes connecting them.
Titanium spawns in place of Saronite Nodes so if you follow the above map while leveling mining you will find Titanium Nodes. You have to be 450 to mine Titanium. Some people have said that the inner circle of Icecrown is good for Titanium, as well as the areas in Lake Wintergrasp (but are heavily farmed). Where there is Saronite, especially Rich Saronite, there will be Titanium. It’s that simple! There are also places in The Storm Peaks that also have titanium, the caves especially.