While questing is a journey by itself, World of Warcraft: Shadowlands players know the true endgame only begins after reaching max level. At that point, progression switches from exploring zones to improving professions or queuing up for PvE and PvP content. However, the low drop rates of Mythic+ and Castle Nathria loot mean that many players are still wearing the same pieces of armor even several weeks later. Thankfully, there's another way to gear up just by keeping up with the Covenant story.
As part of each Covenant campaign, completing one week's questline rewards characters with a piece of gear from the transmog armor set. While the first item is only ilvl 155, later rewards ramp up quickly with the past two weeks giving epic quality armor. Furthermore, catching up with the campaign storyline allows everyone to upgrade the remaining pieces as well.
Upgrade NPCs
To find the upgrades, players must look for an NPC inside their Covenant sanctums that can upgrade armor for anima. These NPCs are in different spots depending on Covenant, but each one will be near the vendor that also sells replacement gear. Note that there is also an NPC in Oribos that everybody can use if they don't want to travel to their sanctum.
- Forgehand Phillo (Kyrian)
- Goreguts (Necrolord)
- Craftmaster Lamda (Night Fae)
- Guy Yearmo (Venthyr)
- Aggressor Zo'dash (Oribos)
Covenant Gear Upgrade Requirements
After talking to the NPC, drag or just right-click the piece of gear from its bag slot to bring it up inside the menu. Depending on a character's progress, an item's stats and ilvl can be upgraded to a certain point for an increasing amount of anima. Note that at the time of this writing, the final upgrade isn't available until next week's Covenant campaign becomes available on January 12th.
Item Level (Upgrade Rank) | Required Chapter (Renown) | Anima Required |Â
- ilvl 164 (Rank 2 of 7) | Chapter 4 (Renown 8) | 50 anima |
- ilvl 171 (Rank 3 of 7) |Â Chapter 5 (Renown 11) |Â 100 anima |
- ilvl 177 (Rank 4 of 7) | Chapter 6 (Renown 13) | 150 anima |
- ilvl 184 (Rank 5 of 7)Â |Â Chapter 7 (Renown 17) |Â 200 anima |
- ilvl 190 (Rank 6 of 7)Â |Â Chapter 8 (Renown 20)Â |Â 250 anima |
- ilvl 197 (Rank 7 of 7)Â |Â Chapter 9 (Renown 22)Â |Â 300 anima |
Players should also keep in mind that they can buy new pieces for 100 anima and each one has a vendor value of 250g. While the previous method of disenchanting these epics for eternal crystals has now been hotfixed, it is still a great way to make extra money with any leftover anima.
In the end, most heroes won't need this upgraded armor since there are multiple ways to get ilvl 200+ gear every week. However, this option does allow those who aren't as lucky with drops to patch up some weaker gear slots and boost their overall ilvl. Finally, the challenge of leveling up future World of Warcraft characters will be much smoother since finishing the Covenant campaigns are much easier than other endgame content.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands is available for PC.
Source: Wowhead