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This guide will help you level mining from 1 to 525 by both gathering ore and smelting it. You'll be able to save time and gold reaching max level as fast as possible. This guide also includes some of the best farming routes available for Mining.
What's in this Guide:
- Horde 1-65
- Alliance 1-65
- 66-125
- 126-175
- 176-230
- 231-275
- 276-325
- 326-350
- 351-375
- 376-400
- 401-450
- 450-475
- 475-525
It is highly advised that if you get stuck on a mining route in this guide, have problems finding nodes due to over crowding of zones, or want to be lazy, you should smelt as much as you can for parts of this mining leveling guide.
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. I strongly recommend that you smelt regularly in order to take advantage of additional skill points.
Leveling your mining by going out and hitting copper nodes is probably the most boring part of this mining guide so it would save a lot of time to just buy it, if you can afford it.
Mining 1 to 65 - Copper
Horde
Undead - Tirisfal Glades - 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.
Tauren - Mulgore - 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.
Orc & Troll - Durotar - 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.
Blood Elves - Eversong Woods - 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.
Goblins - Azshara - The new Cataclysm Race goblins has several options of where to go to mine, Azshara is one of them and can be done for some of the other Horde races as well by choice. The route stays up on the plateau and does a full loop around it. The red circle on the map is where you can make out like a bandit on copper ore as there are at least 7 nodes in that area that will spawn.
Alliance
Human - Elwynn Forest - 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. There are two caves to go into and if you run the alternate dotted line from time to time there are more nodes down the river near the Tower of Azora.
Night Elves & Worgen - Darkshore - Darnassus is pretty ghetto so you have to come to Darkshore to do your mining leveling. Darkshore is a huge zone, there are nodes scattered all off to each side of this route. The southern half is higher level range so do half circles of the route if that is an issue.
Dwarves & Gnomes - Dun Morogh - 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.
Draenei - Azuremyst isle - 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
Horde and Alliance
Hillsbrad Foothills
Hillsbrad Foothills, which was combined with Alterac Mountains in Cataclysm, now has one of the densest areas of Tin Ore ever noted on any map. By staying in the red zone and going in the caves there are a very large supply of nodes. Take a trip out of the area and run around the outskirts of the mountains when bored.
Ashenvale
More spread apart than the above Hillsbrad route, but still a viable option for tin ore. Stay away from the Northeast section as it's mostly copper up there. Stick to a lot of the Internal ridges.
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.
Mining 126-175 - Iron and Gold
Horde and Alliance
Don't forget to go back to the mining trainer so that you can continue leveling up.
Feralas
Feralas is loaded with Iron Ore, this is probably the best zone to get it now thanks to changes to the zone from Cataclysm. Do a loop in the North and run some of the outskirts in the southern regions west of Camp Mojache.
Western Plaguelands
Western Plaguelands had its level range of mobs significantly lowered in Cataclysm, along with that came lower level mining nodes. Just doing an outskirt circuit of the map without going too far north or doing anything internally should be a pretty sufficient route to net Iron Ore.
The Cape of Stranglethorn
The least favorite spot of the three to get Iron Ore but still probably in the top 3 best places is The Cape of Stranglethorn. There are a few nodes out on Jaguero Isle and then coming back across to the Gorilla area and Naga area will net some iron ore.
Mining 176-230 - Mithril and Truesilver
Horde and Alliance
You could still be smelting for this part and skipping the first half of this mining leveling guide, but it will start to cost a lot more gold if you decide to smelt. Don't forget to go back to the mining trainer at 225 so you can advance your leveling skill.
Felwood
Probably the easiest route to follow is the Felwood route as long as you don't mind running through a lot of enemies while doing it. This route should net you the most Mithril Ore, almost a complete loop of the outskirts of the zone.
Badlands
You probably want to spend most of your time in the eastern loop or in the cave in the south west. 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.
Burning Steppes
Dreadmaul Rock is loaded with caves full of Mithril Ore, you could spend all day just going in and out of the caves on the red spot but you'll have to be dismounted most of the time and fight your way through some of the enemies. For a more peaceful route take the outskirt arrows.
Mining 231-275 - Thorium
Horde and Alliance
Keep in mind that Small Thorium Veins require a skill of 230 but you won't be able to mine the Rich Thorium Veins till 255.
Winterspring
One of the best spots for Thorium hands down. Do this small loop and go into the yeti caves, or don't do this loop at all and go to the northern part and run the edges. There's Thorium everywhere!!
Silithus
Silithus is another good zone to farm Thorium Ore in. Go into the caves of the Hives if the big circle gets too boring. 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.
Blasted Lands
Blasted Lands has a few good routes for Thorium Ore. The newly added section in the southwest has both Thorium and Rich Thorium Veins.
Mining 276-325 - Fel Iron
Horde and Alliance
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
Horde and Alliance
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.
You can also use this gold farming guide to buy cobalt ore to smelt which gets you from 351-375.
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 it's structure and it's very easy to follow the zone guide for leveling. 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.
At 425 you can mine Obsidium from Cataclysm if you wish.
Mining 450-475 Obsidium in Mount Hyjal
You must be 425 to mine Obsidium. You can start mining Obsidium at 425 if you wish instead of doing Saronite to 450. The best zone to go for Obsidum Deposits is Mount Hyjal because your other options are under water. By all means if you like to play underwater try those zones out instead, but I found this to be more in line with the traditional way of mining.
Mining 475-525 Elementium in Deepholm and Twilight Highlands
You must be 475 to mine Elementium. The best zone for Elementium is probably Deepholm. Uldum and Twilight Highlands have it as well and I've included a map for Twilight Highlands because it's probably the best other place to go.
Here is the map for Twilight Highlands.
