Herbalism is one of the 3 gathering skills in World of Warcraft. Compared to the other two, that is mining and skinning, herbalism can be easily leveled up specially if you follow the instructions in our World of Warcraft herbalism leveling guide. This guide is updated for the latest expansion ‘Cataclysm’ (patch 4.1) and will help you level your skill all the way up to 525.
Like any other professions, you can learn herbalism when your character gets to level six, simply by visiting a trainer located in every major city and in most starting area of World of Warcraft. You do not need any additional tools to pick herbs and can start looking for herbs straight away after you learn the skill from the trainer. Be sure to activate the ‘Find Herbs’ ability you gain after learning herbalism, to track herbs in the close vicinity, which will be marked by yellow dots in the min map located at the top right corner of your WoW interface.
Alchemy and Inscription are two professions which will work nicely with herbalism, as they use herbs as raw materials for making potions and glyphs. You can even pick another gathering skill as your second primary profession and make a good profit by selling raw materials to other players. Smart use of the auction house can make you rich in no time if done properly, and we are hoping to cover this topic in a different guide.
Leveling your herbalism skill from 1 to 70 (Apprentice)
All the starting areas have ‘Peacebloom’ and ‘Silverleaf’ which you can start collecting right off the bat as they only require a skill level of one to pick. As your herbalism skill starts to raise, you will be able to gather ‘Earthroot’ which also can be found in all starting zones, specially close to small mountains and in rocky terrain.
You should be able to raise your herbalism skill to 70 without much difficulty.
Leveling your herbalism 70 – 150 (Journeyman)
Time to visit the trainer and learn to become a journeyman herbalist. At this level, you will be able to gather Mageroyal, Briarthorn, and Bruiseweed. The zones adjacent to starting areas usually have these herbs in them.
If you are an Alliance players, Westfall, Darkshore, Redridge Mountains and Ashnvale are good zones. For horde players, Hillsbard Foothills can be considered as one of the best zones to level herbalism at this stage.
Leveling your herbalism 150 – 225 (Expert)
Visit the trainer as usual to upgrade your herbalism skill to Expert from Journeyman. You might have to return to one of the previous zones you were leveling up herbalism in order to raise your skill up to 160. At the skill level of 160, you are able to gather Khadgar’s Whisker, and now its a good time to move to a different zone since most herbs you can pick in your current zone will hardly raise your skill anymore.
At this level, the gathering zones become common to both Horde and Alliance players. Recommended zones to raise your skill all the way to 225 are Western Plague-lands and Ferales. Kingsblood, Fadeleaf, Khadgar’s Whisker, and Goldthorn are your choices of herbs at this level.
Leveling your herbalism 225 – 285 (Artisan)
Learn Artisan herb skill by visiting the herbalism trainer. Khadgar’s Whisker can still raise your skill and you can stay a little longer in your current leveling zone if you wish, specially if you need additional herbs to level up you Alchemy or Inscription.
Move to Thousand Needles or Eastern Plaguelands where you will find Sungrassm which is the ideal herb to level up your skill at this stage. Note that Thousand Needles is one of the zones which was changed completely in the Cataclysm and you will have to do lot of swimming when gathering herbs in this area.
Leveling your herbalism 285 – 325 (Master)
Visit trainer and learn to become a Master herbalist. Swamp of Sorrows is a good zone to raise your skill. This zone is full of herbs, specially Sorrowmoss, a herb unique to Swamp of Sorrows. Golden Sansam is another herb you can find in this area.
Felwood is also a good place where you will be able to find Gromsblood, Purple Lotus, Dreamfoil and Golden Sansam.
Leveling your herbalism 325 – 425 (Grand Master)
Time to move to outland. You should be having a flying mount at this point, which will make your task much easier. You can straight away start gathering herbs as you enter Hellfire Peninsula trough the Dark Portal.
You should be gathering Felweed and Dreaming Glory in Hellfire. Once you move on to Terrokar Forest, you can start gathering Terocone, which will take you all the way to 375.
I recommend that you move to Northrend once your gain 350 skill level in herbalism unless you need outland herbs to raise your Alchemy/Inscription. You can go to Howling Fjord or Borean Tundra, and learn Herbalism Grand Master from the trainer located in the starting town of that zone.
If you enter Northrend before you reach 375 skill in herbalism, you will have to gather Goldclover until 375 skill. You can start gathering Tiger Lily, mostly found near water once you reach 375. These herbs will easily raise your skill up to 400.
Once you hit 400, move to Sholazar Basin. There are other zones suitable for level your herbalism at this level as well, but I recommend Sholazar Basin since its filled with herbs like Adder’s Tongue, Goldclover and Tiger Lily, which will take you all the way to 425.
Leveling your herbalism 425 – 525 (Illustrious)
Visit trainer and learn Herbalism Illustrious. Time to explore the new zones in Cataclysm! You can enter any of the two starting zones. Vashj’ir or Mount Hyjal. Both have herbs unique to them which will raise your skill to 475 quickly.
Move to Deepholm and start gathering Heartblossom until you reach 500 skill in herbalism.
At 500, go to Uldum. Travel close to the river banks and start gathering Whiptail until you hit the skill cap of 525.
Congratulations!! you reached the highest possible skill in herbalism (for now)!
(By Ellwynda – US:Arygos)