WoW Forever Cooking leveling guide 1-300: route, recipes, and trainers

Cooking is a secondary profession, so it doesn't take up a primary slot. Any character can pick it up on top of two primary professions, and the leveling materials cost next to nothing. It's meat from the beasts you're killing for quests anyway.

In Forever, Cooking pays off while you level. Almost any Well Fed food now adds 5% XP from kills (Well Fed XP Boost) for the same 15 minutes the stat bonus lasts. As early as level 5, Coyote Steak gives 3 Agility, and the new Plain Ol' Paletusk gives 10 Strength from level 25. Casters got teas and smoothies, which restore mana and also give Well Fed, the XP bonus, and extra healing or Spirit.

Cooking goes naturally with Fishing. It's a secondary profession too, and from 261 to 300 the route uses nothing but fish. The Fishing guide covers how to level it.

• Food gives XP. Almost all Well Fed food now adds 5% XP from kills for 15 minutes. There are exceptions, though. Going by their tooltips, Dirge's Kickin' Chimaerok Chops and the new level 55 food don't give the XP bonus.
• Old dishes reworked. A lot of Classic recipes got new bonuses. Coyote Steak gives Agility, Mithril Head Trout gives 20 attack power, Spotted Yellowtail and Nightfin Soup give 22 spell damage, and Grilled Squid gives 1% crit chance. The best food for each leveling bracket is in the table further down.
• Almost fifty new recipes. Teas and smoothies for casters, meat dishes for Strength, Agility, and Intellect, level 55 food, and 40-serving feasts. Some recipes drop from mobs, some come from quests or cost Merchant's Favor, and a lot of them have no known source yet. The list is further down.
• A camp of your own. Cooks have their own camp items: three tiers of campfire, the Cookie's Feast, and the Iron Oven. Your campfire decides how many camp items fit around it, and 18 recipes can only be cooked at the Iron Oven, including the best raid food. More on the camp.
• Thistle Tea is for rogues and druids only now. The tea instantly restores 100 energy, and in Forever only these two classes can drink it.
• Legacy perks. Working Overtime adds up to 20% to your skill-up chance, Master Chef gives a chance to cook an extra serving, and Gourmand at its final rank doubles how long food buffs last. Wowhead doesn't show any separate Legacy challenges for Cooking yet.

The route is built from the beta client data. Each step uses the recipe that raises your skill the cheapest, but it skips green recipes once your chance of a point drops below half. It takes trainer recipes first and only goes to vendors when the trainer has nothing useful left, so every recipe up to 261 comes from the trainer. Craft counts are averages, so bring a little extra meat and fish. Every Cooking recipe needs a fire, which can be an inn hearth, a campfire next to the trainer, or your own campfire (see the camp section).

Roasted Boar Meat gives the first 66 points. The recipe comes with the profession, and Chunk of Boar Meat drops from boars in Dun Morogh, Elwynn Forest, Durotar, Teldrassil, Loch Modan, and Westfall. From 66 to 100 you make Coyote Steak. The trainer sells that recipe from skill 50 for 1 silver, and Coyote Meat only drops from coyotes in Westfall. From 100 to 136 it's Crab Cake, a recipe the trainer sells from skill 75 for 2 silver. The 45 cakes need 45 crab meat and 45 Mild Spices, and Crawler Meat drops from crabs on the Darkshore and Westfall coasts, on the west shore of Ashenvale, and in Blackfathom Deeps.

The route is the same for both factions, and up to 261 it only uses trainer recipes, so anyone can learn them. The catch is that coyotes only live in Westfall, which is an awkward trip for the Horde. If you take Coyote Steak out in the calculator, Spiced Wolf Meat and Boiled Clams cover 66 to 75, the crab cakes start at 75, and you'll need 70 Crawler Meat. Horde players will find crabs easiest to farm on the west shore of Ashenvale.

From 136 to 186, Goblin Deviled Clams carry you. The trainer sells that recipe from skill 125 for 3 silver, and 59 servings take 59 clam meat and 59 Hot Spices. You get Tangy Clam Meat from opening clams, and Thick-shelled Clam drops from Wetlands murlocs, from murlocs and naga on the Hillsbrad Foothills coast, and from the mobs in Blackfathom Deeps. Your skill caps at 150 until you read the Expert book, which is covered in the trainers section.

From 186 to 223 you make Barbecued Buzzard Wing. The recipe costs 5 silver at the trainer from skill 175, and each wing also needs Hot Spices. Buzzard Wing drops from buzzards in Arathi Highlands and the Badlands, dread flyers in Desolace, and rocs in Tanaris. From 223 to 261 it's Spider Sausage. The trainer sells that recipe from skill 200 for 40 silver, which is your biggest trainer expense, and each sausage takes 2 spider meat, 94 in total. White Spider Meat drops from spiders in Dustwallow Marsh, Swamp of Sorrows, and Searing Gorge.

At 225 your skill stalls again, because you need Artisan, and that comes from a quest in Tanaris. From 261 to 286 the route cooks Spotted Yellowtail, and 34 servings take 34 fish. Recipe: Spotted Yellowtail is sold by Gikkix in Gadgetzan, for 1 gold 44 silver according to Wowhead. Nightfin Soup gives the last 14 points, and the same vendor sells Recipe: Nightfin Soup for 2 gold. Each soup takes one fish (Raw Nightfin Snapper) plus a Refreshing Spring Water. The route skips Poached Sunscale Salmon, which has the same skill range, because in Forever it can only be cooked at an Iron Oven, and nobody knows yet where the oven's blueprint comes from.

If you're missing a recipe or want to price the route for your realm, open it in the calculator. You can start from your current skill, take a recipe out, and pick the cheapest or the fastest path.

Any character can learn Cooking, so plenty of people will cook basic food for themselves, and it won't sell for much. Then again, Well Fed only lasts 15 minutes and gives XP now, so people eat all the time, from the first levels all the way to raids. Wowhead expects food to sell well at every level. Here's what will definitely sell in Forever, and why.

You won't find Auction House prices here, and we're not adding any. The beta was capped at level 30, so nobody has seen real level 60 prices yet, and after launch your realm's Auction House will show them. Before you cook a batch to sell, compare the price of the finished food with the price of the meat or fish that goes into it.

Cooking trainers in the capitals and in towns near the starting zones teach Apprentice (up to 75) and Journeyman (up to 150). Journeyman unlocks at skill 50 and character level 10. After that, Forever works just like Classic. Trainers don't teach the higher ranks, so Expert comes from a book and Artisan from a quest.

The Expert Cookbook costs 1 gold and needs skill 125. Alliance players buy it from Shandrina, northeast of the Talondeep Path in Ashenvale, and Horde players from Wulan in Shadowprey Village, Desolace. The book is tradeable, so it turns up on the Auction House too, which saves a leveling character the trip.

Artisan is the reward for the quest Clamlette Surprise. Dirge Quikcleave in Gadgetzan (Tanaris) gives it to characters who are level 35 and, according to Wowhead, have skill 225. You need to bring Giant Egg (12), Zesty Clam Meat (10), and Alterac Swiss (20). The eggs drop from rocs in Tanaris and owlbeasts in the Hinterlands, the clam meat comes from clams that coastal mobs drop (on the east shore of Tanaris, for example), and innkeepers sell the cheese, with 20 costing you 1.6 gold. You can collect all of it ahead of time, before you even pick up the quest.

In Forever, Well Fed is more than stats. Almost any buff food now adds 5% XP from kills while the buff lasts, which is 15 minutes. To get it, you have to sit and eat for at least 10 seconds. With the Gourmand Legacy perk at its final rank, food buffs last twice as long.

Food buffs grow as you level: +1 to a stat at the start, +3 from level 5, +5 from 15, +10 from 25, +15 from 35, and +20 from 45. The table shows the best a cook can make for each bracket. Dishes marked "oven" can only be cooked at an Iron Oven.

Casters should take a good look at teas and smoothies. They restore mana, from 151 for the first drinks to 2821 for the level 45 ones, and they also give Well Fed with the XP bonus. Teas add healing and smoothies add Spirit. So every time a healer or mage sits down to drink, they're earning extra XP too.

Level	Physical damage	Casters	Stamina
1+	Roasted Boar Meat (+1 Strength), Spiced Wolf Meat (+1 Agility)	Tasty Raptor Bites (+1 Intellect), Peace Tea (mana, +2 healing)	Herb Baked Egg (+1)
5+	Coyote Steak (+3 Agility), Goretusk Liver Pie (+3 Strength)	Redridge Goulash (+3 Intellect), Royal Tea (mana, +7 healing)	Crispy Lizard Tail and Breakfast Omelette (+3)
15+	Hot Lion Chops and Lean Wolf Steak (+5 Agility), Succulent Pork Ribs (+5 Strength)	Roast Raptor (+5 Intellect), Root Tea (mana, +11 healing)	Gooey Spider Cake (+5)
25+	Plain Ol' Paletusk (+10 Strength), Hot Wolf Ribs (+10 Agility), Mithril Head Trout (+20 attack power)	Raging Raptor Ribs (+10 Intellect), Briny Seafood Stew (+14 spell damage)	Giant Scrambled Eggs and Heavy Kodo Stew (+10)
35+	Tender Wolf Steak (+15 Agility), Savory Stag Sliders (+15 Strength), Poached Sunscale Salmon (+40 attack power, oven)	Spotted Yellowtail and Nightfin Soup (+22 spell damage), Runn Tum Tuber Surprise (+15 Intellect)	Monster Omelet (+15)
45+	Mightfish Steak (+40 attack power, oven), Swiftstrike Steak (+20 Agility, oven)	Prehistoric Pulled Raptor (+20 Intellect, oven)	Savory Turtle Stew (+20, oven), Dirge's Kickin' Chimaerok Chops (+25, oven)

The Cooking trainer only has about a dozen recipes. The rest are sold by vendors, drop from mobs, or come from quests and Merchant's Favor. A lot of the new Forever recipes bind on pickup, so you have to get them yourself, but the finished food doesn't bind. Mob-drop recipes are rare, so farming them only makes sense if you want the food itself.

Smoothies are sold by Aza'bek at the Horde camp in the Barrens and Kalsey Sanden at the Alliance camp in Redridge Mountains. The first four cost 30 Favor each, Spicy Smoothie costs 60, and Wicked Smoothie costs 90. How to build up Favor is in the Merchant's Favor guide.

The rest of the new recipes have no known source yet. That covers the teas from skill 180 (the first one is Triage Tea), Briny Seafood Stew for spell damage, the sliders and rouladen at skill 225, Plated Armorfish for 150 armor, almost all the skill 275 dishes for the Iron Oven, the level 55 food, and the feasts. We'll know where they come from after launch. Sweetpaw Jam is a special case. It makes you run 15% faster on Mount Hyjal, and it can only be cooked at the oven too.

Recipe	Skill	Effect	Source
Peace Tea	25	Mana, +2 healing	Frostmane Seer, Dun Morogh
Venomous Smoothie	25	Mana, +1 Spirit	30 Merchant's Favor
Skywall Souffle	25	+1 Stamina	Quest Restocking the Larders
Tasty Raptor Bites	25	+1 Intellect	Sunscale Screecher in the Barrens, Mottled Raptor in the Wetlands
Pincer Bites	35	+1 Intellect	Quest Crab Season
Breakfast Omelette	75	+3 Stamina	Dire Condor, Redridge Mountains
Twice-Spiced Raptor Slice	75	+3 Intellect	Quest Changing Tastes from Borstan in Orgrimmar
Royal Tea	100	Mana, +7 healing	Windshear Geomancer, Stonetalon Mountains
Slimy Smoothie	100	Mana, +3 Spirit	30 Merchant's Favor
Mrrggl Smrrthle	125	Mana, +5 Spirit	30 Merchant's Favor
Bear Brisket	175	+10 Strength	Ashenvale Bear, Ashenvale
Calcified Smoothie	180	Mana, +10 Spirit	30 Merchant's Favor
Plain Ol' Paletusk	185	+10 Strength	Martha Wellsworth in Riverglades, 20s
Spicy Smoothie	200	Mana, +15 Spirit	60 Merchant's Favor
Wicked Smoothie	250	Mana, +20 Spirit	90 Merchant's Favor

Camping is a new Forever system. You set up profession items by a campfire, and everyone who sits or works nearby for at least a minute gets their bonuses. The cook has a special job here, because the cook's campfire decides how many items fit in the camp.

You learn Basic Campfire with the profession. It makes a Basic Campfire Kit from one Simple Wood and needs Flint and Tinder in your bags. This campfire lets you cook and holds 3 more camp items. Camping unlocks through the adventurer quest chain in your starting zone. In Tirisfal Glades that's The Great Outdoors, and the quest Camping 101: Cooking sends you to the Cooking trainer. Other starting zones have their own versions of these quests with the same names.

The Journeyman Campfire Kit holds 5 items. You learn the recipe at skill 90, but you can only use the kit from 140. Wowhead says Blueprint: Journeyman Campfire drops from Lord Serpentis in Wailing Caverns, and the campfire itself uses Star Wood. The Expert Campfire Kit holds 10 items and works from skill 220, but we don't know yet where to get Blueprint: Expert Campfire and Thick Logs.

Cookie's Feast is a skill 140 camp item. The cook lays out a spread of food that gives Stamina. Blueprint: Cookie's Feast drops from Cookie in the Deadmines, and the feast itself takes Mystery Meat (2), Heavy Kodo Meat, and Soothing Spices. All camp items share a 1-hour cooldown, and campfire kits have a 5-minute one.

The Iron Oven unlocks at skill 300, and for a cook it's the most important camp item, since 18 recipes can only be cooked next to it. Those include Poached Sunscale Salmon, Grilled Squid, Mightfish Steak, and all the new skill 275 dishes. The oven itself takes Simple Flour (10), Refreshing Spring Water (5), and Soothing Spices (4). Vendors sell all of that, but nobody knows yet where to get Blueprint: Iron Oven.

Item	Skill	Effect	Blueprint
Basic Campfire Kit	1	Campfire with 3 camp slots	Comes with the profession
Journeyman Campfire Kit	140 (recipe at 90)	Campfire with 5 slots	Lord Serpentis, Wailing Caverns
Cookie's Feast	140	A spread of Stamina food	Cookie, the Deadmines
Expert Campfire Kit	220 (recipe at 200)	Campfire with 10 slots	Unknown
Iron Oven	300	Required for 18 recipes	Unknown

In total, the route needs six kinds of meat and two kinds of fish. The meat is Chunk of Boar Meat (74), Coyote Meat (36), Crawler Meat (45), Tangy Clam Meat (59), Buzzard Wing (38), and White Spider Meat (94), and the fish are Raw Spotted Yellowtail (34) and Raw Nightfin Snapper (16). Where the meat drops is in the route above, and the exact amounts for your stretch are in the list under it.

You catch fish with a rod, but Raw Spotted Yellowtail also drops from mobs, namely naga and coastal mobs in Feralas, Tanaris, Azshara, and Swamp of Sorrows. Raw Nightfin Snapper doesn't drop from mobs, so the only way to get it is to fish it up.

Mild Spices and other spices are sold by cooking suppliers and trade goods vendors in almost every town. The price is fixed and small, and the whole route needs 45 Mild Spices and 97 Hot Spices. Refreshing Spring Water for Nightfin Soup is sold by innkeepers and food and drink vendors, and the route needs 16.

We don't list meat and fish prices. There are none before launch, and after that they'll change every day. You'll almost certainly collect the meat yourself while questing, but you'll have to catch or buy the 50 fish you need after skill 261.

• Buying the Poached Sunscale Salmon recipe for leveling. Poached Sunscale Salmon can only be cooked at an Iron Oven, so the route skips it. Nightfin Soup covers the last points, and its recipe costs the same 2 gold.
• Forgetting the book and the quest. Your skill stops at 150 until you read the Expert book (Expert Cookbook), and at 225 until you turn in Clamlette Surprise. The book is only sold in Ashenvale and Desolace, so buy it early, and gather the eggs, clam meat, and cheese for the quest before 225.
• Selling White Spider Meat. Spider Sausage takes 2 per serving, 94 in total, and the trainer only teaches the recipe at skill 200, so save any spider meat you loot before that.
• Building the Journeyman Campfire too early. You learn the recipe at 90, but you can only use the kit from 140, and the Star Wood for it costs money.
• Not eating while you level. Well Fed gives 5% XP from kills now, so every rest without food is free XP you're leaving on the table.