WoW Forever Herbalism leveling guide 1-300: where to gather, trainers, and gold

Herbalism is a primary profession, so it takes one of your two slots. But apart from training it costs nothing. Herbalists don't need a tool, and all four ranks cost less than six gold at the trainers. Herbs grow in almost every zone, and the profession levels itself while you run around questing. Icy Veins says gathering ranks in Forever need a lower character level than crafting ones, exactly so you can gather while leveling.

Herbalists have more customers in Forever than in Classic. Alchemy recipes are still almost all herbs, but now First Aid needs herbs too, since regular healing potions moved over to it. Blacksmiths put Purple Lotus into the new Sentinel's armor, cooks make new teas from herbs, and regular herbs sometimes drop Frilled Lichen, which alchemists turn into dye for bags. You'll be handy to your group too, because an Incense Candle at the campfire gives Intellect, like the mage spell.

Herbalism is most often paired with Mining, since you gather herbs and ore along the same path. Just keep in mind that the minimap can only track one at a time, so you'll have to switch by hand. The other good pairing is Alchemy. Almost all its recipes are herbs, so your own herbs make leveling a lot cheaper, and you can turn the extras into potions to sell. Wowhead says gathering is especially easy on druids, since Travel Form and Prowl make it simple to dodge fights you don't need.

• Junior trainers and the Wild Harvest book. Six starting valleys have Junior Herbalism Trainers, who only teach Apprentice, for 10 copper. And one of the first quests, at about level 3-4, lets you pick one of three books. Wild Harvest teaches Herbalism right away if you have fewer than two primary professions and raises your skill by 2, but not above 15.
• Candle, greenhouse, and hybridizer for your camp. Herbalists put down their own camp items at the campfire now, thanks to Gardening, an ability that comes with the profession. From skill 20 the candle gives Intellect to everyone sitting nearby, and the greenhouse and the hybridizer grow and improve herb seeds. There's more in the camp section.
• Herb seeds. Gathering sometimes gives seeds of four kinds: Commonplace Herb Seeds, Uncommon Herb Seeds, Unusual Herb Seeds, and Scarce Herb Seeds. You plant them in a greenhouse or combine them in a hybridizer, but nobody knows yet what grows from them.
• Scarce materials. Regular herbs sometimes drop materials that have no nodes of their own: Frilled Lichen, Rosecap, and Stranglevine. Only alchemists make dyes from them, and hundreds of recipes in other professions call for those dyes. There's more in the gold section.
• New herbs for skill 300 recipes. Forever's data has three new herbs: Demonsage, Marefoil, and Death Lotus. Wowhead doesn't know yet where they grow or what skill they need. The one thing we do know is that Enchant Gloves - Lotus Claw gives a small chance to find Death Lotus when you pick any herb on Mount Hyjal.
• Tauren Cultivation. Cultivation doesn't add Herbalism skill anymore. Instead it grows a copy of the plant nearby that anyone can pick, even without the profession. There's more in the skill bonus section.
• Herb bags got bigger. The Cenarion Herb Bag has 26 slots now instead of 20, and the Satchel of Cenarius has 32 instead of 24. For starters, vendors sell the new 4-slot Apprentice's Herb Pouch.
• Legacy. Wowhead doesn't show any Legacy challenges for Herbalism, but you get a Legacy point the first time you reach 150, 225, and 300. The Bountiful Harvest perk raises your scarce material yield by 20% per rank, up to 100% at rank five, Working Overtime raises the skill-up chance for any profession, and Dedicated Study adds a point to your lowest profession once every 23 hours.

Herbalists have no recipes to level with, so there's no crafting route either. Your skill goes up with the herbs you pick. While an herb is orange, every pick gives a point, yellow almost always does, green a lot less often, and gray never. So once a zone's main herbs turn green, it's time to move to where the next ones grow.

Don't forget your ranks. Journeyman is taught from skill 50, Expert from 125, and Artisan from 200. According to Icy Veins, Expert also needs character level 10 and Artisan level 25, which is a lot earlier than for crafting professions. If you haven't trained the rank, your skill stops at 75, 150, or 225, and herbs stop giving points.

The ranges up to 225 come from Wowhead's Forever herbalism overview, and past that we extended them using the herb thresholds from the same overview. Where each herb grows is in the herb table.

Skill	What to gather	Where	What to do along the way
1-70	Peacebloom and Silverleaf, from skill 15 also Earthroot	Any starting zone, including Zephras Isle	At skill 20 you can make the Incense Candle for your camp; at 50, learn Journeyman
70-115	Mageroyal (from 50), Briarthorn (from 70), Stranglekelp (from 85, grows underwater)	Darkshore, Loch Modan, Westfall, Silverpine Forest, The Barrens	Don't sell Swiftthistle and Frilled Lichen to a vendor: they drop as a bonus from these herbs
115-170	Bruiseweed (from 100), Wild Steelbloom (from 115), Kingsblood (from 125), Liferoot (from 150)	Hillsbrad Foothills, Wetlands, Stonetalon Mountains, Ashenvale	At skill 125 and level 10, learn Expert
170-205	Fadeleaf (from 160), Goldthorn (from 170), Khadgar's Whisker (from 185), plus Kingsblood and Liferoot	Stranglethorn Vale, Arathi Highlands	At skill 200 and level 25, learn Artisan
205-230	Wintersbite (from 195), Firebloom (from 205), Purple Lotus (from 210)	Alterac Mountains, Tanaris, Searing Gorge, Badlands	Wintersbite grows only in Alterac Mountains, and Purple Lotus sometimes drops Wildvine
230-260	Sungrass (from 230), plus Purple Lotus, Goldthorn and Khadgar's Whisker	Feralas, The Hinterlands	Ghost Mushroom (from 245) grows in the caves of The Hinterlands, and Blindweed (from 235) by the water in Swamp of Sorrows
260-285	Golden Sansam (from 260), Dreamfoil (from 270), Mountain Silversage (from 280), plus Sungrass	Un'Goro Crater or Felwood	Felwood also has Arthas' Tears, Gromsblood and Plaguebloom
285-300	Plaguebloom (from 285), Icecap (from 290), plus Dreamfoil and Mountain Silversage	Felwood, Western and Eastern Plaguelands, and Winterspring for Icecap	From skill 300, look for Black Lotus: it grows in Burning Steppes, Eastern Plaguelands, Silithus and Winterspring

Herbalism costs almost nothing, so every herb you sell is pure income. Not everything is valuable, though. The best sellers are what other professions level with or turn into raid consumables. Here are the herbs and materials that will definitely sell in Forever, and why.

You won't find prices here. 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. The only hard numbers are the Black Market vendor's prices, which are at the end of this section.

In Forever you can get Apprentice right in your starting valley, where the Junior Herbalism Trainers only teach the first rank, for 10 copper. You can skip them too, because one of the first quests, at about level 3-4, lets you pick the Wild Harvest book. The other ranks are taught by regular Herbalism trainers in capitals and towns, plus two trainers on Zephras Isle. All four ranks together cost 5 gold 55 silver 10 copper.

The character levels for Expert and Artisan come from Icy Veins' table. Neither the client nor Wowhead shows them, so we'll check them at launch.

Each herb has two thresholds that matter for leveling. At the first you can start picking it, and at the second it goes gray and stops giving skill. In between, the herb goes from orange to yellow to green. The thresholds and zones below come from Wowhead's Forever herbalism overview, and Wowhead marks all these nodes as unchanged from Classic. The main zones are listed, and if an herb doesn't grow out in the open, the parentheses say where to look.

Herb	Gather from	Gray at	Where it grows
Peacebloom	1	100	All starting zones and Zephras Isle, The Barrens, Westfall, Darkshore, Loch Modan, Silverpine Forest
Silverleaf	1	100	The same zones (near trees)
Earthroot	15	115	The same zones and Wailing Caverns (on hills and near cliffs)
Mageroyal	50	150	Darkshore, Loch Modan, Westfall, Silverpine Forest, The Barrens, Duskwood, Ashenvale, Redridge Mountains
Briarthorn	70	170	Darkshore, Silverpine Forest, The Barrens, Duskwood, Ashenvale, Wetlands (near trees)
Stranglekelp	85	185	Wetlands, Stranglethorn Vale, Dustwallow Marsh, Hillsbrad Foothills, Darkshore, The Barrens (underwater and by the water)
Bruiseweed	100	200	Stonetalon Mountains, Ashenvale, Wetlands, Hillsbrad Foothills, Arathi Highlands, Thousand Needles
Wild Steelbloom	115	215	Stonetalon Mountains, Stranglethorn Vale, Arathi Highlands, Badlands, Thousand Needles (on hills and near cliffs)
Grave Moss	120	220	Duskwood, Desolace, Wetlands, Arathi Highlands (near crypts and graveyards)
Kingsblood	125	225	Stranglethorn Vale, Wetlands, Hillsbrad Foothills, Arathi Highlands, Desolace, Swamp of Sorrows
Liferoot	150	250	Stranglethorn Vale, Dustwallow Marsh, Wetlands, Arathi Highlands, Feralas, The Hinterlands (by the water)
Fadeleaf	160	260	Stranglethorn Vale, Arathi Highlands, Badlands, Dustwallow Marsh, Swamp of Sorrows, The Hinterlands (near trees)
Goldthorn	170	270	Stranglethorn Vale, Arathi Highlands, Badlands, Feralas, The Hinterlands, Azshara
Khadgar's Whisker	185	285	Stranglethorn Vale, Arathi Highlands, Feralas, The Hinterlands, Swamp of Sorrows, Azshara (near trees)
Wintersbite	195	295	Alterac Mountains only
Firebloom	205	305	Badlands, Blasted Lands, Searing Gorge, Tanaris
Purple Lotus	210	310	Stranglethorn Vale, Feralas, The Hinterlands, Tanaris, Badlands, Azshara (near ruins)
Arthas' Tears	220	320	Felwood, Western and Eastern Plaguelands
Sungrass	230	330	Feralas, The Hinterlands, Un'Goro Crater, Felwood, Azshara, the Plaguelands
Blindweed	235	335	Swamp of Sorrows, Un'Goro Crater, Maraudon (by the water)
Ghost Mushroom	245	345	The Hinterlands, Maraudon, Dire Maul (in caves)
Gromsblood	250	350	Felwood, Desolace, Blasted Lands, Ashenvale
Golden Sansam	260	360	Feralas, The Hinterlands, Un'Goro Crater, Felwood, Azshara, Burning Steppes
Dreamfoil	270	370	Un'Goro Crater, Felwood, Azshara, Silithus, the Plaguelands, Burning Steppes
Mountain Silversage	280	380	Un'Goro Crater, Felwood, Azshara, Winterspring, the Plaguelands, Silithus (on cliffs and high ground)
Plaguebloom	285	385	Felwood, Western and Eastern Plaguelands
Icecap	290	390	Winterspring only (on hills and near cliffs)
Black Lotus	300	400	Burning Steppes, Eastern Plaguelands, Silithus, Winterspring

Camping is a new Forever system. At a campfire, each player can put down one item from their profession, and it gives a bonus to everyone who sits or works nearby for at least a minute. All camp items share a 1-hour cooldown. Herbalists can place them thanks to Gardening, an ability that comes with the profession.

The Incense Candle unlocks at skill 20. The trainer sells its recipe for 1 silver, and the Camping 101: Herbalism quest from the camping chain teaches it too. The candle takes one Peacebloom and one Silverleaf, so it costs next to nothing. Blizzard says it gives everyone at the campfire 2 to 25 Intellect depending on level. That's the same bonus as the mage's Arcane Intellect, and the two don't stack.

The Greenhouse unlocks at skill 140 and replaces the candle. It keeps the candle's bonus and also lets you plant seeds and grow herbs. Shadetooth in the Excavation Site: Wetlands dungeon drops Blueprint: Greenhouse about 8% of the time, according to Wowhead. Note that the greenhouse itself needs Arthas' Tears and Purple Lotus, which you can only pick yourself at skill 220 and 210, so at 140 you'll have to buy them.

The Seed Hybridizer is a skill 300 item, with the candle's bonus plus the option to multiply seeds or combine them into seeds of higher rarity. Nobody knows yet where to get the Blueprint: Seed Hybridizer.

Seeds drop while you gather herbs, and a player on Wowhead says commonplace seeds show up as early as Peacebloom and Earthroot. There are four kinds in total, from commonplace to scarce. You plant one seed in the greenhouse and combine two identical ones in the hybridizer. What grows from seeds and how many herbs you get out of it, we'll only find out after launch.

Item	Skill	What it gives	Made from	How to learn
Incense Candle	20	Intellect for everyone at the campfire, like Arcane Intellect	Peacebloom, Silverleaf	From the trainer for 1 silver or from a quest
Greenhouse	140	The candle's bonus plus seed beds	2 × Simple Wood, Arthas' Tears, Purple Lotus	Blueprint: Greenhouse, dropped by Shadetooth
Seed Hybridizer	300	The candle's bonus plus multiplying and combining seeds	4 × Mountain Silversage, Crystal Vial, 2 × Runecloth	Blueprint: Seed Hybridizer, source unknown yet

Herbalism skill bonuses stack, and Wowhead says all of them together let you pick herbs up to 25 points above your skill. They don't give skill points, but they let you move to a higher-level zone sooner. You can only wear one pair of gloves, so the max is your best gloves, an enchant on them, and tea.

Find Herbs comes with the profession and shows herbs on the minimap. Tauren also get help from Cultivation. In Forever it grows a copy of the plant nearby that anyone can pick, even without Herbalism, but only one copy per node. According to Icy Veins, after bots on the beta started copying Black Lotus this way, Cultivation got a level requirement equal to the herb's skill divided by 5, so Black Lotus needs level 60. The cooldown is 1 hour.

What	Skill bonus	How to get it
Apothecary Gloves	+2	Soulbound cloth gloves
Herbalist's Gloves	+5	Made by leatherworkers, pattern sold by vendors; a pair takes 4 Kingsblood
Enchant Gloves - Herbalism	+2	Glove enchant, formula drops from mobs; needs Kingsblood
Enchant Gloves - Advanced Herbalism	+5	Glove enchant, formula drops from mobs; needs Sungrass
Goldthorn Tea	+15 for 15 minutes	Made by cooks from Goldthorn; usable from level 25

• Vendoring lichen. A vendor pays 30 copper for Frilled Lichen, and two lichens make a dye that sold for about 3 gold on the beta. Don't rush to sell Swiftthistle either, because alchemists need it. And nobody knows yet what grows from seeds, so hang on to those too.
• Picking gray herbs. A gray herb gives no skill at all, and a green one gives it a lot less often than a yellow one. Once a zone's main herbs turn green, move on using the leveling plan.
• Forgetting to train the next rank. At 75, 150, and 225 your skill hits a cap. Journeyman is taught from skill 50, Expert from 125, and Artisan from 200, and according to Icy Veins the last two also need character level 10 and 25.
• Putting the candle down next to a mage. The Incense Candle and Arcane Intellect give the same bonus and don't stack. If a mage has already buffed the group with Intellect, the candle does nothing, so you're better off placing your second profession's camp item.
• Forgetting the early herbs once you've leveled. Wowhead says Frilled Lichen only drops from Earthroot, Mageroyal, Briarthorn, and Bruiseweed. They won't give you skill anymore, but if the dye sells well, a run through the early zones at 60 might pay better than you'd think.