All World of Warcraft veterans knows the drill: new expansion means new mechanics for professions. Whether for WoW gold or self-improvement, learning about these features is essential for a smooth transition and efficient leveling. Here’s a guide to tell you what to know about WoW Dragonflight Herbalism.

Dragonflight Profession Changes

As mentioned, each expansion brings new mechanics and features to professions. While players have to level them up again, they naturally learn about these new things.

Profession Specializations

Some form of this has been implemented since the appearance of professions, but only in Dragonflight did it become an actual mechanic. Each has at most 4 but could be fewer specialization trees, and players can choose up to three at specific level milestones. These provide various bonuses and additional effects to the trade skill you’re working on.

Profession Stats

Each also gained some stats to boost your efficiency of production or gathering. For the latter, they get Finesse, Deftness, and Perception. The first increases the chance of earning more materials from a single node (mining 5 ores instead of 3, for example). Deftness increases gathering speed, and Perception increases the chances of seeing particular nodes.

Profession Gear

Dragonflight adds unique equipment specifically for improving the above. Herbalism gets hats (from Tailoring), back accessories (from Leatherworking), and Tools (from Blacksmithing). These are automatically ‘equipped’ as you gather herbs, but it does not change the armor and weapons you have on. You can start a battle without switching back to your combat gear.

Gathering Profession-Specific Changes

Gathering nodes in Dragonflight can get various modifiers. There are four herbs to collect around the Isles: Hochenblume, Bubble Poppy, Saxifrage, and Writhebark. They can have one of six modifiers:

• Decayed: Gives you the ‘Coated in Decay’ debuff, slowing movement speed, reducing stats, and inflicting a mild DoT. It may also give you a ‘Rousing Decay’ ingredient.
• Frigid: When clicked, it creates an ice field that gives you the ‘Slipped’ effect, making you slip and be stunned for 2 seconds if you move. You may receive ‘Rousing Frost’ when collecting the herb.
• Infurious: A War-Mode-Only mod, it provides ‘Rousing Ire’ and the ‘Fury of Battle’ buff.
• Lush: This lets you harvest more than usual materials from the node.
• Titan-Touched: Usually in out-of-the-way places and could be near a strong enemy. It gives the ‘Enlightened Potential’ buff and has a chance for ‘Rousing Order.’
• Windswept: Gathering these has a chance for ‘Rousing Air.’ You get the ‘Building Breeze’ debuff, which throws you around twice. It’s dangerous as these herbs are usually found in high places.
• Lambent: A unique mod found only in the Zaralek Caverns, they yield some Zaralek Glowspores, a new reagent. You also get a Zaralek Glowbur buff, which increases the Glowspores you can get later.

After reaching a specific level, you’ll want to gather any modified nodes, as unmodified ones will stop providing XP. That’s despite the Decayed plants giving you a disease or Frigid ones trying to prevent you from collecting them. Some specializations can give you abilities that prevent or clear up the debuffs these provide you.

There are more changes, such as Recrafting, Crafted Item Quality, and Crafting Orders, but those are for production professions. Herbalism is a gathering one, so those will be covered in other guides.

Leveling Herbalism

There’s not much to say or do except pick up every herb you come across. At around 55+, start focusing on modded nodes, as base ones stop giving you XP at 50 (white) or 55 (green). Although, you should still pick up unmodded herbs due to their spawning mechanics.

While some modded nodes have higher chances of spawning in specific areas, they can appear anywhere. However, they only despawn once they are harvested. With the most common node being an unmodified Hochenblume, it’s likely for all nodes in a location to become that if nobody collects them. Think of it as ‘weeding’ and harvest them, too, so the node can refresh and hopefully become a modded one.

There are milestones every 25 levels. The first allows you to use the Herbalism Journal and pick your first specialization. The second lets you choose your following spec and do profession weekly quests (must have World Quests opened). The third is when you pick your final specialty. Of course, maxing out the trade is a milestone on its own.

Herbalism Specializations

Here are some short explanations of each spec for Herbalism.

Bountiful Harvests

It grants extra skill when picking herbs. Also, it allows you to refine materials by sacrificing 5 lower-tier materials to create 1 of higher quality. Lastly, this spec lets you learn about Horticulture, Arboriculture, Fungiculture, and Floriculture. Each sub-specialization grants bonus skill when collecting herbs that fall into those categories.

Still, most guides recommend you get this last, as the others have better use in the early levels.

Botany

It improves your ability to pick herbs, both in quantity and quality. One of the most needed skills, herb pickup while riding a WoW mount, is from this tree. It has two sub-specializations, Cultivation and Conversance. The former lets you gather more herb seeds and different, improved types of herbs. Not only that, but it also provides you with more opportunities to collect Rousing Essences and increases Perception.

Conversance improves tool use efficiency. Further into the tree, it allows you to cultivate herbs on plant creatures and provides bonuses when harvesting Lush nodes. While it will be less used, it’s a branch for building secondary skills.

Mastering the Elements

This tree lets you gain a skill point every time you harvest elemental herbs. It also reduces the Overload Elemental Herb cooldown by harvesting more herbs. Moreover, it allows you to extract more Rousing elements from herbs.

As it gives mastery over elemental herbs, this specialty provides various resistances or prevention of their effects. From offering you a purifying ability to making you immune to slipping, this tree lets you be safe while picking herbs.

Herbalism is An Excellent Way to Farm World of Warcraft Gold

Herbs are used in various crafts, most of which are consumable. Since those are the latter, there’s always a demand for replacements, and those will need ingredients. That’s how Herbalism stays as one of the most profitable professions across expansions.

Alchemy is an obvious connection and is one of the significant sources of herb demand. On a smaller scale,  Cooking and other crafting professions need the Rousing elements for making Awakened reagents. If you need gold, Herbalism remains an excellent source of income.

Herbalism and Other Professions

As mentioned, Alchemy is the best partner for Herbalism. Many potions and other alchemy products need these plants as materials. Taking both professions is the best way to become self-reliant and supply all your materials yourself. It also saves currency since you don’t have to buy as much.

Inscription is another partner of Herbalism. The ink you need for the former is made from herbs from the latter. This is an excellent alternative if potions and tinctures aren’t your thing. 

Cooking is another crafting profession with a demand from Herbalism. Although it also needs ingredients from other gathering trade skills (Fishing), most of what you need are NPC shop items. Still, most rarer reagents are from Herbalism or Fishing, so taking this along with Alchemy is a good deal.

Enjoy Herbalism in WoW Dragonflight!

It’s one of the professions that keeps on giving. Herbalism is a classic that is always needed, even when the next expansion comes. You’ll never go wrong with taking it, whether for another profession or farming WoW gold.