World of Warcraft: Forever launches on November 4, and Cooking is the profession every leveling character should pick up first. In the beta client, 103 Cooking recipes make food that adds 5% more experience from kills to its Well Fed buff, on top of a stat bonus, and none of Cooking’s 82 original recipes changed its skill range. This WoW Forever cooking leveling guide gives you a 1-300 route for each faction that runs on meat you loot while leveling, a table of the best XP food for every level range, and maps of where the ingredients drop.
How solid this is: every threshold, reagent and food buff below comes from the beta client’s game data (build 1.60.1.70374, October 13), compared with the Classic Era client (1.15.9) with Season of Discovery recipes left out. Skill 1 to 225 can be tested in the beta, and WoW-Professions’ beta-tested guide uses the same recipe ranges to 225. Skill 225 to 300 is untested everywhere, because Artisan Cooking needs character level 35 and the beta stops at 30. Drop zones, drop rates and mob levels are Classic data: Forever’s creature spawns aren’t public, and Forever uses the same zones. Craft counts are our estimates from Classic’s skill-up formula.
Quick Answer: Cooking 1-300 in WoW Forever
- Alliance to 225: Herb Baked Egg to 45, Smoked Bear Meat to 80, Crab Cake to 115, Dry Pork Ribs to 130, Curiously Tasty Omelet to 175, Roast Raptor to 225.
- Horde to 225: Roasted Boar Meat to 45, Spiced Wolf Meat to 50, Strider Stew to 100, Crispy Lizard Tail to 130, Hot Lion Chops to 175, Roast Raptor to 225.
- 225 to 300 (untested): Tender Wolf Steak all the way, about 120 crafts, or Monster Omelet.
- Effort and cost: about 227 crafts to 225 and 347 to 300. If you loot the meat yourself, spices, recipes and the Expert Cookbook cost about 2 to 2.5 gold to 225 and 3 gold more to 300 (our estimate from the client’s vendor prices).
- Gates: Journeyman at 50 from any cooking trainer, the Expert Cookbook at 125 from Shandrina (Ashenvale) or Wulan (Desolace), Artisan from the quest Clamlette Surprise in Gadgetzan at 225 and level 35.
- XP: every dish on both routes gives the 5% kill XP buff. The stat grows with the food’s level requirement, from +1 at level 1 to +20 at level 45.
Does Cooking Give XP in WoW Forever?
Yes. Food from 103 of WoW Forever’s Cooking recipes adds “Experience gained from kills increased by 5%” to its Well Fed buff in the beta client’s spell data, and Blizzard’s systems panel recap confirms that adjusted crafted food “can grant a small experience bonus and stat boosts”. You become Well Fed after 10 seconds of eating, and the buff lasts 15 minutes on the recipes shown at BlizzCon. It counts kills only, not quest turn-ins.
Fifteen cooked foods don’t carry the bonus: Charred Wolf Meat, Boiled Clams, Clam Chowder, Goblin Deviled Clams, Undermine Clam Chowder, Dig Rat Stew, Scorpid Surprise, Savory Deviate Delight, Dragonbreath Chili, Thistle Tea, Dirge’s Kickin’ Chimaerok Chops, the new Savory Whimsyfin Delight and Clam Linguine, and the holiday Egg Nog and Gingerbread Cookie. Skip Charred Wolf Meat in particular: Spiced Wolf Meat uses the same meat plus Mild Spices and gives the bonus.
What the buff is worth: our WoW Forever XP changes guide puts food at about 1.9% more total XP with 75% uptime, more than making up for Forever’s lower XP from low-level mobs. Our Alliance route makes about 347 meals from 1 to 300 and the Horde route 428 (Strider Stew and Crispy Lizard Tail make two). At four meals an hour that’s 87 to 107 hours of Well Fed, twice that with rank 3 of the Gourmand perk in the WoW Forever Legacy System. For scale, Blizzard’s beta data puts the average time to level 20 at 20.5 hours.
One open question: level 1 Roasted Boar Meat carries the same 5% line as level 45 Bat Hachee, with no level condition in the client data. The server applies the buff, so whether cheap food still gives XP at level 50 can’t be confirmed before launch.
Best XP Food for Your Level in WoW Forever
Every XP food in WoW Forever gives the same 5%, so pick by stat and by what drops where you’re leveling. In the beta client a primary stat bonus depends on the food’s level requirement: +1 at level 1, +3 at 5, +5 at 15, +10 at 25, +15 at 35 and +20 at 45. Teas (Healing Power) and smoothies (Spirit) step up at the same levels. Skill is the Cooking skill the recipe needs.
| Your level | Melee (Strength, Agility) | Casters (Intellect, spell damage) | Tanks and anyone (Stamina) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-4 | Spiced Wolf Meat, +1 Agility (skill 10) or Roasted Boar Meat, +1 Strength (1) | Crispy Bat Wing, +1 Intellect (1, Horde) or Strider Stew (50) | Herb Baked Egg, +1 Stamina (1) |
| 5-14 | Coyote Steak, +3 Agility (50, Alliance) or Dry Pork Ribs, +3 Strength (80); fishers: Longjaw Mud Snapper, +10 attack power | Crab Cake, +3 Intellect (75); fishers: Smoked Sagefish, +4 spell damage (80, level 10) | Crispy Lizard Tail, +3 Stamina (100, Horde) |
| 15-24 | Hot Lion Chops, +5 Agility (125, Horde), Seasoned Wolf Kabob, +5 Agility (100, Alliance) or Lean Venison, +5 Strength (110) | Roast Raptor, +5 Intellect (175) | Curiously Tasty Omelet, +5 Stamina (130) |
| 25-34 | Tasty Lion Steak, +10 Agility (150, Alliance) or Heavy Crocolisk Stew, +10 Agility (150, Horde) | Barbecued Buzzard Wing, +10 Intellect (175) | Heavy Kodo Stew, +10 Stamina (200) |
| 35-44 | Jungle Stew or Tender Wolf Steak, +15 Agility (175, 225) | Nightfin Soup, +22 spell damage (250, Fishing) | Monster Omelet or Spider Sausage, +15 Stamina (225, 200) |
| 45-60 | Swiftstrike Steak or Flank au Poivre, +20 Agility; Bear Bruscitti, +20 Strength (275, Iron Oven) | Bat Hachee or Prehistoric Pulled Raptor, +20 Intellect (275, Iron Oven) | Savory Turtle Stew, +20 Stamina (275, Iron Oven) |
The route tables below say where the route dishes’ ingredients drop. The others, from Classic data: Meaty Bat Wings from Tirisfal’s bats (level 6-9), Coyote Meat from Westfall’s coyotes (10-12), Lean Wolf Flank from Duskwood and Ashenvale wolves (19-28), Buzzard Wings in Arathi, Desolace and the Badlands (31-41), Heavy Kodo Meat from Desolace’s old kodos (34-37) and Tiger Meat in Stranglethorn and the Badlands (30-41). Our WoW Forever leveling guide puts you in those zones at about those levels.
The catch at 45: every level 45 food with Strength, Agility, Intellect, Stamina, attack power or spell damage needs an Iron Oven, a Cooking camp feature you build at Cooking 300 from a Blueprint nobody has found a source for. Until one turns up, the level 35 foods are the best you can cook. Sage’s Tea (+44 Healing Power) and Wicked Smoothie (+20 Spirit) don’t need the oven.
WoW Forever Cooking Trainers, Expert Cookbook and Artisan Quest
Every capital and starting zone has a WoW Forever cooking trainer for Apprentice and Journeyman Cooking, but Expert comes from the Expert Cookbook and Artisan from the quest Clamlette Surprise, as in Classic. Trainer, vendor and quest locations are from Zockify’s beta trainer data and match the Classic positions.
| Rank | Skill cap | How you get it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apprentice | 75 | Trainer; no level check in the beta (WoW-Professions) | Any cooking trainer |
| Journeyman | 150 | Trainer at Cooking 50; 5 silver and level 10 in Classic’s trainer data | Any cooking trainer |
| Expert | 225 | Expert Cookbook (1 gold) at Cooking 125 | Shandrina, Mystral Lake, Ashenvale (49.5, 67.1), Alliance; Wulan, Shadowprey Village, Desolace (26.2, 69.6), Horde |
| Artisan | 300 | Quest Clamlette Surprise at Cooking 225 and level 35: 12 Giant Eggs, 10 Zesty Clam Meat, 20 Alterac Swiss | Dirge Quikcleave, Gadgetzan, Tanaris (52.6, 28.1) |
| Faction | Cooking trainers (zone coordinates) |
|---|---|
| Alliance | Stephen Ryback (Stormwind, 78.2, 53.1), Daryl Riknussun (Ironforge, 60.1, 36.4), Alegorn (Darnassus, 49.0, 21.2), Tomas (Goldshire inn, Elwynn Forest, 44.4, 66.0), Gremlock Pilsnor (Kharanos, Dun Morogh, 47.7, 52.3), Cook Ghilm (Dun Morogh, 68.4, 54.5), Zarrin (Dolanaar, Teldrassil, 57.1, 61.3), Crystal Boughman (Lakeshire, Redridge, 17.7, 43.5) |
| Horde | Zamja (Orgrimmar, 57.4, 54.0), Aska Mistrunner (Thunder Bluff, 50.7, 53.1), Eunice Burch (Undercity, 62.1, 44.9), Cook Torka (Razor Hill, Durotar, 51.1, 42.5), Pyall Silentstride (Bloodhoof Village, Mulgore, 44.9, 61.7), Duhng (the Crossroads, Barrens, 55.3, 31.8), William Pickman (Brill inn, Tirisfal, per WoW-Professions) |
| Skyborne | Nyalah Brightfire (Valanaar) and Zerril Softbreeze (Shen’dar Village) on Zephras Isle |
Two quests point you to Dirge at 225: To Gadgetzan You Go! from Zamja in Orgrimmar and I Know A Guy… from Daryl Riknussun in Ironforge; collect the eggs, clams and cheese first. Cooking earns no Legacy Points and no title (Zockify; our Legacy guide found no Cooking challenge in the client data).
Mild Spices and the Other Spices: Who Sells Them
Mild, Hot and Soothing Spices are vendor items in WoW Forever: trade goods and cooking supply vendors sell them, usually next to the cooking trainer (66 vendors carry Mild Spices in Classic’s data). Mild Spices cost a few copper, Hot Spices 40 copper, Soothing Spices 1 silver 60. First Aid needs them now too, because it took over the healing potions: Minor and Lesser Healing Potions take Mild Spices, Healing and Greater Healing Potions Hot Spices, Superior and Major Healing Potions Soothing Spices.
WoW Forever Cooking Leveling Route 1-225
The cheapest way to level Cooking from 1 to 225 in WoW Forever is to cook the meat you loot in the zones you’re leveling in and buy only spices. Each step below uses the recipe that stays orange longest with ingredients from that level range; until a recipe turns yellow, every craft is a point.
| Skill | Recipe (yellow / grey) | Crafts | Ingredients, where they drop (Classic data) | Recipe from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-45 | Herb Baked Egg or Roasted Boar Meat (45 / 85) | 44 | Small Egg and Mild Spices, or Chunk of Boar Meat: birds or boars in the starting zones (5-17) | Known with Cooking |
| 45-80 | Alliance: Smoked Bear Meat (80 / 120) | 35 | Bear Meat: Loch Modan and Darkshore bears (11-18) | Drac Roughcut, Thelsamar, 2s 50c; skill 40 |
| 80-115 | Alliance: Crab Cake (115 / 155) | 35 | Crawler Meat, Mild Spices: Westfall and Darkshore coasts (9-21) | Trainer, skill 75 |
| 115-130 | Alliance: Dry Pork Ribs (120 / 160) | 16 | Boar Ribs, Mild Spices: Westfall, Loch Modan, Redridge boars (10-17) | Trainer, skill 80 |
| 130-175 | Alliance: Curiously Tasty Omelet (170 / 210) | 45 | Raptor Egg, Hot Spices: Wetlands (22-29) or Arathi (30-37) raptors | Kendor Kabonka, Stormwind, 16s; or the quest Ormer’s Revenge, Wetlands |
| 45-50 | Horde: Spiced Wolf Meat (50 / 90) | 5 | Stringy Wolf Meat, Mild Spices | Trainer, skill 10 |
| 50-100 | Horde: Strider Stew (90 / 130), makes 2 | 51 | Strider Meat, Shiny Red Apple: Barrens and Durotar plainstriders (11-17) | Tari’qa, the Crossroads, 4s 40c; skill 50 |
| 100-130 | Horde: Crispy Lizard Tail (140 / 180), makes 2 | 30 | Thunder Lizard Tail, Hot Spices: southern Barrens, Stonetalon (15-23) | Tari’qa, 4s; skill 100 |
| 130-175 | Horde: Hot Lion Chops (175 / 215) | 45 | Lion Meat, Hot Spices: Hillsbrad and Alterac (23-34) | Zargh, the Crossroads, 18s; or the quest Elixir of Pain, Tarren Mill |
| 175-225 | Both: Roast Raptor (215 / 255) | 51 | Raptor Flesh, Hot Spices: Arathi (30-37), Stranglethorn (33-41), Dustwallow (35-41) | Hammon Karwn (Refuge Pointe), Keena (Hammerfall) and five more vendors, 50s; skill 175 |
Shopping list to 225: Alliance 44 Small Eggs, 35 Bear Meat, 35 Crawler Meat, 17 Boar Ribs, 46 Raptor Eggs, 52 Raptor Flesh, 96 Mild Spices and 97 Hot Spices; Horde 44 Chunks of Boar Meat, 5 Stringy Wolf Meat, 52 Strider Meat and Shiny Red Apples, 30 Thunder Lizard Tails, 45 Lion Meat, 52 Raptor Flesh and 127 Hot Spices. Add 5 to 10% for unlucky yellow crafts. Notes on the route:
- Buy the Expert Cookbook at 125. Without it you stop at 150. Alliance players pass Mystral Lake on the way through Ashenvale; for the Horde, Shadowprey Village in Desolace is a long trip, so plan it.
- Buy recipes in person. Twelve Classic cooking recipes now bind on pickup in the beta client, Roast Raptor and Hot Lion Chops among them, so the auction house can’t sell you one.
- Free quest recipes work as substitutes, per Zockify: for the Alliance Seasoned Wolf Kabob (Chef Grual, Darkshire; makes 3, orange to 140), Goretusk Liver Pie, Redridge Goulash and Gooey Spider Cake; for the Horde Big Bear Steak (The Rescue, Tarren Mill) and Twice-Spiced Raptor Slice from Changing Tastes, the quest in our Excavation Site guide.
- Fishers can swap in Longjaw Mud Snapper (50-90), Bristle Whisker Catfish (100-140) and Mithril Head Trout (175-215), which need no spices.
WoW-Professions’ beta-tested route offers the same recipes as options per step; ours picks one per faction, and only dishes with the XP buff.
Arathi Highlands: Cooking 130-225 for Both Factions
Arathi Highlands is the best single cooking spot in WoW Forever’s 130 to 225 range. Highland Striders (30-31), Thrashers (33-34) and Fleshstalkers (36-37) drop a Raptor Egg about half the time and Raptor Flesh 37 to 38% of the time in Classic’s loot data, and both recipe vendors stand in the zone. About 140 raptor kills cover the 52 Raptor Flesh for 175-225, and for the Alliance the eggs for 130-175 come along with them (our estimate).
Cooking 225-300: The Untested Part
Cooking 225 to 300 in WoW Forever can’t be tested before launch, because Clamlette Surprise needs level 35. The thresholds are from the beta client; the plan is ours. Buy Tender Wolf Steak from Dirge right after he trains you.
| Skill | Recipe (yellow / grey) | Crafts | Ingredients, where they drop (Classic data) | Recipe from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 225-300 | Tender Wolf Steak (265 / 305) | 120 | 120 Tender Wolf Meat, 120 Soothing Spices: Tanaris hyenas (41-48), Feralas and Hinterlands wolves (40-48) | Dirge Quikcleave or Innkeeper Fizzgrimble (Gadgetzan), Truk Wildbeard (Hinterlands), 1g 20s |
| 225-300, or | Monster Omelet (265 / 305) | 120 | 120 Giant Eggs, 240 Soothing Spices: Hinterlands owlbeasts, Tanaris rocs (42-49), Winterspring (53-59) | Himmik (Everlook), Malygen or Bale (Felwood) |
| 285-300, fishers | Nightfin Soup (290 / 330) | 16 instead of 53 | Raw Nightfin Snapper, Refreshing Spring Water | Gikkix, Steamwheedle Port, Tanaris |
- The last 35 points are slow. Tender Wolf Steak is yellow from 265, so 265 to 300 takes about 80 crafts.
- The Iron Oven trap. 18 recipes need an Iron Oven nearby in the beta client, including Poached Sunscale Salmon (WoW-Professions’ pick for 275-300), Smoked Desert Dumplings, Grilled Squid, Hot Smoked Bass and all nine new level 45 dishes. You can only build the oven at 300, so none of them gets you there.
- The recipe to watch: Raging Raptor Ribs. Learned at 180, orange until 280, grey at 310, made from 2 Raptor Flesh and 3 Hot Spices for +10 Intellect. It binds on pickup and has no known source. If it turns up, it covers 180 to 280 in 100 crafts on Arathi raptors alone. Plain Ol’ Paletusk (learned at 185, 2 Chunks of Boar Meat and Mild Spices, grey at 230) would be a cheap recipe for 185 to 225, also with no known source.
Where Cooking Ingredients Drop in WoW Forever
Every ingredient on our routes drops from normal beasts in leveling zones. The map shows where, from Classic creature spawns placed on Forever’s continent maps; Forever’s own spawns aren’t public yet.
In ingredients per bracket, the route stays at about 25 crafts per 25 skill points until 275, then needs 68 Tender Wolf Meat for the last 25. If you also skin, the routes in our WoW Forever skinning leveling guide run through the same Wetlands raptors and Hillsbrad lions.
Campfires, Cookie’s Feast and the Iron Oven
Cooking builds the campsite in WoW Forever: other professions’ camp features need a campfire nearby, and the campfire’s rank decides how many fit around it. Blizzard’s systems panel recap confirms upgraded campfires for five or ten objects; the details below are from the beta client, sources from Zockify.
| Camp object | Learned at | Usable at | Reagents | What it does | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Campfire Kit | 1 | 1 | Simple Wood; Flint and Tinder as a tool | Campfire plus 3 camp features | Known with Cooking |
| Journeyman Campfire Kit | 90 | 140 | Star Wood, Flint and Tinder | Campfire plus 5 features | Blueprint from Lord Serpentis, Wailing Caverns |
| Cookie’s Feast | 140 | 140 | 2 Mystery Meat, Heavy Kodo Meat, Soothing Spices | Lays out Stamina food | Blueprint from Cookie, Deadmines |
| Expert Campfire Kit | 200 | 220 | Thick Logs, Flint and Tinder | Campfire plus 10 features | Unknown |
| Iron Oven | 300 | 300 | 10 Simple Flour, 5 Refreshing Spring Water, 4 Soothing Spices | Needed for 18 recipes | Unknown |
Sit or craft at the fire for about a minute to get the other features’ one-hour buffs; all camp features share a one-hour cooldown. The beta development notes let you collect the buff while sitting, sleeping or kneeling (September 24) and stopped campfires from hurting players below level 5 (October 1). Thick Logs carries a 20 gold price in its item data; its source is unknown. Our WoW Forever professions guide lists what every other profession puts around your fire.
New Cooking Recipes, Teas and Smoothies
WoW Forever adds 43 Cooking recipes that the Classic Era client doesn’t have (Zockify counts 49 and also lists the Season of Discovery dishes below). Few of them help you level yet, because about 30 have no known source.
- Teas (Healing Power +2 to +44, from a vendor drink and herbs such as Peacebloom or Sungrass): six recipes, bind on pickup, source unknown.
- Smoothies (Spirit +1 to +20): six recipes for 30, 60 or 90 Merchant’s Favor at the Azeroth Commerce Authority camp in Redridge or the Durotar Supply and Logistics camp west of the Crossroads (Zockify).
- Quest recipes: Skywall Souffle (Restocking the Larders), Pincer Bites (Crab Season) and Twice-Spiced Raptor Slice (Changing Tastes).
- Zone buffs: Westfall Stew now gives 15% movement speed while in Westfall and the new Sweetpaw Jam the same in Mount Hyjal; Goldthorn Tea, a trainer recipe that makes four, raises Herbalism skill.
- Fish: new Plated Armorfish (+150 armor), Spinefin Halibut and Savory Whimsyfin Delight; five fish dishes now give Fishing skill while Well Fed, +3 to +18.
- Season of Discovery dishes: Prowler Steak, Filet o’ Flank, Sunrise Omelette and the 40-player feasts Specklefin Feast and Grand Lobster Banquet (+20 attack power, +23 spell damage, +44 healing, +10 Stamina) sit in Forever’s Cooking data under Season of Discovery IDs and need Holy Salts or Exquisite Spices. Whether they’re obtainable at launch is unknown.
- No Craftsman’s Writs: none of the 150 new writs in the client’s item data asks for food. The Master Chef Legacy perk gives up to a 50% chance for an extra dish.
What We Don’t Know Yet
- Whether the 5% XP bonus works on low-level food at any level. The client shows no limit; the server decides.
- Where the teas, Raging Raptor Ribs, the level 45 dishes, the Expert Campfire and Iron Oven Blueprints and Thick Logs come from.
- Whether vendors sell the Classic recipes from 225 up at launch. Zockify lists Tender Wolf Steak, Monster Omelet and Nightfin Soup as unknown; WoW-Professions uses the Classic vendors.
- Forever’s creature spawns and drop rates. Ours are Classic data.
- Whether Forever’s skill-up chances follow Classic’s formula. Our craft counts assume they do.
FAQ
Where is the cooking trainer in WoW Forever?
Every capital and starting zone has one, for example Stephen Ryback in Stormwind, Daryl Riknussun in Ironforge, Zamja in Orgrimmar and Aska Mistrunner in Thunder Bluff. Trainers teach Apprentice and Journeyman Cooking; Expert comes from the Expert Cookbook and Artisan from Dirge Quikcleave in Gadgetzan.
Does food give XP in WoW Forever?
Yes. Food from 103 Cooking recipes adds 5% more experience from kills while you’re Well Fed, according to the beta client, and Blizzard confirmed a small XP bonus on crafted food. Fifteen dishes, Charred Wolf Meat and Boiled Clams among them, don’t have it.
How do you get Artisan Cooking in WoW Forever?
Reach Cooking 225 and level 35, then hand Dirge Quikcleave in Gadgetzan 12 Giant Eggs, 10 Zesty Clam Meat and 20 Alterac Swiss for the quest Clamlette Surprise.
Related guides: the WoW Forever hub with every launch guide.
Sources: Blizzard’s systems panel recap and beta development notes (September 24, October 1 and 8). Beta data from Zockify and WoW-Professions; the game data of the beta client (build 1.60.1.70374) and of Classic Era, read via wago.tools; creature spawns, drop rates and Classic vendor and trainer data from the cmangos Classic database. Maps: Blizzard Entertainment, from Warcraft Wiki’s map files.