Professions in World of Warcraft are what drive the economy of the game. Select the right combination of professions for your character and you can earn a lot of money by selling the items you create. You can also use them to greatly upgrade your own character’s equipment and create items that enhance your entire party, raid, or other members of your guild.

There are three main categories of professions: Crafting professions, Gathering professions, and Secondary professions. Each one has its benefits and each profession can benefit the others.

Gathering professions are used to harvest the resources needed by the crafting professions. You can use these items for your own crafting profession or sell them on the auction house to other crafters.

Crafting professions allow you to make all sorts of useful items using the items collected with the gathering professions. With a Crafting profession, you can create items that you or other characters can use directly, as well as other ingredients needed to continue crafting. Most crafting recipes are learned from the profession trainer, but other, rarer recipes are dropped from random mobs and dungeon bosses. Others from faction quartermasters can be purchased once you have reached the required reputation with that faction.

Each character is only allowed 2 main professions at a time. At any time you can decide to leave a main profession and learn another. Most players usually choose a gathering profession and a crafting profession that uses the materials from the gathering profession. Having lots of alternate characters, each with a different combination of professions, can really benefit all of your toons, as each profession can collect or craft items that can benefit many of the other professions. If you’re primarily focused on one character, joining a guild, where other guild members have a variety of professions, can really benefit you and the professions you’re trying to level up.

The 3 secondary professions (Cooking, Fishing, First Aid) can be learned by everyone. First aid allows you to make bandages that can be used during combat to heal your character. Cooking and fishing, especially when leveled together, can allow you to get some great food buffs to improve your character’s stats and abilities.

As you level up in your profession, you will earn proficiency titles that you must learn to progress in that profession. Each proficiency level has a required character level and a minimum profession skill level, before it can be reached. These are summarized below in this mini guide to WoW professions.

Apprentice

Skill Range: 0 – 75

Require character level:

• Gathering Level: 0
• No Pickup: 5
• Fishing: 5

Official

Skill Range: 50 – 150

Require character level:

• No Pickup: 10
• Fishing: 10

Expert

Skill Range: 125 – 225

Require character level:

• Meeting: 10
• No collection: 20
• Fishing: 10

Craftsman

Skill Range: 200 – 300

Require character level:

• Meeting: 25
• No collection: 35
• First Aid: 35
• Fishing: 10

Teacher

Skill Range: 275 – 375

Require character level:

• Meeting: 40
• No Pickup: 50
• Fishing: 10

Great master

Skill Range: 350 – 450

Require character level:

• Meeting: 55
• No collection: 65
• Fishing: 10

illustrious

Skill Range: 425 – 525

Require character level:

• Meeting: 70
• No collection: 80

Racial profession bonuses are given to certain races as a racial trait. These are listed below.

Gnome – +15 Engineering

Tauren – +15 Herbalism

Draenei – +5 Jewelery

Blood Elf – +10 Enchantment

Worgen – +15 skinning

Goblin – +15 Alchemy