Midnight Season 1 Gearing Guide: How to Gear Fast and Reach Item Level 289

Midnight Season 1 Gearing Goals

Use this plan to gear fast in Midnight Season 1, including how to push all the way to item level 289 (fully upgraded Myth track gear at 6/6).

Season 1 Timeline (Key Dates)

Content unlocks over multiple weekly resets, so planning your first weeks matters.

Date	What unlocks / changes	Highest stated gearing ceiling
March 17 (March 18 in Europe)	Season launch. Normal & Heroic Voidspire + Dreamrift open; seasonal dungeons (Normal/Heroic/Mythic 0); PvP season starts; Prey unlocks; all Delve tiers unlock.	Up to Hero track gear (upgrades to 276 at 6/6).
March 24	Mythic raid difficulty unlocks; Mythic+ becomes the main dungeon progression path; Nightmare Prey unlocks.	Up to Myth track gear (upgrades to 289 at 6/6).
March 31	March on Quel’Danas opens on all difficulties.	Still up to Myth 6/6 at 289.

Preparation Checklist Before You Push

Farm Renown through main story quests, side quests, and activities like Lore Hunter, Highest Peaks, Treasures, Weeklies, and Prey. This can unlock 246 item level Champion gear via Renown thresholds.
Run Delves until you reach Tier 8 to set up your Season 1 Delves progression.
Do every dungeon once in Mythic 0 (it resets weekly). Do a full tour twice before Season 1, then again during the first week if you still need pieces.
Do every weekly event: The Abundance (can appear in any region), Legends of the Haranir (Harandar), Stormarion Assault (Voidstorm), and Saltheril’s Soiree (Eversong Woods).
Complete 4 Preys in Hardmode for Renown progress and 233–243 Veteran gear.

Optional prep: level alts while doing side quests (for Renown) and level professions to be more self-sufficient.

Renown Rewards (Early Champion Pieces)

Renown quartermasters offer a small set of early gear rewards tied to specific Renown levels.

Item Slot	Faction	Renown Level
Necklace	Amani Tribe	Level 9
Helm	Silvermoon	Level 9
Belt	Hara’ti	Level 8
Trinket	The Singularity	Level 7

Renown vendor locations:

Renown	Location
Silvermoon Court	/way #2395 43.4 47.4
Amani Tribe	/way #2437 45.92 65.90
Hara’ti	/way #2413 51.01 50.84
The Singularity	/way #2405 52.57 72.90

There are no gear rewards after these Renown levels.

Weekly Activities (Open World)

Weekly open-world activities are important early on because they give you gear, Renown progress, and items like Restored Coffers Keys (used for Bountiful Delves).

Plan: do all four weekly events each week until Mythic+ is released, or until you no longer need gear below 259 item level (when Delves become less relevant for gearing).

How to Gear Fast in PvE (From Starter Gear to 289)

In PvE, gear rewards range from 220 up to 289, scaling with activity difficulty.

1) Prey

Prey is a solo activity similar to Delves. It helps early progression, but is weaker than Delves for Hero gearing because it has no “maps for Hero gear”.

Champion gear range stated: 246–263, and Preys only drop the lowest item levels within that range.
You need to unlock Nightmare difficulty to get Champion gear, so doing Normal and Hard Preys first is important to progress the Prey-specific Renown track.
Prey becomes lower priority once you can farm dungeon content that quickly replaces Champion pieces.

2) Delves

Delves remain a strong solo option. Tier 8 is highlighted as a breakpoint for building a Champion set, and for using Delver’s Bounty Maps (which can award Hero gear). Only do Bountiful Delves when you can use a Restored Coffer Key.

The combined “starter set” mentioned is: Prey + Delves + Mythic 0, aiming for roughly 240–250 item level before pushing harder content.

3) Mythic 0 Dungeons (World Tours)

A strong first group step is running full M0 world tours (all dungeons), especially early or on fresh alts. Important detail:

Before Season 1, M0 rewards Veteran gear.
With the season, M0 is stated to give Champion gear (246 item level).

4) Mythic+ Dungeons (Core Farm)

Mythic+ is the most efficient repeatable PvE gearing activity.

After you reach full Champion, aim for Mythic +7 as an early target: end-of-dungeon is a Hero track item, and you earn Mythic crests. Once you are “full on Mythic crests,” you’ll automatically receive Hero crests.
Long-term farming target is Mythic +10. There’s no gearing reason to go beyond +10 because:
- End-of-dungeon reward is the same (stated as item level 266).
- Vault reward is the same (stated as item level 272).
- Higher keys (11–12) just give more Mythic crests.
If +7 is too hard, try +6, but not much lower, because lower keys are described as inefficient (Champion track only).

5) Myth Track Items (Last Stretch to 289)

For Myth track gear, there are only two routes:

The Great Vault
Mythic raiding

Because both are inconsistent, aim to complete at least 3 Mythic +10 dungeons each week.

6) Crafted Gear (Sparks, Crests, Embellishments)

Crafted items matter because they’re the only items with embellishments (special effects). You can equip 2 embellishments at a time.

Weekly: 1 spark.
Cost for 285 crafted gear: 2 sparks + 80 Mythic crests (also applies to a one-handed weapon).
Two-handed weapon: 4 sparks + 160 Mythic crests.

Two approaches:

Early power spike: craft a 285 two-handed weapon, but this delays your second embellishment and locks the weapon slot at 285.
Long-term setup: craft two 285 pieces in weaker armor slots (like bracers/belt/cloak) and keep weapon slot open for a Myth track weapon (289). This is more luck-dependent for getting a Mythic weapon from raids/vault.

Gear Tracks, Dawncrests, and Upgrade Costs

Midnight updates the upgrade system:

Valorstones are removed and replaced by gold costs.
Dawncrests are the upgrade currency, split by track.
Weekly cap mentioned: 100 per Dawncrest type.
Each gear track has 6 upgrade levels.

Gear Track	Dawncrest Type	Upgrade ilvl Range	Earned From
Explorer	None	N/A	N/A
Adventurer	Adventurer Dawncrest	224–237	Repeatable Outdoor Events, Tier 4 Delves
Veteran	Veteran Dawncrest	237–250	Repeatable Outdoor Events; Raid Finder (Voidspire, The Dreamrift, March On Quel’Danas); Heroic season dungeons; Delves (Tiers 5–6); Trovehunter’s Bounty (Tiers 4–5)
Champion	Champion Dawncrest	250–263	Weekly Outdoor Events; Normal (Voidspire, The Dreamrift, March On Quel’Danas); Mythic season dungeons; Mythic+ (+2 to +3); Delves (Tiers 7–10); Trovehunter’s Bounty (Tiers 6–7)
Hero	Hero Dawncrest	263–276	Heroic (Voidspire, The Dreamrift, March On Quel’Danas); Mythic+ (+4 to +8); Delves (Tier 11); Trovehunter’s Bounty (Tiers 8+)
Myth	Myth Dawncrest	276–289	Heroic (Voidspire, The Dreamrift, March On Quel’Danas); Mythic+ (+9 and up)

Upgrade cost notes:

Upgrading uses Dawncrests plus a small amount of gold (example: upgrading a Champion piece to 6/6 costs 150 gold).
A separate FAQ list in this guide gives these rank costs (Dawncrests): 2/6 = 10, 3/6 = 20, 4/6 = 30, 5/6 = 40, 6/6 = 50.

Dawncrest Discounts (How to Spend Less)

Warband discount achievements (alts)

These achievements unlock a 50% upgrade cost reduction for that track on other characters in your Warband once your average item level exceeds the track’s maximum range.

Slot “catch-up” discounts (same character)

Another discount works on your main: once you have upgraded one item in a track to a certain tier (example given: Champion 4/6), bringing other slots to that same tier costs fewer Dawncrests — potentially making some upgrades “free” compared to the initial push.

How to Use Crests Efficiently

Avoid spending crests too early when you are still replacing items quickly.

In the early weeks, keep the crests you find and focus on collecting items from M0, Prey, and Delves.
At season start, spend Veteran and Champion crests to bring your baseline up.
Hold Hero crests for at least a week so you can see what drops (especially from Vault). Upgrading Hero gear (5/6 → 6/6) can apply discounts to upgrading a Myth item (1/6 → 2/6).

Tier Sets & The Catalyst

Get your 4-set quickly (including running LFR for tier pieces early). The Catalyst can convert a regular item into a tier piece in the same slot.

Everyone gets 1 Catalyst Charge at the start of the season, then 1 new charge every two weeks.
Two ways to get extra charges are listed:
1. Defeat the last boss of March on Quel’Danas on Heroic or Mythic, or reach 2000 Mythic+ Rating, or 1600 rating in ranked PvP.
2. Get 4 tier pieces to unlock Midnight Season 1: Catalyst Unbound, after which charges can drop from other content.

Tip: wait until the end of the week / weekly reset before using your charge so you don’t convert a slot that your Vault could reward.

FAQ (Quick Answers)

How do you upgrade gear in Midnight?

Gear upgrades use track-specific Dawncrests and a small amount of gold. Each track has 6 upgrade ranks, and you upgrade Champion gear with Champion Dawncrests, Hero gear with Hero Dawncrests, and so on.

What is the maximum item level in Midnight Season 1?

The stated maximum is 289, coming from fully upgraded Myth track gear at 6/6.

What is the weekly cap for Dawncrests?

The weekly cap is 100 per Dawncrest type (Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, Myth).

How much do upgrades cost (in Dawncrests)?

Dawncrest costs per rank:

Rank 2/6: 10
Rank 3/6: 20
Rank 4/6: 30
Rank 5/6: 40
Rank 6/6: 50

What is the fastest way to chase Myth track gear?

Myth track items come only from The Great Vault or Mythic raiding. To maximize Vault chances, they recommend completing at least 3 Mythic +10 dungeons each week.