How to acquire catch-up gear in World of Warcraft (patch 10.1)

World of Warcraft players occasionally need catch-up gear. Most patches, including 10.1, have options to prepare for the current content without much stress or difficulty. Currently there are two ways to go about this right now. Although one is a little outdated, it will still be enough to get players working towards the more modern equipment added in the latest update, Embers of Neltharion.

Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to get catch-up gear these days in World of Warcraft. You still need to do some in-game work, and with most zones being heavily populated right now, it won’t be an issue for any player to complete the required content and unlock new gear.

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Unlocking catch-up gear in World of Warcraft patch 10.1

Traditionally, catch-up gear in World of Warcraft is for players’ alts or players who haven’t played the game for a while and need quick equipment. While this isn’t the most powerful armor a player can get, it will prepare them to upgrade.

Considering the Shadowflame Crest upgrade system, even this gear can be pretty useful. You can upgrade this gear in a few places in the game, which you can find below.

Upgrade locations

• Corxian: Valdrakken, [43, 37]
• Cuzolth: Zaralek Cavern, [56, 56]
• Researcher Baneflare: Forbidden Reach, [35.6, 59.4]

Explorer armor drops from both World Quests in World of Warcraft’s Zaralek Cavern and can also drop off of regular enemies that players defeat throughout this new zone. This equipment can be upgraded and defaults to Item Level 376. This gear is green and will be listed as “Skyless.” It was briefly Bind on Equip, but that has since been changed.

You can also unlock Adventurer Gear in World of Warcraft, which comes from Zaralek Cavern’s Elite Quests. You can find these weekly, but the reward is 389 item-level gear. This can be further upgraded to 411, with enough crests and resources.

With this equipment, you should be able to handle most of the content throughout Zaralek Cavern easily and start upgrading so you can tackle the Aberrus raid at the LFR difficulty.

Finally, if you don’t have the strength to tackle the current zone in WoW, you can still farm Primalist Gear in the overworld. From there, you can use Untapped Forbidden Knowledge to turn this into decent catch-up gear. It’s sufficient to get you started in Zaralek Cavern, at the very least.

There is no shortage of useful gear upgrades in the underworld, from fighting rares to the weekly Dragonscale Expedition quests. Your rewards will gradually improve as you upgrade, so you can easily prepare for more complex content.