Horde Leveling Guide (and Best Horde Leveling Route)

In WoW ClassicHorde leveling mostly occurs in areas of Kalimdor, although there are a few areas in the Eastern Kingdoms that are great for questing but hard to get to. Fortunately, until around level 30, you can mostly stick to The Barrens and surrounding areas.

After that, though, you'll be traveling between the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor often enough to level up effectively as a Horde player. This guide explains the best Horde leveling route WoW Classic players can use them to find level-appropriate quests in each level group – but don't forget to complete some Dungeons as well.

Dungeons provide less XP per hour than quests alone and should generally be avoided unless you get Dungeon Quests. They provide a lot of XP on their own, but you'll also get equipment upgrades and XP from Dungeon mobs at the same time.

Horde – Level 1 to Level 20 Guide

Complete your starting area and two secondary areas

The best way to level up from level 1 to around 20 for both factions is to complete your racial starting zone and continue into two secondary zones connected to those starting zones. After completing the initial missions in the area, you should have reached around level 10, after which you can proceed to the next area to continue the mission.

• Tauren: Mulgore at The Barrens
• Orcs & Trolls: Durotar at The Barrens
• ghost: Tirisfal Glade to Silverpine Forest

Although the undead have access to Silverpine Forest, you'll run out of quests in your level range around level 15. At this point, head to The Barrens to find more level-appropriate quests. To get to The Barrens, take the Zeppelin to Orgrimmar just outside of Brill, then head southwest to The Crossroads.

The Barrens is one of the most XP dense areas in the gamealthough its scenery is not the most interesting. You can stay in The Barrens until the early 20s if you do every quest.

Although Silverpine Forest has some great quests and of course Shadowfang Keep, The Barrens is much more convenient and faster to level, in part because there are two major Horde quest hubs. It is also connected to several quest areas that will be relevant after level 20.

Horde – Level 20 to Level 30 Guide

You feasibly can level in The Barrens until around level 22after which Horde players should head to both Stonetalon and Ashenvale Mountains (in that order). Quests in the Stonetalon Mountains are great for late teens to early 20s quests, while Ashenvale remains a good place for late 20s quests.

Rotate between these three areas to reach level 26 or 27, then go to Hillsbrad foothills.

Hillsbrad Foothills connects to the southeastern tip of Silverpine Forest, so if you're an undead or took the Sepulcher flight point, it doesn't take long to get there. Plus, Undercity is conveniently right next door, allowing for easy training and sales.

Tarren Mill is in the east-central Hillsbrad Foothills and you can spend quite a few levels in this area as a Horde player. Rotate between Hillsbrad and Ashenvale to reach level 30.

Horde – Level 30 to Level 40 Guide

Stranglethorn, Thousand Needles, Desolation, Badlands, Swamp of Sorrows

Leveling from level 30 to 40 can be a pain, and that's partly because of how far each Horde quest zone is from one another. For starters, head to the southern Barrens to enter Thousands of needleswhich will take you to level 34.

The Sparkling flatsin the southwest Thousand Needles area, it's a particularly great place to level, as you can complete every mission in this little hub just by running circles around the track. You'll probably level up at least once just by completing these various monster and item dropping missions.

After completing the Thousand Needles and Shimmering Flats quests, you have a few options. Desolate it's relatively close, though you'll have to enter through the Stonetalon Mountains and Stranglethorn opens for search.

Of the two, Stranglethorn is the better option as the quest and mob density is much higher than Desolace and remains relevant to level 40. But if you run out of quests to do there, Desolace is a good level-range backup medium 30.

When you reach level 30 later, Badlands and the Swamp of Sorrows become good places to search as a member of the Horde. The Badlands can be hard to get to as you have to go to Tarren Mill, head east through the Arathi Highlands, south through the Wetlands, then south through the Alliance exclusive Loch Modan area.

Once you're in the Badlands, there are plenty of quests you can take on in Kargath in the west of the area. Once you also pick up the flight point here, it becomes a lot easier to recover – especially if you have Hearthstone set to Booty Bay.

To get to the Swamp of Sorrows, head to Grom'Gol Base Camp in Stranglethorn Vale, then head north into Duskwood. Travel to the far east of this area and avoid the Alliance Guards to reach Deadwind Pass. Carefully follow the road east through this small area to reach Dolieri Swamp and the Stonard airfield.

Swamp of Sorrows and The Badlands are relatively close to each other. Once you've gone through the effort of unlocking both of these flight points, the rest of the journey to level 40 becomes a bit easier.

Horde – Level 40 to Level 50 Guide

Stranglethorn, Swamp of Sorrows, Feralas, Tanaris, Shepherd's Gorge

From level 40 to level 50, things slow down a bit. You will have to first finish in the Badlands, then return to Stranglethorn Vale while simultaneously completing quests in the Swamp of Sorrows.

Around level 42, you'll need to head back to Kalimdor Feralas to continue finding level-appropriate quests. You can get to Feralas by going northwest of Thousand Needles, where Camp Mojache can be found just inside the border along the main road.

Once you reach the flight point here, rotate between Stranglethorn Vale and Feralas until you reach level 45. At this point, you should be almost done in Stranglethorn, but still working on quests in Feralas. Fortunately, the next suitable area for the level is just around the corner.

Head south from Shimmering Flats to reach it Tanaris and reach Gadgetzan. Just by doing Gadgetzan/Tanaris and Feralas quests, Horde players should be able to reach level 48.

At this point, you should return to the Badlands and head east through the mountains to reach The Pasitor Gorge. The Searing Gorge has quests that are suitable for late level 40 to early 50s, and as you finish in Tanaris and Stranglethorn, you should be able to reach 50 with The Searing Gorge alone.

Horde – Level 50 to Level 60 Guide

Felwood, Un'Goro, Blasted Lands, Both Plaguelands, Winterspring

The Alliance and Horde both have similar leveling paths in these very late leveling brackets. This is because during the home period, the amount of XP required to level up increases significantly, and players have to start almost every possible mission to reach the maximum level.

After ending in The Searing Gorgereturn to Kalimdor and head north through Ashenvale to reach it Felwoodwhich also serves as a decent place to pick up quests at the end of level 40. Far, far south, Un'Goro Crater it becomes available for leveling in the early 50s, and you'll need to fly back and forth between these two locations for optimal XP gains.

Around level 54, it's time to return to the Eastern Kingdoms once again for Blasted Lands and both Plaguelands. The Blasted Lands can be reached by heading south through the Swamp of Sorrows, while the Plaguelands are on the opposite side of the continent near Tirisfal Glade.

Like Felwood and Un'Goro, prepare to spend a lot of time flying between the Blasted Lands and both the Western and Eastern Plague Lands as you approach max level.

You can also rotate into Azshara as you level up, though there aren't many quests in this relatively sparse area. Its proximity to Orgrimmar makes it easy to go back and forth though.

Around level 57 to 58, it's not a bad idea to rotate in some quests in Winterspringalso. Found through the cave in northeastern Felwood, the Everlook city of Winterspring has a handful of end-game quests that should get you to level 60 along with other high-level quests in the Plaguelands and Blasted Lands.