How To Survive in Hardcore WoW

Hardcore realms have been live for quite a while now, and the number of permanent deaths is constantly rising. There is so much stuff in Classic WoW that can bring upon your character’s demise that I’ve devised a Survival Guide containing valuable tips from the players around Azeroth. And make no mistake, these rules are written in the blood of many perished characters of all levels, even fully geared up level 60s. Take notes, and some of these will change the outcome of your hardcore journey.

Stay Under the Radar – Green Questing

There is nothing wrong with doing quests of green difficulty and farming the green mobs to get more XP. It’s the way to go on hardcore, as the yellow mobs are noticeably more challenging to fight with because you can miss a bunch of your strikes and quickly lose the advantage. And only look at the Orange-level enemies if absolutely necessary. Complete all the content suitable for your level, and don’t push ahead.

Use Consumables

An ancient curse of all gamers plagues the world of Azeroth – we love to stock the potions in the inventory and refuse to use them when needed, thinking they’ll be much better used later in the game. But this later point may never come to pass if you die instead of using the Healing Potion right when needed. Dont wait for the perfect opportunity and utilize what you’ve got now; restock later.

Upgrade Weapons

I can’t stress enough how essential weapons are with the Classic damage mechanics – getting a weapon upgrade and killing enemies faster is crucial if you want to survive, so make a list of the best weapon upgrades on your leveling path and try to get them as quickly as possible, they will make your life much easier. 

Control Gold Spending Habits

Getting your mount purchased as soon as you hit level 40 is of great importance – to save up enough gold, you should be more picky with training new abilities and upgrade only those that get the most benefit on higher levels. Some dont need a higher rank to perform their primary objective, like crowd control.

In general, gold has so much more value on HC; being able to buy extra gear off the AH, along with flasks and gear enchantments, can significantly increase your survivability, so investing in Gold with Classic Hardcore boost services has more even more sense than on retail or regular classic realms and will surely help you along the way to max level.

Expand the Inventory 

Getting the larger bags as soon as possible will significantly help you with the previous paragraph, as you will profit by selling more items from your adventures and have more space for extra consumables and quest items. Having more room to play around is always much better than deleting items to make space for something important.

Enable the Nameplates

Minding the surroundings is much more convenient when you can see and identify the enemies, even behind walls or terrain. If you have the enemy nameplates on, you won’t accidentally pull a pack of mobs because you have not seen them around, avoiding unpleasant surprises and sudden deaths. I was deeply saddened to see so many death clips on YouTube with players not using the nameplates.

Pick Opponents Carefully

Do a little background check for the types of enemies in your questing location and what to be aware of. Some casters deal a ton of damage with a single spell, and you should kite them around obstacles and interrupt whenever possible to avoid getting extra damage. Particular CC abilities can throw you out of the fight for a few seconds, enough for the worst to happen, so be mindful and prepared for anything.

Never AFK in the Open World

You may think that you’re in a safe spot and nothing is going on, and go away to get some water. Meanwhile, the mob respawns and starts beating you to death without mercy, and you come back only to find your character’s lifeless body. Just dont test your luck and log out of the game, even if it’s for a brief moment – that precaution may save your character one day. And make sure to log out somewhere in the less populated area, get to the road, or teleport to your HS location to avoid any surprises when you log back in the next time.

Take Your Time With Professions

Certain professions provide drastic benefits worth going out of the way of leveling to work on them. A perfect example is the engineering that offers useful mobility tools, the parachute to save you from fall damage, and powerful bombs that can help you or even save your life when pulling multiple enemies, just like the Target Dummy, which is a must to have. And the alchemy will supply you with healing potions and valuable elixirs. But first of all, pick up and level the First Aid, as you will always use it.

Beware of Landscape and Plan Routes

So many things can go wrong when you are inside a cave or in the highland zones with increased danger of falling to death. Always keep your head cool and avoid panic in a closed area such as a cave or a house with a high mob density to avoid pulling all of them at once. Sometimes, the best solution is to stand your ground and carefully manage everything from the cooldowns to consumables. If you can’t get through safely, don’t hesitate to use your hearthstone to escape the danger zone.