Shadowlands has brought major changes to the concept of Twinking. While many twinks that existed prior to Shadowlands have been invalidated by the level squish, the new changes have made playing a twink more fun then ever.
What is a World of Warcraft Twink
The concept of a twink in World of Warcraft has been around since Vanilla. The basic idea is to keep a character low level and get the best gear possible for them. This makes the twink character considerably stronger than other characters of their level. This power discrepancy can be used to gain huge advantages in PvP battlegrounds or other organized content. It also allows the low level twink character to do things that high level characters cannot, normally due to scaling.
How to Disable Experience
Since a twink tries to maximize their gear at a specific level, gaining experience is an issue. To turn off your experience on a character, talk with Behsten in Stormwind for Alliance or Slahtz in Orgrimmar for the Horde (Behsten Slahtz – Best in Slots). This process will cost 10g.
Turning off experience will also debuff allies that you join a group with, reducing the amount of experience they earn. This debuff does not apply to allies that you are randomly matched with in the group finder.
Shadowlands Twinking
Level 1
A level 1 twink can do some crazy stuff. However, outside of memes, their usefulness is limited. The biggest issue is that they cannot use the group finder tool to join dungeons or battlegrounds. Level 1 character cannot choose a specialization, giving them a very small pool of abilities to use. Also remember that Demon Hunter, Death Knights, and allied races do not start at level 1.
The most common build I’ve seen for a level 1 twink is maxing out a rogue’s agility stat, raising their dodge chance to above 100%. This causes every physical attack made against them miss, making them invincible to characters without magic damage.
Level 10
Level 10 twinks are the most interesting to me. I made a few new characters in the Shadowlands prepatch and immediately noticed how effective they were with just heirlooms in dungeons. This effectiveness died off quickly though as they went up in level.
Level 10 twinks are a great choice to start with twinking. At level 10, you gain access to the dungeon finder and many dungeons thanks to Chromie. You also have access to non-epic battlegrounds, letting you match up with other players in PvP. You even get a mount, though it’s only the 60% ground version…
Allied races, Death Knights, and Demon Hunters start at level 10 lowering the amount of effort needed to start twinking. Level 10 characters get access to Chromie Time, allowing them to get gear from every old expansion.
At level 10, you will not have access to many abilities, making the class feel a bit boring. If you plan on making a level 10 twink, be sure to look at what abilities you will have access to when choosing a class.
Level 30
Level 30 is another great consideration for a twink. You will have greater access to your classes abilities and talents, making many classes more fun to play. Importantly, many dungeons and other content open up at level 30, increasing the number of items you can equip. You also get your 100% ground mount and a 150% flying mount.
It will take more work to get a level 30 character than a level 10 or 1, but the payoff can be great. If you get a group of like minded people together, you can run most of the old raids, scaled to level 30. With so many raids across so many expansions, the amount of content you have access to will keep you busy for a long time.
Gearing Your Shadowlands Twink
Shadowlands is still new, and new sources of gear are being discovered every day. I am currently working on my level 10 twinks and don’t have as much insight into level 1 or level 30. I will update this list as I find more good sources of gear. Let me know what I’ve missed and I’ll add it to the list!
Raid Gear
If you can get a friend to run you through the old raids, there is plenty of great gear for your twink character. Unfortunately, gear that drops from raids has a minimum level to even be able to equip it. If you are gearing something higher than a level 10 twink, there might be some good options in old raids. Consult the dungeon journal for the list of loot.
| Expansion | Minimum Level |
|---|---|
| Classic | 25 |
| Burning Crusade | 27 |
| Wrath of the Lich King | 30 |
| Cataclysm | 32 |
| Mists of Pandaria | 35 |
| Warlords of Draenor | 40 |
| Legion | 45 |
| Battle for Azeroth | 50 |
Legion Artifact Weapon
At level 10, you can start Legion. You can skip the scenario by finishing the initial quest where you get buffs and duel and then going back to the quest giver. Once in Dalaran, you’ll soon get a quest to obtain your artifact weapon. While the artifact no longer has its artifact power bonuses, it starts at item level 20 with a large amount of stats.
This is a great choice to get early, though you will likely eventually replace it. You can further upgrade it by slotting relics earned in Legion dungeons. Use the Dungeon Journal to filter the slots you need and queue up for those dungeons specifically.
Sockets
Jewelcrafting has changed in almost every expansion as Blizzard has tried to balance it. Certain expansions, like Burning Crusade, have gear with many more sockets than other comparable gear. The great thing about sockets is that the gems do not scale down when inserted.
Sockets let you choose which stat you want to focus on. This is even more important in twinking because you will be raising your stats well above intended levels, further exacerbating the power level differences.
PvP Gear
PvP gear can be purchased with honor tokens. This gear is normally Epic quality, giving it a huge amount of stats. PvP gear also has a high chance of having sockets, further increasing its effectiveness.
The issue with this gear is that there is normally a level requirement attached to it, making unusable on certain twinks. Check out the vendors in Stormwind or Orgrimmar, along with the expansion specific vendors like Area 52, to see what gear they have available for your level.
Trinkets
Trinkets have the highest chance of any gear slot for not scaling correctly. With access to every expansion through Chromie Time, the number of trinkets you can pick from is extensive. Use the Dungeon Journal, filtered for trinkets, and look for trinkets that offer flat, non-scaled, bonuses.
Some of these unscaled trinkets will likely be nerfed. However, Blizzard has shown that it has trouble even fixing balance issues in current content, so fixing old trinkets will likely be low on their to-do list. Trinkets can potentially be a huge percentage of your overall damage.
What Class Makes the Best Twink
Class choice is mostly up to what you want to play. That said, some classes and specs will certainly outperform others since the game is not balanced with twinking in mind.
Arcane Mage Twink
Arcane mage is my current personal favorite. This spec is actually what encouraged me to look into twinking. Even with just heirloom gear I was doing >50% of my team’s damage and making holding aggro nearly impossible for the tank.
Arcane mage ramps its damage up by gaining arcane charges. These charges increase damage, but also increase mana cost. However, at level 10, you gain mana back very quickly, letting you stay at max stacks for pretty much the entire fight, even against bosses. In between pulls, you generally regain your mana back and are ready for the next group.
While in single target fights you will be hard casting Arcane Blast, in most scenarios, the most effective rotation is to just spam Arcane Explosion. Since Arcane Explosion is an instant cast ability, you can spam it on the run and never need to stop. gather up enemies and they will fall quickly to your big purple blasts.
Blood Death Knight Twink
Even non-twink Blood Death Knights can do some incredible solo content. The twink version even further augments their self sustain and AoE damage. They also wear plate armor, letting them equip any armor type in the game. This further increases the options you have for gearing them.
Blood Death Knights are a great choice if you are looking to solo content. You will be your own healer, easily topping off the small amount of damage you’ll be taking. You can also join group finder dungeons as the tank and not have the aggro issues that DPS twinks have.
Like high level Death Knights, they feel slow compared to other classes. You can get gear and buffs that increase your movement speed to offset this downside, but it will be at the expense of damage or defenses.
Comments
One response to “Shadowlands Twink Tips”
there is a vendor in org that sells gear for honor, not marks of honor, that is 40+ ilvls higher than heirloom gear of the same level.