World of Warcraft players will be able to craft their own legendary items in this week’s Shadowlands expansion, giving themselves access to the most powerful items the game has to offer. Each legendary item starts the same way: You take a base item and then collect materials to imbue it with additional power. You can only wear one, and it can’t be a weapon or a trinket. But what those items can do varies wildly from class to class.
To get started on your first legendary item, you need to reach maximum level and complete the introduction to Torghast, the endless dungeon in The Maw zone. Once you defeat Warden Skoldus in that one-time experience, you’ll receive a key; this starts a quest that introduces you to the Runecarver, the guy who’s going to help you learn to upgrade your armour.
To get started with that crafting, you need a Memory of the Runecarver recipe that gives a quest for the specific legendary power you seek. Memories drop from almost everywhere: PvP, raids, dungeons, covenant quests and events, rare bosses, and other quests. If you find one, you can return it to the Runecarver, who will then have the ability to add that power to a piece of armour. Some powers are only available for particular armour slots. To start, each class has four Memories available, plus four for their spec and generic powers that are available to everyone.
Almost all legendary powers come from previous skills and bonuses that existed for your class in other expansions. Legion legendary items make a big comeback here, as do Azerite traits from Battle for Azeroth and set bonuses from previous expansions. Some are brand-new: For example, hunters can craft a legendary that turns their slowing Tar Trap ability into a fiery pulse of AOE damage when the player tosses a Flare on top of it.
