In WoW Classic, Horde leveling takes place mostly throughout zones in Kalimdor, though there are a few zones in the Eastern Kingdoms that are great for questing but difficult to get to. Thankfully, until around level 30, you can stick mostly to The Barrens and its surrounding areas.
WoW Classic: Best Leveling Dungeons
The best Leveling dungeons in World of Warcraft tend to be close to normal leveling routes in WoW Classic, so players don't have to go too far.
After that, though, you will be traveling between the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor pretty often to level efficiently as a Horde player. This guide explains the best Horde leveling route WoW Classic players can use to find level-appropriate quests in each level bracket – but don't forget to get some Dungeons done too.
Dungeons offer less XP per hour than questing alone, and should generally be avoided unless you get Dungeon Quests. These grant a lot of XP on their own, but you will also get gear upgrades and XP from Dungeons mobs at the same time.
Horde – Level 1 to Level 20 Guide
Complete Your Starting Zone & Two Secondary Zones
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 your initial zone quests you should have reached around Level 10, after which you can continue into the next area to continue questing.
- Tauren: Mulgore to The Barrens
- Orc & Troll: Durotar to The Barrens
- Undead: Tirisfal Glades to Silverpine Forest
Though Undead have access to Silverpine Forest, you will 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 Brill, then head southwest to get to The Crossroads.
The Barrens is one of the most dense zones for XP in the game, though its landscape is not the most interesting. You can stay in The Barrens until the early 20s if you take every quest.
Though Silverpine Forest has some great quests and, of course, Shadowfang Keep, The Barrens is just way more convenient and faster to level in, in part because there are two major Horde questing hubs. It's also connected to several questing zones that will be relevant after Level 20.
Horde – Level 20 to Level 30 Guide
The Barrens, Ashenvale, Stonetalon Mountains, Hillsbrad Foothills
You can feasibly level in The Barrens until around Level 22, after which Horde players should head to both Stonetalon Mountains and Ashenvale (in that order). The Stonetalon Mountains quests are great for questing in the late teens to early 20s, while Ashenvale remains a good place for questing into the late 20s.
Rotate between these three areas to get to around level 26 or 27, then head to the Hillsbrad Foothills.
WoW Classic: Best Professions For Hardcore Mode
Secondary Professions get a lot more use in WoW Hardcore, but only a handful of Main Professions will help you survive.
Hillsbrad Foothills connects to the southeastern tip of Silverpine Forest, so if you are an Undead or have picked up The Sepulcher Flight Point, it doesn't take long to get there. Plus, the Undercity is conveniently right next door, allowing for easy training and vendoring.
Tarren Mill can be found in the central-east of the Hillsbrad Foothills, and you can spend quite a few levels in this zone as a Horde player. Rotate between Hillsbrad and Ashenvale to reach level 30.
Horde – Level 30 to Level 40 Guide
Stranglethorn, Thousand Needles, Desolace, Badlands, Swamp of Sorrows
From Level 30 to 40 leveling can feel like a slog, and that's partly because of how far away every Horde questing zone is from each other. To start with, head to the southern Barrens to enter Thousand Needles, which will take you to around level 34.
The Shimmering Flats, in the southwest Thousand Needles area, is a particularly great place to level because you can complete every quest from this small hub just by doing circles around the raceway. You'll likely level up at least once just by completing these various monster and item drop quests.
After completing the quests in Thousand Needles and the Shimmering Flats, you have a few options. Desolace is relatively close, though you'll have to enter through the Stonetalon Mountains, and Stranglethorn opens up for questing.
Of the two, Stranglethorn is the better option as the quest and mob density is much higher than Desolace, and it remains relevant into the level 40 bracket. But if you run out of quests that you can do there, Desolace is a good backup for the mid-level 30 range.
When you get to the later level 30s, the Badlands and the Swamp of Sorrows become good places to quest as a member of the Horde. The Badlands can be tough to get to as you must go to Tarren Mill, head east through the Arathi Highlands, south through the Wetlands, then south through the Alliance-only zone of Loch Modan.
Once you get to the Badlands, there are a lot of quests that you can pick up in Kargath in the west of the zone. Once you pick up the Flight Point here, too, it becomes a lot easier to get back – especially if you have your Hearthstone set to Booty Bay.
WoW Classic: Should You Choose Horde Or Alliance?
The Horde and Alliance are very different in terms of their lore and leveling experiences, and it can be hard to choose between the two WoW factions.
To get to the Swamp of Sorrows, head to Grom'Gol Base Camp in Stranglethorn Vale, then go north into Duskwood. Travel to the far east of this zone, and avoid Alliance Guards, to reach Deadwind Pass. Carefully follow the road east through this small zone to get to the Swamp of Sorrows and the Stonard Flight Point.
The Swamp of Sorrows and The Badlands are relatively close to one another. Once you have 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, Searing Gorge
From Level 40 to level 50, things slow down a little bit. You will need to first finish up in The Badlands, then head back to Stranglethorn Vale as you simultaneously finish quests in The Swamp of Sorrows.
At around level 42, you'll have to head back to Kalimdor to Feralas to continue finding level-appropriate quests. You can get to Feralas by heading northwest of Thousand Needles, where Camp Mojache can be found just inside the border along the main road.
Once you get to the Flight Point here, rotate between Stranglethorn Vale and Feralas until you get to around Level 45. At this point, you should be about done in Stranglethorn but still working on quests in Feralas. Thankfully, your next level-appropriate zone is right nearby.
Head south from the Shimmering Flats to reach Tanaris and get to Gadgetzan. Just by doing Gadgetzan/Tanaris and Feralas quests, Horde players should be able to get to around level 48.
At this point, you should head back to The Badlands and go east through the mountains to reach The Searing Gorge. The Searing Gorge has quests that are appropriate for the late level 40s into the early 50s, and as you finish in Tanaris and Stranglethorn, you should be able to get to 50 just with The Searing Gorge.
World of Warcraft Classic: Best Professions For Each Class
World of Warcraft Classic players who want to pair their class with the most beneficial profession should use this guide to find the best match.
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. That's because in the home stretch, the amount of XP it takes to level up increases significantly, and players need to pick up just about every possible quest to get to max level.
After finishing up in The Searing Gorge, head back to Kalimdor and go north through Ashenvale to reach Felwood, which also serves as a decent place to pick up quests in the late level 40s. To the far, far south, Un'Goro Crater becomes available for leveling in the early 50s, and you will have to fly back and forth between these two locations for optimal XP gains.
At around Level 54, it's time to head back to the Eastern Kingdoms once more for the Blasted Lands and both of the 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 Glades.
Just like Felwood and Un'Goro, prepare to spend a lot of time flying between the Blasted Lands and both Western and Eastern Plaguelands as you approach max level.
You can also rotate in Azshara as you reach max level, though there are not many quests in this relatively sparse zone. Its proximity to Orgrimmar makes it easy to get back and forth from, though.
At about level 57 to 58, it's not a bad idea to rotate in some quests in Winterspring, too. Found through the cave in the northeast of Felwood, Winterspring's city of Everlook has a handful of endgame quests that should get you to level 60 alongside other high-level quests in the Plaguelands and Blasted Lands.
World of Warcraft
- Released
- November 23, 2004
