World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is enjoying its swansong season in the lead-up to The War Within, and naturally, players are eager to get the most out of the season before it ends, including getting their gear as powerful as possible.

One way to do that is using Awakened Crests, which players can earn and spend to upgrade gear and exchange and transmute to fit their gear levels. This guide explains what Awakened Crests are and how and where to exchange them in Dragonflight.

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What are Awakened Crests in WoW Dragonflight?

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Awakened Crests are a resource in season 4 of Dragonflight, which are used to upgrade gear to improve its item level and stats. There are four types of Crest, each earned through different levels of content in the endgame of Dragonflight, which are as follows:

Crest Name

How to Obtain

Whelpling's Awakened Crest

  • Looking for Raid
  • Heroic Dungeons
  • World Quests and other open-world activities

Drake's Awakened Crest

  • Normal Raids
  • Mythic Dungeons
  • Weekly Events in The Emerald Dream

Wyrm's Awakened Crest

  • Heroic Raids
  • Mythic+ between +2 and +5

Aspect's Awakened Crest

  • Mythic Raids
  • Mythic+ from +6 onwards

There is a cap of 120 per crest each week, meaning players can earn 120 weekly and will then need to wait until after the weekly reset to earn more.

How to Exchange Awakened Crests

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Players can exchange their Awakened Crests at Vaskarn, a NPC found outside the Auction House in Valdrakken at coordinates (46, 55). This NPC will let you exchange your Crests and downgrade them to the previous version. So, for players who have completed higher-end content that may need some lower-level crests without doing lower-level content, this is the way to get some. For example, a player may exchange 15 Wyrm's Awakened Crests for 15 Drake's Awakened Crests. The conversion is 15 to 15, so no crests are lost.

Additionally, it is possible to upgrade your crests, but this is a more costly method and requires players to reach certain milestones. To unlock this feature, players must have all their gear reach the maximum item level for that crest tier to update that crest to the next. We have listed the requirements below.

Upgrade

Requirements

Whelping to Drake

All gear at item level 489

Drake to Wyrm

All gear at item level 502

Wyrm to Aspect

All gear at item level 515

Unlike downgrading, upgrading has a ratio of 6:1, so it takes 90 crests to upgrade to 15 of the next crests, making it a more significant decision and investment to consider.

With this system, players can refine and upgrade their gear to take on tougher content. Along with other systems and features in season 4, like the Antique Bronze Bullion, getting geared up is easier than ever, allowing players to prepare for the next expansion, The War Within, which arrives later this year.

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World of Warcraft: Dragonflight Tag Page Cover Art
World of Warcraft: Dragonflight
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Released
November 28, 2022
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
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Developer(s)
Blizzard, Activision
Platform(s)
PC
Genre(s)
MMORPG