Paragon arrives on Frostmourne on Wednesday, October 21.
For a lot of players on Frostmourne, reaching level 80 has meant one thing: log in for raid night, log out until the next one. We've spent a long time trying to change that. Path of War made it easier to get into PvP. Domination lets you overpower the old raids for transmogs, pets, mounts and toys, and it works hand in hand with the new collection system. Normal raids now have the Determination buff, which grows with every wipe, so even the most casual groups can clear every raid on Normal. Hardcore mode gives you one life and no second chances. Add the new legendaries, and there is a lot to do at 80.
We wanted to add one more thing. That's Paragon.
Paragon is a new kind of progression that belongs to you, the player, rather than to one character. It's account-wide: every level-80 character you play on a realm feeds the same Paragon level, so you never start over when you switch characters. You don't need to grind it separately either. You earn Paragon XP by doing what you already do at 80: Heroic dungeons, raids, battlegrounds, rated arena, Wintergrasp and daily quests.
We built Paragon around one rule: it must not give anyone an edge in competitive play at level 80. It won't make you stronger in arenas, battlegrounds, raids or dungeons. There are no stats and no extra talent points (well, maybe talent trees!). The perks save you time and make life at 80 more comfortable. A few examples:
- Flight Mastery halves the cost of flight paths and makes them twice as fast.
- Bottomless Pockets adds four slots to your backpack.
- Anywhere Is Home lets you pick your Hearthstone destination on the world map.
- Witness to Glory teaches you the appearances of the items a boss drops while you're there, whoever loots them.
- Talented gives you an extra saved talent tab.
Some perks help you earn Honor, Conquest, Justice or Valor faster, but none of them changes how strong your character is in a fight. There are 32 perks in total, and along the way you'll unlock rewards, achievements and a place in the player and guild rankings.
One level for your whole account
Your Paragon level, XP, perks and reward claims belong to your account on that realm. Any of your level-80 characters can earn Paragon XP, and you never have to pick a main.
Characters below level 80 don't earn Paragon XP yet, but they can see your Paragon level and use any learned perks that apply to them.
Your Paragon level is shown in brackets next to your character level, for example Level 80 (73). The number changes colour as you progress:
| Paragon level | Colour |
|---|---|
| 1 to 29 | Green |
| 30 to 69 | Blue |
| 70 to 99 | Purple |
| 100 and above | Orange |
The colours only show how far you've come. They don't unlock anything on their own.
Unlocking Paragon
Paragon starts with the quest Paragon of Azeroth. You're offered it when a character reaches level 80, or when you log in on a character that is already 80. If you decline, Rhonin in Dalaran will give it to you again, and he's also the one you turn it in to.
After accepting the quest you need to:
- turn in two daily quests,
- kill five Heroic dungeon bosses
- win one battleground. Arena matches and Wintergrasp don't count.
Turning it in unlocks Paragon for your whole account on that realm and gives 300 Paragon XP. You start at Paragon 1 with 300 of the 400 XP needed for Paragon 2, so your first perk is close. The unlock happens once per account and realm. When one character turns in the quest, it's removed from your other characters.
Paragon XP counts from the unlock onward. Anything you did before that doesn't award XP retroactively.
How Paragon XP works
Every activity has a multiplier. The Paragon XP you get is that multiplier times a base value, and the base value grows with your Paragon level:
Base value = 55 + 5 × your Paragon level
| Your Paragon level | Base value |
|---|---|
| 1 | 60 |
| 10 | 105 |
| 30 | 205 |
| 50 | 305 |
A Heroic raid boss has a multiplier of 1.0, so it gives 60 Paragon XP at Paragon 1 and 205 at Paragon 30. A Heroic dungeon boss has a multiplier of 0.15, so it gives 9 at Paragon 1 and 31 at Paragon 30. The result is rounded to a whole number. Each Paragon level also costs more XP than the one before, so the climb gets longer as the rewards get bigger.
The tables below list every multiplier, with examples at Paragon 1 and Paragon 30.
Server XP rates, rested experience and the Ancestral Wisdom perk have no effect on Paragon XP.
PvE
| Activity | Multiplier | Paragon 1 | Paragon 30 | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heroic dungeon boss | 0.15 | 9 | 31 | Every kill, full on all characters. Random, chosen dungeon or walk-in. |
| First Random Heroic of the day | 0.25 | 15 | 51 | Once a day per character. 50% after your first character. |
| Each further Random Heroic that day | 0.50 | 30 | 103 | Every run, full on all characters. |
| Domination raid boss | 0.15 | 9 | 31 | Once a week per boss. 50% after your first character. |
| Normal raid boss | 0.50 | 30 | 103 | Once a week per boss and raid size. 50% after your first character. |
| Heroic raid boss | 1.00 | 60 | 205 | Once a week per boss and raid size. 50% after your first character. |
| Daily quest | 0.18 | 11 | 37 | Once a day per quest. 50% after your first character. |
| Archmage Lan'dalock's raid weekly | 4.00 | 240 | 820 | Once a week per character. 50% after your first character. |
Random Heroic and Ascended I, II and III (when released) share one daily reward. Whichever you finish first that day counts as your first run, and changing Ascended tier doesn't give you another one. Bosses in these dungeons give their own XP on top of the completion reward.
Archmage Lan'dalock offers one of twelve raid weekly quests. They all count as the same weekly, so each character can earn it once a week.
Raid Bosses
10-player and 25-player raids are tracked separately. Within one size, Normal and Heroic count as the same boss for the weekly reward, and the difficulty you killed it on decides the multiplier. Your raid lockout decides whether a kill is new for that character, so switching difficulty won't give the same character a second reward for the same boss.
Here is one boss in one week, at Paragon 1:
| Kill | Paragon XP |
|---|---|
| Character A, 10 Normal (first on the account at 10) | 30 |
| Character B, 10 Heroic | 30 (50% of 60) |
| Character A, 25 Heroic (first on the account at 25) | 60 |
| Character B, 25 Normal | 15 (50% of 30) |
Holiday Dungeons
The Headless Horseman, Ahune, Coren Direbrew and Crown Chemical Co. queues each have their own daily reward with a multiplier of 0.25, separate from Random Heroic. Each character earns it once a day per event, with 50% after your first character. Further runs of the same event that day give that character no Paragon XP, and holiday bosses never give Paragon XP, queued or not.
PvP
| Activity | Multiplier | Paragon 1 | Paragon 30 | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Battleground win | 1.90 | 114 | 390 | Every win, full on all characters. The one exception: your first random battleground win of the day is 50% on characters after your first. |
| Battleground loss | 0.475 | 29 | 97 | Every loss, full on all characters. |
| Rated arena win | 1.10 | 66 | 226 | Every match, full on all characters. |
| Rated arena loss | 0.275 | 17 | 56 | Every match, full on all characters. |
| Arena skirmish | none | 0 | 0 | Skirmishes give no Paragon XP. |
| Wintergrasp battle won | 2.00 | 120 | 410 | Every battle, full on all characters. |
| Wintergrasp battle lost | 0.50 | 30 | 103 | Every battle, full on all characters. |
Honor, other currencies and Call to Arms rewards work as before.
Wintergrasp weekly quests
The Wintergrasp weeklies are split into five categories. Each category pays once a week per character, with 50% after your first character.
| Category | Multiplier | Paragon 1 | Paragon 30 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winning Wintergrasp | 2.40 | 144 | 492 |
| Killing enemy players | 0.40 | 24 | 82 |
| Siege vehicles | 0.40 | 24 | 82 |
| Southern towers | 0.40 | 24 | 82 |
| Rotating gathering task | 0.40 | 24 | 82 |
Alliance and Horde versions of a quest, and the different rotating tasks, count as one category. Which quests you get each week follows the normal Wintergrasp rotation. A full week of them adds up to 4.00, the same as Lan'dalock's raid weekly.
Fishing tournaments
Winning the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza or the Kalu'ak Fishing Derby has a multiplier of 10.00 through the winner's quest: 600 Paragon XP at Paragon 1 and 2,050 at Paragon 30. Only the actual winner qualifies.
What doesn't give Paragon XP
Trash, ordinary creature kills, holiday bosses, arena skirmishes and quests not mentioned above.
Resets
Daily rewards reset at the server's daily reset. Weekly rewards reset with the raid lockouts on Wednesday, not on a rolling 24-hour or 7-day timer.
Zul'Gurub, Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj and Zul'Aman move from three-day lockouts to seven-day lockouts that reset on Wednesday, like the rest of the weekly content.
A day in practice
All at Paragon 1:
| What happens | Paragon XP |
|---|---|
| Character A runs a Random Heroic, then another | 15, then 30 |
| Character B runs its first Random Heroic of the day, then another | 8, then 30 |
| A kills a Heroic dungeon boss, kills it again in another run, then B kills it | 9, 9, 9 |
| A turns in a daily quest, then B turns in the same one | 11, then 5 |
| A runs the Headless Horseman three times, B twice | 15, 0, 0, then 8, 0 |
Perks
The 32 perks are arranged in eight rows of four. From Paragon 2, every three levels you can learn one perk from the next row. After row 8 you go back to row 1 and pick a perk you don't have yet. That makes four passes through the rows, so by Paragon 95 you can have all 32. Every perk you learn stays active.
Reaching a choice level doesn't pick a perk for you, and you can leave a choice for later without losing it. There are no points to spend, no perk ranks and no prerequisites.
| Pass | Choice levels |
|---|---|
| 1 | 2, 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23 |
| 2 | 26, 29, 32, 35, 38, 41, 44, 47 |
| 3 | 50, 53, 56, 59, 62, 65, 68, 71 |
| 4 | 74, 77, 80, 83, 86, 89, 92, 95 |
Row 1 (first choice at Paragon 2)
| Perk | Effect |
|---|---|
| Well Rested | Rested experience builds up twice as fast, and kills while rested give 400% experience instead of 200%. Normal leveling only, not Paragon XP. |
| Daily Planner | You can complete five more daily quests per day. Your quest log stays the same size. |
| Field Medicine | Recently Bandaged lasts half as long. Doesn't work in instances or PvP. |
| High Alert | 50% better stealth detection against creatures. No effect against players or anything they control. |
Row 2 (first choice at Paragon 5)
| Perk | Effect |
|---|---|
| Lure Master | 30% chance to catch an extra fish while a fishing lure is active. |
| Flesh Wound | You come back at full health when resurrected in the open world. Doesn't work in instances or PvP. |
| Flight Mastery | Flight paths cost 50% less and fly twice as fast. |
| Spirit Journey | You move twice as fast as a ghost. Doesn't work in battlegrounds or arenas. |
Row 3 (first choice at Paragon 8)
| Perk | Effect |
|---|---|
| Ground Training | Eligible ground mounts run at +120% speed. No effect in battlegrounds or arenas. |
| Master Gatherer | Herbalism and Mining take half as long. |
| Kitchen Nightmares | Cooking has a 30% chance to make an extra item. |
| Domination Stride | You run 50% faster inside Domination raids. |
Row 4 (first choice at Paragon 11)
| Perk | Effect |
|---|---|
| Bottomless Pockets | Four extra slots in your main backpack. |
| Gourmand | Food buffs last twice as long. They don't get stronger. |
| Working Overtime | 50% higher chance to gain a profession skill point, so a 20% chance becomes 30%. |
| Bartering | 15% lower gold prices at eligible vendors. Prices in other currencies don't change. |
Row 5 (first choice at Paragon 14)
| Perk | Effect |
|---|---|
| Gotta Go Fast | Eligible flying mounts fly at +450% speed. |
| Ancestral Wisdom | 10% more normal experience for each level-80 character on your account on this realm. Doesn't affect Paragon XP. |
| Diplomacy | 10% more reputation for each level-80 character on your account on this realm. |
| No Time to Dismount | Gather herbs and mine ore without getting off your mount. |
Row 6 (first choice at Paragon 17)
| Perk | Effect |
|---|---|
| Nimble Hands | Crafting takes half as long. |
| Quality Seeker | Item Quality Upgrade chance is multiplied by 1.25, so 1% becomes 1.25%. |
| Nothing Up My Sleeve | Class spells no longer need reagents. Crafting materials are still needed. |
| Adaptive Riding | Your mounts scale with your riding skill. Ground mounts get +60% at Apprentice and +100% from Journeyman, flying mounts +150% at Expert and +310% at Artisan. A ground mount can't fly, and the usual flying rules, Cold Weather Flying included, still apply. With Ground Training or Gotta Go Fast, eligible mounts go up to +120% or +450%. |
Row 7 (first choice at Paragon 20)
| Perk | Effect |
|---|---|
| Portable Workshop | Craft without an anvil or forge nearby and without profession tools. You still need the materials, the recipe and the skill. |
| Witness to Glory | When a boss you helped kill drops loot, you learn the appearances of the items that dropped, whoever gets them. You don't get extra items or the boss's whole loot table. |
| Talented | One more saved talent tab, even without Dual Talent Specialization. No extra talent points, and one active build at a time. |
| Anywhere Is Home | When you use your Hearthstone, you can pick any valid Hearthstone destination on the world map. The cooldown stays the same. |
Row 8 (first choice at Paragon 23)
| Perk | Effect |
|---|---|
| Justice Mastery | 50% more Justice from eligible sources. |
| Valor Mastery | 50% more Valor from eligible sources. |
| Conquest Mastery | 50% more Conquest from eligible sources. |
| Honor Mastery | 50% more Honor from eligible sources. |
Resetting perks
You can reset all your perks at once for 500 gold per learned perk: 4,000 gold with 8 perks, 16,000 with all 32. After a reset you wait seven days before the next one, and that cooldown is shared by your whole account. Your Paragon level, XP and claimed rewards stay. Only your perk choices are cleared, and you can pick them again straight away.
Rewards
Besides perks, Paragon has a reward at level 4 and then every six levels up to 100. The first five are:
| Paragon level | Reward |
|---|---|
| 4 | Unclaimed Black Market Container |
| 10 | Cinder Kitten (pet) |
| 16 | Flamegrinder (appearance) |
| 22 | Bonesteed of Triumph (mount) |
| 28 | Staff of the Wild Hunt (appearance) |
Rewards from level 34 onward will be announced later.
Flamegrinder and Staff of the Wild Hunt unlock appearances in your collection. You don't get a weapon to equip.
Each reward can be claimed once per account and realm. All the rewards are account wide, so it doesn't matter which character claims it.
Unclaimed Black Market Container
Your first Paragon reward is a crate that never made it to the Black Market. Inside you'll find a pile of gold and one random item. Most often that's something useful, like potions, a flask, an elixir or a bag. With a little luck it's a pet, a piece of Tier 7 gear or even a mount.
The container is account-bound, so you can mail it to your own characters on the same realm but you can't trade it. Its contents are decided once and stay the same if you reopen it, log out or mail it.
Consider it a small taste of what's coming. A Black Market Auction House is on its way to Rebuffed, where players bid against each other for rare mounts, raid drops, pets, toys and other hard-to-find items.
The Paragon window
Shift+H opens the Paragon window, and you can change the key binding. One part shows your level, XP, perks and rewards, the other the player and guild rankings.
Paragon XP has its own cyan colour on the XP bar and in floating combat text. Quest windows and the Dungeon Finder show the exact Paragon XP you'll get, with the 50% and first-of-the-day rules already applied. Paragon of Azeroth shows its 300 XP before you've unlocked anything.
Rankings
The player ranking has one entry per account, shown under a character you choose. It's sorted by Paragon level, then by XP toward the next level.
The guild ranking adds up the total Paragon XP of every account with a character in the guild. Each account counts once per guild, however many alts it has there. XP earned before joining counts, and so do offline members.
Achievements
A new Paragon category adds 66 achievements worth 760 points. It covers Paragon level milestones, reaching levels 40, 60 and 80 on each class, leveling several classes, and faction and profession goals.
How long the road
Paragon 1 to 2 costs 400 XP. At Paragon 30 the next level costs 5,200 XP, and costs climb much faster from Paragon 70 onward. Paragon is meant to last, and you can work on it at your own pace with any character you like.
Path of War & Hardcore
Path of War characters have full access to Paragon. They earn XP, learn and use perks (Honor Mastery included), claim rewards and reset perks like anyone else. The existing Path of War rules for character-based achievements stay as they are, so these characters still don't count toward class, level, faction or profession achievements. That has no effect on their Paragon progress.
Hardcore characters can see your Paragon level, but while their Hardcore challenge is active they can't open the Paragon window, claim rewards or use perks. A Hardcore character that completes its challenge at level 80 joins Paragon like any other character and keeps its Hardcore history.
FAQ
When can I start? On Wednesday, October 21. Get a character to level 80 and pick up Paragon of Azeroth, or ask Rhonin in Dalaran for it.
Is Paragon shared between realms? No. It's shared by all of your characters on the same account and realm.
Does Paragon make me stronger in PvP or raids? No. Perks don't add stats, talent points or combat power. A few of them help you earn currencies like Honor or Conquest faster.
Why do my alts only get 50% for some things? Only rewards that are limited to once a day or once a week are halved, and only after the first character on your account has earned them. That stops character swapping from multiplying those limited rewards. Anything you can repeat freely, like dungeon bosses, battlegrounds or rated arena, is full XP on every character.
Do my lower-level characters get anything? They don't earn Paragon XP before level 80, but they can use any of your learned perks that apply to them.
Do arena skirmishes count? No. Only rated arena gives Paragon XP.
Do XP boosts or rested experience speed up Paragon? No. Paragon XP depends only on the activity and your Paragon level.
What do I lose if I reset my perks? Only the gold. Your level, XP and claimed rewards stay, and you can choose your perks again right away.
Can I play Paragon on Path of War or Hardcore? Path of War, yes, with full access. Hardcore characters can join once their Hardcore challenge is no longer active, for example after completing it at level 80.
What comes after Paragon 28? More rewards every six levels up to Paragon 100. We'll announce them later.
See you in Dalaran.