The legendary cloak from A Legend in the Making is the single biggest power gain a character makes in Mists of Pandaria Classic. It is also a long, gated chain that stretches across the entire expansion's raid tiers. Wrathion hands it out in five chapters, and most of the wait is not effort — it's lockouts. Here is exactly what each step asks for and roughly how long it takes if you raid normally.

Chapter I: Sigils, the Trillium Bar, and a PvP detour

It opens when Wrathion summons you to the Tavern in the Mists. The first real grind is Sigil of Wisdom and Sigil of Power — 20 of each, dropped by rare-ish mobs and bosses across the four MoP raids of tiers 14 and 15 (Mogu'shan Vaults, Heart of Fear, Terrace of Endless Spring, Throne of Thunder). They drop from trash and bosses on any difficulty, so LFR counts. Realistically that's two to four weeks of raid clears because each raid only resets weekly.

Alongside the sigils you'll turn in a Trillium Bar (cheap from any Blacksmith or the auction house) and then win battlegrounds and arenas for the PvP turn-in. The PvP step — winning 40 arena matches or several rated/random BG objectives — is the part most PvE players hate. If you never touch PvP, this is one of the few spots where buying a coordinated arena win carry genuinely saves a frustrating weekend, since the requirement is wins, not skill. The chapter ends with a solo scenario, The Strength of One's Foes, which is trivial.

Chapter II: Secrets of the Empire

This is the longest single bottleneck in the whole chain. You need 10 Secrets of the Empire, and they only drop from bosses inside Throne of Thunder. Each boss has a chance to drop a Secret, and your odds scale with difficulty: LFR gives the lowest rate, Normal more, Heroic the most. On a full clear most players collect 2 to 4 Secrets per week, so plan on roughly three to five weeks here even with good luck. Running both LFR wings and a Normal clear in the same week is the fastest legitimate way to stack drops.

Because this step is pure RNG locked behind weekly resets, it's the gate that decides whether your cloak lands early or late in a tier. There's no way to speed it past your raid lockouts — the only lever is clearing on the highest difficulty you can handle.

Chapter III: A Test of Valor

A flat, no-drama grind: earn 3,000 Valor Points. Valor is capped at 1,000 per week, so this is a hard three-week minimum regardless of how much you play. You bank it through heroic dungeons, scenarios, LFR, and daily quests. The smart move is to start farming Valor the moment you hit Chapter III rather than letting the cap reset unused — every week you skip is a wasted thousand points. Many players let Valor accumulate during the Secrets grind so this step finishes the same week.

Chapter IV: The Prophet's Game and the Celestials

Now the cloak starts to feel legendary. First comes A Test of Valor's follow-up, then the real wall: The Crown of Heaven and the fight against the Four Celestials — Yu'lon, Chi-Ji, Niuzao, and Xuen — in a special solo or small-group encounter on the Timeless Isle. This step also requires 20 Titan Runestones, which drop from Siege of Orgrimmar bosses (tier 16), again with difficulty-scaled rates of roughly 2 to 4 per week. So Chapter IV cannot even begin in earnest until SoO is open and you're clearing it, and the Runestone collection itself is another four to six weeks.

The Celestials fight is a genuine skill check — it tests your class's defensive cooldowns, interrupts, and movement solo. Undergeared or new players frequently wipe here repeatedly. If you're stuck, it's worth pushing your own gear first; this is a fight that rewards learning your kit, and outsourcing it teaches you nothing for the heroic raid content the cloak is meant for.

Chapter V: Spirit of the Celestials and the final upgrade

The finale, Judgment of the Black Prince, sends you to confront Wrathion's grand plan. Mechanically the last quests are mostly cinematic and a few collection turn-ins — no new weekly lockout beyond finishing the Runestones. Complete it and you receive your tier-appropriate legendary cloak (Qian-Le, Qian-Ying, Jina-Kang, Fen-Yu, or Xing-Ho depending on your class and role), each carrying the powerful Cha-Ye / Spirit of the Celestials proc that fuels MoP DPS, healing, and tanking throughput.

Realistic total time

  • Sigils + PvP (Ch. I): ~2-4 weeks
  • 10 Secrets of the Empire (Ch. II): ~3-5 weeks
  • 3,000 Valor (Ch. III): 3 weeks minimum, often overlaps Ch. II
  • 20 Titan Runestones + Celestials (Ch. IV): ~4-6 weeks after SoO opens
  • Finale (Ch. V): a single session

End to end, a steady raider finishes the cloak in roughly 10 to 14 weeks of consistent weekly clears — much of it dictated by lockouts you simply cannot bypass. Alt characters following a main move faster only because the player already knows the route, not because the gates shrink.

When a carry actually makes sense

Most of this chain rewards just showing up weekly, and honestly the cheapest path is to fold it into a raid group you'd run anyway. The two spots where time-for-money trades make sense are the PvP win requirement in Chapter I (pure wins, no learning value) and getting Throne of Thunder or SoO Heroic clears when your guild has stalled and your drop rates are throttled by low difficulty. A single Heroic SoO carry can fast-track Runestones and gear in the same lockout. For everything Valor-related, don't bother paying — the weekly cap means money can't beat the calendar. Buy time where the game gates you on wins or boss kills, and grind out the parts that are just patience.