You upgrade WoW gear at the Item Upgrade NPCs in the expansion's main hub city — Dornogal in The War Within, Valdrakken in Dragonflight. Walk up, drag the item into the upgrade window, and pay in Valorstones plus the Crest tier that matches your gear's upgrade track. Crafted gear is different: it upgrades at a crafting table through Reforge, not at the NPC.

The short version

  • Where: Item Upgrade NPC in the current capital (Dornogal / Valdrakken), usually next to the crafting and profession area. Ask a guard or check the map for the anvil-style upgrade icon.
  • What you pay: Valorstones (the generic currency, drops from nearly all content) plus Crests (the tiered currency — the higher your item track, the higher the Crest tier required).
  • What upgrades there: dungeon drops, raid drops, PvP gear, world-content gear — anything with an upgrade track shown in the tooltip.
  • What doesn't: crafted items. Those use the Reforge tab at a crafting table with Sparks and Crests.
  • Catalyst: converting a non-set piece into a tier set piece happens at the Revival Catalyst, a separate NPC — that's a conversion, not an upgrade.

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How to upgrade, step by step

  1. Fly to the current expansion's main city and find the Item Upgrade vendor (the crafting district is the usual spot).
  2. Talk to them to open the upgrade window.
  3. Drag in the piece you want to upgrade. The window shows its current track, the next rank, and the exact cost.
  4. Check the Crest line. If you don't have enough of that tier, you'll need to run higher content — Crest tiers are gated by difficulty.
  5. Confirm. The item's item level goes up immediately; enchants and gems stay on it.

Where do I get Valorstones and Crests?

Valorstones come from almost everything: world quests, delves, dungeons, raids, weekly activities. You'll rarely be short of them long-term. Crests are the real bottleneck — they're tiered, and each tier drops from a specific difficulty band, with the highest tiers locked behind top-end Mythic+ keys and Mythic raid bosses.

If your upgrades have stalled, it's almost always Crests, not Valorstones. Look at what content actually awards the tier you need, and run that instead of grinding easier stuff.

What's the cheapest way to raise item level?

Upgrade your highest item level pieces first, and prioritize weapons and trinkets — they carry the most throughput per item level. Don't burn Crests on a slot you're likely to replace from your weekly vault or the next raid lockout.

Also check for discount mechanics: once you've reached a given rank on a slot with one character, the game frequently reduces or waives the cost for repeats, which makes alts and off-spec sets far cheaper than the first climb.

Can I upgrade crafted gear the same way?

No. Crafted items don't go to the Item Upgrade NPC. Open a crafting table, use the Reforge option, and pay with Sparks plus Crests. It's the same idea, a different door — a lot of players waste time hunting for a crafted piece in the NPC window that will never appear there.

Is upgrading worth it, or should I just farm drops?

Both. Upgrading is the reliable floor — you decide when your item level goes up instead of hoping for a drop. Drops are the ceiling. The practical approach is to upgrade the pieces you're confident you'll keep (weapons, tier pieces, strong trinkets) and let loot handle the rest.

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