Take the cloak to the item upgrade NPC in the current expansion's main hub — Dornogal in The War Within — and pay Valorstones plus the crest that matches its upgrade track. The back slot has no special vendor and no separate currency; it upgrades through the same system as every other armor piece you own. The one real exception is the Battle for Azeroth legendary cloak, which Wrathion ranks up in the Chamber of Heart.
How to upgrade a cloak, step by step
- Hover the cloak in your bags. The bottom of the tooltip shows its upgrade track and current rank — something like Champion 3/8. If there is no track line, the item cannot be upgraded at all.
- Fly to the expansion's main city hub and find the item upgrade NPC. In The War Within that is Dornogal; in Dragonflight it was Valdrakken. They are marked on the map with the upgrade icon and usually stand near the vendor cluster.
- Open the upgrade window and drag the cloak into the slot.
- Pay the cost: Valorstones plus crests. Each rank adds a few item levels.
- Repeat until the track caps out. Past that point you need a higher-track cloak from a drop, a vault reward, or crafting.
Which crest pays for which rank
| Upgrade track | Crest tier used |
| Explorer / Adventurer | Weathered |
| Veteran | Carved |
| Champion | Runed |
| Hero / Myth | Gilded |
Valorstones drop from almost everything you do — world quests, dungeons, delves, weekly content — so they are rarely the bottleneck. Crests are. Blizzard also shifts the exact crest breakpoints between seasons, so check the upgrade window's own tooltip before you commit a stack.
Where do I upgrade the legendary cloak from Battle for Azeroth?
Ashjra'kamas, Shroud of Resolve is handled by Wrathion in the Chamber of Heart, the Heart of Azeroth chamber beneath Silithus. You do not spend Valorstones or crests on it — its ranks come from running Horrific Visions and turning in the currency you earn there.
It is legacy content now and gets outscaled quickly at max level, but it is still worth finishing if you want the transmog, the achievement, or a solo cloak for old-content farming.
Can I push a cloak past its track cap?
No. Each track has a hard ceiling, and once the cloak sits at max rank the NPC will not take it further. To climb higher you need a new back piece that drops on a better track — heroic or mythic raid loot, higher key rewards, or a Great Vault pick.
Because of this, do not dump Gilded Crests into an Explorer-track cloak. Upgrade the low tracks only enough to be functional, and save the top crests for pieces you will keep all season.
What's the fastest way to farm crests for it?
Mythic+ and raid are the reliable sources for the higher crest tiers, with delves and the weekly quest chain filling in the lower ones. Cap-chasing weekly activities first, then spend — running one extra key is usually faster than grinding world content for the same value.
Do cloaks count as tier pieces?
They do not. Class set bonuses live on head, shoulders, chest, hands and legs, and the Catalyst converts items into those slots only. Your cloak is pure stats and item level, which makes it one of the safest slots to upgrade early — you will not break a set bonus doing it.
If the crest grind is the part you would rather skip, PewPewShop's vetted human players run coaching and play-together progression help — real players, no bots or cheats, and a long clean record. Handy when you want the keys and raid slots done properly instead of spending your week farming currency.