How to Farm Profession Knowledge in WoW Dragonflight

Professions in WoW Dragonflight received a drastic overhaul, creating a much deeper and more involved system than before. The newly-implemented Knowledge system is a key part of it, allowing adventurers to specialize by investing points in several talent trees in each profession. Such points may be earned through an assortment of in-game activities. Read this guide to discover all the ways to earn Knowledge Points available to players so far.

How Does Profession Knowledge Work?

All primary crafting and gathering professions in Dragonflight allow their users to specialize in Knowledge. After reaching skill level 25 in a primary profession, players can start spending Knowledge Points acquired from various sources to unlock talents that grant professional stat bonuses and other benefits. Such talents typically apply when working with specific kinds of nodes or items, and increase the probability of desirable outcomes when using professions, making them invaluable for anyone using this system. There are a few more things to bear in mind before we move on to specific farming methods:

• Knowledge Points are always exclusive to their profession. While some items allow recipients to choose where to assign points, they cannot be transferred between professions once acquired;
• Adventurers can earn items that grant points for their profession before skill level 25, but they will not be able to use them until meeting that threshold;
• Many activities that yield Knowledge Points also provide Artisan’s Mettle. This currency may be spent in a variety of ways, some of which grant even more Knowledge Points as discussed below;
• While some methods of earning Knowledge are available from the beginning, others require unlocking World Quests and Adventure Mode first. To do so, at least one adventurer per account must complete the Dragonflight campaign;
• There are no caps on how many points an adventurer can earn, meaning they can cover all specializations eventually. However, there are no refunds on specializations either, and earning points becomes more difficult after the first 150 or so. As a consequence, players should be careful about how they allocate points, focusing on what will help their main professional activities;
• The amount of points required to fully master each profession varies, ranging from around 400 for Skinning to over 800 for Blacksmithing;
• Secondary professions are not integrated into this system;
• No catch-up mechanics have been introduced so far, though this may change in the future.

Profession Knowledge Point Sources

When a hero starts learning a profession in Dragonflight, they receive numerous opportunities to improve their Knowledge. All of them have their own peculiarities, which must be understood for players to plan farming in an informed way. 

Limited Sources

Many of the opportunities for earning Knowledge Points can only be used a limited amount of times on each character. Those sources tend to be quite rich and they are crucial for professional advancement, but after a while, players will have no choice but to farm renewable sources described in the rest of this guide. The limited-use sources include:

• Crafting an item using a specific recipe or harvesting resources from a particular sort of nod for the first time yields a point. This is a major source of points at the start, but it is limited by the number of unique recipes and nodes in the MMORPG. Note that the gathering version of this method does not work for Skinning, which uses dead enemies instead of nodes. Self-Grown Herbalism nodes do not count as a different type of nodes from their wild varieties, although nodes with other modifiers are considered distinct;
• Asking NPCs known as Masters for training immediately grants a ten-point bonus. The trick is finding those Masters. Each primary profession has one such NPC hidden in some remote part of the Dragon Isles;

• Collecting profession-exclusive Treasures tucked away throughout the archipelago gives three points for their profession. This source exclusively benefits crafters. While all adventurers can see those Treasures, only those of them who have at least 25 skill in the appropriate profession may pick them up. They become bound to the hero once acquired. Each Treasure may be claimed once per adventurer;
• While earning Renown with factions, heroes can receive books that grant Knowledge for different professions they possess at 14 and 24 Renown thresholds. The professions that may benefit from this vary from one faction to another. Only currently active professions benefit from these awards. If the adventurer lacks any professions supported by the faction when they reach those thresholds, they will not benefit at all;

• Using Profession Notes. Those consumables must be purchased from a vendor called Rabul in exchange for Artisan’s Mettle. Each one provides +15 points. All primary professions have their own Notes. However, any individual adventurer may only purchase three for each currently-possessed profession. The vendor may be found in the Artisan’s Market of Valdrakken.

Future updates may expand some of those limited sources, especially since there are plans for new zones that are likely to include unique gathering nodes and other special opportunities. That would provide a boost to players’ profession-leveling efforts, but renewable sources remain key in the long run.

Random Drops

When harvesting resources, gatherers (including Skinners) have a chance to get an item that enhances Knowledge. The generic drop of this type has two versions: a rare item that gives one point and an epic item that gives three. Once every week, adventurers might collect up to five one-point items and one three-point item for each profession they have. There are also Knowledge items with a much lower drop rate that are not subject to this cap. For the most part, they are connected to specific types of nodes. Raising the Perception stat increases the likelihood of finding such drops.

For their part, crafters have a small chance of obtaining one-point Knowledge items for their professions as random loot from containers or monsters. Those drops are completely unpredictable but seem to be even less frequent than the gathering drops. As such, it makes little sense to try and farm them as a strategy, but they still offer a useful contribution to the advancement process whenever the hero gets lucky.

Dragon Shards

This source must be unlocked by playing through a series of quests that serve as an introduction to the updated profession system. Adventurers can undertake those tasks with level 60 or higher and skill levels in at least one Dragon Isles crafting profession. During the quest line, the adventurer will receive four Dragon Shards of Knowledge as rewards. Once it is done, they will be able to retrieve additional Shards from the strongbox, supply, and treasure containers related to various Dragon Isles factions.

Shards may be delivered to Khadin, a centaur NPC encountered during the questline, in return for Knowledge points that would go towards raising a profession known by the adventurer. All current professions are eligible and the player gets to choose which one will get a point whenever they turn in a Shard. There are no limits on how many Shards one hero can obtain or turn in during any time interval, so it is just a matter of luck while exploring. Players who already completed the questline once get a chance to skip it for future heroes when first meeting a representative of the Artisan’s Consortium in the Ruby Life Pools. Whoever uses this skip will get three Shards instead of four, but earlier access to random Shards makes it worthwhile. 

Profession World Quests

After playing through the campaign once, players can unlock World Quests, including ones given by profession trainers in the hub. New heroes on the same account gain access to them through Adventure Mode. Other than the unlock, the only requirement for taking on those quests is having at least 50 skill levels in their respective professions. Their rewards are consumables that increase the hero’s Knowledge of the quest giver’s profession by two or three points, depending on the profession in question. The consumables bind to adventurers upon being picked up as rewards.

Completing those quests typically requires turning in items. Adventurers do not have to produce or harvest them personally, despite what the descriptions may suggest. Buying them from the Auction House or some other source is a viable approach. The quests often feature specific requirements for quality that must be observed precisely (even superior items will not satisfy them). The quests may be repeated on a weekly basis, making them the most reliable means of professional advancement. Both gatherers and crafters can improve using this method.

Inscription Products

Scribes have the unique capability to produce items called Dragon Treatises. Each Treatise has a specific profession as its subject and grants one point of Knowledge to its reader. An adventurer can use one Treatise of a particular type every week. Those consumables bind upon being picked up as well. Non-Scribes who want to improve their professions using Treatises will need to use the new crafting order system to obtain them from player crafters. Treatises have steep material requirements, including Artisan’s Mettle, a rare Skinning Reagent, Glittering Parchment, and an Awakened elemental essence, with certain elements corresponding to different professions.

Darkmoon Faire

The monthly recurring event includes quests for all primary professions, with rewards including skill levels, Knowledge Points, and Artisan’s Mettle. Those quests have no special requirements and are basically unchanged from previous expansions. That being the case, they are very easy to complete, simply calling for a small number of turn-ins related to the profession. Each one can be done once per event. Darkmoon Faire is around once a week each month, making this a very convenient if minor boost.

How We Can Help

Farming Profession Knowledge can be a frustrating grind, especially if one wishes to experiment with different skills or deepen their mastery of a profession after running out of easy sources of points. CakeBoost’s WoW Boost services allow aspiring crafters and gatherers to sidestep this issue. By purchasing WoW Profession Knowledge Boost services for their desired professions, customers can leave this farming task to professional gamers. Our team can reach any target level in minimal time, assigning points in accordance with the client’s preferences and giving them full use of the revamped professions’ functionality.