WotLK Inscription Guide: 1 – 450 (WoW Classic Leveling)

Inscription is a profession introduced in WotLK and it has many different uses. Our WotLK inscription guide will teach you all you need to know and help you level it up quickly. The main purpose of inscription is to create glyphs – special class unique items that make abilities more powerful. 

Each character can use 3 major and 3 minor glyphs, 6 in total (12 if they learn dual talent specialization). This means glyphs will always be in demand, which makes inscription a lucrative profession. That’s why I strongly suggest if you have much free time and many alts to train inscription on at least one of them. 

Another way of making money with this profession is to create Darkmoon Cards of the North. Every time you do it you will receive one random Darkmoon card. If you collect all the necessary Darkmoon cards, you can combine them in a Darkmoon deck, and change it for a very strong trinket. The most sought-after deck is the Nobles Deck, and the card pieces for that one can be very expensive. 

The biggest advantage of inscription is that you will be able to enchant your shoulders with 4 different powerful enchants:

• Master’s Inscription of the Storm gives 46 more spell power than the normal enchant
• Master’s Inscription of the Crag gives 46 more spell power than the normal enchant
• Master’s Inscription of the Axe gives 80 more attack power than the normal enchant
• Master’s Inscription of the Pinnacle gives 40 more dodge rating than the normal enchant

Not only are those enchant more powerful than the normal ones, but they help you avoid an otherwise very annoying reputation grind with the Sons of Hodir. 

Scribes use Milling to create the mats they need. Just like prospecting in jewlcrafting destroys 5 ore to find gems, milling destroys 5 herbs to create pigments. You can learn herbalism as your second profession to make the leveling process easier, but it’s not mandatory.

You can buy all the herbs or pigments directly from the auction house. In the total mats needed section, we included how many herbs you will need to buy/gather if you want to mill them yourself. 

Total mats needed for 1-450 Inscription

Inscription guide WoW Classic

Start by learning inscription from one of these trainers:

Apprentice inscription (1 – 75)

• 1 – 19
  18x Ivory Ink – 18x Alabaster Pigment
• 19 – 35
  16x Scroll of Stamina – 16x Ivory Ink, 16x Light Parchment
• 35 – 53
  22x Moonglow Ink – 44x Alabaster Pigment (This recipe goes yellow at 45. You will need 22 of them for the next step.)

Don’t forget to train Journeyman inscription (75 – 150) once you reach skill level 50.

• 53 – 75
  22x Armor Vellum – 22x Moonglow Ink, 44x Light Parchment

Journeyman inscription (75 – 150)

• 75 – 80
  20x Midnight Ink – 40x Dusky Pigment (This recipe starts yellow and goes green at 77. You will need 20 of them for the next step.)
• 80 – 100
  20x Any Glyph – 20x Midnight Ink, 20x Light Parchment

You will have an option of several orange glyphs. Create the ones which sell the best or ones you will use yourself. Those glyphs will go yellow at 90. Then you can learn new orange glyphs from the trainer.

• 100 – 105
  47x Lion’s Ink – 94x Golden Pigment (This recipe starts green. You will need around 47 of them for the next step.)
• 105 – 150
  47x Any Glyph – 47x Lion’s Ink, 47x Common Parchment

You will have an option of several orange glyphs. Create the ones which sell the best or ones you will use yourself. For every 5 skill points, you will have an option to learn new orange glyphs from the trainer. 

However, there isn’t a glyph that stays orange from 145 to 150, so you might need to make a bit more during that part.

Expert inscription (150 – 225)

• 150 – 155
  47x Jadefire Ink – 94x Emerald Pigment (This recipe starts green. You will need around 47 of them for the next step.)
• 155 – 200
  47x Any Glyph – 47x Jadefire Ink, 47x Common Parchment

You will have an option of several orange glyphs. Create the ones which sell the best or ones you will use yourself. For every 5 skill points, you will have an option to learn new orange glyphs from the trainer. 

However, there isn’t a glyph that stays orange from 195 to 200, so you might need to make a bit more during that part.

Don’t forget to train Artisan inscription (225 – 300) once you reach skill level 200. 

• 200 – 205
  47x Celestial Ink – 94x Violet Pigment (This recipe starts green. You will need around 47 of them for the next step.)

Artisan inscription (225 – 300)

• 205 – 250
  47x Any Glyph – 47x Celestial Ink, 47x Heavy Parchment

You will have an option of several orange glyphs. Create the ones which sell the best or ones you will use yourself. For every 5 skill points, you will have an option to learn new orange glyphs from the trainer. 

However, there isn’t a glyph that stays orange from 245 to 250, so you might need to make a bit more during that part.

• 250 – 255
  20x Shimmering Ink – 40x Silvery Pigment (This recipe starts green. You will need 20 of them for the next steps.)
• 255 – 260
  5x Scroll of Spirit V – 5x Shimmering Ink, 10x Heavy Parchment
• 260 – 275
  15x Any Glyph – 15x Shimmering Ink, 15x Heavy Parchment

You will have an option of several orange glyphs. Create the ones which sell the best or ones you will use yourself. For every 5 skill points, you will have an option to learn new orange glyphs from the trainer. 

If you want you can do this all the way till 290. 

• 275 – 290
  15x Ink of the Sky – 15x Sapphire Pigment
• 290 – 300
  15x Ethereal Ink – 30x Nether Pigment (This recipe goes yellow at 295.)

Inscription guide TBC

Master inscription (300 – 350)

Learn Master inscription (300 – 375) from one of these trainers:

Inscription guide WotLK

Grand master inscription (350 – 450)

Learn Grand Master inscription (350 – 450) from one of these trainers:

• 350 – 355
  85x Ink of the Sea – 170x Azure Pigment (This recipe starts yellow. You will need around 85 of them for the next steps.)
• 355 – 360
  5x Scroll of Spirit VII – 5x Ink of the Sea, 10x Resilient Parchment
• 360 – 365
  5x Scroll of Intellect VII – 5x Ink of the Sea, 10x Resilient Parchment
• 365 – 370
  5x Scroll of Strength VII – 5x Ink of the Sea, 10x Resilient Parchment
• 370 – 375
  5x Scroll of Agility VII – 5x Ink of the Sea, 10x Resilient Parchment
• 375 – 380
  Snowfall Ink – Icy Pigment (This recipe starts green. Keep making it until it becomes grey. You will need Snowfall Ink for Northrend Inscription Research. Each ink requires 2 Icy Pigment.)
• 380 – 385
  7x Any Glyph – 7x Ink of the Sea, 7x Resilient Parchment

You will have an option of several yellow glyphs. Create the ones which sell the best or ones you will use yourself. Because they are yellow, you might need to make a bit more than 5. 

• 385 – 386
  1x Northrend Inscription Research – 3x Ink of the Sea, Snowfall Ink, 5x Resilient Parchment (This spell has a 20-hour cooldown.)
• 386 – 400
  20x Create the glyph you just learned – 20x Ink of the Sea, 20x Resilient Parchment (The glyph you learn will go yellow at 390, so you might need to make more than 15.)
• 400 – 405
  5x Scroll of Stamina VIII – 5x Ink of the Sea, 10x Resilient Parchment
• 405 – 410
  5x Scroll of Spirit VIII – 5x Ink of the Sea, 10x Resilient Parchment
• 410 – 415
  5x Scroll of Intellect VIII – 5x Ink of the Sea, 10x Resilient Parchment
• 415 – 420
  5x Scroll of Strength VIII – 5x Ink of the Sea, 10x Resilient Parchment
• 420 – 430
  12x Scroll of Agility VIII – 12x Ink of the Sea, 24x Resilient Parchment (This recipe goes yellow at 425, so you might need to make a bit more than 10.)
• 430 – 450
  After this point there are no more good recipes to level up. You can buy Book of Glyph Mastery on the auction house to learn new recipes and use Northrend Inscription Research every 20 hours. Create the glyphs that sell the best or the ones you are going to use. You can also do Darkmoon Card of the North for the Darkmoon card pieces.

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Thank you for reading our WotLK inscription guide. This is usually considered as more of a money-making profession rather than a minmaxing one. Still, the stat bonuses you will get from the shoulder enchants are on par with bonuses from some of the other professions. Plus this way you can entirely ignore the whole Sons of Hodir quest chain and grind. Scribes best ways of making gold are selling glyphs and Darkmoon cards on the auction house. Track the dates when Darkmoon Faire is about to come and sell your cards accordingly.