Starting your journey in the new WoW expansion and not sure which professions to pick? Our WoW Midnight Profession Tier List has you covered with all the details on profession changes in WoW Midnight, a full ranking list based on beta and hundreds of hours of testing, plus the best combos for every class spec aimed at gold and gear gains.
WoW Midnight Profession Changes
Professions in WoW Midnight keep much of the familiar structure from the previous expansion. The systems of profession stats like multicraft, resourcefulness, ingenuity, and concentration remain intact. If you're comfortable with crafting orders, knowledge points, and specialization trees, you'll find that most of what you already know applies directly to Midnight. From crafting high-end gear and weapons to creating bags and even housing decor, there's a place for every playstyle, hardcore or casual.
The three primary ways to profit remain: delivering on crafting orders (especially for high-end gear), leveraging armies of alts for cooldown crafts like tailoring bolts, and focusing on easy-to-produce consumables, gear, or bulk reagents for ordinary market demand. This expansion, a fourth strong opportunity emerges - housing decor crafting, which cleverly spreads new recipes across questing, boss drops, world drops, and vendor purchases, instead of locking everything behind a trainer.
Most of what you'll find in Midnight will feel familiar if you've kept up with recent expansions. The systems have not been entirely reinvented, so experienced crafters can focus on tweaking their existing setups.
But there are a few tweaks in Midnight to be aware of:
Reagent Qualities: Consumables and reagents now only have two quality levels, simplifying your inventory compared to the previous three-tiered system. Armor will still feature five ranks.
Artisan's Moxy: The new Artisan Moxy is now profession-specific rather than a general resource. For instance, crafting with alchemy provides Alchemist Moxy, which cannot be used for tailoring or other trades. This change effectively ends the old practice of shuffling professions on a single character to stockpile general-purpose crafting currency. Now, achievements in a profession contribute only to that profession.
Profession Tools: Midnight introduces a third, epic tier of profession equipment, expanding on the familiar rare and basic options. However, whether Moxy will be required to craft these top-tier tools is still uncertain. Watch for this in patch notes.
Specializations: Specialization trees have seen some minor tweaks and recipe additions, but the overall structure is unchanged. New alchemy and tailoring talent trees follow the same format from before, with dedicated branches for things like potion types and bolt crafting.
Some outdated mechanics have been pruned—alchemy, for instance, has scrapped the RNG recipe discovery for a more straightforward research system based on achievement-style unlocks. Other tweaks include shifting spellthread recipes for tailoring to raid drops and reputation vendors, and streamlining complex crafts like ammo and scopes in engineering.
WoW Midnight Profession Tier List
After hundreds of hours testing on beta, here's how each profession ranks for making gold and crafting gear, considering both casual and dedicated players:
1. Inscription (S Tier)
Inscription has secured its place as the top choice for many players once again. This time, its crafting potential covers a massive range of items, making it exceptionally versatile for those aiming for easy profits through every stage of production. The variety is enormous, and for anyone who enjoys calculating profit margins, Inscription remains the most robust option for vertical integration in Midnight. Although the knowledge tree now requires fewer points—down to 50 from the prior 90 for maxing multicraft and resourcefulness—it’s still really easy to set up. Milling continues to serve as a central mechanic, which is a distinct advantage since similar mechanics were removed from other professions such as tailoring. While contract mats and ciphers may see a slight dip in demand, they’re still reliable sellers. As for Dark Moon Card shuffles, this feature has been added, potentially offering a sharp boost to gold income.
2. Mining & Herbalism (S Tier)
Mining and Herbalism provide a hassle-free route to gold, especially in the early days of the expansion. These professions stand as the backbone for solo farmers, allowing players to gather resources needed by nearly every crafter in the game. There's no need to deal with crafting system details or group coordination. The basic builds will serve most players well, while specialized farming setups offer ways to target moats, which are widely used in crafting. With most players looking for the fastest way to riches at launch, gathering professions never really lose their appeal—and they’re as straightforward as ever.
3. Jewelcrafting (S Tier)
Jewelcrafting, while perhaps not the leader in raw gold obtained, has become the most engaging due to major adjustments. Every material in Jewelcrafting—including glass, stone, and all gems (even epics)—now features quality ranks, a dramatic shift from previous expansions. This shakeup encourages experimentation and makes prospecting and gem crushing much livelier pursuits. Some rare gem crafts require fewer resources, making it easier for general crafters to compete on the Auction House. Previously, vials sat in a sweet spot for crafting profitability, but now only top-rank vials are crafter-made, with rank ones coming from vendors. This could shift glass prices, but the profession keeps its appeal for anyone seeking an interesting, competitive market.
4. Alchemy (S Tier)
Alchemy has been streamlined, with the knowledge requirement for baseline and rank 2 crafts reduced compared to previous expansions. No longer do you need to sink points into every single herb—now you direct your points precisely where you want, such as flasks or void potions. This makes experimentation far easier and makes it approachable regardless of your playstyle. RNG recipe discovery has been removed, replaced by a simple purchase system using moxy and herbs for new recipes. Transmutes look stronger due to moats being widely consumed, allowing for regular item swaps that may last all expansion long. Daily cooldown products feed directly into high-demand items like cauldrons, though the loss of formerlogy is still keenly felt.
5. Enchanting (A Tier)
Enchanting continues to profit through disenchanting and shattering. Optional reagent crafting (like mirror powder) is gone, which sometimes brought small but useful sales, but the base line of enchants remains unchanged. The introduction of shattering epic crystals and rare shards from the outset adds new avenues for material shuffling. Even without concentration, certain high-rank enchants or oil-type crafts performed decently last expansion, and the same logic applies here. This profession will always be valuable for clever AH players.
6. Engineering (A Tier)
Entering Midnight, Engineering misses out on new mounts, but makes up for it with the introduction of the recycling mechanic. By breaking down crafts from any profession, engineers obtain ephilum and ever cause, required for their own products. Engineering relies heavily on recycled materials, moving away from just farming mounts and instead using the whole crafting economy. The return of ammo and scopes satisfies a constant market, since demand for these never dries up for class-specific best-in-slot lists. Though the profession feels trimmed, the recycling system gives spreadsheet enthusiasts another layer to work with.
7. Tailoring (A Tier)
Tailoring has shifted directly from cloth to bolts, dropping the unraveling stage, which had previously gated easy gold. While producing bolts is less restrictive, high-end bolt crafts—like Sunfire Silk Bolt and Arenoe Bolt—require far more crafts at launch than before, with ongoing demand for linked items such as enchants. However, basic bolt crafting feels flood-prone, as the market is less protected by complex requirements, though top-rank crafters can do well if they act quickly. Spellthread recipes and cloth gathering also see changes, with spellthreads tied to vendors and raid drops instead of knowledge trees.
8. Skinning (A Tier)
Skinning introduces high-value beasts, but their loot doesn’t quite measure up to group farming in volume, meaning solo players won’t see substantial gains from this new system right away. Across the board, majestic materials (claw, hide, fang) build on what worked well before and cater to alt armies seeking more activity than simple concentration crafts provided. The meat-focused side still lags behind and is largely ignored. Skinning maintains its steady role—and for dedicated skinners, there are profits to be made through old tricks and new items alike.
9. Blacksmithing (B Tier)
Blacksmithing has seen the removal of the ever burning buff, which was a divisive feature last expansion. This removal means less hassle, but the profession has not filled the void with fresh mechanics. With frameworks gone and new equivalents folded into patron orders, Blacksmithing revolves around a few alloy types and stone crafts. Alloy spamming still sells well, but the profession feels pared down without much variety, suffering from poor stat scaling in gear. While blacksmiths will still find success in high-frequency selling, the excitement just isn’t there.
10. Leatherworking (B Tier)
Leatherworking feels very similar to the previous expansion, minus the issue of overskilling with low-rank materials. Now, with fewer types of craftable hides (down to scale woven hide and infused scale woven hide), the variety takes a slight dip which affects gold income potential. Core offerings—armor kits, embellishments, weapons, intermediate items, drums—remain reliable, but market depth is not what it was. In the past, leatherworking had some of the highest margins, though items tended to move slowly. This pattern continues, distinguishing it from the flashier, faster markets.
11. Cooking (B Tier)
Cooking has changed little: it still offers a wide selection of food buffs and feasts, but also new TE’s granting bonuses to speed or farming stats. The multi-step crafting pipeline that once bolstered profitability is gone; the only notable sub-craft is breaking fish into fillets. Moxy’s profession tie-in actually harms Cooking, since there is no exclusive moxy—meaning everyone can obtain profession gear day one. With leveling so easy and near-zero barriers to entry, Cooking finds itself overcrowded, lowering the average value of its crafts.
12. Fishing (B Tier)
Lastly, Fishing remains an enjoyable diversion with some new perks, including a rare drop mount and updated treasure chest mechanics. These chests can hold various loot, such as moes, pearls, and profession recipes. Fishing poles feature more unique effects than in the past, and certain mishaps (like blood hunters or spirit fish) bring life to the routine. Despite these upgrades, as a secondary profession, it simply doesn’t hold up in gold-per-hour terms to main gathering trades. For those seeking quick cash, it’s not the top choice, but the charm and fun are undeniable.
WoW Midnight Best Professions & Combinations for Every Class
Choosing the right profession combos often comes down to your role and goals. Here are some standout picks for each class archetype:
Best Professions Combos for Plate Classes (Warrior, Paladin, Death Knight)
Mining + Blacksmithing/Engineering: Mining pairs well with either craft by providing your own raw mats. Blacksmithing continues to deliver key gear, even if its stat scaling is underwhelming. Engineering is ideal for utility items, ammo, and scopes.
Mining + Jewelcrafting: Supply your own gems and materials, and capitalize on the revamped prospecting system.
Best Profession Combos for Leather/Mail Classes (Rogue, Monk, Druid, Shaman, Hunter, Evoker)
Skinning + Leatherworking: Still the classical pairing, especially for early expansion. Cooldown crafts and majestic materials keep the profit flowing.
Herbalism + Inscription/Alchemy: Very lucrative for steady gold. Inscription offers massive options for vertical integration, while alchemy’s simplified system and transmute cooldowns provide reliable sales.
Best Profession Combos for Cloth Classes (Mage, Priest, Warlock)
Tailoring + Enchanting: Bag demand is high as always, and cooldown bolts remain a strong choice for alt armies. Enchanting profits from disenchanting shuffles and shattering.
Herbalism + Alchemy: Supplements your own potion/flask needs and can serve as a foundation for a gold-making empire.
Best Profession Combos for Any Class – Solo Gold Making
Mining + Herbalism: No crafting needed, just pure gathering for millions in the first weeks.
Inscription + Any Gathering: Mass crafts yield steady profits. If you want to invest deeply into decor, Inscription is the profession with the most options.
Casual and Alt Play
Use alts for tailoring cooldowns, transmute cooldowns in alchemy, or to craft basic bags and consumables. Even without deep specialization, markets for base goods always exist, especially right after launch.