WoW - Gear Upgrades: Dawncrests Explained

If you haven’t played modern WoW for a while, the gear upgrade system can look confusing at first. You clear a dungeon, get an item, and that is only the start of the gearing process. Now it is time for tracks, Dawncrests, Hero gear, Myth gear, weekly caps, and upgrade levels. The only explanation given is a small questline that shows where upgrades are happening, and Midnight changed the system again by removing Valorstones entirely.

Midnight Season 1 once more rebuilds how gear progression works in WoW. Instead of upgrading items with a mix of currencies, players now use Dawncrests. These are special upgrade materials earned from endgame activities like Mythic+, raids, Delves, and other seasonal content.

This sounds confusing at first, but it becomes much easier once you understand three things:

• where Dawncrests come from
• which gear tracks they upgrade
• when an item is actually worth upgrading

That matters even more now because Patch 12.0.7 is approaching fast. The upcoming Sporefall raid introduces some of the strongest loot currently available in Season One, which completely changes how players should think about spending upgrade resources late into the patch cycle. 

In this guide, we’ll break down how Dawncrests work in WoW Midnight, how gear upgrades function, where to farm each crest type, and what players should prioritize.

What Are Dawncrests?

Dawncrests are the main upgrade currency in WoW Midnight.

Blizzard removed Valorstones entirely, so the gearing system now revolves around different tiers of Dawncrests.

The system follows a very straightforward structure:
lower difficulty content rewards weaker Dawncrests, while harder activities reward stronger ones used for higher-end gear upgrades.

At the same time, every item in Midnight belongs to an upgrade track. Gear starts on tracks with Adventurer before scaling upward into Veteran, Champion, Hero, and eventually Myth gear.

That’s where upgrade ranks like “Hero 3/6” come from. The first part tells you the gear track, while the second shows how far the item has already been upgraded inside that track.

The easiest way to understand the system is this - higher track means higher maximum item level.

A fully upgraded Champion item will still end up weaker than fully upgraded Hero gear, no matter how many resources you invest into it.

How Gear Upgrades Actually Work

Gear upgrades in WoW Midnight are handled through two vendors: Cuzolth and Vaskarn. Cuzolth is the actual upgrade vendor used to increase item levels with Dawncrests, while Vaskarn allows players to exchange Dawncrest tiers if they no longer need a certain type.

Both NPCs are currently located in Silvermoon City at:
/way #2393 48.6 61.7

The process itself is simple. You talk to Cuzolth, place your item into the upgrade window, and spend Dawncrests to raise the item’s rank. Every upgradeable item belongs to a gear track: Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, or Myth, with each track containing 6 upgrade levels. 

Upgrade costs are fixed across all tracks:

Upgrade Rank     Cost:

• 1/6 → 2/6    10 Dawncrests
• 2/6 → 3/6    20 Dawncrests
• 3/6 → 4/6    30 Dawncrests
• 4/6 → 5/6    40 Dawncrests
• 5/6 → 6/6    50 Dawncrests

Fully upgrading a single item costs 150 Dawncrests total.

The important part is that different gear tracks require different Dawncrest tiers. Lower-tier Dawncrests are relatively easy to farm through casual content, but Hero and Myth Dawncrests become heavily restricted by difficulty requirements and weekly caps.

The type of Dawncrest required depends entirely on the gear track and the content difficulty tied to it.

Mythic+ Crest Rewards:

Keystone Level	Crest Type	Approximate Reward
+2 to +3	Champion Dawncrests	~12 per run
+4	Hero Dawncrests	~14 per run
+5	Hero Dawncrests	~16 per run
+6 to +8	Hero Dawncrests	scales upward
+9 and above	Myth Dawncrests	highest-tier rewards

Current Raid Rewards:

Raid Difficulty	Crest Type	Approximate Reward
LFR	Veteran Dawncrests	~15 per boss
Normal	Champion Dawncrests	~15 per boss
Heroic	Hero Dawncrests	~15 per boss
Mythic	Myth Dawncrests	~15 per boss

Delves also contribute surprisingly well to progression now:

• Tier 7-10 Delves support Champion progression
• Higher Delver systems can eventually reward Myth Dawncrests
• Rank 4 Delver’s Journey unlocks Gilded Stashes containing 5 Myth Dawncrests each
• Up to 4 Gilded Stashes can currently be earned weekly for a total of 20 Myth Dawncrests

Midnight currently uses a weekly cap of 100 total Dawncrests per week, which means players cannot instantly max every slot. That’s also why gearing priorities have shifted dramatically now that Patch 12.0.7 and the Sporefall raid are approaching.

That’s why most late-season players are currently prioritizing upgrades on:

• weapons
• trinkets
• tier pieces
• crafted gear with optimized stats
• long-term BiS slots unlikely to be replaced quickly

Midnight also introduced Warband-based upgrade discounts. Once your account has already reached a higher item level for a slot, upgrading weaker items for alts or off-specs becomes significantly cheaper.

This makes alt gearing much smoother than older expansion systems and reduces the punishment for switching characters later into the season.

Why Patch 12.0.7 Changes Gearing Priorities

The biggest reason players are saving resources right now is Sporefall.

Patch 12.0.7 introduces a new one-boss raid centered around Rotmire, and despite only containing a single encounter, the raid drops some of the strongest gear currently available in Midnight Season One.

Sporefall gear uses the new “Sporefused” tag and reaches item levels up to 298 on Mythic difficulty. That places it above standard fully upgraded Mythic raid gear and on the same level as Ascendant Voidcore-enhanced items.

Originally, Blizzard planned randomized secondary stats on this gear. PTR updates later changed that approach entirely, replacing randomized stats with fixed combinations instead.

Players can now plan upgrades much more efficiently because they already know which Sporefall pieces are likely to become best-in-slot for certain classes and specs. Instead of gambling on random stat rolls, players can target very specific items ahead of time.

As a result, many players are now avoiding heavy upgrades on temporary filler gear and saving Hero or Myth Dawncrests for items that are more likely to survive into late-season progression.

Where Players Usually Waste Dawncrests

The most common mistake is upgrading gear simply because it has a higher item level.

That strategy works early in an expansion, but later in a season it often backfires. Spending large amounts of Hero or Myth Dawncrests on pieces with wrong stats can leave players stuck once stronger raid loot becomes available.

Right now, the safest long-term investments are usually weapons, trinkets, tier pieces, and crafted items with strong stat combinations. Those pieces tend to remain useful much longer than random filler slots.

You still need enough item level to comfortably farm weekly Vault rewards and higher keys, but fully maxing every slot right before Sporefall launches can become incredibly inefficient if Rotmire immediately replaces half your gear.

Mythic+, Raids, and Delves

Mythic+ remains one of the fastest ways to farm Dawncrests because keys are repeatable and scale naturally into higher crest tiers.

Raids work similarly, with higher difficulties rewarding stronger upgrade tracks and stronger crest tiers. Heroic and Mythic raids remain one of the main progression paths.

Delves are still relevant as well, especially for solo players and alts. They provide steady progression, additional upgrade resources, and weekly rewards without requiring organized group play.

Final Thoughts

Dawncrests now sit at the center of WoW Midnight gearing. Whether you raid, push Mythic+, farm Delves, or gear alts, almost all endgame progression eventually feeds back into the upgrade system.

At first glance, the number of upgrade tracks and crest tiers can look overwhelming. But once you understand how content difficulty connects to gear progression, the system becomes much easier to manage.

Right now, the best decision is to wait for Sporefall to arrive.

And if you want to speed that process up, LevelUpper covers Mythic+, raids, Delves, weekly progression, and endgame gearing throughout Midnight Season One. Use code LUBLOG10 for 10% off.