WOW Professions Guides

Professions Edit

Primary professions Edit

Gathering Edit

Profession	Description
[Herbalism]	Harvest herbs from the ground and some dead mobs.
[Mining]	Mine ore, minerals, various gems and stone from protruding veins or deposits. Requires a Mining Pick. The smelting sub-profession uses aForge to smelt the ore into bars of metal (Smelting works like a crafting profession.)
[Skinning]	Skin skinnable corpses for hides, leather, and scales. Requires a Skinning Knife.

Production Edit

Profession	Description
[Alchemy]	Mix potions, elixirs, flasks, oils and other alchemical substances (usually liquid) using herbs and other reagents. The concoctions you create can temporarily ward against any kind of magic and power any attribute. Most recipes require various types of vials. High level alchemists can also transmute essences and metals into other essences and metals. Alchemists can specialize as a Master of Potions, Master of Elixirs, or a Master of Transmutation.
[Blacksmithing]	Smith various metal weapons as well as mail and plate armor and other useful trade goods like keys, shield-spikes and weapon chains to prevent disarming. Blacksmiths can also make items from stone to temporarily buff weapons. Blacksmiths can also socket one-handed weapons, bracers, and gloves.
[Enchanting]	Extract magical dusts, essences and shards for use to enchant various attributes, powers, and properties to all sorts of equipableitems. Enchanters can also make a few low-level wands, as well as oils that can be applied to weapons providing a temporary buff. All Enchanters make their own magical rods which they need in order to cast enchantments. The disenchanting ability available to all enchanters could be considered the "gathering component" to enchanting.
[Engineering]	Engineer mechanical devices, trinkets, guns, ammunition, goggles, and explosives, such as grenades, explosive sheep, mechanicalpets, etc. Pretty much, being an Engineer gives you all sorts of unconventional and sometimes useful abilities. Usually these items are crafted with metal, minerals, and stone. Most engineering products can only be used by engineers. While not as profitable as the other professions, Engineering is often taken to be one of them most entertaining ones. Engineers can specialize as Goblin or Gnomishengineers.
[Inscription]	Create glyphs that modify existing spells and abilities for all classes. Also creates buff scrolls which were previously only looted items and some offhand books and trinkets which often provides different spells. A scribe can also create vellums for storing enchantments performed by Enchanters for later use, scrolls which can teleport the scribe around in the world (or to a random location if the user is past the scroll's level limit) and Darkmoon Cards. Inscription comes with the ability to mill herbs to create pigments, needed to craft inks. Inscription has no specialization within the profession.
[Jewelcrafting]	Craft rings, necklaces, BoP trinkets, jeweled headpieces and all kinds of powerful gems giving all kinds of attributes to be placed in special armor or weapons. No matter what class you are, being a Jewelcrafter is always useful as powerful BoP-gems can improve any stat and attributes you need. The extra ability of Prospecting comes with this craft, which allows you to prospect minerals from raw ore(that has been mined but not smelted), thus supplying you with the raw / uncut gems you need.
[Leatherworking]	Work leathers and hides using such items as thread and salts into goods such as leather armor and armor kits. Leatherworkers can also make very low level cloth capes and, after level 40, sets of mail armor. Other things they can craft are different bags, drums giving various buffs and abilities, and riding crops.
[Tailoring]	Sew all sorts of cloth goods, including cloth armor and many kinds of bags. Also weave raw cloth items such as linen cloth into bolts of that type of cloth. Other crafted goods are nets to slow enemies with, flying carpets to ride on, and magical threads which empowers items they are attached onto. Usually requires various types of thread to make finished items.

Secondary professions Edit

Profession	Description
[Archaeology]	Gathering - Unearth valuable artifacts and earn unique rewards. These artifacts may include companion pets, mounts, poweful weapons and armor, toys or other useful items as well as grey quality "junk" that can be vendored for gold.
[Cooking]	Crafting - Cook ingredients to create food that can also provide temporary buffs. The buffs can increase nearly every stat, and some give you unusual passive abilities. In order to cook, you must usually create a campfire. Completing certain cooking quests give cooking awards which unlock new recipes and even a Chef's hat which increases cooking speed.
[First Aid]	Crafting and Service - Create bandages and poison-cleansing anti-venoms and apply them. Considered a must-have-profession for all classes who are not able to heal themselves via magic or the like. Bandages can be used on targeted players of the same faction that are within range of the caster.
[Fishing]	Gathering - Fish from lakes, rivers, and oceans (and more) using a Fishing Pole. The items you fish up can be anything from gray junk to epic treasures and even a couple of raid bosses. Many fish can be eaten raw, but Cooking them usually enhances their restorative powers or duration of buffs provided.

Pseudo professions Edit

These skills are not true professions in that they are not available to all classes and do not gather or create something directly to make money via something like the Auction House (which all true professions can now that Enchanting can be applied to scrolls which can be sold).

Profession	Description
[Lockpicking]	Service - Open locked chests and doors. Lockpicking used to be a Rogue class skill. It is now an ability within the rogues spell book. The rogue's lockpicking ability scales with the rogue's character level times five (LVL*5), up to a maximum of 425 at level 85. Lockpicking services are often in demand and are marketed/solicited on the trade chat channel. Not really a profession. Almost purely a class skill, but can be used like a service profession.
[Riding]	Movement - Required to ride a mount. Riding is a skill that is taught like a profession, but it only provides a single skill (a riding ability) at each major proficiency level. It costs much more than a normal profession and it requires a much higher level than normal professions. It does not gather, nor produce. Some recently added mounts allow passengers, which might be used to provide a service, generating income. (Mounts are quite helpful when gathering.) Resembles a secondary profession in that it is available to all characters.
[Runeforging]	Enhancement - Death knight ability, which allows the Death Knight to affix their weapon with runic enchantments. Not really a profession. Purely a class skill, but resembles a very narrowed version of Enchanting.