Mage Tower Timewalking Gearing Guide - Best Gear, Gearing Strategies, Gear Sources

By Anshlun Updated: 2025/12/02

Mage-Bound SpelltomeQuick SummaryBest Gear for Mage Tower Timewalking

Best Gearing Strategy for Mage Tower Timewalking

Chromie Time Gear Set
- Crafted PvP Gear
- Socketed Legion Gear
- Modern The War Within Gear

Comparing Gearing MethodsChromie TimeCrafted PvP GearMists of PandariaCrafted PvP pieces will usually be the easiest way to gear, for those under a budget of both time and goldLegion Contentmost importantaccess to legacy enchantsDragonflightThe War Within

Mage Tower Borrowed Power Restrictions
The borrowed power effects below are inactive during the Mage Tower Timewalking challenge.

All Shadowlands Covenant-related effects (Covenant Abilities, Soulbinds, Conduits)

All Shadowlands Legendary Gear effects

All Shadowlands Shards of Domination effects

All Battle for Azeroth Azerite effects (Azerite Gear and Traits, Azerite Essences)

All Legion Legendary effects

All Warlords of Draenor Legendary Ring effects

All Mists of Pandaria Legendary Meta Gem effects

All Tier Set Bonuses

Previous Legendary Items (Ashjra'kamas, Shroud of Resolve, Dragonwrath, Tarecgosa's Rest, Val'anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings, etc)

Gearing StrategiesChromie Time GearingChromie Time gear is the best way to gear for the Mage Tower Timewalking Challenge

Best Chromie Time Items for Mage Tower Timewalking

Shoulders: TBC Dungeon Shoulders with two sockets
Back: Any Legion Cloak with one random socket proc
Chest: TBC Dungeon Chest with three sockets
Wrists: TBC Dungeon Wrist with one socket

Alternate: Class Order Hall Wrists (Has one socket)

Hands: TBC Dungeon Gloves with two sockets
Waist: TBC Dungeon Waist with two sockets
Legs: TBC Dungeon Legs with three sockets
Boots: TBC Dungeon Boots with two sockets or Boots of the Crackling Flame/Dragon Slayer's Sabatons for cloth or mail wearers respectively
Rings: Insignia of the Grand Army + Random Legion/BFA Rings with one random socket

Alternate: Crafted Rings with Guaranteed Sockets

Note that only TBC items need Chromie Time to be obtained. Legion pieces can be obtained with normal gameplay.

level 44 or 45 characters

Important Notes

Avoid obtaining pieces above ilvl 120 because being ilvl 120 ensures that any enchants, including powerful legacy ones, can be applied to them
Turn off experience from the level 44 or 45 characters to not risk them leveling during the process

PvP Crafted Gearingbudget optionCrafted Dreadful GladiatorRelic of the Past IVRelic of the Past V

Best Crafted Items

Helm: Crafted Dreadful Gladiator Helm + Relic of the Past V
Neck: Elemental Lariat +3 Sockets from Tiered Medallion Setting Alternate: Prydaz, Xavaric's Magnum Opus or Prizerock Neckband
Any Legion Neckpiece with one random socket proc

Shoulders: Crafted Dreadful Gladiator Shoulders + Relic of the Past IV
Back: Legion Random Cloak with Random Socket Proc
Chest: Crafted Dreadful Gladiator Chest + Relic of the Past V
Wrists: Legion Random Wrists with Random Socket Proc

Alternate: Class Order Hall Wrists (Has one socket)

Hands: Crafted Dreadful Gladiator Hands + Relic of the Past IV
Waist: Crafted Dreadful Gladiator Waist + Relic of the Past IV
Legs: Crafted Dreadful Gladiator Legs + Relic of the Past IV
Boots: Crafted Dreadful Gladiator Boots + Relic of the Past IV (Relic of the Past V for Agility specs)
Rings: Insignia of the Grand Army + Random Legion/BFA Rings with one random socket

Alternate: Crafted Rings with Guaranteed Sockets

Obtaining Crafted Dreadful Gladiator PatternsVale of Eternal Blossoms

Tailors must level their Pandaria Tailoring to 25 and then seek out Silkmaster Tsai to learn Imperial Silk

Leatherworkers must obtain Pattern: Magnificence of Leather and Pattern: Magnificence of Scales by looting the patterns from Wyrmhorn Turtle in Valley of the Four Winds

Blacksmiths must go to the Isle of Thunder and kill Itoka to obtain Strange Metal Ingot to learn Lightning Steel Ingot.

Warlords of Draenor or Legion GearRandom Socket Procsone socketed piece in every slotBest Legion Items

Emerald Nightmare Items (Any difficulty)

Trial of Valor Items (Any difficulty)

The Nighthold Items (Any difficulty)

Tomb of Sargeras Items (Any difficulty)

Antorus, the Burning Throne Items

Crafted Legion Legendaries

Cloth: Celumbra, the Night's Dichotomy

Leather: The Sentinel's Eternal Refuge

Mail: Vigilance Perch

Plate: Rethu's Incessant Courage

The War Within GearDauntless, Relinquished, and Benthic Gear

Dauntless Gear

Sold by Warmage Kath'leen in Broken Shore

Costs Nethershard to purchase

Best way to get Nethershard quick is doing Legion Assaults or collecting Hidden Caches on Broken Shore

Relinquished Gear

Sold by Thaumaturge Vashreen at the Vindicaar

Costs Veiled Argunite to purchase

Best way to get Veiled Argunite quick is doing Greater Invasion Points and Rares in Argus

Benthic Gear

Sold by Artisan Itanu/Finder Palta in Nazjatar

Costs Prismatic Manapearl to purchase or drops from World Quests and Rares in Nazjatar

Best way to get Prismatic Manapearl quick is to complete World Quests and kill rares in Nazjatar

The War Within Special GearDarkmoon Deck: RadianceDragonflight Special GearCrafted PiecesWorld SetsDragonflight Crafted PiecesElemental LariatTiered Medallion SettingPendant of Impending PerilsBlue Silken LiningDragonflight Item SetsRaging Tempest Sets

Cloth: Drape of Raging Tempests

Leather: Shroud of Raging Tempests

Mail: Scales of Raging Tempests

Plate: Armor of Raging Tempests

Best TrinketsIntellect Trinkets

Unstable Arcanocrystal
Chipped Soul Prism
Unblinking Gaze of Sethe
Ravaged Seed Pod
Darkmoon Deck: Radiance
The First Sigil
Ghost Iron Dragonling (ask for a Cataclysm Engineer for cogwheel sockets)
Prophecy Tarot (get an ilvl120+ from the AH or craft one with Relic of the Past IV)
Armored Elekk Tusk (doesn't share an on-use CD with other trinkets)

Agility Trinkets

Chipped Soul Prism (can proc a socket)
Dragonspine Trophy
Ravaged Seed Pod (can proc a socket)
Darkmoon Deck: Radiance
The First Sigil
Ghost Iron Dragonling (ask for a Cataclysm Engineer for cogwheel sockets)
Prophecy Tarot (get an ilvl120+ from the AH or craft one with Relic of the Past IV)
Armored Elekk Tusk (doesn't share an on-use CD with other trinkets)

Strength Trinkets

Tiny Abomination in a Jar
Chipped Soul Prism (can proc a socket)
Dragonspine Trophy
Ravaged Seed Pod (can proc a socket)
Pocket-Sized Computation Device + Cyclotronic Blast
Gronntooth War Horn
Darkmoon Deck: Radiance
The First Sigil
Ghost Iron Dragonling (ask for a Cataclysm Engineer for cogwheel sockets)
Prophecy Tarot (get an ilvl120+ from the AH or craft one with Relic of the Past IV)
Armored Elekk Tusk (doesn't share an on-use CD with other trinkets)

Best Weapons

Chromie Time Weapons

Garrosh Heirloom Weapons

Dragonflight/Shadowlands Weapons

Maximize the number of sockets
for instance, casters can get Sun-Infused Focus Staff and melee can get Crow Wing Reaper with three sockets using Chromie Time!

Garrosh HeirloomsSpecial Chromie Time WeaponsGarrosh Heirlooms from Siege of Orgrimmar

Here is a list of the Heirloom weapons obtained from Garrosh Hellscream in Siege of Orgrimmar during Mists of Pandaria (or Remix: Pandaria):

Special Chromie Time Weapons

Singing Crystal Axe (BoE)

The Jackhammer (BoE)

Blackout Truncheon

Destiny (BoE)

The Bladefist

The Dusk Blade (BoE)

The Night Blade (BoE)

More Legion Tower Timewalking InformationMage Tower Class Guides

Blood DKFrost DKUnholy DK

Havoc DHVengeance DH

Balance DruidFeral DruidGuardian DruidRestoration Druid

Beast Mastery HunterMarksmanship HunterSurvival Hunter

Arcane MageFire MageFrost Mage

Brewmaster MonkMistweaver MonkWindwalker Monk

Holy PaladinProtection PaladinRetribution Paladin

Discipline PriestHoly PriestShadow Priest

Assassination RogueOutlaw RogueSubtlety Rogue

Elemental ShamanEnhancement ShamanRestoration Shaman

Affliction WarlockDemonology WarlockDestruction Warlock

Arms WarriorFury WarriorProtection Warrior

Comments

Comment by Mighty1404

What about WoD heirloom trinkets? They have bonus effects against demons (type of creature quite common in Legion). Are they good enough/scale properly to be used?

Comment by Valkyl

Crafted rings/necks can scale up using relics of the past, therefore your filter which is set to only look at ilvl 50-150 is missing out on the 2 socket crafted ring "Shadowmight Ring" and 2 socket neck "Necklace of the Deep".

Comment by Zyrinx

"you'll never need any of that stuff in Void Storage", they said...........

Comment by JinxTheGamer

Wait, so we need to grind 99% obsolete gear solely to be able to do MT TW? What the hell is this nonsense! =.="

Comment by FeralSynapse

Crafted Crafted Dreadful Gladiator items are class restricted. Demon hunters cannot use these items.

Comment by Elunario

What is about these items:

They offer 8 sockets in total, and I checked on my Leatherworker that they can be scaled with relics. Also they have a lot of evade which is nice for melee classes.

Comment by Froko

Quite honestly I've tried most of the challenges on PTR. Most of them seemed pretty doable (although I have concerns about Xylem challenges since healing legendaries for all the classes that had it are gone and AoE'ing crystalls with aoe softcap is nightmare).
Personally, I'm aiming for 36/36 in the first rotation of Legion TW and I've really only prepared trinkets (DST + Pod from EN for STR users, DST + Pod/Mirror of the blademaster for Agi, Owl from ToS + Iskar for casters)

Comment by Sarthorius

I find it funny the guide not mentioning one of the best trinkets for Timewalking (at least for agility users, including elemental shammy): Mirror of the Blademaster.

Comment by Jun1us

I think Highborne Compendium of Storms is still worth to be mentioned. Yes, it was nerfed before the Shadowlands launch, but before it was actually buffed by scaling changes between 8.3.7 and 9.0. You can see its strength on the timewalking raid bosses, for example.

Comment by Bumbac

Legion dungeon (nm/hc/mt), raid (lfr/nm/hc/mt), token, world quests, etc. gear is all ilvl 50(60) and can proc both socket and leech.

Comment by Bakermoose

Shouldn't the crafted class necks be considered, the dawnlight ones for instance for paladins?

Comment by Kidneph

Silly question, but why do the BC items have to be Chromie time specifically? Im assuming it has something to do with stat scaling, but does this mean if i go in at 60, get the pieces in just regular means they wont be scaled as high as if it was from chromie time?

Comment by sanyex

What about this ring?
Shadowmight Ring
I have one with ilvl 54

Comment by V3rtige

This guide is worrying. Blizzard is doing !@#$ if we have to farm this

Comment by Olsofa

It would been wise of wowhead to make this guide as preparation for this event during their news drought.
Seeing this now just makes it frustrating how much farming one has to do, given how timelimited this event really is.

Comment by mobhunter

With the Pandaria legendary cloaks seemingly unaffected by the instance, I've seen other guides recommend them as the best option. I also have a Legion cape with a socket, so I'm trying to decide between the two for the BM hunter challenge. Anyone have any thoughts? Thank you.

Comment by etceteralol

Degenerate $%^& like this is why Blizzard deactivates sets and need items after expansions.

Mage tower is an optional piece of content and having an guide on optimal gear only legitimises the min/maxing culture thats pervasive through the community.

A commenter above me already thinks he has to farm this gear to do the content. What he doesn't realise (and likely the large majority of the playerbase) is optimal ain't gonna help you if you're bad. If you need evidence of this, see the bucket loads of tears from people progging M Painsmith

Comment by Cerealkiller16

Insane to me that if they were going to scuff item scaling and require you to farm old expansions with no notice before launch, and even greater limitations on usable enhancements that were usable back in legion, that this wasn't done as a fixed generic gear for each spec proving grounds style. That way nobody can get advantage from obscure stat manipulation, and everyone is on a completely level playing field. Makes the rewards even more prestigious because you know the people didn't spend hundreds of thousands of gold compiling bunk items to trivialize the content.

Comment by Charlayne

Is there any way to get back things we sold/destroyed way back when we were told we didn't have to keep stuff in our bags? If I show it in my transmog (for leather pieces), I have had possession of it. I should be able to get it back. Going to farm something I already owned is stupid.

It's already a given that I'm not getting the mount--there's no way I have enough different characters to go through this to get the mount. Which sucks, because not everyone plays all of the classes and do not play them well enough to beat the already hard-as-hell Mage Tower.

Comment by TheMadMohawk

Does the socket bonus work in timewalking mage tower?

Comment by beefyOCE

I found Ghost Iron Dragonling @ 54 with the 16 stat cogs ( they stay 16) + Unblinking gaze of sethe to work a treat even on non int toons.
May have just gotten lucky on procs but nice big dam :)

Comment by Silverz

I tried the timewalking strategy to get gear, Most of the items I was able to funnel from my chromie toon to my main, but some items like the Rightous helm could not be traded. Wondering if this is working as intended or I'm doing something wrong.

Edit...could not trade spaulders of the righteous either.

Comment by Elandria

What about ? : O

Comment by Cassador

Boots: Crafted Dreadful Gladiator Boots + Relic of the Past IV ( Relic of the Past V for Agility specs) makes the boot 54 and not able to receive enchant, if you going to make a guide make sure you got your ducks in row buddy!

Comment by Greedifox

Anyone else's Decanter of Anima-Charged Winds doing like 1% damage? Spent 4 hours farming for one just to find out it isn't working...

Comment by xXderpxx

I'd recommend Bloodthirsty Instinct from Ursoc as well for agility or strength trinkets. Strength users don't benefit from the agility but it is a nice haste buff that procs quite a bit especially for execution phases. (of course this is less than ideal trinket but nice for those who are lazy to go get the better haste trinket)

Comment by Incendrus

At the moment the gearing guide is wrong. The covenant class sets work in mage tower. I used the nightfae se on shaman and warlock. They do in fact still spawn,tank,heal, and provide a constant 60 intellect.

Comment by Sarthorius

Did some research here on wowhead and on my crafters, and got these craftable items, with around 1 more socket than those in the guide or sockets on extra slots (like weapons and shields). These should at least serve at least for your alts that will hit the MT as some can need some hard to get reagents:

For shields (Prot War/Paladin and Elemental/Resto Shammies) you can include Elementium Earthguard and Elementium Stormshield as both have the relic optional slot (preferably Reliv IV, since there are cool enchants for them, up to 50 ilvl) AND gem slot.

For Plate Chest(3 sockets)+Bracers(1 socket)+Gloves(2 sockets) there are the Adamantite Breastplate, Adamantite Plate Bracers and Adamantite Plate Gloves, if you use the set, you gain +1 weapon damage (and I just saw another chest plate, sold by scryer npc at revered, it seems those 3 I linked are from aldor, as I remember farming one of those reps with my BS). These DO NOT GIVE ANY SECONDARY STATS (excluding maybe from the gem sockets you'd put in, so, beware).

Plate Boots, from MoP, there are the Haunted Steel Greaves, Haunted Steel Treads and Haunted Steel Warboots, all with 2 slots.
Plate Shoulders there's the ultrarare Ragesteel Shoulders, an Outland World Drop, whoever has it has one of the only (if not the only one) crafted shoulder item with 2 sockets and optional relic reagent useable.

For Weapons, I found out the JC crafted Fist Weapon The Perforator with 1 socket (might be useful for DHs, Rogues, maybe druids, monks and Shamans). Then the Engineering Gun Extreme-Impact Hole Puncher with 1 socket (good for those that didn't grab one of the MoP's Heirloom weapons back in the day, the gun had 2).

Mail wearers can use the Chest (3 sockets)+Bracers (1 socket)+ Waist (2 sockets, 3 with BS-crafted buckle): Felstalker Breastplate, Felstalker Bracers and Monster - Staff, Green Feathered - Green Glow with a 3-set bonus. For Intellect Mail specs (Elemental/Resto Shammy) there are Netherfury Belt, Netherfury Leggings and Netherfury Boots (the netherfury 3-piece set requires de the character to be a LW for it to be active, not to equip the items, but the extra slots are worth it anyway).

Edit: I'd like to add too, that, for gems, most guides tend to point you only to the +3 red primary stat gems. Those are good, but those that give double stats (+2 primary and +2 secondary) can be a bigger boost IMO, and people still sell the raw gems pretty cheat (purple and orange, for example), from Pandaria, Outland, Cata, etc...

Comment by TheBigDeeb

Every Mage Tower Challenges 36/36 Walkthrough in One Video | WoW Shadowlands 9.2
https://youtu.be/pgw8HHmOuRY

Comment by Tornovo

This really needs updated *properly*... Just wasted 5 mins buying dauntless gear and realised its completely useless (only ilvl 50).

Comment by stvnbrs

As of patch 10.0.7: you can get some items with the correct number of sockets at ilvl 124 in Dragon Soul heroic 25 without messing with timewalking. Weapon bonuses from the raid seem to work as well. Chromie time gear from a lvl 45 drops at ilvl 137. Not sure what happened but I call shenanigans.

Comment by Viserate

So, it seems the best way to beat this challenge is to look far and wide for equipment, craft it if you can, purchase it on the AH all for a chance to get different looking armor and maybe a flying book?
Seems like way too much work and time investment for virtually little to no reward.

Comment by HawahaReal

This gearing guide is now outdated since patch 11.0, many scaling issues with crafted gear and hellscream weapons where you actually get negative stats by equipping them. Only thing that still stands is gems

Comment by Sazapahiel

Despite supposedly being updated in TWW, this guide is meaningless and completely trivial given how TWW embellishments, darkmoon deck trinkets, and to a lesser extent enchants, are scaling. Just slap on ascension, writhing armor banding, and you're pretty much good to go as this will have you stacked up to 100% vers shortly into the challenge. You can of course continue to squeeze out some extra power creep with a full set of gems and the same TWW enchants you'd use for raiding. But it isn't really necessary, these challenges have never been easier.

Comment by gloomi

I suspect all of the gearing advice here needs to be revisited as per the Midnight (12.0.0) prepatch. The Mage Tower now scales down (but not up) to ilvl 120, which is about equivalent to TWW S3 Vet/Champ gear. Some lower level items might have excessive stats (eg certain trinkets) but will that make up for being low ilvl? I honestly don't know.

As an example the Unstable Arcanocrystal is ilvl 54 with +13 H/C/M/V. That's potentially not bad even compared to ilvl 120+ trinkets.

Mage Tower Timewalking Gearing Guide - Best Gear, Gearing Strategies, Gear Sources

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