Heirloom items are one of the best things that have happened for leveling in World of Warcraft. The other is Refer-a-Friend (I’ll probably do a different post on RaF in the future). Once you’ve amassed some Heirloom items on your leveling characters, don’t forget to enchant them. If you’re an Enchanter, then spending some time on gathering the enchants capable of being put on Heirlooms can be quite profitable.
Background
What are heirloom items? From WoWwiki:
Heirloom is an item type that is new with Wrath of the Lich King.[1] The items have a golden hue in their text color and scale with level.[2] Nearly all heirloom items are named after popular items from the early days of Classic WoW, and share the look of these items.
Once purchased, heirlooms bind to account, as opposed to an individual character.
They can then be mailed to any character that shares the same account and server, including those of opposing faction (patch 3.3). Heirlooms are useful as they automatically take on the attributes of a blue quality item of the level of its wearer. At level 80, heirlooms are approximately equivalent to an item level 187 rare item, and will ultimately be replaced by questing, instancing, and PvP at level 80.
So, Heirloom items give you a scaling item that you don’t have to upgrade, all the way to Level 80. How does that help leveling? Well, there are two pieces of Heirloom gear (well, really 3, we’ll get there) that provide XP bonuses and they stack. PvP and PvE Shoulders give a +10% bonus to all XP earned. PvP and PvE Chests give a +10% bonus to all XP earned. If you’re wearing both a heirloom Shoulder and a heirloom Chest you will receive a +20% bonus to all XP earned. So, if you’re leveling and you have a Level 80 Main, you want your alts in Heirlooms.
Enchanting
Heirloom items start life at Level 1. They don’t actually ever “grow”, though the stats they provide your character do scale as your character levels. That means they can only accept enchantments that have NO level requirement.
To find these types of enchantments, we have to go back to Classic WoW. No BC or Wrath enchants are castable, by Enchanters, on Heirlooms. The only exception to this is that some of the purchasable enchantments you find in BC or Wrath ARE able to be applied to to Heirloom items. However, they will have a minimum level required for the enchantment, and if your character is below that level, it will not get any advantage from the enchantment.
The main enchantments you should be looking for to apply to your Heirloom items (that all of your characters will be able to use) are:
Enchant Weapon – Superior Striking
Enchants: Melee Weapon
Provides: +5 Weapon Dmg
Acquired by: Spirestone Warlord, Blackrock Spire, 7% Drop Rate
Enchant Weapon – Crusader
Enchants: Melee Weapon
Provides: Often heals for 75 to 125, +100 Strength for 15s
Acquired by: Scarlet Archmage/Spellbinder, Plaguelands, 1% Drop Rate
Enchant Weapon – Lifestealing
Enchants: Melee Weapon
Provides: Often steal life from enemy and give to wielder
Acquired by: Spectral Researcher, Scholomance, 9% Drop Rate
Enchant Weapon – Fiery Weapon
Enchants: Melee Weapon
Provides: Often strikes for +40 Fire Dmg
Acquired by: Pyromancer Loregrain, Blackrock Depths, 16% Drop Rate
Enchant Weapon – Icy Chill
Enchants: Melee Weapon
Provides: Often chills target, reducing movement speed
Acquired by: Anguished Highborne, Winterspring, 4% Drop Rate
Enchant Weapon – Agility
Enchants: Melee Weapon
Provides: +15 Agility
Acquired by: Meilosh, Vendor in Felwood, Timbermaw (Honored)
Enchant Weapon – Strength
Enchants: Melee Weapon
Provides: +15 Strength
Acquired by: Lokhtos Darkbargainer, Blackrock Depths, The Thorium Brotherhood (Friendly)
Enchant 2H Weapon – Superior Impact
Enchants: 2H Weapon
Provides: +25 Agility
Acquired by: Blackhand Elite, Blackrock Spire, 11% Drop Rate
Enchant 2H Weapon – Agility
Enchants: 2H Weapon
Provides: +5 Weapon Dmg
Acquired by: Meilosh, Vendor in Felwood, Timbermaw (Friendly)
Enchants: Caster Weapon
Provides: +30 Spellpower
Acquired by: Bosses, Molten Core, 1% Drop Rate
Enchant Weapon – Mighty Intellect
Enchants: Caster Weapon
Provides: +22 Intellect
Acquired by: Lokhtos Darkbargainer, Blackrock Depths, The Thorium Brotherhood (Revered)
Enchant Weapon – Mighty Spirit
Enchants: Caster Weapon
Provides: +20 Spirit
Acquired by: Lokhtos Darkbargainer, Blackrock Depths, The Thorium Brotherhood (Honored)
Enchant Chest – Greater Stats
Enchants: Chestpieces
Provides: +4 All Stats
Acquired by: Azeroth / Outlands World Drop
Enchant Chest – Major Mana
Enchants: Chestpieces
Provides: +100 Mana
Acquired by: Trainable (Master Enchanting Trainer)
Enchant Chest – Major Health
Enchants: Chestpieces
Provides: +100 Health
Acquired by: Qja, Winterspring Vendor, Limited Supply
Conclusion
There are other enchantments that can be placed on Heirloom items. Most are the new Bind on Account (BoA) purchasable enchantments based on Reputation standing with different Wrath factions. However, all of the other enchantments you can place on Heirlooms **will **have level requirements to use the enchantment. There are also MANY other enchantments you can place on Heirloom items, but most are downranked versions of the ones I’ve outlined here. Some of those may be easier to obtain, however, than the ones listed here, but are not as powerful.