How to enter heroic dungeons in WoW Wrath of the Lich King Classic

Gearing process made simple.

Image via Blizzard Entertainment

Dungeons in Wrath of the Lich King have two separate modes of difficulty—normal and heroic. Each mode is heavily tied with the bosses’ and mobs’ health pool, resistances, the used abilities, and loot. Some instances, on top of this, like Ahn’kahet: The Old Kingdom, have heroic-only bosses like Amanitar that drop unique gear. However, to prevent players from immediately jumping into heroic dungeons and gathering the best-in-slot gear, Blizzard had to lock heroic dungeons behind simple requirements. 

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WOTLK Classic heroic dungeons, unlike TBC Classic, require no completing lengthy attunement chains, but you can rather, after meeting the basic requirements, head to heroic dungeons and begin collecting your best-in-slot gear for the first raids—Naxxramas, Ulduar, and Eye of the Eternity. Since Blizzard drastically changed how heroic dungeons work in WOTLK Classic, we’ll cover the basics of how to enter heroic dungeons in WOTLK Classic, including level requirements, gear score, and item level.

Related: Ultimate WotLK Classic dungeon guide

WoW WotLK Classic Heroic dungeons requirements

Before you can make your way to WOTLK Classic dungeons, you’ll first need to meet the basic requirements. These include specific gear score, item level, and character level.

  • First of all, your character needs to reach level 80 to unlock heroic dungeons.
  • After that, you should focus on grinding the best possible gear from normal dungeons to not only have significantly smoother runs but also to meet the minimal item level and gearscore requirements.
  • Item level, which is the average level of all your equipped items, should be 180 or higher.
  • On top of that, gearscore, which is a player-made system that essentially works in the same manner as item levels, should be at least 3,500.

How to enter heroic dungeons in WOTLK Classic

Blizzard entirely removed the Random Dungeon Finder tool from WOTLK Classic that, during the original expansion, massively simplified the gearing process and cut down to a minimum your travel time. So now you can only use the basic Dungeon Finder tool that only helps you find players interested in doing the same dungeon. Once you gather your party via Looking for Group chat or basic Dungeon Finder, you’ll need to head to the pre-selected dungeons by either flying there or traveling by foot. After you reach your dungeon and before you enter it, you’ll need to set the dungeon difficulty to heroic. Then, you’ll be set for your first heroic dungeon run. 

Good luck and have fun.

Author
Image of Izabela Tomakic
Izabela Tomakic
Staff Writer & World of Warcraft lead. Izabela has a long history with writing and games like World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Fortnite, and The Sims. Before finding her home at Dot Esports in 2021, Izabela was an English teacher and a freelancer at Hotspawn, GGRecon, and Gameranx. In her free time, you’ll find her writing novels, wandering Azeroth, or inting on Summoner’s Rift.