Power Leveling via Cobalt Assembly!
Some may be aware by now, but for those unfamiliar, you can gain fantastic experience from power-leveling your alts from level 68 to 70 via the Cobalt Assembly. I must emphasize the term alts; if this is your first character to level 70, concentrate on completing the campaign first!
Your first character to level 70 should complete the campaign; this will give you the freedom to level via alternative methods (like the one in today’s blog) and make World Quests available for your alts!
[EDIT] As of 27.01.2023, the experience gained from killing mobs within the Cobalt Assembly has been significantly reduced (nerfed). This is no longer a viable option to power lever main and alt characters. [SOURCE]
The Cobalt Assembly:
For those unaware, the Cobalt Assembly is located within Azure Span and is heavily patrolled by level 70 elites. Be aware these mobs do not scale down to you; if you’re below level 68, they will one-shot you!
Since the release of Dragonflight, regular farms have been running for players to gain reputation and earn the item level 389 ring(s) quickly. If you follow any of the methods below, rest assured you’ll also earn reputation towards the Cobalt Assembly!
To earn Cobalt Assembly reputation, make sure you loot the mobs!
Location of the Cobalt Assembly, within Azure Span, Dragon Isles.
Quest: Welcome to the Assembly
Although Wowhead suggests this quest is available at level 70, I was able to access it at level 68. I will check on alts to see if this is accessible by lower levels!
However, I’d imagine that because I’ve accessed this quest on my main (level 70), it may have unlocked it to my alts.
The Farm:
The farm can take a couple of hours to complete; if you have rested experience, this will speed up the leveling process. If you must stop for any reason, make sure you open the flight point and hearth back to Thaldraszus.
The availability of the flight point will give you a quick option to return to the Cobalt Assembly when you want to continue leveling, and hearthing back to Thaldraszus will help build up some rested experience.
The most important part is to make sure you loot every mob. The corpses will have a small amount of Dragon Isles Supplies, but more importantly, you’ll have a chance to obtain either Moderate Arcana or Major Arcana.
- Moderate Arcana grants 15 Cobalt Assembly Reputation.
- Major Arcana grants 200 Cobalt Assembly Reputation.
Xavin:
Xavin is the NPC of interest before getting started. If you’ve completed the rep grind on your main and spent Dragon Isles Supplies to purchase research, you’ll be pleased to know these options are account bound.
If you’re level 68, this is excellent news; if you’re below 68, you’ll have to wait a little longer. However, the Power: Cobalt Reputation will still benefit you.
If you’ve not completed this on your main character yet, make sure you’re looting the mobs you help kill, and spend your Dragon Isles Supplies on research. You want to unlock the Power: Cobalt Reputation quickly.
Reminder, although you need to reach a specific Rank to unlock these abilities, you don’t need to have the respective Ranks to use the abilities on your alts.
Empowered Arcane Elemental:
Now I want to touch on this before starting. The Arcane Elemental can be empowered; when this happens, the mob grows in size and will start pulling you into it. To escape, use any movement abilities.
If you fail to escape and you’re pulled in, the mob will use an ability: Arcane Detonation that, in most circumstances, will kill you or leave you vulnerable to being killed by another mob.
It’s imperative to watch out for this mob and many of the AoE that will fall around your feet. Steering clear from all this will improve your chances of staying alive and speed up your leveling process to level 70!
Level 60-67!
Players between levels 60-67 can do this, but they won’t be able to access the Wild Arcana Orbs that will boost your character’s abilities. The best method here is to check the Group Finder and look for a party farming the Cobalt Assembly.
You might have a greater chance of getting into a group if you’re a healer. Ideally, you’re hoping they’re auto-accepting players and, once you join, stay under the radar for as long as possible.
Players other than healers between levels 60-67 serve no benefit to the rest of the group, as you can’t tank or DPS without the potential of getting one shot. They’ll likely kick you out as soon as they spot that you’re below level 68!
If you don’t want to group up, you could tag mobs, but be very careful of threat. I used this option on my Destruction Warlock and Beast Mastery Hunter because I can use my pets to tank. At level 67 with rested experience, I got 3.8k experience per kill!
To put that into context, completing an average quest grants approximately 9k experience. Within 10 minutes, I earned 48% experience, dinging to level 68, and reached Rank: Low with the Cobalt Assembly.
Level 68-70!
The aim here is to loot the Wild Arcana Orbs; these will be scattered around corpses. You will be familiar with this concept if you frequently play content within Torghast in Shadowlands.
You don’t need to have killed the mob to access the Wild Arcana Orb!
Once you interact with a Wild Arcana Orb, you can choose 1 of 3 powers (4 if you have the Power: Extra Wild Arcana). Choose wisely, as these powers can seriously improve your character’s abilities. However, be vigilant; some powers can hinder you or other players.
Once you’re strong enough, you can start to solo most of these packs, even at level 68! Although, I’d recommend starting or joining a group as it will be more efficient within a five-man party!
Remember to keep an eye on the times for your buffs. Most powers have a 5-minute timescale; you can refresh the countdown with the Power: Cobalt Catch Up.
If you haven’t unlocked all the abilities with Xavin yet, periodically check your Rank and purchase abilities when available; they will further assist you in farming the Cobalt Assembly.
I’m Level 70, Now What?!
Now you’re level 70, gear your character as quickly as possible. Rewards from World Quests, Weekly Activities, and Rares will scale up to your average item level (including items in your inventory).
Purchase profession gear from the Auction House and the ring from the Cobalt Assembly to boost your item level. Even if you loot items you can’t equip, keep them in your bag to boost your item level.
Once you’ve hit an item level you’re happy with, complete the World Quests, Weekly Activities, and Rares available. Hopefully, you might have enough item level to enter Mythic 0/+!
Reputation Farming Guide:
If you want a guide detailing the Cobalt Assembly reputation farm, I recommend this guide from Nerrysa on Wowhead!
War Mode:
While War Mode gives a small increase in experience (depending on your realm), it’s worth noting while enemy players have many extra powers at their disposal, they can be used against you too!
Our intention here is to level as efficiently as possible, and if you’re getting ganked regularly, you’ll start losing out on the experience. It’s World of Warcraft after all; if you’re enlisted for War Mode, you can bet your bottom dollar someone will be along soon to offer your backside on a platter…
The only exception to this would be if you’re in a group and you’re looking to eliminate others in the area that you can confidently kill.
Conclusion:
Although this is a great opportunity to level alts, I must emphasize that this is also a great opportunity to earn Cobalt Assembly reputation at the same time. Although abilities are account bound, the rings available are not!
Each character will need to obtain the required Rank to purchase the ring; by power leveling your characters using the methods above, you will earn reputation too, meaning once you hit level 70 (depending on when you started), you’ll either have your ring or, most of the way to it!
Once you hit level 70, you will have all the World Quests available and all the Rares at your disposal.
While there has been a significant nerf to farming Cobalt Assembly reputation (hence the drop in reputation farms), there appears to be no incoming nerf to experience gains. However, that’s not to suggest there won’t be one in the future.
If you’re fed up with leveling via quests/world quests, give these methods a try before Blizzard considers nerfing it!
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They fix it 🙁