WoW Classic Twinking Guide

When it comes to WoW Classic, players love their PvP. One popular way to engage in lower level PvP is through something called twinking. This guide will explain just what twinking is, and how you can go about stomping other players in Warsong Gulch!

Twinking is a PvP tradition almost as old as WoW itself! The first battleground a player can participate in is Warsong Gulch, between levels 10-19. This does in fact mean that a level 10 player and level 19 player can be in the same match, which creates some unique and often unfair interactions.

PvP within World of Warcraft has always been difficult to balance, but at lower levels, many classes are incomplete and simply flawed without their full toolkit. Other classes are quite powerful and deadly – I’m looking at you rogues.

While twinking does entail reaching the higher end of a battleground bracket, it goes far beyond just reaching level 19. You’ll need very specific gear, enchants, special consumables, and even leveled-up professions to fully optimize your twink. As a matter of fact, you’ll undoubtedly spend more time gearing and customizing your twink than you will leveling it.

A twink can also be made at level 29, 39, 49, and even 59, but level 19 is the most popular as it has the most players and requires less time to set up.

Before deciding to make a twink, you’ll have to carefully plan your race and class combination. If you’re aiming for a level 19 twink, keep in mind that there are a few very powerful class options, many decent choices, and a few terrible options because of abilities available.

Your race is also important, because of the passive bonuses each gives, but also the strong active abilities that can turn a tide in a setting with already-limited ability options. Not every class and race combo can be played, so it is usually a better idea to pick a class first and a race after.

What is a Twink?

Twinks are lower level characters, often leveled to the highest level of a battleground tier, that have maximized gear and are only used to participate in PvP.

Best Twink Classes

These are the 9 classes available to play in WoW Classic. Rogues, Warriors, and Priests are the 3 strongest options, while Shamans, Mages, and Paladins round out the bottom of the pack. You can certainly choose whatever class you like, but you might end up with a less enjoyable PvP experience.

• Druid – Because of the great versatility and innate tankiness through bear form, druids are the best choice for a flag carrier. Bear form greatly boosts your armor, but you can also switch out to throw a heal on yourself. Shapeshifting back into bear form will get rid of polymorph and root effects, making them a slippery class.
• Hunter – Hunters are an excellent choice of ranged class. Their consistent slows and traps are great for utility and keeping enemies far away.
• Mage – Mages are alright as a twink, but their strongest ability (polymorph) is easily countered by an engineering trinket that many other twinks will have.
• Paladin – Paladins are also fairly versatile, but they lack the slippery aspect that druids possess that make them great for flag carrying. Paladins can certainly do it, but they’re susceptible to crowd control.
• Priest – Priests are undoubtedly the best healer choice for a twink. Not only do they have a shield and heal over time, but they can fear any enemies nearby them.
• Rogue – Probably the strongest class and certainly the most popular. Stealth is always powerful, but at levels without mounts, this becomes even deadlier. Rogues are excellent at providing quick bursts of damage, often capable of instantly killing other players before they can react if you crit.
• Shaman – Shamans aren’t really very good as a twink. They offer some utility with their totem slow, but their heals are fairly weak and they’re easy to kite.
• Warlock – Warlocks are always strong because of their ability to fear, but their damage over time spells are just as potent. At lower levels though, damage over time becomes less important when there are rogues capable of dealing just as much damage in far less time.
• Warrior – Another popular choice. Warrior’s charge ability is one of the strongest in the game, not to mention their ability to slow. Their use of heavy armor also makes them hard to kill.

Best Twink Races

These are the 8 races available to choose from in WoW Classic. There are 4 for the Alliance and 4 for the Horde. Each race has their own unique racial ability, which often provides a combat benefit. They also come with different passive bonuses, which are fairly minor, but can make the difference at low levels.

For the Alliance, Gnomes and Humans tend to be the two popular choices. Gnomes make for excellent rogues and get a free boost to their engineering, which is often a staple profession for twinks. Humans get a completely free PvP trinket, which is nice, but does become redundant once you purchase one.

For the Horde, Tauren are great for flag carrying, while Undead make a solid choice for overall survivability. Quite honestly, you can’t go wrong with any Horde race, which you can’t really say the same for the Alliance.

Alliance

• Dwarf – Stoneform racial ability which grants +10% armor and makes the player immune to poisons, diseases, and bleeds for 8 seconds on a 3 minute cooldown. They also get a 1% bonus to crit chance when using a gun, and have a 2% reduced chance to be hit by frost spells.
• Gnome – Escape Artist racial ability that lets the player remove any snares or slows on a 60 second cooldown. They also get a 5% bonus to intellect, a natural +15 bonus to engineering (allowing you to reach 165 at level 19 unlike other races that are limited to 150), and a 2% reduced chance to be hit by arcane spells.
• Human – Diplomacy will give access to some of your PvP gear from vendors a touch earlier.  Humans also have an increased chance to detect stealthed players and a 5% boost to spirit.  They also start with skill in the use of swords and maces.
• Night Elf – Shadowmeld racial ability that lets the user stealth in place. This is cancelled if the player moves, with a 2 minute cooldown. Night Elves also have a 2% reduced chance to be hit by nature spells, melee attacks, and ranged projectiles.

Horde

• Orc – Blood Fury racial ability that boost attack power, spell damage, and healing powers. This comes at the cost of reducing incoming healing by 50%, on a 2 minute cooldown. Orcs are 15% more resistant to stun effects, and any pets (Warlock/Hunter) deal 5% more damage.
• Tauren – War Stomp racial ability that stuns 5 nearby enemies for 2 seconds with a 2 minute cooldown. Taurens also have a 5% boost to health.
• Troll – Berserking racial ability that increases a players spell casting and attack speed based on how much health the player has left. Less health results in a bigger bonus, with a cooldown of 3 minutes. They also have a flat 10% health regeneration buff. Trolls also have a 1% boost to their crit chance with bows and throwing weapons, and slows last 15% shorter on them.
• Undead – Will of the Forsaken racial ability that cancels any sleep, charm, or fear spells on a 2 minute cooldown. They can also Cannibalize, which regenerates up to 35% of total health if there is a nearby humanoid corpse to consume (or undead). Undead also have a 2% reduced chance to be hit by shadow spells.

Optimizing

Once you’ve finally decided on your race/class combo and you’ve hit level 19, you’ll want to slow down and figure out what gear you want to go after. If you need drops from dungeon bosses, you’ll want to be sure you avoid gaining any experience that would cause you to level.

Gear is definitely necessary for making a strong twink, but you’ll also need to get enchants for your armor and weapons, consumables to give temporary bonuses, and skilled professions for the benefits they give. Other than gear and arguably enchants, nothing else is essential to playing your twink. Professions and consumables serve the purpose of giving you that extra edge, but don’t let that stop you from enjoying your twink before it is fully optimized.

Gearing

The gear you’ll want to obtain depends entirely upon your class. Druids, rogues, hunters, and shamans want armor with agility. Warriors and paladins need strength gear. Priests, mages, and warlocks are focused on intellect armor.

Two pieces all classes will have a different time finding include a helm and trinkets. There are only two helmets available to players at level 19. One of those, the Green Tinted Goggles, are crafted through engineering (which is what makes it basically required), and the other is extremely hard to get, requiring the player to catch a rare fish in the Stranglethorn Vale Fishing Contest.

For trinkets, your first choice will always be a PvP trinket that removes crowd control effects. Your best option for your second trinket is the Gurubashi Arena Master trinket, but that is nearly impossible to obtain without coordination. A more reasonable alternative is the Minor Recombobulator, which renders polymorph useless while also healing you.

To find gear for each class, spec, and bracket you can use this Best in Slot Twink Tool.

Enchants

When it comes to picking enchants, you have a few choices depending upon your class and stat needs. You’ll want enchants on your weapon(s), cloak, chest, bracers, gloves, pants, and your boots. These are the best enchants to use:

• Weapon – +15 Agility, +22 Intellect, Fiery Weapon (chance on hit, +40 damage), Icy Chill (chance on hit, slows attack and movement speed), Crusader (chance on hit, boosts strength by 100 for 15 seconds, also grants ~100 health, Lifestealing, +30 Spell Power, +25 Agility (2H), +9 Damage (2H)
• Cloak – +3 Agility, +70 Armor, +5 All Resistances, Stealth
• Chest – +4 All Stats, +100 Mana, +100 Health
• Bracers – +9 Stamina, +9 Strength, +7 Intellect, +15 Spell Power
• Gloves – +15 Agility, +18 Spell Power
• Pants – +16 Armor from Medium Armor Kit
• Boots – Minor Speed, +7 Stamina, +7 Agility

Professions

Believe it or not, professions also play a big role for twinks. To really make your character effective, a few professions are considered requirements. These include Engineering and First Aid. All other professions are far less impactful and any crafted items can be purchased.

Engineering

The main reason why engineering is a requirement is because it offers the easiest of two choices for a helm. Green Tinted Goggles are often an iconic sign of a twink, as they’re very easy to obtain and provide a substantial health bonus. In addition to a helm, engineering will also provide bombs and the ability to use a Minor Recombobulator trinket to thwart polymorphs cast on you.

First Aid

First Aid is also a requirement because of how impactful bandages can be at lower level. Bandages have the interest feature of being useable on a character too low level to create them. This means that level 19 twinks can use up to Heavy Runecloth Bandages, which are almost guaranteed to restore you to full health on just a minute cooldown.

Other Choices

In WoW Classic, other professions don’t offer too many major bonuses. Fishing is great if you want to collect your own Rumsey Rum Black Label and work towards the Lucky Fishing Hat. Cooking is nice to create your own food, but you can also buy it. The same logic applies to Alchemy. Herbalism, Mining, and Skinning are all gathering professions and don’t serve any combat benefits.

With that in mind, your second profession is really up to you! If you grab mining, you can basically gather all the materials needed to level your engineering. Otherwise, feel free to pick whatever seems most useful to you.

Consumables

While there are some nifty world drops you can find that will help, they’re extremely rare and simply not worth the time it would take to maybe find one. There are, however, some easier consumables that you can find to enhance your twink. These include:

• Rumsey Rum Black Label, boosts your stamina
• Swiftness Potion, gives you a run speed bonus
• Heavy Sharpening Stone, small increase to weapon damage
• Goblin Deviled Clams (or other food), stamina and spirit buff
• Heavy Runecloth Bandage, powerful self heal