Understanding Item Level and Power Scaling

Every item level increase adds 1% more primary stat to an item; that's a bit of an oversimplification, but for now let's use that number for this guide. What's important to know is that item level scaling is exponential. In Slot Strength we'll talk about it!

This effect compounds - an item 100 levels higher has 1.01¹⁰⁰ = 170% more total stats than the base item.

Item level is the foundation of character power in World of Warcraft. Understanding how it scales and interacts with upgrade systems helps you make informed decisions about gear progression.

Why it feels like Power Scaling Explodes in an Expansion

It feels like that because it actually does, the absolute gain you get per item level increases exponentionally. 1% compounding growth is not a lot, but with a lot of item level eventually it goes wild. Small item level increases early on feel minor, but the same increases later become massive power jumps.

The chart below shows how item power scales across a fictional 100-item-level range. This demonstrates why endgame upgrades feel so much more impactful than early expansion gains.

^{We intentionally didn't make the chart look too sensational, but the ramping is real!}

Current Tier Item Levels

Items drop at different base levels depending on which boss you kill:

Bosses	%Raid Finder%	Normal	Heroic	Mythic
Early (Bosses 1–3)	671 Early	684 Early	697 Early	710 Early
Mid (Bosses 4–6)	675 Mid	688 Mid	701 Mid	714 Mid
Final (Bosses 7–8)	678 Final	691 Final	704 Final	717 Final

^{Note that this is different from previous tier where Vexie dropped items a track lower}

Each difficulty item level tier is exactly +13 item levels from the previous difficulty.

Special (very rare) items like the boots the Soul Hunters in Manaforge Omega drop at the same Item Level as other items on the boss, unlike some previous tiers where rare drops had elevated item levels or dropped at the max item level of their track.

Upgrade Track Mechanics

All items follow the same upgrade pattern. Most upgrades give +3 item levels, but certain upgrades give +4 item levels instead.

For Normal items (8 upgrades), there are two bonus upgrades: the 3rd upgrade and the 7th upgrade both give +4 item levels. For Heroic and Mythic items (6 upgrades), only the 3rd upgrade gives the +4 item level bonus.

In previous tiers this upgrade happened at the 5/8 point, which actually made spending the first Mythic Crest on a Heroic item more efficient then spending it on 6/6 also. This is no longer the case.

Example: Normal Item from Early Boss

Starting at 681 item level (1/8), here's the complete progression:

• 2/8: +3 levels (681 → 684)
• 3/8: +4 levels (684 → 688) - first bonus
• 4/8: +3 levels (688 → 691)
• 5/8: +3 levels (691 → 694)
• 6/8: +3 levels (694 → 697)
• 7/8: +4 levels (697 → 701) - second bonus
• 8/8: +3 levels (701 → 704)

The total progression is 23 item levels (+681 → 704), more than the expected 21 levels due to the two bonus upgrades.

Heroic and Mythic Progression

• Heroic items: 694 → 697 → 701 → 704 → 707 → 710 (bonus at 3/6: +4 ilvl)
• Mythic items: 707 → 710 → 714 → 717 → 720 → 723 (bonus at 3/6: +4 ilvl)

Both tracks gain 16 item levels total.

The Important Takeaway - Normal Loot is Surprisingly Powerful

As long as you're not planning to spend Mythic Crests on the Heroic items, which often happens later into progress or in some situations on trinkets. Then Normal and Heroic items are the exact same for all intents and purposes. Especially since you can farm M+ to upgrade Normal items largely for free.

This creates an interesting dynamic where Normal raid items often provide the exact same value as Heroic items. At least until late into progress.

Consider that if upgrade a Heroic item that you may receive a Mythic item to upgrade an Heroic item for free or outright replace the item, and then you may have wasted Mythic Crests. The only cases where that doesn't happen is if the Heroic item is your BiS unless you get the Mythic version of the item.

Mythic Items

Obviously Mythic items are still way better. Nothing more has to be said about it.

For detailed guidance on spending crests efficiently and managing upgrade costs, go on to the next chapter!