[0:00] Hey folks, I recently managed to get a
[0:02] new 1 to70 speedrun world record in only
[0:04] 2 hours and 41 minutes by using Chromy
[0:06] time. This speedrun represents the
[0:08] absolute best time that you can achieve
[0:10] by using my route. And with this video
[0:12] guide, I aim to break down my route into
[0:14] simple, easy to follow steps that you
[0:16] can use it to quickly level characters
[0:17] for yourself. Also, while I obviously
[0:20] use many fancy experience buffs and
[0:22] consumable items for the purposes of my
[0:24] speedruns, these are not taken into
[0:26] account for the purposes of this
[0:27] leveling guide. These items obviously
[0:29] save a small amount of time, but in
[0:31] practice, the route itself is what makes
[0:33] this leveling method so fast. If you're
[0:35] interested in learning more about the
[0:36] items that I prepare for my speedruns,
[0:38] I've made a separate video purely on
[0:40] that topic, which is linked in the
[0:41] description below. But with all of that
[0:43] out of the way, let's jump into the
[0:45] guide. Before you can enter Chromy Time
[0:47] and begin following the bulk of this
[0:49] route, you'll first need to reach level
[0:50] 10. How you'll do this will vary heavily
[0:52] depending on the race that you selected.
[0:54] If you're playing an allied race, you'll
[0:56] already begin the game at level 10, so
[0:58] you can skip ahead to the next section
[0:59] of my guide. However, any brand new
[1:02] players watching this video won't be
[1:03] able to create an allied race as their
[1:05] first character, so you'll need to pick
[1:06] one of the standard races and begin at
[1:08] level one. While every race will be
[1:10] presented with multiple options as their
[1:12] starting zone, I would always recommend
[1:14] choosing Exiles Reach. This zone may not
[1:17] be exceptionally fast, but it was tailor
[1:19] made by Blizzard to get your characters
[1:21] exactly from levels 1 to 10.
[1:23] Additionally, the zone is extremely
[1:24] linear and tries to teach you basic
[1:26] mechanics of the game as you progress
[1:28] the quest line, meaning it's very
[1:29] helpful for new players. It's worth
[1:31] noting that I selected the standard
[1:33] undead starting zone for my world record
[1:34] run, but this is because I did some very
[1:36] strange routing shenanigans that I'm not
[1:38] going to recommend as part of this
[1:40] guide. The advantage of these older
[1:42] zones is that they don't lock you into a
[1:43] fixed path, which is really nice for my
[1:45] speedruns, as I can use fancy movement
[1:47] items to break out of the zones early
[1:49] and access some powerful experience
[1:50] buffs sooner than I would normally be
[1:52] able to. However, even when all of this
[1:54] is done perfectly, I'm only saving a few
[1:56] minutes compared to doing the standard
[1:58] path through Exiles Reach. While that
[2:00] time save matters in a speedrun, it's
[2:02] not relevant for the average player,
[2:03] especially considering it'll be
[2:04] drastically slower if you try to do the
[2:06] zones in the intended manner. Lastly, if
[2:08] you're playing a demon hunter or a death
[2:10] knight, your only option will be to
[2:11] level through your class's starting
[2:13] zones, and this will put you past level
[2:14] 10 by the time you finish. Don't worry,
[2:16] though, because my guide has been
[2:18] structured in such a way that you can
[2:19] jump straight into the level 10 section
[2:21] and not lose any time. Once you've
[2:23] managed to reach level 10, you'll first
[2:25] want to do a few quests to acquire a
[2:27] dollar Hearthstone. This only takes a
[2:29] few minutes, and it'll save a ton of
[2:30] time over the course of the 10 to 70
[2:32] leveling process. Although the dollar on
[2:34] Hearthstone was added to the toy box
[2:35] during Dragon Flight, you're unable to
[2:37] actually use it on new characters until
[2:39] you've completed the original unlock
[2:40] quests. To kick things off, you'll first
[2:42] need to speak with Chromy and begin the
[2:44] Legion quest line. If you're unsure
[2:46] where to find her, head to the Orgamar
[2:47] embassy and look for a gnome sitting on
[2:49] a big hourglass. After receiving the
[2:51] quest, the Legion Returns, you should
[2:52] run outside of the Orgamar gates and
[2:54] talk to Holgar Stormax. This NPC should
[2:57] have a dialogue option that starts with,
[2:58] "I've heard this tale before." and
[3:00] you'll want to select it in order to
[3:01] skip the Broken Shore introduction. If
[3:04] the dialogue option isn't appearing, it
[3:05] means you've never done the Broken Shore
[3:07] scenario on your account. For your first
[3:09] character, you'll still want to complete
[3:10] the scenario as it only takes about 15
[3:13] minutes and allows you to skip the
[3:14] entire thing on all future leveling
[3:16] runs. Once you've reached Doeron, you
[3:18] can turn in the nearby quest to receive
[3:19] your Dollaron Hearthstone. If you
[3:21] already have the toy unlocked on your
[3:23] account, you can just delete the quest
[3:24] reward itself and add the toy to your
[3:26] bars. From here, turn right into the
[3:28] horde section of the city and take the
[3:30] portal back to Ormar. It's worth noting
[3:32] that the process I just described is
[3:34] technically not needed if you're playing
[3:35] a mage, monk, vulpera, or some
[3:38] combination of the two. Each of these
[3:40] classes and/or race have an ability
[3:42] which completely removes the need for a
[3:43] dollar Hearthstone. However, you should
[3:45] still speak with Chromy and select a
[3:47] timeline as this ensures all zones will
[3:49] scale with your level. I also want to
[3:51] make it absolutely clear that after
[3:52] returning from Delaron, you do not need
[3:54] to visit Chromy and change your active
[3:56] expansion. Despite the misleading design
[3:58] of the menu, Chromy time is actually a
[4:00] binary state. It's either fully enabled
[4:02] or fully disabled for your character.
[4:05] The only difference between the various
[4:06] expansions is which breadcrumb quests
[4:08] you get offered, like the
[4:09] affforementioned one for traveling to
[4:11] Doaron. Also, your active expansion will
[4:13] determine which random dungeons you're
[4:14] allowed to queue for. But beyond that,
[4:16] all of them function exactly the same
[4:18] for the purposes of questing. Lastly, if
[4:20] the Dark Moon Fair happens to be active
[4:22] while you're leveling, this is the ideal
[4:23] time to swing by and grab your 10%
[4:25] experience buff. The fair is active
[4:27] during the first full week of every
[4:28] month. And you can also see when it's up
[4:30] by looking at your in-game calendar.
[4:32] There are many ways to reach the Darkman
[4:33] fair, but the fastest path involves
[4:35] taking the portal to Old Door and
[4:37] receiving a teleport from the Darkman
[4:38] mage standing in the nearby courtyard.
[4:40] From here, you can run down the hill
[4:42] into the fair proper, purchase a
[4:44] carousel ticket from a panda named
[4:45] Katie, and ride the carousel to receive
[4:47] your 10% XP buff. There's a few more
[4:50] niche advantages that the Darkman Fair
[4:51] provides for leveling, but they're a bit
[4:53] more complicated, so you should watch my
[4:55] speedrun items video if you want to
[4:56] learn more. Now, you should be ready to
[4:58] start the 10 to 70 route. But before we
[5:00] dive into specifics about the zones and
[5:02] quests, I want to briefly go over a few
[5:04] bits of general advice that apply to the
[5:06] route as a whole. First, I strongly urge
[5:08] you to only follow the listed zones in
[5:10] the route without taking extensive
[5:11] detours. If I don't mention a zone in my
[5:14] guide, it's not because I forgot about
[5:15] it. It's because it's slower than the
[5:17] rest of my route. Also, if you feel that
[5:19] you're not getting enough experience
[5:20] from completing quests, please double
[5:22] check that you've actually enabled
[5:23] Chromy time, as otherwise, your XP gains
[5:26] will eventually be reduced by 90%. You
[5:28] would be surprised at how often people
[5:30] make this exact same mistake. The final
[5:32] general tip that I want to discuss
[5:34] pertains to rare mobs. You'll find many
[5:36] of these while following my leveling
[5:37] route, and it's especially important
[5:39] within any Cataclysm revamped zones,
[5:41] such as Silver Pine Forest or Hillsbread
[5:43] Foothills. Each one of these rares gives
[5:45] roughly a quest's worth of experience,
[5:47] so it can be extremely helpful to hunt
[5:48] for them while you're leveling. However,
[5:50] this is not the case for any rares you
[5:52] encounter in Warlords of Dranor Zones,
[5:54] as those give a standard amount of
[5:56] experience and aren't worth killing. In
[5:58] order to help you find all of the
[5:59] important rares while leveling, I've
[6:01] created a companion video on my second
[6:03] channel, which goes over the location of
[6:04] every single rare, and you can find it
[6:06] linked in the description below. That
[6:08] being said, the zones mentioned in my
[6:10] guide will still be faster than any
[6:12] alternatives, even if you don't manage
[6:13] to find a single rare mob. It's a nice
[6:16] little bonus if you happen to encounter
[6:17] one, but you should never sit and wait
[6:19] at a spawn location instead of
[6:20] continuing along the quest path. The
[6:22] first zone you'll be visiting is
[6:23] Silverpine Forest. And to get there
[6:25] quickly from Orgamar, you'll first want
[6:27] to take the portal to Silver Moon City,
[6:28] which is found just left to the stairs
[6:30] leading inside of the Orgamar portal
[6:32] room. Once inside Silver Moon, you'll
[6:33] need to walk to a small room behind the
[6:35] blood elf faction leaders. And up on a
[6:37] pedestal, you'll find an object called
[6:38] the Orb of Transocation. Clicking on
[6:40] this orb will teleport you to a zone
[6:42] called Tusfall Glades. If you open your
[6:44] map, you'll be able to see Silverpine
[6:46] Forest just to the west. Fly towards the
[6:48] quest marked on your map named the
[6:50] Wararchief Cometh, which begins the
[6:51] Silverpine quest line. From here, as
[6:53] long as you pick up and complete every
[6:55] quest that you encounter, you'll be
[6:56] taken on a fairly linear path throughout
[6:58] the zone. Silverpine is deceptively
[7:01] efficient, as it has lots of unskippable
[7:02] cutscenes early on, which make the quest
[7:04] line seem very slow. That said, the last
[7:07] two/3s of Silverpine have incredible
[7:09] quest density and minimal travel time.
[7:11] So, this more than makes up for the slow
[7:12] start. Midway through the questing
[7:14] experience, you'll get sent down to
[7:15] Gilaeas. Don't panic, as this is simply
[7:18] an extension of the Silver Pine quest
[7:20] line. Within the first area, you'll see
[7:22] a giant Edin named Koro the Colossus,
[7:24] and you should kill him in order to
[7:25] receive a hidden quest. From here,
[7:27] continue along the quest line in Gilaeus
[7:29] until you're returned to Silverpine.
[7:31] Towards the end of the zone, you'll
[7:32] reach the quest sewing discord, which
[7:34] task you with killing a camp full of
[7:36] elite dwarves. It can be fairly
[7:38] difficult to solo these mobs as their
[7:39] auto attacks hit extremely hard. If you
[7:42] find yourself struggling with this
[7:43] quest, I'd recommend dragging the mobs
[7:45] over to Lord Godfrey and waiting for him
[7:47] and the other NPCs to whittle the dwarfs
[7:49] down. Immediately after completing this
[7:51] quest, you should kill one of the nearby
[7:52] crocodiles as it begins a hidden quest
[7:54] called From the Belly of the Beast. Once
[7:56] you've completed this, it's time to
[7:58] abandon the Silver Pine quest line and
[7:59] move along to Hillbread Foothills. The
[8:02] final two quests in Silverpine are full
[8:03] of unskippable roleplay, so they're not
[8:05] worth completing. At some point during
[8:07] this process, you should have reached
[8:08] level 20, and you'll now have the option
[8:10] to enable war mode. This can only be
[8:12] enabled at Ormar. So you should set your
[8:14] Hearthstone to a nearby location, most
[8:16] likely the supplicer, and then use your
[8:18] dollar on Hearthstone. From here, you
[8:20] can take the nearby portal to reach
[8:21] Ormar, enable war mode, and use your
[8:23] regular Hearthstone to return to
[8:24] Silverpine. As previously mentioned,
[8:27] mages or monks can use portals or Zen
[8:29] pilgrimage, respectively, as a
[8:30] replacement for the Delaron Hearthstone.
[8:32] Also, in case you're unfamiliar with
[8:34] what exactly war mode does, this is a
[8:36] buff that grants you roughly 10%
[8:38] additional experience while also
[8:39] permanently flagging your character for
[8:41] PvP. This may sound really scary, but
[8:44] you have to remember that both Silver
[8:45] Pine and Hillsbread are horde only
[8:47] zones. So, you won't actually encounter
[8:48] a single alliance player while leveling
[8:50] there. This means that war mode is
[8:52] effectively a free 10% XP buff for the
[8:54] first two zones in my route. When you
[8:56] get to Warlords of Dranor later on,
[8:58] there is a chance that you'll encounter
[8:59] other Alliance players, but the vast
[9:01] majority of people are simply there to
[9:03] level and won't try to fight you. In the
[9:05] worst case scenario, you can always go
[9:06] to a nearby town and disable war mode
[9:08] later on if you run into someone who
[9:10] really wants to kill you. Now, before we
[9:12] discuss the next zone, Hillsbread
[9:13] Foothills, I want to take a moment to
[9:15] touch upon dungeon leveling. Over the
[9:17] last few years, I've done a few test
[9:18] runs that completed Burning Crusade
[9:19] dungeons from levels 10 to 20, and I
[9:21] found that it can potentially be faster
[9:23] under specific situations. Since war
[9:25] mode only applies to outdoor content and
[9:27] it isn't available until level 20, it's
[9:30] possible to get marginally faster times
[9:31] in TBC dungeons if you queue as a tank
[9:33] and get extremely lucky with the random
[9:35] dungeons that you're offered. In
[9:37] practice, I wouldn't actually recommend
[9:39] running dungeons for Horde players, as
[9:41] on average, it'll be much slower than
[9:42] the questing route. However, if you did
[9:44] really want to try dungeon leveling and
[9:46] want more detail on the subject, I
[9:47] discussed it in a bit more detail in the
[9:49] written version of this guide, which is
[9:50] linked in the description. As previously
[9:53] mentioned, you'll want to leave
[9:53] Silverpine Forest upon reaching the
[9:55] quest on Her Majesty's Secret Service.
[9:57] If you open your map, you can find
[9:59] Hillsrad Foothills to the east, and
[10:00] you'll start the quest line there by
[10:02] picking up Welcome to the Machine. Like
[10:04] before, Hillsbrad is a fairly linear
[10:06] zone, so as long as you pick up and
[10:07] complete every quest you encounter,
[10:09] you'll eventually finish the entire
[10:11] thing. There are only two quests in
[10:12] particular that you'll want to avoid.
[10:14] You'll receive stag witches towards the
[10:16] end of the zone. And although it seems
[10:18] fairly simple, the drop rate of its
[10:19] quest item is extremely low, so it's
[10:21] usually not worth completing. There's
[10:23] also a small chain in the east that
[10:25] starts with a haunting in Hillsrad, but
[10:27] the density here is pretty low, so I'd
[10:29] recommend skipping it. However, you'll
[10:30] still want to complete the other two
[10:31] quests nearby called Extinction and the
[10:34] Durnhold Challenge. It's worth noting
[10:36] that some quests in Hillsrad, such as
[10:38] Yetimus the Yeti Lord or the Durnhole
[10:40] Challenge, require you to fight elites
[10:41] tuned around a group of three or more
[10:43] players. For most classes, these are
[10:45] extremely hard to solo, but it is
[10:47] definitely possible. I'd recommend
[10:49] trying it once if you're confident, but
[10:51] if you can't solo them, just ask for
[10:52] help in general chat. There's usually a
[10:54] few people willing to group for it.
[10:56] Also, when fighting Yetus, I would
[10:58] recommend dragging him inside of the
[10:59] nearby Yeti cave as this allows you to
[11:01] negate his knockback mechanic. The fight
[11:03] will still be very difficult due to the
[11:04] damage of his auto attacks, but at least
[11:06] you won't risk dying of fall damage.
[11:08] Once you finished everything in Hills
[11:10] Red Foothills, you should use your
[11:11] dollar Hearthstone and return to
[11:13] Orgamar. Once there, head over to Chromy
[11:15] and select the Warlords of Dranor
[11:16] timeline. You'll be directed to speak
[11:18] with an NPC called Vanguard Battle Mage,
[11:20] but you should instead talk to the
[11:22] Thrawar Mage, who can be found standing
[11:23] nearby in the bottom floor of the
[11:25] Orgamar portal room. Talking to the
[11:27] Thrralar mage NPC, will cause you to be
[11:29] teleported directly next to Khadgar in
[11:31] the Blasted Lands, allowing you to
[11:32] immediately start the next quest. The
[11:34] Vanguard Battle Mage, despite being the
[11:36] intended NPC, will teleport you much
[11:39] further away from Khadgar. After
[11:40] speaking with Khadgar, you should fully
[11:42] complete the Warlords of Dranor intro
[11:44] scenario. Many people like to skip this
[11:46] area, but it's still one of the fastest
[11:47] quest lines in the entire game, so if
[11:49] you skip it, you're doing yourself a
[11:51] huge disservice. Upon reaching the end,
[11:53] you'll be teleported to Frostfire Ridge
[11:55] and should do the entire quest line to
[11:56] set up your garrison. You'll also want
[11:58] to finish the next few quests where you
[12:00] kill ogres, gather supplies, construct a
[12:02] barracks, and rescue all in Umberhide.
[12:05] After these four quests, the zone slows
[12:07] to a crawl, so you should instead fly to
[12:08] Gorgrand and begin the quest line there.
[12:11] Gorgrand can be reached by flying
[12:12] directly east from your garrison. And
[12:14] you'll start the quest line by speaking
[12:15] with Durotan at the zone's entrance.
[12:18] From here, follow the quest line until
[12:19] you establish the town of Beastwatch. At
[12:21] this point, you'll be prompted to choose
[12:23] between the Savage Fight Club or the
[12:24] Lowlands Lumberyard. The Fight Club is
[12:27] significantly better than the
[12:28] Lumberyard, as it gives you access to a
[12:30] ton of extremely efficient quests. Go
[12:32] north and complete the quest, a harsh
[12:34] reminder in Affliction Ridge. While
[12:36] doing this, round up a wide variety of
[12:38] mobs and pop your champion's honor
[12:40] ability. This spell has a hidden effect
[12:41] that drops quest starting items when you
[12:43] kill certain enemies with it active.
[12:45] Under Dranor exploration, there's an
[12:47] achievement called prove your strength,
[12:48] and this can help you keep track of
[12:50] which items you've collected. You'll
[12:52] want to only use it when you've rounded
[12:53] up a few mobs of at least two types in
[12:55] order to maximize your chances at
[12:56] getting quest items. Around this point,
[12:58] you'll receive multiple quest lines, but
[13:00] you should complete everything in
[13:01] Stonewall Arena before continuing
[13:03] onwards. The quests involving Rexar go
[13:05] on for a while and will lead you further
[13:07] north into the zone. You'll want to use
[13:09] your champions honorability on the
[13:10] bassilisks and steam furies that you'll
[13:12] encounter during the quest on the men.
[13:14] Later on, you can use it once again
[13:16] while killing Ogrron during the quest
[13:18] Fair Warning. After you finish the quest
[13:20] Chains of Iron, you should complete the
[13:21] nearby bonus objective, Valley of
[13:23] Destruction. Upon returning to
[13:25] Beastwatch, you'll receive a quest named
[13:26] Strike While the Iron is Hot, but this
[13:28] is extremely inefficient and should be
[13:30] ignored. Now that you're finished with
[13:32] the primary quest line, you can complete
[13:33] the Miscreet Meer and Razor Bloom bonus
[13:36] objectives, which are just south of
[13:37] Beastwatch. While you're here, make sure
[13:39] you use Champions Honor on the nearby
[13:41] Wasps and Ravagers. If you have any
[13:43] leftover time on the buff after getting
[13:45] the Wasp and Ravager items, you can try
[13:47] to kill any nearby orcs and botnai to
[13:48] get their associated quest items in case
[13:50] you're still missing either one. Next,
[13:52] head east and complete the entire
[13:54] Crimson Fen quest line. Upon finishing
[13:56] it, return to Beastwatch and hand in all
[13:58] of your remaining quests. You'll now
[14:00] want to leave Gorgrand and travel south
[14:02] to Talidor, but you should take a brief
[14:03] detour to complete the Ruins of the
[14:05] First Bastion and Tail Thrasher Basin
[14:07] bonus objectives. Upon finishing
[14:08] everything in Gorgrand, fly south to
[14:10] Talidor and construct the arsenal in
[14:12] Vulgun's Pride. Do not complete any of
[14:14] the quests here as the main purpose of
[14:16] unlocking the arsenal is to gain access
[14:17] to some really efficient bonus
[14:19] objectives. Complete the bonus
[14:20] objectives Morground Log works, Zangara,
[14:23] and Daruna's Desolation in that order.
[14:25] After picking up any nearby treasures,
[14:27] travel further south and complete the
[14:29] Zorer's Fall bonus objective. From here,
[14:31] head into Spires of Iraq and progress
[14:33] through the quest line until you reach
[14:34] level 70. Spires of Iraq is a peculiar
[14:37] zone as it has a fairly high quest
[14:39] density early on but falls off
[14:40] significantly towards the end. When you
[14:42] reach axefall, you can construct the
[14:44] hearthfire tavern which gives you 20%
[14:46] increased experience within spires of
[14:48] Iraq as well as a localized Hearthstone
[14:49] ability on a separate cool down. While
[14:51] this buff is nice to have, it's nowhere
[14:53] near as impactful as many people seem to
[14:55] think it is. By the time you get the 20%
[14:57] XP buff, you've already completed most
[14:59] of the efficient quests in the zone, so
[15:01] it doesn't end up helping you much.
[15:03] After building the tavern, you'll want
[15:04] to pick up the wanted quests from a
[15:05] poster on the wall, as these give great
[15:07] experience and can be usually completed
[15:09] alongside other quests. Now that you
[15:11] finished leveling in Chromy time, you'll
[15:13] need to enter War Within zones to level
[15:15] from 70 to 80. I've already fully
[15:17] optimized War Within 70 to 80 leveling
[15:19] with a speedrun of 1 hour and 5 minutes.
[15:21] If you'd like to learn more about how to
[15:23] follow that route, you can click in the
[15:24] video shown on screen or find a link to
[15:26] it in the description. Additionally, if
[15:28] you're interested in leveling an
[15:29] alliance character from 1 to 70, I've
[15:31] made a separate video on that subject.
[15:33] If you found this video helpful, I'd
[15:35] greatly appreciate it if you could
[15:36] subscribe and toss it a like as that'll
[15:38] help other people find it as