World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Patch 9.1 adds Korthian catch-up gear for those looking to jump into the latest content who may or may not be rocking the best gear. Even if you regularly clear Castle Nathria on Normal difficulty or Higher, farm Mythic 15+ keys, or have a full armory of PvP Conquest gear, it’s worth your time to grab some new Korthian catch-up gear. If you have a stable of level 60 alts they’ll benefit from your main’s hard work, though the ability to upgrade the gear makes it a viable way to boost all of your toons’ item level.
Korthian Catch-Up Gear can be looted in Korthia, earned via Daily Quests, and purchased with Stygia.
Korthian catch-up gear can be found in, well, the new Maw zone of Korthia, which is unlocked by completing the first couple of chapters in the Chains of Domination Patch 9.1 campaign (you can read our full Korthia unlock guide here). There are three ways to get Korthian catch-up gear, one of which is bind-on-account.
The first method to get Korthian catch-up gear in Shadowlands is to kill Rare creatures within Korthia. Emphasis on Korthia: the new zone may be a part of the Maw, but the new gear is tied to Korthia. Rare creatures are marked on the map and mini-map with a star, and they have a chance to drop a random piece of Korthian catch-up gear for your class when slain. These drops are bind-on-pickup, and can drop at any upgrade level.
The second method is via the Daily Quests in Korthia. Not every Daily Quest will have Korthian gear as a reward, but those that do will feature an item for your class, though like the drops from Rare creatures the upgrade level will be determined randomly. These Korthian gear rewards are also bind-on-pickup.
The final and third method to acquire Korthian catch-up gear in Shadowlands is to purchase a Korthian Armaments token from the Death’s Advance quartermaster in Korthia: Duchess Mynx at Keeper’s Respite. You need to reach Friendly reputation with Death’s Advance, which will you can easily reach within the first week of Shadowlands Patch 9.1. Once you’re friendly with Death’s Advance you can purchase a Korthian Armament token for 1000 Stygia.
These tokens also have a chance to drop from Korthian treasures. Whether you buy a Korthian Armaments token or loot one, it is bind-on-account. You can send these tokens to you alts, who can then redeem them for a random piece of Korthian catch-up gear at upgrade tier 1 (item level 200). Again, the piece they’ll get from the token is random, so if you have crap luck it may take you a while to fully outfit an alt.
That aside, the largest benefit of Korthian catch-up gear is it can be upgraded up to item level 233, which is competitive with the Sanctum of Domination raid Normal difficulty loot. It will take some grinding, but that means Korthian catch-up gear in Shadowlands not only benefits alts, but can be used to plug holes in your main’s equipment.
World of Warcraft: Shadowlands Patch 9.1, Chains of Domination launches June 29th (NA) and June 30th (EU).
