WoW Midnight Dawncrests | Gear Upgrading (Season 1)

If you’ve played The War Within, you remember Valorstones. Good news: they’re gone. In Midnight, the upgrade system has been streamlined into a single currency called Dawncrests. No more juggling two resources – just earn crests, spend crests, upgrade gear.

This new system applies to both dropped gear and crafted items. Whether you’re a Mythic+ grinder, a raider, a Delve enjoyer, or a crafter, Dawncrests are now essential for pushing your character’s power to the next level.

This guide explains the five Dawncrest tiers, how to earn each one, where to spend them, and how to use them efficiently – including discounts and crafted gear upgrades:

• What Are Dawncrests?
• How to Get Dawncrests
• Where to Spend Dawncrests
• Upgrading Crafted Gear
• Dawncrest Discounts
• Dawncrest Exchange
• Quick Tips
• Common Mistakes

What Are Dawncrests?

Dawncrests are the only currency you need to upgrade armor and weapons in Midnight Season 1. There are five types, each tied to a specific difficulty range:

Each piece of gear can be upgraded six times. Each upgrade costs 20 Dawncrests of the appropriate tier. That means fully upgrading one item from 1/6 to 6/6 costs 120 Dawncrests.

Unlike before, there’s no Valorstone grind. Just farm the content, collect crests, and upgrade.

How to Get Dawncrests – A Tier‑by‑Tier Breakdown

Higher difficulty content drops higher‑tier crests. You can’t get Myth crests from heroic dungeons – you have to push into Mythic+ or Mythic raids.

Here’s the complete source list for each type, based on actual Midnight Season 1 data.

Adventurer Dawncrest (lowest tier)

• Repeatable outdoor events (e.g., Void Assaults, Ritual Sites)
• Outdoor treasures (chests scattered across zones)
• Tier 4 Delves
• Heroic dungeons
• Raid Finder (LFR) bosses

Best early farm: Run heroic dungeon queue while doing world quests. You’ll cap Adventurer Dawncrest quickly.

Veteran Dawncrest

• Repeatable outdoor events (higher difficulty versions)
• Heroic seasonal dungeons (Mythic 0 equivalent)
• Raid Finder (LFR) – same as above, but Veteran drops from later bosses
• Trovehunter’s Bounty tiers 4–5
• Tier 5–6 Delves

Tip: Veteran Dawncrest are the first real bottleneck. If you’re gearing an alt, focus on Tier 6 Delves – they’re soloable at 590 ilvl and give 5–10 Veteran Dawncrest per run.

Champion Dawncrest

• Weekly outdoor events (the big ones, like Abundance)
• Mythic+ dungeons +2 to +3
• Normal difficulty raids
• Tier 7–10 Delves
• Trovehunter’s Bounty tiers 6–7

Best source: Mythic+ +2 keys. A timed +2 gives 12 Champion Dawncrest. You can run five keys in an hour and get 60 Champion Dawncrest – enough for three upgrades.

Hero Dawncrest 

• Heroic raids
• Mythic+ dungeons +4 to +8
• Trovehunter’s Bounty tier 8+

Note: Hero Dawncrest  are where the real grind begins. A +8 key gives 15 Hero Dawncrest  if timed. You’ll need around 240 Hero Dawncrest  to fully upgrade a full set of gear (assuming 8 pieces). That’s 16 timed +8 keys – doable over a week.

Myth Dawncrest (highest tier)

• Mythic raids
• Mythic+ dungeons +9 and above

Warning: Myth Dawncrest are rare. A timed +10 gives 20 Myth Dawncrest. Fully upgrading a single item costs 120 Myth Dawncrest – that’s six timed +10 keys just for one piece. Use them only on your best‑in‑slot items.

Where to Spend Dawncrests – The Upgrade Vendor

Head to Silvermoon City’s Bazaar of the Sun. The upgrade vendor is Cuzolth (near the profession trainers).

Coordinates: /way 49.0 60.5

How it works:

1. Talk to Cuzolth.
2. Put the item you want to upgrade into the interface.
3. Select how many ranks you want to buy (1 to 6).
4. Pay the Dawncrest cost (20 per rank).
5. Confirm.

Each item belongs to an upgrade track (Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, Myth). You cannot use a higher‑tier crest to skip a track – you need the matching crests for each rank.

Example: A Champion track chest piece at 1/6 (246 ilvl) needs 20 Champion Dawncrest to become 2/6 (about 249 ilvl). To go from 1/6 to 6/6, you need 120 Champion Dawncrest and the item will end at 263 ilvl.

Upgrading Crafted Gear with Dawncrests

Professions got a big buff in Midnight. You can now use Dawncrests to upgrade crafted items during the crafting process – no need to wait for random drops.

How it works:

• When you craft a piece of gear (or request a Crafting Order), you can add Dawncrests as an optional reagent.
• The number of crests determines the final item level.

Crafted gear scaling:

Example: A blacksmith crafting a “Voidsteel Chestplate” can use 80 Hero Dawncrest  to make it ilvl 272 – equivalent to a low Mythic raid drop. That’s huge for players who don’t raid.

Tip for crafters: If you’re selling crafted gear on the Crafting Order system, charge extra for the crests. Many buyers will provide their own crests, but you can also stockpile them and offer “crest‑included” packages for a premium.

Dawncrest Discounts – Save Big on Alts

Two systems reduce Dawncrest costs. Both are account‑wide.

1. Free Armor Slot Upgrades
If you’ve already upgraded a specific slot (e.g., cloak) to a certain item level, upgrading another cloak to the same or lower level costs zero Dawncrests.

Example: Your main character has a 250 ilvl cloak (Veteran 6/6). Your alt gets a 233 ilvl cloak. Upgrading that alt’s cloak from 233 to 250 is completely free. You only pay crests if you want to go beyond 250.

This is massive for alt gearing. Prioritize upgrading one character first, then funnel gear to alts.

2. Warband Crest Discounts – 33% Off
Complete these account‑wide achievements to permanently reduce Dawncrest upgrade costs by one‑third for all characters in your Warband.

What does 33% off mean? An upgrade that normally costs 20 crests costs 14 crests instead. Over a full set of gear (8–10 pieces), that saves you over 400 crests.

Pro tip: Focus on completing Adventurer of the Dawn first. It’s easy – just farm world content and LFR – and it speeds up all your alts immediately.

Dawncrest Exchange – Lower to Higher

Talk to Vaskarn next to Cuzolth in Silvermoon. He can exchange lower‑tier crests for higher‑tier ones, but only after you’ve unlocked certain Warband achievements.

Use case: You’re swimming in Champion Dawncrest but need Hero Dawncrest  for your next upgrade. Exchange 90 Champion Dawncrest for 15 Hero Dawncrest  (a 6:1 ratio). It’s not efficient, but it’s better than letting crests rot.

Efficient Dawncrest Farming – Quick Tips

1. Start with Delves – Tier 7–8 Delves give Champion Dawncrest and are soloable. No group drama. Do your 8 weekly Delves for bonus crests.

2. Push M+ to +4 quickly – +2 and +3 keys give Champion Dawncrest. +4 keys give Hero Dawncrest . The jump is worth it. Run your own key to control the level.

3. Use the vault – The Great Vault gives a chunk of crests each week (25–50 depending on your chosen slot). Don’t skip it.

4. Don’t hoard crests – Upgrade your main weapon and chest first. Those give the biggest stat gains. Save Myth crests for best‑in‑slot items only.

5. Exchange down if needed – If you need lower crests for an alt, you can exchange higher crests for lower (unlimited). The reverse (lower to higher) is limited by achievements.

Common Mistakes

• Upgrading gear you’ll replace soon – Only upgrade items with good secondary stats. A 220 ilvl piece with perfect stats is better than a 250 piece with bad stats.
• Ignoring crafted gear – Crafted items with Dawncrests are often easier to get than raid drops. Check the Auction House for bargain epic bases.
• Not using the Warband discount – Complete the Adventurer of the Dawn achievement on your main before leveling alts. It saves hours of farming.
• Forgetting to exchange crests – Running out of bag space? Exchange low crests for higher ones or send them to alts via Warband bank.

Final Thoughts – Dawncrests Made Simple

The Dawncrest system is a huge improvement over Valorstones. One currency, clear upgrade paths, and generous discounts for alts.

• For mains: Push to +4 keys as fast as possible to start earning Hero Dawncrest . Use Myth Dawncrest only on your absolute best pieces.
• For alts: Prioritize the Adventurer of the Dawn achievement on your main. Then upgrading alts becomes nearly free.
• For crafters: Use Dawncrests to craft epic 272–285 gear. Sell them on the Crafting Order system for high commissions.

Now go upgrade that weapon and crush some keys.