How Many Hours Does it Take to Get to Max Level in WoW?
As an avid WoW gamer since the early days of Vanilla, one question I still get asked constantly by new and returning players is: "How long will it take me to hit max level?"
The answer, as you might expect, depends on a few key factors. But in this comprehensive guide, I‘ll break down everything you need to know about leveling to WoW‘s new level cap with statistics and insights from my many years exploring Azeroth.
WoW‘s Current Max Level
With the recent launch of the Dragonflight expansion, the new max level in World of Warcraft is 70. This offers exciting new challenges for veterans and more attainable goals for newcomers compared to the previous 120 cap.
Average Leveling Time
For most players proceeding at a moderate pace, leveling from 10 to the new max of 70 takes approximately 15-20 hours of gameplay. This assumes you engage with some side content, run the occasional dungeon, and read quest text.
If you minimize distractions and optimize leveling speed, you could shave 5 hours off for a brisk 10-15 hour playthrough. I‘ll cover popular strategies veteran players use to cut down leveling time later in this guide.
Leveling Times By Expansion
While Dragonflight and starter zone revamps have smoothed out the experience gain curve, leveling speed still varies when playing through different WoW expansions.
| Expansion | Hours to Max (Average) |
| Dragonflight | 15-20 |
| Shadowlands | 12-15 |
| Battle for Azeroth | 15-25 |
As you can see, Shadowlands and the new Dragonflight content provide the most efficient leveling. This is partly due to Blizzard refining quest flow, rewards, and level scaling over time based on player feedback.
Chromie Time Scaling
An interesting option introduced in recent expansions is Chromie Time. This lets you level through zones from past expansions while keeping content scalable and rewards relevant.
Popular picks like Wrath of the Lich King Classic and Mists of Pandaria scale nicely in Chromie Time. And the nostalgia trip visiting past expansion eras can ease the leveling grind if you‘ve leveled multiple alts over the years.
Speed Leveling Strategies
For players more focused on rushing a new alt to max level ASAP, there are a variety of strategies to trim hours off a standard playthrough. Just know that excessive speed leveling misses much of what makes early WoW content so rich and immersive.
Heirlooms
Heirloom gear has long been the gold standard to accelerate leveling. With hefty experience bonuses that scale as you level up, a full set cuts leveling time by 20-30%.
The only catch is you either need a max level character to farm heirlooms or buy them with real money. But for veteran players, they provide a nice way to vary the leveling grind.
| Heirlooms Owned | Hours Saved Leveling |
| None | 0 hours |
| Partial Set | 2-5 hours |
| Full Set | 5-8 hours |
Recruit-a-Friend
If you convince friends to start playing WoW or return after some time off, you can activate Recruit-a-Friend bonuses. This grants triple experience gains when partied together for faster leveling.
The only problem is convincing friends to sync up playtime and level together rather than solo. But a patient guide assisting new players with RAF perks activated can save 10+ hours to max.
Dungeon Spamming
Chain running dungeons with instant queues as a tank or healer is another favorite for power levelers. The rapid influx of blue-quality gear, experience rewards from dungeon quests, and random dungeon bonuses accelerates leveling versus pure questing.
Just know that dungeon spamming risks burnout quicker. And easily replaced dungeon gear may not prepare you as well for max level content compared to carefully chosen quest rewards.
Speed Leveling Records
For an idea of just how fast veterans can level when aggressively optimizing everything, let‘s look at some public speed records.
Popular WoW Twitch streamer Asmongold leveled a new monk from 10-50 in under 5 hours during Shadowlands pre-patch by combining strategies like:
- Max-level AOE dps legendary
- Full heirlooms
- Planned route skipping most quest dialog
- RAF dungeon spamming
And in November 2022, talented speed leveler Harldan recorded the fastest ever 10-60, hitting max Shadowlands level in just over 3 hours!
While these records rely on highly coordinated groups and excessive preparation, they demonstrate just how much strategic planning and optimization can accelerate leveling. Most players will be happy hitting 70 after 15 leisurely hours. But veterans grinding alts can feasibly trim time to 8 hours or less.
Key Factors in Leveling Speed
Based on my many years exploring Azeroth, having leveled over 20 characters at this point, here are the key factors that determine how long it takes to hit max level in WoW:
- Focus – Are you methodically pursuing max level or stopping to smell the roses?
- Route/Strategy Optimization – Have you planned an efficient leveling route and researched the best consumables, gear, abilities?
- Grouping – Playing solo or with others to tackle more difficult bonus objectives and quests?
- Past Experience – Is this your first character or fifth alt who knows where everything is located?
As with most things in life, effort and preparation pays off when trying to achieve something quickly in WoW. But most importantly…make sure you have fun along the way!
Let me know in the comments if you have any other tips for fast leveling in WoW! I‘m always down to geek out about strategies to improve my efficiency.
