Primal Farming Guide
Primals are required in almost every crafting profession at higher levels. If you want to make good items, chances are you will be using some of these primals as your main components. You can spend time farming them yourself but lately there has been an over supply of primals in the Auction House. I highly recommend you consult your local Auctioneer as to the pricing and availability of the Common Primals and if you don't have money to buy them you should check out this gold guide
There are a lot of primals that are required for many of the professions.
Common Primals Uncommon Primals Transmuting PrimalsAlchemist's possess the ability to transform primals into other primals. Below is a list of what can be transformed into what. Please note there may be cooldowns associated with these transformations.
| Component | Transmutes To |
| Primal Air | Primal Fire |
| Primal Water | Primal Shadow |
| Primal Water | Primal Air |
| Primal Earth | Primal Water |
| Primal Earth | Primal Life |
| Primal Fire | Primal Earth |
| Primal Fire | Primal Mana |
| Primal Shadow | Primal Water |
| Primal Life | Primal Earth |
| Primal Mana | Primal Fire |
Primals are created through motes. All of the common primals have motes that can be combined into a primal, it takes 10 motes per primal. Motes are dropped off of mobs or are mined or herbed. Uncommon Primals come from boss drops, vendors, or transmutations.
Where is the best place to farm Primal Air?You can farm Primal air by farming Motes of Air which mainly drop off Air Elemental type mobs. You can also get them from Gas Extractions, but it is recommended you just kill for them. The best places to farm are in Nagrand or Shadowmoon Valley. If you are looking to kill mobs in the range of 63-67 to farm motes of air then you can run around mostly anywhere in Nagrand killing Storm Ragers (64-66), Dust Howlers(63-65), and Living Cyclones(65-67), but if you are level 70 or have a flying mount/warlock to summon you to places then you will want to go to one of the two places in the maps.
Primal Earth is made from Motes of Earth. Motes of Earth are one of the motes that can be acquired by mining. If you are a miner than you will find motes of earth in all of the outland mine nodes. The approximately mote of earth mining rate is as follows.
- Rich Adamantite Deposit - 47%
- Adamantite Deposit - 40%
- Khorium Vein - 32%
- Nethercite Deposit - 13%
- Fel Iron Deposit - 8%
If you need help locating some of these nodes see our Mining Guide
For those of you who aren't miners and will be acquiring these the old fashioned farming way you may find the following information useful. Motes of Earth can drop off mobs in most of the Outland zones but drop the most from mobs in Netherstorm, Nagrand, and Shadowmoon Valley. If you are mid 60's you will want to try farming them off the Enraged Crusher (64-66), the Tortured Earth Spirit (64-65), or the Shattered Rumbler (65-67) that reside in Nagrand. They roam all over the map but you can find concentrated camps of them in the gorge north of Telaar, surrounding Halaa, and the southwestern edge of the zone by Oshu'gun.
For those of you that are level 70 or brave, we will be fighting in one of the 3 locations on the maps.
Where is the best place to farm Primal Fire?
Primal Fire is made from Motes of Fire. Motes of Fire are one of the motes that can be acquired by mining. If you are a miner than you will find motes of fire in all of the outland mine nodes. The approximately mote of fire mining rate is as follows.
- Nethercite Deposit - 13%
- Fel Iron Deposit - 9%
- Khorium Vein - 3%
If you need help locating some of these nodes see our Mining Guide
The rest of us will be grabbing our characters and hopping on the fire farming trolley. Motes of Fire drop off mobs in Blade's Edge Mountains, Shadowmoon Valley, Nagrand, and now Hellfire Peninsula with the addition of patch 2.4 they can be found in the northern part of the zone (you can teleport there from the Isle of Quel'Danas) or just fly to the top if you're already in Hellfire Peninsula. The only non 70 preferred farming spot for motes of fire is in Nagrand killing Searing Elementals (66-68). They are located in the Northeastern part of Blade's Edge Mountains slightly northwest of the Blade's Edge Mountains/Netherstorm bridge. They have a drop rate of about 27%. For the rest of us pro level 70's with flying mounts you will be farming in the following places as shown on the maps.
Where is the best place to farm Primal Shadow?
Primal Shadow comes from motes of Shadow. These drop in just about every zone from Voidwalkers mainly. Some people have reported them from other demon / infernal type mobs but we will stick with Voidwalkers for this guide. The good news is if you are mid 60's there are a lot of locations you can farm in Hellfire Peninsula and it's actually the highest drop rate reported, near 30%. The very far southeastern strip of Hellfire Peninsula is loaded with void walkers, if you go east over the mountain from Zeth'gor you'll find it. There is also a spot in Nagrand killing Voidspawns (64-66) that has a 23% drop rate, just run circles around Oshu'Gun and you'll see what I mean. Here is a list of instances that has Voidwalkers in them that you can also get a few motes from if you're grouping.
- The Arcatraz - Tempest Keep - Negaton Warp-Master/Screamer 50-93% drop rate, depending on dungeon difficulty
- Mana-Tombs - Auchindoun - Nexus Terror 29% drop rate
- Both of those instances have bossesin them that can drop motes as well
The southeastern coastline of Hellfire Peninsula is reportedly the best but if you're also looking to get some higher level items to sell then you will want to head into Netherstorm where the drop rate is just slightly behind Hellfire Peninsula for motes of shadow. Check the map to find the location.
Where is the best place to farm Primal Water?
Primal Water is made from motes of water and can be commonly found as a drop from Water Elementals. There are several low-mid level 60 farming areas. In Zangarmarsh there at least 5 mobs that have anywhere from a 7-15% chance to drop motes of water. Those 5 mobs are Bloodscale Sentry/ Darkcrest Sentry, Bloodscale Elemental, Bloodthirsty Marshfang, and Lagoon Eel. In addition to farming motes of water in Zangarmarsh as a low to mid level 60 you will also be able to farm Lake Spirits, Muck Spawn, and Lake Surger's in Nagrand with a 13-15% drop rate. These are located in the water near Halaathe lake near Throne of the Elements, and the lake near Sunspring Post.
Motes of Water also drop in instances of The Steamvault and Black temple off water elementals.
For those of you that are ready for some serious high level mote of water farming get out your flying mount and head to Terrokar Forest or head into Shadowmoon Valley at the places shown on the map.
Where is the best place to farm Primal Life?
Primal Lifes are made from motes of life and the good news is you don't have to be level 70 to get the best farming spots for these, unless you're going to be doing instances to get them. The main zones motes of life come from are Zangarmarsh and there are a few mobs in Terokkar Forest that drops them as well. The mobs range from level 60-65 so you don't have to be level 70 or have a flying mount to farm these effectively. Instead of telling you where they are I will show you on a map this time because I don't have any places to send the level 70s to farm.
The following instances have mobs inside them that drop Motes of Life.
- The Underbog - Coilfang Reservoir - Level 62-65 (Regular) 70-72(Heroic) 5 man isntance
- The Steamvault - Coilfang Reservoir - Level 70-72 5 man instance
- Serpentshrine Cavern - Coilfang Reservoir - Level 70+ Raid 25 man
- The Botanica - Tempest Keep - Warp Splinter <2% drop rate
Where is the best place to farm Primal Mana?
Primal Mana is made from combining motes of mana and they are commonly found as drops off of ethereal type creatures like mana wraiths (elementals). There aren't really any lower level farming areas for Primal Mana because they drop most frequently in Netherstorm, Shadowmoon Valley and Blade's Edge Mountains; also now available on the Isle of Quel'Danas from patch 2.4. All of these are higher level zones. The mobs that drop motes of mana range from 66-72. These also drop in Karazhan off of a few mobs.
The best farming areas for motes of mana are shown on the maps for your convenience. The drops from the Isle of Quel'Danas are off of Erratic Sentry with a drop rate of about 40%.
Where is the best place to farm Primal Might?
Primal Might is made by Alchemists by transmuting other primals into it. The components required primals for transmuting into a primal might are: primal fire, primal earth, primal water, primal air, and primal mana. It takes 1 each of all 5 of these to transmute into 1 primal might. There is a cooldown associated with making Primal Might's so even if you find an alchemist to create one for you might have to wait in line for his cooldown. You can expect to purchase these off the Auction House for the price of all 5 components added up plus a little more.
Where is the best place to farm Primal Nether?Primal Nether before patch 2.4 was only dropped in instances off of bosses. They are still dropped from non-heroic and heroic instances. The non-heroic instances have a drop rate of almost none to 20% depending on what boss it is and what level instance it is. Inside the Heroic instances is another story where drop rates range from 40-85%. You will most likely be rolling against other members of your party and they are no-drop so you can't trade or sell them.
After patch 2.4 was released these were made available for purchase from G'eras, whom is located in the center of Shattrah City in the Terrace of Light (northwest area). He will sell you Primal Nether for 10 Badges of Justice. A badge of justice drops off every heroic instance boss in outland instances and will also drop from raid instances as well as 5 mans.
