The members of Crag Boar Rebellion have been discussing which dungeon to tackle next. Our challenge is that while we don’t want to skip content, we also have a goal of being optimally leveled for each instance. I think we’d like to be challenged a bit and able to make use of any drops, but not wipe when we walk in the door.
Usually we check familiar sources to see what party level range they recommend for a given instance (Viniki and Skronk do most of this work). However, the recommendations sometimes seem off.
Possibly related: Is WoW Classic Easier Than Original Wow?
Out of curiosity I decided to compare the recommendations of two popular resources, Wowhead and Icy Veins – and then compare those against recommendations from the old print publication Brady Games’ World of Warcraft Dungeon Companion.

The following table shows the results of my casual, non-scientific data gathering. (Please post corrections/updates in the comments). Note that level ranges assume a full group of 5, and that these figures are for WoW release 1.12.
Key:
WH = Wowhead
I-V = Icy Veins
DC = Dungeon Companion
Dungeon | WH | I-V | DC |
---|---|---|---|
Ragefire Chasm | 13-18 | 13-16 | 13-18 |
Deadmines | 18-23 | 17-21 | 18-23 |
Wailing Caverns | 15-25 | 17-23 | 18-25 |
Shadowfang Keep | 22-30 | 18-23 | 20-26 |
Blackfathom Deeps | 24-32* | 20-27 | 23-28 |
The Stockade(s) | 24-30* | 23-30 | 24-29 |
Razorfen Kraul | 30-40 | 25-32 | 25-30 |
Gnomeregan | 29-38* | 28-35 | 30-36 |
Scarlet Monastery | 26-45 | 29-42 | 33-40 |
Razorfen Downs | 37-47* | 37-43 | 35-40 |
Uldaman | 40-45* | 41-47 | 40-45 |
Zul’Farrak | 44-54 | 44-49 | 43-48 |
Blackrock Depths | 56-59** | n/a | 52-57 |
Maraudon | 45-52 | 47-49 | 45-52 |
Temple of Atal’Hakkar | 50-55* | n/a | 50-55 |
Dire Maul | 55-60 | 55-60 | 55-60 |
Blackrock Spire | 55-60 | n/a | 57-60 |
* Taken from the Wowhead dungeon guide page, not its table of contents (see below).
** This is the usual level range for “most players.”
Clearly there’s disagreement over precisely what minimum and maximum level party members should be for most dungeons (not looking at you, Dire Maul). You can see this especially with Wailing Caverns, Shadowfang Keep, Razorfen Downs, and Zul’Farrak.
Another thing I discovered is that the sources don’t always agree with themselves. Wowhead level recommendations can differ between its dungeon table of contents and the actual dungeon guide page. This is probably because content is edited by multiple authors. Here are examples.
dUNGEON | tABLE OF CONTENTS | DUNGEON PAGE |
---|---|---|
Blackfathom Deeps | 20-30 | 24-32 |
The Stockade(s) | 22-30 | 24-30 |
Gnomeregan | 24-34 | 29-38 |
Razorfen Downs | 40-50 | 37-47 |
Temple of Atal’Hakkar | 55-60 | 50-55 |
Another factor that we consider when deciding on dungeon level is the main boss level. Here are my findings on the maximum boss level in each instance, using multiple sources. (Getting accurate info here is trickier than you might think. Please submit corrections in the comments, and I will also correct inaccuracies as we complete each instance.) As above, these numbers are for WoW release 1.12. Don’t forget that all bosses are elites.
Dungeon | boss | boss level |
---|---|---|
Ragefire Chasm | (All 4 bosses same level) | 16 |
Deadmines | VanCleef | 21 |
Wailing Caverns | Mutanus the Devourer | 22 |
Shadowfang Keep | Archmage Arugal | 26 |
Blackfathom Deeps | Aku’Mai | 28 |
The Stockade(s) | Bazil Thredd | 29 |
Razorfen Kraul | Charlga Razorflank | 33 |
Gnomeregan | Mexgineer Thermaplugg | 34 |
Scarlet Monastery (SM) | ||
— SM Graveyard | Bloodmage Thalnos | 34 |
— SM Library | Arcanist Doan | 37 |
— SM Armory | Herod | 40 |
— SM Cathedral | (Shared) | |
Scarlet Cmdr. Mograine | 42 | |
High Inq. Whitemane | 42 | |
Razorfen Downs | (Shared) | |
Glutton | 40 | |
Plaguemaw the Rotting | 40 | |
Uldaman | Grimlok | 45 |
Zul’Farrak | (Shared) | 48 |
Antu’Sul | 48 | |
Chief Ukorz Sandscalp | 48 | |
Blackrock Depths | (Various) | 60+ |
Maraudon | Princess Theradras | 51 |
Temple of Atal’Hakkar | Shade of Eranikus | 55 |
Dire Maul | (Various) | 61+ |
Blackrock Spire | (Various) | 60+ |
As for our Wow Classic group, we found ourselves to be somewhat above-level for Ragefire Chasm, Wailing Caverns, Deadmines, Shadowfang Keep, the Stockade, and much of Gnomeregan. The group skipped Blackfathom Deeps because we felt we’d outleveled it by too much by the time we got there (although I hope we take a different group in the future).
With everyone in the 28-30 range now, we may end up missing Razorfen Kraul as well and jump into the first part of Scarlet Monastery, although I don’t think that’s been decided just yet.
As usual, TAGN has been documenting each dungeon run, and our levels at the start of each, on his blog. He did the same back in the 2000s, so you can look for those posts as well if you think they might be helpful. Just enter the dungeon name into the search on his blog, and comment here if there’s anything you aren’t finding.
To see us on our WoW Classic instance runs, browse the Instance Run videos.
I said it before on Wilhelm’s blog, but I found the ideal level to do a dungeon in Classic to be the final boss’s level minus 3. Keeps things decently challenging but also rewarding.
A lot of the final boss levels in your table seem off though. Arugal is level 26, Aku’mai level 28, Thermaplugg is 34 etc. The Wowhead Classic NPC database appears to be pretty accurate from my experience.
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Thanks! I’ll go through the Classic database and make updates to the table.
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