WoW Enchants

WoW Enchants: Every Item Enchant by Slot

World of Warcraft enchants are permanent magical improvements applied to your gear, separate from gems or other enhancements. They scale from gear used while leveling all the way to the hardest endgame content, and the system has changed significantly across WoW's versions. New players figuring out what matters, returning players rebuilding a character, or optimizers hunting the last percentage point of performance all benefit from understanding how enchants work and how they directly affect power and gold costs.

What Enchants Are and Which Slots Can Be Enchanted

An enchant is a permanent magical improvement you add to a piece of gear. Once applied to an item, that enchant stays on the item for as long as you wear it, and it transfers if you trade the item to someone else (unless the item is soulbound and cannot be traded). Many enchants exist in the game, organized by which slot each one targets: weapons, rings, neck items, backs, chest pieces, legs, gloves, belts, boots, shoulders, wrists, and hands are all enchantable. Some enchants boost a single stat like Agility or Intellect, while others grant combat effects like damage procs, speed increases, or resistances.

Not every item can be enchanted. Cloth armor is generally enchantable, but so are leather, mail, and plate pieces. The restriction is on the enchant itself, not the armor type: most enchants specify which slot they work on (weapons, armor, or specific piece types). Legendaries often cannot be enchanted. Some event or starter gear cannot be enchanted either. When you hover over an enchant, you'll see which slots it can go on.

The Enchanting Profession and How Enchants Are Applied

The Enchanting profession is what lets you (or someone else) apply an enchant to an item. If you have the Enchanting skill trained, you can cast the enchant spell directly on items in your inventory or on items equipped by another player standing nearby. The player supplies the item, you cast the spell, and the enchant sticks to that item permanently. If the item is soulbound to them, the enchant also becomes soulbound.

Before Wrath of the Lich King, this was the only way to get an enchant applied: you had to find an enchanter in person and have them cast the spell on your gear. This made enchants a social transaction with no enchanter available meant you were stuck with unenchanted gear.

Starting with Wrath, Blizzard introduced enchant scrolls and vellums, which allowed enchanters to apply enchants ahead of time and list them on the auction house. An enchanter casts the enchant onto a parchment item called a vellum, creating a scroll. Any player can then carry that scroll and apply it to their own gear without needing an enchanter present. This was a major quality-of-life improvement.

The distinction matters for pricing and availability. In Classic Era and The Burning Crusade, all enchants required an enchanter present. In Wrath, Cataclysm, and newer expansions, most enchants can be bought as scrolls, making them instantly available from the auction house. Some enchants, especially very high-level or PvP-specific ones, may still require a direct cast from an enchanter if they cannot be put on a vellum, but this is rare.

If an enchant is removed or replaced, it vanishes from the gear permanently.

The Enchanting Skill and Material Costs

Every enchant in the game has a material cost. An enchanter needs specific items, usually reagents like dust, shards, or crystals (the exact materials depend on the expansion level and enchant power), to cast the enchant. The enchanter uses these materials out of their inventory when they cast.

These materials come from disenchanting. When you disenchant a piece of gear, you destroy it and receive materials back: typically dust (low value, common), shards (medium value, less common), or crystals (high value, rare). The quality of materials you get depends on the item level and rarity of the gear you disenchant. A common item yields dust. An uncommon or rare item yields shards. An epic or rare item yields crystals. Legendary items can yield very high-end materials.

This creates a market loop: players who need enchants pay enchanters or buy scrolls; scrolls require materials; materials come from disenchanting; disenchanting is what keeps the materials market alive. Leveling alts or running dungeons generates a lot of vendor trash and gear drops that have no other use, so disenchanting that gear is often the best way to make gold.

Temporary Enchants and Item Enhancements

Not all magical improvements to gear are permanent enchants. The game also includes temporary enhancements: oils and stones that you apply the same way as an enchant but persist only until your character dies or logs out, or in some cases, for a limited time.

Temporary enchants are useful when you are running a single difficult raid or dungeon and want a quick power boost. You buy the oil or stone, apply it to your gear, and it stacks with your permanent enchants. After the encounter, you might reapply it, or you might leave it off and save the gold for your next boss attempt.

These are separate from the permanent enchant system and do not show up in this database's enchant listings, but they follow similar patterns: they cost materials, apply to specific slots, and stack with permanent enchants.

Permanent Enchants Across Game Versions

The enchant you use depends on which version of WoW you play. Vanilla World of Warcraft, The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, Mists of Pandaria, and retail each have their own enchant sets and power levels. An enchant useful for a level 60 character in Classic Era is not relevant to a level 80 Wrath character, and neither is useful for a level 70 character in Burning Crusade.

On the other hand, many modern enchants come in tiers. Rather than inventing a new enchant name each patch, Blizzard often creates "Accord of" or "Gift of" families where the same enchant exists in three or four versions of increasing power, one for each content tier. This makes finding the right enchant easier: look for the tier that matches your character's current gear level.

Choosing Enchants for Leveling Versus Endgame

Enchant strategy changes at every stage of play. While leveling, your gear changes rapidly and enchant costs feel expensive. A smart leveler either skips enchants entirely until max level, enchants only the pieces they plan to keep for a long time (like twink gear), or uses very cheap enchants early on. Enchants that add XP gains or small stat boosts exist for leveling characters, but the return on investment is usually poor.

Once you reach max level and start gearing up for raids, dungeons, or PvP, enchants become mandatory. Every small stat increase compounds with your other gear, talents, and gems. The higher your item level, the more an enchant matters. Leveling enchants grant modest bonuses, but endgame enchants grant far larger bonuses to compensate and match the power level of high-tier gear.

Different specs and builds prioritize different enchants. A melee DPS character enchants weapons for damage procs and bracers for attack power. A healer enchants for spell power or mana sustain. Tanks enchant for armor and health. Check your class's endgame guide to see which enchants are standard for your role. This database lets you browse by stat type, so you can search for "Intellect" or "Haste" and see all the ways to add that stat through enchants.

Browsing and Choosing Enchants

Each enchant has its own page showing the enchant name, a description of what it does, which slots it can go on, and if applicable, which expansion it's from or which versions it appears in. Some enchants are shared across multiple versions; others are expansion-specific.

The full list of enchants available is searchable and filterable. Start by picking a slot (Weapon, Head, Chest, Legs, Gloves, and so on) or a stat (Agility, Intellect, Mastery, Haste, Versatility, or Armor). This narrows the list to relevant options. Within each slot or stat group, you'll often find multiple enchants suited to different content tiers. If you are fresh to max level, look for enchants that match your current gear item level. Mid-tier raid enchants start lower and climb. Once you hit endgame, you'll aim for the highest-numbered or most recent enchant for that stat and slot.

Pay attention to the level requirements. Some enchants require your character to be a certain level before you can use them, even if you have the item. A scale enchant from endgame content will not work on a low-level piece. Each enchant listing shows the expansion or patch it was introduced in, which helps you understand where in the game's progression an enchant fits and allows you to match enchants to your current content tier.

The material cost is also shown when available. This helps you understand whether an enchant is expensive or cheap to apply. If you are shopping for a scroll on the auction house, cheap enchants cost far less than top-tier raid enchants. The search is useful for digging deeper: if your class guide says "Enchant your bracers with Intellect," you can search for Intellect enchants that work on wrists, compare the exact stats, and decide which one fits your budget and gear level.

Materials, Markets, and Auction House Strategy

Enchanting materials form the backbone of the enchant economy. Understanding materials helps you figure out whether an enchant is affordable and what to farm for when you need materials yourself.

Low-tier materials like dust come from disenchanting common and uncommon gear. This is the easiest material to farm: run dungeons, get drops, disenchant them. Dust is cheap on the auction house because it is common. High-tier shards come from rare and epic items and are rarer. Crystals from epic items are rarer still and more valuable. As a result, cheap enchants (those requiring mostly dust) cost far less than high-end raid enchants (those requiring shards and crystals).

When you farm materials for enchants, you have two paths. The direct path: farm the content that drops the gear, disenchant it, and apply enchants yourself or trade the materials. The market path: farm gold, buy materials on the auction house, and pay enchanters or buy scrolls. Which is worth it depends on your time and your access to the right content. A casual player might find it cheaper to buy scrolls. A hardcore farmer might gather materials and profit by crafting scrolls for others.

Some materials are seasonal or tied to specific content. Materials from old expansions (like Burning Crusade crystals or Wrath shards) are still tradeable but become scarce as fewer players run that content. Newer materials are abundant because current content drops them constantly. This means old-expansion enchants eventually become cheap, while current-tier enchants stay expensive.

Most enchants exist as scrolls on the auction house, listed by enchanters who apply them to vellums and sell the results. Scroll prices vary wildly based on demand, material costs, and the enchant's power level. Top-tier raid enchants are expensive. Cheap leveling enchants are affordable. Seasonal or rarely-used enchants might be hard to find.

If an enchant is not on the auction house, you have two options: wait for it to come back in stock, or hire an enchanter directly (if it can be applied without a vellum). If you are in a guild, ask in chat if anyone has the skill. If not, the trade chat (General chat in major cities) is where enchanters advertise their services. Negotiating a direct price can sometimes beat auction house rates, especially if you are enchanting multiple pieces or if the enchanter sees you as a repeat customer.

When you buy a scroll, it goes into your inventory and acts like any other item. Apply it to the gear slot it specifies, and the enchant is permanent on that item. If you later enchant that slot with a different enchant, the old one is removed and replaced. There is no way to remove an enchant without replacing it.

Plan your enchanting budget by asking yourself a few questions. How long will you keep this piece of gear? If it is a temporary leveling item, skip the enchant. If it is raid-tier gear you will use for months, it is worth enchanting. What tier of content do you currently do? Enchant to match your current content tier, not aspirationally for future gear. What does your class guide recommend? Follow the stat priority, not the fanciest-sounding enchant.

If you are a new max-level character, enchant your most important pieces first: weapon and the slots you use most in combat. If you hit a gold crunch, you can always leave some slots unenchanted and come back to them. It is better to have a well-enchanted weapon and unenchanted gloves than to have all slots barely enchanted because you spread your gold too thin.

Advanced Strategies and Stat Priority

In some versions of WoW, enchanters can specialize in certain types of enchants, boosting their effectiveness. For example, a specialization in weapon enchants might make a weapon enchant stronger or cheaper to apply. These specializations are expansion-specific and vary widely. If you are working with an enchanter directly, ask if they have a specialization that affects the enchant you want.

Optimization-minded players also use enchants to fill gaps in their stat spreads. If your gear mostly gives you Haste but you need more Crit, you can enchant pieces to favor Crit. This balances your stats and often improves your performance more than stacking your strongest stat into oblivion. Check your class's stat diminishing returns to understand where the balance point is for your spec.

Some raids or dungeons are designed with specific stat requirements in mind. Tanks may need a certain amount of armor or health to survive big hits. Healers may need enough mana regen to keep the group alive through long encounters. DPS need enough damage to meet enrage timers. Enchants contribute to all of these requirements. If you are struggling in an encounter, the right enchant choice might be the difference between a clear and a wipe.

Seasonal events and PvP seasons also bring unique enchants. Seasonal enchants are often available for only a short time and may not be attainable later. If you hear about a seasonal enchant you like, get it early or go without. PvP seasons introduce gear that requires PvP enchants designed for player combat. These are separate from PvE enchants and sometimes offer different stat distributions to favor surviving and bursting other players.

Reaching Different Gear Tiers and Your Enchant Progression

Reaching higher gear tiers means replacing gear, which means reassessing enchants. A weapon you use from leveling to mid-raid tier will have enchant changes at several points. At first, you might not enchant at all. As you level and gear improves, you apply a leveling enchant. When you hit max level, you upgrade to early-endgame enchants. As raid tiers progress, you get new gear and apply new enchants to match the higher item level.

This progression is expensive if you do it inefficiently. A smart player minimizes the enchant changes by planning several steps ahead. If you know you will replace your current weapon in the next tier of content, do not apply an expensive enchant to it. Wait until you have the new weapon. This requires reading patch notes and guides to anticipate what gear upgrades look like, but it saves gold.

Some players also use temporary enchants to bridge gaps. If you are one piece of gear away from your optimal enchant tier, you might apply a cheaper enchant and plan to upgrade it once you have the piece you want. Or you might apply a temporary enchant for a single raid and replace it when it is time for the next tier.

The sweetest spot for enchanting is usually mid-expansion, when the initial rush has died down and materials are more stable in price. Early in a tier, everything is expensive because demand is high and supply is low. Late in a tier, some items become so affordable that enchanting them feels free. In between, you can gear up an alt or finish your main's setup without breaking the bank.

The Social Side of Enchanting and Trading

Enchanting has a social component that is often overlooked. Finding a good enchanter, developing a relationship with them, and trusting them with your items is valuable. Some enchanters go the extra mile: they remember your alts' names, they discount materials for guild members, they help you plan your gear progression. These relationships matter more in smaller communities or guilds where you see the same people regularly.

When you hire an enchanter directly (rather than buying a scroll), you are making a small transaction that supports someone in the community. Many enchanters level the skill specifically to help guildmates and earn a little gold on the side. If you are in a guild with active enchanters, supporting them strengthens your community and often gets you faster service or better prices than the impersonal auction house.

The flip side: if you are an enchanter considering the profession, it is one of the most social ways to engage with crafting in WoW. You help people gear up, you build relationships, and you profit from the materials everyone else generates by playing. Many long-term players choose to level Enchanting for this reason, not just for gold.

Enchants and Transmog: Appearances and Function

Enchants do not change the appearance of your gear (with rare exceptions like some illusion enchants that add visual effects). This means you can separate your transmog decisions (how your gear looks) from your enchant decisions (how powerful it is). You can wear whatever armor style you like and enchant it however you want.

Some players apply enchants that create visual effects, like illusion enchants that glow or change colors. These are usually rarer and more expensive, as they serve an aesthetic purpose as much as a functional one. If you like the look, they are a fun way to stand out in crowded cities or raids. If you do not care about visuals, stick to the stat-boosting enchants and save the gold.

Common Mistakes When Applying Enchants

One of the biggest mistakes is enchanting low-level or temporary gear. If you level a new character, do not enchant the leveling gear. You will replace it too quickly and waste materials. Save your materials and scrolls for max-level pieces that you plan to use for weeks or months.

Another mistake is using the wrong enchant for your role or spec. If you are a tank, enchanting your weapon for spell power does nothing for your survivability. Check your spec's best-in-slot enchants or ask in a class guide before you buy a scroll. Applying the wrong enchant is not irreversible (you can remove an enchant by replacing it with a new one), but it wastes gold.

Some players forget that enchants carry over when gear is traded. If you are planning to pass a piece to a friend or sell it on the auction house, remember that the enchant on it is now part of the item. A highly enchanted piece is worth more on the market. Conversely, if you receive an enchanted item you do not want, you cannot remove the enchant (the next enchant will replace it), so you are stuck with someone else's choices.

Lastly, do not assume all enchants work on all versions of the game. An enchant available on retail Dragonflight is not on Wrath, and vice versa. Always check which expansion or version you are playing before you buy a scroll.

Your character's primary stats (the ones your class wants most) should guide your enchant choices. A Frost mage who gets hit caps from gear alone should enchant for Intellect or spell power, not Hit. A Protection warrior who is over-capped on Armor from gear should enchant for Health or Dodge. Read your class or spec guide to find the priority order, then pick the enchants that follow that order.

Some enchants offer flexibility. "Major Agility," for example, boosts Agility, a stat useful for hunters, rogues, and druids. If you are unsure whether an enchant suits you, cross-reference it with your class guide. Most raiding guilds publish recommended gear and enchant lists for each class and spec, so use those as a starting point.

Understanding your stat caps also matters. Hit, for example, has a soft cap: once you reach it, extra Hit has no effect. If your gear and talents put you at the Hit cap, adding more Hit through enchants is wasteful. Enchanting for a stat you are already capped on feels productive but does nothing for your damage or survival. Check your class's stat breakpoints and caps before you commit to an enchant strategy.

Secondaries (Haste, Mastery, Versatility, Crit) all have scaling considerations. Some specs value one secondary much more than others. A Fury warrior might want Mastery for cleave damage, while a Survival hunter might want Haste for attack speed and proc frequency. The gap between an optimal enchant choice and a suboptimal one can be substantial in high-end raids.

The power of an enchant does not always scale linearly with cost. A doubling in gold might give you a modest stat increase, not a proportional one. This is why budget matters. Spend most of your material budget on gear upgrades first (because they offer larger stat gains), then on enchants that match your top stat priorities, then on quality-of-life enchants like movement speed.

One underrated enchant type is utility enchants. Speed boosts, minor resistances, gathering profession enhancements, and survival tools are not DPS increases, but they make playing the game more convenient. A +speed enchant on your boots means you can run content faster, get to raids more easily, and enjoy open-world content more. These enchants are often cheap and feel like free quality-of-life upgrades once your combat stats are optimized.

Can I remove an enchant without applying a new one?

No. You can only replace an enchant by applying a different enchant to that slot. If you apply a new enchant, the old one is overwritten. There is no item or NPC that removes enchants cleanly.

Are enchants permanent if my item gets soulbound?

Yes. Once an enchant is applied, it stays on the item permanently, even if the item becomes soulbound. If someone gives you a soulbound enchanted item, the enchant is still there and still active.

Do enchants work on heirlooms?

Yes, heirlooms can be enchanted, and the enchant scales with the item as it levels. Some players enchant heirlooms before passing them to alts, so they level with an extra boost.

Can I enchant items while they are equipped?

The rules vary by version. In some versions, an item must be in your inventory to be enchanted. In others, an enchanter can cast on your equipped items directly. Ask the enchanter or scroll tooltip to be sure.

Which enchants should I buy for my gear?

Check your class or spec guide for the recommended enchants. Stat priority varies by class. A caster wants different enchants than a melee DPS or a tank. Your guild or a class community resource will have the list for your role.

What if the enchant I want is not on the auction house?

Post in trade chat asking for an enchanter, or ask your guild. If no one has the skill yet, wait for the material costs to drop or the enchant to come back in stock. Some rare enchants may take time to become available.

Do temporary enchants stack with permanent enchants?

Yes. Temporary oils and stones are separate from enchants and stack with them. You can use both to maximize your stats for a single encounter.

How do I know if an enchant is right for my item level?

Check the enchant page on this site and see which expansion or tier it is from. If it matches your current gear's tier, it is likely worth the investment. Endgame enchants are far more powerful than leveling enchants, so do not apply a low-tier enchant to high-item-level gear.

Can enchants be transferred to a different item?

No. An enchant is locked to the item it is applied to. If you replace the item, the enchant is lost (unless you trade the enchanted item itself to someone else). Plan to keep an item for a while before you spend gold enchanting it.

What happens to my enchants if I disenchant the item?

The enchant is destroyed along with the item. You get the material value of the item back, but nothing for the enchant. Always remove or replace enchants on valuable items before you disenchant them, if you can.

Why do scrolls cost more than the material cost?

Enchanters spend time and skill learning the enchant and applying it to vellums. They charge a profit margin on top of materials. Demand also affects price: high-demand enchants cost more. If you have a high material cost, it can be cheaper to find an enchanter and pay them a fee directly instead of buying a scroll.

Are there any enchants that work on multiple slots?

Most enchants are slot-specific, but some enchant effects are shared across different slot names. For example, "Greater Intellect" might exist for wrists and for other armor slots, but each is a separate enchant. Check the slot requirement on each enchant page to be sure.

Playing WoW Forever? Forever is Blizzard's Classic-based version and it is still in beta, so this guide does not make claims about how this system will work there. What the beta client actually contains is tracked on the WoW Forever hub, and anything you read about Forever before launch can change. Until it ships, the Classic Era notes in this guide are the closest reference for how a Classic ruleset treats this topic.