The Best Gold-Making Professions in World of Warcraft

Making gold has always been a hassle for World of Warcraft players. Whether you’re playing Classic or Retail, gold is crucial for your progress, and getting enough of it can be quite a challenge. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to earn those precious coins. From simply farming raw WOW gold to intricate item flipping at the Auction House, there are many strategies and techniques, with professions playing a huge role too. Professions can become a steady gold-making source, bringing you profit and providing useful components for both leveling and tackling the endgame content.

In this guide, we’ll cover the best gold-making professions, explain why they are profitable, and share tips on how to earn the most gold from them. As an additional source of income, you can also use boosting services where you can buy WoW gold in any amount you need at very favorable prices, with flexible options for both Classic and Retail.

And now, let’s dive into the best gold-making professions!

Most Profitable Gold-Making Professions

The main trick to earning gold with professions is farming or crafting items that can later be sold. So, we’ll focus on professions that supply you with high-demand items to sell and help you make a nice profit at the Auction House.

Keep in mind: depending on the state of the game (phase, expansion, etc.), the demand for certain items will either rise or fall. To make good money, you need to understand when to sell specific goods. Your own game knowledge will help, along with auction addons like TSM or Auctionator, which scan the market in real-time and show you current prices, highlighting the most sought-after items.

One more tip: try to max out your professions as soon as possible. The higher the level of your profession, the more gold you can earn.

Tailoring / Leatherworking / Blacksmithing

We’ve grouped these three professions together because they work similarly and are mainly focused on crafting armor and clothing. Some of these might be slightly more profitable, but it depends on the version of WoW you’re playing and the current market situation.

Tailoring allows you to craft cloth armor and bags, as well as various accessories, toys, and cosmetics. Being extremely diverse, it’s also the most affordable armor profession in the game — crafting materials are dirt cheap. We recommend starting with making bags: they sell like hotcakes, so you’ll always gain a bunch of coins at the Auction.

If you pick up Leatherworking, you can craft and sell leather and mail items that are always highly sought-after in Warcraft. For example, in Dragonflight, this profession is even more popular due to the Evoker class that wears mail armor.

Blacksmithing is less diverse, mainly focusing on plate armor, but you can also craft some reagents and consumables. It’s a generally less profitable profession, but you can still make decent gold because players always need gear.

The main advantage of all these professions is the ability to gear up yourself, as well as your guildmates, friends, or alts. Tailoring is especially great for casters, while Blacksmithing offers a cool perk — you can make yourself a Master’s Hammer and repair your gear for free as long as you spec as a Blacksmith.

Enchanting

The main profit of this profession comes from crafting enchants that can be applied to gear, providing various useful buffs. You can also disenchant items for components that can then be sold or reused. It’s a simple and relatively inexpensive profession. A nice bonus is that you can enchant your own gear when needed. Also, Enchanting pairs well with armor crafting professions, allowing you to make your own gear and then buff it with your own enchants.

Alchemy + Herbalism

This classic gold-making combo has been a reliable source of income for players for many years, popping up in all sorts of guides as a proven method for steady money-making. And it truly works!

The recipe is simple: Herbalism lets you gather the materials needed to create various potions, elixirs, and other performance-boosting items with Alchemy. For example, to make Shadow Oil, which is a fantastic melee weapon buff, you’ll need Fadeleaf and Grave Moss, which are easily gathered if you’re an herbalist. Additionally, you can sell these herbs to help out fellow alchemists or those leveling Inscription, earning some extra gold along the way.

Anything that enhances your character’s performance and provides combat advantages will always be in demand. Potions, in particular, sell very well. Players often buy them in bulk, grabbing several dozen at a time, so the overall revenue from sales can be quite good. To maximize your profit, try to have a diverse stock to meet all players’ needs: potions that boost main stats, healing, and mana regeneration are excellent for PvE content, while consumables that allow free casting or immunity to stuns are highly sought-after in PvP.

The demand for Alchemy-provided consumables demand is constant, as players regularly engage in raids and PvP battles, so you’ll always have a bunch of sales every time you go to the Auction. By combining Herbalism and Alchemy, you can ensure a steady flow of gold while providing essential items that every player needs.

Cooking

Cooking is a super easy profession to pick up, requiring almost no costs but offering big gains. It’s perfect for beginners who are just starting to craft and want to get a feel for the trade. When it comes to gold-making, cooking shines brightest, providing various food buffs that you can sell or use yourself. These buffs are essential for raids, so you can always count on steady sales and a good profit.

Skinning

The main use of Skinning is to gather skins, hides, and scales needed for Leatherworking, so these two professions usually go hand in hand. As a skinner, you’ll collect materials vital for crafting leather goods, which are always in demand. In Dragonflight, some skinning products are also highly sought-after as reagents for mount customizations made through Inscription.

Mining

Miners farm special nodes to gather ores, which are raw materials for Blacksmithing, Engineering, and Jewelcrafting, so many players who’ve decided to progress in these three fields will definitely be buying your goods at the Auction House. You can also smelt ores into bars and sell those for a good profit.

For maximum gold-making, Mining is often paired with Herbalism. These gathering professions ensure steady sales and good earnings at the Auction. If you want to add some utility, try combining Blacksmithing and Mining. This way, you can gather the materials needed for the crafts, which you can either sell or use yourself.