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WoW Forever Legacy System Explained: Points, Perks and Rewards
By Marc · Updated October 12, 2026
The Legacy system is WoW Forever’s account-wide progression. You earn Legacy Points by completing Legacy Challenges, such as taking a class or a profession to a milestone, and spend them on perks that make playing a character easier. The points also unlock cosmetic rewards. Blizzard says it was inspired by Hardcore’s active leveling community, without the permadeath.
Below is how it works, as Blizzard has described it ahead of launch. Perk names and numbers can still change during the beta.
How to unlock it
The Legacy system opens as soon as you earn your first Legacy Point, through any of these:
- Reach level 25 with your first character (the way most players will unlock it).
- Reach 150 skill in a non-gathering primary profession.
- Explore the entire world map.
You open it from the shield icon or with the Y key.
Legacy Challenges and points
There are 65 Legacy Challenges at launch, each worth one Legacy Point, in six categories:
| Category | Points |
|---|---|
| Classes | 27 |
| Tradeskills | 18 |
| Player vs. Player | 12 |
| Dungeons | 3 |
| Raids | 3 |
| Adventure | 2 |
| Total | 65 |
- Account-wide: points count for every non-Hardcore character on your Battle.net account.
- Spent per character: each character chooses its own perks with the account’s points.
- 16 points per character at launch: that’s the most one character can spend for now.
- 29 points on one character: the most a single character can earn without alts, more than enough for the 16 it can spend.
Classes is by far the biggest category, so playing more than one class earns the most points over time, but Blizzard is clear that alts are optional: everything a character can use can be unlocked on one character.
Legacy Perks
Perks are bonuses each character picks for itself, in three trees. Examples Blizzard has named:
- Professions: Working Overtime, Bartering, Master Chef.
- Adventure: Thrill of Adventure, Frequent Flier, Talented.
- Resourcefulness: The Quick and the Dead, Permanence, Diplomat.
Blizzard plans to add more challenges, perks and spending options, and possibly new trees, in later updates.
Legacy Rewards
Legacy Points also fill a reward track of account-wide cosmetics, with no gameplay advantage. At launch these are:
- Replica Ironforge Air Rifle (toy)
- Spectral Bear Cub (pet)
- Spectral Bear Tabard
- Reins of the Spectral Bear (mount)
Rulesets and Hardcore
Legacy progress is shared across the Normal, PvP and Roleplaying rulesets. Hardcore, which arrives after launch, is kept apart: challenges from other rulesets don’t carry into Hardcore, but a challenge earned in Hardcore also counts everywhere else. PvP challenges can’t be done in Hardcore, so it gets 12 challenges of its own instead. More on the rulesets in our rulesets guide.
Your first Legacy Point most likely comes at level 25. Plan the way there with the WoW Forever gear and leveling helper, and for the tradeskill route, see which recipes level a profession in the professions helper.
Frequently asked questions
How do you unlock the Legacy system in WoW Forever?
By earning your first Legacy Point. For most players that happens when their first character reaches level 25; reaching 150 skill in a non-gathering primary profession or exploring the entire world map also unlocks it.
Are Legacy Points account-wide?
Yes. Legacy Points are shared across your Battle.net account and available to all your non-Hardcore characters, but each character spends them separately in its own Legacy Trees.
How many Legacy Points can you spend per character?
Up to 16 per character at launch. There are 65 Legacy Challenges, each worth one point, and one character on its own can earn 29 of them.
Do you need alts for the Legacy system?
No. Blizzard says leveling alts is not required to benefit from it and that all character advantages can be unlocked on a single character. Alts do earn you more points.
Does the Legacy system work in Hardcore?
Hardcore keeps its own Legacy progress: challenges earned on other rulesets don’t count there, while a challenge earned in Hardcore counts on all other rulesets too. Hardcore gets 12 challenges of its own instead of the PvP ones.