Item Level and Upgrades

Every item has an item level (ilevel or ilvl). It is a rough measure of how useful the item is, and it is used to work out how big its stats are. In theory two items of the same ilvl are worth the same, but each spends its budget differently on primary and secondary stats and special effects, so the real value depends on your class and specialization (see Equipment, Armor Types and Stats).

• You can see each item's level in its tooltip, and your average item level in the character sheet. The tooltip value can be turned on or off in the interface options; before patch 3.2 it was hidden.
• Item level is used as an entry requirement when you queue for Dungeons and Instances, Raids and scenarios, and raid leaders often use it the same way.
• In battlegrounds, arenas and rated battlegrounds, item level is limited by a PvP item level cap (see PvP Overview).

Harder versions of the same content drop better gear. Dungeons come in Normal, Heroic and Mythic, and Mythic+ goes further, giving gear that matches your keystone level. Raids come in Raid Finder, Normal, Heroic and 20-player Mythic, and each difficulty has its own grade of loot. Mythic dungeons need a set item level to unlock, and Heroic usually asks for one as well. Timewalking loot is scaled to a level that suits your character.

Gear from certain sources can be upgraded at an item upgrade NPC by spending the right currencies. Since stats come from item level, raising the level raises the stats too. Any upgrader can upgrade any allowed item from any expansion.

The tracks come in this order: Explorer, Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero and Myth. With the Dragonflight Flightstones, once one character on the account had reached an item level in a slot, the others paid half for that slot up to the same level. For upgrading with gold, see Gold, Currencies and the Auction House.