Inscription

Inscription is a primary profession that creates glyphs, scrolls and enchanting vellums, along with items such as Darkmoon cards and off-hand tomes. Like Enchanting it helps experienced players grow stronger, but its focus is on class abilities rather than equipment.

Inscription arrived with patch 3.0.2, the pre-patch of Wrath of the Lich King. Its trainers were placed straight away in the cities of the old world, so every player could learn it right away, whether they owned the expansion or not.

Since patch 8.0.1 (2018) every expansion has its own skill bar with a small cap, instead of one long bar that covered all expansions together. Classic runs from 1 to 300; the newer bars are much shorter:

Skill rises as you make glyphs, inks and other items. Trainers across the world, including early zones and capital cities, teach the basics; later techniques come from trainers in each expansion's zones, or from vendors, loot and the Auction House, and a few need reputation.

• You need a Virtuoso Inking Set (or a Scribe's Fastened Quill or Scribe's Resplendent Quill instead), and some recipes also use Light Parchment.
• Nightborne characters get +5 Inscription skill from their racial Ancient History.
• Herbalism is the main partner, because every pigment and ink starts as an herb (see Gathering Professions).

Milling is a gathering-like sub-skill: scribes grind herbs into pigments, and pigments become inks. Glyphs and scrolls use common inks, while tomes and Darkmoon cards need both common and uncommon inks. Some examples (shortened):

• Classic, skill 30: Peacebloom, Silverleaf and Earthroot give Alabaster Pigment, used for Moonglow Ink.
• Outland, skill 75: herbs such as Felweed and Dreaming Glory give Nether Pigment for Ethereal Ink.
• Northrend, skill 75: herbs such as Goldclover and Tiger Lily give Azure Pigment for Ink of the Sea.
• Cataclysm, skill 75: Ashen Pigment for Blackfallow Ink. Pandaria, skill 75: Shadow Pigment for Ink of Dreams. Draenor, skill 100: Cerulean Pigment for Warbinder's Ink.

Glyphs are the core of Inscription and make up most of its recipes. Today a glyph changes how a spell or ability looks. Most are made by scribes, are colour-coded by class, can be used from level 11, and can be removed outside combat with Vanishing Powder. The Evoker has no glyphs at all.

To use one, right-click it in your bags: the spellbook opens and the matching spell lights up; click it to apply the glyph, and a pink mark appears on that spell's corner. Glyphs stack to 20 and are not bound, so they can be traded or sold. See Talents for the class systems they belong to.

• Enchanting Vellum: one kind of vellum that holds an enchantment so enchanters can sell it or mail it; it is not bound.
• Darkmoon cards: scribes make cards that players combine into decks and hand in to Darkmoon Faire NPCs for gear. High-level decks are turned in while the faire is in town; cards, decks and rewards can all be traded.
• Off-hand tomes and staves: tradeable off-hands, and staves since patch 5.0.4. Holding an off-hand means no shield, no second weapon and no two-handed weapon.
• Vantus runes raise your versatility in one specific raid or against one boss, and fortune cards turn into a random card worth some coin at a vendor.