Cooking has always been a profession in World of Warcraft that was needed but kind of ignored by players. After all as long as someone in your normal play group could cook you could get whatever you needed from them. Many players just couldn’t be bothered to level up their characters in cooking all the way when food was so easy to get from friends or buy on the auction house.
As expansions came and went, levelling cooking up for those players that did not keep it up with each expansion got more and more daunting. Luckily, Blizzard has listened to the complaints from players that felt it took too long for an easy but required skill and made it really simple to catch up and level cooking to 525 skill points which is where the Mists of Pandaria items start.
As long as you are level 85 you can level cooking from 1 skill point all the way to 525 in about an hour and with less than 400 gold. This is a huge boon to players that always meant to master cooking, but just never got around to it.
Where to go and what to bring?
Assuming you are level 85 or higher, all you need to do is make your way to the Halfhill Market in the Valley of the Four Winds in Pandaria. There you should talk to Sungshin Ironpaw for both training and the ingredients to make the items required to skill up.
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 250px;">
You get 5 skill points per item you cook, so skilling up is FAST!
Note: There are two items that Sungshin does not sell that are required for your cooking training. They are Golden Carp and Wildfowl Breast. Golden Carp are found all over Pandaria if you want to fish for them or you can just head over the to auction house and pick some up. You will require 42 Golden Carp to complete your skill ups in cooking to 525. Wildfowl breasts are obtained by killing the birds in Pandaria, and you will only require 2 of the,
What recipes should you make?
Essentially, you just need to make whichever recipe is available to you from Sungshin Ironpaw, until it becomes a yellow ability. When you first learn each recipe they will grant 5 skill points per item cooked, once they become yellow they will only grant a single skill point and it is then time to learn the next recipe. If you are starting from skill level 1, typically each recipe will grant 5 skill points per use for 6 uses, then drop to a single point. This means you make 6 of 1 recipe to get to 31 skill points, 6 of the next recipe to get to 61 skill points, and repeat over and over until you reach 525.
Now that you know the basic plan, here is how you go about it
Leveling Cooking 1-525 in Mists of Pandaria
Skill Level |
Recipe |
Ingredients |
1-31 |
6 - Sliced Peaches |
6 Pandaren Peach |
31-61 |
6 - Perfectly Cooked Instant Noodles |
6 Instant Noodles |
61-91 |
6 - Toasted Fish Jerky |
6 Golden Carp |
91-121 |
6 - Dried Needle Mushrooms |
6 Needle Mushrooms |
121-151 |
6 - Pounded Rice Cake |
6 Rice |
151-181 |
6 - Yak Chees Curds |
6 Yak Milk |
181-211 |
6 - Dried Peaches |
6 Pandaren Peach |
211-241 |
6 - Boiled Silkworm Pupa |
6 Silkworm Pupa |
241-271 |
6 - Roasted Barley Tea |
6 Barley |
271-301 |
6 - Golden Carp Consomme |
12 Golden Carp |
301-331 |
6 - Fish Cake |
12 Golden Carp |
331-361 |
6 - Blanched Needle Mushrooms |
12 Needle Mushrooms |
361-391 |
6 - Red Bean Bun |
6 Red Beans |
391-421 |
6 - Skewered Peanut Chicken |
6 Farm Chicken |
421-451 |
6 - Green Curry Fish |
12 Golden Carp |
451-481 |
6 - Peach Pie |
12 Pandaren Peach |
481-496 |
3 - Tangy Yogurt |
3 Pandaren Peach |
496-511 |
3- Pearl Milk Tea |
6 Yak Milk |
511-521 |
2 - Wildfowl Ginseng Soup |
2 Ginseng |
521-526 |
1 - Rice Pudding |
1 Rice |
Shopping List for Leveling Cooking 1-525 in Mists of Pandaria
If you would like to train as quickly as possible buying all of the ingrediants that you need ahead of time can save you a few minutes. The items you need are as follows:
style="border: 0px solid ; width: 250px;">
You can simply buy most of what you need from the cooking trainer.
Items from Sungshin Ironpaw:
- 27 - Pandaren Peaches
- 18 - Needle Mushrooms
- 16 - Yak Milk
- 13 - Rice
- 6 - Instant Noodles
- 6 - Silkwork Pupa
- 6 - Barley
- 6 - Red Beans
- 6 - Farm Chicken
- 2 - Ginseng
Items from elsewhere:
- 42 Golden Carp (Fishing in Pandaria or buy from the Auction House)
- 2 Wildfowl Breast (Killing birds in Pandaria or buy from the Auction House)
Cooking past skill level 525
Once you pass skill 525 cooking becomes a bit different than it was before. No longer can you make all the different available foods right off the bat. You need to level to skill 530 and then you can choose a “Way”. There are several different “Ways” available that each focus on a specific stat or effect. You can learn whichever you choose or all of them if you choose, that is up to you. I suggest that you start by choosing the one that is best for the character you are skilling up, since cooking is now easy enough to skill up on all your characters.
There are 6 different “Ways” which are:
- Way of the Grill Focuses on Strength, taught by Kol Ironpaw
- Way of the Oven Focuses on Stamina, taught by Jian Ironbpaw
- Way of the Wok Focuses on Agility, taught by Anthea Ironpaw
- Way of the Pot Focuses on Intellect, taught by Mei Mei Ironpaw
- Way of the Steamer Focuses on Spirit, taught by Yan Ironpaw
- Way of the Brew Focuses on health/mana drinks, taught by Bobo Ironpaw
When you chose each “way” to complete, you will need to make several different recipes for that Ironpaw chef to complete your training and learn that “way”.
Comments and Submissions
Have something to say about the guide, have a faster way to level, make sure you comment below.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our World of Warcraft Game Page.