To cook in World of Warcraft: Forever, learn Cooking from a cooking trainer, get a fire going (any cook can build a Basic Campfire from skill 1), press K to open the Professions window, choose a recipe and create it with the ingredients in your bags. Cooking is a secondary profession, so every character can learn it on top of two primary professions, and you can cook fish: the fish you catch with Fishing are Cooking ingredients.
Cooking matters more in Forever than it did in the original game, because the cook’s fire is what starts the new camping system. Below we cover learning Cooking, the fire, each step, cooking fish, leveling past every rank, and the perks for cooks. Everything is checked against Blizzard’s Gather Around the Campfire post, its deep dive recap, its Legacy system overview and the WoW Forever development notes as of November 6, and we learned Cooking and built our first campfire kit on a Night Elf Hunter on November 7.
How to Learn Cooking
- Find a Cooking trainer. Blizzard’s new player’s starter guide says profession trainers are in starting areas and major cities. If you cannot find one, “ask a city guard for directions and follow the marker on your map.” On our Night Elf Hunter it was Zarrin, who carries the title Cook rather than Cooking Trainer, at a cauldron by the fire in Dolanaar (about 57.2, 61.2). Choosing “I’d like to train in cooking” opens his list.
- Learn Cooking. It is one of three secondary professions, with Fishing and First Aid, and Blizzard says each character “can learn two primary professions and all three secondary professions.” Learning it gave us four recipes straight away: Basic Campfire, Charred Wolf Meat, Herb Baked Egg and Roasted Boar Meat.
- Go back as you improve. Trainers teach “the profession, its first recipes, and higher ranks as your character level and profession skill increase.”
Since Cooking costs no primary slot, there is no reason to skip it. Our guide to how professions work covers the full list and the two-primary limit.
The Fire You Need
Cooking needs a fire nearby. The simplest one is your own: Blizzard’s camping table lists the Basic Campfire at Cooking skill 1, and it “allows cooking and the placement of up to 3 additional camp features.” It replaces the original game’s Cooking Fire.
- Check what it costs. The recipe in your Professions window lists its materials. The Basic Campfire takes one piece of Simple Wood, and you also need Flint and Tinder in your bags, a tool that is never used up. General goods and cooking supplies vendors sell both, so buy the Flint and Tinder once and keep a few pieces of wood with it. In Dolanaar, Nyoma, the Cooking Supplies vendor next to Zarrin, charged us 1 silver 35 copper for Flint and Tinder and 38 copper for Simple Wood. The recipe makes a Basic Campfire Kit, and creating our first one raised Cooking from 1 to 2. We placed it a few steps from Zarrin’s cauldron: using the kit from our bags put a red circle on the ground to aim with, and after a cast of about 10 seconds the fire stood, ringed with stones.
- The Reagent Economy Legacy perk makes tier 1 camping features “require no materials to craft,” per Blizzard’s Legacy system overview.
- Do not stand in it. Blizzard’s development notes say campfires “no longer deal damage to players below level 5” and deal reduced damage to players under 90% health, which tells you the flames still hurt everyone else.
How to Cook, Step by Step
- Gather the ingredients. Meat drops from beasts as you quest, fish come from Fishing, and anything else a recipe needs is listed in its tooltip.
- Stand next to a fire, or place your Basic Campfire.
- Press K to open the Professions window and select Cooking. Blizzard says it shows your “recipes, required materials, and available crafts.”
- Choose a recipe. The window also shows whether crafting it will raise your skill, so pick one that still gives skill-ups.
- Click Create. Repeat until you run out of ingredients or the recipe stops raising your skill.
Can You Cook Fish?
Yes. Blizzard’s starter guide describes Fishing as the profession that “catches useful ingredients,” and a stack of cooked fish is food to recover with between fights. You need two things: the recipe for that fish, and a fire. In the original game, the first fish recipes were sold by fishing supply vendors near the fishing trainers rather than taught by Cooking trainers, so check both if your trainer has none. In Dolanaar, Nyoma sells Recipe: Smoked Sagefish for 5 silver.
Forever also adds new dishes. Blizzard’s notes mention Savory Whimsyfin Delight, whose transformation now dresses you in “an orc equivalent of the Ninja and Pirate outfits from the Savory Deviate Delight.” Our guide to fishing in WoW Forever covers learning Fishing, the pole and casting.
Hunters have one more reason to cook: our guide to feeding your pet explains why fresh food matters as your pet levels.
How to Level Cooking
Cooking climbs through four ranks, Apprentice, Journeyman, Expert and Artisan, which cap at 75, 150, 225 and 300 skill as in the original game.
- Train before you hit each cap. Your skill stops rising at a rank’s cap until you learn the next rank.
- Cook recipes that still give skill. WoW’s color code applies: orange recipes always raise your skill, yellow usually do, green rarely, and gray never.
- Watch for the 150 wall. In the original game, Expert Cooking came from a cookbook sold by a vendor rather than a trainer, and Artisan from a quest in Gadgetzan. Blizzard has not said whether Forever keeps those steps, so if your trainer will not teach Expert at 150, that is the likely reason.
- Cook food you will eat. Blizzard’s deep dive recap says crafted food in Forever “can grant a small experience bonus and stat boosts,” so your skill-ups double as leveling supplies.
Forever has “over 600 new recipes across professions and level ranges,” per that recap, so expect recipes the original game never had along the way.
Cooking and Camping
The cook is the heart of every campsite. A Basic Campfire takes up to three camp features from nearby players, each player adding one, and anyone who sits or crafts there for a minute gets their buffs. Blizzard says “cooks can eventually learn upgraded Campfires that allow five or even 10 objects to be placed at a camp,” and that camp items needing skill 140 or higher come from drops in dungeons and raids. Our guide to how camping works lists every profession’s camp feature, and our guide to sitting by the campfire covers the sit that triggers the buffs.
Legacy Perks for Cooks
Blizzard’s Legacy trees have several perks that help a cook:
| Perk | Tree | What Blizzard says it does |
|---|---|---|
| Master Chef | Professions | A chance for cooking recipes “to produce additional results” |
| Working Overtime | Professions | A better chance of skill points in all tradeskills |
| Gourmand | Resourcefulness | Longer buffs from eating food |
| Reagent Economy | Resourcefulness | Tier 1 camping features need no materials |
| Field Guide | Adventure | A shorter cooldown on placing camping features |
Cooking itself does not earn Legacy Points: only the six crafting professions do. Our Legacy Points guide lists every challenge. Every WoW Forever guide we have is on our World of Warcraft hub.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where do you learn Cooking in WoW Forever? From a Cooking trainer in a starting area or major city. A city guard will point you to one.
Can you cook fish in WoW Forever? Yes. Learn the recipe for the fish, stand by a fire, and create it from the Professions window.
Do you need a fire to cook? Yes. Any cook can build a Basic Campfire from Cooking skill 1, with Flint and Tinder and a piece of Simple Wood in their bags.
Does Cooking take a profession slot? No. It is a secondary profession, so you can learn it alongside two primary professions.
What is the max Cooking skill? Artisan is the top rank, at 300 skill.
Does Cooking give Legacy Points? No. Only the six crafting professions earn Legacy Points, at 150, 225 and 300 skill.