By Cheats on November 16th, 2009
The first thing I’d like to point out is that you don’t need to do what I did while getting pictures for this article and run around like a headless chicken collecting tabards from all corners of the world. The easiest way to re-collect any tabards you’ve previously owned is by visiting Elizabeth Ross in Dalaran or a tabard vendor in any major city. I do need to mention that they sell tabards for the currency each faction uses (e.g. you still have to pay 10 Glowcaps to purchase a Sporeggar tabard from them) so if you don’t have the currency on you at the time, you’ll still be making a field trip to collect it.
For this guide I’m assuming that you do not necessarily have access to now-unobtainable tabards like Competitor’s Tabard or Tabard of the Protector, so if you do have pieces like this sitting around your bank, you’re just that much closer to the achievement. As mentioned previously, you can fudge Twenty-Five Tabards by getting TCG tabards like Tabard of Nature or Tabard of Frost, but I’m also assuming you don’t have access to any of these. This achievement is very much doable with a little hard work and a pinch of luck, so let’s get rolling.
Your first tabard should be easy enough — purchasing a Guild Tabard, even if you’re not in a guild, still counts.
1 down, 24 to go! And the biggest hurdle to surpass is the BC tabard set –
Burning Crusade faction tabards:
In contrast to Wrath factions, you will need to be exalted with BC factions in order to purchase their tabards, so count on getting to exalted with all of the following. In order do the heroic version of dungeons to which their reputation is linked, visit their quartermasters (I’ve included names, Wowhead and Wowwiki links, and coordinates where relevant) and purchase the keys needed to “unlock” heroics. Depending on your class, most or all BC-era heroics are soloable at 80 with decent gear, but if you’re a cloth class or anyone who runs the risk of getting stomped by large pulls, find a buddy or two who needs to work on the same reps you do and pair up.
Bear in mind that this is not meant to be an exhaustive list on how to farm rep for each BC faction, as that’s way beyond the scope of this article. My intent here is to summarize the most efficient means of getting to exalted with each if you’re approaching the rep grind at 80. For more information on your options, please visit the series of links I’ve included with each entry.
2. Honor Hold (Alliance) or Thrallmar (Horde).
Get exalted by exhausting their quest offerings (Honor Hold for Alliance, Thrallmar for Horde) and running normal Shattered Halls or heroic Ramparts, Blood Furnace, or Shattered Halls. Shattered Halls, while rewarding the best rep, can be a tall order even for a tank class at 80 due to the size of the pulls and the amount of damage they dish out, but I take a vicious pleasure in rolling this place nowadays — it was hell on earth for a rage tank back in the day.
Honor Hold quartermaster: Logistics Officer Ulrike at 56,62 in Honor Hold (Hellfire Peninsula).
Thrallmar quartermaster: Quartermaster Urgronn at 55,40 in Thrallmar (Hellfire Peninsula).
3. Cenarion Expedition
CE rep is somewhat interesting, as you can also farm it in Wrath content courtesy of the small outpost in Borean Tundra. In BC content, you can get exalted by doing their quests and running normal Steamvault or heroic Slave Pens, Underbog, or Steamvault (if you do Underbog, save any Sanguine Hibiscus you get for Sporeggar rep later). After turning in Orders from Lady Vashj (a random drop from Steamvault mobs), you can also turn in Coilfang Armaments (which are BoE) to Ysiel Windsinger at the Cenarion Refuge in eastern Zangarmarsh for 75 rep each. The Armaments drop randomly from mobs in heroic Slave Pens, Steamvault, and Serpentshrine Cavern (a 25-man raid), and they’re nice boost on top of whatever rep you’ll be getting from killing the mobs inside.
If you have difficulty soloing or getting runs for the Coilfang dungeons and nobody’s putting Armaments up on the auction house, you can plug away on the repeatable quest Can’t Get Ear-nough in Borean Tundra for 150 rep a pop. Doing the dungeons is definitely faster and much more lucrative, however.
Cenarion Expedition quartermaster: Fedryen Swiftspear at 79,63 in Cenarion Refuge (Zangarmarsh).
4. Consortium
Everyone’s favorite mercenaries, and with a pretty cool-looking tabard to boot. Get exalted by exhausting their quest offerings and running heroic Mana-Tombs, grinding ogres in Nagrand for Obsidian Warbeads, using Ethereum Prison Keys on the cells in Netherstorm, and…hell, there are a lot of ways to get Consortium rep, now that I think about it (so please do visit the Wowwiki page I linked above for a more in-depth guide to it). The fastest way is definitely to grind heroic Mana-Tombs, but if you’re also working on Kurenai/Mag’har rep, you can do a twofer by grinding Nagrand’s ogres. The kills themselves will net you reputation for the Kurenai/Mag’har, and you can save the Warbeads for Consortium turn-ins with Gezhe (31,58 in the Consortium camp in Nagrand).
Consortium quartermasters: Karaaz at 43, 34 in the Stormspire (Netherstorm) or Paulsta’ats at 30,57 at the small Consortium camp in Nagrand. Please note that the key you need to access heroic Mana-Tombs is sold by the Lower City quartermaster (see below), as it’s an Auchindoun instance.
5. Lower City
I feel obligated to note that the Lower City tabard tends to match druid armor well, or anything that tends to have a dominant green/brown color scheme. Get exalted by exhausting their quest offerings and running normal Shadow Labyrinth or heroic Sethekk Halls, Auchenai Crypts, or Shadow Labyrinth. Shadow Lab is, like Shattered Halls, potentially a tall order even for an 80, but pretty lucrative. You’re also likely to get a few drops that help you with Aldor rep (see below).
Lower City quartermaster: Nakodu at 62,69 (Shattrath).
6. Kurenai (Alliance) or Mag’har (Horde)
Experienced BC players are probably undergoing flashbacks to hours of grinding in order to get their talbuks, but hey — at least these factions give you a reward you can still get some use from at 80. Talbuks are still among the coolest and best-looking mounts in the game, although I’ve always wondered if they’re Blizzard’s riff on Yakul from Princess Mononoke. Get exalted by exhausting their quest offerings (Kurenai for the Alliance and Mag’har for the Horde) in Nagrand and then grinding ogres, both for the reputation you’ll get from the kills and their Obsidian Warbeads (although, as noted earlier, you can also use Warbeads for Consortium rep, so plan ahead).
Kurenai quartermaster: Trader Narasu at 55,75 in Telaar (Nagrand).
Mag’har quartermaster: Provisioner Nasela at 53,37 in Garadar (Nagrand).
7. Keepers of Time
One of the things that’s never failed to annoy me about the Bronze Dragonflight is just how many indignant sub-factions keep demanding hours of my time before they’ll believe my main can be trusted. I’m exalted with the Brood of Nozdormu, Keepers of Time, and the Scale of the Sands, and I should not have to keep grinding bug parts or running Hyjal or saving the damn time-stream in order to prove to these screwballs that I’m not a psychopath. If there’s another sub-faction of pissant Bronze dragons in Cataclysm, my sanity is going to snap and I will murder every last one of them that I can find. Maybe they already know this (being time-travelers and all) which is why I keep getting subjected to such miserable grinds.
If I recall correctly, this tabard wasn’t present when BC went live, and was added several months to a year in. Get exalted by running normal Black Morass or heroic Durnholde Keep and heroic Black Morass.
Keepers of Time quartermaster: Alurmi in the Caverns of Time (Tanaris). Coordinates are useless here because the Caverns are largely underground, but she’s located about a stone’s throw away from the repair guy around the small collection of buildings in the tunnel that empties into the central Caverns area. That probably doesn’t sound like it makes much sense either, so try this: after you get off the drake that flies you down into the Cavern, hop on your mount and backtrack over the path the drake flew you in, until you see a bunch of vendor NPC’s. She’s there.
8. Shattered Sun
The last of the factions added to the game in BC, you can get exalted with the Shattered Sun by running normal or heroic Magisters’ Terrace and/or doing the Shattered Sun dailies on the Isle of Quel’danas. Because Kael coughs up a pet (and a mount on heroic) and all of the heroic bosses have a chance of dropping the Orb of the Sin’dorei, I’d advise the former if you can swing it, soloing him even at 80 can be risky.
Shattered Sun quartermaster: Eldara Dawnrunner at 47,30 on the Isle of Quel’danas.
9. Aldor or Scryers
You’ll have to pick one or the other here, as this reputation grind is zero-sum; every gain you make for the Aldor will result in a reputation loss with the Scryers and vice versa. Getting exalted with both of them (although obviously not at the same time) will give you the Feat of Strength Hero of Shattrath, though. Get exalted by exhausting either faction’s quest offerings (Aldor or Scryer) then doing one of the following:
If you’re an Aldor: turn in Marks of Sargeras for 250 rep to Adyen the Lightwarden at 30,34 on the Aldor tier in Shattrath, and Fel Armaments for 350 rep to Ishanah at 24,25 on the Aldor tier. Both of these are BoE, so keep checking the AH.
If you’re a Scryer: turn in Sunfury Signets for 250 rep to Magistrix Fyalenn at 45,82 on the Scryer tier in Shattrath, and Arcane Tomes for 350 rep to Voren’thal the Seer at 42,91 on the Scryer tier. These are also BoE, so the same rule concerning the AH applies.
Aldor quartermaster: Quartermaster Endarin at 48,26 in the Aldor bank in Shattrath.
Scryer quartermaster: Quartermaster Enuril at 60,64 in the Scryer bank in Shattrath.
10. Sporeggar
I really adore this faction, particularly after Blizzard added the little sporeling pet at exalted, but I dearly wish their sense of tabard design were somewhat better. Get exalted by exhausting quest offerings and doing the repeatable kill quest, turning in Sanguine Hibiscus (in batches of 5) from Underbog, and/or turning in Fertile Spores from creatures in Zangarmarsh. Each is repeatable and will reward 750 rep a pop. Fair warning; before purchasing one of these tabards (either from their quartermaster or a tabard vendor elsewhere) you will need 10 Glowcaps, which can only be picked in Zangarmarsh (particularly western Zangarmarsh). Fortunately they’re all over the place, so it shouldn’t take you long to get 10.
Sporeggar quartermaster: Mycah at 18,51 in Sporeggar (western Zangarmarsh).
11. Ogri’la
Get exalted by exhausting their initial quest offerings, starting with Speak with the Ogre (the quest chain to unlock Ogri’la quests and dailies doesn’t award any rep, but a few non-daily quests immediately afterwards do) then doing dailies. Most, if not all, of the initial questline should be easily soloable for most classes at 80, particularly since Blizzard changed one the last quests so as not to require a full group of 5 people. As with Sporeggar, purchasing a tabard from the ogres isn’t as simple as forking over some cash; you’ll need 10 Apexis Shards in hand to buy a tabard from either the Ogri’la quartermaster or a tabard vendor elsewhere.
Ogri’la quartermaster: Jho’nass at 27,59 in Ogri’la (western Blade’s Edge, accessible only with flying mount).
12. Sha’tar
You’ll get some spill-over Sha’tar rep from doing turn-ins for the Aldor or Scryer up until Honored, and after that you should pretty much bank on running the three Tempest Keep 5-mans (Botanica, Arcatraz, and everybody’s favorite, the Mechanar) on either normal or heroic afterwards. If you’re working on Scryer rep, the TK instances should also drop their rep items.
Sha’tar quartermaster: Almaador at 51,42 in central Shattrath.
13. Skyguard
I have yet to find an armor set that looks good with the Skyguard tabard, but to each his own. Once you have Expert riding (as with Ogri’la, you’ll need a flying mount for this), speak to Yuula (next to the flight master in Shattrath at 63,42) to get started with Threat From Above, the questline that will grant you eligibility to do Skyguard dailies. After that, it’s dailies, dailies, dailies, although you’ll unlock the ability to complete some Skyguard dailies in Ogri’la as well, with a convenient (and free!) flight path in between at Honored. You can also speed the process up somewhat by doing the Terokk chain, although (as with farming heroic instances at 80) you may or may not be able to solo this.
Skyguard quartermaster: Grella at 64,63 in the Skyguard camp in eastern Terokkar Forest.
Righty-o. We’re a little more than halfway to our goal of 25 tabards, so let’s keep moving:
Wrath of the Lich King faction tabards
Getting Wrath faction tabards is significantly easier, as you only have to be friendly with factions in order to acquire them, and that’s pretty much a doddle if you so much as sneeze in the direction of your average Wrath questline:
14. Tabard of the Ebon Blade
You have to quest for a bit in Icecrown in order to access the Ebon Blade quartermaster, so this tabard won’t be immediately available upon arrival in Northrend. Get started on the chain that begins with It’s All Fun and Games, and this is all easily soloable.
Ebon Blade quartermaster: Duchess Mynx at 43,20 in the Shadow Vault (northern Icecrown) after you phase this hub into existence.
15. Tabard of the Kirin Tor
As with Skyguard, I have yet to find a way to make this tabard look good with an armor set, but at least it’s easy to get. Doing the basic set of Kirin Tor quests out in Borean Tundra and around the Nexus will get you well into Friendly (if not Honored), and after that you can simply drop into Dalaran and pick up your very own horribly garish tabard, resplendent in all its eye-blinding glory.
Kirin Tor quartermaster: Archmage Alvareaux at 25,48 in the Violet Citadel in Dalaran.
16. Tabard of the Argent Crusade
Questing through Gun’drak should put you comfortably into Honored with the Crusade. If not, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to get rep in Icecrown.
Argent Crusade quartermaster: Veteran Crusader Aliocha Segard at 87,75 in the Argent Vanguard, extreme southeastern end of Icecrown (under the tent on the hill where Tirion Fordring is initially located).
17. Tabard of the Wyrmrest Accord
Dragonblight quests are the way to go to reach Friendly, although if you don’t have Cold Weather Flying, be prepared to spend a lot of time going up and down on taxi-dragons to get between the bottom and top of the Temple. I’m sure a machinima version of Vertigo could easily be shot here.
Wyrmrest Accord quartermaster: Cielstrasza at 60,53 (the top of the Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight).
PvP tabards
The ease of getting these will depend on how quickly (or not) you can amass tokens from battleground play and how much time you spend in arenas and BG’s. For people who PvP a lot, you may already be sitting on a lot of the tokens, wins, or reputation you need; if you don’t, some of it’s probably too time-intensive to count on getting quickly. The frustration factor will also mount quickly if you don’t have a lot of resilience and can realistically expect to be gunned down quickly in battlegrounds, so it might be worth your time to invest in a set of PvP gear if you’re depending on PvP tabards to get you to 25.
In the (rough) order of the easiest to the hardest:
18. Private’s Tabard (Alliance) or Scout’s Tabard (Horde)
Available for 3 Warsong Gulch marks and 3 Arathi Basin marks from Master Sergeant Biggins for Alliance (75,63 in Stormwind) or Brave Stonehide for Horde (38,64 in Orgrimmar). Even if your faction has displayed a marked talent at losing these battlegrounds, 6 tokens aren’t too hard to get.
19. Knight’s Colors (Alliance) or Stone Guard’s Herald (Horde)
Somewhat more time-consuming, these tabards can be bought with 20 Warsong Gulch marks, 20 Arathi Basin marks, and 20 Alterac Valley marks from the same NPC’s listed above. If your faction doesn’t habitually win these BG’s, I won’t lie — it’s going to be a grind.
20. Stormpike Battle Tabard (Alliance) or Frostwolf Battle Tabard (Horde)
The former can be bought from Thanthaldis Snowgleam at 40,81 in the Alterac Mountains (outside the Alliance portal for AV) and the latter can be bought from Jekyll Flandring at 63,59 in the Alterac Mountains. You can also buy them from NPC’s in the actual battleground, but you are likely to be busy at the time. Costing 60 Alterac Valley marks, these tabards aren’t too tough to farm if you can just convince your team to play a little defense.
Ha ha! I kid because I love.
21. Silverwing Battle Tabard (Alliance) or Warsong Battle Tabard (Horde)
To be frank, I’m not fond of either of these, and at 60 Warsong Gulch tokens, you’ll probably be spending a lot of time in WoW’s most unpopular battleground. The silver lining? At least it’s not linked to reputation the way the AB tabard is, because farming WSG rep is an absolute screaming horror.
The Silverwing tabard is sold by Illiyana Moonblaze at 61,84 in Ashenvale, and the Warsong tabard is sold by Kelm Hargunth, at 46,8 in the northern Barrens.
22. Arathor Battle Tabard (Alliance) or Battle Tabard of the Defilers (Horde)
You’re going to have to get to either exalted with the League of Arathor (for Alliance) or with the Defilers (for Horde) before you’ll have a shot at this one, and the quest to get it requires you to win an AB match while your team controls all 5 bases. You’ll occasionally get lucky with a PuG on that, but a premade team’s usually a better bet.
The Alliance quest is Control Five Bases; its Horde counterpart is Take Five Bases.
23. Tabard of Conquest (Alliance) or Tabard of Conquest (Horde)
I’m classifying this one as being slightly harder to get than the tabards associated with the older battlegrounds, if for no other reason than the fact that Isle’s relatively new and a lot of players are still finding their feet there. If you already know what you’re doing in Isle and have the good fortune to run into PuGs who also know what they’re doing, Isle is a lot of fun. Also, this’ll require you to win at least 100 Isle matches, as opposed to the minimum 20 and maximum 60 AV and WSG matches. The tabard is a reward for the meta-achievement Master of Isle of Conquest (Alliance) and Master of Isle of Conquest (Horde).
24. Tabard of Brute Force
This one is a reward for the Brutally Dedicated achievement, requiring you to win 300 ranked arena matches at 80. I await a series of catty and unhelpful comments on the ease of doing this on (class) versus (class). Nerf (someone else), buff (me), Blizzard you (censored) piece of (censored censored), etc., etc.
25. Relentless Gladiator’s Tabard
Simple! All you have to do is get a team and personal rating of 2350 in 3v3 or 5v5, and then march up to an arena vendor and shell out 500 points. Easy, right?
PvE and/or quested tabards
26. Tabard of the Explorer
This one’s potentially time-intensive depending on how thorough an explorer your toon was while leveling and questing, but it’s pretty easy to get. Ride and fly everywhere you can on the map of every Azerothian continent and Outland, and bingo — the tabard’s in the mail.
27. Green or Purple Trophy Tabard of the Illidari
You can choose one of these two tabards as a reward from the Shadowmoon Valley quest Battle of the Crimson Watch (the prerequisite is The Journal of Val’zareq: Portends of War, which drops from Val’zareq the Conqueror, an elite Blood Elf NPC who patrols the Path of Conquest in central-southern portion of Shadowmoon). This is soloable at 80, and you should thank your lucky stars that you’re not doing its original pre-nerf incarnation at 70, which was one of the most legendarily difficult non-raid experiences of its time.
28. Loremaster’s Colors
If your toon is a fairly new character, don’t count on getting Loremaster (one of the most intensive PvE achievements) quickly. If you’ve been playing for a while, some elbow grease (and a nice boost in 3.3 from some added UI functionality that Blizzard will be adding) can probably put you within range of the Loremaster tabard that’s mailed to you upon completion of the meta-achievement.
Argent Tournament tabards
These technically belong to the last category, but I’m giving them their own because you can find them all in one place and the same stipulations apply to each. All of the following tabards cost 50 Champion’s Seals and can be purchased after reaching Champion status with the “home factions” or (for the Silver Covenant/Sunreavers) exalted with the Silver Covenant/Sunreavers.
The “home faction” tabards didn’t initially apply to the tabard count achievements, but that’s been fixed by now, although you can’t sell them back to the vendors in exchange for 50 Seals anymore either.
29. Argent Crusader’s Tabard
Not to be confused with the reputation tabard at Friendly with the Argent Crusade, this one has to be purchased from Dame Evniki Kapsalis at 69,23 (the main tent at the Argent Tournament), and can also only be bought once you’ve attained Crusader status (exalted with all five home factions and through the Champion questline for each as well). I find this tabard to be incredibly convenient — I can simply pop it on and port out for every ToC run. It’s the sole piece that has to be purchased in a slightly different spot — all of the following can be bought in your faction’s main tent on the eastern side of the Tournament from the various quartermasters contained therein.
30. Darnassus tabard (Alliance) or Thunder Bluff tabard (Horde)
31. Stormwind tabard (Alliance) or Orgrimmar tabard (Horde)
32. Exodar tabard (Alliance) or Silvermoon City tabard (Horde)
33. Gnomeregan tabard (Alliance) or Sen’jin tabard (Horde)
34. Ironforge tabard (Alliance) or Undercity tabard (Horde)
35. Silver Covenant tabard (Alliance) or Sunreaver tabard (Horde).
Holiday tabards
Although we’ve already passed this time of year, waiting long enough will give you another crack at this:
36. Tabard of Summer Skies and/or Tabard of Summer Flames
One of these is a reward for completing the Shards of Ahune quest you can do every year for the Midsummer Fire Festival. While it’s been reported that you can destroy your existing tabard and get credit for another one by buying the other at a tabard vendor’s, I’ve always been too chicken to try it.
Dropped tabards
37. Tabard of the Scarlet Crusade
This is a 1-2% drop off the Scarlet Trainees who swarm to you like low-HP locusts after Herod’s death in the Armory, and it shouldn’t take you too many runs before it shows up, given that 20 of them attack. A word of warning, though; make sure you have all reflective damage abilities or buffs turned off, that your pet is on passive if you have one, and that you’re not dropping a magma or elemental totem as a shaman — the Trainees only have about 100 health, but you have to kill them yourself to be able to loot them.
If you’re a Draenei…
38. Tabard of the Hand
This is a reward from the Bloodmyst Isle quest The Unwritten Prophecy and a large part of why leveling in the Draenei starting zones is so kickass.
If you’re a Blood Elf paladin…
39. Blood Knight tabard
The envy of Alliance paladins everywhere, the Blood Knight tabard is a reward from True Masters of the Light, the last quest in the BE quest series to get their charger.
You only need to manage 25 of these for your brand new, spiffy Tabard of the Achiever, which will be mailed to you as soon as you get #25. Happy hunting!
