Garrison: Follower Missions Guide (WoD 6.2)
Table of Contents
The end-goal of follower missions is to eventually help you gear up your character for raids. To get to that point, you need to run a lot of follower missions to level up your followers to level 100 and upgrade their gear (followers have two pieces of gear: weapon and armor). As you do so, you will unlock follower missions of increasing difficulty that rewards items of increasing quality.
Lower level missions also reward gear, albeit not of raid level, which is helpful when leveling up or when gearing up after reaching Level 100.
Running missions also allow you to recruit 2 followers that are not otherwise obtainable.
- Alliance:
Contract: Bruma Swiftstone and Contract: Daleera Moonfang - Horde: Contract: Ka'la of the Frostwolves and Contract: Ulna Thresher
New in 6.1?
The Patch Notes are very explicit, so we reproduce them verbatim here. All the relevant parts of the guide (the Blackrock Foundry missions, mostly) have been updated.
- New Profession Missions are now available on upgrading a profession building to level 3. Successfully completing these missions award an item that allows instant completion of work orders.
- Players can unlock Relic and Bounty missions for their followers by completing the corresponding Relic or Bounty quest offered by one of the random daily new visitors to the Garrison.
- New exploration missions are available to players with a skill of at least 1 in Archeology. Successfully completing these missions can award Archeology fragments, keystones, or treasure maps for a Draenor zone. Treasure maps obtained in this manner does not require quest achievement completion for the Draenor zone.
- Archeology Vendors in Stormshield and Warspear now sell an item that'll spawn a follower exploration mission for 5 Restored Artifacts.
- New Level-100 Scouting missions to a Battlefield now awards an item that grants access to missions that award Apexis Crystals.
- New Raid missions to Blackrock Foundry are now available for a cache that awards level 665, 680, or 695 items.
- New follower missions have been added that can award gold, Apexis Crystals, Savage Blood, or Augmentation runes.
- Level-100 Garrison resource missions now award more Garrison Resources.
- Level 90-94 gold and Garrison Resource missions will now continue to appear even if there are no Followers that are level 90-94.
- Scavenger trait for Followers now increases Garrison Resources gained from a mission by 100% (down from 200%).
Follower Mission Basics
Follower missions are managed through the Mission Table at your Garrison's Town Hall. There, you have to assign followers to missions that require them to defeat opponents and that can reward gear, extra follower experience, gold, etc. (see the mission rewards section).
New missions are given to you in a completely random manner, but you are always given missions that are within the range of what your followers can complete (for example, you do not receive Level 100 missions before one of your follower has reached Level 100). Also, it seems that completing the missions currently available causes the new missions to be added more quickly.
Missing Success Rate
Each mission has:
- between 1 and 3 enemies of the same race, of the same level (between 90 and 100), and with specific abilities to defeat;
- a duration (between 30 minutes and 24 hours);
- a fighting place (Forest, Town, Desert, etc.);
- a reward (Gold, gear, extra follower experience, etc.).
For each mission, you can assign between 1 and 3 followers. This is fixed for each mission, so if a mission requires 2 followers, then you need to assign 2 followers to it (assigning only 1 follower will not allow you to start the mission and assigning 3 is not possible).
Your chance of success depends mostly on the level of the followers
and the abilities they have (each follower has between 1 and 2
abilities, depending on their rarity).
Each follower ability counters a specific
enemy ability (there several enemy abilities, but knowing them is not
important, as we explain in the next section). For any given
mission, you are guaranteed success if your followers' level is at least
equal to that of the enemies of the mission and if your followers
counter the abilities of the enemies. Even if you do not counter all
of the enemies' abilities, you can still guarantee succeed through
follower traits (each follower has between 1 and 3 traits,
depending on their rarity),
which can increase the chance of success when
fighting in a specific place, when fighting enemies of a specific race,
on missions that last less than a given amount of time, or on missions
when a particular follower is paired with another follower of a specific race
(
Ally of Argus, for example).
All of this can seem very complex at first, but in practice, it is very easy.
Sending the Right Followers to a Mission
First of all, it is important to note that a lot of missions can be failed without it being very detrimental. Indeed many missions reward Gold or gear you do not need, so failing them is not a problem, because your followers will still get the experience and you will have cleared a mission, making room for new ones. Missions that should not be failed are listed below.
- Missions that reward Garrison Resources should not be failed.
- When leveling up followers, you should not fail missions that reward extra follower experience, because this extra follower experience acts like any other mission reward and is not granted when the mission is failed.
- When leveling up followers, you should not fail 3-follower missions, because these missions always grant followers an extra amount of experience that is not given when the mission is failed.
- When sending followers that are fully leveled up (and by that we mean at Level 100 and at epic quality, see our follower rarity section), make sure you have a 100% of success for missions that reward something you need (like raiding gear).
It should also be noted that most missions cost Garrison Resources to start, so failing a mission means that you have spent these resources for nothing. This is also something that you need to consider before sending followers on a mission that they are not 100% certain to complete.
The Mission Table interface is very well made and makes it very easy to choose the right followers for a mission, which is why there is no need to learn all of the follower abilities and traits and no need for us to write a dissertation on the topic. When selecting the followers for a mission, the followers with proper abilities and traits are highlighted and the chance of success is always clearly visible and updated as you add or remove followers.
Mission Types
There are a number of mission types, like Combat, Patrol, Exploration, etc.. They all come with their own rewards, but learning which is which is not important, because of the random way missions are given to you. You will want to always complete (successfully or not) all of the missions given to you, regardless of what their mission type is.
Unlocking Missions with Raid Gear Rewards
The missions that reward raid gear are called item level 645 missions. These are very rare missions and they are unlocked when 3 of your Level 100 followers reach an item level of 645. So, it is important to first understand how your followers gear up. You also unlock item level 630 missions when 3 of your Level 100 followers reach an item level of 630 and item level 615 missions when 3 of your Level 100 followers reach an item level of 615.
Understanding Follower Upgrades
Each of your followers has 2 pieces of gear: weapon and armor. When you first recruit a follower, it has an item level 600 weapon and an item level 600 armor. You can increase a follower's weapon or armor by upgrading it or replacing it with a better one, as shown in the table below.
- Weapon Enhancements
Balanced Weapon Enhancement increases a weapon's item level by 3.
Striking Weapon Enhancement increases a weapon's item level by 6.
Power Overrun Weapon Enhancement increases a weapon's item level by 9.
War Ravaged Weaponry equips an item level 615 weapon.
Blackrock Weaponry equips an item level 630 weapon.
Goredrenched Weaponry equips an item level 645 weapon.
Weapon Enhancement Token can create any of the above-mentioned items.
- Armor Enhancements
Braced Armor Enhancement increases an armor's item level by 3.
Fortified Armor Enhancement increases an armor's item level by 6.
Heavily Reinforced Armor Enhancement increases an armor's item level by 9.
War Ravaged Armor Set equips an item level 615 armor.
Blackrock Armor Set equips an item level 630 armor.
Goredrenched Armor Set equips an item level 645 armor.
Armor Enhancement Token can create any of the above-mentioned items.
All of these items can be obtained from Dwarven Bunker / War Mill Work Orders. Enhancements can be contained in Salvage Yard crates. In addition:
- Level 100 missions can reward Weapon Enhancement Token,
War Ravaged Weaponry, Armor Enhancement Token,
War Ravaged Armor Set;
- Item level 615 missions can reward Blackrock Weaponry
and Blackrock Armor Set;
- Item level 630 missions can reward Goredrenched Weaponry
and Goredrenched Armor Set.
Finally, 
Trader Araanda and 
Trader Darakk (located near your mission table)
sell 
Draenic Armor Set and 
Draenic Weaponry
for 500 
each. These allow you
to immediately upgrade a follower's equipment to item level 645.
How to Gear Up Followers
Gearing up followers is a bit tricky, because of the random way in which you get the upgrades and because equipping a weapon or an armor overrides what your follower is currently using.
To unlock item level 615 missions, you will mostly use weapon and armor upgrades to raise the item level of a few select followers (ideally epic ones, because they have more abilities, making them eligible for more missions). Then, you will use the item level 630 weapons and armors to gear up other followers (obtained through item level 615 missions), all the while continuing to use your other upgrades (obtained through regular missions, the Salvage Yard, or the Dwarven Bunker / War Mill) on your few select followers to get them to 630 as well. You will using the same process with item level 630 missions to get item level 645 followers.
Raid Gear Rewards
There are 16 item level 645 missions, but they do not all reward the same raid quality loot:
- 4 of them reward you with item level 655 gear;
- 4 of them reward you with item level 670 gear;
- 4 of them reward you with item level 685 gear;
- 4 of them reward you with item level 685 gear + 1,000
.
Only one tier of these 4-mission tiers will be made available to you. Here is the official explanation regarding how it will happen (originally posted on the WoD Beta forums).
[...] They're raid missions for your followers that reward your character with raid quality loot of a tier higher than you're currently running. If you're doing LFR, you'll get normal quality raid loot, if you're running normal raids you'll get heroic quality loot, and heroic raiders will get mythic quality loot. Mythic raiders will get mythic loot and 1k gold.
These missions show up rarely enough that you won't be able to deck out your character in these items before the next raid zone shows up, but having a handful of them will give you a nice edge.
Blackrock Foundry Missions
Patch 6.1 added a number of item level 660 missions that function exactly like the Highmaul missions, in the sense that they reward you with an item whose item level is one tier higher than what you usually raid.
Mission Rewards
We first take a look at the gear you can get in Missions (not including the rewards from the item level 645 missions, which we have covered in the previous section) before presenting the other types of rewards you can get.
Gear Quality per Mission Level
As said in the introduction, missions can help you gear up, so we thought that telling you the gear quality you get at each level would be helpful.
| Missions | Gear Quality |
|---|---|
| Level 90 |
|
| Level 91 |  Tormented Girdle (item level 530) |
| Level 92 |  Tormented Hood (item level 540) |
| Level 93 |  Tormented Treads (item level 550) |
| Level 94 |  Tormented Armament (item level 560) |
| Level 95 |  Tormented Bracers (item level 570) |
| Level 96 |  Tormented Leggings (item level 580) |
| Level 97 |  Tormented Gauntlets (item level 590) |
| Level 98 |  Tormented Trinket (item level 600) |
| Level 99 |  Tormented Spaulders (item level 610) |
| Level 100 |
|
| Item Level 615 |
|
| Item Level 630 |
|
Other Mission Rewards
Finally, there are a number of miscellaneous rewards you can get from follower missions:
Halaa Battle Token and 
Halaa Research Token, which you can
use in Outland to buy 
Reins of the Dark War Talbuk and Reins of the Dark Riding Talbuk;
Supreme Manual of Dance, which teaches onw of your followers a trait to counter Danger Zones;
Talisman of True Treasure Tracking;
Mysterious Shining Lockbox;
Autographed Hearthstone Card;
Hearthstone Strategy Guide, which teaches a follower the Hearthstone Pro trait;
Follower Re-training Certificate, which rerolls the abilities and traits of a follower;
Relic of Rukhmar, which gives +250 reputation with the
Arakkoa Outcasts;
Highmaul Relic, which gives +350 reputation with the
Steamwheedle Preservation Society;
Seal of Tempered Fate, not more than once per week (for other means of getting
Seals of Tempered Fate, check out this guide).
Follower Rarity
Followers can be of uncommon, rare, or epic quality:
- uncommon followers have 1 ability and 1 trait;
- rare followers have 1 ability and 2 traits;
- epic followers have 2 abilities and 3 traits.
Epic followers are better than uncommon or rare ones, but eventually all followers can become epic, so there is no need to prioritize gearing up epic followers.
When uncommon followers reach Level 100, their experience bar does not disappear. They can still reach another level, which causes them to become rare, instead of reaching Level 101. In the same way, a rare Level 100 follower can be upgraded to epic.
Mission Achievements
You can earn many achievements by completing follower missions. We list them below.
On a Mission: complete 10 Garrison missions.
On a Few Missions: complete 50 Garrison missions.
On a Lot of Missions: complete 100 Garrison missions.
On a Massive Number of Missions: complete 500 Garrison missions.
On a Metric Ton of Missions: complete 1,000 Garrison missions.
A Rare Mission: complete a rare Garrison mission. Rare missions are simply
missions that have a rare tag attached to them
in your Mission Table.
Keeping It Rare: complete 50 rare Garrison missions.
The Rarer the Better: complete 300 Garrison missions.
Exploration Mission Specialist: complete a Garrison exploration mission.
Patrol Mission Specialist: complete a Garrison patrol mission. These missions
are unlocked when you build Barracks
in your Garrison.- Patrolling Draenor: complete 50 Garrison patrol missions.
Treasure Mission Specialist: complete 1 Garrison treasure mission.
These missions are unlocked when you build an
Inn / Tavern, Level 3 in your Garrison.- Treasure Master: complete 50 Garrison treasure missions.
Mission Specialist: complete Patrol Mission Specialist and Treasure Mission Specialist.
Follower Achievements
You can earn many achievements by recruiting and leveling up followers. We list them below.
Follow the Leader: recruit 5 followers.
Where You Go, They Will Follow: recruit 10 followers.
Fearless Leader: recruit 25 followers.
Commander: recruit 40 followers.
A Rare Friend: recruit a rare follower.
An Epic Buddy: recruit a epic follower.
Following Up: raise a follower to Level 100.
Raising the Bar: raise 10 followers to Level 100.
Filling the Ranks: raise 20 followers to Level 100.
My Item Level Is Higher than Yours: raise a follower's item level to 625.
My Item Level Is Way Higher than Yours: raise a follower's item level to 650.- Item Level Army: raise 10 followers' item level to 650.
- Item Level Force: raise 20 followers' item level to 650.
Changelog
- 24 Jun. 2015: Added the new local supplies vendors who sell follower equipment.
- 24 Feb. 2015: Added new Blackrock Foundry missions.
- 02 Dec. 2014: Added section about how to gear up followers.
- Festerface Is Up on NA Servers for Glory of the Legion Hero Achievement
- Escape Room Puzzles and the Indecipherable Felcycle Prize at Its Center
- Extended Maintenance for Hardcore Classic Realms
- The Hunt for the Indecipherable Felcycle May Be In Its Final Stage
- The Hateforged Blazecycle Is Back in Stock!
- Was the New Trader’s Gilded Brutosaur Supposed to ALSO Have a Bank?
- Patch 1.15.5 Notes: Season of Discovery Phase 6 & WoW Classic Anniversary Realm Details
- Yuga’s Feats of Strength: 721 Achievements That Redefine Dedication in WoW