One of the best zones in WotLK Classic for gathering Cobalt Ore is Zul’Drak. That’s because it’s a 75-77 level range zone and along with the “normal” Cobalt Deposits, you’ll also find a fair amount of Rich Cobalt Deposits here.
Requirements:
- Minimim 350 Mining skill
- Minimum 75 level character
- At least 225 Riding skill
- At least normal flying mount
- Cold Weather Flying
- Mining Pick
- GatherMate2 addon (optional)
Where to go:
Zul’Drak has several Flight Paths, but the ones I always choose for as starting points for this mining route are Zim’Torga (60, 57) or Dubra’Jin (70, 23). That’s because they’re the closest to Mam’toth Crater, one of the Zul’Drak richest areas in Cobalt Deposits.
What to do:
Follow the route above and collect all the Cobalt Deposits that you can find. You will occasionally find Saronite Deposits as well.
The areas that you shouldn’t leave unchecked are:
- Mam’toth Crater (72, 47)
- Kolramas (58, 78) – and the area west of it
- Drak’Sotra Fields (42, 77)
- Rageclaw Lake (38, 84) – careful not to aggro Ragemane
- Zeramas (22, 70)
- The area around Ebon Watch (14, 72)
- Thyrm’s End (16, 55)
- Altar of Sseratus (40, 41) – especially the area southwest of it
- Altar of Rhunok (54, 35)
Now, out of all these areas, Mam’toth Crater (72, 47) seems to be the area with the highest concentration of Cobalt Deposits. Quite a few times I found three of them up at the same time. Also, the Cobalt Deposits respawn rate seems to be faster here. Sometimes, at least one node respawned 1-2 minutes after I picked it up.
The next two areas on the list are Kolramas (58, 78) and Ebon Watch (14, 72).
In case there are too many players mining Cobalt Ore in Zul’Drak, you can try changing layers. This can be done by either temporarily joining a group of players queued in the Group Finder tool, or simply logging out for a few minutes. There are also addons specifically made for this, such as the Nova World Buffs. However, I’ve never found it necessary to use an addon for this.
Loot:
After one hour of following this WotLK Classic Cobalt Ore mining route, using a flying mount with 280% speed, I got the 
following valuables:
- Cobalt Ore x 213
- Saronite Ore x 16
- Eternal Earth x 3
- Eternal Water x 3
- Crystallized Water x 4
- Autumn Glow x 1
- Forest Emerald x 1
- Dark Jade x 1
- Chalcedony x 1
- Sun Crystal x 1
Tips:
Although we’ve recommended 350 skill in Mining for this WotLK Classic mining guide, that’s basically the minimum skill needed for normal Cobalt Deposits. For Rich Cobalt Deposits, you’ll need 375 Mining skill. So, if you only have 350, you may encounter a few rich nodes that you won’t be able to collect. However, you should get those missing skill points in no time by following this mining route. Also, even though Cobalt is the lower-level mineral found in the WotLK zones, you should still get points by mining it, until you reach 450 (the current Mining level cap).
If you also have at least 400 skill in Blacksmithing, you can craft several blue items from your ore, and sell those for extra profits. Some of the best leveling items are Saronite Defender, Saronite Ambusher, Savage Cobalt Slicer, Honed Cobalt Cleaver, and Tempered Saronite Breastplate.
If you have Jewelcrafting, Cobalt Ore is not really worth prospecting as you’ll mostly get green gems which are low value.
If you’re at your first character on a WotLK Classic server, you won’t be able to buy Cold Weather Flying until level 77 (at least for now). So, if you’re still grounded, it would take too long to cover the entire route. However, you can still get a fair amount of Cobalt Ore by only moving between Mam’toth Crater and Kolramas, or simply by camping Mam’toth Crater.
The GatherMate2 addon is not necessary, but considerably useful. That’s because it will save the precise locations of each and every Cobalt Deposit that you pick, making it much easier to move between their exact spawn points.
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