WoW Classic – Wetlands Stranglekelp Route

Stranglekelp is one of the best low levels herbs to farm in WoW Classic. That’s because it’s found underwater which makes it a bit troublesome to gather. To be efficient in gathering it, you either need a druid with Aquatic Form, or some form of water walking.

Since not many players gather this herb, sometimes there simply isn’t any in the Auction House, so a stack of Stranglekelp can go for up to 20-30g. Also, there’s quite a bit of demand for this herb since it is a reagent for a few very useful potions, such as Elixir or Water Breathing, Free Action Potion, or Elixir of Agility.

Requirements:

• Minimum character level 35
• Minimum herbalism skill 85
• Water Walking, Path of Frost, or Aquatic Form
• Optional: GatherMate 2 Classic addon

Where to go:

First of all, this Stranglekelp herbalism route is located in Baradin Bay, on the western coast of Wetlands.

Alliance: Since Wetlands is an Alliance-controlled area in WoW Classic, it’s easy to get here as an Alliance player. You can either fly to Menethil Harbor (9, 59), or walk into Wetlands from Loch Modan through the Dun Algaz (25, 9) tunnel.

Horde: Since there aren’t any Horde Flight Masters in Classic Wetlands, it’s a bit more difficult to reach Baradin Bay as a Horde player. The easiest way is to fly to Hammerfall (75, 35) in Arathi Highlands, go all the way south into Wetlands, and start your Stranglekelp gathering at the northwestern point, at Saltspray Glen (31, 17).

What to do:

Jump into the water at Menethil Harbor and start gathering every Stranglekelp node that you can find. Follow the coast north until you reach the waters of Arathi Highlands.

Get out of the water at the northern point of the Wetlands coast, at Saltspray Glen (31, 17), and use your ground mount to go across Sundown Marsh and Bluegill Marsh.

Re-enter the water at Menethil Bay (17, 51), east of Menethil Harbor; there are two more nodes of kelp here.

Pass by the shipwreck at (12, 63), south of Menethil Keep, get three more kelp nodes at the southern murloc camp around (7, 68), then restart the route back north, following the coast.

Along with the Stranglekelp nodes, you’ll also find Giant Clam in the water. You can pick those too. They grant 2-3 Tangy Clam Meat and occasionally you’ll get an Iridescent Pearl.

Loot:

After one hour on this herb gathering route, I got the following:

• Stranglekelp x 163
• Tangy Clam Meat x 35
• Iridescent Pearl x 1

Tips:

You should be able to farm Stranglekelp following this route at level 25. However, some of the murlocs and other monsters in the water are level 28 – 29, so they’ll be orange to you. This can really slow you down from your gathering as sometimes you’ll have to kill two monsters to get to a Stranglekelp node. Thus, it’s best to come here at level 35, so that all the monsters are either gray or green.

If you have an alchemist, you can craft Elixir of Water Breathing, Elixir of Defense, Elixir of Agility, or Free Action Potion. People use the first three for leveling, while the last one is great for PvP. You may earn better profits this way, depending on realm.

You can use Elixir of Water Walking if your herbalist doesn’t have any form or spell for swim speed or walking on the water. However, these are rather expensive, last only 10 minutes, and you lose the effect if you get hit by monsters, so they’re not exactly cost-effective.

As a general idea, it takes about 5-7 minutes for a Stranglekelp node to respawn.

The GatherMate 2 Classic addon is not necessary but can save you some trouble as it saves the locations of the herb nodes, so it makes it easier to check each possible Stranglekelp spawn location. The addon also saves the locations of the Giant Clams in the water, which is pretty cool.

Related posts: Thousand Needless Stranglekelp Route (retail).