WoW Forever Library Books: Where to Look and Which Rewards to Pick
What Library Books Are and Why Collect Them
Library Books in WoW Forever are notes, scrolls and tomes scattered across Azeroth. In Season of Discovery, collecting them was a rune quest for Mages only. Now every class can do it, and the collection pays out gear: a neck piece, a ring, and a weapon or shield of your choice.
Here is what matters right away. Books come from objects in the world, not from mobs. Each one binds on pickup and is unique, so you cannot buy it on the Auction House, and every character has to collect its own set. You turn books in one at a time, so there is no need to haul them all to the city at once.
The total depends on who is counting: guides list anywhere from 36 to 40 books. All rewards need only 25 different ones, so chasing a full collection is optional.
Where to Turn In Books
Each faction has a single librarian, and both stand in the mage districts of the capitals. Alliance players hand books to Garion Wendell at the top of the Mage Tower in Stormwind. Horde players go to Owen Thadd in the Magic Quarter of Undercity.
Books open to both factions can go to either librarian, while faction-only books go to your own. The quest for a book appears only once the book is already in your bags, so the librarian has nothing for you before your first find. There is no level requirement: even a level 1 character can pick up a book in a starting zone and turn it in.
Mages reach the librarian fastest, since the city portals sit close to these same districts. Other classes do best to turn books in whenever a trip to the capital is already on the schedule.
Quests and Rewards for 10, 20 and 25 Books
There are three rewards, all tied to a running total. The first 10 books also count toward the ring and the final reward, so you never recount. Every turn-in grants some XP and a little money, and the rewards themselves are picked from a short list.
Quest | Books | Level | Reward choice |
|---|---|---|---|
Friend of the Library | 10 | 1 | Scholarly Pendant or Erudite's Amulet (neck) |
Greater Friend of the Library | 20 | 20 | Philanthropist's Ring or Field Researcher's Loop (ring) |
Greater Friend of the Library | 25 | 30 | Truthseeker's Bow, Crest of Elucidation or Researcher's Night Light |
The last quest opens at level 30, but its items require level 40 to equip. The bow was changed in this respect: in earlier builds it could be used as soon as you received it. You can collect 25 books early and claim the reward later, once the character has caught up.
The necklaces give modest bonuses to Stamina and one main stat, but they are available at any level. The ring and the final item are aimed at higher-level characters.
Which Reward to Pick by Class
The choice comes down to role. Items split into caster and physical, so go by the stat you need.
Mages, Warlocks, Priests: Scholarly Pendant, Philanthropist's Ring and Researcher's Night Light.
Paladins and healing Shamans: Scholarly Pendant, Philanthropist's Ring and Crest of Elucidation.
Hunters, Rogues, Warriors: Erudite's Amulet, Field Researcher's Loop and Truthseeker's Bow. For a Hunter the bow fills the main weapon slot, for the others the ranged slot.
Feral Druids: the neck and ring for physical classes. Druids cannot use shields, so the final reward can wait.
Enhancement Shamans: the same neck and ring, with the shield as a backup pick at the end.
All rewards bind on pickup, so choose for your main role. The final reward can wait until you have settled on your build at level 40.
Where to Find the Books
Books sit in zones you pass through anyway while leveling, from Elwynn Forest and Tirisfal Glades up to Winterspring. Exact coordinates sometimes shift, and some spots carried over from Season of Discovery, so it is safer to go by zone and the nearest building.
Levels 1-30. The first set: starting zones, Westfall, Loch Modan, Duskwood, Wetlands, Silverpine Forest, Darkshore, The Barrens and Stonetalon Mountains. Some books are limited to one faction, the rest are open to both.
Levels 30-45. Stranglethorn Vale, Thousand Needles, Alterac Mountains, Dustwallow Marsh, Swamp of Sorrows, Arathi Highlands, Desolace, Badlands and Tanaris.
Levels 45-60. Azshara, The Hinterlands, Searing Gorge, Blasted Lands, Blackrock Mountain, Felwood, the Western and Eastern Plaguelands, and Winterspring. Nearly all books sit outside dungeons, so most can be taken solo.
Rumi of Gnomeregan appears in both Westfall and Loch Modan but counts as one book. Ataeric: On Arcane Curiosities used to lie in the Sepulcher in Silverpine Forest during Season of Discovery, and its WoW Forever location is still unclear. Since 25 books cover every reward, skipping one costs you nothing.
A Book Route While Leveling
The fastest approach is not a dedicated trip but picking books up along your quests. Start with the books in cities and starting zones (they are closest to the librarian), then the shared books at levels 20-30, and after that Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms in turn. We covered the zone order in the 1-60 Leveling guide.
Ten books usually come from zones below level 30. The ring needs 20, so you will have to visit zones in the 30-40 range as well. The last five books are easiest to pick up where you still have quests left: Tanaris, Felwood, Winterspring and the Plaguelands.
If Wailing Caverns is on your route, the Wailing Caverns service can clear it for you. And if shuttling between continents sounds tedious, Hourly Driving lets a pro collect books and quests while you do other things.
Hard Books and Common Pitfalls
A few books sit in awkward spots: inside a cage, in a crypt full of tough mobs, or next to an elite patrol. Go there with a few extra levels or a partner. One book sits inside a dungeon and cannot be taken without a group. For Blackrock Mountain there is the Blackrock Depths service, and other instances are covered in All Dungeons.
Do not delete books: by current reports a deleted book cannot be looted again, and you would have to find the missing copy on another character.
If you are also closing long quest chains in the same zones, the Questline Completion service may come in handy. Once the library rewards stop keeping up, Pre-Raid Gear takes over.
What Mages Get
Mages get an extra mechanic. After the first book is turned in they unlock the Study spell, which costs a Light Feather and can be used once per hour. For every book turned in, a Mage also gets a Comprehension Charm.
Other classes do not get this mechanic, but the regular rewards are the same for everyone.