One of the most anticipated features in Blizzard Entertainment’s Warlords of Draenor is the introduction of player housing in the form of garrisons.

Garrisons take the upgrade over time aspect of the Halfhill farm from Mists of Pandaria and greatly expand upon it, allowing players to choose from various different buildings that can be added to their garrisons for a variety of uses.

For example, do you want to be able to disenchant items but don’t have an enchanter? Build the Enchanter’s Study. Want to be able to harvest the trees dotted around Draenor to gain more resources? Build a lumber mill.

Garrisons are populated by followers, who are recruited through quests and other means. Followers can be sent on missions to gather garrison resources, gold, and even experience points for the player.

Garrison Menu with Level 2 Alliance Garrison with Barracks, Lumber Mill, Enchanter’s Study, and Scribe’s Quarters

Getting Started

Garrisons can be unlocked by level 90 characters immediately after completing the Draenor introduction quests. They are built as part of an early quest in Shadowmoon Valley for Alliance (A) or Frostfire Ridge for Horde (H).

There are 20 buildings total, with three types of buildings: Small, Medium, and Large. There are also three levels of garrisons that can be unlocked over time, each allowing  a higher number of buildings.

Level 1: 1 Large Plot, 1 Small Plot

Level 2: 1 Large Plot, 1 Medium Plot, 2 Small Plots

Level 3: 2 Large Plots, 2 Medium Plots, 3 Small Plots

Small buildings

Scribe’s Quarters

There are small buildings for each of the eight crafting professions. They unlock profession recipes as well as work orders for crafting reagents:

• Alchemy Lab (Alchemy)
• Enchanter’s Study (Enchanting)
• Engineering Works (Engineering)
• Gem Boutique (Jewelcrafting)
• Scribe’s Quarters (Inscription)
• Tailoring Emporium (Tailoring)
• The Forge (Blacksmithing)
• The Tannery (Leatherworking)

There are also two special small buildings:

• Salvage Yard – Allows salvage to occasionally be recovered during missions
• Storehouse – Allows access to the bank. Upgrades also allow access to guild banks and void storage

Medium buildings

Lumber Yard

There are five medium buildings, each providing different benefits.

• Barn – Allows animals to be trapped, providing materials required for the highest level crafting items
• Lunarfall Inn (A)/Frostwall Tavern (H) – Allows new followers to be recruited with desired trait. Also unlocks follower missions with greater rewards
• Lumber Mill – Allows trees in Draenor to be harvested for timber. Also allows timber to be turned in for work orders that provide garrison resources, which are required for building and upgrading garrison buildings
• Gladiator’s Sanctum – Enables Nemesis quests, access to the Highmaul Coliseum, and several useful traits such as safe fall and waterbreathing when outdoors in Draenor
• Trading Post – Allows crafting reagents to be traded for garrison resources and vice versa. Also unlocks reputation for Sha’tari Defense for Alliance or Laughing Skull Orcs for Horde. Eventually includes access to an auctioneer

Large Buildings

Town Hall at center, Barracks to the right

There are five large buildings. The barracks are built first as part of the garrison quest chain, but they can be replaced later.

• Barracks – Unlocks patrol missions for followers, which provide more experience. Also increases the follower limit, allows some followers to accompany you while questing, and allows players to change the guards and banners in their garrison
• Dwarven Bunker (A)/War Mill (H) – Increases the chances that quest items will be upgraded to rare or epic. Also unlocks transmog sets and new tabards and eventually gives players a free reroll chance for raid gear
• Gnomish Gearworks (A)/Goblin Workshop (H) – Creates a random engineering gadget each day that only lasts for one day. Items include a glider, a grenade launcher, and a jetpack
• Mage Tower (A)/Spirit Lodge (H) – Allows the creation of up to three portals to any of the main zones in Draenor. Also allows players to take portals from those zones back to their garrisons
• Stables – Unlocks the ability to capture and train six unique mounts. It also allows players to use certain abilities without dismounting and eventually increases mount speed in Draenor by 20%

Bonus Buildings

Fishing Shack

There are also four bonus buildings in every garrison that are unlocked over time as the player levels.

• Lunarfall Excavation (A)/ Frostwolf Mines (H) – Unlocked at level 92. Contains mining nodes that respawn daily and do not require the mining profession to be looted
• Fishing Shack – Unlocked at level 94. Allows fish to be found in the nearby pond and unlocks daily fishing quest
• Herb Garden – Unlocked at level 96. Contains herb nodes that respawn daily and do not require the herbalism profession to be looted
• Menagerie – Requires a level 3 garrison and completion of a level 98 quest. Unlocks special pet battles and quests