Inscription Overview: Perks, Recipes, & Research

Added in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, the Inscription profession allows players to first grind herbs into pigment with Milling and then turn those pigments into inks which can be combined with parchment paper and other materials to craft glyphs, scrolls, shoulder enchantments, Darkmoon cards, and more.

What You Get From Inscription

Inscription offers several useful endgame items in Mists of Pandaria Classic. Inscription is used to craft level 90 shoulder enchantments, powerful Darkmoon trinkets, and some very nice starting weapons and off-hand items. There are also Major and Minor Glyphs for every class, which provide useful abilities and passive effects for every build, and several other miscellaneous items.

Shoulder Enchants

All level 90 shoulder enchantments are made with Inscription, including special Bind-on-Pickup enchantments that are exclusive to characters with this profession. These special enchantments serve as the profession’s primary perk, offering an extra 320 of the relevant major stat beyond the Bind-on-Equip options.

Darkmoon Trinkets

There are five powerful trinkets that can be obtained by turning in decks of cards at the Darkmoon Faire. Some of these trinkets are Best-in-Slot for many builds in Phase 1 of Mists of Pandaria. To assemble the decks, you will need to collect the appropriate cards – all of which are obtained through Inscription.

Cards are randomly obtained by crafting a Darkmoon Card of the Mists. This requires a Scroll of Wisdom, which can only be made once per day (plus one more from a weekly quest). For detailed information on how to obtain these trinkets, see our Darkmoon Cards, Decks, & Trinkets guide.

Upgradeable Account-Bound Weapons & Off-hands

Inscription allows you to craft some rare weapons and off-hands that can be upgraded to epics. These are competitive pre-raid items and are Bind-on-Account, so they can be traded freely between your characters. Unfortunately you will need to use many Scroll of Wisdom to upgrade them, which means you won’t be able to work on these at the same time as the Darkmoon trinkets above.

Major & Minor Glyphs

Inscription is still the sole source of Glyphs, which are class-specific and offer useful abilities and effects for every build. Prime Glyphs have been removed in the Mists of Pandaria expansion, but Scribes will still be able to make Major and Minor Glyphs for every class.

Many Glyph recipes are learned directly from Inscription Trainers, but others must be learned by creating Scroll of Wisdom, which can only be crafted once per day and is used to make the endgame equipment listed above. Many lower-level glyphs can also be learned from Northrend Inscription Research or Minor Inscription Research. Some glyph recipes do not become available until the Timeless Isle is added in the final phase of the expansion, at which point they will drop from mobs.

Scribes can also craft the items that are used to remove glyphs and talents: Vanishing Powder (for characters up to level 80), Dust of Disappearance (81-85), and Tome of the Clear Mind (86-90). These items are also available from vendors, so they aren’t significant as money makers.

Scrolls

With Inscription, you can make Runescroll of Fortitude III (and its lesser variations, Runescroll of Fortitude and Runescroll of Fortitude II). The buff from these scrolls acts as a weaker version of Power Word: Fortitude and similar buffs and does not stack with them. These scrolls can be very useful in solo and small group content where those buffs would otherwise be missing. You can also make lower-level scrolls for other major stats that only affect a one character, such as Scroll of Intellect IX.

Scribes can also craft and use Scroll of Recall, Scroll of Recall II, and Scroll of Recall III, which act as an extra Hearthstone on a 20 minute cooldown. Using the rank I and II scrolls when you are above their recommended level range has a chance to teleport you to a random location in Eastern Kingdoms or Kalimdor instead.

Cosmetic & Miscellaneous Items

There are several lower-level Darkmoon card recipes that you can craft to turn in for some Darkmoon Faire reputation and lower-level equipment, which may also be good for transmog. The Darkmoon Faire does not need to be active for you to turn these in.

Inscriptionists can craft a couple of non-combat pets: Chi-Ji Kite and Yu’lon Kite. Note that these are not Battle Pets, they are purely vanity items.

Scribes can also make Origami Crane and Origami Frog, which are fun little interactive items. More Origami items are added in the last phase of the expansion: Origami Beetle, Origami Rock, and Origami Slime.

Mysterious Fortune Card is a fun gambling item that will give you a random Fortune Card with a fortune on it, most of which vendor for about 10 silver, but the rarest one sells for 5000 gold.

Forged Documents can be crafted once per day and start a quest in your faction’s capital city for a bag containing about 20 gold.

Certificate of Ownership can be crafted with Inscription and used by Hunters to rename their pets.

Finally, characters with Inscription can craft some lower-level BoE staves and off-hands that have rare models, which makes them useful for transmogrification. Rituals of the New Moon also has a unique on-use effect that transforms your character into a wolf.

Inscription Research

There are three Inscription crafts that will teach you glyph recipes. They each have a separate one-day cooldown. Each research recipe can teach its own tier of recipes plus the ones below it. So Minor Inscription Research will only teach the lowest level glyphs, Northrend Inscription Research will teach those recipes plus the mid-level recipes, and Scroll of Wisdom will teach you any glyph from all three pools. If you’re trying to learn all of the available glyph recipes, you should use all three cooldowns as often as possible. There is also Book of Glyph Mastery, which will teach a few of the recipes you can learn from Northrend Inscription Research with no cooldown.

Minor Inscription Research can be learned at 75 skill level and requires 2x Light Parchment and 1x Moonglow Ink. Each Moonglow Ink requires 2x Alabaster Pigment to make, which can be obtained by Milling herbs from level 1-10 zones: Bloodthistle, Earthroot, Peacebloom, or Silverleaf.

Northrend Inscription Research can be learned at 385 skill level and requires 5x Light Parchment, 3x Ink of the Sea, and 1x Snowfall Ink. Each Ink of the Sea is made from 2x Azure Pigment, which come from Milling Northrend herbs: Adder’s Tongue, Fire Leaf, Goldclover, Icethorn, Lichbloom, or Tiger Lily. Each Snowfall Ink requires 2x Icy Pigment, which are obtained by Milling the same herbs, but at a lower rate.

Scroll of Wisdom requires 525 skill level and is crafted with Light Parchment x1 and Ink of Dreams x3. Each Ink of Dreams requires 2x Shadow Pigment, which can be obtained by Milling Pandaria herbs: Desecrated Herb, Fool’s Cap, Green Tea Leaf, Rain Poppy, Silkweed, or Snow Lily.