World of Warcraft: How To Unlock Dark Iron Dwarves?

After the Tides of Vengeance update in World of Warcraft, players have access to ten allied races from which the dark iron dwarves are pretty interesting. However, not many players know how to unlock dark iron dwarves. So, we have curated this guide to help these poor souls who roam Boralus or Zandalar in search of answers or clues to unlock the said allied race.

Key Takeaways
  • In order to unlock the Dark Iron Dwarves, players must first unlock the Ready for War achievement. 
  • The questline for that achievement starts in Kul Tiras and ends in Zandalar for an Alliance character.
  • Once that is done, interact with Moira Thaurissan at the Stormwind Embassy, located Northwest of the Dwarven District. She will help you recruit the Dark Iron Dwarves.
  • After completing the mentioned requirements, you will unlock an achievement called “Allied Races: Dark Iron Dwarf”. 
  • Now, you can play as a Dark Iron Dwarf by going to the character creator.
  • A Dark Iron Dwarf will be at level 20 if you begin a new game with one.
  • If you reach level 50 without a level boost as a Dark Iron Dwarf, you will unlock the Heritage Armor.

How to Unlock Dark Iron Dwarves

Unlike the Zandalari troll, unlocking Dark Iron Dwarves is much easier and requires you to follow a two-staged process to be able to create dark iron dwarves. The process is a straight shot; however, it is a tad bit long as it requires you to earn ‘Ready for War’ achievement by completing the Alliance War campaign. Once you pull off the first step, the second one is pretty straightforward and requires you to go through a recruitment process.

Ready for War

Players get unique quests for ‘Ready for War’ achievement depending on the faction they are playing the World of Warcraft. If you are rocking an Alliance character, your quests will start in Kul Tiras and end in Zandalar. However, the scenario becomes the other way around if you are using a Horde character in the game. Other than that, here are the following criteria for each faction you need to complete to unlock ‘Ready for War’ achievement and advance the progression of how to unlock dark iron dwarves in World of Warcraft.

Ready for War Alliance Criteria Ready for War Horde Criteria
Nazmir Foothold Drustvar Foothold
Zuldazar Foothold Stormsong Valley Foothold
Chasing Darkness The Marshal’s Grave
Blood in the Water At the Bottom of the Sea
Vol’dun Foothold Tiragarde Sound Foothold
Blood on the Sand The First Assault
A Golden Opportunity Death of a Sage
The Strike on Zuldazar The Strike on Boralus

Now that we mentioned all the criteria for Alliance and Horde factions, there should not be further confusion regarding how to unlock dark iron dwarves in World of Warcraft. All you need to do is complete the quests mentioned above, and you should unlock the ‘Ready for War’ achievement.

The Allied Races Recruitment

Let us assume you received the achievement and successfully pulled off the war campaign, and now the next stop is Stormwind Embassy. Since dark iron dwarves are a part of allied races, you need to recruit them first to your cause to be able to play with them in the game. It is why the second stage of how to unlock dark iron dwarves questline involves a recruitment process.

To kick start the second part of the quest, you must find Moira Thaurissan at Stormwind Embassy and interact with her. She is the NPC that helps you in the recruitment of the dark iron dwarves under your wing. To find her or the embassy, go North-West of the Dwarven District in Stormwind, and you will eventually stumble upon Moira Thaurissan.

Accessing the Class – Dark Iron Dwarves

After completing the recruitment scenario, you should see a relevant achievement titled ‘Allied Races: Dark Iron Dwarf’. It indicates that you have completed the unlocking process in its entirety. So, to access this newly unlocked playable class, you need to log out from the game and log back in by going through creating a new character option. Once you do that, you should be able to see dark iron dwarves race on the menu screen. Also, just like other races in the game, you can select a male or female dark iron dwarf. This solves the tale of how to unlock dark iron dwarves in World of Warcraft.

Upgrades Related to Dark Iron Dwarves

Once you finalize creating a dark iron dwarf character, you will begin with level 20 in the game. After that, a couple of unlockables/upgrades associated with the race await that must be completed to give your character the edge it needs in the game.

Heritage Armor – Cosmetic Upgrade

You will start at level 20 after creating your dark iron dwarf character. A sweet cosmetic upgrade awaits if you reach level 50 with this character. Regardless of the male or female character, the Heritage Armor gives a dark iron dwarf the extra tanky and brute look-a-like appearance that every dwarf, in my opinion, should have. Here is an image of dark iron dwarf rocking the fancy Heritage armor cosmetic upgrade.

how to unlock dark iron dwarves
Heritage Armor Set

Dark Iron Core Hound – Mount

To find a dark iron core hound, you need to visit Blackrock Depths. Here is an image for your reference to find the mount’s exact location.

how to unlock dark iron dwarves
Dark Iron Core Hound

Things You Should Know About Dark Iron Dwarves

There are certain in-game tidbits that you need to know while embarking on the journey of how to unlock dark iron dwarves or their unlockables. After making your character and starting at level 20, DO NOT use character boost tokens to reach level 50 or 110 for quick upgrades or rewards associated at the said levels. If you used the token and reached level 50, the Heritage Armor set will not unlock.

The same applies if you change the faction or race of your character. So, DO NOT alternate between faction and race while you are upgrading your dark iron dwarf character. It will hamper your progression and reward unlocking system.

Your progression will also be affected if you try to level up faster via Recruit a Friend option. Once again, DO NOT rush and destroy the progression of your character.

Dark iron dwarf Heritage armor cosmetic set is only usable by the said class. No other class can equip this item.

That is pretty much everything you need to know about how to unlock dark iron dwarves. Did you find your guide helpful? Did you unlock the dark iron dwarves race and its unlockables after going through the guide? Let us know more about it in the comments section below.

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Irfan Ansari is a Senior Editor and Guides Writer on eXputer. He has seven years of Video Game Journalism experience and has been gaming for more than 22 years. Over his editorial career, he has gained experience at multiple sites, including TheGamer and VeryAli Gaming. Irfan has also earned a degree in Writing and Editing from the University of Michigan. Learn some more about Irfan's gaming journey on his Steam, PSN, and Xbox profiles.

Experience: 7+ Years || Worked for TheGamer and VeryAli Gaming

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