Classic First Aid leveling from 1 to 300 takes ten recipes and roughly 400 crafts, and every single one of them uses cloth you already loot while leveling. This guide gives you the exact bracket-by-bracket route, expected craft counts computed from the current Classic Era game data, and a shopping list with an honest RNG buffer built in.

It applies to Classic Era, Hardcore, and the Anniversary realms, which all run the same 1.15 client. Season of Discovery adds recipes this guide does not cover.

What you need

Train each rank before its cap stops you: Apprentice caps at 75, Journeyman at 150 (character level 10), Expert at 225 (character level 20), and Artisan at 300 (character level 35). Expert First Aid unlocks through a short quest rather than gold alone, and two of its recipes are sold as manuals by a vendor instead of appearing on the trainer's list, so pick those up before the Expert brackets below. Artisan First Aid also needs its own quest chain on top of the level and skill requirement, so plan that stop ahead of the rest.

Every material on this route is cloth: Linen Cloth, Wool Cloth, Silk Cloth, Mageweave Cloth, and Runecloth. You loot most of it while leveling normal cloth-wearing humanoids; buy the rest from any cloth vendor.

One route note before you start: this guide skips the Anti-Venom line (Anti-Venom, Strong Anti-Venom, Powerful Anti-Venom). Their reagents are venom sacs looted from specific monsters, not cloth, so using them trades a simple shopping list for a farming detour instead of saving one.

How the craft counts work

A recipe gives a guaranteed skill point while it is orange, a shrinking chance while it is yellow, and nothing once it goes gray. The expected craft counts below come from that math applied to each recipe's actual color windows in the game data. Expected means average: half your runs will need more. The Buy column adds about 20% on top, and the shopping list uses those buffered numbers. If you hit the target skill early, you keep the leftover cloth and the bandages.

The route

1-40: Linen Bandage

Linen Bandage is guaranteed until 30 and goes gray at 60, so this bracket stays well clear of gray the whole way. It is the first recipe your trainer teaches, no special trip needed.

Material	Per craft	Expected (41 crafts)	Buy (+20%)
Linen Cloth	1	41	50

40-80: Heavy Linen Bandage

Heavy Linen Bandage is guaranteed until 50 and gray at 100, so it comfortably covers the rest of Apprentice rank and a few points past it. Train Journeyman at 75 along the way; it is a normal trainer visit, nothing special.

Material	Per craft	Expected (56 crafts)	Buy (+20%)
Linen Cloth	2	112	136

80-115: Wool Bandage

Wool Bandage opens right where Heavy Linen leaves off: guaranteed until 80, gray at 150. This whole bracket sits inside its guaranteed-to-declining window, well clear of gray.

Material	Per craft	Expected (49 crafts)	Buy (+20%)
Wool Cloth	1	49	59

115-150: Heavy Wool Bandage

Heavy Wool Bandage is guaranteed until 115 and gray at 185. It rides you to the Journeyman cap at 150 with room to spare.

Material	Per craft	Expected (49 crafts)	Buy (+20%)
Wool Cloth	2	98	118

150-180: Silk Bandage

Silk Bandage trains at Expert First Aid, guaranteed until 150 and gray at 210. Remember the Expert quest and the two vendor manuals mentioned above before you start this tier.

Material	Per craft	Expected (42 crafts)	Buy (+20%)
Silk Cloth	1	42	51

180-210: Heavy Silk Bandage

Heavy Silk Bandage is guaranteed until 180 and gray at 240, carrying you to the Expert cap at 210 with plenty of room left on the window.

Material	Per craft	Expected (42 crafts)	Buy (+20%)
Silk Cloth	2	84	102

210-240: Mageweave Bandage

Mageweave Bandage is guaranteed until 210 and gray at 270. Artisan First Aid trains at 225, in the middle of this bracket; complete its quest chain before you reach that point so the skill cap does not stop you mid-craft.

Material	Per craft	Expected (42 crafts)	Buy (+20%)
Mageweave Cloth	1	42	51

240-260: Heavy Mageweave Bandage

Heavy Mageweave Bandage is guaranteed until 240 and gray at 300, so this short bracket is entirely inside its guaranteed window.

Material	Per craft	Expected (25 crafts)	Buy (+20%)
Mageweave Cloth	2	50	60

260-290: Runecloth Bandage

Runecloth Bandage is guaranteed until 260 and gray at 320, covering the back half of Artisan rank comfortably.

Material	Per craft	Expected (42 crafts)	Buy (+20%)
Runecloth	1	42	51

290-300: Heavy Runecloth Bandage

Heavy Runecloth Bandage is guaranteed until 290 and gray at 350. The last ten points sit right at the start of its window, so this final stretch is nearly all sure gains.

Material	Per craft	Expected (11 crafts)	Buy (+20%)
Runecloth	2	22	28

Total shopping list

Buffered quantities, so this list already includes the roughly 20% RNG cushion.

Material	Quantity
Linen Cloth	186
Wool Cloth	177
Silk Cloth	153
Mageweave Cloth	111
Runecloth	79

Where this route disagrees with the usual advice

Three places, all in your favour.

Mageweave Bandage, 210-240. The commonly published route splits this into two chunks and asks for 60 crafts total across them. Our expected value for the same 30-point span is 42 crafts, about a third lower. Even with our own 20% buffer added, the buffered total (51) still sits well under the commonly cited number.

Wool Bandage and Heavy Wool Bandage, 80-150. Published quantities run about 20% higher than our expected counts at both steps. That is not a different recipe or a different window, just padding stacked on top of padding: our Buy column already carries a cushion, so the extra is not needed twice.

Heavy Runecloth Bandage, 290-300. The usual figure here is 15 crafts. Ours comes out to 11, about a quarter lower, because skill 290 already sits right at this recipe's yellow threshold rather than deep inside it.

FAQ

How many crafts does 1-300 First Aid take in Classic? Around 400 crafts on average with this route. RNG in the yellow windows means your run can land higher, which is why the shopping list carries a 20% buffer.

Why did I need more cloth than the table said? Once a recipe turns yellow, skill-ups are a chance, not a guarantee, and the chance shrinks as you approach gray. The Expected column is the average outcome; the Buy column covers a normal unlucky run. A very unlucky run can still exceed it.

Do I need Anti-Venom recipes to level First Aid? No. Anti-Venom, Strong Anti-Venom, and Powerful Anti-Venom all use venom sacs looted from specific monsters instead of cloth. They add a farming detour rather than saving one, so this route skips them entirely.

Does this route work on Hardcore and Anniversary realms? Yes. Both run the same Classic Era client, so the recipes, windows, and counts are identical. Season of Discovery adds recipes and may change the best picks there.

What character level do I need for 300 First Aid? Level 35, for Artisan training, plus its quest chain. Journeyman needs level 10 and Expert needs level 20, so the profession roughly keeps pace with normal leveling.

When this guide changes

The craft counts and color windows come from the current Classic Era client data (1.15.9). Blizzard rarely touches Era profession data, but if a patch changes recipe thresholds, or Season of Discovery picks are added, the numbers here get recomputed and the update noted. If a bracket in your game shows different colors than described, assume a patch moved it and check back.

Updated 2026-07-31 for Classic Era 1.15.9. Not affiliated with Blizzard Entertainment.