A major feature in the WoD expansion is the Garrison. In the expansion, you will get a Garrison Hub that you build in the level 90 zone which also serve as your faction hub in Draenor. Then you will also get Garrison Outposts for the other four zones.
Garrison Outpost do not work like your Garrison Hub. You can’t create and level up additional buildings. Instead you get a special zone wide perk and different quest chains which also reward different followers.
Garrison Outpost can be found in Gorgond (92 – 94) , Talador (94 – 96), Spires of Arak (96 – 98) and Nagrand (98 – 100).
You will be given the option to select the type of Garrison Outpost after several zone introductory quests like the example below.
Depending on your choice you will get a special zone wide ability. The ability will only work with each specific zone ie. Gorgond Garrison ability will only work in Gorgond zone.
Your choice is actually very important if you want it to help you with leveling and I though I would share my opinion on which option is best when you venture into Draenor for the first time.
Lets compare the abilities and choose a winner for each zone…
Gorgond (92 – 94)
You get the choice to build either Logging Camp / Lumber Yard vs Sparring Ring / Savage Fight Club outpost.
[two_columns_1]
Logging Camp / Lumber Yard
The Logging Camp / Lumber Yard provide you with a vehicle to use the 
Summon Mechashredder 5000, which give you three special abilities…
Abilities: Launch Sawblades, 
Flame Thrower, 
Rocket Boost[/two_columns_1][two_columns_2]
Sparring Ring / Savage Fight Club
This outpost will give the ability 
Champion’s Honor which summons a random champion to fight with you for 1 min then give you a 5 mins buff which could last longer depending on the number of enemies you kill with the champion present.[/two_columns_2]
Winner:
Logging Camp / Lumber Yard is the winner for leveling because the Summon Mechashredder 5000 will allow you to tank and deal very high damage which is great for taking down Rare Elites or clearing packs of NPCs. The best part is that you also get Rocket Boost which will allow you to fly for short duration. You can use it to go over mountains or unreachable areas since you can’t fly at all in Draenor.
Arena’s Champion’s Honor in my opinion is inferior because the champion summon doesn’t seem to deal as much damage as the Shredder. I’m sure in the release both perks will be balanced in terms of damage but I would still choose Lumber Yard to get the Rocket Boost from the Shredder.
Talador (94 – 96)
You get the choice to build either Wrynn Artillery Tower vs Arcane Sanctum outpost.
[two_columns_1]
Wrynn Artillery Tower
The zone-wide Talador perk is 
Artillery Strike: The Armory will fire 3 volleys over 3 sec. Each volley deals 64000 to 96000 damage to all affected enemies and stuns them for 3 sec. Max 3 charges.[/two_columns_1][two_columns_2]
Arcane Sanctum
Your Arcane Sanctum perk is 
Guardian Orb: Summons a Guardian Orb at your location that electrocutes enemies within 15 yards for 9600 to 14400 damage every 2 sec for 30 sec.[/two_columns_2]
Winner:
Both outposts provide similar type of abilities and both very powerful but I would pick Wrynn Artillery Tower because Artillery Strike comes with 3 charges. This good because this allow you to use 1 charge so you can use it more frequently or use all 3 charges at the same time for a ton of burst damage.
Spires of Arak (96 – 98)
You get the choice to build either Stoktron Brewery / Hearthfire Tavern vs Smuggler’s Den outpost.
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Stoktron Brewery / Hearthfire Tavern
Choosing the Inn-themed perk rewards you with a Brewery. This rewards you with 
Home Away from Home, a teleport to your Inn in Spires and 20% boosted XP in Spires.[/two_columns_1][two_columns_2]
Smuggler’s Den
Once every 10 minutes, a vendor can be summoned who has a chance to sell a variety of interesting wares 
Smuggling Run![/two_columns_2]
Winner:
Stoktron Brewery / Hearthfire Tavern Home Away from Home does seems like an obvious choice for the 20% more XP for the zone but the passive XP buff becomes useless once you reach level 100. Blizzard will likely add new quest or objectives for each zone as there are some areas in the each zones with level 100 npcs so it’s likely that you will continue to use the Perks after you reach level 100.
Smuggling Run item provide with a vendor that can sell you unique food buff such as 
Ogreblood Potion and 
Ravenlord’s Talon which will help you quest faster. You can also purchase an extra follower available only from Smuggling Run vendor and 28 slot 
Gronnskin Bag.
For the long term I would choose Smuggler’s Den but alternatively you can choose the Inn for Home Away from Home until you reach level 100 then you can switch the outpost to Smuggler’s Den for 10,000g. But I probably rather keep the gold and just stick with Smuggler’s Den.
Nagrand (98 – 100)
You get the choice to build either Rangari Corral vs Telarri Tankworks outpost.
[two_columns_1]
Rangari Corral
Summon a 
Telaari Talbuk or 
Frostwolf War Wolf. This is mount allows you to use all your abilities while mounted. You can also loot while mounted as well so it pretty much a zone wide 100% speed buff.
Telarri Tankworks
You can summon a 
Telaari Siege Engine or Wor’var Demolisher with the following abilities:
Launch Rocket/ Hurl Boulder, Flame Vents, 
High Gear, 
Rain of Death
[/two_columns_2]
Winner:
While the tank provide a ton of damage, Rangari Corral for the mounted combat is the better choice. Mounted combat is a unique experience and extremely fun while at the same time I think you will level much faster with it as well since you never have to get off your mount (except indoor areas).
The tank is also on a 10 mins cooldown while the mount has no cooldown at all.
On a PVP server I think choosing the mount is mandatory or else you will get dominated by other players with the mount. The tank provide lots of damage but you will never be able to catch PVP players with the mount.
Well I hope you find this post helpful and help you make the right choice when you level for the first time in Draenor.
-Dugi
41 replies to "How to Choose Garrison Outpost for Leveling"
Thank you for putting this guide out, it was very helpful in helping to choose my outposts specialties. I will be coming back here for more feed back, and suggestions.
I have a question about Wrynn Artillery Tower and Artillery Strike. I’m a Hunter and in the description it says requires Druid. Doesn’t that mean I won’t be able to use it?
I was thinking about the talador outpost choice. thing is:
1) Artillery strike: 3 volleys, 38400 dmg each (a total of 115200 dmg per 3.33 min CD). So over 10 minutes you get 3 strikes for a total of 345.6k dmg. [per mob]
2) Arcane sanctum: 1 orb, 14400 dmg every 2 sec for 30 sec (216000 dmg per 5 min CD). So over 10 min, 2 orbs will give you 432k dmg. [per mob]
All the above, assuming you are using the abilities on CD.
I ve only tried the artillery tower so far, and since i am lvling an alt now, i am thinking of trying the sanctum. Anyone has a hint? Is it actually worth it?
Ya I used the sanctum and it’s does good dmg I like it but I’ve yet to try the artillery
Can you change your garrison if already picked I need the wolf riding mount instead of tank
There is an npc that you can talk to near the outpost, but it will cost you 10,000 gold.
thanks for the info!
Thanks for the information it settles many issues.
Glanced through the comments and it might have been covered, but as for the Corral choice in Nagrand, if you are a Druid, it should be a no-brainer. Since feral and guardian druids can’t mount in their respective fighting forms, the mount is useless. So instead, those specs get a speed increase while in their cat and bear forms. It matches the ground mount level 40 speed, so while in Nagrand, there is never a reason to mount. Just kill and move on. It’s a blast!
I can’t believe this wasn’t covered.
Another huge decision to make between the Smuggler’s Den and the Tavern/Brewery is the followers you get access to.
If you go with the Smuggler’s Den then you get access to Ziri’ak, an Apexis Guardian.
If you go with the Tavern/Brewery you get access to Dark Ranger Velonara/Hulda Shadowblade respectively.
You are ******* right. I read this guide for outposts and made the choices based on it. I did choose: shredder, artillery, smuggling run and corral. However I should have choose arcane tower instead of artillery since, though the ability of artillery is better, the follower is far more rewarding.
Why is the Follower for the Tower more rewarding? I’ve been looking everywhere for more info on this, but not finding it. From what I can see, the follower for the artillery has shield block to counter massive strike, while the follower for the tower has the ability to counter powerful spell. What am I missing to make the mage “far more rewarding?”
someone did their homework. Gosh! Thank you very much ^_^ really useful and I’ve ‘liked’ it for FB & g+ purposes.
Thank you! Such a useful guide!