WoW TBC Professions
In The Burning Crusade, gathering professions barely help you in combat, so most players run two crafting professions — each grants a self-only bonus of roughly equal power. Pick the two that match your armor type and role. Tap any profession to see what it brings and which specs want it.
Jewelcrafting · crafting
Cut the gems every socketed item needs, plus Jewelcrafter-only gems and Figurine trinkets. New in TBC and consistently the top gold-maker.
Blacksmithing · crafting
Forge powerful bind-on-pickup weapons (Weaponsmith) and plate armor — the staple for plate wearers who want crafted gear that rivals raid drops.
Engineering · crafting
Goggles are a strong early head slot, and grenades, repair bots and gadgets give unmatched utility — especially for physical DPS, tanks and PvP.
Leatherworking · crafting
Drums of Battle grant raid-wide haste, and Fur Lining plus bind-on-pickup leather/mail sets round it out. Often mandatory drum support in raids.
Tailoring · crafting
Bind-on-pickup caster sets — Spellfire, Frozen Shadoweave, Primal Mooncloth — plus spellthread and cloak embroideries. The caster staple.
Alchemy · crafting
Mixology boosts your own flasks and elixirs, and the Alchemist's Stone trinket is exclusive to you. Great for any consumable-heavy raider.
Enchanting · crafting
Enchant BOTH of your rings (spellpower, healing or stats) — a permanent bonus only enchanters get. Also a strong gold-maker via disenchanting.
Mining · gathering
Gathering profession that feeds Blacksmithing, Engineering and Jewelcrafting. Toughness grants a little bonus stamina; mostly for gold and leveling.
Herbalism · gathering
Gathering profession that feeds Alchemy and makes steady gold. Little direct combat benefit in TBC.
Skinning · gathering
Gathering profession that feeds Leatherworking. No combat bonus in TBC — pair it with LW or run it purely for gold.