Formulas : Mob XP Con Colors . This is the color used to display the mob ' s level number in when the mob is targeted . It is a function of the difference between your level and the mob ' s level . Click Here For a full table list per level The highest mob level that gives you no experience is the Gray Level . It varies based on your character level as follows : ( " notes where levels have not been confirmed " ) Basic Formula . The amount of experience you will get for a solo kill on a mob whose level is equal to your level is : For example , a level 60 character killing a level 60 mob in Azeroth gets ( 60 * 5 ) + 45 = 345 exp . Killing a level 60 mob in Outland gives ( 60 * 5 ) + 235 = 535 exp . Higher Level Mobs . XP = ( Base XP ) * ( 1 + 0 . 05 * ( Mob Level - Char Level ) ) , where Mob Level > Char Level This is the amount of experience you will get for a solo kill on a mob whose level is higher than your level . This is known to be valid for up to Mob Level = Char Level + 4 ( Orange and high - Yellow Mobs ) . Red mobs cap out at the same experience as orange . Higher elite mobs may also cap at the same amount ( ie are not doubled ) . Lower Level Mobs . For a given character level , the amount of XP given by lower - level mobs is a linear function of the Mob Level . The amount of experience reaches zero when the difference between the Char Level and Mob Level reaches a certain point . This is called the Zero Difference value , and is given by : Using the ZD values above , the formula for Mob XP for any mob of level lower than your character is : Example calculations : For a full table , complete with in - game observed values , see : Greenman ' s Solo XP Table For a basic spreadsheet that performs these calculations , see : Solo Experience Google Spreadsheet Elite Mobs . Mobs that are flagged as elite will give twice the amount of experience as a normal mob for the same level . The API UnitClassification function can return 5 levels of mob status : " worldboss " , " rareelite " , " elite " , " rare " , and " normal " . Mobs classified as " elite " gain the 2x bonus as described . Mobs classified as " normal " and " rare " do not . The other two classes are unknown at this time . Mobs in 5 - man instances give slightly more XP , but mobs in most raid instances give no XP . Raid instances that DO award XP include Upper Blackrock Spire and Zul ' Gurub . ( " elites in instances give 2 . 5 * XP when solo - ed ; untested for normal mobs in instances - ) " ( " confirmed zero XP at lv 58 in Molten Core , at lv 69 in Karazhan and Zul ' Aman . confirmed XP gain in Zul ' Gurub when a lv 56 dinged 57 but exact amount earned is unknown - " ) " ( Some monsters , like in the Amphitheater of Anguish , give the doubled exp PER player . If you do those quests with less than five players , you ' ll get more experience than this formula . The total amount of exp they deliver is 10 * normal _ XP . Has to be confirmed , through . ) " Rested Bonus . The rested bonus doubles the experience given by a mob . This bonus is often reported as 50 % . Consider this example for clarification : The bonus is not 50 % of the base XP , it is 50 % of the total XP gained . The bonus is not 33 % of the total gained , that is , the rogue above did not gain 172 + 86 XP total . The rested bonus is accumulated as a certain number of future XP points . Your bonus on a kill will never exceed the amount of future XP points stored . Thus , if you have no rested bonus , and you stay briefly at an inn you will only accumulate 1 or 2 points . On your first kill thereafter , your Rested bonus will be that 1 or 2 points , not the full 100 % bonus . Solo Experience Modifiers . The experience amounts given above assume that the solo character and their pets have done 100 % of the damage to kill the mob . Experience will be reduced when : Example : You ' re 6th level fighting a 6th level mob . If the ungrouped helper is level 10 or lower damage the mob , you will get full XP because a character level 10 or lower can receive XP from a 6th level mob . If the ungrouped helper is level 11 or higher , you get a tiny fraction of the XP . The effect of this is that power - leveling low levels is much less effective than at higher levels . It is faster for low levels to kill without help , than it is to powerlevel them . It also makes it hard to determine the solo XP for high level mobs , since you won ' t get an accurate number unless the character does 100 % of the damage . The way to power - level is to be near the character level you ' re power - leveling . Thus , a 49th character will be much more effective than a 70th character in power - leveling a 40th level character . More effective would be multiple 49th characters power - leveling the 40th level character . Level 60 and Up Characters . The Burning Crusade expansion raised the level cap from 60 to 70 when it was released . The Gray Level for a level 60 character changed from the previously known 47 to 51 . The Zero Difference value at level 60 is indeed 17 , and remains there up to level 69 . The Wrath of the Lich King expansion raised the level cap from 70 to 80 when it was released . The Gray Level and Zero Difference values did not change from their 60 - 69 values . The only significant change is the zone modifier was raised from 235 to 580 for kills made in Northrend zones . Group Experience . The following is after very limited testing . The formulae here are best guess . Assuming everyone in the group is the same level Modifiers : Example : Two Character Groups . In a group of two characters , the total experience awarded for the mob is calculated using the solo XP formula and the level of the higher character . The experience is always divided between the two characters in the same ratio , regardless of how much damage was caused by each . The ratio for each character is determined by the formula : Note that XP1 and XP2 appear to be rounded to an integer value . The rested bonus available to each character is then applied based on the rounded amount of XP . There is no group XP bonus for groups of only two players . Examples : When the mob is gray to the higher level character but not to the lower , the higher character will get no XP . The lower character will get some small amount of XP . ( " No idea how this is calculated or scales at this time . However , it does depend on the higher level ' s level . Ex : a level 70 grouped with a level 15 kills a level 20 mob . The level 15 gets less xp than if the higher level was a level 40 " ) I have leveled one hunter from 35 to 41 ( so far ) with a level 70 hunter . The best that I can tell the formula is pretty much the same as with any group , only halved , although I consistently receive one single experience point more than I would expect , so that a level thirty - five alone against a same - level elite would receive : 2 * ( ( 5 * 35 ) + 45 ) or 440 experience . However , when grouped with a seventy , it gets divided : ( ( 2 * ( 5 * 35 ) + 45 ) * 35 / ( 35 + 70 ) ) / 2 + 1 Trials ( the day before patch 3 drops ) shows that the elites in instances have a modification of 2 . 75 . Formula is now : ( ( 2 . 75 * ( basexp * levelmodification ) * charlevel / ( charlevel + 70 ) ) / 2 + 1 Example Code . LUA function for calculating xp based on the above figures These are C + + functions for calculating any mob XP ( this is from my experimentation with a Palm OS WoW - like game , from which I ' stole ' most of the formulae ) . They also include the mob difficulty colors ( referred to as ConColors ) . Here are some functions to do these calculations in PHP . Only single person XP is provided .