New Mythic+ WoW Dragonflight Season started on May 8. The most skilled players have already overcome the challenges of +20 Keystones. The less experienced or busy ones use Mythic boost to achieve that goal. Ordering one can save you lots of time and energy. You may need them given that it’s summertime and there’s a lot to do both outdoors and in WoW. But in any case, it wouldn’t be superfluous to have on hand the general information about the Season. This short overview will serve that purpose.
Dungeon Pool, Travel Guide, and Changes
Dragonflight’s Season 2 pool traditionally has instances from past expansions. Like in the previous Season, they make up half of the pool. However, this time players don’t get to re-experience anything from the Mists of Pandaria or Warlords of Draenor.
Instead, they farm more recent Battle for Azeroth instances: the Underrot and Freehold. Neltharion’s Lair was chosen to represent Legion’s dungeons. Finally, the oldest one in the pool is the Vortex Pinnacle from the Cataclysm expansion. The previous Season’s Dragonflight dungeons are replaced with Neltharus, Halls of Infusion, Brackenhide Hollow and Uldaman, Legacy of Tyr.
Fortunately, the older dungeons are even easier to reach than the current ones. As in Season 1, you can find portals leading to their locations near the Seat of the Aspects in Valdrakken. A Dragon with a Pandaren visage, Lindormi, stands before them ready to explain the travel routes. (Remember: Lindormi also can reduce the level of your Keystone.)
However, she won’t point at the portals when asked about routes to the Uldaman and the Neltharion’s Lair. The portal to Uldaman’s location, the Badlands, awaits in the Obsidian Enclave. To get to the Lair, use Valdrakken’s portal to your faction’s Capital. Then, use a portal to Azsuna in its portal hall. The final step is flying to the Lair’s location called Highmountain.
One more and the fastest way to reach the pool’s dungeons is truly hardcore. You’ll open it by completing the Keystone Hero series of achievements. Each achievement requires a successful run through the instance with +20 Mythic Key difficulty or higher. The reward is a Teleport spell right to the entrance of the completed dungeon. Such a reward may become especially helpful for some categories of players. For example, for those who purchased a +20 Great Vault Boost, but prefer to farm lower keystones on their own.
The old dungeons always seem familiar to the game’s veterans. However, it’s crucial to check the changes the current season brought to their mechanics.
Dragonflight’s Season 2 isn’t an exception. As the oldest dungeon in the pool, the Vortex Pinnacle received the largest number of updates. For example, the Grand Vizier Ertan and Altairus bosses got new abilities for their Mythic+ versions. Altairus’ tactics have changed the most, because he got 3 new skills at once. Now the players have to dodge the Cold Front, Biting Cold, and Downburst AoEs with dangerous debuffs. The Cold Front’s healing reduction and the Downburst’s silence are unpleasant additions to the classic Downwind of Altairus mechanic.
BfA dungeon, Freehold, can compete with the Vortex Pinnacle in a number of updates. A completely new ability was given only to the Harlan Sweete boss. The Whirling Dagger’s effect stacks with the boss’ classic Loaded Dice: All Hands mechanic for a deadly combination. But the changes in other bosses’ skills may not be less threatening. For instance, Captain Raoul from the Council o’ Captains encounter won’t throw his Barrel randomly anymore. The spell got a targeting now: DPS — Healers — Tanks.
Don’t forget that Dragonflight instances were also updated a bit. Mainly, their changes are minor nerfs aimed at making their Mythic+ versions more balanced. Halls of Infusion’s Primal Tsunami boss is deprived of the Rogue Waves skill. Spells cast by Uldaman’s Chrono-Lord Deios became less harmful.
Affixes
Mythic+ Affixes feature is aimed to make your Keystone farm more challenging. Mobs and bosses just getting more HP with each Keystone level would be too easy. They should also receive menacing buffs.
An Affix pool changes from season to season. A special seasonal Thundering Affix is removed. Furthermore, Dragonflight’s Season 2 removed Quaking, Explosive, and Grievous from the pool.
Entangling, Incorporeal, and Afflicted came to replace them. The first one slows you with a threat of 3 seconds long stun unless you run 10 yards away. The second spawns mobs that decrease the damage and healing you deal by half. The third summons the Undead mobs whose ability destroys your party’s Haste.
Mobs spawned with Incorporeal must be AoE’d asap. The way to deal with the Afflicted Affix mechanic is less usual. You must get rid of the summoned mobs by revealing one of three debuffs they have. Another way of giving rest to their souls is healing them to the full.
A few old Affixes were corrected to better fit into the Season 2 dungeon pool. Sanguine and Spiteful are slightly nerfed in terms of numbers. Sanguine Inchor effect duration is reduced, as is the damage dealt by the Fiends spawned with the second one. Raging has changed more. Previously, the enrage it gave to the buffed mobs made them deal more damage. Now, the enemy’s enrage is its immunity to AoE control. Finally, Bolstering empowerment is now only about the damage buff.
Changes in the whole Affix system are not less important. Up to the +6 Keystone, enemies are buffed only with basic Fortified or Tyrannical effects. One half of truly dangerous Affixes appear at +7 instances and higher. Another half appears starting from +14 difficulty. The first half consists of the periodic effects. The ones triggered by the level of mob HP or with it death are in the second half.
Rewards
One of the most valuable types of Mythic+ rewards is its high-level equipment. You can see a compact loot table suggested by Wowhead in the picture above. Don‘t forget about the new PvE equipment Upgrade system. With enough Shadowflame Crests and Flightstones, you’ll make your M+ loot absolutely priceless.
We‘ve already talked about the usual seasonal Keystone Hero series of achievements and its rewards. A key requirement of other seasonal achievements is the M+ Rating farm.
For becoming Season 2 Keystone Conqueror (1500 Rating) you get the Smoldering title. Becoming a Keystone Master (2000 Rating) gives a brutish quadruped lizard — Inferno Armoredon mount. Another smoldering title — the Smoldering Hero — is given for the eponymous and hardest Seasonal achievement. How far will you go in order to get at the top 0.1% of regional M+ players?
Two more achievements are automatically completed the moment you become a Keystone Master or a Keystone Hero. They’re the Dragonflight Season 2 Master and Dragonflight Season 2 Hero.
The reward for the first one is the Draconic Mark of Mastery. This item can be brought to the Zaralek Cavern’s vendors. They’ll gladly trade a piece of class set from the Heroic Aberrus for it. The reward for the second is cosmetic: the account-wide Obsidian Aspectral Earthstone will give a unique look to the Aberrus tier sets.