The mythic keystone dungeons (“Mythic+”) are among the toughest PvE challenges in World of Warcraft. This week, the affixes Inspiring and Storming await you, which can be a bit tricky. MeinMMO gives you tips on the affixes and shows which dungeons work best.
Which affixes are active this week? On each keystone you receive, there can be up to four affixes that always apply to the entire dungeon. The following affixes are active this week:
- Fortified (Level 2+) – Normal enemies have an additional +20% health and +30% damage
- Inspiring (Level 4+) – Certain normal enemies have an aura that grants their allies immunity to control effects, similar to the affix “Charming” from BfA
- Storming (Level 7+) – Enemies in combat regularly summon whirlwinds that deal damage to players and knock them into the air and backward
- Prideful (Level 10+) – Once you have defeated 20% of the enemy forces, a manifestation of pride appears that you must defeat
An explanation of what exactly affixes and Mythic+ really are can be found above in our guide to the malevolent/volatile week for WoW.
How long does the affix week last? The Inspiring/Necrotic week starts on Wednesday, February 3rd and ends on Wednesday, February 10th. Along with the week, there is a major buff for ten classes.
Those who are not used to the affixes or do not know them yet could be surprised by them. They are not necessarily difficult, but especially Storming could overwhelm many players and Inspiring requires a bit more planning. Nevertheless, no dungeons this week are absolutely unfair; all are manageable with some preparation. We give you tips on how to play each affix correctly and in which dungeons you have it a bit easier this week.
The best dungeons this week
Where can I get through easily? As almost always, the Mist of Tirna Scithe and the Halls of Atonement are relatively easy to master this week. If you want to earn a selection of cool items in the Great Vault, look for keystones from these two dungeons.
Both the Mists and the Halls provide enough space to properly play the whirlwinds from Storming without pulling unwanted groups into the fight. The routes hardly change; Fortified makes the fights only slightly harder and may slow you down by a few seconds or minutes.
However, in the Mists, make sure to watch out in the last section so that you are not thrown into the depths. This could quickly ruin your run. Take a Night Fae with you who can provide you with a resurrection point after the second boss.
Alternatively, Plaguefall and The Necrotic Wake offer a relatively easy way through. Particularly, the Wake has become significantly easier due to the latest nerf on February 3rd.
These dungeons are more difficult: The Theater of Pain is likely to pose a bigger challenge. Especially on the platforms before the boss Kul’tharok, it is difficult to avoid the whirlwinds, and they can mean quick death for inattentive players.
In addition, Theater of Blood is still tricky despite the nerf, but no longer as hard as it was a few weeks ago. Generally, the dungeons this week are indeed the two hardest, but not absolutely unmanageable. Anyone still missing keystones in these two dungeons should take advantage of this week.
Fortified and Prideful – What you need to pay attention to
What are these affixes? These two are a bit different. Fortified alternates weekly with Tyrannical. The two affixes either strengthen normal enemies or bosses.
Prideful, on the other hand, is the seasonal affix. For the entire first season of Shadowlands, this affix will be active from level 10.
How to best handle the affixes: Fortified and Tyrannical do not have any special mechanics. You just need to be careful at higher levels not to pull too large enemy groups with Fortified. However, that doesn’t work too well with Inspiring this week anyway. Use your cooldowns for “trash mobs” as well.
With Prideful, on the other hand, you need to handle it correctly. Defeating the manifestation grants you a damage buff for one minute, which you should ideally use against particularly tough enemies.
Try to reach a 20% mark before a tough fight and then defeat the manifestation before you look for the next fight. Be sure to ensure that the manifestation does not appear in the middle of a fight. Add-ons like Mythic Dungeon Tools show you how much percent an enemy is worth and even allow you to plan routes
- You can find Mythic Dungeon Tools on curse.
Inspiring and Storming – What you need to pay attention to
How to best handle the affixes: Inspiring and Storming are the two special affixes for this week. Both require planning and foresight so that they do not surprise you in the middle of the fight.
Inspiring usually affects at most one enemy in a group. This enemy enhances all others in the vicinity but is itself vulnerable to control. Use abilities like Polymorph, Knockback, or other effects and pull the other enemies out of its effect area so that you can control them in the fight.
Alternatively, you can take down the “inspiring” enemy immediately with cooldowns and then eliminate the remaining group.
Storming is especially tricky for melee fighters because the whirlwinds are not always easy to see and can distract you from your target. Although the affix is actually quite simple, it can quickly ruin your run if you are not careful.
Watch for small gray whirlwinds on the ground that soon become whirlwinds. Avoid them and their movement. They move in a spiral for about 10 seconds. Multiple whirlwinds can be active simultaneously, so always keep an eye on the ground.
If you are in a tight area, position yourself so that you are never thrown into other enemies when you cannot avoid the whirlwinds at all. It is advantageous if the tank tries to either keep the enemies still or pull them away from the whirlwinds. Constantly running in circles, which is currently popular, could disturb melee fighters especially.
Which classes have it easier? Generally, more mobile classes have an advantage, as they are not particularly affected when they are knocked away by the whirlwinds. They don’t deal much damage, but they interrupt spells and throw you out of melee range.
Likewise, classes with strong control effects can be useful for the entire group to distract the “Inspiring” enemies. Strong classes are therefore:
- Warriors who can simply ignore the whirlwind with Charge or Heroic Leap
- Mages, especially Fire Mages, with Polymorph and Pyroblast
- Rogues with Knockback and Blind as well as strong damage even on single targets
- All Night Fae players who can ignore recoil through Soulshape
- Death Knights who become immune to the winds of Storming through Unholy Death
Which classes have it harder? Storming is the tricky affix of the week and can ruin the game for most classes. Especially spellcasting classes with long cast times and slow melee fighters are at a disadvantage here.
Healers can also be caught unfavorably by the whirlwinds, causing them to either interrupt a spell or attempt to finish it – which in an unfavorable case can lead to a wipe if the spell doesn’t go through. The following classes are at a disadvantage:
- Healers with few or weak instant casts like Holy Priests
- Spellcasting classes with long cast times like Destruction Warlocks
- Slow melee fighters, such as Paladins or Enhancement Shamans
If you are still having difficulties with Mythic+ dungeons, you can find two tools that help you optimize your character in WoW in our guide on MeinMMO.
