Mythic Keystone Dungeons (“Mythic+”) are among the toughest PvE challenges in World of Warcraft. Each week, the way you should approach the dungeons changes. MeinMMO provides tips for the affixes this week, Tyrannical and Volcanic, and shows you which dungeons are best to tackle.
How do Mythic+ Dungeons work? A Mythic Keystone dungeon is a tougher version of the regular Mythic dungeons. You need a named Keystone to participate, which you obtain by completing a Mythic dungeon or by opening the Great Vault.
Keystones start at +2 and scale infinitely. You have a time limit to meet and a certain number of enemies to defeat for the dungeon to be considered conquered. If you complete it within the time limit, you can upgrade the Keystone by up to three levels.
Each level increases the strength of the enemies in the dungeon. At certain levels, there are also better loot opportunities and so-called “affixes” that make the dungeons even harder.
How long does the Affix Week last? The Affix Week starts on Wednesday, January 20th. The week goes until Wednesday, January 27th.
Which affixes are active this week? A keystone can have up to four affixes that apply to the entire dungeon. The following affixes are active:
- Fortified (Level 2+) – Normal enemies have an additional +20% health and +30% damage
- Tyrannical (Level 4+) – Defeated enemies leave behind a spirit that chases and attacks players
- Volcanic (Level 7+) – In combat, enemies create volcanoes beneath faraway players that erupt after a short time, dealing 20% of their maximum health as damage and launching them into the air
- Pride (Level 10+) – Once you defeat 20% of the enemy forces, a manifestation of Pride appears that you must defeat
Each of these affixes can surprise players if they are not used to them or are not well-acquainted. We provide tips on how to play each one correctly and which dungeons are easier for you this week.
The best dungeons this week
Here are the easy ones: The two easiest dungeons this week are the Mists of Tirna Scithe and the Theater of Pain. These are relatively easy to play every week, as they do not present overly complicated mechanics.
You have plenty of space in both dungeons to manage the affixes without aggroing other enemies. The bosses are also quite manageable. Only in the Mists do you need to pay attention to properly solving the mist puzzle.
Also fairly easy this week are Plaguefall and the Theater of Pain.
These dungeons are harder: With the affixes this week, the Sanguine Depths and The Other Side are slightly more challenging. Here, there are already strong “normal” enemies that become even tougher with Fortified.
The Necrotic Wake is even tougher since some groups here are more powerful than those in the Sanguine Depths or The Other Side. Enemies with the ability “necrotic bolt” and the skeletal marauders can quickly wipe an inattentive group.
The most difficult this week are the Theater of Pain. The bosses in the dungeon are considered the toughest in the game and are exhausting even without Tyrannical. The groups are also more challenging with Fortified, and there is little room to avoid Tyrannical and Volcanic.
Fortified and Pride – What you need to watch out for
What are these affixes? These two are a bit different. Fortified rotates weekly with Tyrannical. These two affixes either strengthen normal enemies or bosses.
Pride, on the other hand, is the seasonal affix. This affix will be active from level 10 for the entire first season of Shadowlands.
How to best handle these affixes: Fortified and Tyrannical do not have any special mechanics. You just need to ensure that you do not pull too many large groups with Fortified on higher levels. Use your cooldowns even for “trash mobs”.
With Pride, on the other hand, you need to manage it properly. Defeating the manifestation grants you a damage buff for one minute, which you should use on particularly tough enemies.
Try to reach the 20% mark before a tough fight and then defeat the manifestation before you engage in the next fight. Be aware that the manifestation does not appear in the middle of a fight. Addons like Mythic Dungeon Tools show you how much percent a foe is worth and even allow you to plan routes.
Here you can find Mythic Dungeon Tools on curse.
Tyrannical and Volcanic – What you need to watch out for
How to best handle these affixes: Tyrannical and Volcanic are the two special affixes for this week. Both are not necessarily difficult to manage, making them good for learning for new players.
With Tyrannical, ghosts appear, losing 8% of their health every second. They are fully controllable, so you can generally just freeze, push away, or stun them and then ignore them.
Killing them actively wastes time unnecessarily, but it’s also an option. Just make sure they do not reach you, as their attacks deal significant damage.
Volcanic is somewhat easier. The volcanoes beneath your feet glow brightly, and you have two seconds to avoid them. The only important thing is that you can see your character.
Your interface should not be too cluttered. As soon as a volcano appears beneath you, take two steps to the side.
Which classes have it easier? Melee classes are generally not affected by volcanoes, allowing them to focus on less. However, they need to pay more attention to the ghosts than ranged classes.
It is best to communicate with the tank, so they can reposition groups when ghosts are chasing you. However, tanks generally prefer strategies where they pull enemies in circles. Classes that have particular ease include:
- Death Knights: can greatly slow or stun ghosts
- Outlaw Rogues: have a longer melee range
- Ranged classes that can continue attacking while moving
Which classes have it harder? Generally, ranged classes have it a bit tougher this week, but not by much. The affixes are balanced; only the volcanoes can interrupt some spells.
The hardest hit are probably healers since they must decide whether to heal their tank during a volcano or avoid it. Classes that have it tough are:
- generally healers without instant spells or heals over time (“HoTs”)
- spell-casting classes with long spells like Destruction Warlocks
If you’re still struggling with Mythic+ dungeons, you’ll find in our guide on MeinMMO two tools that help you get the most out of your character in WoW.
