This week’s affixes are: Tyrannical, Raging, Necrotic and Reaping.

This week’s affixes present a serious challenge - but if you can handle them well, they shouldn’t impact the timer too dramatically. Raging and Necrotic are two affixes which conveniently are solved by the same strategy - kiting towards the end of each pull. Tyrannical and Necrotic do combine to make some difficult bosses nearly impossible, and much of the pressure from the affixes will rest on your tank, but in general this is a good week to push keys. DPS players and healers with taunts and defensives can be extremely useful this week, allowing the tank to reset Necrotic stacks against some bosses and minibosses. For some tips on handling the Raging Affix, check out this video guide:







For each dungeon, there are two different Mythic Dungeon Tools (MDT) routes available – a “Basic” route and an “Expert” route. The Basic routes follow a few restrictions: they don’t feature massive pulls, they don’t require special class abilities like Shroud of Concealment to facilitate skipping mobs, and they don’t require the use of death skips. They also don’t require you to leave anything crowd controlled for too long.

The expert routes, by contrast, often call for advanced pulls and skips. Sometimes, these skips require specific classes like Death Knight, Demon Hunter, or Rogue - but often they can be done by many different group compositions, just in slightly different ways. Every skip in these routes features a full explanation if you mouse over the corresponding number.

If you’re a coordinated team, you should start with the Expert routes and remove pulls/skips that you can’t do. If you need help making any such for your team's strengths and weaknesses, ask me when I'm streaming or get in touch with me using any of the contact info in my RaiderIO Profile!

Click on the COPY MDT IMPORT STRING button and you’ll be able to paste that string into the the "Import" window of your Mythic Dungeon Tools addon and get the route for yourself! Each of these routes contains annotations about how to do each pull and which enemies to crowd control, where to Bloodlust, etc. The annotations and drawings make these routes take a few minutes to Share using MDT’s in-game share function, so consider clearing them before sharing with your group-mates!

Atal'Dazar [back to top]

This is a fantastic dungeon for this week, as with most Tyrannical weeks, due to the relative ease of most of the bosses and the fact that two of the four damage themselves, reducing the impact Tyrannical has on the timer. Vol’Kaal is the boss in this dungeon most buffed by Necrotic - if necessary, you can allow it to cast for a while to facilitate your tank running away and dropping stacks. There are a few packs where Necrotic and Raging can be problematic - the pull on the stairs after Vol’kaal, the pull before Priestess Alun’za, and the Toxic Saurid packs. One of the best strategies for this week in general, but these packs in particular, is to save AoE stun effects for the end of each pull, when the tank needs help dealing with both of those affixes.

As the metagame has shifted away from Death Knights, our Expert routes no longer plan to take control of an undead enemy and kill it after Yazma to avoid the final Reaping wave, but this strategy is still excellent if you have access to it!

Read more on Atal’Dazar Dungeon Abilities.

Freehold [back to top]

It’s a fairly tough week for Freehold - the combination of Tyrannical and Necrotic is problematic, particularly during the Harlan Sweete encounter when his attack speed doubles towards the end, and the combination of Tyrannical and Captain Eudora is also a serious challenge. In addition to this, you’ll have to contend with the Cutwater Harpooners, which are a problem with Raging because they may randomly deal huge damage to members of your party, and are also a problem when they grip your tank back in as they try to kite.

Read more on Freehold Dungeon Abilities.

Kings' Rest [back to top]

This week is a pretty difficult week for Kings’ Rest - the Tyrannical/Necrotic bosses pose a very serious threat. Relative to the average Tyrannical week (which is already rough in here), King Dazar is the most buffed by Necrotic, as he attacks quickly, dashes back to the tank often, and also summons raptors that will help stack Necrotic even faster.

Like in Atal’dazar, our Expert route used to plan for a Death Knight to take control of an undead enemy and kill it after King Dazar to avoid the final Reaping wave. We now no longer assume your group has access to this, but it remains a powerful strategy if you do, and you should rework the Route to use it.

Read more on Kings’ Rest Dungeon Abilities.

Shrine of the Storm [back to top]

This week is a pretty rough week for Shrine. There are numerous challenging mini-bosses that can pose a serious Raging threat if you lack a Soothe effect in your group. Necrotic is also a problem in the large pulls of enemies like Animated Droplets.

Both of our Routes plan to skip the final Reaping wave by killing a pack of Abyssal Eels after Vol’zith the Whisperer. Our Expert route also plans to skip the penultimate Reaping wave by triggering it during a death skip.

Read more on Shrine of the Storm Dungeon Abilities.

Siege of Boralus [back to top]

As usual, our Siege of Boralus routes are based off the Horde pathing and will require some modification if you’re Alliance.

This week is a great week for Siege of Boralus - all of the bosses offer easy ways to drop Necrotic stacks, and the only big Raging threat in the Horde pathing is one Irontide Raider, which is easily skipped. Do watch out for the numerous trash enemies that are immune to Crowd Control - these are difficult to kite and may cause trouble as you attempt to drop Necrotic stacks. This week’s Routes make no effort to get value out of Ashvane Spotters as we’ve done in previous weeks, though if that’s something you’re interested in doing, go for it - you may even want to drop them below 30% to trigger Raging.


Read more on Siege of Boralus Dungeon Abilities.

Temple of Sethraliss [back to top]

Temple of Sethraliss this week revolves around the Galvazzt encounter - this brutally difficult Tyrannical boss is at its most challenging with the addition of Necrotic, which can prevent your tank from being able to safely soak, which puts even more stress on the squishier members of your group. If you can handle this encounter, the rest of the dungeon, should be relatively straightforward.

Our Expert route plans to skip the final two Reaping waves - the first by triggering it during a death skip, and the second by triggering it as the final boss encounter finishes.

Read more on Temple of Sethraliss Dungeon Abilities.

The MOTHERLODE!! [back to top]

This is a pretty good Motherlode week - especially if you have access to a Soothe effect for the many dangerous enemies throughout the dungeon. If you don’t, you’ll have to watch out for raging Peacekeepers, Thugs, and Jockeys in particular - as well as getting interrupts on anything else that’s Raging.

Read more on The MOTHERLODE!! Dungeon Abilities.

The Underrot [back to top]

The Underrot is an excellent key for this week - just watch out for Raging Bloodswarmers and be careful when pulling enemies on to Grotesque Horrors as that may cause problems when you decide to kite. The only boss that gets a serious increase in difficulty with Necrotic active is Sporecaller Zancha, who does some serious tank damage and only pauses to let Necrotic drop a few times in the encounter.

Read more on The Underrot Dungeon Abilities.

Tol Dagor [back to top]

Tol Dagor continues to be one of the best dungeons to attempt at higher keystone levels because of the amount of time that Heavy Cannons can shave off the clock. This week you’ll want to be particularly careful in Jes Howlis’ room, as Necrotic can easily become a problem during that encounter if you decide not to kill the Irontide Raiders before pulling the boss, or if you ignore the neutral Despondent Scallywags that often get pulled as he runs near them. The other bosses are never trivial on Tyrannical, but none of them pose a unique Necrotic threat.

This dungeon is also an exception to our rule for the Basic routes that no specific classes or abilities are required - the route is designed for a group with either a Rogue or a player with items from their profession that can open the doors. If you don’t have access to either of those, the dungeon is extremely linear and you should just pull the enemies that are in your way and avoid any that aren’t!

Read more on Tol Dagor Dungeon Abilities.

Waycrest Manor [back to top]

The trash in Waycrest Manor is all about careful planning on weeks like this. Be sure to pull any sizeable group of enemies back to a previously cleared, wide-open space to give yourself room to kite without risking pulling additional mobs!

All five of the Manor’s bosses are tough this week. You’ll need to be ready for Necrotic to dramatically increase the difficulty of Raal, Lord and Lady Waycrest, and Gorak Tul, as all of these fights spawn adds which can quickly stack the debuff on your tank. The Soulbound Goliath, a fight that largely centers around tank damage, is also affected by Necrotic, but this can be managed by setting it aflame slightly more often. The Heartsbane Triad is the least affected by the affixes, but is the most difficult encounter normally - it remains a serious threat and should still have a Bloodlust reserved for it.

Read more on Waycrest Manor Dungeon Abilities.