Do you love Mythic+ but are too busy throughout the week between school, work, family, or raiding to see what routes the top players are running on streams?

We’ve got you covered with our new series: Play Like the PROS!

One thing worth mentioning this week is that Explosive coupled with Bursting can cause some dangerous situations if the burden is all placed upon the healer. Generally, many Mythic+ groups have come to see Explosive orbs as a healer responsibility since, during most Explosive weeks, healers tend to have the range and downtime suitable for handling the majority of the Explosive orbs. However, with Bursting as the secondary affix this week, it is much more important to help cover for your healer. Depending on the timing and number of Bursting stacks when Explosive orbs spawn at various locations of the map; there can be some nasty overlaps that even lead to wipes.

As a team player, your health is your responsibility too. Being mindful of Bursting stacks and Explosive orbs is key this week–meaning that DPS players or tanks should sometimes swap and kill orbs. Normally, one orb explosion won’t kill you. However, if your healer is trying to stabilize health bars after (or during) high bursting stacks, then one orb explosion could be catastrophic. Hybrid healing, personals, and health potions are extremely useful for topping the group as efficiently as possible before the next pull.

You can prepare for such situations by keeping track of Explosives or Bursting with the help of WeakAuras!

Today, we share some of the advanced routes that we have seen on Twitch streams this week to help you optimize your weekend key pushing sessions! Read on to import dungeon routes by the pros and maybe learn some new tech.

Table of Contents

RUBY LIFE POOLS

Dungeon Run: Ruby Life Pools +25
Team: Mordrîm, Jdotb, Bondéborra, Gruty, Phýlo
Affix Combo: Fortified, Bursting, Explosive, Thundering

• Bursting is mostly a non-factor in this dungeon outside of the first couple of pulls. There’s no group damage from those enemies, so killing them evenly and using personals to survive your stacks is fine if you don’t have Mass Dispel.
  
• This route uses a pretty precise lust timing between the first pull and when Flamegullet reaches 50% of his health and begins ramping his rot damage through Molten Blood. Depending on key level and the speed your clear is going, you may need to skip Flamegullet and come back to him when lust is available again.
  
• You can only miss two Scorchlings and still have 100% count at the end of the dungeon following this route, so be sure to scoop them up as you circle the ring. For reference, you’ll always need at least 70.61% or 466 enemy forces when starting Kokia Blazehoof.
  
• Bloodlust Timings: 1st pull, Flamegullet at 50%, High Channeler Ryvati.

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HALLS OF VALOR

Dungeon Run: Halls of Valor +25
Team: Nextback, Lxâ, Hearthjacks, Maystine, Tacokekw
Affix Combo: Fortified, Bursting, Explosive, Thundering

• On your way to Hyrja, the Valarjar Aspirant has high heath during Fortified weeks. Therefore, management is key here since this pull can be a huge time save when done properly. Ranged players can use line-of-sight to never let the Valarjar Aspirant jump out of the pack. Keeping the Valarjar Aspirant grouped helps increase your DPS uptime and increases your group’s survival by dodging the cleaves.
  
• This route skips the slow, single-target fight with the second Storm Drake by having the party move back and to the right as they go through the portal to Fenryr.
  
• The worg pull once again makes use of the “wooden post” strategy we showcased last week, but it is split into two pulls because of how tricky it can be with Explosive. The ranged players, including the healer, are stuck on their high ground – so as the worgs are rounded up, one of the melee DPS must assist the tank with clearing Explosives that may spawn out of reach.
  
• Bloodlust Timings: 1st pull, Hyrja, Steeljaw Grizzlies, Odyn.

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THE NOKHUD OFFENSIVE

Dungeon Run:
The Nokhud Offensive +25
Team: Trellbrew, Tolvoker, Shodam, Sneakyluigi, Ttvtettles
Affix Combo: Fortified, Bursting, Explosive, Thundering

• This route does not kill the Primalist Thunderbeast that patrols The Raging Tempest’s boss area. Players must have keen awareness during Lightning Strike to avoid accidentally engaging the Primalist Thunderbeast.
  
• New Tech Alert: The Desecrated Bakas that accompanies the Ukhel Beastcallers only give a single count and smack the tank very hard. Luckily, there’s some tech to make them despawn by having someone tag them and drop combat as seen in this clip.
  
• Bloodlust Timings: 1st pull, on CD in water area, on CD in cemetery, Balakar Khan.

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SHADOWMOON BURIAL GROUNDS

Dungeon Run: Shadowmoon Burial Grounds +26
Team: Dreams, Hastydwagon, Entrid, Tarisant, Ympzz
Affix Combo: Fortified, Bursting, Explosive, Thundering

• Picking up some extra count at the end allows this route to skip the patrolling Shadowmoon Exhumer after Nhallish, which can be very awkward to combine into the previous pack with how many kicks Void Bolt demands.
  
• New Tech Alert: It won’t be obvious in the route transcription, but there are ten Corpse Skitterlings that spawn with the second to last pack of the dungeon. Corpse Skitterlings despawn after Bonemaw dies, but if someone jumps around the wall on its platform, you can pull that pack including the 10 count from those baby spiders. This clip demonstrates how an Evoker can pull this off.
  
• Bloodlust Timings: Sadana Bloodfury, Bonemaw. Note: Bloodlust is considered essential for the 1st boss even on Fortified weeks, so this group only used Bloodlust twice in the route above.

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COURT OF STARS

Dungeon Run: Court of Stars +26
Team: Dreams, Hastydwagon, Entrid, Tarisant, Ympzz
Affix Combo: Fortified, Bursting, Explosive, Thundering

• This route avoids every Mana Saber except the first two, so you’ll need a plan to prevent them from immediately one-shotting a ranged player with stacked casts of Mana Fang upon the leap (which happens to the furthest ranged player).
  
• As always, the second half of Court of Stars is very fluid based on what the dungeon gives you for your Felbound Enforcer spawns or what interactables are on the ground.
  
• The minibosses scale with Fortified, so Baalgar the Watchful is a great lust target both to avoid too many casts of Impending Doom and to line up your last lust for either Gerenth the Vile, or Advisor Melandrus.
  
• As Blazing imps scale further into high keys, it’s important to have a designated order of AoE stops to prevent overlap and buy the most amount of time to kill them before they ever cast.
  
• Bloodlust Timings: 1st pull, Baalgar miniboss, Advisor Melandrus.

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TEMPLE OF THE JADE SERPENT

Dungeon Run: Temple of the Jade Serpent +25
Team: Mordrîm, Jdotb, Bondéborra, Gruty, Phýlo
Affix Combo: Fortified, Bursting, Explosive, Thundering

• Throughout this route, in pulls with multiple caster mobs like Depraved Mistweavers or Fallen Waterspeakers, it’s safer to crowd control (CC) one and pull it in later if you don’t have the kicks to suppress them for the entire fight.
  
• With little room for combining packs, the pace of chain pulling really determines how quickly you can move through this key. The VOD of this run linked below is a great reference for how fast that might need to be in a +25.
  
• Bloodlust Timings: 1st pull, 1st Shambling Infester, last trash pull.

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ALGETH’AR ACADEMY

Dungeon Run: Algeth'ar Academy +25
Team: Kommitklap, Arastrasza, Emidan, Nickboltz, Scrilluh
Affix Combo: Fortified, Bursting, Explosive, Thundering

• When pulling the Vile Lashers before the Overgrown Ancient, enter combat with both sets simultaneously so that their casts of Seed Detonation are synchronized and create stacked swirlies.
  
• This group had the Warrior tank jump off the Crawth platform to pull the second and third wave of Territorial Eagles simultaneously.
  
• The greatest weakness of the Algeth’ar Echoknights is the Z-axis, so pulling them onto the staircase in the last area prevents all damage from Astral Whirlwind to any players standing on a stair lower than them. Because they hit the tank quite hard (and since they don’t attack the tank when they are spinning), refrain from using CC and let them spin as long as they are on the staircase.
  
• Bloodlust Timings: 1st pull, Crawth, Last trash pull.

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THE AZURE VAULT

Dungeon Run: The Azure Vault +25
Team: Dreams, Hastydwagon, Entrid, Tarisant, Ympzz
Affix Combo: Fortified, Bursting, Explosive, Thundering



We spoke to Tarisant for some insights into this route. Here’s what he had to share:

• This group pulled all the Crystal Furies, but be warned: This is not friendly for PUGs or no-voice-comms groups due to the sheer amount of stops that are required on the Piercing Shards casts. If a group is coordinated enough to handle all the stops on the Furies, then routes that pull these packs are considered “infinitely faster.”
  
• The pulls in this route around the small ring with Unstable Curators can be somewhat tedious since you have to avoid the patrols.
  
• After Azureblade, this route has players turn around and drop down to immediately fight Telash Greywing and then Umbrelskul. If your class does not have a way to avoid fall damage, the Stylish Black Parasol toy works within the dungeon. Otherwise, make sure you’re at full health when you walk off the platform and hold your breath for good measure.
  
• This route skips all the Drakonid Breakers since they are formidable foes on Fortified. Combining that with the random charges that the Breakers do (which detract from DPS uptime), the downsides to pulling them outweigh the benefits.
  
• As for all the Nullmagic Hornswogs (frog) pulls, Tarisant pointed out that skipping them makes for a quicker route since you can opt for other packs that are more easily stacked for constant cleave.
  
• Bloodlust Timings: 1st pull, on CD in first ring, Azureblade, Umbrelskul.

Additional Resources

To further unpack the magic of high Mythic+ for yourselves, here are a few additional resources:

• Subcreation – Find S-tier for ranged, melee, tanks, and healers. Also see their gear-equipped manager and top builds.
  
• Twitch – Specific player PoVs in real-time and videos on demand. Twitch may also provide an opportunity for you to respectfully ask MDI players reasonable game-related questions directly!
  
• Warcraft Logs – Data and replays: Cast queues, spell uptime, interrupt/stuns, etc.
  
• Raider.IO - When watching high Mythic+ and the MDI, you can search one specific player’s name into Raider.IO to find character-specific info such as gear/legionaries, gems, enchants, soulbinds, conduits, talents, how many keys they have completed on time (5,10,15 for both Fortified/Tyrannical). Also, you may find links to each players’ socials, which can help you track down their personal addons, UIs, WeakAuras, etc.

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Links

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