Welcome to the third week of Season Three! Like last week, we won’t be providing any Beguiling routes this week - those should debut next week, once MDT is updated to support emissary locations.

This week we’re completing the two-part series started last week by providing a series of basic routes for Fortified dungeons. Here’s how you should modify these routes depending on the other affixes present (note that Beguiling is also an affix that dramatically changes pathing in every dungeon):

• A number of affixes don’t change that much as far as route planning goes: those are Raging, Necrotic, Skittish, and Volcanic.
• If Teeming is active, you may need to add pulls to the dungeon, and the existing pulls may become prohibitively dangerous depending on which mobs are added to them.
• If Bolstering is active, you’ll need to be very careful when pulling enemies that have different health totals from each other. If you can’t do damage proportionally based on their hit points, consider CC’ing some enemies and killing the others far away from them. Also consider changing which packs you pull to favor those with even health totals.
• If Sanguine is active, there’s some benefit to doing the same sorts of pulls you’d do during a Bolstering week. You also need to watch out for where you fight enemies - try to avoid confined spaces and areas where bosses spawn, and instead pull back to wide-open areas you’ve already cleared.
• If Bursting or Explosive is active, you need to be very careful with large pulls.
• If Quaking or Grievous is active, boss fights will often be comparable in terms of difficulty to their Tyrannical versions, so consider moving your bloodlust timings around to hit those boss fights instead of trash.

Atal'Dazar [back to top]

On Fortified, Toxic Saurid pulls are often the most deadly in this dungeon. We typically lust trash at least once in this dungeon when Fortified is active - often the very first pull of the dungeon. You then have the option of lusting Vol’kaal or the trash on the stairs near him - if you don’t have lust for this pull, consider doing it slowly since it is very lethal! Yazma is almost always the final lust of the dungeon simply due to how timing works out - though a creative route may find a way to backtrack and lust the middle pack instead!

Read more on Atal’Dazar Dungeon Abilities.

Freehold [back to top]

Fortified Freehold is a great opportunity to pull big and lust! We’d recommend doing this as your very first pull of the dungeon, and then again as lust comes off cooldown near the Council o’ Captains. If the affixes or captains are particularly difficult, you can instead use this lust on the boss encounter. The third lust of the dungeon is typically reserved for Harlan Sweete.

Watch out for Cutwater Harpooners - these enemies are the most deadly trash mobs in here, and their harpoons can combine with many other enemies’ abilities to combo kill players in your group. Focus them down and pull as many packs that don’t include them as possible!

Read more on Freehold Dungeon Abilities.

Kings' Rest [back to top]

Fortified Kings’ Rest is challenging - though in different ways than the Tyrannical version of the dungeon. We’d recommend lusting one of the first trash pulls of the dungeon, then using it again on cooldown (this is generally towards the end of the trash gauntlet), then again on cooldown near the start of the bridge (which is very hard on Fortified), and then finally on Shadow of Zul, an enemy whose Fortified version is probably the single biggest numbers check in BFA Mythic plus. This means you’ll have to fight the bosses without lust - which makes some of them quite difficult marathons that can easily wipe you even though it’s not Tyrannical.

Read more on Kings’ Rest Dungeon Abilities.

Shrine of the Storm [back to top]

You can get by in this dungeon by pulling small and lusting bosses, even on Fortified. An alternative strategy is to use your first lust immediately, which will mean it’ll come back off cooldown soon after the first boss, so you can use it to pull big at that time. We’d still advise saving your later lusts for the later bosses - especially if it can save you from having to do an extra phase during the Vol’zith encounter, which it often can on Fortified!

Read more on Shrine of the Storm Dungeon Abilities.

Siege of Boralus [back to top]

Our Siege of Boralus example route is based off the Horde pathing and will require some modification if you’re Alliance.

Be aware that Ashvane Spotters no longer kill tentacles during the Viq’goth encounter, so don’t try to use that strategy to shave off a few minutes! In Siege, routes tend not to change much based on Fortified/Tyrannical (Bolstering is the primary route-changing affix in this place), and we’d still plan to lust the first boss, the second boss when she comes down from the boat, and Viq’goth.

Read more on Siege of Boralus Dungeon Abilities.

Temple of Sethraliss [back to top]

We’d aim to lust the first boss and the third boss even on Fortified in this dungeon. If your lust comes off cooldown during the second boss’ room, you can use it to pull big there - but if it hasn’t yet you should instead pull smaller than you would on Tyrannical and save that lust for Galvazzt. Your final bloodlust pretty much always lines up with the Avatar of Sethraliss encounter - we’d aim to use it on pull or at the start of the second wave.

Our Example route for Temple calls for a shroud or death skip - the alternative is to just pull everything and go ~20% over the required Enemy Forces count.

Read more on Temple of Sethraliss Dungeon Abilities.

The MOTHERLODE!! [back to top]

This is perhaps the most hostile Fortified dungeon this expansion - we’d aim to lust trash wherever possible. Our example route this week shows path that is easy to execute and doesn’t require any skips - if you use this, just pull an extra pack whenever lust is available and use it! If you’re interested in using a route more similar to the ones used in high-end keys, you’d instead want to pull way more trash from the start of the dungeon and get two trash lusts in before engaging the first boss. If this strategy continues to be popular in keys this season, look forward to seeing Expert routes that show exactly how to do it!

Read more on The MOTHERLODE!! Dungeon Abilities.

The Underrot [back to top]

On Fortified you can lust Elder Leaxa or a blood troll pull before her. Even on Fortified, it’s important to lust Cragmaw - if you’re still sated after you’ve cleared its room, we’d advise continuing to clear more trash deeper into the dungeon until you can lust, then returning to Cragmaw and killing it. Doing this saves a bunch of time since it reduces the number of time consuming Tantrum phases you have to deal with. This leaves the final lust for the Unbound Abomination.

Read more on The Underrot Dungeon Abilities.

Tol Dagor [back to top]

This dungeon used to be a walk in the park on Fortified, but now we’re re-learning how to actually deal with the trash in this place rather than just cannoning it all down. We’d still advise mostly targeting boss encounters with Bloodlust - The Sand Queen and Overseer Korgus chief among them. This makes a lust on Jes Howlis work nicely as far as timing goes, but finding a good lust on trash as it comes off cooldown is absolutely a strategy worth exploring.

Read more on Tol Dagor Dungeon Abilities.

Waycrest Manor [back to top]

Our example Fortified route for this dungeon highlights what you might do if the Bottom Right door is open. This route would involve a lust on the second pull of the dungeon in the Hunting Lodge, and then using the second lust on the Soulbound Goliath, and the third on Lord and Lady Waycrest. If a tough affix like Quaking or Grievous is active and you want to lust the Heartsbane Triad, you can execute this route without pulling any of the bosses along the way, just rushing straight to the Triad, and then use your second lust there before backtracking and clearing the other bosses while you wait for Sated to fall off.

Read more on Waycrest Manor Dungeon Abilities.