Welcome to WEEK 2 of The War Within Season 1!

The Weekly Route Series showcases Mythic+ strategies tailored towards Beginner and Intermediate levels of Mythic+. We aim to hit a sweet spot between speed and safety, ensuring you satisfy the right enemy force count while keeping up the pace – particularly in pick-up-groups (PUGs).

This week, you'll notice that the difficulty ramps up, especially as keystone levels increase and people gain familiarity with the new Season 1 dungeons. With new maps and affix combinations, it's important to refine your strategies and coordinate with your team.

Let’s dive into this week’s challenges and start pushing those keys!

Table of Contents

Routing Tips

We’ve designed each route to balance safety and speed. Larger pulls are great for hitting forced percentage milestones quickly, but don’t hesitate to break them into smaller packs if that’s better for your group. We’ve noted these options in MDT/Keystone.Guru to grant flexibility based on your group’s strength, composition, and cooldowns.

You’ll notice some exciting changes this season with the introduction of Xal’atath’s Bargains. These 4 affixes rotate weekly and show up from keystone levels +2 to +11. They can shake things up a bit, but don’t worry—they won’t drastically change your routing, especially at lower keystone levels. What’s more critical is how your group handles each dungeon’s challenges.






Bargain of the Week (+2 to +11): The Xal’atath’s Bargain of the week is Oblivion, where orbs Shattered Essence spawn in a 360-degrees pattern around a player’s location, moving slowly inward. These orbs are similar to the ones in Dragonflight's Nokhud Offensive encounter with The Raging Tempest. Players should soak these orbs for two reasons: First, to gain the Void Essence buff, which increases Mastery and Leech. Second, failing to soak the orbs grants mobs a +10% damage reduction per orb!



Base Affix of the Week (+4 to +9): Fortified – enemy forces (trash mobs) are empowered.

Keystone Level +10 and Up: At +10 and above, both Tyrannical and Fortified will be in play, which will affect your Bloodlust timings and pull strategies. Stick with the route but adjust your Bloodlust timings according to the Tyrannical and Fortified challenges. If you’re short on major cooldowns during a big pull, breaking it down a bit might help, but aim to pull the same packs noted in the route to hit the percentage targets.

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ARA-KARA, CITY OF ECHOES

Bringing a Poison dispel can be handy in this dungeon (Druid, Evoker, Monk, Paladin, Shaman).




Ara-Kara, City of Echoes demands careful coordination and timing, with each mob posing unique challenges. Be ready for Ravenous Crawlers and their deadly Ambush. Quick movements will help you avoid most attacks, but positioning is key for minimizing damage when it hits land. Nakt’s Call of the Brood is over tuned therefore use personal defensives and healthstones.

Healers should focus on dispelling the Venomous Spit from Engorged Crawlers, which can overwhelm the group with venomous attacks. Bloodstained Webmages use Revolting Volley, which can be avoided with good interrupt coordination, especially during chaotic moments involving area denial and stuns from Hulking Bloodguards. Keep an eye on packs containing Sentry Stagshell; stunning or using crowd control on their Alarm Shrill will make these packs easier to handle without attracting other packs.

In the final boss room, watch out for Winged Carrier’s Dashing Strike, which can be lethal without careful cooldown management from the tank. Coordinate with your healers to mitigate this damage, as the run-back is long and punishing. Additionally, avoid being rooted by Blood Overseer’s Erupting Webs.

Players with Level 25 Tailoring can interact with the dead Discordant Attendant mobs scattered around the dungeon. Tailors can use Silk Thread to stun enemies for 10 seconds, which is a powerful crowd control tool for dealing with key mobs.

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CITY OF THREADS

Poison dispels are very useful in this dungeon (Druid, Evoker, Monk, Paladin, Shaman).

City of Threads will be incredibly challenging as a Fortified dungeon and demands coordinated strategies. Starting with the Royal Swarmguard, prioritize using a person damage reduction to manage the damage from Ravenous Swarm — a heavy AoE ability that can quickly overwhelm the group. Be prepared to dodge the Swarmguard’s attacks. Confident groups face Royal Swarmguard alongside Herald of Ansurek but healers should stay alert for heavy burst damage. Healers will need to quickly dispel, Shadows of Doubt, ensuring a safe distance away to keep the group clear of projectiles.

In the mini event, follow the purple shadowy figures to reveal and defeat the Eyes of the Queen: there will be one in each of the three “zones”. To start the boss RP, someone must get into proximity of the yellow dot in the West Zone (see figure below).


Keep an eye on the Covert Webmancer to interrupt the heal, Mending Web. Dodge frontals from Royal Venomshel while maintaining mobility to avoid being trapped in Venomous Spray swirlies, a group-wide poison attack that needs to be dispelled quickly. For the final trash pack, focus on interrupting Elder Shadeweaver’s abilities and rotate cooldowns to mitigate burst damage.

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THE DAWNBREAKER

Bringing a Curse dispel can be handy in this dungeon (Druid, Evoker, Mage, Shaman).

The Dawnbreaker flying capabilities can make it easy for your team to get separated, so try to travel as a group and not engage mobs until your party is together. You’ll need careful planning and strong coordination. The Nightfall Ritualist is a priority target due to its powerful spells, so focus down to reduce taking extra damage from Tormenting Ray. The Nightfall Commander requires tanks to be alert, as it deals heavy melee damage from Tainest Slash and often buffs surrounding enemies, so use interrupts on Abyssal Howl.

When facing Ixkreten the Unbreakable, positioning is critical. This boss has abilities that deal massive area damage with Terrifying Slam on tanks, and players must spread out to avoid overlapping damage zones. Ascendant Vis'coxria will test your group’s ability to quickly handle devastating AOE damages. Be sure to coordinate cooldowns to mitigate damage from Shadowy Decay and Abyssal Blast. The final mini boss, Deathscreamer Iken’tak specializes in shadowing bowling mechanics, which can cause chaos if not managed properly. Positioning yourself away from any walls with you back down a long, clear pathway can minimize the damage bust from Dark Orb.

Finally, the Nightfall Dark Architect is a threat due to its AoE damage and summons annoying adds, Usher Reinforcements. There are scary damage overlaps with Dark Scars, so don't be afraid to use lust and all your cooldowns here.

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GRIM BATOL

Bringing a Curse dispel can be handy in this dungeon (Druid, Evoker, Mage, Shaman).

When facing the Twilight forces in Grim Batol, each mob brings its own dangerous abilities that need careful management. The Twilight Destroyer uses Umbral Wind, a knockback ability that can disrupt positioning. Tanks should keep them away from ledges or environmental hazards, and players should be ready to interrupt the cast when possible. The Twilight Overseer is particularly dangerous due to its Reckless Tactic, this will empower an already heavy AOE Fortified mob.

Assign players to handle Twilight Beguiler’s crowd control abilities like Sear Mind and Chained Mind, which can disrupt your team's coordination. Avoid heavy fire damage from Twilight Flamerender by spreading out and positioning well.

When dealing with Twilight Enforcer, remove its stacking damage buff (Ramping Rage) with stuns or de-enrage abilities at 5+ stacks to keep tank damage manageable. De-enrage are available to groups with Druid, Evoker + Oppressing Roar, Hunter, and Rogue. Twilight Enforcer are coded the same as Refti Custodian inside Dragonflight’s ULDAMAN trash mob where stunning will remove the damage ramp buff.

On the way to the last boss, the Twilight Lavabender will unleash absolute havoc on your key, spread out for fire patches on the ground and dodge frontals. The group needs to stay mobile and avoid standing in these patches to reduce damage intake. Best to fight the Twilight Lavabender with no other trash mobs and with plenty of room for your group to move freely.

Faceless Corruptor channels Corrupt and will two-shot any player with high Shadow Wound stacks from recently killing Mutated Hatchling. This channel can be broken with Feign Death, Vanish, and Shadowmeld if needed.

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MISTS OF TIRNA SCITHE

Managing the mobs in Mists of Tirna Scithe requires controlling key abilities to protect your group. Interrupt Drust Harvester’s Spirit Bolt and handle its Harvest Essence with stuns.

For the Drust Boughbreakers, positioning is critical. This mob’s Furious Thrashing deals large AoE damage when reaching 50%, so the group should stay spread out to avoid being hit by multiple Bramble Bursts. The tank should also keep the Boughbreakers moving around the first boss room to mitigate risk, and healers should be prepared to heal through the incoming damage spikes.

After the first boss, you will begin the Maze to progress to the second boss. Since the maze is random your path may encounter one of the following three fortified mini bosses. The Mistveil Matriarch and Mistveil Nightblossom are both challenging due to their ranged magic attacks and AoE abilities.The Mistveil Matriarch needs to be kited around the room to avoid healing from Pool of Radiance and players must dodge the Radiant breath frontal. For the Mistveil Nightblossom, pay attention to its Poisonous Discharge ability, which creates harmful zones on the ground that need to be avoided. Healers be prepared to dispel Triple Bite off the tank at 3 stacks. Lastly, if you group paths into the Mistveil Gorgegullet, the tank needs to manage its threat since this mob hops to players locations then does as frontal Tongue Lashing. This ability is easily side-stepped but the damaging area spans larger than its visual.

The trash on the way to the last boss can be a fun AOE experience, however keep an eye on the Spinemaw Staghorn is a dangerous mob due to its Acid Nova, a large AOE attack that can deal massive damage to the group. Stack defensive cooldowns during this ability and make sure to spread out to avoid taking too much damage. Interrupt the Staghorn’s spells , Stimulation Resistance and Stimulate Regeneration, and burn it down before it can cause significant harm.

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THE NECROTIC WAKE

Bringing a Disease dispel can be handy in this dungeon (Monk, Paladin, Priest, Evoker).

To handle the abilities of the more challenging mobs in Necrotic Wake, it’s crucial to focus on their key mechanics and timing. Start with the Blight Bag blow up doing group wide AOE damage with Disgusting Guts. Using defensive cooldowns and healing to mitigate this constant damage is essential. Watch out for the Corpse Harvester, as it uses Throw Flesh, which deals significant damage to a random target. Interrupt the Drain Fluids ability whenever possible to reduce pressure on the group.

The Zolramus Necromancer is a priority target since once it dies all the other mods die as well. Interrupt the Necrotic Bolt, which can deal heavy single-target damage. It’s critical to defeat the Necromancer before the ability Animate Dead occurs to prevent overwhelming the tank and healers. Next, the Skeletal Marauder is another high-damage foe, especially with its Gruesome Cleave ability, which deals area-of-effect damage. Be sure to spread out to avoid hitting multiple players with this cleave.

For the minibosses, Nar'zudah, you’ll need to be ready for AoE damage. Nar'zudah can use Grim Fate, a heavy-hitting ability that must be healed through while the entire group deals with Death Burst.





Upon entering the Necropolis, the Corpse Collector spawns festering rot pools that deal increasing damage if left uncontrolled—use interrupts and crowd control to manage the rot and adds.

Lastly, Goregrind and Rotspew require special attention to avoid heavy AOE. Goregrind has the ability Gut Slice, which can turn to cleave any nearby players, while Rotspew uses Disease Cloud to create hazardous zones for all nearby players. Moving out of Rotspew Spew Disease quickly is crucial since this ability with each key level. The Separation Assistant and Stitching Assistant are typically lower priority since you can just aime the other Throw Cleaver at the other mob. Never position yourself in between these mobs to ensure that you don't personally take the damage by blocking the other mob. Interrupt their Drain Fluids and run away from Morbid Fixation to keep the pair in control.

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SIEGE OF BORALUS

Poison dispels are useful in this dungeon (Druid, Evoker, Monk, Paladin, Shaman).

In Siege of Boralus, it’s crucial to prioritize interrupts and crowd control when navigating these tight unique walkways. Start with the Scrimshaw Enforcer — make sure to interrupt its Shattering Bellow, as it can deal significant group-wide damage. Tanks should position it away from the group to minimize the risk of their frontal Slobber Knocker. For the Blacktar Bomber, be ready to interrupt, dodge, and spread out to reduce the damage from Fire Bombs, and quickly stun the bombs to prevent too much damage from stacking up with Burning Tar.

The Ashvane Commander requires solid add control since it strengthens reinforcements if Bolstering Shout. Be sure to focus on taking down any summoned units quickly while keeping interrupts ready to stop heavy attacks. Bilge Rat Buccaneers can be tricky due to their high mobility, so use crowd control abilities to lock them down and prevent them from overwhelming your group. Lastly, Irontide Raiders use Savage Tempest, which can deal massive AOE damage if not out of melee range, so tanks should position them well and DPS should be ready to avoid the tempest's area of effect.

By focusing on interrupts, controlling adds, and positioning these mobs effectively, your group can handle these challenging encounters with more ease.

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THE STONEVAULT

Bringing a Curse dispel can be handy in this dungeon (Druid, Evoker, Mage, Shaman).

It's all about timing and a little luck between the frontals and ground effects in The Stonevault. During the first few pulls, the Cursedheart Invader is a big threat with its high-damage ranged abilities. You’ll want to make sure you’re interrupting these attacks as much as possible to prevent them from chunking down your group’s health. Keeping a good distance and staying spread out will help mitigate some of the incoming damage too.

The Earth Infused Golem is more of a bruiser, dishing out heavy area-of-effect (AOE) damage. It’s vital to stay mobile and avoid standing in bad zones of Seismic Wave and Ground Pound. Tanks need to be on point with their cooldowns to absorb those bigger hits, and the rest of the group should focus on burning it down before it does too much damage.

Towards the second boss, the Void-Bound Despoiler brings heavy pressure to your healer with Void Outburst dealing rapid pulsing damage to the group. Be prepared to use personal defensive or health potion if you are unhealthy.

The Forge Loader is more of a support mob, but don’t underestimate it. When handling these mobs on your way to the third boss, dodge the large frontal Lave Cannon and play extra safely if you are targeting with Molten Martar since you will be taking incredible damage.

Meanwhile, the Forgebound Mender and Cursedforge Mender are priority interrupts due to their healing abilities. These mobs will prolong the fight if left unchecked, so it's important to focus interrupts and crowd control on them to prevent them from healing their allies.

Near the final boss room, the Cursedforge Honor Guard Shield Stampede will instantly stun you and does not have a travel time therefore if you see a blue arrow on the ground pointed your way then you are in damage of getting stunned. This stun is dangroups since there is a lot of area denial in these packs. Tank will give your group the breathing room needed to finish off the other threats away from any stairways.

In The Stonevault, Warriors, Dwarves, and Khaz Algar Blacksmiths can interact with Imbued Iron Bars to gain the Imbued Iron Energy buff, increasing Versatility for 10 minutes.

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