Most Popular Mythic+ Group Comps & Dungeon Success Rates (Week 3)

We’re back with another entry into our weekly Data Dive series! This week, we’re continuing to look at the evolution of the top group compositions being used at the various keystone level thresholds, but we’re also going to delve into dungeon success rates at various keystone levels.

For a quick reminder, here’s how the Mythic+ Affixes work in The War Within:



For the first part of this week’s Data Dive, we’ll be looking at the most popular group compositions used for timed keystones completed for the following ranges:

KEYSTONE LEVEL	AFFIXES
+2 to +6	Xal’atath’s Bargain + Fortified or Tyrannical
+7 to +11	Challenger’s Peril
+12 and Up	Xal’atath’s Guile + Fortified and Tyrannical

Table of Contents

Keystone Levels: +2 to +6

This graph shows the top 5 group compositions used during Week 3 for timed Keystones between levels +2 and +6, inclusive. This is the first threshold of keystones where the affixes faced are one of four possible Xal’atath’s Bargain (added at +2) and either Fortified or Tyrannical (alternating each week, added at +4). For the above graph, the affixes were Xal’atath’s Bargain: Voidbound and Tyrannical.

One thing we noticed last Week is a decline in the use of Blood Death Knights in the tank role for this keystone range. Primarily, the tank classes seem to be consolidating between Protection Warrior and to a lesser extent, Guardian Druid (the same is true for the next level range, as you will see). While this could be for a number of reasons, we suspect that it may be related to the overall strength of the tank classes in both raid and dungeons. This keystone range is used mostly for gearing up or filling out Great Vault slots, or pushing to higher level keystones. While Blood DK is still one of the highest represented tanks in Heroic Nerub-ar Palace, it falls off in higher Mythic+, so it stands to reason that tanks may gravitate towards the specs succeeding in both forms of PVE content.

On the healer side of things, the Restoration Shaman domination continues across the board.

Clear favourites for DPS are emerging for this keystone range, with Retribution Paladins, and Frost Death Knights becoming staples.

Keystone Levels: +7 to +11

This graph shows the top 5 group compositions used during Week 3 for timed Keystones between levels +7 and +11, inclusive. This is the second threshold of keystones where the affixes faced are the same as the first level range, with Xal’atath’s Bargain: Voidbound, Tyrannical, and the new addition of Challenger’s Peril.

In Week 3, the +7 to +11 range seemed to be a good showcase of a bridge between the lower keystone levels and the highest. Here we’re starting to see more Augmentation Evokers, which we hadn’t seen much in the top compositions outside of the +12 and up range, as well as more Guardian Druid – a popular spec in the highest keys. DPS choices were pretty consistent across the board.

Keystone Levels: +12 and Up

This graph shows keystones completed at levels +12 and up, which is where the affix situation changes dramatically. Xal’atath’s Bargain gets replaced with
Xal’atath’s Guile, which removes the beneficial aspects of the affix and makes enemies 20% more difficult. Challenger’s Peril remains, and additionally both Fortified and   Tyrannical are present. At +12 and up, Mythic+ dungeons do not change from week to week, so their difficulty remains the same. It will be very interesting to see how these statistics change as the Season progresses!

In Week 1, there were only 30 dungeons in total completed at +12 and higher, and in Week 2, we had over 400. At the time of publication, we have a total of 1,566 dungeons completed in-time at this range. Clearly, as players accrue more gear and familiarity with the dungeons themselves, we’re seeing these numbers increase at a significant rate.

Augmentation Evokers and Frost Death Knights continue to dominate the high-key pushing scene as far as DPS goes, but we’re seeing some more Frost Mage than in previous Weeks. It seems to have overtaken Arcane as the more popular Mage spec.

It is interesting to note that we are now in the 3rd Week of this series, and each week, the first two keystone ranges were topped by the number of Retribution Paladins, but we’ve yet to see one on a graph in the +12 and up category. It definitely seems like the spec is viable up to a certain level, at which point they fall off. In fact, there is only one Retribution Paladin in the top 120 dungeons on the Leaderboards.

Keystone Levels: +12 and Up (Overall Season)

As the affixes for keystone levels +12 and up are static from week to week, we will be including the above graph each week in the Data Dive series to show the top 5 group compositions for this level range for the Season Overall. It will be interesting to see how this particular graph changes throughout the Season!

Success Rates by Dungeon

In this new addition to the Data Dive, we examine how often groups were able to successfully time each of the Dungeons available in Season 1, at various keystone levels. Instead of looking at the same keystone ranges as above, we will now hone in on some specific levels that players may be targeting for rewards.

To illustrate the Success Rates, we are using a Box Plot graph.


We wanted to introduce these graphs indicating Success Rate by Dungeon because we believe they can help your dungeon groups make informed decisions. If your goal is to time any dungeon at level +9 or +10 to get Gilded Crests and/or Mythic-level gear, or if you’re trying to get Heroic-level gear at +7, these graphs can help you determine which dungeons will statistically give you the higher chances of success!

WHAT DOES THIS DATA MEAN FOR ME?

If your goal is to complete keystones at +9 to earn as many Gilded Crests as possible or at +10 for Mythic-level Vault gear, then this data suggests that you might want to try and target Mists of Tirna Scithe and The Dawnbreaker for the highest chances of success. Keep in mind that, until level +12, each week includes a different Xal’atath’s Bargain affix, so one week’s data may not necessarily carry over. It is, however, a good starting point!

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HOW TO INTERPRET BOX PLOT GRAPHS

The X-Axis shows Time Remaining as % of Dungeon Timer. As 0% means a dungeon was completed, in-time, at the exact timer (00:00:00 time remaining), higher numbers (5% and up) mean that the dungeon was completed with time remaining. The higher the number, the faster the dungeon was completed by percentage of the timer. Dungeons on the left of 0% were thus depleted, and where they land on the X-Axis shows by what percentage of the timer they were depleted.

The box in the middle of each bar shows the Inter Quartile Range, or IQR. This is where the middle 50% of dungeons fall. If the box is small, it indicates that dungeon completion times were very consistent. If the box is large, it means there is greater variability in completion times.

The line in the middle of the box represents the Median Clear Time. If this line is closer to the left of the box, this indicates the distribution is skewed towards slower times, and vice versa.

The Whiskers, the lines that come out of each side of the box, indicate the range of the data outside the IQR (the middle 50% of all dungeons completed). This shows how far the data spreads. If the Whiskers are long, it suggests there is a wide range of dungeon clear times, suggesting the performance varies more. Shorter Whiskers indicate more consistent results, and if they are asymmetrical, it shows that the data is skewed in a particular direction (depleted vs. completed in-time).

Outliers are singular dungeons that fall way out of the range. We have only chosen to show positive outliers, meaning dungeons that were completed significantly faster than the average. Those are represented by a dot, should they exist.

Insights

This Week, we’ll look at why Frost Death Knights have become so prevalent across all dungeon levels, but especially the higher keystones.

Offensively, Frost DKs bring strong (some might say too strong) AoE damage with relatively short cooldowns. Abilities like Breath of Sindragosa and Pillar of Frost allow them to have substantial DPS output on essentially every pull.

In terms of utility, there will always be useful applications of Death Grip, and even more with Abomination Limb, as being able to grab errant mobs and group them together means more effective damage and control.

Perhaps one of the strongest aspects of the Frost DK, and why they are so prominently used in the highest keystone levels, is their defensive ability and high survivability. Active defensives such as Icebound Fortitude and Anti-Magic Shell can be used to mitigate high incoming damage – not to mention the fact that AMS doubles as an immunity for many spells and debuffs. Permafrost makes the Frost DK particularly adept at dealing with rot damage, and then let’s not forget about Veteran of the Third War – a passive talent that gives Frost DKs almost as much health as a tank.

It is not hard to see why Frost DKs have become such an important part of any high-key pushing group, and we expect to see them continue to dominate the Leaderboards for many weeks to come.

Stay tuned for more Data Dives, coming soon!

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