Season 2 of Mythic+ in World of Warcraft: The War Within launches on March 4th, 2025, and there are 3 ways to get your first Mythic+ Keystone.
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After waiting two hours past the scheduled reset time, suffering through multiple disconnects and getting no tier out of first Great Vault (thanks Blizzard), my Mythic+ group was just ready to get started with keys. To our surprise though, a level 2 mythic keystone didn't appear in our bags after collecting our reward from the Great Vault.
In Dragonflight, players could track down Lindormi, a panda NPC, to replace a missing keystone if they didn't have one. When we couldn't find her, our group put two and two together and realized that we had to start with a Mythic 0 in order to get our first mythic keystone. After running Mythic 0's for an entire week, I wasn't overly excited about it.
However, the weekly quest located in Dornogol is another choose-your-own-adventure, and you can choose to run The Dawnbreaker on Heroic or higher difficulty.
If you accept the weekly quest in Dornogol and run the designated dungeon on a Mythic 0, you can kill two birds with one stone: complete the weekly quest and get your Pinnacle Cache and get your first mythic keystone too!
There are 3 ways you can get a mythic plus keystone in World of Warcraft: The War Within:
Complete a Mythic 0 dungeon to receive a base level keystone
Participate in a Mythic+ dungeon to receive a keystone at the end
If at least one Mythic+ dungeon has been completed the previous week, open the Great Vault after reset to receive a mythic keystone
Patch 11.1 of The War Within releases this week on February 26th, and Season 2 of Mythic+ in The War Within starts the following Tuesday reset on March 5th.
In previous expansions, each Mythic+ season lasted 6 to 7 months. With Blizzard's ambitious plan to release 3 expansions for The Worldsoul Saga in 3 years, it's unclear how long each Mythic+ season will be in The War Within. Players estimate that World of Warcraft: Midnight will be releasing in August 2025, exactly a year after The War Within.
Here is the Mythic+ dungeon rotation for Season 2 of The War Within:
Cinderbrew Meadery
Darkflame Cleft
Priory of the Sacred Flame
The Rookery
Operation: Floodgate
Theater of Pain
Operation: Mechagon
The MOTHERLODE!!!
Lindormi and The Timeways make a return in The War Within. Lindormi and a portal to The Timeways are located in a building in Dornogol, and this portal leads to all other areas players need to access all the Mythic+ legacy dungeons.
New and Updated Mythic+ Affixes in Season 2 of The War Within
Season 2 of Mythic+ in The War Within reworks some of the Xal'atath's Bargain affixes introduced in Season 1 and replaces Xal'atath's Bargain: Oblivion with a new affix: Xal'atath's Bargain: Pulsar.
Season 2 also pushes the first affix from starting at keystone level 2 to keystone level 4. Players won't see any of the Xal'atath's Bargain affixes until level 4 keys.
On Level 4 mythic keystones, players see the first affix - one of Xal'atath's Bargains, which changes every week. For Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant, once a minute 10 orbs of ascendance will spawn that cast Cosmic Ascension. If these casts go off, the orbs will buff enemy mobs with 20% movement speed and haste per orb. If all the players interrupt, crowd control, or purge every orb, players will receive a 20% haste buff themselves.
For Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound, Xal'atath will summon a Void Emissary while players are in combat that tries to cast Dark Prayer to empower enemy mobs. If the cast goes off, enemy mobs will take reduced damage. If players successfully defeat the Void Emissary, players will get a 30% ability cooldown buff and 20% Versatility buff for 30 seconds!
On weeks with Xal'atath's Bargain: Pulsar active, Xal'atath attaches pulsars around players for 15 seconds. After 15 seconds, the pulsar releases its energy to nearby creatures, granting them 10% increased damage and 20% damage reduction for 20 seconds. If players soak the Pulsar themselves, they will get increased Mastery and Leech for 30 seconds.
The final variation of Xal'atath's Bargain is Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour. Players will receive a Void Rift shield that either needs to be healed or dispelled, similar to the Afflicted affix in Dragonflight. This week will require a group composition with multiple dispels. If the shields aren't removed, enemy mobs will be healed for 10%. Players that successfully have the absorb shield removed will get 2% health and a 4% critical strike buff.
On top of these new seasonal affixes, mythic keystones also have additional challenges on higher levels:
On keystone level 7, either Tyrannical or Fortified will become active, alternating every week. On Tyrannical weeks, dungeon bosses will have 30% more health and deal 15% more damage. On Fortified weeks, all non-boss enemies will have 20% more health and 20% more damage.
On keystone level 10, Tyrannical and Fortified will both be active for the entire key.
On keystone level 12, Xal'atath's Bargains will no longer be active. A lot of players mistakenly think that 12's are easy because you don't have to deal with an affix, but don't underestimate how helpful the buffs from completing Xal'atath's bargains are!
The Season 1 Affix Challenger's Peril has been renamed Xal'atath's Guile. Every death in a keys +12 and above will deduct 15 seconds from the time remaining.
With all of the Mythic+ changes and difficulty increases, players who take on the challenge will be rewarded! Here is the loot table for both Mythic+ rewards and Great Vault rewards:
Season 2 Loot Table:
Season 2 Mythic+ Rewards in World of Warcraft: The War Within
In Season 2 of The War Within, a new achievement and mount reward has been added to the game! Players that attain a Mythic+ rating of 3000 will be rewarded with The War Within Keystone Legend achievement and the Enterprising Shreddertank mount.
The War Within Keystone Explorer - Complete a Mythic keystone dungeon within the time limit
The War Within Keystone Conqueror - Attain a Mythic+ rating of at least 1500 (rewarded with "the Enterprising" title.
The War Within Keystone Master - Attain a Mythic+ rating of at least 2000 (rewarded with the Crimson Shreddertank mount and a Feat of Strength catalyst charge)
The War Within Keystone Hero - Attain a Mythic+ rating of at least 2500
The War Within Keystone Legend - Attain a Mythic+ rating of at least 3000 (rewarded with the Enterprising Shreddertank and No Deplete keys)
Enterprising Hero - End Season 1 of Mythic+ in the top 0.1% in your region (rewarded with the Enterprising Hero title)
Players also receive a permanent dungeon teleport for any dungeons timed on a Level 10 Mythic keystone.
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