Mythic+ Dungeon Mechanics

Mythic+ Dungeons and Mythic Keystones are parts of a system that was introduced at the start of the Legion expansion and replaced the Challenge Mode system that existed up until Warlords of Draenor. Since Mythic+ is infinitely scaling it enables all levels of players to enjoy the content.

The best place to start is by covering the basics of the Mythic Keystone system like how to obtain a key, how to start a key and additional things that are important to know for your dungeon adventures.

Obtaining a Mythic Keystone

There are currently 4 different ways to obtain a keystone:

• Complete a Mythic Dungeon and receive a Keystone from the end boss.
• Complete a Mythic+ Dungeon with another person's Keystone and loot your own from the end of the dungeon chest.
• Loot a Keystone from your Great Vault
  • This requires you to have completed a Mythic+ Dungeon the previous week.
• Talk to the Keystone Vendor.

What Determines Your Mythic Keystone Level?

The level of your Keystone is determined by these rules:

1. One level lower than the highest Mythic+ Dungeon you completed the previous week which wasn't in time.
2. Same level as the highest Mythic+ Dungeon you completed in time previous week.
3. One level lower than the Keystone you received the previous week.
4. One level lower for each consecutive week that you didn't complete a Mythic+ Dungeon.

Starting a Mythic Keystone

• Set the dungeon difficulty to "Mythic".
• Click on the Font of Power and put in your Mythic Keystone.
• Click the "Activate" button.
• All party members are required to be inside the dungeon and out of combat when you start otherwise you get an error message when attempting it.

Upgrading a Mythic Keystone

If you successfully complete your Mythic+ Dungeon within the allotted time then your Keystone gets upgraded by at least 1 level. The faster you go the larger the upgrade, up to a maximum of 3 levels higher. However if you fail to finish within the allotted time your Keystone gets downgraded by -1 level.

• Beating the timer with less than 20% remaining results in a +1 upgrade, e.g. from 5 to 6
• Beating the timer with more than 20%, but less than 40% remaining results in a +2 upgrade, e.g. from 5 to 7
• Beating the timer with more than 40% remaining results in a +3 upgrade, e.g. from 5 to 8

After completing your Mythic+ Dungeon, the upgraded or downgraded Keystone will select a new dungeon at random.

Rerolling a Mythic Keystone

When you have successfully completed a Mythic+ Dungeon within the timer the Keystone Vendor appears in your dungeon.

If you talk to the Keystone Vendor you have the option to reroll your Mythic Keystone. In order to be eligible for a reroll these conditions have to be met:

• The completed Mythic+ Dungeon was not your own Mythic Keystone
• The completed Mythic+ Dungeon was the same or higher level than your own Mythic Keystone
• The Mythic+ Dungeon was completed in time

Downgrading a Mythic Keystone

If your Mythic Keystone has reached too high difficulty level and you would like to downgrade it you have two options:

• Start the Mythic+ Dungeon with your group, leave the Dungeon and then "Reset All Instances". This will result in your Keystone getting lowered by 1 level.
• Talk to the Keystone Vendor.

To set yourself and your group up for success in your Mythic+ Dungeon adventures there's a few basics that are important to know.

Group Composition

Once you have started a Mythic Keystone you can no longer swap talents or gear unless you leave the dungeon which is costly for the timer. In addition you cannot swap players of the group at all unless you choose to "Reset All Instances" and restart. That's why it's recommended to start with:

• One Tank
• One Healer
• Three DPS

In addition there's other class specific functionalities that are important to take into account when combining your group of players for combat. Each class brings something unique to the table.

Combat Resurrection

Combat Resurrections are shared within the group on a charge based system, you receive 1 charge at the start of any Mythic Keystone and then an additional one every 10 minutes. There are 4 different classes that have access to combat resurrection, these are:

• Death Knights Raise Ally
• Druids Rebirth
• Paladins Intercession
• Warlocks Soulstone
• Engineering Tinker: Arclight Vital Correctors is another option of combat resurrection if you have none of the aforementioned classes

Bloodlust

Bloodlust is a collective of spells that all share the same cooldown and effect which is a strong haste buff that is available to you every 10 minutes. These 4 classes can bring Bloodlust to your group:

• Shaman Bloodlust
• Mage Time Warp
• Evoker Fury of the Aspects
• Hunter Primal Rage
• You can also receive a weaker version from Feral Hide Drums

Raid Buffs

Different buffs that only one class can give to the group. These come in different forms but most classes have one so class diversity is emphasized. These buffs are:

• Demon Hunter Chaos Brand
• Druid Mark of the Wild
• Evoker Blessing of the Bronze
• Hunter Hunter's Mark
• Mage Arcane Intellect
• Monk Mystic Touch
• Paladin Devotion Aura
• Priest Power Word: Fortitude
• Rogue Atrophic Poison & Shroud of Concealment
• Shaman Skyfury
• Warlock Healthstone
• Warrior Battle Shout

Interrupts

• Interrupts are very important in every Mythic+ Dungeons and different classes have access to different kinds of interrupts.
• Generally melee specs have shorter cooldown interrupts while range specs have longer cooldown.
• All specs have access to an interrupt with the exception of Holy Priest & Discipline Priest.

Crowd Control

Crowd Control comes in various different kinds and every class has access to something. These abilities are a key part of Mythic+ Dungeons to help defeat your enemies and stop their dangerous casts. Here's a few examples of Crowd Control types:

• Stuns - Shockwave, Kidney Shot
• Knocks - Blast Wave, Typhoon
• Fear - Psychic Scream, Howl of Terror
• Silences - Sigil of Silence, Solar Beam
• Hard CC - Polymorph, Freezing Trap
• Knockdown - Summon Infernal

Diminishing Returns

When a Crowd Control ability affected by diminishing returns is used against a target, the first effect has full duration. If the same category of Crowd Control (e.g. fear) is used on that target within 18 seconds, that effect's duration is reduced by 50%. On the third use, the duration is reduced by 75%. After this the target will be completely immune to that category of Crowd Control for the next 18 seconds.

Check out the Crowd Control Diminishing Returns guide to learn more about these mechanics!

Completing a Mythic+ Dungeon

During a Mythic+ Dungeon you have 3 main objectives to achieve victory:

• Kill all the bosses
• Reach 100% Forces / Count
• Beating the timer - this is not mandatory but failing it results in less rewards

When you successfully complete a Mythic+ Dungeon within the allotted time then you are rewarded with both loot and an upgrade to your Mythic Keystone level, these rewards scale with level.

Mythic+ Loot Rules

• Players receive items that are appropriate to their chosen "Loot Specialization" from the Loot Table of the entire dungeon.
• The looted items can be traded to everyone in the group if they are not an item level upgrade for the player that initially looted it.
  • To be eligible to trade a 509 item level trinket/ring you need to have 2x 509+ trinkets/rings because there's 2 slots for these items. This rule also applies to dual-wield weapons.
  • If you have a 509 item level 2-hand weapon you are not eligible to trade a 509 item level 1-hand weapon until you have one yourself.

As you level up your Mythic Keystone you will encounter affixes. The higher you go the more of them you have to deal with. The affixes rotate weekly between preset combinations listed below:

Affix Explanation

All Xal'atath's Bargain affixes are on a ~1 minute in combat timer. Whenever you leave combat the timer stops until at least one player in the group enters combat again.

Xal'atath's Bargain: Ascendant

• 10 Orbs of Ascendance spawn and start casting Cosmic Ascension.
• This affix can be stopped with any crowd control, displacement, purge or interrupt.

Xal'atath's Bargain: Voidbound

• Spawns an attackable Void Emissary with a big absorb shield that buffs nearby enemies with Dark Prayer which stacks up over time.
• The Void Emissary follows whoever has the highest threat on it which is the tank most of the time.

Xal'atath's Bargain: Oblivion

• 10 Shattered Essences spawn and gradually move towards the enemy. These need to be soaked by players.

Xal'atath's Bargain: Devour

• Each player gets affected by Void Rift, a dispellable debuff that gives you a 75% maximum health healing absorb.
• This can be removed by any dispell or by healing the absorb.

As previously mentioned Mythic+ Dungeons are infinitely scaling and it's a good idea to know beforehand what you're getting yourself into when you start climbing the difficulty levels. Eventually mechanics that once tickled now one-shot you.

Each Mythic Keystone level increases the damage & health of all enemies by 10%, this is also multiplied by either Tyrannical or Fortified.

The % that is shown when you put the Mythic Keystone in the Font of Power does not include the multiplier from Tyrannical & Fortified.

View the image on the right for this example: The display shows 33% increased damage and health but with the Fortified multiplier included all trash mobs have 60% increased damage and 73% increased health which is a significant difference.

For a better perspective on how this scaling works you can view the table below.

When you reach Mythic Keystone level 12 and higher you are going to encounter Xal'atath's Guile which adds another multiplier into the mix.

• Mythic Keystone is a personal item that changes both in levels and also which dungeon it is for.
• Affixes add another layer of scaling in a sense but they stop at +10, many Affixes require talent swaps or gameplay adaption.
• Mythic+ Dungeons are infinitely scaling and therefore it's important to know how dangerous certain mechanics are as you progress through the levels.

Credits

Written By: Wolfdisco

Reviewed By: Tenkiei, Xerwo