One of the most popular endgame content activities in World of Warcraft for the last few expansions has been the Mythic+ dungeon grind. This activity doesn't require more than five skilled players, but it also still offers some very powerful gear rewards and a weekly challenge that keeps players on their toes and sharp.

Mythic+ dungeons are likely going to continue to be a popular activity in the era of Dragonflight, which means it might be a good time to start getting ready for them. The variety of challenge in Mythic+ World of Warcraft dungeons largely comes from the Affixes associated with each keystone. These affixes are effects that are applied to the dungeon that make it more challenging in some way and force groups to adjust their strategies.

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In order to power through dungeons and level up their keystones, groups will need to be familiar with each affix and know some of the common strategies for dealing with them. Exact strategy adjustments will come down to the party composition, but this breakdown should offer a solid starting point when it comes to preparing for the endgame Dragonflight dungeons...

Bolstering

When any non-boss enemy dies, its death cry empowers nearby allies, temporarily increasing their maximum health by 15% and damage by 20%.

Enemies who die will buff other nearby enemies which are in combat with Bolster, causing them to gain 20% health and deal 20% additional damage. This can stack multiple times, resulting in an extremely dangerous enemy that will take a long time to defeat. The range on the buffing ability is 30 yards.

• The Bolstering affix does not apply to adds in a boss encounter.
• Trash mobs will apply Bolster to the boss when they die if they're dragged into the fight. Avoid this at all costs.

That should be just about everything players need to know to start forming their Mythic+ strategies for each different affix in Dragonflight. Be sure to check back for more WoW Dragonflight news, updates, and strategy guides in the near future. Until then, For the Horde!

Bursting

When slain, non-boss enemies explode, causing all players to suffer damage over 4 sec. This effect stacks.

Whenever a monster is killed, all players will get a stack of Burst which deals 14% of maximum health over 4 seconds and stacks. One or two stacks will not be deadly, but killing a big group all at once can wipe the party.

• Stagger the deaths of mobs so that the debuff doesn't stack up too high.
• Be careful not to use too many AoE abilities.
• Immunity abilities such as Cloak of Shadows and Ice Block will remove all current stacks and prevent future stacks from applying.

Explosive

While in combat, enemies periodically summon Explosive Orbs that will detonate if not destroyed.

The Explosive affix causes enemies that you are currently in combat with to spawn Explosives within 3 yards of its current location. These Explosives will begin to cast Explosion and if successful, will detonate dealing 50% of everyone's max health. Explosives are completely immune to AoE spells.

• Don't pull too many monsters at a time.
• The Explosive detonations are able to be line-of-sighted. In big pulls where many orbs are guaranteed to spawn, the group can line-of-sight the explosions rather than focus the explosives.

Fortified

Non-boss enemies have 20% more health and inflict up to 30% increased damage.

• Avoid pulling excessive trash packs
• Use AoE crowd control and stuns to reduce damage
• Focus on priority targets
• Tanks may need to kite enemies more than usual

Grievous

Injured players suffer increasing damage over time until healed.

When a player falls below 90% health, the Grievous Wound DoT is applied and begins to stack every couple of seconds until the player reaches full health.

• Stacks cap at four, but healers should remove these as soon as possible before they get out of control.

Quaking

Periodically, all players emit a shockwave, inflicting damage and interrupting nearby allies.

On random 20 second intervals throughout the dungeon all players will receive the Quake debuff and upon expiration inflict damage and interrupting active spell casts to themselves and nearby allies.

• Give everyone some breathing room. Spread out the circles whenever Quake is applied.

Raging

Non-boss enemies enrage at 30% health remaining, dealing 50% increased damage until defeated.

• AoE and cleave damage pile up very quickly.
• Groups should always mark a priority target in each pull and bring it down quickly once it Enrages.
• Stuns and other crowd control can be used to reduce the damage from Enraged mobs.
• Druids and Hunters are able to remove Enrage using Soothe and Hunter pets.

Sanguine

When slain, non-boss enemies leave behind a lingering pool of ichor that heals their allies and damages players.

Whenever a non-boss enemy dies, a pool of Sanguine Ichor forms at its location, starting from the point it died and expanding. This spell has two effects:

Sanguine Ichor heals enemies standing within it for 5% of their health each second

Sanguine Ichor deals damage to players standing within it for 15% of their health each second

• Tanks must pull the remaining mobs away from the location of the Sanguine Ichor pool, and melee DPS should dodge the pools.
• Place the pools of sanguine in safe locations so that the group can move through the dungeon without taking a large amount of damage from crossing the sanguine pools.

Spiteful

Fiends rise from the corpses of non-boss enemies and pursue random players.

Whenever any mob dies, it will summon a Spiteful Shade creature nearby that will fixate a random player. The Spiteful Shade has about 100k health at a baseline and will scale based on key level. It has the passive All-Consuming Spite which makes it lose 8% of its health every second that it's alive. It hits very hard and can wipe out the party quickly.

• The Spiteful Shade can be Crowd Controlled using stuns, slows, and knocks.

Storming

While in combat, enemies periodically summon damaging whirlwinds.

Random Tornadoes will spawn around enemy creatures while in combat. The initial starting location will be indicated by a grey swirly on the floor. It will then revolve around in a spiral for about 10 seconds before disappearing. Getting hit by a Tornado will cause you to take damage and be knocked back a small distance. Multiple Tornadoes can be active at the same time.

• Dodge the tornadoes.

Thundering

Enemies have 5% more health. While in combat, players are periodically overcharged with primal power from Raszageth's unending storm.

With Every 75 seconds of combat Raszageth will speak and cast Primal Overload causing the room will fill with harmless blue swirls. Players will also be randomly assigned a buff, Mark of Lightning or Mark of Wind. Mark of Lightning is the Blue Positive Sign Buff and causes a blue electric sphere above the character. Mark of Wind is the Red Negative Sign Buff and causes a white tornado effect above the character.

• Clear the buff before the timer runs out otherwise the player will be stunned and take damage for 5 seconds. Coming into contact with another player that has the opposite buff will clear the buff
• Pair up but hold off clearing it right away as the buff provides the player with 30% increased healing and damage.
• Clear the buff off the tank as soon as it is safe and earlier is better as they don't gain as much benefit from the buff, but can be killed easily if stunned without cooldowns prepared.

Tyrannical

Bosses have 30% more health. Bosses and their minions inflict up to 15% increased damage.

• Have a build that focuses more on single-target damage ready to swap to before entering a dungeon with this affix.

Volcanic

While in combat, enemies periodically cause gouts of flame to erupt beneath the feet of distant players.

Enemies in a Volcanic dungeon will cause Volcanic Plumes to spawn beneath the feet of distant players. Two seconds later, the Volcanic Plume will erupt, dealing damage equal to 20% of the player's health to any player standing within 2 yards of the Plume. Both boss and trash mobs will cause Volcanic Plumes to form.

• If ranged DPS and healers stand close to the enemies, Volcanic Plumes may not spawn.
• Usually not a concern for tanks and melee DPS.
• If there is an enemy that leaps away, or an add that spawns far from its summoner, Volcanic Plumes may begin to appear in melee range.

World of Warcraft is available now on PC. Dragonflight launches on November 28.

List of all Affixes can be found on WoWhead

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