RETAIL
CLASSIC ERA
WRATH
RETAIL
CLASSIC ERA
WRATH
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The Weekly Route: Fortified, Spiteful, Volcanic, and Prideful

This week’s affixes are Fortified, Spiteful, Volcanic, and Prideful.

It’s another push week for high keys, as these affixes are among the least timer-impactful. Volcanic in particular tends to be one of the easiest affixes for most groups, and there are relatively few moments in Shadowlands where Volcanic can overwhelm you or kill you without counterplay. Spiteful, on the other hand, is much trickier for many groups, especially those with several Melee and those without the ability to coordinate CC effects on the Spiteful Shades. This effect will be felt all the way down to the weekly key level, where the week can feel either trivial or quite challenging based mostly on how many Melee players are present.

Our routes remain largely unchanged from last week - Halls of Atonement with Skips alternates weekly to optimize between Tyrannical and Fortified, and the Spires of Ascension Route with Skips has had some pulls changed to be more conservative with notes suggesting ways to go bigger rather than the converse.



The Weekly Routes





De Other Side [back to top]


The main problem in this dungeon will be the timer rather than the affixes, though with Fortified active there are certainly several trash packs that can pose a threat, particularly to your tank. Watch out for the Risen Warlords as they have a particular tendency to murder your tank after they cast their enrage. Take care not to pull extra enemies while fleeing from Spiteful Shades in the Ardenweald wing, as that can happen quite easily in a few spots!

Read more on De Other Side Dungeon Abilities.





Halls of Atonement [back to top]


One potential Volcanic fiasco comes during the Echeclon encounter - as you get stunned, if there are still several adds out, you can get in trouble. Consider saving defensives for this or leave a floating curse dispel available for someone who needs it, or just focus more damage into those adds so that there aren’t several Volcanic spawners alive as you’re getting stunned.

Read more on Halls of Atonement Dungeon Abilities.





Mists of Tirna Scithe [back to top]


This continues to be one of the best dungeons in terms of difficulty and timer for high keys, and it’s a popular weekly key due to being one of the shortest in terms of absolute time as well. There is one point of annoyance this week, which is that the maze section will require you to wait for all of the Spiteful to go away before you can get through the next door.

Read more on Mists of Tirna Scithe Dungeon Abilities.





Plaguefall [back to top]


Plaguefall is a dungeon with difficult boss fights, which are of course better on Fortified weeks, but it’s also a dungeon about handling the middle trash sections with finesse, which can be problematic with Spiteful. Make sure you have a plan for what you’ll do if you’re involved in keeping mobs in the explosions and you get fixated by a Spiteful shade - this generally isn’t too much of a problem as everything dies pretty quickly and at the same time, but if you panic and hit a knockback button and knock everything out of a barrel exploding you will not be happy!

As with every week with an on-death affix, remind yourself before starting the key that the Gushing Slimes in the first boss room will create Spiteful Shades!

Read more on Plaguefall Dungeon Abilities.





Sanguine Depths [back to top]


This dungeon’s narrow corridors mean that you’ll often need to use abilities to manage spiteful rather than just running circles around a pack while fixated. Be especially cautious if you’re planning to avoid patrols or skip past mobs that you don’t kite backwards into them after!

Read more on Sanguine Depths Dungeon Abilities.




Spires of Ascension [back to top]


Spiteful can be a bit of a pain when it necessarily spawns mid-pull after you’ve focussed down mobs like Squad Leaders, but most of the difficulty of this dungeon comes from the trash mobs themselves in combination with the Fortified affix. Saving AoE crowd control effects for those mid-pull spiteful spawns can be very helpful, as you’re also getting the benefit of stunning the non-spiteful enemies.

Read more on Spires of Ascension Dungeon Abilities.





The Necrotic Wake [back to top]


As with every week, proper usage of the weapons that are lying around the dungeon can make or break your run if the timer is at all close - make sure to grab and use as many as you can if you’re in a pug, and if you’re in a coordinated group you should develop plans for them based on the trash pulls and bosses that give you the most trouble.

Read more on The Necrotic Wake Dungeon Abilities.





Theater of Pain [back to top]


Spiteful can be a bit tricky in Kul’tharok’s wing, as you’re fighting on small platforms - you can usually be fine with the use of one or two abilities but make sure that you do have something available to manage the shades at the end of each pull!

Read more on Theater of Pain Dungeon Abilities.






Links




About the Author


Dratnos hosts the The Titanforge WoW Podcast. He’s also an Officer in the World 36th guild poptart corndoG, and a commentator for events such as the MDI and the Race to World First! He streams on Twitch, where he likes to review his friends’ logs.

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