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The Weekly Route: Fortified, Bolstering, Skittish, and Awakened

This week’s affixes are Fortified, Bolstering, Skittish, and Awakened.

Bolstering is never a fantastic affix to see on your keystone, but at least none of the other active affixes combine with it particularly badly. Skittish can be tough for undergeared tanks, overpowered DPS, and/or groups without Misdirection effects. The effects of Skittish have become worse and worse as this patch has progressed, as DPS players have gained so much damage from Corruption effects. Your tank may have to make serious defensive sacrifices this week in order to make sure they can hold threat.

The Weekly Routes





Atal'Dazar [back to top]


The most painful Bolstering pulls in this dungeon can often be the Toxic Saurid pulls - though be careful not to fall into the trap of leaving the Saurids themselves up for too long in order to avoid bolstering the Skyscreamers - five non-bolstered Saurids leaping around are often far deadlier than one bolstered Skyscreamer. Making good use of “snap spots” can go a long way this week, especially if you can set up some CC on Skyscreamers, handle the Saurids first, and then clean up all the CC’d Skyscreamers.

Read more on Atal’Dazar Dungeon Abilities.





Freehold [back to top]


Mob sizing in Freehold is pretty good for Bolstering - most stuff is about the same size, though you can accidentally pull patrolling enemies and get into trouble if you’re not careful. Beyond that, there isn’t too much to note about this dungeon this week.


Read more on Freehold Dungeon Abilities.






Kings' Rest [back to top]


This week is fairly mild in Kings’ Rest, just be warned that Minions of Zul do bolster, and the set that spawn when the gong is activated are particularly likely to get in combat while you’re fighting something else. Pull back to the gong to avoid this catching you with a surprise sextuple bolster.

Read more on Kings’ Rest Dungeon Abilities.






Shrine of the Storm [back to top]


Tidesage Initiates do bolster, which can be very frustrating when they’re pulled alongside bigger enemies, but other than that you don’t need to worry about any of the other small enemies as they do not trigger the affix.

Read more on Shrine of the Storm Dungeon Abilities.






Siege of Boralus [back to top]


Our Siege of Boralus route is based off the Horde pathing and will require some modification if you’re Alliance.

Any Bolstering week is a nightmare week for Siege - be warned! If you do choose to enter this dungeon this week, pull very deliberately and make sure your DPS players are disciplined with their AoE when there are small enemies in the pull.

Read more on Siege of Boralus Dungeon Abilities.




Temple of Sethraliss [back to top]


It’s a great week for Temple, as neither Bolstering nor Skittish should be too problematic here, and Fortified is far better than Tyrannical in this dungeon.

Read more on Temple of Sethraliss Dungeon Abilities.




The MOTHERLODE!! [back to top]


This dungeon is awful this week - many enemies have different health pools so it’s hard to avoid spreading some Bolstering stacks around without doing very inefficient damage - and to top it off, the trash is already dangerous enough without being bolstered at all on Fortified weeks. Here more than anywhere you’ll want to adjust the route to play to the strengths of your specific group, and be aware that you’ll probably need to pull this dungeon more than once before you get the hang of it this week.

Read more on The MOTHERLODE!! Dungeon Abilities.




The Underrot [back to top]


Bolstering is really only a problem in here if you make a mistake and add enemies in at unexpected times - otherwise it’s fairly easy to fight only packs of similarly-sized foes. Be sure to focus down any Feral Bloodswarmers first to avoid dying to one with some stacks!

Read more on The Underrot Dungeon Abilities.




Tol Dagor [back to top]


Watch out for Bolstering in the cannon area now - we’d recommend looking at the clock when you make it to the ramparts and judging just how aggressively you need to use the cannons in order to beat the timer. If you’re doing well on time, just use each cannon to clear one group rather than attempting to kill multiple, as that can be a recipe for a wipe. Also be sure to clear the Parasites that patrol the first area before engaging the boss, otherwise you risk pulling them mid-fight and bolstering it!

Read more on Tol Dagor Dungeon Abilities.




Waycrest Manor [back to top]


Bolstering really only comes up in the courtyard. Be sure to avoid pulling too many enemies at once if the pull contains smaller enemies, such as Piglets that will quickly die and add Bolstering stacks to the entire pull.

Read more on Waycrest Manor Dungeon Abilities.




Mechagon Junkyard [back to top]


You'll need to use a different route if you're in NA this week, as the hard mode enemy will interfere with this one. If you're in a different region, however, this should work! There are a few nasty enemies in here that can easily start one-shotting with a few Bolsters - prioritize pulling slowly if necessary, since it’ll cost you time in the long run if you lose the Shock Bot buffs you’ve found so far due to deaths.

Read more on Operation: Mechagon Dungeon Abilities.




Mechagon Workshop [back to top]


For the most part, this dungeon plays itself. You will need to use some finesse when dealing with the Living Waste pulls - especially the one that contains a Dog, as that enemy has 10 times the health of a Waste. Crowd Control and careful management of which enemies are fought at the same time can help avert a Bolstering disaster here.

Read more on Operation: Mechagon 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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