Mythic+ Affix Guide — Updated for Dragonflight Season 1
Affixes exist to make Mythic+ dungeons more interesting, rather than simply increasing damage and health requirements, by introducing dungeon-wide abilities that slow your group's progress through the instance.
Mythic+ Affixes
Mythic+ Affixes are special effects that are active in all Mythic+ dungeons each week. These serve to make dungeons more difficult, and they will change your approach to them from week to week.
For more information on how Seasons and other Mythic+ systems function, check out our main Mythic+ Overview page below.
Season 1 of Dragonflight Level 10 Affix: Thundering
The Thundering Seasonal affix will not be active
until the start of Season 1 of Dragonflight, the 13th of December.
What is Thundering and What Does It Do?
Season 1 will introduce
a brand new seasonal Mythic+ affix: Thundering. The affix
will appear only on keystone level +10 and above and it might be one
of the most punishing affixes, yet simplistic, that we have ever played so far.
Let us dive deep and find out how exactly Thundering works!
It is first important to note that any key with the Thundering affix
present will increase the health pool of all enemies by 5%. Whether you
run +11 or +25, they will get +5% HP. Beyond that, every 75 seconds
Thundering will begin, first spawning
multiple circles on the ground that stun you for a short period of
time and dealing damage.

This is followed by giving all players from your party the Primal Overload
buff that grants 30% increased damage and healing, and lasts 15 seconds.
Now here comes the tricky part. there will be 2 unique buffs:
Mark of Lightning (marked with the yellow arrow on the screenshot below)
and
Mark of Wind (marked with the red arrow). Upon making contact with the opposite
Mark, the buff is neutralized.

What happens to the 5th person if only 4 people can "clear"
the debuff? Well, nothing really; you just keep the full duration of the
Primal Overload bonus with increased damage and healing, as long as
every other party member has cleared their debuff. However, if more than 1
member is left with the
Primal Overload
buff after its duration is over, the remaining players that have not
cleared its will get stunned for 5 seconds and take Nature
damage (that scales with the keystone level) in the meantime. There is one
exception though; if you are at least 100 yards away from each
other you will not get stunned. Beyond that, running to the same "Mark" will not
neutralize your
Primal Overload and also will not punish you, so you can
freely cross each other until you get to your allocated party member. Finally,
you can "immune" the effect if worse comes to worse
and more than 1 player is unable to clear their "Mark", such as with
Ice Block or
Aspect of the Turtle.
The Best Way to Utilize the Thundering Affix
Figuring out how to maximize Thundering is not a simple question
to answer, as it really depends on the situation. Sometimes
it might be punishing for a melee player to run in and neutralize the debuffs
due to ground animations so it is best if Ranged can move it. I have always left
the highest performing DPS to retain the buff the longest since that will speed up the
overall pace of the dungeon, unless a healer or a tank needs it at that particular
moment.
Another heads up is that when you plan your routes or big pulls around Thundering,
knowing some of the packs are going to be harder than others, you can "manipulate" the
Primal Overload by considering that it comes every 75 seconds.
It is also a great idea to sync it with boss fights, as it will speed up the
process of defeating them.
Final thoughts
Thundering is a simple affix to start the new expansion, however
it will require team coordination and the ability to not be greedy for the
valuable seconds it is giving you the
Primal Overload buff. Doing so
might end up failing the mechanic, which then stuns not only you but the people
that you have affected. I believe a sort of universal WeakAura will probably be
the solution for all PUG players, that will help you remind when the
Primal Overload is coming, what sort of "buff" you have
(
Mark of Lightning or
Mark of Wind), and how long it remains until
the mechanic fails.
Fortified and Tyrannical
Every week, all Mythic+ Keys of level 2 or higher — in other words, every key — will be either "Fortified" or "Tyrannical". These two affixes alternate every week. These affixes are by far the most impactful on any given week, and will fundamentally affect how you approach the dungeon and how you set up your character in many cases.
Fortified
Having Fortified present will increase the difficulty
of non-boss enemies by 30% and their health by 20%. Pay attention to
the size of each pull to prevent your group from being overwhelmed by the extra
risk.
Tyrannical
Tyrannical is an extremely dangerous affix, despite having been
nerfed from 40% to 30% increased boss health. However, bosses still also deal
15% more damage on weeks with this affix. All in all, make sure to save your
offensive and defensive cooldowns for the dungeon's boss fights when this affix
is present.
Other Affixes
Level 4 Affixes
From the start of the new season in Dragonflight (13th of December)
Inspiring and
Necrotic are removed.
Bolstering
Bolstering activates whenever most non-boss enemies die,
increasing the damage of all nearby enemies is by 20% and their health by 15%,
stacking with each death. This is a particularly troublesome affix for
PUG groups and notoriously known to be one of the hardest. One easy way to deal
with it is to watch the quantity of each pull. The more mobs you have, the
harder it becomes for them to die at the same time. Knowing when to stop using
AoE-damage abilities and focus more on priority-damage instead will also make
this affix easier to deal with.
Bursting
Bursting is an affix that will potentially punish you for
defeating too many enemies at once. This affix causes most enemies to
apply a stack of
Burst to the entire party upon death. This effect stacks
and its duration is refreshed with each additional stack. However, rather
than dealing damage based on a player's maximum Health, it is a finite value
that scales with the keystone level and caps out at +15. In addition, Burst is
considered a magic debuff and can therefore be dispelled by any Healer
specialization. As a result, one of the most common strategies upon reaching
high stacks is to use a Priest's
Mass Dispel to remove all stacks of
Burst from the party at once.
Raging
Raging causes most non-boss-enemies to gain 50% increased
damage as soon as they reach 30% health left. It is highly recommended to have an
Enrage Dispel in your party in the form of a Hunter's
Tranquilizing Shot,
A Druid's
Soothe, or a Rogue's
Shiv when combined with
Numbing Poison. Make sure to use your group's utilities to
help with survival.
Sanguine
The Sanguine affix is one that emphasizes defeating enemies
all at once, as when most non-boss enemies are slain, a pool of
Sanguine Ichor
is left behind that will heal all enemies within it for 5% of their maximum Health per second.
These pools will last for 20 seconds. In addition, a
player standing in this pool will take 15% of their maximum Health in damage per
second. Both of these effects stack if multiple pools are overlapped. One of
the easiest ways to deal with this affix is by making use of knockback effects
such as
Thunderstorm,
Typhoon, and
Ring of Peace as soon as
an enemy's death creates a pool or the remaining mobs in a pull approach any
Sanguine Ichor.
Spiteful
Spiteful is an affix that will catch you off guard if you are
not careful. Whenever a non-boss enemy dies, a Spiteful Shade will spawn and fixate a
random non-tank player. This is perhaps the hardest affix for players that play
in melee, as each Shade's melee attack hits incredibly hard and can quickly
prove lethal. However, their own health gradually reduces over time through
All-Consuming Spite until the Shade eventually dies on its own. As such,
a common strategy is to use crowd-control abilities to slow them down or to drag
remaining enemies away from the Shades that have spawned.
Level 7 Affixes
Explosive
Explosive is an affix that will require you to actively switch
targets in a dungeon by spawning Explosive Orbs while in combat. Their health
does not scale with the keystone level, meaning that their health will be the same whether you are running
a +10 key or a +25. However, if an
Explosion cast goes through it
deals 40% of your maximum health in damage, so it is crucial to target the
Explosives. Unfortunately, they are immune to damage from AoE abilities, so you
will have to make use of single-target abilities instead. On an interesting note,
stunned enemies are incapable of spawning Explosives which can make their use
a valuable strategy. In addition, you can line of sight any existing casts of
Explosion and completely negate the damage. Otherwise, pay attention to the pull
size and always be mindful when this affix is present; the more enemies in combat,
the more Explosives will spawn!
Grievous
The Grievous affix is one that will make healing more important
than usual. When present, players receive a
Grievous Wound that deals
damage and stacks whenever they fall below 90% health in combat. However, the
damage from Grievous Wound is a static amount that scales with each keystone
level up to 15 rather than being based on the
player's maximum Health. In addition, direct heals on the target also remove a
stack of Grievous Wound. Heal-over-time effects will not. It is
also important to note that Grievous Wound also can stack up to four times on a
player. Therefore, having good self-sustain is crucial in weeks with this affix
active to either remove stacks with your own healing effects or negate them
entirely by climbing back above 90% health.
Quaking
Quaking periodically appears every 20 seconds as a circle
around every player, even when not in combat. If a player is casting when this
Quake effect finishes 2.5 seconds later, they will be
interrupted and locked out of that spell school for 4 seconds. In addition, if
you are within the circle of another player when the affix occurs you will be
hit for 40% of your maximum Health. Otherwise, it does no damage. It is
important to pay attention to any nearby allies, as "clipping" eachother will
punish your team severely. Similarly, a healer being interrupted by this affix
at a key moment can be deadly. Otherwise, Stay spread and keep a reasonable
distance between everyone. A common strategy to more easily handle this affix is
to have a balanced composition between ranged and melee.
Storming
An affix originally introduced Shadowlands, Storming is quite tough
for any melee players looking to play it. While present, tornadoes are created and spiral
outward from enemies when in combat. Coming into contact with these will cause
damage and knock you into the air. Similar to the
Explosive
affix, pulling large amounts of enemies at once will result in more of these
tornadoes spawning at once. If you are a ranged player, stay out of melee and
you will have an easy time dealing with it. In addition, when the mobs are under
the influence of a stun they will not spawn any tornadoes!
Volcanic
Volcanic acts as a ranged counterpart to the
Storming.
When in combat with an enemy
Volcanic Plumes will occasionally appear
under players. Failing to move out of these plumes in time will deal a small
amount of damage and knock you up. This is one of the easiest affixes to play
with, but it can turn deadly if combined with any other dungeon mechanic. One
important note to keep in mind is that the more enemies you fight, the more
spawns of Volcanic Plume you will see! In addition, these plumes can only appear
under a player that is not in melee range of an enemy.
Changelog
- 13 Dec. 2022: Guide Overhauled for Dragonflight Season 1.
- 27 Nov. 2022: Updated for Dragonflight Launch
- 30 Oct. 2022: Added the most recent Thundering changes.
- 25 Oct. 2022: Fully updated for Dragonflight Pre-patch.
- 02 Aug. 2022: Fully updated for Season 4 and the new Shrouded seasonal affix.
- 03 Mar. 2022: Bolstering affix received further nerfs.
- 21 Feb. 2022: Fully updated for Season 3 of Shadowlands Mythic+.
- 29 Oct. 2021: Updated for Patch 9.1.5, including the new Timewalking-only affix: Infernal.
- 09 Jul. 2021: Fully updated for Season 2 of Shadowlands Mythic+.
- 20 Jun. 2021: Necrotic nerfs reverted, mentioned Raging and Bolstering affix nerfs.
- 18 Jun. 2021: Updated with several new abilities introduced to the Tormented Seasonal Affix; updated Necrotic and Storming affixes to reflect their massive changes.
- 15 Jun. 2021: Added new Tormented Seasonal Affix.
- 27 Apr. 2021: Updated the ways to skip Prideful affix.
- 19 Apr. 2021: Guide Overhauled for Shadowlands Season 1.
- 31 May 2020: Updated the description of Urg'roth's abilities slightly.
- 10 May 2020: Updated the guide's descriptions and information about the Obelisk Mechanics of the Awakened Affix.
- 16 Jan. 2019: Guide added.
This guide has been written by Petko, one of the top M+ players of all time. He has accomplished several Europe and World #1 Team and Solo Seasonal rankings with multiple specialization and classes throughout the seasons. Moreover, he competes in MDI and streams his runs live on Twitch and and share his personal opinion on YouTube and Twitter.
- Vicious War Snail Mount in Patch 10.1
- Item Level of Rewards from Mythic+ and the Great Vault in Dragonflight Season 2
- Dragonflight Patch 10.0.7 Hotfixes: March 24th
- Dragonflight 10.0.7 Class Tuning: March 28th + Retribution Nerfs March 24th
- New Aberrus Unique Drops Added in Patch 10.1 Build 48661
- Aberrus the Shadowed Crucible Loading Screen in Patch 10.1
- New Potential Evoker Spells Added in Patch 10.1 Build 48661
- Dragonflight Patch 10.0.7 Hotfixes: March 23rd