Mythic+ Dungeon Difficulty Rankings and Tier List for Fortified/Bolstering/Quaking Affixes

• Easy
  • The Necrotic Wake
  • Mists of Tirna Scithe
  • Plaguefall
  • Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder
• Moderate
  • Halls of Atonement
  • Tazavesh: So'Leah's Gambit
  • Spires of Ascension
  • De Other Side
• Hard
  • Sanguine Depths
  • Theater of Pain

We have MDT routes for this week's affixes and for all dungeons, which you can find in the guide linked below.

Making use of your Covenant's dungeon-specific buffs is crucial for having a smooth and efficient run. While by no means necessary to time your key, these buffs are extremely helpful. You can find out all about that on our dedicated page.

This week's affixes are Fortified, Bolstering, Quaking, and Encrypted. The MDT routes linked above provide enough flexibility for you to choose if you do want to play with Encrypted (only +10 keystone difficulty) or not.

First, we will provide you with a few general tips for the week, and then you can read on below for our difficulty rankings of the dungeons.

• Bolstering can be really hard to manage for inexperienced groups. Knowing when to stop AoE DPS and focus on priority-target damage will save you tons of time. Do not pull trash mobs with bosses under any circumstances unless the boss is about to die to prevent them from getting any Bolster stacks, which will prove lethal for your group. The more mobs you pull the harder it is to manage Bolstering, so always aim for small to medium pull sizes in each dungeon.
• Quaking can be extremely punishing in a narrow places, so having self-awareness of your personal distance will smooth your run significantly. Furthermore, it does percentage-based damage of your HP, so avoid stacking on the tank at all cost to help prevent their death. Having a healthy mixture of ranged and melee players within the group will decrease your chances of "clipping" each other from the Quakes. It is also important to stop casting when the Quake is about to finish its cast to prevent you from being locked out of the school of magic of your cast.

The Necrotic Wake consists of a lot of uneven HP mobs and high-density pulls, which makes the Bolstering affix quite tough for this dungeon. Avoid pulling large pack of mobs and focus on avoiding the packs with uneven health pools. Keep in mind, some mob types like Shuffling Corpse and Blight Bag do NOT Bolster, so you can freely chain them with any group of your choice without worrying about it!

On the other hand, Quaking can be dangerous if you are not paying attention to the location of your party members. A more specific pain point would be the Blightbone boss fight or the Stitchwerks area onward where limited space can cause troubles.

As expected, Mists of Tirna Scithe is one of the best dungeons to focus on with the current affix rotation. Bolstering is relatively easy to handle since the majority of the mobs do have equal HP, making the Bolster management way easier. You can check out our weekly MDT routes to see the best possible route for the current affixes.

Quaking's difficulty value is almost non-existent as the vast space of the dungeon allows you to freely spread out without clipping each other. When you fight Mistcaller remember to be spread once the Freeze Tag overlaps with Quake. It can be a deadly combination if you are not careful.

Surprisingly, this week's affix combination of Bolstering and Quaking is quite good in Plaguefall. Boss encounters are going to be the toughest part and since it is Fortified, they are going to die much faster. Still, remember to save all of your cooldowns and align Bloodlust (or a similar spell effect) once you approach them.

Bolstering is not much trouble as you can use several tips to your advantage to speed up the trash pulls, such as Unstable Canisters. Both Gushing Slime and Plaguebound Devoted are going to be tough to handle if you want to pull them at the same time; I advise you to split those pulls into either 2 or 3 sub-pulls to manage the Bolster stacks more easily. This way will make it safer and likely to save time if you are playing with a pug group.

Quaking can be troublesome on Domina Venomblade since this boss encounter requires you to be stacked in order to prevent Solitary Prey from happening. Once Quake comes, just spread and then stack again!

Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder will be one of the better dungeons this week due to several factors. First, Bolstering will not be so much of a trouble here, since a majority of the pulls consist of low amounts of mobs and the fact that you can freely pull any non-boss-enemies on top of the boss encounters without adding Bolstering into the mix can save you tons of time. The open-space dungeon layout can also help you more easily dodge the Quakes from Quaking, although can be pretty rough if the timers are unlucky for your team, especially once you fight P.O.S.T. Master and there is an incoming Money Order.

Halls of Atonement is usually one of the best dungeons to focus on, disregarding the weekly affix rotation, but that is not the case this week. Bolstering is a major factor in the difficulty of the dungeon, since the majority of the mob pulls have unequal HP making it harder to manage the Bolster stacks. Avoid as many Toiling Groundskeepers as possible, as they have rather low health pools and are unable to be paired with any other pack without adding extra Bolster stacks. Finally, be aware of Bolstered Vicious Gargon, as they quickly prove lethal for the tank once they stack the Jagged Swipe bleed effect; kite when needed.

Quaking is not a problem at all, as the open layout of the dungeon will allow you to easily spread. Just be careful on the last boss of the dungeon, Lord Chamberlain. Once you are stacked for the Ritual of Woe, remember to be slightly spread so you will not get clipped by Quake.

Tazavesh: So'Leah's Gambit's worst part will be the fleeing mobs in the very first area of the dungeon. Due to Bolstering, it is extremely important to stop them from ninja pulling a nearby pack at all costs if you want to avoid potentially wiping due to it. Overall, Fortified will slow you down the most, since some mobs become quite difficult to take care of and you should consider smaller pull sizes of mobs if you are uncertain about your group handling them.

One of the harder dungeons this week, Spires of Ascension can definitely offer a challenge to any group attempting to enter it. Bolstering is really tough, considering the trash mobs were already hitting hard. Now with extra stacks of Bolster some mobs will turn lethal, such as Forsworn Castigator and Forsworn Skirmisher. Make sure to stun or kite when appropriate once they become Bolstered.

Quaking will also add an additional threat to the already-dangerous dungeon, especially on Oryphrion. The usual strategy is for party members to stack when Empyreal Ordnance is being cast to have more space for Anima Field on the ground. When Quaking is present, however, you might want to consider being slightly spread to prevent overlapping and potentially wiping because of the timers.

Notoriously one of the hardest dungeons to play, De Other Side will be quite a challenge to any team looking to complete this key in time. Quaking is relatively easy to handle throughout most of the dungeon with the exception of the Mechagon area leading toward The Manastorms and the Zul'Gurub area leading toward Hakkar the Soulflayer; be mindful and spread appropriately.

Bolstering on the other hand will be the biggest time loss, since the majority of the pulls are considered "high density" with several unequal health mobs, which makes the whole Bolster management significantly harder. Prioritize targets with higher health to balance their HP so you can prevent additional stacks of Bolstering. Once you step into the Ardenweald area, consider pulling smaller!

Without a doubt the hardest dungeon this week, Sanguine Depths will be the dungeon you would rather think twice before entering. The Bolstering affix is brutal from the beginning of the dungeon until the very end, as it consists of hard-hitting mobs with a large difference in their health pool, making it even harder to manage Bolster.

Quaking is among the toughest in this dungeon due to the narrow corridor design which makes the affix hard to dodge. Not only this, but every boss either requires you to stack as a group, such as Kryxis the Voracious and its Juggernaut Rush, or has limited space to where clipping party members with Quake is not uncommon. Watch out!

Bolstering is one of toughest in this dungeon, as most of the pulls have uneven health pool mobs making it harder to manage in inexperienced groups. Make sure to stop AoE damage and focus on priority-target damage where needed. You might want to consider bringing a Necrolord in your party for the Necrolord's Command buff, which will increase your chances of timing the key. As you only get a total of 3 banners in the entire dungeon, make sure to check our weekly MDT route to ensure maximum efficiency of the buff.

Quaking is hard to manage due to the narrow corridors of the dungeon, which limits the space between each other and possibly causing overlapping. Be especially careful on Gorechop once he casts Tenderizing Smash. Be close to the boss so he will be unable to grip you and therefore have a chance to cause a nasty Quake overlap.