Mythic+ Dungeon Difficulty Rankings and Tier List for Fortified/Volcanic/Spiteful Affixes

• Easy
  • Plaguefall
  • Mists of Tirna Scithe
  • Halls of Atonement
• Moderate
  • The Necrotic Wake
  • Theater of Pain
  • Spires of Ascension
  • De Other Side
• Hard
  • Sanguine Depths

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

This week affixes are Fortified, Spiteful, Volcanic and Prideful. The MDT routes linked above provide enough flexibility for you to choose if you do want to play it with Prideful (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 difficult rankings of the dungeons.

• This week is considered a general "push" week due to Volcanic being present; it is one of the easiest affixes to have on the weekly rotation, only potentially being hard to deal with in a tight corridors. It knocks you in the air once you step over it, interrupting any casts, so pay attention and side-step it!
• Spiteful is a dangerous affix, becoming lethal after 2-3 melee hits. It is extremely dangerous for the melee DPS and Healer roles, so pay attention and use all of your crowd control abilities to "kite" them away. Ranged have much easier time dealing with the affix, so if you are heading towards any key this week, make sure to bring at least one ranged DPS.
• Fortified can make some trash packs extremely dangerous once you pair it with Spiteful, so make sure you time your cooldowns correctly and use Prideful to your advantage.

One of the easiest dungeons this week, Plaguefall is made simpler by using Rigged Plagueborer to your advantage. Once they drop low, they can be "chained" to several pack of mobs, exploding and leaving a lethal DoT. You can use the Unstable Canister as an alternative by grouping mobs on top of it and waiting until the explosion.

Spiteful can be extremely punishing in the The Festering Sanctum, due to the tight area which limits the options to "kite" away the Spiteful spirits. Make sure to save utility spells once they spawn.

Once again, Mists of Tirna Scithe remains as an easy dungeon this week, so it is a great place to focus on if you do want to complete a high weekly key! Fortified makes some trash mobs extremely dangerous, like Drust Soulcleaver and Drust Spiteclaw (located before the first boss), so make sure you do use interrupt and disturb effects to stop their casts.

Both Spiteful and Volcanic are easy to handle due to the open setting of the dungeon, which allows you to side-step the Volcanic and kite the Spiteful spirits.

Halls of Atonement is another example that remains as one of the easy difficulty dungeons, regardless of the change in weekly affixes. Fortified makes the boss fights quick, but in return, it does increase the difficulty of some trash mob packs by a lot, specifically the ones having either Shard of Halkias or Vicious Gargon. Both can be extremely dangerous when paired with another pack of mobs, so pay attention and plan accordingly.

Spiteful can be a real pain, since the majority of the pulls are always more than 5-6 mobs at a time. Pay extra attention to the fixates, especially as a melee. Once you enter the The Nave of Pain and The Sanctuary of Souls (after defeating Echelon), pay extra attention to Volcanic, as it can quickly be lethal if paired with a Spiteful spirit's fixate.

With this week's affix rotation, The Necrotic Wake is considered "moderate" in terms of difficulty. The biggest threat is Spiteful, due to the majority of the pulls being large and Fortified being a factor, especially in the Stitchwerks area (the platform where Surgeon Stitchflesh is located). Having a Kyrian in this dungeon for the Anima Exhaust buff is essential to increase your odds of finishing the key on time. Volcanic is easy to handle, due to the great dungeon design and the open area that provides, so if you are considering heading to this dungeon, make to bring a Kyrian covenant player and at least one ranged DPS!

Theater of Pain is considered "easier" on Fortified due to majority of the bosses' scaling, making them extremely hard on Tyrannical. Do keep in mind that, despite bosses being relatively easy, some trash mobs become extremely dangerous; for example, the Shambling Arbalest and their Jagged Quarrel bleed, or Rancid Gasbag.

Spiteful also makes the dungeon more difficult, due to its narrow corridors, making it hard to effectively kite away from the spirits. If you do play a melee role, you will have a hard time performing well in this dungeon. As always, Volcanic has very little to no impact to the difficulty of the dungeon, but be aware, once you get hit by them, you will be knocked in the air, unable to move or dodge any other enemy spells!

Fortified can make Spires of Ascension tough, especially when paired with Spiteful. There are tons of dangerous trash mob packs or singular mobs like Klotos or Forsworn Helion, so make sure to check our weekly MDT dungeon routes! Having a Kyrian in your party can also make some pulls less dangerous by using Spear of Destiny, so use that to your advantage and plan accordingly.

Volcanic is easy to manage, just make sure you pay extra attention to it during the Ventunax fight, as the knock-back effect combined with the Shadowhirl orbs can be a deadly combo.

With this week's affix rotation, De Other Side can be very punishing, especially in the narrow corridors leading towards Hakkar the Soulflayer due to Spiteful. The outside area of the dungeon (Ardenweald) consists of high density pulls, which makes both Volcanic and Spiteful extremely dangerous, so make sure you use your group utilities to survive.

Pay extra attention to the Enraged Spirits and their Rage cast, especially on Fortified. They deal more damage and have more health, so use cooldowns appropriately.

Sanguine Depths is notoriously known to be one of the hardest dungeons in Shadowlands and with this week's affix rotation, it is no different. The dungeon design is extremely unfriendly towards the Spiteful and Volcanic combination, due to the narrow corridors. A lot of boss fights are also tough, despite Fortified being present, especially for inexperienced groups. Make sure to use the Anima Cells to your advantage by bringing a Venthyr in your group composition, as this will significantly increase your chances of timing the key!