The Weekly Route: Fortified, Volcanic, Spiteful (2024)

The Weekly Route Series showcases Mythic+ strategies that are tailored towards Beginner and Intermediate levels of Mythic+ with the following criteria in mind:

• Easy to execute - particularly in pick-up-groups (PUGs)
  
• Good tradeoffs between skipping the most difficult enemy forces while not requiring overly complicated strategies or “tech” to do so

This week, the affixes are Fortified, Volcanic, and Spiteful.

This is one of the best Fortified weeks on the calendar! Gather your friends, because it's a good time to push your Mythic+ score. Don't underestimate this week, though – one might be tempted to think that it's an easy week for score because Volcanic is not affected by key level and Spiteful can be outranged. However, starting your key with the mindset that you only have to focus on general Fortified mechanics can cause surprising consequences. Respecting Volcanic is crucial to avoid being knocked into the air (and into dangerous mechanics) by a Volcanic Plume. Three melees from a Spiteful Shade is enough to kill most classes, so be quick on your feet and ready to stun, slow, or kite these long-armed menaces!

Don’t forget: Being stuck in combat with Spiteful prevents healers from drinking or resurrecting, rogues from stealthing, and fixated players from mounting up. Work as a team to burn down Spiteful mobs if they are hindering your group members!

If you need a refresher on the affixes, be sure to check out our affixes guide!

Do you have a tip or trick to add to our Weekly Route series? Did you discover the next big skip for a RIO Snapshot video? We want to hear about it! Find us on Twitter or join us in Discord to provide feedback.

Read on to import our Weekly Routes with pull-specific notes, tips, and recommended Bloodlust Timings!

Table of Contents

ALGETH’AR ACADEMY

Keep Volcanic in mind when positioning for the following boss abilities: Overgrown Ancient’s Germinate, Crawth’s Roving Cyclones, Vexamus’s Arcane Fissure, and Echo of Doragosa’s Power Vacuum.

This dungeon has many pulls with varied mob health pools, making Spiteful especially dangerous – you may find yourself facing Spiteful fixates throughout the duration of the pull rather than all at the end. Use Crowd Controls liberally if you need a breather, and keep an eye on your health during big pulls!

Pay special attention to the Unruly Textbook’s Monotonous Lecture, as this can stun your healer and quickly cause a wipe!

The Arcane Forager and Arcane Ravager mobs on the way to Vexamus can be both unruly and a little scary, especially on Fortified. Learn how to handle these slippery eels with this quick and easy Raider.IO Snapshot:

THE AZURE VAULT

Keep Volcanic in mind when positioning for the following boss abilities: Leymor’s Erupting Fissure, Azureblade’s Ancient Orb, Telash Greywing’s Absolute Zero, and Umbrelskul’s Crackling Vortex.

The Azure Vault has relatively small hallways with high mob density, so be mindful of Spiteful spawns and don’t run into extra packs, ground effects, or traps. Stuns and slows will work on Spiteful if your pulls start to get chaotic.

BRACKENHIDE HOLLOW

Keep Volcanic in mind when positioning for the following boss abilities: Hackclaw’s War-Band’s Bladestorm, Treemouth’s Decay Spray, Gutshot’s Ensnaring Trap, and Decatriarch Wratheye’s Choking Rotcloud.

Given the size of this dungeon coupled with the near-constant struggle to drop combat during Spiteful weeks, your group should plan to continuously move towards the next pack of enemies, allowing you to maximize progress within the dungeon despite the frequent inability to mount up between pulls.

HALLS OF INFUSION

Keep Volcanic in mind when positioning for the following boss abilities:
Watcher Irideus’s Spark Volley, Gulping Goliath’s Belly Slam, Khajin the Unyielding’s Glacial Surge, and Primal Tsunami’s Crashing Tsunami.

Large packs have a higher Spiteful spawn rate and a greater chance that more than one shade will target you at the same time. Have an escape plan ready in the event that you must move away from any Spiteful fixates while also dodging ground effects; you’ll especially want to be careful of your health and positioning during
Containment Apparatus’ Containment Beam, Dazzling Dragonfly’s Dazzle, and
Glacial Proto-Dragon’s Deep Chill.

If you find yourself struggling with dodging the waves through the gauntlet up to Infuser Sariya, try this handy line of sight trick:

NELTHARUS

Keep Volcanic in mind when positioning for the following boss abilities: Magmatusk’s Blazing Charge, Chargath’s Magma Wave, Forgemaster Gorek’s Blazing Aegis, and Warlord Sargha’s The Dragon’s Kiln.

The trash in this dungeon is challenging on a Fortified week, due to the amount of single target damage debuffs these mobs output. If you are targeted by Spiteful and by Qalashi Thaumaturge’s Magma Conflagration, Qalashi Bonesplitter’s Dragonbone Axe, or Qalashi Hunter’s Bold Ambush, be prepared to use personal damage reduction cooldowns.

On the way to Chargath, you’ll find several interactable Burning Chains. You can learn how to utilize these chains to speed up your run in our RIO Snapshot below:

When fighting Forgemaster Gorek, positioning for the Blazing Aegis is key, as shown here in our RIO Snapshot:

THE NOKHUD OFFENSIVE

Keep Volcanic in mind when positioning for the following boss abilities: Granyth’s Tectonic Stomp, The Raging Tempest’s Electrical Overload, Teera and Maruuk’s Earthsplitter/Frightful Roar, and Balakar Khan’s Iron Spear/Iron Stampede.

Give yourself plenty of space and time to dodge Spiteful around the ground effects and frontals. This dungeon has an outside environment, so be on the lookout for stray Spiteful shades, which will keep your party members in combat for an extended period of time. Be sure to defeat Spiteful before mounting up; don’t leave your team members behind!

If you run with a more coordinated group who prefers to go straight to Balakar Khan and skip the mini bosses, Balara and Batak, invest some time into learning the handy skip detailed in our RIO Snapshot video:

RUBY LIFE POOLS

Keep Volcanic in mind when positioning for the following boss abilities: Melidrussa Chillworn’s Chillstorm, Kokia Blazehoof’s Molten Boulder, and Kyrakka’s Roaring Flamebreath.

This dungeon has many pulls with varied mob health pools, making Spiteful especially dangerous – you may find yourself facing shades throughout the duration of the pull rather than all at the end.

A Spiteful fixate can be particularly unlucky if you are also targeted by Blazebound Destroyer’s Living Bomb. Often, players pre-position in melee and use the Living Bomb’s knockup effect against the nearby Primalist Cinderweaver and Primalist Flamedancer, but you’ll need to be aware of your shade’s location as you get into position. Living Bomb, and these trash packs in general, can do a great deal of party-wide damage, so don’t risk your life or your timer if you’ll be meleed by Spiteful as your bomb goes off.

TL;DR: Don't risk your key for fancy tricks if it means you’ll be running into a Spiteful. This place is called “Ruby Death Pools” for a reason!

Some groups utilize an invisibility potion as a pre-potion before they start the key in order to skip the first Primal Juggernaut. The idea is to do a larger and riskier first pull with Bloodlust. Similarly to Dragonflight Season 1, this strategy may become more popular as the season progresses. The downside of skipping this first Primal Juggernaut is that if anyone dies, players must use another invisibility potion to rejoin the group.

Here is an excellent Kyrakka weakaura to help you visualize the way the Flaming Embers move during the fight. If you are looking at the boss with the room’s entrance behind you, the arrows will tell you which way the puddles will move with the next cast of Winds of Change. Try it out and let me know what you think!

ULDAMAN

To find Uldaman, take the portal to The Badlands in Valdrakken, shown on the map below:

Keep Volcanic in mind when positioning for the following boss abilities: The Lost Dwarves’s Longboat Raid, Bromach’s Thundering Slam, Sentinel Talondras’s Resonating Orb, Emberon’s intermission and Chrono-Lord Deios’s Sand Breath.

Just be ready to move quickly upon trash deaths to avoid those long-armed Spiteful shades in small spaces! When Spiteful spawns, try to run further into the dungeon to avoid backtracking and trapping yourself in a corner away from your group. Always be moving towards the next pack.

After Emberon, you can utilize a wall hug skip to avoid a painful Ebonstone Golem. No special tricks or abilities are required – all you need to do is walk your character into the wall and slowly inch your way towards the other side of the room. This skip is marked with a gold exclamation point (!) on our route. Check out this clip to see the skip in action:

Given this week’s brutal trash affixes, you may not want to pull the double Infinite Timereaver pack in the room right before the final boss. There are a few ways to skip this pack without needing to use an invisibility potion, which we discuss in a quick R.IO Snapshot:

Links

• The Weekly Route Series
  
• The Play Like the Pros Series
  
• Learn about the Raider.IO Auto Route Creator
  
• Try Raider.IO’s Mythic+ Replays
  
• Set up Raider.IO Discord Alerts
  
• Download the Raider.IO Client
  
• Follow Raider.IO on Twitter
  
• Join Raider.IO on Discord
  
• Support Raider.IO on Patreon

About the Author