Midnight Season 2 · The Venomous Abyss

The week, per character, at top-200 pace.

Written for a raider in an organized guild holding top-200 world Mythic pace: CE-plus roster, mains fully committed, limited alt support. This is not a Race to World First program and it is not a casual list.

How certain each line is

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.
Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.
derived. Calculated from verified rules. The arithmetic is ours; the inputs are not.
Calculated from verified rules. The arithmetic is ours; the inputs are not.
practice. Convention among strong players. Widely followed, but it is not a rule and it can be wrong.
Convention among strong players. Widely followed, but it is not a rule and it can be wrong.

Where live sources disagree, both figures are shown.

8
timed +10s fills the vault row
100
Myth crests a week: one finished item
318
Myth 1/6 from a Heroic raid vault pick
1
Spark of Tides a week, 2 per craft

Crests that ignore the weekly cap

The 100-per-type cap is the whole shape of the gearing week, so the sources that sit outside it are the highest-value thing here and the easiest to miss. Once raid and keys have capped you, every capped source is worth nothing until reset - and these are still worth doing.

Az'tarec, the Venomfall Deeps nemesis

one-time

Delve nemesis, first kill

Week 1: 30 Hero. Week 2: 30 Hero + 30 Myth.

The largest uncapped injection in the season, and it ignores the weekly cap outright. Miss week 1 and the week 2 kill pays 60 Hero instead of 30, so nothing is lost by being late - but nothing is gained by being early either. The Scalebound Herald's Flute (5,000 Undercoin from Naleidea Rivergleam) force-spawns him.

This resolves the 60-vs-30 disagreement the page carried: both figures were right. 30 Hero is the week-1 kill, 60 Hero is the week-2 kill when week 1 was skipped.

The Cracked Keystone quest

one-time

First Tier 11 delve clear, then a Mythic +2

20 Hero + 30 Myth

Opens on your first Tier 11 clear and completes on any Mythic keystone at +2 or higher. Both halves land outside the cap.

The Myth figure is unsettled. This page has carried 30 Myth; Icy Veins' Season 1 write-up of the same quest says 20 Myth. The crest line was renamed between seasons (Dawncrest to Mistcrest), so the Season 1 number may simply not apply. Check your currency tab on completion.

Every nemesis pack in one run

one-time

Tier 8 or higher delve

5 crests

Small, but it is free and it is outside the cap. Clear the packs on a run you were doing anyway.

A Nightmarish Task

no longer uncapped

Three Preys on Nightmare at Rank 4, weekly

20 Hero, now capped

This was a genuinely repeatable weekly 20 Hero outside the cap, and it is the reason people still believe an uncapped weekly exists. It was hotfixed to count toward the cap. Kept on the page because planning a week around it is a real mistake somebody will otherwise make twice.

Commonly assumed to be uncapped, and are not

  • Tier 11 Gilded Stashes. Roughly 20 Myth a week and the most commonly mistaken source. It counts against the 100 like any other. Once raid and keys cap you, the stash is worth nothing that week.
  • Mythic raid kills and high keys. The two largest income sources on the page, and both are ordinary capped income.

The weekly loop

Ordered by priority - when the week runs short, cut from the bottom. Add each of your characters and tick as you go; progress is saved in your browser and clears itself at the weekly reset.

Main · 0/13 done this reset · boxes clear at the weekly reset, saved in this browser only

Weekly reset Tuesday (NA) / Wednesday (EU). A class tuning pass landed with the Aug 25 reset - re-read your spec notes before raid night.

Raid lockouts and splits

Weekly

The lockout rules decide what a funnel week can even look like: loose lockouts below Mythic, one shared ID on Mythic.

Two different lockout systems

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

LFR, Normal, and Heroic use loot-based lockouts: kill any boss any number of times per week, loot each boss once per difficulty, join in-progress groups freely - which is what makes split runs possible. Mythic is a strict ID-based instance lockout: one instance per week.

The 12.1 raid vault rule

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

LFR, Normal, and Heroic vault items reward at the first step of the next-harder track. Heroic raid vault = Myth 1/6 (318) - stated verbatim by the sources. By the same rule Normal comes to Hero 1/6 (305) and LFR to Champion 1/6 (292); those two are derived from the rule, not quoted.

Vault item level follows your hardest kill

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

The raid row's item level scales with the hardest boss you killed that week per difficulty, and a later boss grants vault eligibility for all earlier ones.

What splits look like at this rank

practice. Convention among strong players. Widely followed, but it is not a rule and it can be wrong.

Main plus at most one alt: one or two organized Normal-plus-Heroic funnel clears in weeks 1-2, then a single optional Heroic funnel night. Full RWF split programs (Liquid ran 5.5 days of them) assume ten mains and twenty volunteer characters a rank-200 roster does not have.

Mythic+ vault and the crest cap

Weekly

The two hard weekly currencies of gearing pace: the vault dungeon row and 100 Myth crests.

Dungeon vault row

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

Slots unlock at 1/4/8 Heroic, Mythic, or Timewalking dungeons, and the reward tracks your highest run: +10 and above puts Myth 1/6 (318) in every dungeon slot. Below that: +7-9 pay 315, +6 pays 311, +4-5 pay 308, +2-3 pay 305.

Mistcrest economy

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

Five tiers - Adventurer (269-282), Veteran (282-295), Champion (295-308), Hero (308-321), Myth (321-334). Every upgrade step costs 20 crests plus gold, income caps at 100 per type per week, and a full 1/6 to 6/6 upgrade costs exactly 100: one finished item per capped week. There are no Valorstones in Midnight.

Myth crest income

derived. Calculated from verified rules. The arithmetic is ours; the inputs are not.

Myth crests come from Mythic raid and keys at +9 or higher, and the amount rises with key level. The figures usually quoted are 10 per +9, 12 per +10, 14 per +11 and 16 per +12 and up, which would put a capped week at roughly nine timed +10s or seven +12s without raid kills. Treat the plan, not the numbers, as the takeaway until you have watched your own currency tab.

Sources disagree: Blizzard has not published Mistcrest amounts per key level for Season 2. The numbers above are the Season 1 Dawncrest figures, which are widely reposted as though they carried over; the crest line was renamed between seasons and the amounts may have moved with it. The crest TIER per key level is settled and is on the Mythic+ rewards page.

Resilient Keystones: the floor under your key

practice. Convention among strong players. Widely followed, but it is not a rule and it can be wrong.

Time all eight dungeons at a level and that level becomes a floor your keystone cannot drop below. The achievements run 19 rungs, Midnight Season 2: Resilient Keystone 12 through 30, verified against Wowhead on 2026-09-06. The system has been live since The War Within Season 2 in January 2025 and is almost never explained, which is why it is here.

Sources disagree: No Blizzard post describing the mechanic was found. The behaviour above is reconstructed from consistent player accounts on Blizzard's forums spanning 2025-03 to 2026-08; only the achievement names and range are verified. Whether the floor is account-wide or per character, and whether it protects the group or only the key holder, are both unconfirmed.

Overflow and conversion

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

Over-cap crests convert 1:1 downward. Hero converts 3:1 upward into Myth once the 'of the Mist' watermark (every slot 321+) is earned, and trade-down unlocks via the Upgrade Practicum quest.

The bonus roll: Nebulous Voidcore

Weekly

One extra roll a week, and it is worth more than most vault items.

How it is earned

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

Offered as a Great Vault reward option when you filled 3+ slots the prior week, up to one per week, with a full seasonal catch-up. It is NOT sold by Vaultkeeper Elysa this season - that was Season 1.

Sources disagree: Icy Veins says one per week; a pre-season wiki tooltip says the seasonal maximum grows by two per week. This page uses one per week as the working figure.

What a roll pays

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

Every roll costs one Voidcore (raid rolls were reduced from two in 12.1). A Heroic Venomous Abyss boss or a +10 dungeon pays 318 Myth 1/6; Mythic bosses 1-6 pay 334 Myth 6/6; Mythic Coiled Altar or Ula'tek pay a flat, unupgradeable 344. Items you win stop appearing in future roll tables at that difficulty.

Where to spend it

practice. Convention among strong players. Widely followed, but it is not a rule and it can be wrong.

Taking the Voidcore beats taking a vault item in most weeks - the exception is a genuine best-in-slot sitting in the dungeon row. Coin the latest Mythic endboss your roster can kill.

Catalyst

Every 2 weeks

Tier conversion on a fixed drip - the only weekly resource with no catch-up.

Charge schedule

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

The currency is Crystallized Venomblight Manaflux: one charge at season start, one more every two weeks, at most eight stored, and no catch-up for weeks you miss. A one-time extra charge comes from the Serpent Scion achievement (2,000+ M+ rating, or Heroic/Mythic Ula'tek, or 1,600+ rated PvP).

Conversion rules

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

Converts Veteran-track or better non-set gear into a Tier 36 set piece at the same item level. New in 12.1: the catalyzed item keeps its secondaries, tertiaries, and cantrips.

Catalyst Unbound

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

Once a 4-piece is assembled, further charges drop from raid, M+, Bountiful Delves, and rated PvP for the rest of the season - so the race to 4-piece pays for itself.

Spending discipline

practice. Convention among strong players. Widely followed, but it is not a rule and it can be wrong.

Hold charges until vault day settles which slots and item levels you actually have, then race to the 4-piece.

Delves

Weekly, front-loaded

A crest line, not a gear line, at this pace - plus two uncapped one-time injections in the first weeks.

Tier 11 Gilded Stashes

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

Bountiful Tier 11 delves pay a Gilded Stash of Myth crests - about 20 per week in total. This counts against the 100 cap. It is the source most often assumed to be free, and it is not: once raid and keys have capped you, the stash is worth nothing for the rest of the week.

Sources disagree: The wiki says 5 crests up to 4 times a week (20); Icy Veins' delve guide says 7 up to 3 times (21). Both are shown because neither source has corrected the other.

One-time uncapped injections

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

The first Tier 11 clear opens the Cracked Keystone quest, the Az'tarec nemesis kill pays the season's largest uncapped injection, and clearing every nemesis pack in a Tier 8+ run adds 5 more. All of it lands outside the weekly cap, so it is worth collecting in a week you are already capped - which is the opposite of how the rest of the delve line works. Full figures in the outside-the-cap table above.

The loot ceiling

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

Delve loot scales only to Tier 8: bountiful end-of-run caps at 295 and the delve vault row caps at 305 Hero 1/6. Tiers 9-11 exist for crests, not gear. The weekly Trovehunter's Bounty map also caps at 305 from a Tier 8+ delve.

How many, and when to stop

practice. Convention among strong players. Widely followed, but it is not a rule and it can be wrong.

Three or four Tier 11 bountifuls a week early season, then drop them entirely once raid and M+ cap Myth crests without the stash.

Weekly quests, world boss, and vault consolation

Weekly

The fixed-income lines: sparks, the lair boss, the map, and what to do with a vault you skip.

Turn Back the Surge

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

The Coiled Isle three-stage weekly at Talon Commander Zela pays a Spark of Tides, a Venom-Covered Chest, and reputation.

Lady Liadrin's spark quest

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

The weekly spark quest in Silvermoon - the season's metronome for crafted gear.

Nymrissa Wavecaller

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

Once per week per difficulty (World, Normal, Heroic, Mythic; Mythic is 15-25 flex). Mythic drops 318 Myth 1/6 gear (no tier), and lair kills count toward the raid vault row. At this pace it is mandatory: a free Myth-track boss and a vault filler in one pull.

The Key to Success

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

The delve weekly, worth 1,500 Delver's Journey progress.

Skipped-vault consolation

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

Declining a vault item grants Thalassian Tokens of Merit: 2, 4, or 6 for 1, 2, or 3+ filled slots. Vaultkeeper Elysa sells exactly five things: 10 Champion crests (1 token), 10 Hero crests (2), a 1,000g chest (2), the Miasmic Jewelbinder socket (6), and a Spark of Tides (6) that bypasses the weekly spark cap. No Voidcore on the vendor this season.

Fine to skip at this pace

practice. Convention among strong players. Widely followed, but it is not a rule and it can be wrong.

The housing weekly, Void Assault rotation, Special Assignments, prey chests, and the Knocking Off the Top catch-up showdown are all real income - and all cuttable in a week that runs short. The legacy rotating world bosses drop warbound filler far below your floor; skip them.

Professions, sparks, and crest-budget crafts

Spark weekly, craft every 2 weeks

Crafted gear shares your crest cap - a Myth craft costs most of a week's budget.

Spark math

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

Exactly one Spark of Tides per week, no fragments. A combat craft costs 2 sparks, a two-hander 4 - so one craft roughly every two weeks. Catch-up drops (Tidal Spark Dust) appear if you fall behind the seasonal cap, and the 6-token vault purchase bypasses the cap outright.

Crafted item ceilings

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

At maximum quality: 305 from the spark alone, 318 with 80 Hero Mistcrests, 331 with 80 Myth Mistcrests.

The 80-of-100 problem

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

A Myth-crested craft consumes 80 of the week's 100-crest cap. Schedule crafts against upgrade weeks - the same week cannot both finish a craft and take an item from 1/6 to 6/6.

Embellishment slots

practice. Convention among strong players. Widely followed, but it is not a rule and it can be wrong.

Priority goes to bracers and boots, not trinkets.

Consumables

practice. Convention among strong players. Widely followed, but it is not a rule and it can be wrong.

Guild-bank funded Vantus runes on progression bosses (confirmed in live RWF use), flasks, food, and runes every raid night. Who crafts what, and gold expectations, vary by guild - no live source pins a rank-200 norm.

Non-gear prep

Per reset

The homework between raid nights.

Warcraft Logs, zone 53

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

The Venomous Abyss logs live in WCL zone 53. Beware the trap: zone 54 is a retired PTR twin with the same name whose rankings return nothing.

The expected toolset

practice. Convention among strong players. Widely followed, but it is not a rule and it can be wrong.

RaidPlan.io strat diagrams, Raidstrats.gg, the Viserio cooldown sheet, the M33kAuras dungeon pack for the S2 M+ pool, and Raider.IO / Icy Veins boss guides all have live Season 2 coverage. Dratnos and Tettles' RWF recaps plus Wowhead's RWF hub carry early Mythic pull notes.

Tuning lands on reset day

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

A class tuning pass shipped with the Aug 25 weekly reset. Re-read your spec's numbers before the first pull of the week.

Calibrate expectations

verified. Transcribed from a primary source: a Blizzard post, patch note, or the game itself.

Heroic Ula'tek is being called one of the hardest Heroic endbosses ever shipped - unkilled for 60+ hours at the RWF and first killed on CN after nerfs. Community sentiment holds Heroic farm 'unrewarding by design' next to M+ under the 12.1 vault rule; the vault rule above is why the Heroic clear still matters.

Not yet confirmed

Open questions the verification pass could not settle. They render here as questions - never above as facts.

  • Mythic-raid Great Vault item level: the 12.1 next-track rule is stated only for LFR/Normal/Heroic.
  • Per-boss Myth crest counts from Mythic raid kills.
  • The exact Gilded Stash figure: the wiki says 5 crests 4x/week (20), Icy Veins says 7 crests 3x/week (21). Still unsettled - live sources have not converged.
  • The Cracked Keystone Myth payout: this page carries 30, Icy Veins' Season 1 write-up says 20. The crest line was renamed between seasons, so the older figure may simply not apply.
  • Whether any repeatable weekly source still pays crests outside the cap. A Nightmarish Task did, and was hotfixed to count; no live source describes a surviving uncapped weekly. Reported in-game observations to the contrary are welcome in the comments - a currency-tab screenshot before and after settles it.
  • The Voidcore earn rate beyond one per week (a stale seasonal tooltip suggests +2/week).
  • Rank-200 recruitment norms - split schedules, alt minimums, consumable funding - have no live source; everything rank-specific here is labeled practice.
  • Delver's Journey per-tier progress values for Tiers 9-11.
  • A reported free weekly Voidcore from Orin Straylight in Silvermoon, said to unlock at season week 8. Only low-quality aggregator sites carry it, and none of this page's named sources mention it - but it would explain the stale +2/week tooltip above. Worth checking in-game once week 8 lands.

Sources: warcraft.wiki.gg - Midnight Season 2, Great Vault, Mistcrest, Lockout pages · Icy Veins - weekly to-do list, Great Vault, Catalyst, delve and spark guides · raider.io static API (expansion 11, raid 16915) · Blizzard 12.1 announcements and hotfix notes · Wowhead news and RWF coverage.

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