Massive Affix Changes Coming in The War Within – Old Affixes Removed, New Combinations

June 25, 2024
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Blizzard continues to update their Affixes for Mythic Keystone Dungeons and have now released their biggest update yet!

Massive Affix Changes Coming in The War Within – Old Affixes Removed, New Combinations

Blizzard continues to update their Affixes for Mythic Keystone Dungeons and have now released their biggest update yet!

In a recent News from two weeks ago, Blizzard has announced that the “middle” Affixes are going to be retired in The War Within. Therefore, Blizzard has introduced new Affixes to the pool, trying to grant different Classes certain bonuses, changing on a weekly basis.

- Reckless
  - Non-boss enemies without mana ignore 20% armor with their attacks, but their armor is reduced by 30% and they take 10% increased Arcane damage.
- Thorned
  - Non-boss enemies without mana inflict Physical damage to their attackers when attacked, but take 10% increased Holy and Shadow damage.
- Attuned
  - Non-boss enemies with mana inflict 20% increased magic damage, but take 10% increased Nature damage and 30% increased damage from Bleed effects.
- Focused
  - Non-boss enemies with mana have 30% increased Haste, but take 10% increased Frost and Fire damage.

Note that these tooltips indicate whether the affixes apply to creatures with or without mana. These affixes will not affect every creature.

With our new passive affix bucket set to replace the current +4 affix bucket, the following affixes will be retired for Season 1 of The War Within:

- Afflicted
- Incorporeal
- Entangling
- Storming
- Volcanic

Massive Affix Changes from June 25th

Just a few minutes ago, Blizzard has posted an update on these new Affixes, announcing that they also will be removed, and not implemented into the Live Game! Instead they are completely changing how Affixes are applied to Dungeons, now even including changes to Tyrannical and Fortified.

With this, the new Affix Rotation for The War Within Season 1 will be as followed. As per usual, the Affixes will now rotate over 2 weeks, but still with the intent to release the next Season after 20 Weeks.

This would mean that The War Within Season 2 releases on January 28th, 2025!

Keylevel	Affixes
+2	Xal’atath’s: Ascendant OR Xal’atath’s: Frenzied
+3	Xal’atath’s: Ascendant OR Xal’atath’s: Frenzied
+4	Xal’atath’s: Ascendant OR Xal’atath’s: Frenzied Fortified OR Tyrannical
+5	Xal’atath’s: Ascendant OR Xal’atath’s: Frenzied Fortified OR Tyrannical
+6	Xal’atath’s: Ascendant OR Xal’atath’s: Frenzied Fortified OR Tyrannical
+7	Xal’atath’s: Ascendant OR Xal’atath’s: Frenzied Fortified OR Tyrannical Challenger’s Peril
+8	Xal’atath’s: Ascendant OR Xal’atath’s: Frenzied Fortified OR Tyrannical Challenger’s Peril
+9	Xal’atath’s: Ascendant OR Xal’atath’s: Frenzied Fortified OR Tyrannical Challenger’s Peril
+10	Xal’atath’s: Ascendant OR Xal’atath’s: Frenzied Fortified AND Tyrannical Challenger’s Peril
+11	Xal’atath’s: Ascendant OR Xal’atath’s: Frenzied Fortified AND Tyrannical Challenger’s Peril
+12 and Higher	Xal’atath’s Guile Fortified AND Tyrannical Challenger’s Peril

We’re reducing the total number of mechanical affixes on a keystone for players progressing through the system from two to one.

The following affixes are being retired for The War Within:
- Sanguine
- Bolstering
- Raging
- Bursting
We’ve heard feedback that applying bonuses unevenly to players feels exclusionary regardless of overall impact. Affixes that were part of the last Mythic Keystone test will no longer apply to keystones:
- Reckless
- Focused
- Attuned
- Thorned
Our one bucket of active affixes for players progressing through the system offers variety along with positive effects for executing these affixes that apply more evenly.
We’re reintroducing thematic elements to affixes by invoking Xal’atath in Mythic Keystones with her own set of affixes.
We’re utilizing passive affixes to signpost expected increases in player mastery and commensurate rewards as players progress through the Mythic Keystone system.
We’re aiming to eliminate “push weeks” by providing a consistent challenge that focuses solely on the dungeon, for players seeking to advance deeper into the Mythic Keystone system for scores and titles.

New Affixes

Starting at keystone level +2, Xal’atath herself will manifest in dungeons, introducing a rotation of affixes under the banner of “Xal’atath’s Bargain.” These affixes not only seek to empower the dungeon’s denizens, but also grant players the opportunity to harness their effects.

For our first test this week, we will have two Xal’atath’s Bargain affixes available. One affix is an event that players must deal with periodically while the other affix is a passive effect on creatures throughout the dungeon.

Xal’atath’s Bargain: Ascendant
- While in combat, Xal’atath rains down orbs of cosmic energy that attempt to empower nearby enemies, increasing their Haste and Movement speed. If players disrupt these orbs, they claim this effect for themselves.
Xal’atath’s Bargain: Frenzied
- Non-boss enemies become frenzied at 30% health remaining, increasing their Haste by 40%, but increasing their damage taken by 20%.
Starting at keystone level +7, a new affix, Challenger’s Peril, directly affects the dungeon timer. This affix emphasizes precise play and strategic execution, placing
greater risk on players’ decisions.
- Challenger’s Peril – Dying subtracts 15 seconds from time remaining rather than 5 seconds.
Starting at keystone level +12, a new affix replaces the “Xal’atath’s Bargain” affixes. At this level, Xal’atath revokes her bargains, empowering dungeon creatures with a 20% increase in health and damage.
- Xal’atath’s Guile – Xal’atath betrays players, revoking her bargains and increasing the health and damage of enemies by 20%.

Fortified and Tyrannical

Fortified and Tyrannical now serve as milestone affixes that alternate between keystone levels +4 and +10 on a weekly rotation. We feel this provides us with clearer points in the system where increases in difficulty and rewards occur. This also affords more distinction between key levels for players progressing through the system and a consistent week-to-week experience for players progressing deeper into the Mythic Keystone system.

Keystone System Summary

Here are examples of what keystones look like under this new model.

Keystone levels +2 through +11 have the following affixes:
- +2 Xal’atath’s Bargain affixes appear on a weekly rotation.
- +4 Fortified or Tyrannical is active, alternating on a
  weekly rotation.
- +7 Challenger’s Peril is active on all keystones.
- +10 Tyrannical or Fortified is active, alternating on a
  weekly rotation.
From keystone level +12 and up, keystones have the following
affixes:
- Fortified
- Challenger’s Peril
- Tyrannical
- Xal’atath’s Guile replaces the weekly Xal’atath’s Bargain
  affix.

Dungeon Score

We’re evaluating how dungeon scores are granted under this new model.

We believe these changes along with our Heroic and Mythic dungeon changes provide players with ways to engage with dungeons in a setting they prefer. This is a fresh look at Mythic+ and we look forward to your feedback and continuing discussions on these affixes and overall system changes.

We’ll see you in dungeons!