For the first time, the World of Warcraft Mythic+ dungeon pool is seeing an even split between dungeons from the current expansion and dungeons from expansions past. This new change to Mythic+ went through a semi-similar trial run at the back end of Shadowlands and is here to stay in Dragonflight.
With this change, though, players have noticed a certain element of imbalance to WoW: Dragonflight’s season one dungeons. While some dungeons are fairly balanced, others are an absolute nightmare to complete week in and week out.
What’s most striking about this list is that most of the dungeons brought back from older expansions are noticeably easier than the four Dragonflight dungeons present in the pool. Whether that’s due to developers getting more creative over the years, or the Mythic+ rotation evolving with time is unclear, although it’s obvious that many players have more gripes with newer dungeons than older ones.
Here are the eight Dragonflight season one dungeons, ranked by relative difficulty.
Which WoW Dragonflight dungeons are the easiest and hardest?
8) The Azure Vault
While many of the dungeons in the bottom half of this list are candidates for “hardest dungeon” this season, The Azure Vault takes the cake because of the incredibly short timer attached to it. With just 34 minutes to clear through the dungeon, many average groups will find themselves missing the timer by a few minutes, even with minimal mistakes. Your group could play this dungeon as perfectly as possible, but if you don’t have the throughput to burn through the instance at the required pace, finishing in time could be a struggle.
7) Ruby Life Pools
Ruby Life Pools is a difficult dungeon on both Fortified and Tyrannical difficulties, with every pull in the instance containing hard-hitting abilities that could pose a key-bricking threat to any group. During Fortified weeks, the mini-bosses before each boss fight must be taken a lot more seriously, and during Tyrannical weeks, each mechanic in the dungeon’s three encounters must be played perfectly.
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6) The Nokhud Offensive
The Nokhud Offensive, if nothing else, is filled with throughput checks that test your team’s ability to survive some of the game’s hardest-hitting enemies. Boss fights like Balakar Khan and the Raging Tempest will make your healers sweat, while some of the trash packs in this dungeon will have your DPS racing to kill enemies before the damage the opposition puts out becomes overwhelming. To throw an extra wrench into the dungeon, the Dragonriding mechanic that causes you to traverse the equivalent of an entire open-world zone throughout the dungeon only makes it feel longer and more tedious than it actually is.
5) Algeth’ar Academy
Algeth’ar is a relatively well-balanced dungeon and is a prime candidate for a middle-of-the-road pick on this list. Still, it can be difficult for groups who aren’t particularly well-coordinated, as bosses like Vexamus and Crawth will punish players who go on autopilot. Thankfully, most groups will know whether or not they can run Algeth’ar successfully within the first two pulls of the dungeon, as the hardest trash packs and the hardest boss in the instance can determine a key’s success within five minutes.
Related: Here are 4 Mythic+ dungeons we’d like to see in WoW Dragonflight season 2
4) Halls of Valor
Halls of Valor received a meaty nerf in Patch 10.0.5, allowing it to slide up this list and plant itself in the top-half of the season’s easier Mythic+ dungeons. With each of the bosses and much of the trash having their health pools lowered, Halls of Valor places less of a hard ceiling on groups with average gear. The two middle bosses in the Halls of Valor are still going to be the toughest checks for any group. In particular, healers are going to need to strap in for two difficult throughput checks when dealing with Hyrja and Fenryr.
3) Temple of the Jade Serpent
Temple of the Jade Serpent can vary in difficulty depending on the present affixes, but the fact that it contains two of the easiest bosses in the entire Mythic+ pool (Wise Mari and Lorewalker Stonestep) definitely helps its case as one of the lighter dungeons. Jade Serpent is a relatively backloaded dungeon, with one of the hardest trash pulls in the game serving as a follow-up to one of the heaviest tank-busting bosses (Liu Flameheart) in any Mythic+ dungeon.
2) Court of Stars
Court of Stars is easy enough to bang out in 30 minutes or less, with all three of its bosses having very little guaranteed damage to deal with. The only major coordination needed to complete a court of Stars key comes before the dungeon even begins. Your team composition always plays a major role in how well this dungeon will go, as certain classes and professions will have access to different buffs throughout the instance. Well-built team comps usually include Rogues to poison the first boss, Demon Hunters to reveal the spy prior to the final boss, and other classes who can pick up randomly spawned items around the Court in an effort to assist their team.
1) Shadowmoon Burial Grounds
Unquestionably, the easiest dungeon in Dragonflight season one is Shadowmoon Burial Grounds. None of the dungeon’s four bosses have too many abilities that require your brain to be functioning on all cylinders, meaning DPS players can focus on their throughput and can blow their cooldowns without facing too many repercussions. Additionally, none of the mobs in the Burial Grounds are punishing enough to a point where failure to do mechanics can end a run. As long as heavy-hitting abilities like Death Blast and Necrotic Burst are consistently interrupted, the rest of the dungeon is a breeze.
