Patch 12.1, Curse of Ula'tek, went live on 11 August 2026, and Season 2 opened a week later on 18 August.
If you stopped playing somewhere in Season 1, the thing that put you behind is not the weeks you missed. Blizzard raised item level difference by 46 points, seven more than the 39 it first tested on the PTR, and your gear went from current to obsolete without you touching it.
However, the climb back is shorter than 46 ilvls makes it sound.
Do you need to level again for Season 2?
No, Season 2 is a rollover inside patch 12.1, so your character keeps its level and its campaign progress. What resets is the seasonal gear track.
A fully upgraded 6/6 Myth piece from Season 1 now sits at item level 289, which is where a Veteran 4/6 piece sits this season. Last tier's ceiling is this tier's floor.
What to do first after returning to Midnight
Pick up the three weekly quests that each award a Spark of Tides before you do anything else, because they reset weekly.
Vereesa Windrunner in Silvermoon gives Trailing Xal'atath, Zerella gives the PvP one, and Turn Back the Surge sits out on The Coiled Isle.
Then run a Mythic 0. It resets daily as of 18 August and drops 292, which beats what you came back wearing.
What item level does each Venomous Abyss difficulty drop?
Item Level drops from Eight bosses up to Ula'tek:
| Difficulty | Loot item level |
|---|---|
| Raid Finder | 279 to 289 |
| Normal | 292 to 302 |
| Heroic | 305 to 315 |
| Mythic | 318, rising to 344 on the last two bosses |
Nothing in the game drops higher than 344 right now. Raid Finder opens in wings rather than all at once, so a late start does not lock you out of the story: Wing 1 on 18 August, Wing 2 and Story Mode the week of 25 August, Wing 3 on 1 September, Wing 4 on 8 September.
Roughly 300 to 305 is the item level where Heroic stops fighting you. No comparable figure has been confirmed for Normal or Raid Finder.
Has the Venomous Abyss raid been nerfed?
Yes, repeatedly, and quickly.
A hotfix on 19 August cut the health that Hex Lord Malacrass and Zul'jan regain during their intermissions, across all three difficulties. Both bosses heal off a percentage of their health, so the cut lands harder than the numbers look.
| Boss | Difficulty | Intermission health before | After |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zul'jan | Normal | 220% | 120% |
| Zul'jan | Heroic | 246% | 155% |
| Zul'jan | Mythic | 260% | 160% |
| Hex Lord Malacrass | Normal | 133% | 38% |
| Hex Lord Malacrass | Heroic | 180% | 87% |
| Hex Lord Malacrass | Mythic | 135% | 35% |
More raid hotfixes followed on 20 and 21 August. If a Normal pug fell apart on you in week one, your gear probably was not the reason.
What item level do Mythic+ dungeons drop in patch 12.1?
Eight dungeons are in the pool. Altar of Fangs is new in 12.1, joined by Murder Row, Den of Nalorakk, The Blinding Vale and Voidscar Arena from Midnight, with Kings' Rest and Temple of Sethraliss from Battle for Azeroth and Ruby Life Pools from Dragonflight.
| Key level | End of dungeon | Great Vault |
|---|---|---|
| Mythic 0 | 292 | 305 |
| +2 to +3 | 295 | 305 |
| +4 to +5 | 298 to 302 | 308 |
| +6 to +7 | 305 | 311 to 315 |
| +8 to +9 | 308 | 311 to 315 |
| +10 and above | 311 | 318 |
Everything above +10 pays what a +10 pays at the end of the dungeon. The Vault is where the difference shows up: a +10 slot comes back as Myth 1/6 at 318, and no other dungeon content produces Myth track.
How many Delves do you need for the Great Vault?
Two for the first slot, four for the second, eight for the third. Watch those counts, because they are not the same on every row.
| Vault row | 1 slot | 2 slots | 3 slots |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raid | 2 bosses | 4 bosses | 6 bosses |
| Mythic+ | 1 dungeon | 4 dungeons | 8 dungeons |
| World and Delves | 2 activities | 4 activities | 8 activities |
What each Great Vault row gives you:
| Vault source | Item level |
|---|---|
| Raid Finder | 292 |
| Normal raid | 305 |
| Heroic raid | 318, Myth 1/6 |
| Mythic raid | Up to Myth 6/6 |
| Mythic+ at +10 and above | 318, Myth 1/6 |
| Delve slot cap | 305 |
Six Heroic bosses filling a Myth slot is the quiet headline of this season. Delves themselves run to 11 tiers but stop scaling loot at Tier 8, capping at 295 on a direct drop and 305 in the Vault, with no Myth track anywhere in them.
Three delves are new: The Ring of Glory, Gnarldor Isle and Venomfall Deeps. Learn the last one. Its Nemesis boss, Azta'rec, pays crests outside the weekly cap on a first kill, and the harder version awards both Hero and Myth Mistcrests with the Hero payout doubled to 60.
Clear the easy version first and that drops permanently to 30.
How Mistcrests and gear upgrades work in patch 12.1
Mistcrests replaced Dawncrests, which upgrade nothing now. Five tiers: Adventurer, Veteran, Champion, Hero, Myth. Every step costs a flat 20, so a full 1/6 to 6/6 climb is 100 crests of the right kind.
| Crest | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Champion | Mythic 0, +2 and +3 keys, Normal raid, Delves Tier 7 to 10 |
| Hero | Heroic raid, +4 to +8 keys, Delves Tier 11 |
| Myth | Mythic raid, +9 keys and above |
Two rules favour anyone starting late. The weekly cap climbs by 100 per type every week whether you logged in or not, so a month away leaves an allowance waiting for you, and anything earned past the cap drops one tier instead of disappearing. Separately, once you have reached an item level in an armour slot, bringing a different piece up to that level in the same slot costs nothing.
What is the fastest way to gear up in Season 2?
Front-load everything without a lockout, then let the weekly sources stack up behind it. Daily Mythic 0 first, then Delves to Tier 8, then keys until you are running +10s.
Crafting is the piece people forget. Two Sparks of Tides buys armour or a one-hander, four buys a two-hander, and with Myth Mistcrests as optional reagents a crafted piece lands at 331, higher than anything Heroic drops.
Maximum amount of seasonal Spark rises by one a week and Blizzard pushed it to four at the 18 August reset, so a late start is not the penalty it used to be. Spend those first Sparks on the slot that has been ignoring you, not the one you will replace on Tuesday.
That whole route is a week of evenings. Players who would rather not spend the week hire it out instead, and WoW Boosting at LevelUpper can help you get in contact with professional raid teams to clear Venomous Abyss and Mythic+.
