Shadowlands storyline ended a few months ago, and Dragonflight will be released at the end of the year. But Blizzard made sure that we do not get bored and give us new content in Patch 9.2.5 about which we wrote the article. Two months later players get some more novelties with Shadowlands Season 4. Let’s see how World of Warcraft will change after August 2 and what we will do in the game before the Dragonflight release.
Fated Raids
Affix system in Season 4 will please us not only in Mythic+ dungeons. Experimental affixes will appear in Shadowlands raids to upend the usual PvE routine. Also, it will give us another opportunity to enjoy Castle Nathria, Sanctum of Domination, and Sepulcher of the First Ones too.
Starting from Sire Denathrius’s abode, every week one of Shadowlands raids will be enhanced by Fated affix. You can check your Adventure guide to see what raids get affix on the current week.
During Fated weeks bosses’ HP will be higher, and their abilities will be more painful. At the same time, the usual bosses mechanics will be supplemented with one of four additional affixes:
- Fated Power: Chaotic Essence
- Fated Power: Creation Spark
- Fated Power: Protoform Barrier
- Fated Power: Reconfiguration Emitter
Obviously, because of these novelties, well-known Shadowlands encounters will become much harder. But rewards will become much more valuable too:
- Fated LFR Raids – 265/272 ilvl gear
- Fated Normal Raids – 278/285 ilvl gear
- Fated Heroic Raids – 291/298 ilvl gear
- Fated Mythic Raids – 304/311 ilvl gear
Fated raids rewards and gearing opportunities
Along with this, in Season 4 Shadowlands, players will have an opportunity to upgrade any raid items with the help of another novelty you can loot during runs. Killing bosses, you can get specific Cypher depending on difficulty (only Heroic and Mythic available). When you get 20 Cyphers, you can transform them into Creation Impetus, which can improve one of your items.
Interesting that you can get a shard on Mythic difficulty and use it on an LFR item to get a 304/311 ilvl piece of gear. You even can combine this system with Creation Catalyst: get LFR or Normal item, upgrade it with Creation Impetus and transform it into a tier set piece. By the way, Creation Catalyst will remain in Season 4, and you will keep all unused charges from Season 3. It seems a great option because you can still loot class set pieces only in Sepulcher of the First Ones or in the Great Vault. If you don’t ever deal with Creation Catalyst before, you can read about this system in our Shadowlands Tier Sets full guide.
Also, we get another excellent gearing opportunity called Puzzling Cartel Dinar. You can get this currency through a quest Crossing Fate of three stages. The first stage requires killing 30 Fated bosses (same bosses on several difficulties won’t be counted). Second – 20 bosses, and third – 10 bosses. Every stage gives you one Puzzling Cartel Dinar you can trade for 278/285 ilvl item from any raid, and this is kind of bad luck protection.
Of course, Fated raids bring us some new achievements too:
- Fates of the Shadowlands Raids achievement completion rewards you with Jigglesworth Sr. mount for Normal runs;
- Heroic: Fates of the Shadowlands Raids achievement gives you Hero of Fate title;
- Mythic: Fates of the Shadowlands Raids achievement unlock Shadowlands Raid Teleports.
Other raids changes
At last, let’s see the summary of other interesting but not so impressive changes and novelties:
- Domination Sockets will be disabled for WoW Shadowlands Season 4;
- Mythic+ difficulty will be able from the start of Season 4, cross-realm raids too. And no more time gates in LFR mode;
- If some raid has Fated affix, during this week you can’t complete its basic difficulties;
- You can skip some bosses if you unlocked this opportunity in past seasons;
- Players can loot Sylvanas legendary bow Rae’shalare, Death’s Whisper during Fated weeks. And even more, the drop rate will be increased (Edge of Night dagger drop rate too, by the way). You won’t have an opportunity to get a bow by Puzzling Cartel Dinar, but you can trade this currency for Wraithwisp Sinew or Ethereal Fletching to upgrade this weapon if you got weapon it in Patch 9.1. Also, you can loot these items from Sylvanas, like in the past;
- Players will have an opportunity to loot Carcinized Zerethsteed from the Jailer on Heroic difficulty during Season 4. Sylvanas and Jailer mythic mounts will be dropped with 100% chances.
Season 4 Mythic+ changes
Of course, new content will bring us new affix Shrouded. During Mythic+ runs players should search for Nathrezim infiltrators to capture them and get one of the simple buffs. There are no fantastic bonuses, only secondary stats boost:
Also, completing some Mythic+ score challenges gives players new Season 4 achievements:
- Shadowlands Keystone Conqueror: Season Four achievement gives you Shrouded title;
- Shadowlands Keystone Master: Season Four achievement rewards players with Restoration Deathwalker mount. Season 4 KSM mount looks like all previous Shadowlands elementals, but in new colors;
- Shadowlands Keystone Hero: Season Four achievement provides you with Shrouded Hero title and teleports to dungeons.
But all these things pale compared to another big Season 4 novelties, the new dungeon pool. First time in WoW history, players got a chance to complete Mythic+ difficulty dungeons of the past addons, and Warlords of Draenor dungeons will join the Mythic+ system for the first time. Looks like Keystone Master Season 4 will be more challenging for most players.
Season 4 Mythic+ Dungeons pool
Even if you completed Legion and Battle for Azeroth Mythic+ dungeons, we think, that it will not be superfluous to remind you of some short key tactics for all encounters.
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| Zo’phex the Sentinel – avoid spinning blades on the floor and don’t attack Zo’phex from the shield side. When the boss disarms some players, they should quickly find the weapons on the floor (on the small platforms that look like geargliders). The player with the mark should run away from the boss as far as possible; The Grand Menagerie – on the first boss you should just run away from all void zones. On the second boss, you should dispel one of the players with the big circle debuff around and let the second player run away and survive damage. When the boss starts throwing multiple blue spheres, the player with a purple void zone around should pick as many spheres as possible. On the third boss you should break the chains every time and run away from Venza when she tries to pull you toward her; Mailroom Mayhem – soak purple void zones and dispel some players with a debuff after. Share the damage with the player with the mark. But the main part of this Tazavesh: Streets of Wonder encounter is bombs, that you should pick and throw into an active pipeline (you can identify one by the swirl of letters); Myza’s Oasis – attack the notes on the ground to get buff. Avoid the spell bombing and AoE around the boss. When the shield is activated, don’t attack the boss and don’t stay in front of the shield; So’azmi – use the statues with the same symbols for teleportation and avoid Shuri expanding ring. Double Technique cast should be interrupted by two players. |
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| Hylbrande – when you see a mark on your character, run to the wall to avoid the beam and spawn void zones away from the middle of the room. During the intermission of the first Tazavesh: So’leah’s Gambit boss one player should go to the control panel and mark the places where the rest members of the group should carry the runes from the center of the room; Timecap’n Hooktail – don’t position in front of the boss if you’re not tank. Stay away from void zones, frontal cones, and dragon’s tale strikes; So’leah – one of players (healer or RDD) should soak Collapsing Star four times with a small interval. Цatch the marks on the floor near your character to destroy stars that be summoned with a boss cast, and avoid fragments after. And, one more time, stay away from void zones during last encounter of Tazavesh: So’leah’s Gambit. |
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| King Gobbamak – player with electric buff should keep close to the robot or spires to kill the adds. Stay near the tank to split the damage from Charged Smash; Gunker – during all fight tank should stay near the boss. All other players should run near the robot to clean void zones and kill the adds which try to neutralize our friendly robots; Trixie & Naeno – these Operation Mechagon: Junkyard bosses should die simultaneously. Avoid the Naeno charges, use dust cloud to avoid Trixie cast when blue mark above your character. Interrupt Trixie casts as much as you can; HK-8 Aerial Oppression Unit – dispel Nimbus Bolt from players. Avoid boss void zones and adds void zones too. In the second phase find charged spire and run to him avoiding traps to turn it off. The more players involved in the process, the faster you turn off the spire. When HK-8 Aerial Oppression Unit falls down, blast this robot. |
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| Tussle Tonks – avoid the boss tank charges and try to direct this charge to the wall near you. When the boss targets the marked player, run away. The robot boss should be positioned near the hammers on the walls to get damage and debuff. Also, avoid robot when the boss starts spinning. Be careful not to step on the bomb, and don’t get damaged by blades; K.U.-J.0. – during this Operation Mechagon: Workshop encounter metal boxes will fall from above. Hide behind them when the boss starts breathing fire and then quickly run away from the boxes before they explode. When K.U.-J.O. marks 3 players and starts jumping to them, you must position yourself in such a way that there are no boxes the boss trajectory; Machinist’s Garden – stay away from the cogwheel and flame beams from the center of the platform which appear on 100 energy of the boss. Quickly kill all adds; King Mechagon – on the first phase stay away from the marked player to not take the damage from discharge. Run away from the void zones and watch arrows on the floor to understand the trajectory of the spheres and avoid them. In the second phase run away when the boss tries to pull you toward him and drop you from the platform. |
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| Opera Hall: Wikket – avoid Defy Gravity zones until Galindre starts Magic Magnificent cast. Run to the Defy Gravity at the end of the cast to avoid damage; Opera Hall: Westfall Story – players should stay near each other to position Flame Gale compactly in the first phase. In the second phase group should spread out to avoid Thunder Ritual debuffs circles and waves. In the third phase combine these tactics; Opera Hall: Beautiful Beast – focus on the Babblet from the start, boss will be pointed at one of you, so just stay away. Next, kill the Luminore, and then Mrs. Cauldrons. Now you can defeat Coggleston too; Maiden of Virtue – marked players should run to the walls of the room to place void zones away from the center. During Mass Repentance cast players should run to void zones to get debuff and avoid 30 seconds stun. Break the shield around this Karazhan: Lower boss to interrupt Holy Wrath 10 seconds one-shot cast; Attumen the Huntsman – healer should dispel Intangible Presence debuff (correct player will get unique spectral animation). Avoid Midnight charges and waves of horses during intermission. Every player should run to the boss when Shared Suffering cast starts; Moroes – kill Baroness Dorothea Millstipe the first until she burns all healer mana. Kill Lord Crispin Ference the second and avoid his frontal attack (you can see the dust on the floor before cast). Interrupt Lady Keira Berrybuck casts. Stay away from Baron Rafe Dreuger. Avoid Lord Robin Daris weapons. Interrupt Lady Catriona Von’Indi healing casts. |
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| The Curator – from the start stay in one camp near the tank. Run away from void zones and kill appearing spheres instantly. Try to arrange the void zones compactly. During intermission use all your bursts on the boss. Repeat all tactics one more time to complete this Karazhan: Upper boss; Shade of Medivh – interrupt freezing spells and Arcane Missiles. The marked player should run away from the group. During the first intermission watch your HP, it will be painful. Interrupt bird casts. In the second phase spread out and wait for Flame Wreath cast. Player in the cast void zone should not move and use immune abilities. Interrupt all casts target on the player in Flame Wreath circle; Mana Devourer – during all fight group should stay in a circle around the boss to catch Loose Mana spheres. Every sphere gives you a debuff, but if the damage is too high, you can run into Energy Void zones. In this place every tick of Energy Void will remove one Loose Mana stack from you; Viz’aduum the Watcher – interrupt all Burning Blast casts. The player with Chaotic Shadows debuff should run away from the group, and all other players should avoid appearing spheres. Avoid the fel beam and try to place void zones near platform edges. Watch the boss positioning to not get damage from Disintegrate. On the second and third phases will be two and three players with Chaotic Shadows, so spread out and be careful. |
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| Rocketspark and Borka – run away from the falling missile. Stop casting when Borka uses Slam to not get silence. Avoid Borka Mad Dash charges, while the tank should direct Borka on Rocketspark to interrupt X21-01A Missile Barrage. Try to kill this Grimrail Depot bosses at one time to avoid enrage mechanic; Nitrogg Thundertower – avoid the bombs cast on one of the players. Don’t stay in front of the boss if you aren’t tanking in Grimrail Depot. Hide behind pillars during Suppressive Fire in phase two and kill adds to get Homing Shell. Use Blackrock Turret to destroy boss Assault Cannon; Skylord Tovra – don’t stay in the lightning zones and avoid the traps. Marked players should stay away from the group. |
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| Fleshrender Nok’gar – run away from flame zones and try to avoid wolf charges. When first Iron Docks boss will be dismounted, be careful with Reckless Provocation cast. Don’t attack Nok’gar while the red shield is active to not be feared; Grimrail Enforcers – avoid the flame waves, traps, bombs, and all other dangerous stuff. Spread out to avoid chain lightning. When Sanguine Sphere is casted at one of the bosses, attack other bosses. Try to kill Ahri’ok Dugru the first, because she casts this shield; Oshir – don’t stay in the way of Oshir during Primal Assault cast. When the boss attacks one of the players with Feeding Frenzy ability, use all your DPS to interrupt the cast. Kill the adds appearing during the whole fight and stay away from void zones; Skulloc – there are two adds you need to kill first. Koramar jumps to players to use Bladestorm. Zoggosh uses a cannon and targets one of the players, who should run away from the group. During the fight with Skulloc use nearby shelters to save yourself from Cannon Barrage. You can stop this cast only with a melee attack. |
You can find portals to every Battle for Azeroth, Legion, and Warlords of Draenor dungeon in Oribos. Also, our players are always ready to help you learn new dungeon pool tactics during Mythic+ boost.
Season 4 PvP changes
World of Warcraft PvP is always the same. In the new season, players won’t see new battlegrounds, arenas, or unusual encounters. But we should be grateful at least for some new rewards:
- Arena title Eternal Gladiator for best of the best PvP players;
- Eternal Gladiator Soul Eater mount for 2400 rating and 50 wins above;
- Weapon illusion: Eternal Flux transmog;
- New Vicious mounts – Vicious Warstalker with two skins for Horde and Alliance.
Also, almost every class (but not specialization) got correction of some skills.
Want to enjoy PvP content in Season 4? Check PvP offers from Overgear.
Other changes
And for dessert we invite you to consider a few more point novelties and changes that did not have enough space in other blocks of our article:
- There are no new legendary item ranks in Season 4. So, if in the past your legendaries were a part of gear with the highest ilvl, now they will be a maximum 291 ilvl, that we can compare with Heroic raid drop;
- Conduits also don’t get any upgrade and 278 ilvl will be the highest possible. But in Season 4 you can buy Vessel of Profound Possibilities without hardcore achievements just for 10 000 Cosmic Flux;
- Valor Points and Conquest Points cap will be increased;
- World bosses attached to every Shadowlands content patch will get improvement during Fated Weeks too. For example, when Sanctum of Domination will be in the rotation, you can kill Mor’geth and get 285 ilvl items as a reward;
- Full Castle Nathria and Sanctum of Domination completion reward you with 2000 reputation with Court of Harvester or Death Advance and 2000 Cosmix Flux in addition.
It seems that Shadowlands Season 4 will be full of fun and new experience. We hope you’ll enjoy next months in World of Warcraft! Good luck with new content, and don’t forget to rate our overview if this article was helpful for you.
