The Raid Tier Now: The Venomous Abyss at a Glance
Midnight Season 2 opened the week of August 18, 2026 with The Venomous Abyss. It is a single 8-boss 
raid in the Vaults of Atal'Utek on the Coiled Isle, where the Soulcoil cult is trying to wake the serpent loa 
Ula'tek. Unlike Season 1's split tier, everything is in 1 instance again.
The opening cadence:
| Week of | What opens |
|---|---|
| Aug 18 | Normal, Heroic and Mythic: all 8 bosses, plus Raid Finder Wing 1 (The Soulcoilers) |
| Aug 25 | Raid Finder Wing 2 (The Essence of Venom) + Story Mode; 1st full Season 2 Great Vault |
| Sep 1 | Raid Finder Wing 3 (The Serpent Warren) |
| Sep 8 | Raid Finder Wing 4 (The Tomb of Ula'tek) |
EU realms run 1 day behind on each step. Ahead of the Curve: Ula'tek and Cutting Edge: Ula'tek are live from day 1. Season 1 closed at the August 11 maintenance. Its 4 raids, 10 bosses and Team Liquid's April RWF are recapped below, and the full seasonal picture is in our Midnight Season 2 guide.
8 bosses are live. Book the lockout that matches the roster.
Heroic AotC on Ula'tek, a Mythic start, or the Season 2 rating track between raid nights.
Every Venomous Abyss Boss, in Order
The raid runs a fixed progression route on Normal and up. After Nek'zali you clear 2 side paths, return to the center for 
The Twin Fangs, and only then unlock the final pair. Boss list with Raid Finder wing grouping:
| RF wing | Bosses | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The Soulcoilers Wing 1 · live |  Nek'zali the Soulcoiler · The Twin Fangs | Nek'zali opens the raid; the Fangs gate the final pair |
| The Essence of Venom Wing 2 · Aug 25 |  Entombed Sentinels ·  Vashnik the Malignant | 1st side path |
| The Serpent Warren Wing 3 · Sep 1 |  The Lost Explorers ·  Sszorak | 2nd side path |
| The Tomb of Ula'tek Wing 4 · Sep 8 |  The Coiled Altar · Ula'tek | Final pair; Ula'tek ends the tier |
6 of the 8 encounters award Tier 36 set tokens, so a full Normal or Heroic clear builds a 4-piece far faster than Season 1's split-raid design ever did. Ula'tek herself is the mechanical peak: venom waves, snake adds that hatch if they touch spreading venom pools, and a positioning-heavy final phase.
Patch 12.1.5 adds a single-boss raid beneath the Venomous Abyss: The Unbinding of Kith'ix, in 5 difficulties from Story Mode to Mythic. On 13 October 2026 Liquid took the world's 1st Mythic Kith'ix kill, outside an official race. The next official Race to World First starts shortly after Eclipse.
Ask LFCarry for a raid plan →Heroic AotC on Ula'tek, a Mythic start, or targeted tier-token bosses? Tell LFCarry your guild size, raid nights and goals. We map the right Venomous Abyss plan in about 30 seconds, right here.
Season 1 Results: 4 Raids, 10 Bosses
Season 1 (March 17 to August 11, 2026) split its tier across 4 instances. Season 2 walked that design back. The roster, for the record:
| Raid / wing | Bosses | Zone | Tier set |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Voidspire 6 | Imperator Averzian · Vorasius · Fallen-King Salhadaar · Vaelgor & Ezzorak · Lightblinded Vanguard · Crown of the Cosmos | Voidstorm | Helm, shoulders, gloves, legs |
| The Dreamrift 1 | Chimaerus | Harandar | Chest |
| March on Quel'Danas 2 | Belo'ren · Midnight Falls (L'ura) | Isle of Quel'Danas | Curio token (any slot) |
| Sporefall 1 | Rotmire | Harandar | None (Sporefused catch-up) |
Team Liquid locked the Season 1 Race to World First on April 6, 2026 by killing Mythic Midnight Falls (L'ura). It was their 4th title in a row. Season 1's Ahead of the Curve, Cutting Edge and the Ashes of Belo'ren 
mount closed with the August 11 maintenance and are no longer obtainable.
The Difficulty Ladder: LFR to Mythic
The Venomous Abyss runs the classic 4 difficulties in 1 instance, with 1 lockout per difficulty. That makes weekly logistics far simpler than Season 1's 4 lockouts.
- LFR: staggered wings on the schedule above, from Wing 1 on August 18 to Wing 4 on September 8.
- Normal / Heroic: flexible group sizes. Heroic is where Ahead of the Curve: Ula'tek lives. There is 1 AotC this tier, on the final boss.
- Mythic: open since day 1 alongside Normal and Heroic; Cutting Edge: Ula'tek for every Mythic clear. The Hall of Fame filled up and closed with the 13 October (NA) and 14 October (EU) resets.
Season 2 class balance is still settling in the 1st lockouts. Current Mythic parse rankings live in our Midnight tier list, refreshed as data lands. Dungeon gearing that feeds raid entry is covered in the Mythic+ guide, and the delve route to a raid-ready ilvl in the Delves guide.
Loot: Item Level Bands and Upgrade Tracks
Venomous Abyss loot climbs with difficulty, and the last 2 bosses pay extra on Mythic. Season 2 bands with their upgrade tracks and the Mistcrest currency each difficulty awards:
| Difficulty | Item level | Track | Crests |
|---|---|---|---|
| LFR | 279 to 289 | Veteran | Veteran Mistcrest |
| Normal | 292 to 302 | Champion | Champion Mistcrest |
| Heroic | 305 to 315 | Hero | Hero Mistcrest |
| Mythic | 318 to 328 | Myth | Myth Mistcrest |
The end-boss premium: on Mythic, The Coiled Altar and Ula'tek drop item level 344 gear, the highest raid loot in the game right now. 6 of the 8 bosses drop Tier 36 set tokens, and raid kills seed the Great Vault at the usual 2 / 4 / 6 boss thresholds. The 1st full Season 2 vault pays out at the August 25 reset. For scale: a Heroic clear (305 to 315) lines up with the 305 Hero-track vault ceiling that Tier 8 delves reach. Raid plus delves is the fastest honest gearing stack this season.
See Venomous Abyss runs →Normal, Heroic and Mythic have been open together since August 18. Ahead of the Curve and Cutting Edge on Ula'tek are live. Book the difficulty you want while the tier is young. Self-play, loot on you.
Mounts, Achievements, and What Closed with Season 1
Prestige rewards, current state:
- Primeval Skyfriend: the Season 2 Mythic mount, from Ula'tek on Mythic. Live now.
- Ahead of the Curve: Ula'tek. Heroic final-boss kill, live from day 1, closes when the next tier arrives.
- Cutting Edge: Ula'tek. Mythic final-boss kill. The Hall of Fame (200 guilds) filled up and closed with the 13 October (NA) and 14 October (EU) resets.
- Tenebrous Harrower: the Season 1 meta mount from Glory of the Midnight Raider (Voidspire + Dreamrift + Quel'Danas feat challenges).
- Ashes of Belo'ren: Season 1's Mythic mount from Midnight Falls; no longer obtainable since the August 11 close, along with Season 1's AotC and Cutting Edge.
Team Liquid closed the Season 1 RWF chapter on April 6. The full timeline and the Season 2 race are in our Race to World First guide. Patch 12.1 Curse of Ula'tek went live August 11, 2026, and the season itself on August 18.
Undermine is closed as a season, but The Big G from Undermine is still the printed drop.
Mythic Progression Reality in Season 2 (October 2026)
Honest math for anyone weighing a Mythic push now. Mythic opened on day 1, the race guilds are done, and the Hall of Fame is full. For a normal roster the Venomous Abyss is a multi-week project: typical 2-night teams spend 6 to 9 hours/week in raid. An 8-boss single instance means the mid-raid walls (the side-path pairs before The Twin Fangs) decide your pace. Cutting Edge remains a small single-digit percentage of the raiding population every tier.
The 13 October (NA) and 14 October (EU) reset made Mythic The Coiled Altar easier. Toxic Deluge starts with 8 orbs (was 10), Phase 1 spawns 4 Virulent Mutations (was 5), their radius shrinks to 6 yards (was 8), and Dreadmarch targets 3 players (was 4). Eternal Nightfall now casts 2 seconds slower on every difficulty.
Hidden costs filter more than skill: consumables and repairs across hundreds of pulls, a stable Mythic roster, and the tier-token split across 6 bosses early on. The single-lockout design at least kills Season 1's 4-lockout calendar tax.
If you want the rewards without the roster, that is exactly the carry-market gap. Gold for consumables and BoEs: gold guide.
Buy vs Grind: When a Raid Carry Makes Sense
Grind it yourself when you have a guild you like, 6-plus hours a week, and runway before the next reset. Raiding with your own team is still the best version of WoW.
A carry is the rational play in a few specific spots:
- AotC while the tier is young. 1 evening in a self-play Heroic Venomous Abyss clear beats weeks of pug roulette, and Ahead of the Curve: Ula'tek is live from the 1st lockout.
- Specific Mythic bosses: the 344 pieces from The Coiled Altar and Ula'tek, or the exact Tier 36 tokens you are missing, without progressing the whole instance.
- The Primeval Skyfriend: the Mythic Ula'tek mount kill, booked as a single-boss run.
- Vault seeding: a weekly Heroic clear keeps Great Vault raid slots at 305+ while you focus on keys or PvP.
LFCarry raid runs are self-play by default: you join, PROs handle mechanics load, every drop, achievement and mount lands on your character. Pricing is listed per difficulty as a from-price on the Venomous Abyss page; scoping a custom bundle in chat is free. Market context: carry services guide. Alt on-ramp: Delves.
From the source
Official“Season 3 starts shortly after Eclipse, the final major Midnight update. Blizzard has not named a calendar day.”
Official“Midnight Season 2 is live the week of 18 August. The raid is The Venomous Abyss. Mythic+ Season 2 begins the same week. The Ring of Glory is a Season 2 delve.”
Official“The Venomous Abyss Hall of Fame is full and closes for new entries with the next weekly reset: 13 October in NA, 14 October in EU.”
Official“Dungeon and Raid Tuning, 13 October, live with 12.1.5. Altar of Fangs: Piercing Hiss -25%, Living Venom health -25%, Venom Burst -50%. Ruby Life Pools: Living Bomb dispellable, Defier Draghar health -27%. Blinding Vale and Voidscar Arena cuts. Murder Row Fire Bomb -33%. Temple of Sethraliss Spark Step -25%. Mythic Coiled Altar: Toxic Deluge orbs 10 to 8, Virulent Mutations 5 to 4, radius 8 to 6 yd, Dreadmarch targets 4 to 3; Eternal Nightfall cast +2 s on all difficulties.”
FAQ
Plan my raid week in chat →Full clears, single 344-piece bosses, AotC packages or the Primeval Skyfriend kill. LFCarry knows this page, the wing schedule and current from-prices, and answers in seconds. No signup, no commitment.
- Kith'ix: Liquid took the world's 1st Mythic kill on 13 October, outside an official race. Hall of Fame closed with the 13 and 14 October resets.
- Hall of Fame full and closing with the 13 October (NA) and 14 October (EU) reset. Mythic Coiled Altar tuning of the same reset added; progression section moved to October.
- Source talk removed from the opening cadence, the boss list, and the loot bands. Boss order and item-level bands stay.