Larias’ Way Too Early Raider’s Midnight Guide
Table of Contents
- What are the changes?
- Ramifications
- Weekly Checklist and Gearing Guide
- Week 1 - Patch Week, No Raid
- Week 2 - Mythic Plus and First Two Raids
- Week 3 - First Mythic Vault
- Week 4
- Week 5
- Week 6
- Week 7
- Week 8
- Week 9
- Week 10
- Week 11
- Week 12
- Week 13+
- Changelog
---
What are the changes?
First, Crests have been renamed to their track to prevent confusion and those Crests
only work on that specific track. For example, upgrading a Hero track item from 1/6 to
6/6 will only ever take Hero Crests, upgrading a Champion track item will only ever take
Champion Crests. Etc.
Second, Champion is now a 6/6 track capping at the same level as 2/6 heroic, giving
Heroic items more power.
Third, the costs of upgrading items now scales up with each subsequent upgrade. 2/6
costs 10 crests, 3/6 costs 20 crests, 4/6 costs 30 crests, 5/6 costs 40 crests, and 6/6
costs 50 crests, for a total of 150 crests to upgrade an item from 1/6 to 6/6.
Fourth, the weekly crest cap has been increased from 90 to 100 crests. Combined with
the above change, this means it takes 1.5 weeks to upgrade an item from 1/6 to 6/6
instead of only taking 1 week with crests left over.
Finally, what we don’t know: does crest save still exist cross-track? For example, will a
6/6 hero track make a 1/6 mythic item cost 0 myth crests to upgrade? How much do
crafted items cost? In all likelihood, they will cost 100 crests because that’s how much it
takes to upgrade an item from 1/6 to 5/6, but we can’t know for certain yet. We also
don’t know if the increased ilvl in vault from killing later bosses in raid will still exist.
Ramifications
Well, the most immediate thing is that you’re going to be doing a ton of simming,
which is something that Blizzard has said they don’t want players to do. It was given as
the reason for removing Reforging, one of the things I personally wish would return. If
you have 50 Heroic crests, is it going to be better to upgrade your chest from 5/6 to 6/6?
Is it going to be better to upgrade your boots from 2/6 to 3/6 and your gloves from 3/6 to
4/6? You’re going to be doing this every single week throughout the tier
because it takes 1.5 weeks worth of crests to upgrade a single item from 1/6 to 6/6.
You’ll also be doing the last couple bosses of Heroic raid for months for crest saves.
By setting up the system this way, Blizzard is directly incentivizing players to
sandbag their gear to gain power later: After week 5 (yes, week 5, check the
breakdown below), when you’re finally at 4/6 hero track or better in every slot, you have
some weird choices to make. Which pieces do you upgrade each week? You can only
upgrade from 4/6-5/6 twice a week and every time you low roll and upgrade a slot that
you get a Mythic track from raid or vault that week you gain less power than others who
get that item in a different slot. Over the course of the 10 weeks it takes to have every
item at the ilvl equivalent of 6/6 hero, that’s a lot of power loss. Obvious choices are
going to be 1x ring, or an offhand weapon, stuff like that, but eventually you’re either
going to have to gamble or choose to hold Crests in an attempt to game the system.
The haves are going to have a lot more. Every item in your vault you claim at 3/6 or
4/6 is going to be a significant ilvl increase over other people. Unless they change M+
vault to having scaling ilvl drops based on key level (+12 gives 2/6, +14 3/6 etc.), taking
an item from your m+ track is going to feel very, very bad compared to taking it from
your raid vault. Taking a 3/6 from your vault is the equivalent of getting 30% more
Crests per week - taking a 4/6 is 60% more Crests per week.
Weekly Checklist and Gearing Guide
For the purposes of this guide, we will assume that crest save cross-track exists,
that crafted items will cost 100 crests, that there will exist a free Enchanted
Heroic crest from killing the final boss of the raid, and that dungeons will drop the
same track they currently do. This sample guide does not take into account crest
saves from 4/6 hero track items, 2/6 or higher mythic items, or the relative
strength of each slot. It’s meant to highlight the absurdity of the new system
going forward. It’s also possible I made some math mistakes here and there as I
did not extensively go over it, but the jist should be correct.
Path 1, using Heroic crests to save Mythic crests, is a
huge power loss for the first 9 weeks of raid and only
a minor power increase after. Do not plan on trying to
do this in most slots. A hybrid of the occasional crest
save is going to be the plan in the actual guide I
eventually write.
Week 1 - Patch Week, No Raid
-If available, do the introduction quest to obtain a crafting spark.
-Kill the world boss for a chance at a Champion track piece.
-Level Delves back up to 8 and then do 8 rank 8 Delves to fill out your vault with Hero
track items.
-Do each of the available 8 mythic 0 dungeons available. They drop 1/6 Champion gear
that you can upgrade using Champion Crests. This can be very useful for important
items like trinkets to give you a head start on your raid the next week.
-You should use Adventure and Veteran Crests as you like, but Champion Crests should
only be spent on trinkets that you may not be able to immediately replace.
Week 2 - Mythic Plus and First Two Raids
This assumes no Heroic week. A Heroic week would slightly change things.
-Kill the world boss for a Champion track piece.
-Farm +10’s for 266 (Hero 3/6) item level pieces, vault slots and all your various Crests.
If +10’s are too much of a struggle, do at least +8’s to get 2/6 hero track gear.
-Spend 100 Mythic Crests and your first Spark to craft an item at 285(5/6 myth). This
will almost certainly be a weapon.
-Clear Normal, Heroic, and as much of Mythic raid as you can.
-At this point, we are going to start tracking Crests and upgrades for maximum profit.
With the new system, you should never spend Hero Crests on anything below a
3/6 Hero item.
-If you have any remaining champion pieces, you can now fully upgrade those - these
crests won’t matter now.
-Upgrade 266 -> 269 in 3 slots. This will take 90 Hero Crests.
-This is all you can do this week.
Total Crests spent so far:
All your Adventure, Veteran, and Champion
90/100 Hero Crests
100/100 Mythic crests
Ending item level: 1x 285 crafted slot, 12x 266 slots, 3x 269 slots. Average ILVL is
267.75
Week 3 - First Mythic Vault
-Open your vault for a 272+ mythic track item. For our purposes, we’re going to assume
it’s a 1/6 from your mythic+ vault.
-Do your weekly +10’s to get Crests and vault slots.
-Clear Normal, Heroic, and as much of Mythic raid as you can. You’ll want to keep
clearing Heroic because if the last bosses drop 4/6 items, they will be a significant crest
save.
Because of the new system, you have two paths:
Path 1)
-Spend your Free Enchanted Hero Crest from the end boss kill quest and second Spark
from the new quest line to craft your second item at 272 item level.
-Upgrade 269 -> 276 in the slot you got your vault item. This will take 90 Hero Crests,
but save you 10 Mythic Crests.
-Upgrade your Mythic track item 272 -> 276 for free.
-Upgrade your Mythic track item 276 -> 285 for 90 Mythic crests.
Total Crests spent so far:
180/200 Hero
190/200 Mythic
Ending item level: 1x 285 slot, 1x 285 crafted slot, 1x 272 crafted slot, 11x 266 slots, 2x
269 slots. Average ILVL is 269.12, an increase of 1.37 ilvls for this week. Mythic raiders
who received loot will be slightly higher but won’t have crests to spend.
Path 2)
-Spend your Free Enchanted Hero Crest from the end boss kill quest and second Spark
from the new quest line to craft your second item at 272 item level.
-Upgrade 266 -> 269 in 3 slots. This will take 90 Hero Crests. While you could choose to
upgrade one of your 269 to 272 and spend a bit more Crests, your general goal now is
to prevent Crest wasting. If that slot gets upgraded to mythic next week either from
drops or vault, you burned those crests. It also lets us upgrade more items to 269 down
the line.
-Upgrade your Mythic track item 272 -> 285 for 100 Mythic crests.
Total Crests spent so far:
180/200 Hero
200/200 Mythic
Ending item level: 1x 285 slot, 1x 285 crafted slot, 1x 272 crafted slot, 7x 266 slots, 6x
269 slots. Average ILVL is 269.87, an increase of 2.12 ilvls for this week. Mythic raiders
who received loot will be slightly higher but won’t have crests to spend.
Week 4
-Open your vault for a 272+ mythic track item. For our purposes, we’re going to assume
it’s a 1/6 from your mythic+ vault.
-Do your weekly +10’s to get Crests and vault slots.
-Clear Heroic and as much of Mythic raid as you can. You’ll want to keep clearing
Heroic because if the last bosses drop 4/6 items, they will be a significant crest save.
Because of the new system, you have two paths:
Path 1)
-Upgrade 266 -> 269 in one slot. This will take 30 Hero Crests.
-Upgrade 269 -> 276 in the slot you got your vault item. This will take 90 Hero Crests,
but save you 10 Mythic Crests.
-Upgrade your Mythic track item 272 -> 276 for free.
-Upgrade your Mythic track item 276 -> 285 for 90 Mythic crests.
Total Crests spent so far:
300/300 Hero
280/300 Mythic
Ending item level: 2x 285 slot, 1x 285 crafted slot, 1x 272 crafted slot, 10x 266 slots, 2x
269 slots. Average ILVL is 270.31, an increase of 1.19 ilvls for this week. Mythic raiders
who received loot will be slightly higher but won’t have crests to spend.
Path 2)
-Upgrade 266 -> 269 in 4 slots. This will take 120 Hero Crests.
-Upgrade your Mythic track item 272 -> 285 for 100 Mythic crests.
Total Crests spent so far:
300/300 Hero
300/300 Mythic
Ending item level: 2x 285 slot, 1x 285 crafted slot, 1x 272 crafted slot, 3x 266 slots, 9x
269 slots. Average ILVL is 271.62, an increase of 1.75 ilvls for this week. Mythic raiders
who received loot will be slightly higher but won’t have crests to spend.
Week 5
-Open your vault for a 272+ mythic track item. For our purposes, we’re going to assume
it’s a 1/6 from your mythic+ vault.
-Do your weekly +10’s to get Crests and vault slots.
-Clear Heroic and as much of Mythic raid as you can.You’ll want to keep clearing Heroic
because if the last bosses drop 4/6 items, they will be a significant crest save.
Because of the new system, you have two paths:
Path 1)
-Upgrade 269 -> 276 in the slot you got your vault item. This will take 90 Hero Crests,
but save you 10 Mythic Crests.
-Upgrade your Mythic track item 272 -> 276 for free.
-Upgrade your Mythic track item from 276 -> 279 for 20 Mythic crests.
-Spend 100 Mythic Crests and your Spark to craft an item at 285(5/6 myth).
Total Crests spent so far:
390/400 Hero
400/400 Mythic
Ending item level: 2x 285 slot, 2x 285 crafted slot, 1x 279 slot, 1x 272 crafted slot, 9x
266 slots, 1x 269 slots. Average ILVL is 272.12, an increase of 1.81 ilvls for this week.
Mythic raiders who received loot will be slightly higher but won’t have crests to spend.
Path 2)
-Upgrade 266 -> 269 in 3 slots. This will take 90 Hero Crests.
-Spend 100 Mythic Crests and your Spark to craft an item at 285(5/6 myth).
-Sit on your 272 mythic item, unable to upgrade it.
Total Crests spent so far:
390/400 Hero
400/400 Mythic
Ending item level: 2x 285 slot, 2x 285 crafted slot, 1x 272 crafted slot, 1x 272 myth slot,
10x 269 slots. Average ILVL is 273.37, an increase of 1.75 ilvls for this week. Mythic
raiders who received loot will be slightly higher but won’t have crests to spend.
Week 6
-Open your vault for a 272+ mythic track item. For our purposes, we’re going to assume
it’s a 1/6 from your mythic+ vault.
-Do your weekly +10’s to get Crests and vault slots.
-Clear Heroic and as much of Mythic raid as you can.You’ll want to keep clearing Heroic
because if the last bosses drop 4/6 items, they will be a significant crest save.
Because of the new system, you have two paths:
Path 1)
-Upgrade 269 -> 276 in the slot you got your vault item. This will take 90 Hero Crests,
but save you 10 Mythic Crests.
-Upgrade your Mythic track item 272 -> 276 for free.
-Upgrade your Mythic track item from 276 -> 279 for 20 Mythic crests.
-Upgrade 1x Mythic track item from 279 -> 285 for 70 Mythic Crests.
Total Crests spent so far:
480/500 Hero
490/500 Mythic
Ending item level: 3x 285 slot, 2x 285 crafted slot, 1x 279 slot, 1x 272 crafted slot, 9x
266 slots. Average ILVL is 273.12, an increase of 1. ilvl for this week. Mythic raiders
who received loot will be slightly higher but won’t have crests to spend.
Path 2)
-Upgrade 269 -> 272 in 2 slots. This will take 80 Hero Crests.
-Upgrade myth 272 -> 279 in 2 slots. This will take 60 Mythic Crests
-Upgrade 279 -> 282 in 1 slot. This will take 30 Mythic crests.
Total Crests spent so far:
470/500 Hero
490/500 Mythic
Ending item level: 2x 285 slot, 2x 285 crafted slot, 1x 272 crafted slot, 1x 282 myth slot,
1x 279 myth slot, 2x 272 hero slots, 7x 269 slots. Average ILVL is 275.00, an increase
of 1.67 ilvls for this week. Mythic raiders who received loot will be slightly higher but
won’t have crests to spend.
Week 7
-Open your vault for a 272+ mythic track item. For our purposes, we’re going to assume
it’s a 1/6 from your mythic+ vault.
-Do your weekly +10’s to get Crests and vault slots.
-Clear Heroic and as much of Mythic raid as you can.You’ll want to keep clearing Heroic
because if the last bosses drop 4/6 items, they will be a significant crest save.
For simplicity's sake, I’m going to add 2x 272 1/6 mythic items to each path to
account for 2 Mythic item drops across 6 weeks of clear.
Because of the new system, you have two paths:
Path 1)
-Upgrade 266 -> 276 in the slot you got your vault item. This will take 120 Hero Crests,
but save you 10 Mythic Crests.
-Upgrade your Mythic track item 272 -> 276 for free.
-Upgrade 2x Mythic Track item 272 -> 276 for 20 Mythic Crests.
-Upgrade your 2x Mythic track item from 276 -> 279 for 40 Mythic crests.
-Upgrade your 1x Mythic track item from 279 -> 282 for 30 Mythic Crests.
-Sit on your spark.
Total Crests spent so far:
600/600 Hero
580/600 Mythic
Ending item level: 3x 285 slot, 2x 285 crafted slot, 1x 282 slot, 2x 279 slot, 1x 276 slot,
1x 272 crafted slot, 6x 266 slots. Average ILVL is 275.56, an increase of 2.44 ilvl for this
week.
Path 2)
-Upgrade 266 -> 269 in 3 slots. This will take 120 Hero Crests.
-Upgrade myth 272 -> 279 in 3 slots. This will take 90 Mythic Crests
-Sit on your spark.
Total Crests spent so far:
590/600 Hero
580/600 Mythic
Ending item level: 2x 285 slot, 2x 285 crafted slot, 1x 272 crafted slot, 1x 282 myth slot,
4x 279 slot, 5x 272 hero slots, 1x 269 slots. Average ILVL is 277.43, an increase
2.43 ilvls for this week. Mythic raiders who received loot will be slightly higher but
won’t have crests to spend.
Week 8
-Open your vault for a 272+ mythic track item. For our purposes, we’re going to assume
it’s a 1/6 from your mythic+ vault.
-Do your weekly +10’s to get Crests and vault slots.
-Clear Heroic and as much of Mythic raid as you can.You’ll want to keep clearing Heroic
because if the last bosses drop 4/6 items, they will be a significant crest save.
Because of the new system, you have two paths:
Path 1)
-Upgrade 266 -> 269 in 2 slots. This will take 60 Hero crests
-Upgrade 269 -> 272 in 1 slot. This will take 40 Hero Crests.
-Don’t upgrade your 272 mythic item.
-Upgrade your 1x Mythic track item from 276 -> 279 for 20 Mythic crests.
-Upgrade your 2x Mythic track item from 279 -> 282 for 60 Mythic crests
-Upgrade your 1x mythic track item from 282 -> 285 for 40 Mythic crests.
-Sit on your spark.
Total Crests spent so far:
700/700 Hero
700/700 Mythic
Ending item level: 4x 285 slot, 2x 285 crafted slot, 1x 282 slot, 2x 279 slot, 1x 272
crafted slot, 1x 272 myth slot, 1x 269 slot, 1x 272 hero slot, 3x 266 slots. Average ILVL
is 277.06, an increase of 1.50 ilvl for this week.
Path 2)
-Upgrade 269 -> 272 in 1 slot. This will take 40 Hero Crests.
-Upgrade 272 -> 276 in 1 slot. This will take 50 Hero Crests.
-Upgrade myth 272 -> 279 in 1 slots. This will take 30 Mythic Crests
-Upgrade 279 -> 282 in 3 slots. This will take 90 Mythic crests.
-Sit on your spark.
Total Crests spent so far:
680/700 Hero
700/700 Mythic
Ending item level: 2x 285 slot, 2x 285 crafted slot, 1x 272 crafted slot, 5x 279 slot, 1x 276 hero slot, 4x 272 hero slots.. Average ILVL is 278.31, an increase of
0.88 ilvls for this week.
Week 9
-Open your vault for a 272+ mythic track item. For our purposes, we’re going to assume
it’s a 1/6 from your mythic+ vault.
-Do your weekly +10’s to get Crests and vault slots.
-Clear Heroic and as much of Mythic raid as you can.You’ll want to keep clearing Heroic
because if the last bosses drop 4/6 items, they will be a significant crest save.
Because of the new system, you have two paths:
Path 1)
-Upgrade 269 -> 272 in 1 slot. This will take 40 Hero crests.
-Upgrade 272 -> 276 in the slot you got your vault item. This will take 50 Hero Crests,
but save you 10 Mythic Crests.
-Upgrade 1x Mythic track item 272 -> 276 for free.
-Upgrade your 2x Mythic track item from 279 -> 282 for 60 Mythic crests
-Upgrade your 1x mythic track item from 282 -> 285 for 40 Mythic crests.
-Sit on your spark.
Total Crests spent so far:
790/800 Hero
800/800 Mythic
Ending item level: 5x 285 slot, 2x 285 crafted slot, 2x 282 slot, 1x 272 crafted slot, 1x
276 myth slot, 1x 272 myth slot, 1x 269 slot, 1x 272 hero slot, 2x 266 slots. Average
ILVL is 278.25, an increase of 1.19 ilvl for this week.
Path 2)
-Upgrade 272 -> 276 in 2 slots. This will take 100 Hero Crests.
-Upgrade myth 272 -> 279 in 1 slot. This will take 30 Mythic Crests
-Upgrade myth 279 -> 282 in 2 slots. This will take 60 Mythic crests.
-Sit on your spark.
Total Crests spent so far:
780/800 Hero
790/800 Mythic
Ending item level: 2x 285 slot, 2x 285 crafted slot, 1x 272 crafted slot, 3x 282 myth slot,
4x 279 slot, 3x 276 hero slot, 1x 272 hero slot. Average ILVL is 279.62, an increase of
1.31 ilvls for this week.
Week 10
-Open your vault for a 272+ mythic track item. For our purposes, we’re going to assume
it’s a 1/6 from your mythic+ vault.
-Do your weekly +10’s to get Crests and vault slots.
-Clear Mythic
For simplicity's sake, I’m going to add 1x 272 1/6 mythic items to each path to
account for 3 Mythic item drops across 9 weeks of clear.
Because of the new system, you have two paths:
Path 1)
-Upgrade 269 -> 272 in 1 slot. This will take 40 Hero crests.
-Upgrade 272 -> 276 in the slot you got your vault item. This will take 50 Hero Crests,
but save you 10 Mythic Crests.
-Upgrade 1x Mythic track item 272 -> 276 for free.
-Upgrade your 2x Mythic track item from 276 -> 282 for 100 Mythic crests
-Sit on your spark.
Total Crests spent so far:
880/900 Hero
900/900 Mythic
Ending item level: 5x 285 slot, 2x 285 crafted slot, 4x 282 slot, 1x 272 crafted slot, 2x
272 myth slot, 1x 272 hero slot, 1x 266 slots. Average ILVL is 279.81, an increase of
1.56 ilvl for this week.
Path 2)
-Upgrade Mythic 272 -> 276 for free in 2 slots.
-Upgrade 272 -> 276 in 1 slots. This will take 50 Hero Crests. You are done with Hero
Crests on week 10.
-Upgrade myth 276 -> 282 in 2 slots. This will take 100 Mythic crests.
-Sit on your spark.
Total Crests spent so far:
830/900 Hero
890/900 Mythic
Ending item level: 2x 285 slot, 2x 285 crafted slot, 1x 272 crafted slot, 5x 282 myth slot,
4x 279 slot, 2x 276 hero slot. Average ILVL is 280.62, an increase of 1.00 ilvls for this
week.
Week 11
-Open your vault for a 272+ mythic track item. For our purposes, we’re going to assume
it’s a 1/6 from your mythic+ vault.
-Do your weekly +10’s to get Crests and vault slots.
-Clear Mythic.
On week 11, Path 1 overtakes Path 2 on ilvl.
Because of the new system, you have two paths:
Path 1)
-Upgrade 266 -> 272 in 1 slot. This will take 70 Hero crests.
-Upgrade 272 -> 276 in the slot you got your vault item. This will take 50 Hero Crests,
but save you 10 Mythic Crests.
-Upgrade 1x Mythic track item 272 -> 276 for free.
-Upgrade your 2x Mythic track item from 272 -> 279 for 60 Mythic crests.
-Upgrade your 1x mythic track item from 282 -> 285 for 40 Mythic crests.
-Sit on your spark.
Total Crests spent so far:
1000/1000 Hero
1000/1000 Mythic
Ending item level: 6x 285 slot, 2x 285 crafted slot, 3x 282 slot, 1x 272 crafted slot, 2x
279 myth slot, 1x 276 myth slot, 1x 272 hero slot. Average ILVL is 281.5, an increase of
1.69 ilvl for this week.
Path 2)
-Upgrade Mythic 272 -> 276 for free in 1 slot.
-Upgrade myth 276 -> 279 in 1 slot. This will take 20 Mythic crests.
-Upgrade myth 279 -> 282 in 3 slots. This will take 90 mythic crests.
-Sit on your spark.
Total Crests spent so far:
1000/1000 Mythic
Ending item level: 2x 285 slot, 2x 285 crafted slot, 1x 272 crafted slot, 8x 282 myth slot,
2x 279 slot, 1x 276 hero slot. Average ILVL is 281.37, an increase of 0.75 ilvls for this
week.
Week 12
-Open your vault for a 272+ mythic track item. For our purposes, we’re going to assume
it’s a 1/6 from your mythic+ vault.
-Do your weekly +10’s to get Crests and vault slots.
-Clear Mythic.
Because of the new system, you have two paths:
Path 1)
-Upgrade 272 -> 276 in the slot you got your vault item. This will take 50 Hero Crests,
but save you 10 Mythic Crests. You are done with Hero Crests on week 12.
-Upgrade 1x Mythic track item 272 -> 276 for free.
-Upgrade your 2x Mythic track item from 276 -> 279 for 40 Mythic crests.
-Upgrade your 2x mythic track item from 279 -> 282 for 60 Mythic crests.
Total Crests spent so far:
1100/1100 Mythic
Ending item level: 6x 285 slot, 2x 285 crafted slot, 5x 282 slot, 1x 272 crafted slot, 2x
279 myth slot. Average ILVL is 282.5, an increase of 1 ilvl for this week.
Path 2)
-Upgrade Mythic 272 -> 276 for free in 1 slot.
-Upgrade myth 276 -> 279 in 1 slot. This will take 20 Mythic crests.
-Upgrade myth 282 -> 285 in 2 slots. This will take 80 mythic crests.
Total Crests spent so far:
1000/1100 Mythic
Ending item level: 4x 285 slot, 2x 285 crafted slot, 1x 272 crafted slot, 6x 282 myth slot,
3x 279 slot. Average ILVL is 281.93, an increase of 0.56 ilvl for this week.
Week 13+
We are going to extrapolate crest upgrades from here, as we now know the cost of each
remaining item.
Path 1)
You need 1070 Mythic crests to put every item at 289 ilvl with 2 crafted pieces at 285.
This will take 11 more weeks, finishing your gear 23 weeks into the season.
Path 2)
You need 1180 Mythic crests to put every item at 289 ilvl with 2 crafted pieces at 285.
This will take 12 more weeks, finishing your gear 24 weeks into the season.
Changelog
Oct 20 - Fake Guide created