Mythic+ Keystones Guide

For a long time, raids were the primary PvE content in WoW. Dungeons remained merely a decent way to level up a character or gear up before tackling raids — nothing more, aside from a few specific experiments. The Legion expansion turned the tables: with the Mythic+ mode, dungeons gained an endlessly scaling difficulty level, accompanied by increasingly better rewards, allowing them to compete with raid drops. Since then, Mythic+ has become one of the key game modes. In our Mythic+ Keystones guide, we'll cover everything you need to know about them: how to obtain them, exchange them for others, and how the key level affects the gameplay.

What Is a Mythic+ Keystone and How to Get One

Mythic Keystones are your literal tickets to Mythic+ — players can get them by clearing dungeons on the highest difficulty or by claiming rewards from the Great Vault at the start of each week following successful dungeon runs. Technically, you can still enjoy M+ and its rewards without your own key — just team up with a group where at least one player has one. Still, having a Mythic Keystone in your inventory is never a bad idea.

How to Get Your First Mythic+ Keystone

There are a few ways to get your first personal Keystone:

• Clear any dungeon on Mythic difficulty (M+0) and loot the final boss.
• Run any M+ dungeon with a group that has a Keystone, and loot the chest at the end.
• Complete any M+ dungeon and claim your Keystone from the Great Vault the following week after reset.

And if you don't have the time to run a dungeon right now, you can always visit Lindormi — the vendor located in Silvermoon City, Valdrakken, or Dornogal.

Where Is the Keystone Vendor and How to Get a Replacement Key

The Keystone vendor, Lindormi, can be found in the capital cities of WoW's last three expansions:

• Silvermoon City — /way 42.2 58.8
• Dornogal — /way 53.8 39.0
• Valdrakken — /way 53.2 56.2

To grab a Replacement Key, just talk to the vendor and pick the right dialog option. Lindormi can help you out not only with your very first key but also if you've accidentally deleted the one you had. On top of that, the vendor offers every Keystone mount ever released, which you can buy with the Timelost Saddle — a special reward from the Keystone Myth achievement.

How Mythic+ Keystone Levels and Difficulty Scaling Work

Your Mythic+ journey starts at Keystone level +2. With each new level, your foes grow tougher — and certain levels unlock additional affixes that add extra layers of challenge. But the higher you go, the better the rewards get, all the way to the hardest keys out there.

Enemy Health and Damage at Each Keystone Level

Every Keystone level makes your dungeon enemies tougher than before. The table below shows exactly how the Mythic difficulty scales with each key level, all the way up to +15.

And sure, things keep ramping up past M+15 too — but that's rarefied air for the top-tier leaderboard crowd. If you're already feeling at home in the +15 range, you probably don't need to worry about the scaling numbers beyond that.

When You Get New Affixes

Fortunately, affixes don't get added all that often — only at certain key milestones:

• +2 to +4: Lindormi's Guidance — this one actually helps you out by weakening enemies and making deaths less punishing on the timer.
• +5 to +11: Xal'atath's Bargain — one of four weekly affixes that gives a buff either to your group or to the mobs.
• +7: Fortified or Tyrannical joins the mix — these classic affixes boost either trash or bosses, rotating weekly. But from +10 onward, both are active at the same time.
• +12 and beyond: Xal'atath's Guile takes over from Xal'atath's Bargain, ramping up the death penalty while Fortified and Tyrannical remain in play.

For a deeper dive into all seasonal affixes, be sure to check out our dedicated Mythic+ Affixes guide.

Mythic+ Keystone Depletion

Don't forget that the entire Mythic+ system revolves around one crucial element: the timer. It's at the heart of a core mechanic — if you want top-tier rewards and to avoid dropping your next Keystone to a lower level, you need to finish the dungeon on time. If you don't, your Keystone will deplete.

What Causes a Keystone to Deplete?

Even if you don't beat the timer, you can still loot the chest at the end and collect your rewards. But the Keystone you'll get in return will be one level lower than the one you used for that run. That means your next dungeon's rewards won't be as good — unless you're running +13 or higher, since Mythic+ loot quality actually caps out at +12.

How to Re-Upgrade a Depleted Keystone

However, the problem isn't as daunting as it may seem. There are no long-term penalties or punishments for failing to complete a dungeon on time. All you need to do is complete the next dungeon within the timer, and your following Keystone will get a +1 level upgrade.

How to Manually Lower Your Mythic+ Keystone Level

There may be times when you actually want to drop your key's level. You have two options in-game:

• Let your Keystone deplete by failing a dungeon run (no fighting required — just start it and leave).
• Talk to a specific NPC who can downgrade it for you.

The first method is straightforward: queue in, walk out, reset the dungeon, and your key drops by one level. The NPC route is a little more involved.

Where to Find the NPC to Downrank Your Keystone

There's also another way to downgrade your Keystone without setting foot in a dungeon — just talk to our old friend Lindormi, the Keystone vendor, who can be found in the capital cities of the last three expansions:

• Silvermoon City — /way 42.2 58.8
• Dornogal — /way 53.8 39.0
• Valdrakken — /way 53.2 56.2

Simply choose the dialogue option to lower your Keystone, and it'll go down by one level. You can repeat this as many times as you need until you get the key level you're after.

Why You Might Want a Lower Level Key

At first glance, purposely dropping your Keystone level might sound pretty weird. But in practice, there are plenty of situations where it actually makes perfect sense:

• Your group isn't looking like it'll beat the timer, but you don't want to ditch your friends.
• You're farming a specific dungeon for best-in-slot loot, but the affixes this week make higher keys a pain.
• You want to help undergeared buddies gear up, and your usual key level is just too tough for them.
• You only care about Great Vault rewards and don't feel like pushing past +10.
• You just want to practice in a dungeon and get comfortable with the tactics in a low-pressure environment.

So as you can see, there are plenty of good reasons to deplete your key — and luckily, the game gives you several ways to do it.

Best of luck in your Mythic+ adventures! And be sure to check out our Mythic+ Rewards guide to plan your goals for the coming season.