Mythic+ dungeons represent the pinnacle of small group PvE challenges in World of Warcraft. Each new season shakes up the meta with affix changes that reward players able to master new routes and approaches. Here is your seasonal guide to dominating mythic+ and pushing the highest keystone levels.

Planning Optimal Routes 

The first step to success in Mythic+ is planning an optimal dungeon route. Each dungeon has a range of paths depending on seasonal affixes, so knowledgeable teams adapt week-to-week. Here are essential factors to consider when plotting routes:

• Enemy Forces – Balance enemy forces across the dungeon to efficiently reach 100% at the final boss. Don’t overpull early and miss the percentage at the end.
• Enemy Placement – Carefully review enemy patrol paths and abilities when determining pull order and sizing. Disruptive casters and patrols can derail pulls. 
• Affix Impact – Affixes like Sanguine or Grievous may require pulling less enemies at once while others like Volcanic prefer stacked pulls.
• Time Saving – Incorporate necessary movement buffs, skips, and shroud/invisibility routes to save time between pulls.
• Map Tools – Use Method Dungeon Tools or similar to model routes, tracking percentages, and enemy forces for optimal planning.

Properly balancing enemy forces is crucial to mythic+ success. At the start of a run, carefully tab through packs and add up totals to get you as close to 100% as possible when reaching the final boss. Going over 100% wastes time, while finishing short leaves key enemies alive that block your path.

Factor in that bigger pulls often wastes more count percentage as the combat time gives more chance for enemies to continually spawn. Single target-focused pulls can maximize enemy forces toward the end more efficiently.

Ideally, routes balance big pulls around cooldowns with easier enemy packs that recover resources. Efficiency is key.

Adapting to Affixes

Mythic+ affixes require tailored strategies each week. Here are tips to master key seasonal affixes:

• Sanguine – Kite enemies out of red puddles, use snares/grips, and avoid stationary channeled casts. Melee heavy comps have a harder time, while mobile ranged DPS can excel here. Steps must be taken to reduce passive cleave damage extending puddles.
• Grievous – Burst healing when stacks are under 3, use damage reduction cooldowns proactively and rotate immunities. Bring classes with heal over time effects or immunities to help group members reset stacks between pulls.
• Explosive – Instant attacks and pets help kill orbs quickly between pulls. Assign orb duty to ranged DPS. Hunters, Demon Hunters, and Mages shine due to frequent casts and pets that can instantly switch targets.
• Volcanic – Stack loosely during pulls and be ready to dodge eruption zones. Use heavy AoE slows. Tanks should position enemies faced away from the party to direct Volcanic areas safely away.
• Storming – Stay mobile, don’t overlap with others, and preposition for predictable storm spawns. Melee staying on boss/priority targets helps ranged handle Storming spawns more easily.
• Spiteful – Crowd control or focus fire spiteful shades while staying spread. Interrupt shade casts. Classes with spammable CC like Polymorph or Hex make dealing with Spiteful Shade spawns efficient.
• Inspiring – Pull inspiring enemies away from linked packs and use single target stuns/grips to separate. Closely manage enemy pack patrols to avoid linking dangerous packs with Inspiring.

Each affix combo poses unique challenges. Flexibly adjust routes and tactics each mythic+ run to handle new affix hurdles each week.

Each affix combo poses unique challenges. For tips on purchasing mythic+ dungeon carries to help overcome affix hurdles each week, check out this guide: Breaking Down the WoW Mythic Carry Process.

Useful Utilities by Role 

Certain class and spec utilities are extremely valuable in mythic+ dungeons. Here are optimal utilities to leverage:

Tanks:

Mobility – Death Grip, Intervene, Roll, etc. Speed up enemy packs.

Kiting – Slows like Piercing Howl when kiting enemies with Sanguine. 

Crowd Control – Short CD disorients, stuns, and knockbacks to disrupt dangerous casts.

Strong defensive/immunity cooldowns to withstand big pull spike damage.

Tanks should also maximize their use of talent builds and gear setups tailored for mythic+ gameplay. For example, talent choices like Spell Reflection for Warriors or Last Resort for Vengeance Demon Hunters provide crucial spell damage mitigation on dangerous pulls. Gearing for avoidance and speed through items like Shard of Tel’anor or Shadow-Walker’s McConnel allows faster enemy pack movement and improved survivability. Tanks are the cornerstone of a mythic+ group, so optimizing tank talents and gear for mythic+ effects like haste, avoidance, interrupts, and spell damage reduction separates the good tanks from the great ones when pushing higher keys.

Healers:

Dispel – Quickly remove enrage effects, curses, and magic debuffs.

Immunity – Prevent dangerous debuffs on party members with Blessing of Protection or Netherward. 

Interrupts – Help mitigate damage by interrupting high-impact enemy abilities.

Mobility and swift repositioning tools to avoid afflixes while healing.

Melee DPS: 

Enemy Positioning – Grips and knockbacks get casters out of the backline.

Stuns – Multi-target and single target stuns create interrupt rotations.

Self Healing – Talents like Leech help handle high group damage periods.

Enemy aggro redirects like Misdirect help tanks regain control of loose enemies.

Ranged DPS:

Kiting – Slows and snares allow “peel kiting” of dangerous enemies. 

Crowd Control – AoE stuns, roots, sheep, etc. enable complex pull strategies.

Immunities – Aspect of the Turtle or Cloak of Shadows can cheese mechanics.

Crowd control removal abilities to counter effects like Polymorph or Shackle.

Optimal Group Composition

While skill matters most, an ideal mythic+ group has:

• A sturdy tank with great kiting abilities, mobility, and crowd control.
• A healer with both proactive damage reduction and emergency spot healing.
• Ranged DPS with multi-target crowd control and slows.
• Melee DPS with interrupts, stuns, displacement tools, and off-healing. 
• A diverse mix of immunities spread across the party.

Carefully balance offense and defense when designing a mythic+ team. Complementary utilities create cohesion. 

Mastering Mythic+ requires dedicated practice as a coordinated team week-to-week. Optimize routes around affixes, leverage utility toolkits, and build resilient teams to push the highest keystone levels. Consistent execution will set you ahead of the pack.