How quickly can we make the number on this rock bigger?
There is a small trick worth knowing before you start clearing every available activity. Your first Season 2 Mythic+ Keystone will normally be a +2.
However, if you complete a higher Mythic+ dungeon before receiving your own Keystone, the game can instead give you a key one level below the highest Mythic+ you have completed.
That means players with organised groups may want to be careful about where their first Keystone comes from.
Several Activities Can Give You That First +2
The important part is that a Keystone does not only come from Mythic+ itself.
According to the Season 2 Keystone rules highlighted by Wowhead, you can receive your first Keystone from several sources:
- A Tier 11 Delve
- A Mythic 0 dungeon
- A Mythic+ dungeon
- A Great Vault containing an eligible dungeon reward
If you have not completed a Mythic+ dungeon yet, that first Keystone will generally be a +2.
For most players, that is perfectly fine.
You run the +2.
Time it.
Get a higher key.
Repeat until the dungeon begins requiring concentration and people stop discussing lunch in voice chat.
But for geared groups planning to push immediately, starting four or five characters at +2 can mean spending several runs climbing through levels they already know they can handle.
Complete a Higher Key Before Receiving Your Own
The useful mechanic is simple.
If you complete a Mythic+ dungeon before receiving your own Season 2 Keystone, your eventual key can be awarded at one level below the highest Mythic+ dungeon you have completed.
So if you complete a +8 before obtaining a Keystone, your first key can be a +7 rather than a +2.
That creates an obvious strategy for an organised five-player group.
One character accepts the initial +2.
The group pushes that key upward.
The other characters avoid activities that would give them their own Keystone.
Once the group reaches the desired level, those players can begin receiving their keys based on the higher dungeon they already completed.
Congratulations.
You have transformed one small rock into several larger rocks through teamwork.
Azerothian economics remains fascinating.
Be Careful With Mythic 0 and Tier 11 Delves
The easiest mistake is doing something completely reasonable before your group begins pushing.
Season 2 Mythic 0 dungeons are particularly tempting because Blizzard has moved them back to a daily lockout. We covered that change when Blizzard reworked all eight Season 2 dungeons immediately before launch.
Run a Mythic 0 before doing your planned higher key, however, and you can receive your +2.
The same warning applies to Tier 11 Delves.
That does not make either activity bad.
It simply means order matters if you are deliberately trying to skip the opening Keystone levels.
Our Season 2 rollover guide already warned about several reset-related traps, and this is another one to add to the opening-week checklist.
Your Great Vault Can Also Ruin the Plan
The Great Vault deserves special attention because opening it is practically muscle memory on reset day.
If your Vault contains the appropriate dungeon reward, claiming it can also provide your Season 2 Keystone.
For the overwhelming majority of players, opening the Vault immediately is exactly what they should do.
If your organised group specifically wants to push somebody else's key before generating your own, however, clicking everything that glows the moment you log in can quietly defeat the entire strategy.
This is very specialised optimisation.
It is also extremely World of Warcraft.
There Is a Full-Bag Trick, But We Would Not Build a Plan Around It
Some high-end players used another method during the previous season.
If every bag slot was full when the game attempted to automatically award a Keystone, the key could fail to enter the player's bags. Players could then keep running higher Mythic+ dungeons before eventually making room and receiving a higher-level Keystone.
There is one substantial problem.
It is not currently guaranteed that the full-bag method still works in Season 2.
Blizzard has changed Keystone looting behaviour before, and relying on an inventory quirk is considerably less dependable than simply controlling which characters receive the first keys.
So yes, the trick exists.
No, we would not organise the evening around sixteen stacks of fish and a prayer.
This Mostly Matters to Organised Groups
None of this means normal players should be afraid of receiving a +2.
Quite the opposite.
Season 2 has only just begun, and starting at +2 gives players a sensible opportunity to learn the new dungeon pool before timers and enemy damage become genuinely unpleasant.
That may be particularly useful this season because Blizzard changed dungeon mechanics almost immediately before launch. Anyone who memorised old routes should check them again before pushing, especially after the last-minute Season 2 dungeon overhaul.
Every enemy is also still carrying the 4% global Mythic+ health increase Blizzard added for Season 2.
A +2 is not a punishment.
It is just inefficient if your group already intends to jump directly into substantially harder content.
Resilient Keystones Change the Long-Term Problem
There is another reason not to obsess too much over your first rock.
Season 2 introduces Blizzard's new Resilient Keystone system.
Once you have successfully completed every dungeon in the seasonal pool at a particular level, your Keystone gains protection against falling below that threshold.
The opening climb can therefore be annoying, but maintaining useful key levels should become less painful once your group has demonstrated that it can handle the full dungeon rotation.
That makes the first-day +2 problem mostly what it sounds like:
A first-day optimisation problem.
Most Players Should Just Play
The first Season 2 Mythic+ meta is already beginning to form, but live Week 1 data will matter far more than predictions made before thousands of groups begin pushing keys.
If you are running with friends and want to optimise every hour, controlling who receives the first +2 can save several low-level runs.
If you are pugging, gearing an alt or simply discovering the new dungeon rotation, take the +2 and play the game.
There is no shame in starting at the bottom.
Someone has to create the first +2.
Otherwise the entire Mythic+ economy appears to collapse.
Just remember the rule before reset-day autopilot takes over:
If you want a higher first Keystone, complete the higher Mythic+ before doing anything that gives you your own +2.
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