The staggered release has been part of Midnight Season 2’s slightly complicated launch calendar since before the raid opened. Normal, Heroic, Mythic and Raid Finder Wing 1 arrived together with Season 2, Story Mode and Wing 2 followed one week later, and Wing 3 now opens during the week of September 2 in Europe. Blizzard has apparently decided that casual raiders should meet the enormous poisonous snake gradually.
Raid Finder Wing 3 Has The Lost Explorers and Sszorak
The new wing is called The Serpent Warren and contains two encounters:
- The Lost Explorers
- Sszorak
The Lost Explorers are one of The Venomous Abyss’s stranger encounters, involving a group of unfortunate tortollans dealing with possession and ancient spirits. We previously used the fight as an example when looking at how Rogue Atrophic Poison interacts inconsistently with environmental raid damage, because some of the encounter’s damage sources do not behave like ordinary attackable enemies.
Sszorak is considerably less philosophical. It is an enormous venom-warped monster built around movement, crosswinds and the usual WoW rule that anything green on the floor probably deserves your immediate attention.
Wing 3 Can Help Fill Two Important Tier Slots
There is also a straightforward gearing reason to queue beyond simply seeing the encounters. The Lost Explorers are associated with Season 2 shoulder tier tokens, while Sszorak provides leg tokens. We covered the full distribution when explaining how Ula’tek’s Slumbering Coil Curio can eventually become any tier piece you choose.
Raid Finder naturally provides lower item-level versions than Normal, Heroic or Mythic, but filling an empty set slot can still matter enormously if it activates a two-piece or four-piece bonus. Season 2 class sets have already become one of the main sources of performance changes across the raid, and a modest LFR item can therefore outperform a theoretically stronger non-set piece simply because the bonus matters more than several item levels.
That is especially useful for alts and players who spent the Patch 12.1 pre-season preparing characters for Season 2 but have not been running organized raids every week.
Ula’tek Is Still Locked in Raid Finder Until September 9
Wing 3 does not provide access to the final two bosses. Raid Finder Wing 4, The Tomb of Ula’tek, opens in Europe on September 9 and contains:
- The Coiled Altar
- Ula’tek
That means Raid Finder players have another week before they can obtain Ula’tek’s flexible final-boss tier reward or see the complete raid through the matchmaking version. Anyone interested only in the story does not need to wait, however. Blizzard already opened Story Mode during the previous reset, giving solo-oriented players another way to experience the raid conclusion without joining a full raid group.
The gap between Raid Finder and the higher difficulties is particularly amusing this tier because Heroic Ula’tek had one of the harshest opening weeks WoW has seen in years, while Mythic adds shielded eggs and an hour-long stacking punishment for failed hatches. Raid Finder will presumably attempt to introduce players to the same ancient horror without requiring employment by Team Liquid.
The Raid Is Already Being Softened Around the Edges
The timing also comes as Blizzard continues adjusting The Venomous Abyss. The September 1 hotfixes reduced several Raid Finder encounters, including a 15% health reduction for Nek’zali, 15% less health for the Entombed Sentinels and major reductions to The Twin Fangs. Higher difficulties received changes of their own, and Mythic Coiled Altar has already been hit by another round of direct tuning.
That fits Blizzard’s broader plan for the tier. Before Season 2 began, the developers confirmed that The Venomous Abyss would gradually become easier as the season progressed, through both player power and targeted encounter changes.
For Raid Finder players, though, today’s job is considerably simpler.
Queue for The Serpent Warren.
Kill two bosses.
Hope the tier token drops.
And enjoy one more week before Ula’tek becomes everybody’s problem.
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