What to Do First in Curse of Ula'tek

Patch 12.1 picks up directly from the chapter Blizzard released in early July. If you never finished Legacy of the Amani, start with Hagar's Invitation. You have to finish that chapter before Chapter 2 will send you to the Coiled Isle.

When you get there, grab the flight path at Tokka's Landing immediately. I would also set my Hearthstone there for the preseason week because you are going back and forth between the island and Silvermoon until better travel opens up.

The Coiled Isle is basically two zones. You have the surface, which has the main hub, Curse Surges, rares, treasures, fishing, two regular Delves, and the Tidebound Grotto Lair. Then underneath all of that are the Vaults of Atal'Utek, which are much more combat-focused and do not allow flying mounts.

Curse Surges rotate through five locations around the island. You finish the event, kill the rare elite, collect the rewards, and eventually the Surge moves somewhere else. Clearing one also unlocks Cursed Fishing in that area.

The weekly Turn Back the Surge asks you to clear three Curse Surges. It lists a Spark of Tides as a reward, but Blizzard is currently investigating reports that the Spark does not always show up correctly. So if you just want to make sure you get your weekly Spark, I would use one of the Silvermoon weeklies below for now.

Captain Tokka has a separate friendship reputation tied to Cursed Fishing. Working through it opens more fishing activities and rewards including cosmetics, decor, a mount, and the Coiled Huntress fishing pole.

If you do not care about fishing, skip it. This does not affect your raid or Mythic+ progression.

Once the campaign sends you underground, pick up Into the Vaults of Atal'Utek and follow the introduction. Grab the flight paths while you are down there too. You cannot fly normally inside the Vaults, so those are actually useful.

The Vaults are built around a repeating public-event loop. Temple Patrols and Temple Strikes feed into a Temple Incursion, and finishing that eventually spawns an Ancient Foe. This is one of the main ways you earn Corrosive Coins, Corrosive Souls, reputation, and the Vault-specific rewards.

Ancient Foes are also more useful for Week One gearing than they looked at first. Killing one rewards a Venom-Drenched Sack with 10 Champion Mistcrests and a Veteran piece, and your first Ancient Foe of the week also gives a Corrosive Soul and a Venom-Cursed Fragment.

If you are mostly here for raid and Mythic+, you still do not need to farm the Vaults all week. But if an Incursion is about to finish while you are already down there, the Ancient Foe afterward is worth sticking around for.

The original Midnight Renown factions have updated Season 2 Veteran rewards, and Zul'jarra's Forces adds another early Veteran piece. If you already have the Renown requirements, these are basically free upgrades.

The Veteran pieces can also save you crests later. WoW remembers the highest item level you have reached in a slot, so pushing the lower track first can reduce what it costs to upgrade the Champion or Hero piece that replaces it.

The launch-week Spark situation is a little weird. Right now, every character can get two Sparks of Tides this week.

Your first comes from Trailing Xal'atath in Silvermoon, which asks for 100 Fading Voidwhispers from things like dungeons, Delves, rares, and treasures. You are probably going to finish this naturally if you are already doing Week One content.

Your second can come from the Sparks of War weekly quests in Silvermoon. These require War Mode, but you do not actually have to go hunt players; world quests, treasures, and the other listed objectives count. There are also reports of some non-PvP weeklies filling that second-Spark slot.

Turn Back the Surge also lists a Spark reward, but players have reported inconsistent results from it. Until Blizzard sorts that out, I would not make it your only plan for one of the two normal Sparks.

If you skipped the Omnium Folio, go finish it. Blizzard built it to last through the rest of Midnight, all five progression steps are available now, and it is free character power that does not take up a gear slot.

The starting quest is The Magisters' Call from the Magister's Missive near the Ritual Site vendors in Silvermoon. Once you have done the introduction on one character, your alts can skip it.

Patch 12.1 adds three Delves:

• The Ring of Glory
• Gnarldor Isle
• Venomfall Deeps — the Season 2 Nemesis Delve

During preseason, Delve Tiers 1–11 are available along with the lower ? Nemesis difficulty. What is not active yet are Bountiful Delves, Coffer Keys, the ?? Nemesis difficulty, and the normal Season 2 reward structure.

If you are going after the first-week Nemesis Feat of Strength, practice Azta'rec on ? now. The ?? difficulty opens August 18, and the solo kill has to happen during the first week of Season 2 for the special Fabled achievement and title.

Altar of Fangs is the new three-boss dungeon inside the Vaults of Atal'Utek:

1. Rav'i
2. The Writhing Coil
3. Zul'jan

It is available on Heroic and Mythic 0 during preseason and joins the Mythic+ pool when Season 2 begins.

Lairs are basically instanced world bosses with real difficulty options. Patch 12.1's first one is The Tidebound Grotto, where you fight Nymrissa Wavecaller.

During preseason, only World difficulty is open, and it drops Season 2 Veteran gear. Normal, Heroic, and flexible Mythic open on August 18. Lair kills also count toward the raid row of the Great Vault.

Season 2 Prey is already available in a limited form. Normal and Hard are open during preseason, while Nightmare and Curse of the Isle wait until August 18.

If you like Prey, there is Season 2 Veteran gear available this week. If you do not, skip it.

The dye system has also been condensed from dozens of individual colors into nine base dye categories, which should save a ton of bag space.

Raid rewards in the Great Vault now jump to the next track: LFR → Champion, Normal → Hero, Heroic → Myth, while Mythic raid Vault rewards arrive fully upgraded at Myth 6/6. Very Rare items and rewards from the final two Mythic bosses can go beyond the normal Myth upgrade ceiling.

The Catalyst also changed in an important way: converted tier pieces now inherit the original item's secondary stats and cantrip effects. So the piece you put into the Catalyst matters.

Nebulous Voidcores continue as the bonus-roll currency, and raid bonus rolls now cost one Voidcore instead of two. However, Blizzard clarified that you cannot choose a Voidcore from the first Season 2 Great Vault on August 18. The first Vault opportunity arrives the following week, August 25, and requires at least three Vault panes unlocked.