How Mythic+ Rating Is Calculated and Why It Stalls

By LOLValue Team · October 12, 2026

Every Mythic+ player eventually hits the same wall: the runs keep going well, and the number stops moving. It is one of the most common frustrations in World of Warcraft’s endgame, and almost all of it comes from not understanding how the score is built.

This is an explanation of what the rating actually measures in Midnight Season 2, why it plateaus, and what genuinely moves it. It is also why a mythic carry is usually needed for two or three specific dungeons rather than for Mythic+ as a whole.

What the score is

Mythic+ rating is a per-character number aggregated from your best runs in each dungeon of the season’s pool. Season 2 uses eight dungeons: Altar of Fangs, Murder Row, Den of Nalorakk, The Blinding Vale, Voidscar Arena, King’s Rest, Temple of Sethraliss and Ruby Life Pools.

The key structural point is that it is per dungeon. Your score is not a tally of everything you have run; it is a sum of your best result in each of the eight. Running the same dungeon ten times at the same level adds nothing after the first success.

This single fact explains most stalled ratings, and it is why people looking for a mythic carry often need help with two or three specific dungeons rather than with Mythic+ generally.

Why it plateaus

A rating stalls for one of four reasons, and they are worth separating because the fixes are different.

You are repeating your strong dungeons. The comfortable route gets run again and again while two or three dungeons sit at a much lower level. Those are the ones holding the total down.

You stopped timing. Completing a key without beating the timer still awards loot and still counts, but it contributes far less than a timed run and degrades the key.

You reached your group’s ceiling. Above +10, pick-up groups thin out sharply. Progress at higher levels usually requires a consistent group, which is a scheduling constraint rather than a skill one.

You are on an unfavourable affix week. Between +7 and +11 the weekly Xal’atath’s Bargain variant and the Tyrannical/Fortified alternation interact with composition. Some weeks are simply worse for your group.

The level thresholds that matter

| Level | What it means for rating and rewards |

|---|---|

| +2 | Entry, around item level 285 |

| +6 | Lindormi’s Guidance drops away |

| +7 | Tyrannical or Fortified enters, weekly alternation begins |

| +10 | Myth-track Vault item at 318; dungeon rewards cap at Hero 3/6, 311 |

| +12 | Bargain replaced by Xal’atath’s Guile and the full timer penalty |

Above +10 nothing about gear improves. Everything gained is score. That is a clean line, and a large share of Mythic+ frustration comes from players pushing past it without realising they crossed it.

Cutoffs are relative, not fixed

Seasonal titles and rewards are awarded against a threshold calculated from the player population, not against a published number. Nobody knows the exact figure until the season ends.

That is why experienced players talk about being “safe” rather than qualified, and why chasing a title is a different commitment from chasing gear. Gear has a defined endpoint; a population-relative cutoff moves as everyone else plays.

What actually raises a score

Four things, in rough order of effectiveness:

1. Raise your weakest dungeons. Two dungeons five levels behind the rest cost more than the best run gains.
2. Time the key. An untimed completion is worth much less and costs you the key level.
3. Play the favourable weeks. Push when the affix suits your composition; farm when it does not.
4. Stabilise the group. Above +10, a consistent five does more for a rating than any individual improvement.

Notably absent from that list: running more keys. Volume alone does very little once each dungeon has a decent result recorded.

The season context

Season 2 launched on 18 August on North American realms and 19 August in Europe, carried by patch 12.1, The Curse of Ula’tek. Alongside Mythic+, the Great Vault fills from the Venomous Abyss raid — eight bosses ending at Ula’tek — and from the Tidebound Grotto Lair, whose Mythic kill counts toward the raid slot.

A player optimising a week is therefore not maximising keys. They are covering three systems with enough activity in each to fill the Vault.

What is on the test realm

Patch 12.1.5, The Promise of Tomorrow, was announced on 3 September and is testable now. It adds a story campaign, the one-boss Unbinding of Kith’ix raid, an Aqir Invasion event, a new upgrade currency called Ascendant Venomstones, and Labyrinths — mega-dungeon-scale content with its own progression, built to be completed at the player’s own pace.

Blizzard has not confirmed a release date. The early-October expectation circulating in the community is inferred from the studio’s recent eight-week cadence.

The honest advice

If your rating has stopped moving, open your dungeon list and look at the two lowest entries. That is almost always the answer. Repeating the dungeon you enjoy most feels productive and does nothing, while a single timed run in the one you have been avoiding moves the number more than an entire evening of comfortable repeats.

And if the goal is gear rather than a title, check whether you already passed +10. If you did, the system has stopped rewarding you, and no amount of pushing will change that.

The two-dungeon problem, illustrated

The fastest way to see why repetition fails is to look at how a stalled rating is usually distributed. A typical player who feels stuck will have something like this:

| Dungeon | Best timed run |

|---|---|

| Altar of Fangs | +12 |

| Murder Row | +11 |

| Den of Nalorakk | +11 |

| The Blinding Vale | +10 |

| Voidscar Arena | +10 |

| King’s Rest | +10 |

| Temple of Sethraliss | +5 |

| Ruby Life Pools | +4 |

Six dungeons in good shape, two badly behind. Another run at +12 in Altar of Fangs adds almost nothing. A timed +9 in Ruby Life Pools adds a great deal.

Players avoid their weak dungeons for understandable reasons — a bad experience, an unfamiliar route, a composition that struggles there. But avoidance is exactly what produces the plateau, and it compounds: the longer a dungeon sits at a low level, the less comfortable it becomes to attempt.

The fix is unglamorous

Pick the lowest entry on your list. Run it two levels below where you would normally push, with a group you trust, and time it. Then do it again one level higher.

Two evenings spent this way will move a stalled rating more than a fortnight of comfortable repeats. It is not an interesting piece of advice, which is probably why so few people follow it.

LoL account value calculator · LoL skins database · LoL MMR checker · Wasted on LoL · Riot Points to USD

LoLValue isn't endorsed by Riot Games and doesn't reflect the views or opinions of Riot Games or anyone officially involved in producing or managing Riot Games properties. Riot Games, and all associated properties are trademarks or registered trademarks of Riot Games, Inc.