Liquid, Echo Race to World First split raid gearing bonanza leads to Mythic WoW boss buffs

Blizzard’s new experimental approach to World of Warcraft raid releases has led to a gearing strategy change by the game’s top guilds, and it seems like Blizzard might be concerned that the Race to World First could end too quickly.

With Dragonflight’s first raid, Vault of the Incarnates, releasing in Normal, Heroic, and Mythic all in the same week, the initial perception was that top guilds would likely go into the encounters with less gear than normal. 

Blizzard hotfixed a number of Mythic bosses today, however, giving them buffs after seeing the way that Liquid and Echo spent ample time rapidly gearing themselves before heading into the instance. While top guilds continued to focus on gearing themselves to the teeth, a few other guilds were able to down some early bosses in the instance relatively easily.

Related: Liquid’s delayed WoW Race to World First start pays early dividends after days of gearing

Blizzard this morning buffed four of the raid’s bosses: Terros, Sennarth, Kurog Grimtotem, and Broodkeeper Diurna. Across the board, boss buffs came in the form of damage infliction.

While most guilds haven’t had a chance to see how these damage changes will affect progression, the buffs to Terros’ Explosive Reaction and Seismic Assault were the only things that could slow down Liquid’s blazing Race to World start this afternoon. 

After the guild defeated Eranog and Primal Council in just one attempt a piece, Terros’ high damage output led to a couple of messy pulls by Liquid. It didn’t hold them up for too long though. The guild downed the boss in just five attempts.

The next boss in progression, Sennarth, got heavy buffs to Chilling Blast and Icy Ground damage. Meanwhile, Kurog’s damage was increased for Elemental Surge, Frigid Torrent, and Primal Attunement. Diurna received a change to Empowered Greatstaff’s Wrath, Greatstaff’s Wrath, and Storm Fissure.