WoW Midnight Season 2 - Gearing & Item Level Guide

Patch 12.1 "Curse of Ula'tek" - Season 2 - Raid: The Venomous Abyss

PTR client build 12.1.0.68745 patch 12.1 "Curse of Ula'tek" updated 2026-07-19

Item levels and crest costs datamined from the 12.1 PTR client build, including the July 8 update that raised all Season 2 rewards by 7 item levels.

How upgrading works

Gear belongs to one of five upgrade tracks. Each track has 6 ranks (Myth runs to 9). A freshly looted piece starts at its track's 1/6 - a no-crest drop entry - and you spend crests to climb. Tracks cross over: one item level is the top of one track and the entry rank of the next, so the ladder is continuous from 266 to the cap. Drops land all across the ladder - where you earn a piece decides its track and rank.

▲ Upgrade Ladder

datamined

Climbing costs a flat 20 crests per step - 100 crests to take a track from its 1/6 drop entry to 6/6. Every track uses the same flat cost. datamined - the early-PTR 10→50 scaling ramp was reverted

ilvl Track & rank

266 Adventurer 1/6

269 Adventurer 2/6

272 Adventurer 3/6

276 Adventurer 4/6

279 Adventurer 5/6 = Veteran 1/6 cross

282 Adventurer 6/6 = Veteran 2/6 cross

285 Veteran 3/6

289 Veteran 4/6

292 Veteran 5/6 = Champion 1/6 cross

295 Veteran 6/6 = Champion 2/6 cross

298 Champion 3/6

302 Champion 4/6

305 Champion 5/6 = Hero 1/6 cross

308 Champion 6/6 = Hero 2/6 cross

311 Hero 3/6

315 Hero 4/6

318 Hero 5/6 = Myth 1/6 cross

321 Hero 6/6 = Myth 2/6 cross

324 Myth 3/6

328 Myth 4/6

331 Myth 5/6

334 Myth 6/6 Upgrade cap

Above the cap (334) there is no crest route - two ways up

Ascendant Venomstone forge

Spend 10 Ascendant Venomstones on a fully-upgraded eligible piece (Hero 6/6, Myth 6/6, or a max-quality crafted item) to forge it past the cap in one transaction - not per rank. Eligible slots: weapons, trinkets, and (new in 12.1) necklaces.

337 Myth 7 estimated

340 Myth 8 estimated

The forged item levels have not been re-datamined since the July 8 buff - 337 / 340 extend the ladder's step pattern above the 334 cap. Necklaces were confirmed forge-eligible to Myth 8 pre-buff. The exact per-slot forged ceiling - what reaches Myth 7 vs Myth 8, and the weapon / trinket cap - is not fully stated yet.

Drops only - no upgrade route

344 Myth 9 Very Rare + final 2 bosses

Top of the crest path = 334 (Myth 6/6). Above it there is no crest route - the Ascendant Venomstone forge lifts eligible weapons / trinkets / necklaces past the cap, and 344 (Myth 9) drops from Very Rare items and the final two bosses. Each track's first rank (266, 279, 292, 305, 318) is a free no-crest drop entry; where you earn a drop - LFR / Normal / Heroic / Mythic raid, M+, or delves - decides which track and rank it lands on (see the acquisition tables).

📊 Flat Crest Cost

datamined

Per upgrade step - same for every track

1→2

2→3

3→4

4→5

5→6

Total = 100 crests to cap one track.

Blizzard reverted the scaling ramp mid-PTR: "Fixed an issue where upgrading gear had scaling upgrade costs. Gear now has flat costs to upgrade each track like in Midnight Season 1." The early-PTR 10/20/30/40/50 ramp (150 to cap) is gone. Above the Myth 6/6 cap there is no crest route - the Venomstone forge and Very Rare / final-boss drops carry the top ranks (see the ladder).

◆ Crests

confirmed

One crest type per track. Weekly cap 100 per type per character (~500/week total, so about one capped track per week).

Adventurer Mistcrest

Veteran Mistcrest

Champion Mistcrest

Hero Mistcrest

Myth Mistcrest

Confirmed: Season 2's crests are the Mistcrests - now datamined by name in the PTR client (Season 1's were Dawncrests). Valorstones stay removed; upgrades cost crests plus a little gold.

⚔ Raid - The Venomous Abyss

estimated

Difficulty	Drop range	Very Rare / last 2	Crest
LFR	279 - 285	~289	Veteran
Normal	292 - 298	~302	Champion
Heroic	305 - 311	~315	Hero
Mythic	318 - 324	344 (Myth 9)	Myth

8 bosses, final boss Ula'tek. Loot steps up across the raid - the earliest bosses drop the range's floor, bosses 7-8 the top. All values reflect the July 8 PTR +7 buff; the 12.1 vault track-up is the raid-side buff this season.

🗡 Mythic+ Dungeons

estimated

Key	Loot	Vault	Crest	# Crests
M0	292	302	Champion	~10
+2	295	305	Champion	12
+3	295	305	Champion	14
+4	298	308	Hero	10
+5	302	308	Hero	12
+6	305	311	Hero	14
+7	305	315	Hero	16
+8	308	315	Hero	18
+9	308	315	Myth	10
+10	311	318	Myth	12
+11	311	318	Myth	14
+12	311	318	Myth	16

End-of-dungeon loot caps ~311 (Hero 3/6); Great Vault caps ~318 (Myth 1/6) at +10. Crest by key: Champion (+2/3) → Hero (+4-8) → Myth (+9+). No M+-specific reward change in 12.1; the buff is raid-side. New dungeon Altar of Fangs joins the pool. The +11 and +12 crest counts extend the pattern from the confirmed +2 to +10 keys.

⛏ Bountiful Delves

estimated

Tier	Loot	Vault	Crest
1	266	279	-
2	269	282	-
3	272	285	-
4	276	289	Adv
5	279	292	Vet
6	282	298	Vet/Ch
7	292 - 295	302	Champ
8+	295	305	Champ

Season 2 pushes Bountiful Delve rewards beyond the old Tier 7 cap, up through Tier 11 (T9-11 item levels not yet known). Tier 11 and the new Nemesis delve Venomfall Deeps drop Ascendant Venomstones.

⚒ Crafting

estimated

State	ilvl	Cost
Base epic no crest	305	Spark(s) only
+ Hero crests	318	80 Hero crests
+ Myth crests	331	80 Myth crests

12.1 Catalyst now preserves secondary + tertiary stats + cantrip effects on conversion.

🎁 Great Vault Track-Up

confirmed

Each difficulty's Great Vault gives gear one upgrade track higher than that difficulty's drops.

LFR292Champion 1/6derived

Normal305Hero 1/6derived

Heroic318Myth 1/6

Mythic334Myth 6/6

Very Rare + final 2344Myth 9/6

Heroic → Myth 1/6, Mythic → Myth 6/6, and Very Rare + the final 2 bosses → Myth 9/6 (344) are confirmed. LFR → Champion 1/6 and Normal → Hero 1/6 are derived from the same one-track-up rule.

🎲 Bonus Rolls

confirmed

Each bonus roll now costs 1 Nebulous Voidcore (down from 2) - a separate token from the Ascendant Venomstones used for forging. The loot is one difficulty tier above the content you rolled on.

⚙ Other 12.1 Changes

confirmed

July 8 PTR update: all Season 2 rewards were buffed +7 item levels, and the early-PTR scaling crest costs were reverted to a flat 20 per step.
Catalyst now preserves secondary + tertiary stats + cantrip effects on conversion.
Necklaces join the Ascendant Venomstone forge (with weapons + trinkets), reaching Myth 8. They already ride the normal upgrade tracks to 6/6 like all gear - what is new in 12.1 is forge eligibility above the cap.
Ascendant Venomstones are the new top-end forge currency (replaces Voidcores): 10 per item (was 5). Earned from Heroic / Mythic raid bosses, M+ +10 and up, Tier 11 Bountiful Delves, and Nightmare Prey Hunt boxes.
Bountiful Delve rewards now push beyond the old Tier 7 cap, up through Tier 11; Tier 11 and the new Nemesis delve Venomfall Deeps drop Venomstones.

🎨 Track Color Legend

Adventurer266 - 282

Veteran279 - 295

Champion292 - 308

Hero305 - 321

Myth318 - 344

Track colors live in the ladder and the tables. Confidence colors live on panel rails and badges - they are a separate signal.

ⓘ Confidence Key

datamined Pulled straight from the 12.1 PTR client build - trustworthy but pre-launch. Themes the upgrade ladder and the flat crest cost.

confirmed Blizzard has stated the rule (some exact numbers may still be projected). Themes the crests, Great Vault track-up, bonus rolls, and other 12.1 changes.

estimated Our estimate - based on the datamined upgrade tracks, mapped to each source the way Season 1 did. Not datamined; it firms up when the 12.1 loot tables are parsed. Themes the acquisition tables. The diagonal hatch on the rail marks an estimate.