Mythic+ basics: the timer, the route and what each role owes the group

01The timer is the real boss

A Mythic+ run is judged on one thing: finishing inside the time limit. Beat it and the key goes up; miss it and the key goes down. Every death adds a time penalty on top of the run back, and every wipe means redoing the pull. That is why a clean, slightly slower run beats a fast one where someone dies on every other pack — speed comes from not repeating things, not from rushing them.

• You need the full enemy forces bar, not just the bosses: the route matters.
• A death costs more than the seconds on the penalty.
• Consumables and a quick restart after a wipe are part of the timer too.

02Tank: the pace and the route

The tank decides what gets pulled and when, so the tank owns the pace of the run. Knowing the route — which packs are skipped, where the big pulls go, where to wait for cooldowns — matters more than any single talent. A good tank plans defensives per pull instead of pressing them when the health bar is already low, and says out loud when the next pull is going to be a big one.

03Healer and damage: interrupts are everyone's job

Most wipes in higher keys do not come from low damage; they come from a cast nobody stopped. Every damage dealer brings an interrupt and usually a stun or a knockback, and the group should agree who kicks what before the pull. The healer's job is to keep mana for the dangerous moments and to call out when a pull is too much, not to heal through damage that a kick or a personal defensive would have prevented.