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WoW Midnight Raiding Guide: Current Raids, Gear, and Group Sizes

By Editorial Team Published · Updated

WoW Midnight Raiding Guide: Current Raids, Gear, and Group Sizes

World of Warcraft: Midnight launched worldwide on March 2, 2026, as the second part of the Worldsoul Saga trilogy. It raised the level cap to 90 and took players to Quel’Thalas to fight Xal’atath and the forces of the Void. As of November 2026 the expansion is in Season 2, which began on August 18 with the Curse of Ula’tek content update (patch 12.1). This guide covers every Midnight raid released so far, how the unlock schedules worked, the difficulty modes, the Season 2 gear rules that matter to raiders, and the addon changes that make Midnight raiding feel different from earlier expansions.

Setting and Story Context

Midnight’s story picks up from The War Within. Its zones include Eversong Woods and Zul’Aman in Quel’Thalas, the haranir homeland of Harandar, and the Voidstorm, with Silvermoon City as the main hub. Season 2 added a new zone, the Coiled Isle, where the troll Zul’jan’s actions unleash Ula’tek, an ancient creature the Amani once imprisoned.

Raids follow that story. Season 1’s raids take the fight to Xal’atath’s Voidspire and then back to the Sunwell; Season 2’s raid descends into the vaults where the Amani imprisoned Ula’tek.

Midnight Raids at a Glance

RaidAdded withLocationBossesOpenedRaid Finder minimum item level
The VoidspireSeason 1Voidstorm6March 17, 2026 (Mythic March 24)220
The DreamriftSeason 1Harandar1March 17, 2026 (Mythic March 24)220
March on Quel’DanasSeason 1Quel’Thalas2March 31, 2026 (Raid Finder April 7)227
SporefallRevelations updateHarandar1June 16, 2026240
The Venomous AbyssSeason 2 (patch 12.1)The Coiled Isle8August 18, 2026273
The Unbinding of Kith’ixPatch 12.1.5Beneath the Vaults of Ula’tek1October 13, 2026Not listed by Blizzard

That is nineteen raid bosses in Midnight’s first eight months. Compare The War Within, which launched with a single raid.

Season 1: The Voidspire, the Dreamrift and March on Quel’Danas

Season 1 began on March 17, 2026, two weeks after launch, with nine bosses split across three raids. Blizzard staggered the unlocks by weekly reset:

  • March 17: Voidspire Normal, Heroic and Raid Finder Wing 1; Dreamrift Normal, Heroic and Raid Finder
  • March 24: Voidspire Mythic, Raid Finder Wing 2 and Story Mode; Dreamrift Mythic
  • March 31: Voidspire Raid Finder Wing 3; March on Quel’Danas Normal, Heroic and Mythic
  • April 7: March on Quel’Danas Raid Finder and Story Mode

The Voidspire is the main raid, with six bosses: Imperator Averzian, Vorasius, Fallen-King Salhadaar, Vaelgor & Ezzorak, the Lightblinded Vanguard, and Crown of the Cosmos, the confrontation with Xal’atath at the top of the spire. The Dreamrift is a single encounter, Chimaerus the Undreamt God, deep in Harandar’s Rift of Aln. March on Quel’Danas has two bosses, Belo’ren, Child of Al’ar and Midnight Falls, fought on the way to the Sunwell.

Splitting a tier into one large raid and two small ones changes how groups plan. A guild with limited time can clear the one-boss Dreamrift in a short session, and the two-boss March on Quel’Danas opened two weeks after the Voidspire, which gave progression groups a fresh target mid-tier.

Sporefall: A Single-Boss Raid

The Midnight: Revelations content update went live on June 16, 2026, and added Sporefall, a one-boss raid in Harandar against the fungal giant Rotmire. It runs on Raid Finder, Normal, Heroic and Mythic. Unusually, its Mythic difficulty is flexible: groups of 15 to 25 players can attempt it, where standard Mythic raids require exactly 20.

Blizzard listed Rotmire’s gear at item level 259 on Raid Finder up to 298 on Mythic. Defeating Rotmire on any difficulty also awards a Delicious Sporesnack once per week per account; four of them earn the Luminous Sporeglider mount.

Season 2: The Venomous Abyss

Patch 12.1, Curse of Ula’tek, went live on August 11, 2026, and Season 2 followed a week later. The Venomous Abyss is an eight-boss raid on the Coiled Isle with Raid Finder, Normal, Heroic, Mythic and Story Mode difficulties. Unlike Season 1, Normal, Heroic and Mythic all opened together in the week of August 18. Raid Finder then released one wing per week:

  • Week of August 18: The Soulcoilers (Nek’zali the Soulcoiler, The Twin Fangs)
  • Week of August 25: The Essence of Venom (Entombed Sentinels, Vashnik the Malignant), plus Story Mode
  • Week of September 1: The Serpent Warren (The Lost Explorers, Sszorak)
  • Week of September 8: The Tomb of Ula’tek (The Coiled Altar, Ula’tek)

The usual end-of-tier rewards apply. Ahead of the Curve requires a Heroic or higher Ula’tek kill before the next raid tier releases, and Cutting Edge requires a Mythic kill in the same window. The Hall of Fame title goes to the first 200 guilds worldwide to defeat Mythic Ula’tek, and Mythic Ula’tek drops the Primeval Skyfriend mount.

Blizzard is still tuning the raid. Its October 13 hotfixes, for example, cut the number of orbs in the first phase of Mythic Coiled Altar from 10 to 8 and gave Mythic Sszorak 5 more seconds before reaching 100 rage. Check the official hotfix list before a progression night, because tuning can change between resets.

Patch 12.1.5: The Unbinding of Kith’ix

The 12.1.5 content update went live in mid-October 2026 and added The Unbinding of Kith’ix, a one-boss raid against the creature the Amani locked away beneath Ula’tek’s vaults, fought alongside Lady Liadrin. Like Sporefall, its Mythic difficulty is flexible. The update also brought the mid-season refresh: Ascendant Venomstones drop from every Heroic or Mythic raid boss (as well as Mythic+ keys of +10 and above, Tier 11 Bountiful Delves and Nightmare Prey chests), and ten of them raise the item level of a fully upgraded Season 2 Hero or Mythic weapon, trinket or necklace. For raiders, that makes every Heroic and Mythic boss kill count toward an upgrade even when the loot itself is not useful.

Lairs

Patch 12.1 also replaced traditional open-world world bosses with Lairs: instanced world-boss encounters with a summoning stone outside, scaling up to a flexible Mythic difficulty for 15 to 25 players. They are not raids, but they are good practice for coordinated groups.

Difficulty Modes and Group Sizes

Midnight raids offer up to five modes: Story Mode, Raid Finder, Normal, Heroic and Mythic. Raid Finder matches players automatically and requires a minimum item level: 273 for The Venomous Abyss. Normal and Heroic use flexible group sizes from 10 players. Standard Mythic raids require 20; Sporefall and The Unbinding of Kith’ix use flexible Mythic groups.

Gear and the Great Vault in Season 2

Season 2 changed how raid rewards from the weekly Great Vault are valued. According to Blizzard’s 12.1 notes:

  • Raid Finder, Normal and Heroic vault rewards now come at the first step of the next-harder difficulty’s upgrade track; Heroic raid vault rewards, for example, are Myth 1/6
  • Mythic raid vault rewards come at Myth 6/6, except Very Rare items and loot from the last two bosses, which come at the equivalent of Myth 9 whether they drop from the boss or the vault
  • Nebulous Voidcores, which work like bonus rolls, are available as a Great Vault reward from the start of Season 2

Outside the raid, Season 2’s Mythic 0 dungeons drop item level 292 gear. Prey, Midnight’s opt-in hunting system with Normal, Hard and Nightmare difficulties, gives power rewards up to the Hero track and counts toward the vault’s outdoor activity slot. The final Prey fights are solo or small-group encounters, not raid content.

Midnight’s Addon Changes and What They Mean for Raiders

Midnight restricts how combat addons use the current combat state. Addons can change the presentation of protected information but cannot read those values to make combat decisions. Blizzard supplies built-in Boss Warnings, a Cooldown Manager, and Damage Meters. Configure these native tools before rebuilding an older addon-based interface.

Patch 12.1 extended those tools. The Cooldown Manager can now track trinkets, potions and racial abilities. The ping system lets you ping your action bars, the Cooldown Manager or your own unit frame, so a healer can show the raid their mana instead of typing “OOM” before a pull. Healers can also choose which buffs appear on raid frames. If you raided with a heavily customized setup in earlier expansions, rebuild your layout around these tools; our UI optimization guide covers layout principles that apply in any game.

Preparing for Midnight Raids Now

If you are starting or returning in November 2026:

Reach level 90. Every Midnight dungeon is available at level 90, whether or not you have finished the zone quests that unlock them early.

Gear up outside the raid first. Mythic 0 dungeons, Delves and Prey all award gear that gets you past the Raid Finder minimum of 273 for The Venomous Abyss. Our gearing guide covers the general approach, and the Mythic+ vs raids comparison explains how the two endgame paths fit together.

Use the built-in tools. Set up the Boss Warnings, Cooldown Manager and raid frames before your first pull rather than during it.

Prepare for the night itself. Stock consumables, repair, and read the boss notes in the Adventure Journal (Shift-J), which lists every boss’s abilities and loot. Our raid night prep checklist covers the rest.

Find your group. A guild or regular group is the most reliable way to progress; Raid Finder covers the story and an easy first look at each boss. New to raiding altogether? Start with our MMO raiding guide.

Looking Ahead: Eclipse and Season 3

At BlizzCon 2026 in September, Blizzard announced Eclipse, Midnight’s final major content update. Season 3 begins shortly after Eclipse launches and brings two new raid encounters: The Worldcore, an eight-boss raid that ends with a final stand against Xal’atath, and Noctinaxx, an azerite bat fought in its own Lair, The Gearhold, on World, Normal, Heroic and flexible Mythic difficulties. The Worldcore raid is also the source of Midnight’s Edge, a caster dagger and the first Legendary of the Worldsoul Saga; Blizzard says defeating the raid is only one of several steps to unlock it.

Blizzard has not given a release date for Eclipse. The next update, Echoes of the Worldcore, was on the PTR in October and centers on a new story campaign and the Talebound game mode rather than a raid. Until Eclipse arrives, The Venomous Abyss remains the current tier, and the Ahead of the Curve and Cutting Edge achievements stay available until the next raid tier releases.

Raid details are from Blizzard’s official posts and patch notes as of November 1, 2026.

Sources

  1. Blizzard — World of Warcraft: Midnight Goes Live March 2! — launch date and time
  2. Blizzard — World of Warcraft: Midnight Now Live! — Season 1 start, nine bosses across three raids, dungeon unlocks at level 90
  3. Blizzard — Midnight Raid Overview and Schedule — Season 1 bosses, locations, unlock schedule, Raid Finder item levels
  4. Blizzard — Prepare to Face Rotmire in the Sporefall Raid and The Midnight: Revelations Content Update Is Now Live — Sporefall details and release
  5. Blizzard — Curse of Ula’tek Content Update Notes — Season 2, Lairs, Great Vault changes
  6. Blizzard — The Venomous Abyss Raid Finder Wing 3 Now Live — Venomous Abyss bosses, unlock schedule, achievements and rewards
  7. Blizzard — Midnight Season 2 Is Now Live — Mythic 0 item level and Season 2 schedule
  8. Blizzard — Midnight’s 12.1.5 Content Update Is Now Live and Midnight 12.1.5 Overview — The Unbinding of Kith’ix and Ascendant Venomstones
  9. Blizzard — World of Warcraft Midnight: What’s Next Panel Recap — Eclipse, Season 3, The Worldcore and Midnight’s Edge
  10. Blizzard — Midnight: Echoes of the Worldcore Overview — next content update
  11. Blizzard — Hotfixes: October 30, 2026 — current tuning, including the October 13 raid changes
  12. Blizzard — Hunt or Be Hunted with the Prey System in Midnight — Prey difficulties and rewards
  13. Blizzard — Combat Philosophy and Addon Disarmament in Midnight — addon restrictions and built-in replacements
  14. Blizzard — Keep Track of Potions, Trinkets and More with New User Interface Updates — 12.1 Cooldown Manager, pings and raid frame changes
  15. Warcraft Wiki — Instance difficulty — flexible and fixed raid sizes
  16. Wikipedia — World of Warcraft: Midnight — Worldsoul Saga context