The first raid of the expansion brings lots of new features, system changes, and, of course, loot. This overview covers all aspects of the Vault of the Incarnates instance, including new loot distribution system clarifications. Check our complete expansion guide if you are interested in other innovations and renovations for the Dragonflight.
An important warning. The following guide is preliminary. As such, it may contain incomplete, outdated, or otherwise inaccurate information that may be fixed or changed on a release.
General Facts
The Vault of the Incarnates is the first raid for the Dragonflight expansion. The reason to intrude on another tomb is, as usual, to prevent some long-forgotten evil from destroying Azeroth and slaughtering its denizens.
Now there are three gradations for the loot item levels. The raid has 8 bosses, so the ilvl distribution is as follows: the first four bosses drop items of the lowest value, the fifth and sixth drop the average value, and the two final ones – drop the highest item level of all.
The loot-dropping system has been changed. We will cover this issue later in the text, but be ready to toss the bones again.
Getting ready for the raid, do not underestimate crafted gear. Professions were renewed in Dragonflight, and crafted items are now vital and usable.
If you prefer buying stuff on the AH, pay attention to the quality of an item you are interested in. The higher the quality level is, the better it is. All crafted items have 5 quality levels as of now, including enchants and various vials, potions, and food. To get the actual information about which gear to set up, use our Raidbots guide!
Release Schedule
The new raid releases within the first decade of December. This is a complete release calendar.
- Normal, Heroic, and Mythic difficulties will open on December 12;
- The Inspiration Catalyst opens on January 23.
The LFR difficulty will not follow the usual release scheme and will look like this:
- The first wing will open on December 19;
- The second wing – January 2;
- The third wing – January 16.
Note that the cross-faction feature will become available from the start. There is a guild/faction presence condition, though. To enter Vault of the Incarnates on a Mythic difficulty, the party should comprise at least 16 out of 20 raiders from the same guild and faction.
Instance Location
The Vault of the Incarnates is located in the eastern part of the Thaldraszus zone by coordinates 73.14 55.60. The Flight Master Nirazal waits for clients right outside the instance, so there won’t be much trouble finding this place.
Vault of the Incarnates Raid Skip
Talk to Kalecgos and take the Vault of the Incarnates: Break a Few Eggs raid quest from him. You are to collect 3 Shards of the Greatstaff from Broodkeeper Diurna’s boss. Once this is complete, you will unlock the raid-skipping possibility.
Loot Item Level
This time the loot in the Vault of the Incarnates has three grades, which is quite unusual. The base item level drops from the first 4 bosses. Wing bosses have items slightly higher, and the final two bosses drop items with the current maximum ilvl.
| Difficulty | Bosses 1 through 4 | Wing Bosses | Final Bosses |
| Raid Finder | 376 item level | 382 ilvl | 385 ilvl |
| Normal | 389 | 395 | 398 |
| Heroic | 402 | 408 | 411 |
| Mythic | 415 | 421 | 424 |
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Bosses’ Strategy
There are eight bosses in this raid; one of them is a group of four bosses. Here they are:
- Primal Commander Eranog
- Terros
- The Primal Council: Embar Firepath, Opalfang, Kadros Icewrath, and Dathea Stormlash
- Sennarth, The Cold Breath
- Dathea, Ascended
- Kurog Grimtotem
- Broodkeeper Diurna
- Raszageth The Storm-Eater
Here are the important tips for each encounter.
Primal Commander Eranog
- Position party members behind the boss and move away when the boss turns to you;
- Adds periodically single out a random player. Move closer to the boss if you are the chosen one;
- Round up adds near the boss;
- Kill the fire add first to run through the fire circle. Try staging away from the centre.
Terros
- Defeat Terros before Resonant Aftermath covers too much of the arena, preventing players from moving around and enraging the boss.
- Do not stand behind tanks.
- Seismic Assault will cause all sorts of problems for the raid not only by dealing serious damage to the player it is aiming at but also by casting various AoE-damage effects.
- Move far aside when having a yellow arrow on you.
The Primal Council
- Use different types of damage, taking into account each boss’ element:
- Kadros (Frost);
- Deathea (Lightning);
- Opalfang (Earth);
- Embar Firepath (Fire).
- Opalfang and Embar Firepath are melee bosses and require tank swaps; Kadros and Dathea Stormlash are casters, and their attacks are to be interrupted whenever possible.
- Move to the pillar if you have circles on you. This removes the circle debuff.
- Move to the fire pool if you get a ticking frost debuff.
Sennarth
- Drive adds closer to the boss so that they can suffer cleave damage.
- Quickly move away from the boss to avoid significant frost damage from Frost Expulsion.
- In the last phase, the boss will cast Pervasive Cold, and the whole raid will take 10% more Frost damage per tick until the end of a fight.
- Random players get spider web debuff, which slows them.
Dathea, Ascended
- Be careful with killing Volatile Infusers, because their Blowback can easily knock you off the arena.
- To remove the Conductive Mark debuff on Mythic difficulty, the player should come to a fallen Volatile Infuser or Dormant Infuser, thus giving them 10 Energy.
- Don’t forget to swap tanks after Zephyr Slam.
- There should be someone near the boss when Aerial Buffet is active. Otherwise, she will cast a powerful ranged attack, dealing significant Nature damage.
Kurog Grimtotem
- The platform is divided into 4 Elemental Altars: earth, wind, water, fire, and, depending on the boss’s position, he will use this or that element.
- Face the boss to the wall.
- It’s better to start with an earth section.
- Tank adds somewhere in the corner of platforms – not in the centre.
- If Kurog happens to be far from any Elemental Altar, he will use a raid-wide DOT ability and gain all four elemental stacks every second.
Broodkeeper Diurna
- There are going to be tons of adds, so be ready.
- Divide the party into two groups, one for the boss, the other for “eggs”, and adds.
- Greatstaff’s Wrath and Greatstaff of the Broodkeeper are very dangerous, as they apply a Clutchwatcher’s Rage debuff to everyone within 10 yards of the Greatstaff. The debuff causes increasing raid-wide damage.
- During the second phase, the boss’ overall damage will increase to 15%.
- An Empowered Greatstaff’s Wrath will increase the Greatstaff’s damage by 30% per stack instead of 15%, and these stacks cannot be removed.
Raszageth The Storm-Eater
- Volatile Current leaves a stackable and unpleasant DoT.
- Apart from periodic damage, Electrifying Presence applies a Spiteful Lash DoT on some players.
- Avoid storm waves from the Tempest Wing, as it inflicts an increased Nature damage and pushes you away.
- In the third phase, the boss lands on the central platform and starts casting Raging Storm, which floods the arena and deals significant damage to all players within reach.
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Loot Distribution System Changes
Group loot has experienced big changes. And let us quote the developers a bit:
While inside the Vault of Incarnates, group loot will be the only method of loot distribution. Some items, like professional reagents, may still use personal loot where appropriate. As of that, Need and Greed facility makes its glorious return.
Loot trading rules have also been changed and become a little softer:
While inside a raid, all item-level restrictions placed on trading between members of the same group are entirely removed. Now, even small item level increases that don’t upgrade won’t be locked to a player, even if they roll and win that item.
Furthermore, the game now will decide whether you want an item, meaning you will not win the item your spec can’t wear:
The main spec takes priority over the off-spec. Greed comes after both. Luckily, if you swap specs for a single fight, you can still main spec roll for what you like.
On the other hand, a warrior can still have a bow, for example, if there aren’t any Hunters in a party.
BoEs Drop Changes
This loot category was redesigned as well. BoE items will no longer drop from trash mobs. Once a week and once per difficulty level, players will be able to get such items from named mini-bosses.
Several BoE items are now scaled according to group size, like the bosses and their loot usually do.
Some items of great importance, like weapons, are now included in the BoE pool.
Tier Sets
This time we have five gear pieces forming a Tier Set: head, shoulders, chest, hands, and legs. Other parts will complete the set appearance, so you could wear a complete armor set. Set bonuses activate upon wearing 2 and 4 tier pieces. An exciting innovation – all bonuses are spec unique, which makes them even more valuable. The Creation Catalyst system is moving to the new Dragonflight expansion changing its title to Inspiration Catalyst. Now you can craft tier set pieces out of regular ones. This system will become available six weeks after the release of the first raid.
Here are sets for all in-game classes, including the latest – Evoker.
- Death Knight: Haunted Frostbrood Remains
- Demon Hunter: Skybound Avenger’s Flightwear
- Druid: Lost Landcaller’s Vesture
- Evoker: Scales of the Awakened
- Hunter: Stormwing Harrier’s Camouflage
- Mage: Bindings of the Crystal Scholar
- Monk: Wrappings of the Waking Fist
- Paladin: Virtuous Silver Cataphract
- Priest: Draconic Hierophant’s Finery
- Rogue: Vault Delver’s Toolkit
- Shaman: Elements of Infused Earth
- Warlock: Scalesworn Cultist’s Habit
- Warrior: Stones of the Walking Mountain
Tier pieces or corresponding tokens drop from the following raid bosses:
- Helm: Raszageth The Storm-Eater
- Shoulders: Broodkeeper Diurna
- Chest: Kurog Grimtotem
- Hands: Dathea, Ascended
- Legs: Sennarth, The Cold Breath
There are four types of tier tokens; each type may be used by several classes, and here is the list:
- Dreadful: Death Knight, Demon Hunter, Warlock;
- Mystic: Druid, Hunter, Mage;
- Venerated: Paladin, Priest, Shaman;
- Zenith: Evoker, Monk, Rogue, Warrior.
Luckily, players have a certain variability in the choice of ways to obtain tier sets. If raiding is not your cup of tea, you may use an Inspiration Catalyst scheme to create a tier item you want from an appropriate non-tier piece of armor. Another option is the Great Vault. Take part in PvP or Mythic+ activities to get items from this source.
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Rewards
The community always has incredibly high hopes for the very first raid of the expansion, as the rewards are entirely new and long-awaited. The first instance usually breaks in new systems and features. This one continues the established traditions. New boss mechanics, a new loot distribution system, Tier Sets, appearances, and, of course, new rewards.
Achievements
The Glory of the Raider
A new Glory of the Vault Raider meta-achievement includes eight smaller ones. A complete list and a brief description are shown below. Remember that all GotR achievements should be completed on Normal Difficulty or higher.
- What Frozen Things Do
- Defeat Eranog after finding a Frozen Portal Stone and defeating a Burning Behemoth in the Vault of the Incarnates.
- The Lunker Below
- Use fishing to lure the Lurking Lunker living in the lava out, then engage and defeat the Primal Council in the Vault of the Incarnates.
- Nothing But Air
- Defeat Dathea, Ascended after collecting 8 Condensed Gales in Vault of the Incarnates.
- Incubation Extermination
- Defeat Broodkeeper Diurna after successfully hatching and defeating lieutenants from each Primal element’s eggs within 10 seconds of each other in Vault of the Incarnates.
- Little Friends
- Defeat Terros after hitting the three Dormant Earth nodes in his chamber with Awakened Earth and then defeating the resultant Energized Earth creatures in Vault of the Incarnates.
- I Was Saving That For Later
- Defeat Sennarth, The Cold Breath, after finding and freeing five mysterious captives using Caustic Eruption, then witnessing their demise in Vault of the Incarnates.
- The Power is MINE!
- Defeat Kurog Grimtotem after destroying the Primal Avatar in Vault of the Incarnates.
- The Ol Raszle Daszle
- Defeat Raszageth the Storm-Eater after successfully gathering two Concentrated Storm Essences and defeating the Concentrated Storm in Vault of the Incarnates.
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Kill Credit
We still get achievements for killing bosses on all difficulty levels but LFR.
- Vault of the Incarnates
- Heroic: Vault of the Incarnates
- Mythic: Vault of the Incarnates
- Vault of the Incarnates Guild Run
- Heroic: Vault of the Incarnates Guild Run
- Mythic: Eranog
- Mythic: Terros
- Mythic: The Primal Council
- Mythic: Sennarth, The Cold Breath
- Mythic: Dathea, Ascended
- Mythic: Kurog Grimtotem
- Mythic: Broodkeeper Diurna
- Mythic: Raszageth the Storm-Eater
- Mythic: Raszageth the Storm-Eater Guild Run
Other Achievements
Collect armour set from the raid and get the Vaulternative Fashion achievement.
Unique Loot
By the word “unique”, we mean items which are 6 or 7 ilvl higher than the regular drop and, as usual, truly unique things.
- Seal of Filial Duty. This is a ring, and it drops from Broodkeeper Diurna.
- Seal of Diurna’s Chosen is also a ring; it drops from the Primal Commander Eranog.
- A bow Neltharax, Enemy of the Sky, by the name. Not only does it look fantastic, but it is also of the highest item level. It will be a drop from the elite non-boss mobs in VotI.