Prey is an opt-in outdoor hunting feature in World of Warcraft: Midnight where players track down elite marks across Quel'Thalas for gear, mounts, and housing decor. The activity features Normal, Hard, and Nightmare difficulties, challenging hunters with ambush mechanics and dangerous zone-wide Torments. This WoW Midnight Prey guide covers everything needed to unlock hunts, handle ambushes, summon bonus bosses, and claim seasonal rewards.
How to Unlock the Prey System
Unlocking the Prey system requires reaching level 90 on your character. Head to Murder Row in Silvermoon City and speak with Magister Astalor Bloodsworn at Astalor's Sanctum (/way 55.0, 63.4) to pick up the introductory questline.
Finishing the introductory questline unlocks the Hunt Table inside the sanctum, granting access to Normal, Hard, and Nightmare difficulties immediately. Once unlocked on a primary character, alts can run Normal difficulty hunts while leveling to 90.
How Prey Hunts Work
To start an encounter, interact with the Hunt Table inside Astalor's Sanctum to view available hunts across Quel'Thalas. Each zone offers three Prey targets representing each difficulty tier. Choosing a target reveals its zone, active Torments, and completion rewards.
Entering the hunt zone places an Anguish crystal at the top of your user interface. The crystal fills as you complete highlighted map objectives:
- Completing zone World Quests
- Looting zone treasures
- Defeating rare elites and Remnants of Anguish
- Disarming traps placed across the zone
- Surviving ambushes and executing ripostes
When the Anguish crystal glows bright red, the target's exact lair appears on your mini-map. Clicking the Anguish crystal at the marked site begins the boss battle. Completing a target spawns a portal back to Astalor's Sanctum once you unlock Rank 1 of the Preyhunter's Journey. The weekly hunt cap allows up to 15 completed hunts per week.
Grouping and Difficulties
Normal difficulty allows nearby outdoor players to assist you when engaging your mark in the wild. Hard and Nightmare difficulties restrict assistance, forcing you and your immediate party to handle the fight without outside help, and raid groups cannot participate.
Hard and Nightmare difficulties activate environmental affixes known as Torments throughout the hunt zone. Normal features only the Ambush mechanic, while higher tiers introduce all available modifiers:
- Ambush: The target can surprise attack you during combat.
- Pack Ambush: Additional enemies accompany surprise ambushes.
- Torment: Passive combat hazards afflict players within the hunt zone.
- Exploding Corpse Snakes: Defeated targets release volatile serpents.
- Toxic Snare: Entangling hazards reduce movement and deal damage.
Players who want to secure high-tier achievements without handling difficult affixes can rely on a Prey: Nightmare Mode Boost to defeat 30 Nightmare marks.
Prey Ambushes and Riposte Mechanics
While engaged in combat within the target's zone, your mark has a random chance to trigger an ambush. Surviving the ambush prevents losing hunt progression. You can repel the assault in two ways:
- Reduce the ambush target's health down to 50%.
- Use a Disarmed Trap on the boss, which has a chance to drop from disarming traps around the map.
Driving the target away rewards bonus hunt progress. Once the boss flees, players can perform a Riposte to earn extra progress toward filling the Anguish crystal.
Ral'kala and the Curse of the Isle
Midnight Season 2 introduces the Coiled Isle and a repeatable boss encounter named Ral'kala. Unlocking this area requires completing the first chapter of the Curse of Ula'tek storyline and picking up Astalor's follow-up quest in Silvermoon.
On the Coiled Isle, speak to the Image of Astalor Bloodsworn (/way 58.2, 48.5) to activate the Prey: Curse of the Isle debuff. You cannot have an active hunt active when enabling the curse. The curse activates Nightmare Torments across the island and allows you to collect Ossified Relics from ground spawns, island creatures, and daily quests.
Summoning Ral'kala requires contributing 100 Ossified Relics to any Haunted Brazier on the island, with each relic contributing 1% toward the ritual. Defeating Ral'kala drops Corrosive Souls, housing decor, the Pale Hexscale pet, and the Hexflame Reaver mount.
Prey Gear and Great Vault Rewards
Your first two hunts on each difficulty each week award a Preyseeker's Chest containing equipment, while subsequent runs yield gold and profession reagents. Clearing hunts also contributes progress toward the outdoor activity slot in the Great Vault.
| Difficulty | Drop Item Level & Track | Great Vault Track | Crest Rewards |
| Normal | Item level 266 (Adventurer 1/6) | Item level 279 (Veteran 1/6) | 10x Mistcrests |
| Hard | Item level 279 (Veteran 1/6) | Item level 292 (Champion 1/6) | 10x Mistcrests |
| Nightmare | Item level 292 (Champion 1/6) | Item level 305 (Hero 1/6) | 10x Mistcrests, 5x Mistcrests |
Players can spend one Nebulous Voidcore after a hunt to receive bonus loot. In Season 2, Tier 6+ Bountiful Delve heavy trunks drop special consumables once unlocked on the journey track:
- Afflicted Souls: Unlocked at Rank 4, these instantly locate your next Nightmare target and grant a bonus Champion-track chest once per week per character.
- Tormented Souls: Unlocked at Rank 9, these instantly locate your next Nightmare target and grant a bonus Hero-track chest once per week per character.
Successful hunts also award Corrosive Souls. These consumables attach a Corrosive combat buff to belts and bracers that functions exclusively in outdoor zones, Delves, and ritual sites, remaining disabled inside raids and dungeons.
Preyhunter's Journey and Vendor Collectibles
Construct V'anore and Construct Ali'a sell cosmetic rewards inside Astalor's Sanctum (/way 55.8, 65.9) in exchange for Remnant of Anguish currencies. Progressing through the 10 Journey ranks requires 4,000 progress per rank, gained primarily from the first four hunts completed each week.
- Rank 1: Unlocks the return portal after killing a mark and boosts Ral'kala rewards by 50% when offering relics. Construct Ali'a sells the Sturdy Silvermoon Crate Lid decor for 100 Remnants of Anguish.
- Rank 2: Unlocks random hunts from Astalor. Construct Ali'a sells the Mysterious Sin'dorei Candlestick decor (100 Remnants), while Construct V'anore sells profession recipes requiring 50 skill: Formula: Furious Tiki Mask, Plans: Hunter's Ritual Stone, and Recipe: Ersatz Venom Splatter (150 Artisan Moxie and 500 Remnants each).
- Rank 3: Grants bonus Ossified Relics during Nightmare hunts or Isle Curse, plus two bonus daily Corrosive Souls from Ral'kala. Sells the Gilded Silvermoon Compass decor for 100 Remnants.
- Rank 4: Unlocks Afflicted Soul drops from Tier 6+ Bountiful Delves. Unlocks the Preyhunter's Trophy Stand toy (800 Remnants), Companion Command Crystal toy (600 Remnants), and Sturdy Silvermoon Crate decor (100 Remnants).
- Rank 5: Unlocks the Crimson Crystal Fragment and Bound Silvermoon Drapes decor for 200 Remnants of Anguish each.
- Rank 6: Grants 500 bonus daily Corrosive Coin from Ral'kala. Unlocks Vaunted Preyhunter's helm, shoulder-spikes, and knapsack transmogs (500 Remnants each), plus the Stonecarved Sin'dorei Jar decor (200 Remnants).
- Rank 7: Increases Anguish drops by 20% across all activities. Sells the Adorned Sin'dorei Satchel decor (200 Remnants).
- Rank 8: Unlocks class armor sets (Ensemble: Preyhunter's Polished, Rugged, Sleek, and Refined Armor) and the Arsenal: Preyhunter's Lost Armaments for 1,600 Remnants each. Construct V'anore also sells the Preyhunter's Prismguard and Preyhunter's Riftbreaker pets for 1,200 Remnants each.
- Rank 9: Enables Tormented Soul drops from Delves and unlocks the Anguish-Touched Pouch. Unlocks the Blood Knight's Decorative Shield decor for 350 Remnants.
- Rank 10: Grants the "Servant of Astalor" title and the Preferential Killing quest to design custom hunts. Construct V'anore sells the Preyhunter's Fury mount for 2,250 Remnants of Anguish, and Construct Ali'a sells the Crimson Crystal Column decor for 350 Remnants.
Defeating specific marks on Hard awards boss bust decor, while Nightmare clears unlock decorative effigy trophies. Defeating all Prey bosses on Nightmare difficulty rewards the Preyseeker's Nightmare mana-wyrm mount via the Prey: Nightmare Mode III achievement.
The vendor does not offer the catch-up gear chests, report some players who tried to buy them. One player finds the catch-up pointless without a currency catch-up:
The Prey catchup is somewhat pointless as there is no currency catchup. My problem isn't the rep, I simply don't have time to farm the currency for days.
— one player
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you do Prey hunts in a group?
Normal hunts allow open outdoor assistance from any nearby player, while Hard and Nightmare hunts restrict combat to your personal party and forbid raid groups.
What is the fastest way to trigger a Prey boss?
The quickest way to draw out your mark is completing high-density objectives in the hunt zone, including World Quests, opening treasures, breaking traps, and successfully riposting ambushes.
How do you get the Preyhunter’s Fury mount?
Reach Rank 10 on the Season 2 Preyhunter's Journey track and purchase the mount from Construct V'anore in Silvermoon City for 2,250 Remnant of Anguish.
