Endgame
Season 2's First Great Vault Starts Before Season 2
Great Vault credit begins August 11, even though Mythic+, the raid, and Bountiful Delves wait until August 18. A full Mythic 0 tour can fill the Dungeon row—but six choices are still only one reward.
The first Season 2 Great Vault is earned during the week that looks like a preseason.
Blizzard's updated schedule says credit toward Season 2 Vault rewards begins with the August 11 reset. The reward itself becomes available on August 18, alongside Mythic+, The Venomous Abyss, Bountiful Delves, and the rest of the season. There are no keystones to run in the gap.
That makes the week between patch and season more valuable than it first appeared. It also creates an easy way to waste time: filling every available box because the interface makes an empty box feel unfinished.
There are two sensible opening-week plans. Run enough content to create the choices you will actually value, or make the full tour because you want the practice and immediate drops anyway. Do not confuse three unlocked slots with three pieces of weekly loot.
Eight Mythic 0 dungeons fill the row exactly
The August 11 pool contains eight seasonal dungeons:
- 1. Altar of Fangs
- 2. Murder Row
- 3. Den of Nalorakk
- 4. The Blinding Vale
- 5. Voidscar Arena
- 6. King's Rest
- 7. Temple of Sethraliss
- 8. Ruby Life Pools
All eight are available on Mythic 0. During this transition week, Mythic 0 uses a weekly reset and drops item-level 292 gear.
The current Great Vault rules unlock Dungeon choices after one, four, and eight qualifying completions. A single tour of the entire pool therefore lands perfectly on the three breakpoints.
| Mythic 0 completions | Dungeon choices in the first Season 2 Vault | What the week gives you besides the Vault |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | One targeted dungeon lesson and that dungeon's weekly lockout |
| 4 | 2 | A useful sample of bosses, routes, and item tables |
| 8 | 3 | Every Season 2 dungeon once and the complete Dungeon row |
This is unusually clean onboarding. A group can see every floor plan, identify every dangerous cast, and enter the first keystone week with more than a route video in its head. Altar of Fangs is entirely new. The three returning dungeons have substantial reworks. Even the Midnight dungeons that players remember from launch will behave differently under the latest Season 2 tuning.
The full tour is still not mandatory. If the first four runs include the dungeons your group most needs to learn, the fifth through eighth runs buy one additional random choice. That can be worth doing. It is not automatically worth an entire extra play session.
The World row does not require Bountiful Delves
All Delve tiers open on August 11, but Bountiful Delves and their keys do not. That distinction affects the chest at the end of the run; it does not erase the week from the Great Vault.
The current World row unlocks choices after two, four, and eight qualifying activities. Delves count, and the broader category can also include Prey, zone events, weekly quests, and assignments. Normal and Hard Season 2 Prey are part of the August 11 schedule.
For a Delve-focused character, eight ordinary runs can build the full World row before Bountiful rewards exist. The immediate loot will not resemble a week of keyed Bountiful Delves, but the recorded difficulty still matters to the following Vault.
This is the part worth checking in the live interface after the first two runs. Blizzard has confirmed that Season 2 credit begins; the in-game Vault panel is the final check for which activity was recorded and at what reward level. Pre-release reward tables have moved several times during 12.1 testing, so a guide's item level should not overrule the character's own Vault progress.
The Raid row is effectively waiting for August 18
The Tidebound Grotto Lair opens on World difficulty during the patch week, and current Season 2 guidance says its boss counts toward the Raid section of the Vault. Blizzard corrected its launch article after the announcement; early copies that also place Normal, Heroic, and Mythic Lairs on August 11 are stale.
That does not create a normal Raid choice by itself. The Raid row starts at two boss defeats, while Nymrissa Wavecaller is the only Lair boss available and The Venomous Abyss remains closed.
Treat the World-difficulty Lair as a first encounter and reward opportunity, not as a route to three Raid boxes. Normal, Heroic, and flexible Mythic Lair difficulties open on August 18 with the raid, but those kills belong to the next Vault earning week.
If Blizzard changes how repeated Lair kills or the new format are counted, the live Vault tracker will settle it. The published schedule currently supports a first Vault built from Dungeons and World content, not organized raid progression.
Six choices still become one item
A full Mythic 0 tour plus eight qualifying World activities can produce three Dungeon choices and three World choices. That sounds like an opening-week jackpot until the Great Vault's oldest rule enters the room: you may select one reward.
More boxes improve selection. They do not multiply the payout.
That changes the efficient stopping point for different characters.
- A raid main with a settled dungeon wish list may prefer four Mythic 0 runs for two Dungeon choices, then spend the rest of the week on campaign, professions, UI setup, or rest.
- A key-focused main benefits from seeing all eight dungeons even if the third box were removed. The Vault is a bonus attached to useful practice.
- A solo character can lean into the World row, especially if higher Delve tiers are already comfortable.
- An alt that only needs a chance at tier can unlock one or two rows without copying the main's full checklist.
The best plan is the one whose activities remain useful after the boxes disappear. “Six options” is a poor reason to do sixteen pieces of content you did not want to play.
The first Voidcore decision arrives with the reward
Season 2 also places Nebulous Voidcores directly in the Great Vault from the beginning of the season. After starting Orin Straylight's research, a character can choose a Voidcore instead of a gear reward.
That makes the August 11 earning week the setup for two separate decisions on August 18:
- 1. Is one of the offered items valuable enough to take immediately?
- 2. If not, does a targeted bonus roll change a weapon, trinket, tier, or crafting plan more than another fallback reward?
The supplemental weekly Voidcore does not begin immediately. Orin's research takes eight weeks. The first Vault is therefore not only the earliest chance at Season 2 gear; it is also the earliest point at which the targeted-roll plan can begin.
Do not choose the Voidcore merely because the six items are imperfect. Its value depends on a reachable boss, the selected loot specialization, the full eligible item pool, and what a successful roll would save. A mediocre guaranteed upgrade can still beat an elegant plan with no kill behind it.
Pick a stopping rule before patch day
The transition week becomes manageable when each character has a stopping rule.
For the Dungeon row, choose one, four, or eight completions. For the World row, choose two, four, or eight. Write the target beside the reason:
- One M0: unlock a choice and learn Altar of Fangs.
- Four M0s: unlock two choices and practice the group's weakest dungeons.
- Eight M0s: fill the row and complete a full pool rehearsal.
- Two or four World activities: add limited insurance without building another weekly job.
- Eight World activities: fill the row because Delves or Prey are already the character's main route.
Then stop when the reason has been satisfied.
August 11 is not a dead week, and it is not secretly the full season. It is the first Season 2 Vault earning week with a bounded dungeon pool, unkeyed Delves, and no organized raid row to chase.
The cleanest preparation is not completing everything. It is reaching August 18 with the choices you wanted and enough energy left to play the season that produced them.