Race to World First: Aberrus, the Shadowed Crucible

Skyline has a new best attempt for Scalecommander Sarkareth of 6.35% on pull 127. They are getting very close to securing themselves World 5th!

Instant Dollars manage to kill Echo of Neltharion after 84 pulls!

BDG has a new best attempt for Scalecommander Sarkareth of 22.3% on pull 72, they are making solid progress and should be quite close to defeating the boss.

Since Method's Scalecommander Sarkareth kill earlier today, there haven't been any new boss kills from the top 10 guilds. They have been making some progress on their respective bosses though, here is currently how it stands:

• BDG had their reset today, so are making their way back to Scalecommander Sarkareth, before returning to progress on that boss
• Conspiracy have a best of 3.29% on Echo of Neltharion, with 141 pulls in total
• FatSharkYes have a best of 3.82% on Echo of Neltharion, with 100 pulls in total
• Skyline have a best of 11.1% on Echo of Neltharion, with 121 pulls in total
• Instant Dollars have a best of 14.3% on Echo of Neltharion, with 73 pulls in total

With the reset tomorrow for EU, and US guilds re-clearing today, we will likely see more guilds progressing Scalecommander Sarkareth by the end of tomorrow, or definitely in the next few days!

And Honestly have finally defeated Magmorax after 23 pulls!

Over in the OCE servers, Honestly are having a heartbreaking run of pulls on Magmorax, with pull 18 giving them a best of 0.51% and the very next pull giving them a new best percentage of 0.4%!

And Method continuing with the good pulls getting a new best of 11.06% on Sarkareth on pull 120!

Honestly has a new best attempt for Magmorax of 1.18% on pull 9 (previous best was 7.32%)

Method continue to push their best attempt % down to 14.45%! Another great pull from the team.

Honestly have killed The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn after 40 pulls and move onto Magmorax.

Method drop their new best to 17.3%! Having more consistently low % pulls so far today.

Method have a new best of 22% on pull 113, starting to see pulls reaching their previous best, and looking good for some progress today!

Taking a look at where other guilds are currently at today:

• Method have started up today, slightly later than usual to get some extra sleep in, working on securing the World 3rd for Scalecommander Sarkareth, having some promising first few pulls today.
• Skyline has a new best attempt for Echo of Neltharion of 46.2% on pull 34 (down from 62.9% from 3 hours ago).
• Imperative has a new best attempt for Magmorax of 31.5% on pull 10 (previously 40.3% from 3 hours ago).
• BDG has a best on Scalecommander Sarkareth of 66.6% in 8 pulls, but have gone offline until tomorrow

What a close call! Instant Dollars is not leaving the Crucible without this World 5th! They just lowered their best percentage again, this time to 14.3% on Neltharion's HP bar!

Instant Dollars is pushing hard to get that World 5th on Neltharion! They just lowered their best percentage to 26.8% after 62 pulls!

What a heartbreaking wipe! BDG just wiped at 0.12% on Neltharion!

They have 76 pulls so far in the Mythic version of the encounter, and they are for sure ready to claim that World 4th!

BDG got so close! The new best percentage for the US squad is now 6.38% after 72 attempts at the Mythic Echo of Neltharion encounter!

And with Midnight approaching over in Europe, Method is calling it a day! They got the Leader of the Sundered Flame all the way down 22.5% after 104 pulls!

Meanwhile Echo is not showing any signs of stopping, and after a quick break they are already back pulling Sarkareth, the last challenge Aberrus has to offer! Keep in mind that Echo managed to get all the way down 1.04% on the encounter, after 134 attempts!

Echo have an incredibly close wipe on Scalecommander Sarkareth of 1.64%.

This could go down for them any pull now!

What a pull! Another sub 3% wipe for Liquid! They didn't lowered their best percentage, but still an amazing pull!

What a pull for Method! The new best percentage for the Orange Squad is 43.5% after 75 pulls on Mythic Sarkareth!

Meanwhile, in the lava pit, Skyline just got a nail-biting pull on Mythic Magmorax! Their best percentage is now 3.42% after 33 attempts.

Chao Jie and Skyline are also both very close to a kill on Magmorax, with best attempts of 12% and 10.5% respectfully.

Liquid and Echo are pulling Scalecommander Sarkareth rapidly, the head-to-head is starting!

With Echo hitting a new best attempt of 25.7% on pull 83.

Skyline are making steady progress on Magmorax, with a new best attempt of 10.5% on pull 16 (previously 11.1%). Nudging slightly ahead of Chao Jie, who have a best of 17.3%.

Method has a new best on Scalecommander Sarkareth of 44.87% after 51 pulls!

Conspiracy, after having some heartbreaking low pulls, come in with the kill on Magmorax after 78 pulls!

Chao Jie have defeated The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn, moving them onto Magmorax alongside Conspiracy and Skyline!

And we have a World 8th from Skyline on The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn after 122 pulls!

Echo has a new best attempt of 28.1% after 64 pulls!

Method has a new best attempt for Scalecommander Sarkareth of 48.4% on Pull 35 (previously 52.3%)!

Skyline have just had a new best attempt for The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn of 1.75% on Pull 118. Their previous best was 12.3%.

Chao Jie have a current best of 2.6%, not quite getting back to that point in the last few pulls.

It could once again be insanely close on when these two guilds kill this boss (1 min difference on the previous boss). With attempts this low, it looks like we will soon see this boss fall for either Skyline or Chao Jie at anytime!

Method has a new best attempt for Scalecommander Sarkareth of 53.2% on Pull 33, down from the previous best of 56.5%!

Ethical defeated Rashok, the Elder after 27 pulls

Echo are making good progress today, already with a new best attempt for Scalecommander Sarkareth of 36.8%, on their 57th Pull!

Method has a new best attempt for Scalecommander Sarkareth of 56.5% on pull 29.

Chao Jie have just had a new best attempt of 9.4% on The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn!

This pushes their best ahead of Skyline (best of 17.5%), we should expect a kill on this boss today for either of these guilds.

Method and Echo are both back in the raid and putting in pulls on the final boss of the race, Scalecommander Sarkareth.

And after Liquid went to sleep after some offstream pulls, we had a little bit of activity in the Shadowed Crucible!

BDG is currently progressing on Mythic Neltharion, sitting at a best percentage of 42.8% after 32 pulls!

Instant Dollars also saw some Mythic Neltharion progression, although they are already fast asleep. Their personal best is currently 44.5% after 30 pulls!

Both BDG and Instant Dollars are fighting head to head for Magmorax! BDG is currently with a personal best of 1.06% after 25 pulls while Instant Dollars just wiped at 0.72% after 9 pulls!

BDG is taking a quick food break though, which can leave the door open to Instant Dollars to take the World 5th!

Instant Dollars are not willing to mess around the lava pit too long! They already reached 20.1% on Magmorax's HP bar after only 2 pulls!

Speaking of close calls! BDG got a new best of 5.08% on Mythic Magmorax! Ths is their second sub 10% pull after 15 attempts! They are on fire!

Instant Dollars got so close! The new best for the NA squad is 4.24% on Mythic Zskarn! They have 63 attempts so far.

BDG is on fire! They just lowered their best percentage on Mythic Magmorax to 14.9%!

And BDG is ready to put some heat for the World 4th on Magmorax! They just an amazing 6th pull, dropping the boss all the way down 22.9%!

Liquid also decided to drop the Retribution Paladin for an extra ranged DPS player!

Since they dropped a healer to get more damage available, they also brought an extra Power Infusion and the very powerful Vampiric Embrace with the addition of a Shadow Priest!

We will probably see a couple of pulls back into phase 1 as the raiders get used to the new damage intake patterns and the overall feeling of the first phase with the extra damage dealer.

And after a quick lunch break, Liquid is back at the Shadowed Crucible!

And they brought in some changes! They dropped the Restoration Shaman to bring one more ranged DPS! This extra Devastation Evoker for sure brings a lot of boss damage and good cleave for the Phase 2 adds, as well as an extra Zephyr for more survivability for the group to compensate less healers.

It will be interesting to see how they adapt their strategy now, since the Spirit Link Totem was a key ability to survive the first soaks in the start of Phase 1.

SO CLOSE! FatSharkYes got a hearbreaking wipe on Mythic Magmorax! They reached 1.38% on the boss HP before the hard enrage!

And what a move from Echo! Just like yesterday they are calling it early today!

The best percentage for them is 49% after 37 attempts, but they decided to take an early rest and get back with fresh minds tomorrow!

Honolulu is also getting consistent progression! They just had another sub 5% pull on Rashok! The best percentage for them now is 5.43% after 53 pulls!

Another amazing sub 25% pull for FatSharkYes on Magmorax! The best percentage for them is now 20.4% after 11 attempts!

FatSharkYes inching closer and closer to another World 4th! The new best for the EU squad is now 28.9% for Mythic Magmorax!

Imperative had such a close call! 2.33% is the new best percentage for the NA squad for Mythic Rashok!

They have 70 pulls so far!

BDG is closer than ever on that World 5th for Mythic Zskarn! They just wiped at 16.7% after 74 pulls!

Honolulu just had a nail-biting pull on Mythic Rashok! They wiped at an unbelievably low 5.57% on pull 44!

FatSharkYes is pushing hard for another World 4th! They just lowered their best percentage for Mythic Magmorax to 32.6% after 2 pulls!

What a pull from Skyline (天涯)! After 69 attempts, they manage to lower their best percentage for Mythic Zskarn to 17.5%!

Although both guilds are focusing hard into learning the fight and optimizing strategies, Echo and Liquid are already putting a lot of heat into the race, being neck a neck in this crazy Mythic Sarkareth encounter! Liquid just lowered their best percentage to 58.5% versus 54.9% for Echo!

Interestingly enough, composition wise both Liquid and Echo are pretty similar!

In terms of healing compositions, both are starting progression with 5 healers. For classes, the major difference still the Restoration Druid for Liquid vs Mistweaver Monk for Echo, both classes alongside double Holy Priest, a Holy Paladin and a Restoration Shaman.

For ranged DPS, Echo is running one more DPS player, bringing the Versatility buff from Druids in form of a Balance Druid, dropping a melee for this spot, together with two Arcane Mages, two Demonology Warlocks, a Marksmanship Hunter and a Devastation Evoker for both.

Speaking of melee, the major difference, besides the lack of a Retribution Paladin for Echo, are the Death Knights, who are currently running different specs! Echo decided to bring the Frost DK while Liquid is committing to an Unholy Death Knight to play alongside two Fury Warriors, a Rogue, an Enhancement Shaman and a Havoc Demon Hunter.

Liquid is back at the Crucible! They are already pulling Mythic Sarkareth!

Echo is progressing really fast on Sarkareth! They already reached 57.1% as their best percentage after 22 pulls!

Liquid are waking up soon, with their current best (and first pull) being 73.8%, we will begin to see the Echo and Liquid head-to-head on the final boss, with Echo having had the longer active time on the boss so far.

BDG are back in the raid, and have already have a new best attempt for The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn of 29.3%, which was their 51st pull on this boss.

A little look at the recent changes in progress

• Echo have a new best attempt for Scalecommander Sarkareth of 60.9% on pull 14
• FatSharkYes have a new best attempt for Zskarn of 16.3% on pull 57
• Honolulu has entered the raid again, achieving a new best attempt for Rashok, the Elder of 16.3% on pull 19

Echo continues with making steady progress on the final boss, with a new best attempt for Scalecommander Sarkareth of 65% on pull 10

Taking a look at the guilds actively progressing The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn:

• FatSharkYes has a new best attempt of 24.9% on pull 53
• Skyline has a new best attempt of 32.5% on pull 47
• Chao Jie has a new best attempt of 41% on pull 42

Method has a new best attempt for Echo of Neltharion of 3.52% on pull 74, the kill is getting closer!

Echo has a new best attempt for Scalecommander Sarkareth of 72.6% on Pull 3.

Echo waste no time, and have already started pulls on the final boss, Scalecommander Sarkareth!

Skyline and Chao Jie are still very close in progress on The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn, with best attempts of 48.2% and 46.9% respectively. Will we see them killing this boss just minutes apart like we did on Rashok? It will be interesting to see who pulls ahead, as so far, it's incredibly close.

Echo had another incredibly good pull just now of 3.59%, they are building some consistency and with two very close attempts, they have a kill in their sights.

Echo has a new best attempt for Echo of Neltharion of 1.47% on pull 68. They are so close to getting this boss down!

Since the last time we checked-in, the following has happened:

• Copium has a new best attempt for Rashok, the Elder of 28.3% on pull 12
• Ethical has a new best attempt for Rashok, the Elder of 24% on pull 2
• Skyline has a new best attempt for Zskarn of 55.3% on pull 12
• Chao Jie has a new best attempt for Zskarn of 53.1%

Method is getting back down to their best attempt and slowly but surely nudging it lower! Their new best is 40.7%.

Skyline have started pulling The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn, with a best attempt of 70.9% on their second pull.

Chao Jie have started pulling, their current best is 69.5% on pull 9, starting their next pull shortly.

These guilds will be head-to-head on this boss, just like the last!

And with a little bit of news from the Asia region! Skyline just had a heartbreaking wipe at 0.91% on Mythic Rashok!

They are ready to claim that World 8th spot!

poptart corndoG pushed as low as 7.53% on Mythic Rashok and decided to call it a day for tonight!

Some of their raiders are farming some more Mythic+ and they should probably come back tomorrow and make short work of this boss.

poptart corndoG is also pushing hard to overcome Mythic Rashok! They just improved their best percentage from 9.82% to 8.61% after 41 pulls!

Although not a new personal best, Liquid just got 3 pulls back to back into Phase 3! This time they reached around 19% on Neltharion's HP bar!

If they can keep the momentum, this boss is going down any time.

Another sub 10% pull for Imperative at Mythic Rashok! Absolutely insane consistency for the NA squad!

Both Imperative and poptart corndoG are pushing hard for World 8th Mythic Rashok! Imperative managed to get an amazing 11.9% while poptart pushed all the way down 9.82%!

BDG for sure are pushing hard! They just reached a personal best of 38.1% on Mythic Zskarn after 31 pulls!

Imperative won't let others got away that easily! They have also lowered their best percentage in the Mythic Rashok encounter, which is now 13.6%!

poptart corndoG is not here to mess around! They just lowered their best percentage on Mythic Rashok from 16 to 11.5% after only 15 pulls total, and that percentage was only 4 pulls ago!

They really want to join the race for Zskarn!

poptart corndoG is back at the Shadowed Crucible and are focused on defeating the Djaradin Elder! They just got a new personal best for Mythic Rashok of 17.6% after 11 pulls!

Instant Dollars also wants a piece of the action for the World 4th Mythic Zskarn!! They just lowered again their best percentage to 39.7%, inching closer and closer to FatSharkYes 27.2% and Conspiracy's 3.76%!

Imperative is pushing hard into the Crucible! Having just lowered their best percentage to 20.5% in the very intense Mythic Rashok encounter!

Although they didn't lowered their personal best, Liquid just got an amazing pull deep into Phase 3 for Neltharion! This is important because getting lower than 25% pulls consistently just puts an expire date on the boss!

Instant Dollars is looking to put in some heat for World 4th Mythic Zskarn! They just lowered their best percentage again, this time to 41.2%! Lets remember that this fight gets substantially harder the longer it lasts, with less and less room available, so they still have to overcome that, but for sure an amazing start for the night!

And Instant Dollars are also back at Aberrus! They are currently progressing Mythic Zskarn, with a best percentage of 60.7% after 4 pulls!

BDG inching closer to the World 4th over at Mythic Zskarn's room! They just lowered their best percentage to 58.2% after 12 pulls!

What a pull from Liquid! Although again, not lowering the boss health too much, they still managed to kill the third add and got a glimpse of the Phase 3!

The crazy amount of adds in the Phase 3 Portals mechanic can quickly overwhelm you tank with the stacking debuff, so they still have a long way to go! But the consistency now will be key, to get everyone alive and burn the boss faster than it can summon its army!

BDG is also back at Aberrus! After defeating the insane Rashok fight, they already managed to push 69% on the boss HP bar at the chaotic Mythic Zskarn! They now joined Conspiracy and FatSharkYes to defend the NA honor against both EU guilds for the World 4th on the Vigilant Steward encounter!

As I've said before, boss percentages can be a little bit deceiving here, but Liquid managed to get a very good pull, reaching all the way into the third add into P2! The boss percentage is still sitting around 42%, but reaching the last add is massive in terms of progression, since as soon as they manage to kill the last add and enter Phase 3, the encounter will become a DPS race, and they already showed that they have the damage!

But they sure have competition! FatSharkYes is back at the Crucible, already pushing all the way down 27.2% on Zskarn after 43 attempts so far!

This World 4th won't go down easy!

And another 3.7% pull for Conspiracy! This last part of the Mythic Zskarn encounter is for sure chaotic to say the least! Hopefully they can achieve consistency and break the 3% barrier to finish off the encounter!

Even though they are pushing hard for the boss, and the current composition can easily kill the boss, its interesting to see that Liquid is currently the only guild that decided to run only 1 Warlock for an encounter!

This is the fewer players players playing this class so far in this tier, with a single Demonology Warlock in the current NA squad composition.

And Method just bested Liquid back on Mythic Neltharion! The current best percentage is 45.9% for Method vs. 46.1% for Liquid!

The best percentage is still in Echo's name, with an amazing 24.9%.

Conspiracy is really pushing hard! They just got an amazing pull on Mythic Zskarn, wiping at 3.78%! They are really close to claim World 4th on this very difficult boss.

And Method is ready to swoop this World First at any time! The new best percentage for them is now 45.9% after 31 pulls!

In terms of composition, Liquid decided to take a very interesting route! While Echo was running a Fury Warrior that later switched to Arms, the NA squad decided to right off the gate run double Arms Warrior for the powerful Execute spell in the last phase of the boss. In the ranged positions we also have differences, with Liquid changing one of the Arcane Mages to play Fire instead, to optimize cleave damage in the boss while targeting the p2 adds.

This differences alone change a lot of the damage profile the raid can deliver, and will for sure change where the difficult part of the encounter is for each guild.

After very though fight against Mythic Rashok, BDG decided to chase more gear, and are currently farming Mythic+!

Meanwhile, Method and Liquid are working hard on Neltharion!

The current best percentages are 50.5% for the Orange Squad after 30 attempts, and 46.1% for Liquid after 13 pulls!

And in a very interestingly turn of events, Echo actually decided to call it a day, and will have an early sleep to reset the batteries!

They have been up earlier than usual today, and we have to remember that the competition is for Sarkareth, not Neltharion, so they are wisely playing the long game!

It will be quite interesting to see how the Healer composition will play in the guilds strategy!

Currently all opted to 4-heal the fight, and all three brought the Holy Paladin, double Holy Priest combo! But while the European powerhouses decided to bring a Restoration Shaman, Liquid opted to bring the huge Versatility buff from Druid in the form of the Restoration specialization.

While the heat is all over the EU, Liquid is not quiet! They are steadily progressing phase 1, to achieve consistency on reaching p2!

Their best percentage is currently 63.2%, having killed only 1 out of 3 adds in their phase 2 pulls.

And Liquid also responded!

The new best percentage for the US top runner squad is now 69.8%!

This Echo of Neltharion World First will be for sure a close call if its up to these amazing guilds!

Keep in mind that although Echo is looking like they are ahead, with 23% as their best percentage, this encounter is very crazy during Phase 2, and everyone surviving that phase is key for a kill! So anytime now, anyone of these guilds can get a good p2 and pretty much defeat the encounter!

And Method just lowered their best pull on Mythic Neltharion! The new mark is 57.6% achieved in the 14th attempt!

And more and more consistency! Echo is pushing hard to get more Phase 2 experience so they can reach phase 3 with more players alive!

Meanwhile, both Method and Liquid are taking their time, discussing a lot between pulls, to make sure they are as efficient as possible to defeat the encounter as soon as possible and finally get their hands on Sarkareth!

And Method is putting some heat in the dispute! They just lowered their best percentage to 74.7%!

Interestingly the Orange Squad is trying a different positioning for Phase 1 relatively to Echo! It will be interesting to see how Liquid does it as well, since both strategies seems to be working equally fine as Echo got 34 pulls while Method only got 7.

And with an early composition set, Liquid is finally clearing the thrash and getting ready for Neltharion!

The major difference so far is that Liquid is bringing double Arcane Mage replacing the Unholy Death Knight! Lets see how they will evolve strategy from there!

What a crazy fight! As I've mentioned, the boss percentage itself will be deceiving from now on, since you have to burn p2 adds, but Echo manage to get again to the second add in the last pull!

Keep in mind that Echo only got to P3 once so far!

And we will have an amazing three way dispute for Neltharion! Both Method and Echo are well under progression mode for the boss, but Liquid finally grouped up and are ready to start today's challenge!

Since Echo got all the way down sub 30%, and Method are also close to hitting phase 2, with the entire day to work on the encounter, there is a very high chance we may see Mythic Sarkareth later today!

And Method is not that far behind! They already got some early pulls, to setup addons and timers, and will probably be chasing Echo's best pull soon enough!

Quite interesting strategy from Liquid coming out today! They are trying to use their advantage as much as possible to push Mythic+ gear into their characters so they don't have to leave the Crucible again for the entire day, and progress further into Neltharion.

And what a pull for Echo! They finally managed to get to the second add of Phase 2 for Neltharion!

We will probably not see as much as a boss health percentage drop from now on, as those adds have to be hard focused, and only cleave capable classes will be able to maintain decent boss damage during this hectic part of the encounter!

And Liquid streams are starting to pop up! The raiders are doing some early Mythic+, probably while the analysts discuss strategies and get things ready to start Mythic Neltharion progression!

What a crazy pull for Echo! After the change in composition again, this time switching the Discipline Priest to play Holy Priest, they managed to get their best pull yet, going all the way down to 40.9% on the boss HP bar!

So close!! Another nail-biting pull for Method! Wiping at 0.94% on Mythic Magmorax!

And the Orange Squad is cooking! 6.5% on Mythic Magmorax!

And after what I'm sure was a very strategy full dinner, Echo is back at the Shadowed Crucible with a change in composition!

They brought a Restoration Shaman, dropping one of the Priests to bring the extra survivability with Spirit Link Totem and mobility with another Wind Rush Totem.

New best percentage for the Orange Squad! They managed to see the encounter all the way down 8.7%!

Meanwhile, we got some news from Asia! What a run for Skyline! They not only caught up to all the other guilds, but they also managed to down Mythic Rashok all the way down 7.15% after 44 attempts at this huge wall in the Crucible!

And we finally have a good look at this amazing Mythic Neltharion! Echo already pushed beyond the 60% mark, into the Second Phase! It for sure looks like a tough fight, specially because of the space restrictions imposed by the walls.

FatSharkYes have a new best percentage on Rashok, the Elder of 4.33% on pull 63.

Method have started to progress Magmorax, with 75% as their best on their first pull.

Echo waste no time, and have started their first pulls on Echo of Neltharion. With a best of 82.9%, but more importantly starting to get a first look at the boss on live.

Method go into some Mythic+ farming whilst the analysts and strategists decide on their approach for what's next, followed by some more crafting.

Echo have another sub 20% pull on Magmorax, with 12 pulls in total on the boss so far.

Echo have a new best on Magmorax of 6.1% after just 6 pulls.

Echo have a new best attempt on Magmorax of 19.7% on their 3rd pull of the boss.

Method are very close to a kill on The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn, with a new best attempt of 1.94% on pull 28.

Conspiracy are back in action on Rashok, with a new best attempt of 11% on pull 17

Echo have had another sub 10% pull (5.6%), they are getting very close to a kill!

Both Method and Echo are taking a food break before continuing progression on Zskarn.

Echo have also had a new best attempt of 4.36% on pull 25, taking back the lead on Zskarn.

Method have had a new best attempt of 10.9% on pull 14.

A little time has passed, and guilds continue their Mythic progress, lets take a look at a few changes.

• Echo have a new best of 17.8% with 22 pull in total on Zskarn.
• Method have a new best of 23.9% with 13 pull in total on Zskarn.
• Skyline has a new best of 15.9% (with 3 sub 20% pulls almost back-to-back), with a total of 11 pulls on Rashok.

Echo and Method are both pulling The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn. Making solid progress and looking to down this boss faster than Liquid's time-spent to close the gap on their lead.

• Echo have a best of 28.3%, with 15 pulls in total
• Method have a best of 44.4%, with 5 pulls in total

It's also worth noting, the last 2 bosses on Mythic difficulty have received significant buffs in damage for certain abilities. With lower than usual pull counts on bosses up to that point, it will be interesting to see if these changes are enough to have the final 2 encounters truly challenge the RWF competitors.

EU raiding is moments away from continuing, with Echo progressing The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn and Method looking for a swift kill of Rashok, the Elder after a best of 0.62% last night.

EU guilds are starting to login and get started for today.

Both Echo and Method are doing a few Mythic+ keys whilst they are discussing their plans for today. After which we shall likely see some more Mythic raid action, as they will want to catch up to Liquid as they sleep.

And it seems like we are done with Mythic action for today! Liquid will not be pulling Neltharion any time soon, although they consider pulling it in the end of their day, but a couple of raiders already went to Mythic+ runs and are considering sleeping earlier to wake up earlier for tomorrow!

What a night for the NA guilds! Although morale is in an all time high, Liquid already agreed that they won't be pulling Mythic Neltharion right now and instead will focus on farming Mythic+ gear pieces!

Meanwhile Instant Dollars also decided to call it a night and are farming some last Mythic+ keys before a well deserved sleep!

All the action over at Magmorax almost made us forget about the other big single target fight of the raid!

Instant Dollars had a heartbreaking wipe at 0.74% on Mythic Rashok! They are really close to getting World 3rd!

Another personal best! 2.47% is the new mark achieved by Liquid on Mythic Magmorax!

I know its literally a lava swimming pool, but Liquid is coming in HOT for the 7/9M mark!

They already reached 19.6% as their best percentage on Mythic Magmorax after only 4 pulls! Don't be fooled by the number though, these last 20% will be very challenging in terms of healing! They only got a few precious minutes, maybe only 60 seconds before the enrage, so it will be tight for sure!

Meanwhile, Liquid already got a lot of information on the next big DPS and healing check of the raid!

Mythic Magmorax got 597 Million health points, surpassing by more than 80 Million the mark for Mythic Raszageth, the last boss of the previous tier.

They are probably spending the next half an hour or so to update addons and timers since they changed from the PTR version of this fight to the current version.

Instant Dollars really want that World 3rd! Another amazing pull, wiping at the enrage with 2.05% after 20 pulls!

And a dinner break Liquid is back at the Crucible, ready to face Mythic Magmorax!

And we have even more action for US guilds! Instant Dollars is back at Mythic Rashok! They currently have 12 pulls and the best percentage is 21.3%

Interesting change again from Liquid! They ditched the Balance Druid and switched back to 4 healers by playing a Restoration Druid! The extra cooldowns and overall throughput from this Restoration will for sure help towards the end of the fight where things start to overlap a lot.

And by the looks of it Instant Dollars are running splits! Let's hope they are planning on going back to Mythic Rashok tonight

Liquid is taking a quick break to rethink strats for Zskarn! This boss is for sure interesting since it doesn't look like a boss where throughput is missing, both in terms of damage and healing, but you have to find exactly where to allocate it.

What a crazy fight! Apparently the biggest challenge Liquid got to overcome by now is sorting the golems' position relative to the boss!

With such priority to kill this adds as soon as possible so they don't activate more traps, the NA squad is focusing on optimizing as much as possible melee uptime on those adds, as well as how to efficiently cleave the adds for ranged DPS players so they don't lose boss damage.

Because of the random nature of the traps spawning it's not a surprise they are taking so much time between pulls to make sure what they saw was indeed the fight and not just a bad pull!

And we are off to a slow start for the afternoon on NA! Liquid is focusing a lot of time to discuss and refine their strategy on Mythic Zskarn!

Meanwhile BDG, Instant Dollars and many other US guilds are all focusing on Mythic+ gear to get as ready as possible for Mythic Rashok!

We may see a couple more pulls tonight for those guilds, but we have to keep in mind that they have a gargantuan task to overcome! The average item level between FatSharkYes, Echo, Liquid and Method is currently 432, while most other top guilds are sitting at 429. It seems little, but in a fight like Rashok, where DPS and HPS are tested to the limit, it can make all the difference.

And that's a wrap for Method! After 2 sub 1% pulls on Mythic Rashok, they will save their energy and come back to annihilate the boss with fresh minds tomorrow!

They managed to get to 0.63% as their best percentage, and clocked 25 attempts tonight right after defeating all previous encounters and doing some mythic+ runs, so for sure a well deserved rest after a very productive day.

New best percentage on Mythic Zskarn for the NA top runner Liquid, now sitting at 20.8%! They are really taking their time between pulls to refine strategy and discuss how they can improve each pull!

And things are starting to slow down a bit! Liquid is still working on Mythic Zskarn, who is putting quite the fight!

They changed compositions again, bringing in another DK, this time an Unholy to have even more control over the adds, but they dropped the Protection Paladin going back to a more conventional 2-tanks. Also, they switched to a 3 healer strat, dropping the Restoration Druid for a Balance, presumably for more controlled AoE over the golems as well.

Meanwhile, Method is the last EU guild progressing on Rashok, with FatSharkYes calling it a night after 51 pulls and a best percentage at 10.2%.

And wisely Echo will be focusing on the long run here! They are calling it for tonight, probably doing some more Mythic+ and getting some well deserved rest! They are currently sitting at 66.3% as their best percentage on Mythic Zskarn vs 21.9% from Liquid

And its game on! Echo just wiped at 66.3% on their first attempt at Zskarn!

And Liquid are back at the Crucible! Ready to pull Zskarn again.

But now with company! Echo just started Mythic Zskarn progression! The mark to beat here is 21.9% from the NA squad so it will be interesting to see how they fare on a head-to-head for the 6th boss kill!

Interestingly enough, now that Echo showed us a little bit more of their main character's power level, we can have a pretty good overview of the Item Level difference between them and the rest of the competitors!

As you can check in our Item Level Graphs Liquid killed Rashok with 432.5 average item level, while Echo just defeated the encounter with 431.6! It will be interesting to see where the other guilds progressing are, and how this difference will play out later in the tier!

Method is not letting Echo get that one so easily! 2.39% as the new best percentage for the Orange Squad!

Echo is really close to that World 2nd for Mythic Rashok!

The new best percentage to beat is 4.2%! Both FatSharkYes and Method are in the middle of a pull right now, so who knows what can happen!

And Zskarn will live for a little bit longer! Liquid is taking a lunch break after 14 pulls, and the best percentage is still at 21.9%!

We may be seeing a triple contention here for Rashok! As FatSharkYes is also pushing for the World 2nd, having their best percentage sitting at 10% after 32 pulls!

And more changes coming to compositions!

This time Echo has decided to swap one of the Demonology Warlocks for another Devastation Evoker! All jokes about Warlocks aside, this is the first pull so far we will see with less than 3 players on this class. So far we have seen as much as 4 players in a single fight playing Warlock, back in the Forgotten Experiments encounter for most of the major guilds.

And Method is coming in hot to challenge that 2nd place for Rashok! They just wiped to the enrage at 11.6%!

New best for the NA squad! 25.6% health remaining for Mythic Zskarn to fall for Liquid!

I wonder what they are planning on changing since again they reached this mark again with all traps active in the main platform, this is for sure a very interesting puzzle to solve.

And Zskarn is looking to be a tough fighter! With their personal best still standing in 38.8%, Liquid is having to rethink their strategy to deal with the absurd amount of traps bein active in the platform.

For context, the 38% pull was with almost all traps being active and basically no room left for them to walk to the golems to disable them.

And Echo is making short work of all the bosses so far! They are already pulling Mythic Forgotten Experiments!

Meanwhile Liquid is working on Mythic Zskarn still to match their own personal best of 38%

Liquid have started progress on The Vigilant Steward, Zskarn, with a best attempt of 38.8% after 2 pulls. They are planning how to improve their approach for the next pull, and which aspects of the strategy they already look good on!

Looks like NA guilds are starting to wake up! Liquid are in Rashok's room now, and with such low percentages earlier, will we see the kill soon?

Conspiracy make good progress, getting their new best attempt down to 16.8% on Rashok, the Elder!

Method continue to steamroll their way through Mythic bosses with a kill on The Forgotten Experiments after 7 pulls!

And Method continue their Mythic progress with a kill on Assault of the Zaqali, giving them 3 kills so far!

Method have switched gear and opted to go to Assault of the Zaqali instead of The Forgotten Experiments.

They will be pulling at any moment.

Echo are making a speedy work of Heroic Sarkareth splits, looking to be stacked with gear ready for smooth progress through Mythic Aberrus today.

Congrats to Conspiracy on their EU 1st on The Forgotten Experiments!

Echo have switched from Mythic+ to Heroic Scalecommander Sarkareth.

Method are back from their lunch break, and appear to be doing a few Mythic+ dungeons whilst discussing what the next steps are.

Echo are blasting through Mythic+, still on the hunt for some elusive loot, and doing gear upgrades.

Method are taking a food break, after which, it may be Mythic Aberrus time!

Meanwhile, EU guilds continue their Mythic+ farming, looking for some big ticket upgrades such as trinkets and weapons in particular.

Liquid are painfully close to killing the boss with a 0.26% wipe to the boss' enrage.

They are calling it there for today, as its 1:35am local time for them and they know with a fresh day, they can squeeze out the extra damage needed to beat the enrage.

Liquid are fine tuning their strategy, namely how they place the dodge mechanic (Searing Slam), stacking more into a single corner/side of the room to help reduce difficulty later into the fight.

A clean pull and we could see a Rashok kill from Liquid before they head offline for today.

Echo and Method are starting the day by running Mythic+, with Mythic Aberrus on the horizon.

And EU is coming back online! Echo is starting their day with upgrades straight away!

Keep in mind that we are still waiting to see how the item level game will be set after Method and Echo start doing Mythic, since Liquid is already at a whopping 430.1 average item level and they still got upgrades both from crafted gear / item level upgrades and Mythic+!

What a first pull that was! Liquid already dropping Rashok down to 19.5%!

And Liquid is already setting their sights in the Mythic Rashok World First! They just killed Mythic Assault of the Zaqali after 2 pulls!

Are they going to one shot the hardest encounter so far?

Today has been an interesting day for NA! After quite a few Mythic kills, and even a very close and thrilling dispute for the Mythic Forgotten Experiments World First, we have a massive slow down!

Both BDG and Liquid are focusing on Mythic+ gear, to top off the few upgrades they can squeeze into this reset! Of course with what we have seen so far from Heroic and early Mythic, I would much rather be on the side of the guilds who have played the long game same as both NA squads, Method and Echo since once you get enough gear the bosses will get melted.

The only question that remains is what will stop the current gear on the hand of the most talented players in the world? Rashok already got downed to 50% health so it remains to Zskarn and Magmorax, both very healing and dps intensive fights to stop the absurdly high average of 427 item level on most guilds we've seen so far!

We still got to see how much more Echo, Method and Liquid got above this average, since they ran the most amount of splits of them all.

And it looks like we will be spending the night in the cozy Mythic+ City Hotel and Casino! Both BDG, Liquid and many others are focusing on getting more and more keys done as well as targeting specific dungeons to funnel loot for possible main characters!

And we are not free of splits yet! Liquid and BDG are both pushing for more Normal Sarkareth runs! That Cape, the trinket and the Tier Set Token are for sure very attractive pieces judging by the amount of time guilds have spent so far trying to get them.

And interestingly turn of events, after doing a couple of pulls themselves and probably using intel from earlier, BDG decided to go back to normal splits, try to farm more Sarkareth Cloaks and trinkets to bump their damage for Rashok!

After an impressive 56.6% mark for FatSharkYes after 5 pulls on Mythic Rashok, they are calling a night and will get a well deserved rest for today!

And FatSharkYes are making good progress on Mythic Rashok! Having reached 61.33% after only 4 pulls!

They still have to match Honolulu's 54% mark, but for sure a strong start for such late night they are pulling

I hope you got your souveniers already, because that's probably the last call from Splitsville! Method is currently discussing options, the same as Liquid while Echo is farming Mythic+.

We got some pretty good action already rolling on Mythic with both BDG and FatSharkYes still pulling bosses! FatSharkYes is going late into EU night and are trying to push for that Mythic Forgotten Experiments World First!

And the EU day is starting to close out, with Conspiracy and Honolulu calling a night after very strong attempts on both Forgotten Experiments and Rashok.

But don't worry, across the pond BDG is picking up the Mythic action and are currently progressing on Mythic Rashok!

Echo and Method are still doing splits! They for sure don't want to leave the Mythic instance after they go in

So close! Conspiracy got their sights set to kill that boss! They got the Forgotten Experiments encounter all the all down 10%! We are for sure close to another Mythic kill!

Meanwhile, Honolulu is actually very confident they can deal with Rashok first, having pulled the boss and reached the 75% mark! Lets see if they will keep at it or switch over to Mythic Forgotten Experiments as the other guilds did!

And were getting closer and closer! Tony Halme Pro Skater got their best percentage down to 18% while Conspiracy got theirs down to 21.1%

And we are getting plenty of Mythic action! Both Conspiracy and Tony Halme Pro Skater have quickly catch up to the 3/9 Mythic mark, and are now working on the Forgotten Experiments encounter.

Interestingly enough, Conspiracy did a pull on Mythic Rashok, getting it down to 80%, but after the wipe they decided to go back and start progression on the Council fight of the raid. Is that a sign that the first big wall of the raid will be the Zaqali Elder?

And the RWF Train is taking a slightly detour to Mythic+ City! Both BDG, Echo and Liquid decided to run some dungeons to get more gear and Crests. Meanwhile Method is taking a lunch break and probably will be heading to the same route before going for Mythic Kazzara.

And we got some crazy news! Although it won't affect anything in the Aberrus race, we got official news about the highly anticipated third Dracthyr Evoker specialization!

While we wait for the guilds to go after Mythic, you can read about the new Augmentation Evoker in the official Blizzard overview

The engines are warming up! Honolulu, Method and Echo are all back to heroic clears already setting up the final compositions for Mythic!

Across the pond we got BDG already pumping Heroic Sarkareth kills while Liquid is waking up, and setting up for maybe the same Heroic farm?

One thing is for sure, there is not a lot left for these guilds to do apart from Mythic and Mythic+, so we are for sure seeing some progression today!

Chooo choooo! All aboard the RWF train! We are ready to leave the Splitsville Center Station!

What we are seeing from all the guilds currently playing for sure puts Mythic into the horizon for tonight! Method is deep down the splits rabbit hole, chasing a few more trinkets and tier pieces while working on Heroic Sarkareth while Echo is currently running Mythic+ dungeons! Some US guilds should be starting the day out soon, as we see BDG streams popping up for Heroic Sarkareth runs.

Hopefully today we can see more of the Forgotten Experiments encounter and finally get a look at the fearsome Mythic Rashok!

Method are taking a lunch break, Echo is doing some Mythic+ before starting on Scalecommander Sarkareth Heroic and other EU guilds that aren't day raiding have players doing Mythic+ until their raid team is available later today.

It will be interesting to see if the top EU guilds will enter Mythic today.

It's looking very quiet on the EU front currently, with most guilds continuing with normal/heroic splits or Mythic+ for loot, vaults and crests.

A quick look in at the EU side of things:

• Echo continuing to smash out the Heroic splits, likely moving into targeting the Heroic Scalecommander Sarkareth splits later today.
• Method are squeezing in some Mythic+ before returning to the split farming

Liquid have confirmed that they are done for today.

It appears that the new loot changes: with loot being tradable now for 4 hours (instead of 2 hours), but that timer running down even when that character is not online has caused some frustration in extra time-sink for loot distribution. Now, every 4 hours they need to discuss where the loot is going, rather than having one efficient meeting about it after the splits have finished.

Their plan is to start tomorrow most likely with a handful of Heroic Scalecommander Sarkareth kills, swiftly followed by Mythic bosses. With a guarantee that Mythic bosses will be on the menu when they return to raiding later today (tomorrow for NA)!

Liquid seem to have finished their barrage of Scalecommander Sarkareth Heroic splits. Taking a break to talk business in a guild meeting, before returning to more Heroic Sarkareth, or teasing that they may be ready to enter Mythic and start dropping bosses.

Congratulations to Potent on World 9th and get help on World 10th Amalgamation Chamber! They each conquered the elementals in 8 pulls each!

Congratulations Enclave for defeating Mythic The Amalgamation Chamber as well!

That got them World 7th, US 5th!

Na still a little bit too quiet, but the next hours sure will be more intense!

Liquid is currently doing focused Heroic splits, chasing some specific loot pieces, and BDG is finishing more Normal runs.

We still got plenty of time for them to reach Nerd Crew and Revolutionist in the 3/9M mark!

EU day is officially over! Now we wait for what they will come back for tomorrow! hopefully the train can leave Splitsville and we get some Mythic action!

Looks like we will have to wait a little bit longer for Liquid to join the Mythic action! They are still discussing loot and their raiders are all running Mythic+ for extra pieces and Crests

We may be getting a few familiar faces for more Mythic action on NA, with Vesper killing Heroic Sarkareth after 14 pulls!

Meanwhile Liquid is currently discussing their loot distribution in order to elect their main characters and composition, but they already announced that they are going to do more Heroic splits, so maybe follow up other NA squads and get the 9 out of 9 bosses by killing Heroic Sarkareth tonight?

And the RWF train still haven't left the Splitsville Center station!

Both Liquid and Method are focusing on getting as much gear as possible, with the EU squad currently doing Mythic+ while Liquid is deep into today's Heroic and Normal runs!

With plenty of time for NA we will probably see more Mythic action as other guilds should be starting their raiding day soon

The Early Shift coming in from the US with a kill on Assault of the Zaqali after 13 pulls putting them World 5th, US/OC 2nd!

And in come Honolulu with the kill on The Amalgamation Chamber claiming EU 2nd, World 3rd after 9 pulls. Congrats to them!

Revolutionist have downed The Amalgamation Chamber to claim EU 1st World 2nd after 5 pulls!

Honolulu also making good progress on the boss, with their best try at 19.6% after 7 pulls. Will we see the kill soon?

Many splits continue across the board. With very little movement on the Mythic leaderboard, it looks unlikely that we will see too much more in the immediate future there.

Most if not all guilds that have returned for a day 2 in NA, or day 1 EU have opted to enter the raid on Heroic or Normal to conduct splits. Many players have been completing Mythic+ in downtime or when their team wasn't actively in the raid.

Echo have returned to Heroic splits, after concluding their meal break, and will likely be continuing with these until they finish raiding later today.

Method will soon break for theirs, after which, there are more splits waiting.

One of the first NA guilds to show on the Mythic leaderboards yesterday, The Early Shift, has begun their day with some Heroic splits. With a few other handful of NA guilds starting to show their heads such as Vesper and BDG.

As the day gets into its second half for most EU guilds, we see the trend of sticking to splits rather than entering Mythic continue.

• Echo are well into their Heroic splits (approximately 2.5 hours), having finished normal.
• Method continue with their Heroic splits, yet to step foot in either normal or Mythic.

It's also worth noting, Fatsharkyes are also live streaming their progress this tier. With very impressive progression time historically, it will be very interesting to see them working live. Their stream schedule can be found on their twitter, with most of their progression hours being from 7pm CEST till 11pm. They are live earlier today, so go and check them out in their splits.

As it currently stands, 77 guilds have killed Heroic Echo of Neltharion and 1 guild has defeated Scalecommander Sarkareth on Heroic.

It won't be long until the NA guilds start to appear online and we can see if any of the Mythic front-runners decide to head back in to carry on where they left off!

As expected, the splits continue, with guilds noting that this raid's Heroic is going quicker than first anticipated.

Hopefully this may lead to smoother splits and an earlier entry into Mythic for guilds....or it may mean they attempt to squeeze in more splits than predicted.

Does this mean we will start to see some EU guilds on the Mythic leaderboard soon? We certainly hope so!

And in EU Mythic news....there is no news. We are deep in the world of splits, and we currently have 2 guilds on 8/9 Heroic - Method and Exposed. Echo are choosing to complete Normal splits. In other news, it's nice to see former Aversion raider Nexxzz raiding with Conspiracy, who are currently sitting at 7/9 Heroic.

As it stands currently, the vast majority of US guilds have stopped for today. Just a few of their players remaining online to squeeze in some Mythic+.

• Nerd Crew are the furthest on 3/9 progress and getting The Forgotten Experiments down to 19.6% after 16 Pulls
• Poptart Corndog are at 2/9 progress, interestingly opting to attempt Rashok next for a single pull, reaching 79.1%
• 6 other NA guilds having killed the first boss (Kazzara), with the front-runner of the pack being The Early Shift with a best of 34.7% on Assault of the Zaqali

Echo are continuing with Normal splits, saving their Heroic splits till afterwards, similar to the approach of Liquid.

Method are currently the furthest ahead in Heroic with 8/9 Heroic, opting for Heroic splits before normal.

EU guilds have started to enter the raid, with a few NA still going strong hitting bosses in the raid or having switched to Mythic+ before heading offline for today.

Interestingly Liquid have decided they prefer Vault of the Incarnates, so have just entered the previous raid tier on Mythic and are pulling Eranog. We can only assume this is for very specific items that still perform well in the current raid, possibly the Eranog ring with the fire damage proc.

Congrats to DMG for world 8th Kazzara!

Every time I think it's winding down, another guild kills the dragon. Big congrats to < poptart corndoG > - Tichondrius for the world 7th Kazzara kill!

After a flurry of kills on Kazzara (and insane early progress from Nerd Crew) it looks like things are quieting down once for NA more as guilds head back to M+ to finish off the night.

The EU is starting to stir, however, with the raid officially open the race has begun! Starting out with some Normal/Heroic splits we'll wait to see if we will have any Mythic attempts from that side of the world today. #hype

Another kill in for Mythic Kazzara, with Strawberry Puppy Kisses taking #5.

Enclave coming in not far behind, having previously encountered a 0.45% wipe, locking in the 4th kill for Kazzara.

Unleashed managing to lock in the world 3rd kill for Kazzara. We're seeing plenty of action from NA tonight, with EU starting to wake up in preperation for their reset.

After a short little burst of Mythic action, we are back to Splitsville! I wonder who will get the title of Mayor this time around.

Most US guilds are focusing on Normal and Heroic splits, while we wait for the EU guilds to join the action in a couple of hours!

Riding on their World First high, The Early Shift is attempting some early first pulls on the Amalgamation Chamber. I know you all will be right there with us cheering them on! Keep pushing, team.

The Early Shift is still pushing for that first Kazzara kill -- they're making consistent sub-10% progress! Just a few more adjustments and we're looking at our first Mythic kill of the tier. It honestly could be any pull now, so stay tuned! They are looking to transition to Heroic for some gear after the first boss is downed.

Taking a look at some of our other contenders while we've yet to see any other Mythic pulls, we do have Liquid finishing up their first Normal run. They managed to loot a cloak and three beacons, 'grats on the loot!

Other US teams are focusing on M+ runs to get their raiders some gear before really ramping up their RWF progress. Across the pond it looks like most are preparing to begin their RWF push tomorrow morning and we'll look forward to updates from them as they come.

For now, stay tuned and expect that first kill announcement any minute!

The race is on! While many of us have been waiting to see some of the first mythic pulls of the tier, it looks like those attempts may still be a few days out. Most teams are focused on doing M+ and Normal/Heroic splits to gear up a bit before taking on Kazzara on Mythic for the first time.

While we won't see any attempts on the Dragon (at least on Mythic) for a bit, we are still looking forward to keeping you informed on all the latest progress so stay tuned!