Race to World First: The Venomous Abyss

Echo didn't spend very long trying Mythic Nymrissa Wavecaller before realising the difficulty isn't worth the time investment right now. Instead they sorted out some crests and gearing discussions before now heading into Heroic Ula'Tek!

Echo have jumped into Mythic Nymrissa Wavecaller. The boss definitely still seems to put up a challenge on Mythic difficulty, even after receiving a hotfix nerfing the boss (earlier today):

• Abyssal Rain initial damage reduced by 12.5% on Mythic difficulty
• Abyssal Rain periodic damage reduced by 20% on Mythic difficulty
• Reduced Abyssal Rain damage scaling based on group size for larger groups
• Frost Burst damage reduced by 40%

With this boss dropping a good trinket for casters, Wavecallers Seastone, amongst other high value Mythic items, we should expect to see more of The Tidebound Grotto on Mythic before this RWF is over! Although with how difficult the boss appears to be still, I don't think that will be today.

Humble have had a pull on Mythic Sszorak, but have now ended their raid for the day.

Liquid are still doing Mythic+, the only content they will be doing for the rest of the day. Likely not for too much longer either, as they will be heading offline to rest up before planning on going into Mythic tomorrow.

Echo and Method are pushing onward with their Heroic Split runs.

US Guild Humble have taken down The Lost Explorers, moving them up to 3rd place in the rankings.

As EU wakes up, Method are back in splits and Echo appear to be grouping up to continue the same

Liquid return from their dinner break and are continuing with Mythic+.

Humble are making some steady progress with each pull finding a new best of 47.1% on Mythic The Lost Explorers.

While Liquid are on a dinner break Humble are trying to slay some turtles getting a new best of 53.9% on Mythic The Lost Explorers on their 2nd pull.

Shortly after xD step away from Nymrissa Wavecaller some nerfs have come in, reducing the damage of Abyssal Rain and Frost Burst. This should hopefully allow guilds to progress further into the fight and potentially kill the boss.

Nymrissa Wavecaller is proving to be a difficult boss as xD decide to move over to some Heroic splits after getting a best 77.57% over 11 pulls.

Collapse Gaming have taken the number 1 spot on the leaderboards after bringing Mythic Entombed Sentinels down to 59.8% on their 4th pull.

Some late night EU action. Collapse Gaming have started pulling Mythic Entombed Sentinels, bringing the boss down to 82.1% within 3 pulls.

As Liquid settle into their Mythic+ runs xD have started their evening by pulling the Lair boss Nymrissa Wavecaller on Mythic.

As the EU guilds start getting ready for bed Liquid continue their Heroic Ula'tek splits with some Mythic+ planned after they finish up their 14th kill on Heroic Ula'tek.

Echo have gone offline for today, likely kicking off tomorrow with Heroic Ula'Tek!

Method are finishing the day off with a couple of Mythic+ keys.

Liquid has been online for a couple of hours today, continuing with Heroic The Coiled Altar into Ula'Tek runs.

Collapse Gaming, the guild that killed Heroic Ula'Tek World 2nd are making progress on Mythic The Lost Explorers, with a new best of 10.6% on Pull 13. They appear to be making a few small comp adjustments in the pulls following that new best.

Echo and Method continue to work through their Heroic splits. Its a time consuming part of the Race to World First, very repetitive and not the most exciting to watch, but they are necessary to be able to reach the DPS and Healing checks of the fights on Mythic.

Echo continue to progress through Heroic splits of Sszorak through to, and including, The Coiled Altar. Opting to not yet include Heroic Ula'Tek, as their current split groups include helpers.

Method are doing internal splits (only using Method players) of The Coiled Altar and Ula'Tek on Heroic difficulty.

There hasn't been any further Mythic Progress today since xD got Mythic Entombed Sentinels to a best of 63.8%.

Liquid have called it for today, heading offline to rest up for tomorrow.

In the Liquid streams end of day chat with Max, has said there is a chance of Mythic Splits, not confirming that it will happen, but has noted its a possibility that we could see RWF guilds split the first few Mythic bosses to focus on building a gearing slingshot for the weekly reset.

Echo and Method are online again, pushing forward with another day of splits. We will see a similar pattern to Liquid today, with the focus being on the last 2 Heroic bosses and some partial crafting and crest usage on characters now likely only intended to help the real characters in these splits.

xD are offline having jumped into the lead with their World First kill of Mythic The Lost Explorers earlier today.

As NA Teams hit into the late evening hours xD has moved onto Mythic Entombed Sentinels and in one pull get a best of 81.16%. Liquid are doing a Normal split of Ula'Tek along with Instant Dollars, and poptartcorndoG. There is also another NA Team, Winky Face that had defeated Mythic Nek'zali the Soulcoiler claiming the World 6th, NA 6th rank.

As Liquid go for dinner xD continue to make great progress, earning a new best of 0.12% on their 13th pull. A heartbreaking wipe but we could see The Lost Explorers fall at any moment.

xD wastes no time as they made their way to Mythic The Lost Explorers, on the 6th pull they achieve a new best of 12.6%. Putting in the #1 ranking spot for World 1st.

Liquid is still swapping between normal and heroic splits.

xD quickly showing that they are not messing around. Defeating Mythic Nek'zali the Soulcoiler on their 2nd pull and claiming World 5th along with NA 5th.

Some action from NA as xD have began pulling Nek'zali on Mythic. Achieving 42.4% on their first pull.

Starting to be a quiet evening here on the NA side at the moment.

Liquid has moved onto Heroic Splits at this time.

Method and Echo have concluded their day of normal/heroic splits and have logged for the evening.

Liquid has now switched to doing their normal splits.

At this time for the Mythic standpoint there has been really no movement for the World 5th, but it is still pretty early for the NA, we will have to see what awaits for tonight.

Seems like Heroic Ula'Tek is on the menu at this time, Collapse Gaming defeated this encounter in 60 pulls. Liquid is focusing their heroic splits now onto Ula'Tek.

Both Method and Echo are working their heroic splits onto Sszorak

One pull later after the 1% wipe Liquid takes down Heroic Ula'Tek This now looks like they can now stretch there heroic splits into doing the final two bosses.

Liquid come in strong, with a 0.9% wipe on Ula'Tek HC on their first attempt. 3 players were dead for a good portion of the fight so perfect play will be needed if they want that world 2nd kill!

With Liquid's day just starting, it looks like they have went straight to Ula'Tek HC in the hopes of finally getting that out the way and ticking some more splits off of the RWF checklist!

Over in EU, Method are doing the last of their normal and HC splits before tackling Ula'Tek tomorrow. Echo are still in HC splits as well, but it's yet to be seen if they will battle Ula'Tek today, or wait until they have fresh heads tomorrow.

Collapse Gaming have had two very close attempts on Heroic Ula'Tek, wiping at 0.83% (~30 minutes ago) and 1.84% just now. They just need a little extra boss damage throughout the fight and they will be the second guild to kill Ula'Tek on Heroic!

Into the afternoon of the EU day, Method and Echo are still continuing with normal and HC splits, although neither of them have went to HC Ula'Tek yet to see if they can get the first kill on the last boss.

Over in China and OCE, the guilds there are also deep in splits, both in Venomyss Abyss and Nymrissa Wavecaller in the lair, The Tidebound Grotto.

Liquid are wrapping up for today, with their final Heroic kill of The Coiled Altar marking the end of their Day 3 of The Race to World First.

Echo and Method are back online for another day filled with The Venomous Abyss and Nymrissa Wavecaller Splits.

After 5 pulls Literacy Test claim World 3rd and NA 3rd for defeating Nek'zali the Soulcoiler! Congrats!

After 8 pulls World 2nd, NA 2nd of Nek'zali the Soulcoiler claimed by Mid! Congrats!!

Consequence testing with the Mythic encounters as they did one pull onto The Lost Explorers and hit a best of 33.8%. Mid still working on pull 8 doing their best to get Nek'zali the Soulcoiler down and claim the World 2nd.

Consequence waste no time as they make more progression on Mythic Entombed Sentinels with just 2 pulls and a 77% best.

Mid at pull 5 and a new best of .21% with Mythic Nek'zali the Soulcoiler. Looking like a World 2nd is coming.

Liquid deeply working their Heroic splits.

The Early Shift are not holding back getting another new best and sprinting towards the World First kill earning a new best at 1%.

Along with The Early Shift we also have Mid joining in the race earning a best of 38.2% on their second pull and thats on me not far behind with 47%.

The Early Shift is not holding back at all pull 35 and a new best of 7.96%. Also thats on me progressing along with a new best for themselves of 48.1% pull 5

The Early Shift are inching closer to a World First kill, bringing Nek'zali down to a new best of 12.8% on their 34th pull.

Well hello thats on me coming in on pull 2 and a 48.3% of Mythic Nek'zali the Soulcoiler

• There you have it pull 32 The Early Shift new best of 23.7% on Mythic Nek'zali the Soulcoiler. We are starting to see some progression in Mythic.
• Liquid is still working on normal splits and soon to start up some more heroic splits.
• All other NA guilds are working in a combination of normal or heroic.

The Early Shift have sent their second team into Mythic. Progressing on Nek'zali to beat their best of 31%. We could potentially see a World First kill tonight.

Just posted Blizzard will be doing a hotfix soon or after a schedule realm restarts to nerf Heroic Ula'Tek and a list of other bug fixes within for Vashnik the Malignant and The Coiled Altar . This could mean we could see a Heroic Ula'Tek kill soon.

Everyone within the NA Guilds are deeply focused into all the Normal and Heroics that is going on right now. Heroic Ula'Tek and Mythic Nek'zali the Soulcoiler are still standing just waiting for a good takedown.

The Early Shift have sent their second team in Heroic. Getting some final bits of gear before looking to add on to the progress that the first team has made.

Most EU Guilds are now offline and resting up before starting again bright and early tomorrow, likely for another day of Splits.

Liquid continue to progress through splits, with Max (the Liquid Raid Leader) suggesting that Blizzard are looking into nerfing the difficulty of Heroic Ula'Tek. Which isn't surprising given how few guilds have made progress on the final boss on Heroic, with only 5 guilds having killed Heroic The Coiled Altar, the last 2 bosses of this raid are putting up a bit of a challenge.

The Early Shift have ended their raid and jumped back into some Mythic+, so there will be no more Mythic progress from them today.

The Early Shift keep making progress on Mythic Nek'zali the Soulcoiler, reaching a new best of 31.3% on Pull 22.

The teams continue to progress through the endless wave of splits, Echo and Method are closing in on their final splits of the day, and Liquid have recently come online to start Day 3.

Unfortunately, there is not a lot to report on, as over in EU, Echo and Method are still deep into splits. Interestingly enough, Ula'Tek remains undefeated on HC. The guilds are feeling the pressure, and may look to send in more of their raiders when it comes to the last boss on HC, rather than relying on helpers for splits.

Also unfortunate is with this setback, it's becoming increasingly likely that we won't see some Mythic bosses from the top teams for quite a few days at least.

Echo and Method continue to push forward with Splits for Day 2.

Liquid has recently called it for the day and head offline, ending their RWF Day 2 of Splits.

Unfortunately, based on how challenging the raid is shaping up to be, with no guild defeating Heroic Ula'Tek, there is unlikely to be any meaningful Mythic progress made within The Venomous Abyss today.

Day 2 draws to a close for NA with most guilds still locked into normal splits. 9 guilds have now tested Mythic Soulcoiler, but that world first is still up for grabs!

EU is waking up with Method already back in the raid instance, and we're waiting on word from Asia as their weekly reset hits.

Still more Normal and Heroics going on for the NA Guilds. There were two other guilds that did try a Mythic of Nek'zali the Soulcoiler and still no boss down. Liquid is now back from dinner break and looks to be moving into Heroic Splits.

Heroic Ula'tek remains unbeaten, as Liquid decide to resume Normal splits after a few pulls. Splits remains the name of the game as we approach the end of NA Day 2 and EU Day 1.

As we start the early NA evening hours, just a few guilds are on making their strides of progression of Heroics. We see that Liquid looks to be done with normal splits and are now making attempts on Heroic Ula'Tek with a 49.98% as a best. Vesper is not too far from getting the 7/8H as they are at a best of 13.60% P3 of The Coiled Altar and Instant Dollars tailing them with 79.27% P3.

As for Mythic a few guilds have got their toes wet by touching Nek'zali the Soulcoiler. The Early Shift still holding the #1 spot with a new best of 59.4% and Frost Wolf Clan and a few others trailing them with some 80s%.

As this is just mentioned The Early Shift has logged back in and moved to doing Normal/Heroic.

Liquid are back in the raid and continue to work through their splits whilst the EU guilds sleep.

Liquid can't catch a break when it comes to things they can't control stopping them from doing their splits. After a Day 1 that consisted of a lot of very impactful boss bugs, Day 2 hasn't had a great start with login servers having stability issues and not allowing all of the players to login.

Echo and Method are due to end their first day of the RWF very soon, having started when the realms were first available today, they are both ready to finish up for the day and rest up before starting again tomorrow just as early!

As expected, the majority of Guilds are still inside of Splits or Mythic+.

There have been a couple new guild names that have appeared on the Mythic Leaderboard for The Venomous Abyss, with Frost Wolf Clan nudging the best attempt for Mythic Nek'zali the Soulcoiler to 81.9%. But there have yet to be any guilds making heavy progress into the first boss just yet.

It won't be long now until NA guilds are coming online to start Day 2 of their RWF! With Liquid starting up their streams!

EU guilds are pushing forward with their first day of The Race to World First: The Venomous Abyss, taking minimal downtime between Normal and Heroic Split runs.

EU Guilds continue to work through Splits Raids of Normal and Heroic, with no EU guild even attempting to pull Nek'zali the Soulcoiler on Mythic.

Liquid have also taken a few hits on Heroic Ula'Tek, but have stopped after 2 Pulls and a best attempt of 74.3%. It looks like they have actually gone offline for today and will return tomorrow for more Splits.

EU has entered the race! With servers up Echo & Method both kick off splits as they play catch up. With day 1 bugs and lag issues seemingly resolved, they aren't too far behind.

As the evening NA hours begins to come to a close we are still seeing Liquid now making much strides in their Normal Raid Splits of The Venomous Abyss along with The Tidebound Grotto

xD has joined Instant Dollars in the ranking of 6/8H

Looks as if the EU teams are about to start their 1st Day of RWF really really soon.

A couple of guilds have given Mythic Nek'zali the Soulcoiler a pull or 2, likely to gauge the difficulty of the first Mythic boss, but as it stands there has been no progression on Mythic difficulty beyond a best of 84.5%.

We believe the "Lag" issue for Normal The Coiled Altar has been fixed as Liquid's Split Groups takes it down and able to move onto Normal Ula'Tek in which taking down that encounter as well with very few issues. Seems that they are still working the Normal Splits again.

Still have many teams working Normals and few working the Heroic progression and these teams are pretty familiar ie... xD, Consequence, Vulgar, poptart corndoG, Melee Mechanics, Of course Instant Dollars still holing onto 6/8H

Another hotfix for The Coiled Altar Normal which resulted in a nerf to the Intermission at the end of P2 the health modifers has been greatly reduced by almost 100%. This should now make this boss encounter viable to get through.

Heroic:

Instant Dollars still holding 6/8, Cute anime Boomers 5/8, There is about 3 teams holding the 4/8 position, and looking like 6 teams including Liquid still at 3/8.

Normal:

Guilds are still plowing through the splits. Liquid has taken down Ula'Tek with the 3 to 4 split groups.

A lot of frustration to be had as the lag of The Coiled Altar is still giving some teams issues, even after trying to reset the instance multiple times.

The Hotfix for The Coil of Alter was the RP, which is now fixed.

Liquid has found a work around for the lag issue by resetting the instance and running back to The Coil Alter normal encounter.

Normal/Heroic Splits is the name of the game to start off the early evening hours for NA Teams.

Liquid is still working with 3 different groups for Normal Splits. It seems one or more of their groups is running into a few to many bugs/lag with some of the boss encounters, and also running into the issue of getting normal helpers for the splits.

Hotfix incoming for The Coil Alter for all difficulties.

Instant Dollars are back, and after few more attempts on The Coiled Altar Heroic, they seem to have stopped attempts on that boss and decided to start a new Heroic Split.

AxTxS and Cute anime Boomers have now jumped ahead of Liquid with 4/8 on Heroic. Instant Dollars are still on a dinner break. Liquid seem to have stopped doing Heroic splits and are now focusing on Normal splits.

Instant Dollars have finished taking a break, and have headed back into Heroic The Coiled Altar.

Liquid are taking a food break before heading back into more splits.

Instant Dollars have taken a break from The Coiled Altar fight on Heroic and have headed into Heroic Nymrissa Wavecaller (the Lair boss, inside the The Tidebound Grotto).

They took the single boss raid down with ease, and are now taking a short player break.

Instant Dollars continue their clean sweep of Heroic World Firsts, defeating The Twin Fangs and moving onto The Coiled Altar!

Liquid have completed 4 runs of the The Venomous Abyss Raid on Normal, and have now entered Heroic, already taking down the first boss, Nek'zali the Soulcoiler, with 2 groups!

The guild Erudite have taken the World First kill of Ula'Tek on Normal Difficulty. Beating Liquid to the kill by just a few minutes!

I haven't included the cut-scene in the clip, so don't worry about spoilers.

Instant Dollars and The Early Shift both move deeper into The Venomous Abyss Heroic.

Instant Dollars have defeated Heroic Vashnik the Malignant, World First, and have started to pull Heroic The Twin Fangs!

The Early Shift have defeated Heroic Entombed Sentinels and move onto Vashnik the Malignant next.

One of the Liquid split Groups have defeated the Coiled Altar on normal and moved on to Ula'tek.

However, Liquid second normal split group encountered a bug and was unable to defeat The Coiled Altar. They’re resetting and going again.

Instant Dollars have made more progress on Heroic, being the World First to defeat Heroic Entombed Sentinels.

The Early Shift have also joined in on Heroic and have taken down Nek'zali the Soulcoiler, now opting to head straight over to Entombed Sentinels.

Instant Dollars have made it to 3/8 Heroic. Slaying Nek'zali, The Lost Explorers and Sszorak and making their way to the Entombed Sentinels!.

Liquid are continuing with their first set of splits. With the usual guilds that we see on the early NA hours starting their week with Normal raids and Mythic+.

The Early Shift have jumped in the new Lair, The Tidebound Grotto, and have taken the World First kill of Nymrissa Wavecaller on Heroic Difficulty! Proving to be a very easy boss to defeat.

Liquid are wasting no time and start forming the first of many split groups!

Instant Dollars also head straight into the The Venomous Abyss Raid and take down the first boss on Heroic!

The NA realms appear to be coming online, and players are logging which marks the start of Midnight Season 2!