World of Warcraft is still one of the most popular MMORPGs in the world. To keep the game afloat, developers try to dilute it with a variety of content. Most often, they resort to improving the balance and making dungeons more difficult, which helps to test players' strength and their abilities in more difficult conditions. One of these elements was the introduction of affixes, starting with World of Warcraft Legion. 

What are affixes in World of Warcraft?

Affixes are special modifiers of dungeons in the Mythic+ mode that make them more difficult to complete with various effects and buffs. Affixes are updated and combined in a specific order every week. They usually affect different aspects of the dungeons: they strengthen enemies by giving them more health or attack power, give them special skills, and more. However, some affixes also have a positive effect on the players themselves, enhancing certain characteristics and skills.

What are affixes for?

The main task of affixes is to provide special conditions for completing more difficult dungeons. As a result of passing such dungeons, players test their strength, check their ability to play in a team, receive new challenges, and achievements, and have the opportunity to explore new mechanics. Most importantly, after completing the Mythic+ dungeons, players have the opportunity to receive rare and unique rewards that will replenish their collection with various items and more.

Types of affixes

All affixes in World of Warcraft can be divided into several categories, depending on the properties they provide to the gameplay or the type of their implementation.

1. Reinforcement affixes: strengthen opponents by giving them additional damage from attacks or abilities. This requires the player to play more cautiously and prepare before the current challenge. This will require more healing items, healers in the team, appropriate spells to counter some effects, etc. 
2. Resistance affixes: make the dungeons themselves more difficult by adding various obstacles, and mobs, and increasing the health of enemies. 
3. Adaptive affixes: change some mechanics or abilities of enemies. 
4. Seasonal affixes: will appear in the game only during a certain period, usually during some kind of celebration or event.

A list of all affixes in WoW

There are more than a dozen affixes in the game that diversify and complicate the game. However, only a few of them are used at a time, and they change weekly. Below is the list, including the new affixes that are currently available in the game.

• Sanguine — after the death of an enemy mob, a pool of blood is formed, and players will take gradual damage while standing in it. This is a big problem for melee heroes who need to deal the main damage to other enemies or tanks. On the contrary, enemy characters and bosses who are in this puddle receive healing.
• Bolstering — when enemies die, except for bosses, they emit a death cry that gives all allied mobs an additional 20% attack damage.  This way, they have a progressive ability to strengthen their allies, which can become a bigger issue for you. The best option in this case is to kill enemies at the same time, as well as to have enough defense and hill in reserve.
• Tyrannical — increases the total health of dungeon bosses by 30%. It also increases the damage dealt by them and the creatures they summon by 15%. This makes the enemy bosses quite fat, which means they are survivable and strong. Therefore, it is advisable to stock up on all the ways that will help you raise your overall DPS, as well as defend and heal during the battle or a break.
• Bursting — the death of each enemy mob provokes a burst of great action that affects all members of your group. A 4-second negative effect is applied to you, during which you are dealt periodic damage. The debuff is updated and applied each time a mob dies. So, just like with Sanguine, you'll have to try to kill enemies at the same time so that the effect of their effects is not so bad. Otherwise, you can eliminate them one by one with a frequency of 5+ seconds, that is, after the debuff ends.

• Fortified — the principle of operation of this affix in WoW is similar to Tyrannical, but with different percentages. The health of all enemies increases by 20%, and the damage they deal by 30%. As a result, we again have quite resilient enemies that take longer to kill. But besides that, the damage they do will be much greater. So, healers, food, and tinctures to restore HP are essential.
• Raging — mobs enter the berserker state as soon as their health threshold drops below 30%. In this case, the effects of control and subjugation will not work on them. After one of the latest updates, this affix does not increase their damage. Some abilities of certain classes, such as druids or hunters, can negate this state of rage.

• Volcanic — during the battle, a lava puddle forms under the players, which will subsequently explode and harm the heroes standing on it. If you react in time, you can avoid this by moving away from a potentially dangerous place. Otherwise, you will not only be hit by the fire jet, but also thrown upwards.
• Infested — some enemy mobs are infected with G'huun larvae.
• Reaping — after the death of the enemies, ghosts summoned by Bwonsamdi appear. They can be defeated quite easily, especially thanks to AoE spells. However, they can cause problems for your group on their own.
• Beguiling — three annoying elves appear in the dungeon, with their abilities, which can be difficult to deal with at times because they are quite annoying. One of them causes issues because of the damage, which increases with each new spell charge, and the second imposes various buffs on mobs allied to it against your control.

• Awakened — in the vastness of the dungeons, there will be obelisks that will send you to another dimension of N'Zoth during interaction. There you will also have to fight mobs. If you neglect this, the enemies from this dimension that you have not defeated will appear during the boss fight, which will complicate the situation many times over.
• Spiteful — by killing mobs, shadowy ghosts appear from them, targeting those who move in their direction. It is not necessary to kill them, as they gradually lose health on their own. However, to simplify the situation, it is not a big problem to defeat them, especially if you have control.
• Storming — whirlwinds will appear on the battlefield which, when in contact with the player, cause damage and throw them away. So the best solution is to avoid them simply.
• Prideful — after killing every 20% of the enemies, a bloody mob appears in the dungeon. Once you defeat it, your entire group will receive a positive effect for 60 minutes. It grants you all faster movement speed, mana recovery, more damage, and healing.
• Tormented — this affix gives the dungeon four minions of the Jailer, for killing which each player has the opportunity to choose an improvement for his character. If one of these minions is not killed by you, he will give his strength to the last boss, which will make him stronger in the final. Therefore, it is highly desirable to kill them, because it makes the game easier for you and improves your skills. However, you should be careful, because they have their abilities.

• Infernal — the situation is almost similar to the obelisks. There are lighthouses in the dungeon. If you interact with them, they will summon additional mobs. If you miss them, the same mobs will appear on the bosses.
• Encrypted — in the dungeon, you can find relics that need to be destroyed. After that, a mob appears, and killing it gives a boost to your teammates.
• Shrouded — some mobs have a modifier that hides their true nature. When you attack such a mob, it will reveal its true form as a natresim. Killing these minibosses gives you bonuses to some characteristics.
• Thundering — every 75 seconds, a storm starts, which increases the health of enemies by 5%. It also deals damage and can stun you for a while.
• Incorporeal — during the battle, spirits may appear that will interfere with your group. You don't have to kill them, you can just skip them or stun them with some effect.
• Afflicted — another type of spirit may appear on the location that will require the player's help, otherwise, they will continue to cast some negative effect on the player. To make the soul disappear, you need to heal it or heal it from some kind of debuff.
• Entangling is an affix that provokes the growth of vines from the ground that envelop the player, slowing him down. If the hero does not get rid of them, he will be stunned for a while.
• Shielding — enemies create shield spheres that protect their allies from harm. To counter them, you need to destroy them in time.

What affixes were removed from WoW?

Although playing on Mythic+ provides a new gaming experience and challenges even professional players, some affixes were too unfair or infuriating. Therefore, the developers decided to revise them and get rid of them.

• Explosive — periodically, explosive spheres will appear on the battlefield with mobs and bosses. If you do not destroy them in time, the sphere will explode and cause massive damage in AoE and affect all members of your group. You should try to destroy them as soon as possible, or stock up on spells that can protect you and your allies during the explosion.
• Grievous — characters who have been damaged will continue to suffer from a gradual loss of health, which only increases over time. Therefore, healers and healers should be in reserve and keep their HP high.
• Quaking — tectonic shifts occur on the battlefield, causing the ground to tremble and causing damage to the player in the area of effect, as well as interrupting the spell he was trying to cast.

• Inspiring — some enemy mobs are endowed with a special aura that protects allies from your control spells and also prevents spells from being interrupted.
• Necrotic — when enemies hit the hero, a negative effect is imposed on him, during which the effectiveness of healing is reduced, and periodic damage is inflicted. Tanks are the first to suffer from this affix, but if the main DDs quickly take out the enemies, bad situations can be avoided. The negative effect charges pass over time, so it is better to kite and avoid accumulating ten stacks of debuff.
• Teeming — adds additional mobs on the difficulty mode of Mighty+, but not bosses. Analyze the situation better, and you can avoid unwanted clashes with them.
• Skittish is one of the affixes that negatively affect the tanks of your group, thus reducing their main advantage and feature.
• Overflowing — if players receive too much healing, the excess turns into a health absorption effect. This modifies not only the character who is healed over time, but also the healer who wastes mana.