Bonus Loot Rolls and Ascendant Venomstones in WoW Midnight Patch 12.1

Season 2 changed how bonus rolls work, and the change is bigger than the patch notes make it look.

Bonus rolls now drop at Great Vault item level, not boss item level. That single detail reshapes the value of Heroic raiding for the entire season. Meanwhile, Ascendant Venomstones push your best three slots past the normal Myth 6/6 ceiling — but they're gated behind the hardest content and don't arrive until later in the season.

Here's how both systems work, and when to actually spend.

Quick Summary

Nebulous Voidcores — The Bonus Roll Currency

Voidcores are the Season 2 bonus roll currency. Two things changed from Season 1:

Cost dropped to 1 Voidcore per raid bonus roll (down from 2 in Season 1). Your Voidcore budget effectively doubled.

Available from Week 1 as a Great Vault option. Instead of taking a Vault item, you can choose a Nebulous Voidcore.

Starting Week 8, Orin Straylight in Silvermoon provides an additional weekly Voidcore on top of your Vault choice — so your supply increases significantly in the back half of the season.

The Detail That Changes Everything: Bonus Rolls Drop at Vault Item Level

This is the single most important mechanic in the system and most players will miss it.

A bonus roll does not drop gear at the boss's item level. It drops at the Great Vault item level for that difficulty:

What this means practically:

A bonus roll on a Heroic boss gives you Myth-track gear. Not Hero-track — Myth. That's the same track you'd get from a Great Vault Heroic raid slot, except you're getting it from a roll instead of waiting for Tuesday.

A bonus roll on a Mythic boss gives you Myth 6/6 — fully upgraded, no crests required. That's the highest standard-track gear in the game arriving from a single coin.

The strategic consequence: Heroic raiding stays valuable all season, even for Mythic-progression guilds. If you're clearing Mythic but still farming Heroic for Vault eligibility, your bonus rolls on those Heroic bosses are Myth 1/6 rolls. That's not a consolation prize — that's genuine progression.

When to Take the Voidcore Instead of a Vault Item

This is the decision most players get wrong in Week 1.

Week 1 through early season: always take the Vault item.

The Voidcore lets you target loot you're chasing. But in Week 1, almost everything in your Vault is an upgrade. Taking a Voidcore instead means passing on a guaranteed item level increase to gamble on a roll later.

When the Voidcore becomes the right choice:

Take the Voidcore when your Vault options are pieces you already own at max upgrade. That's typically mid-to-late season, once your gear has consolidated and the Vault starts offering you duplicates of slots you've already filled.

A simple test: if any Vault option is a slot upgrade or a piece you'd equip immediately, take the item. If all three options are gear you already have equipped at equal or higher item level, take the Voidcore.

How to Spend Bonus Rolls — Priority Order

Not all bosses are equal targets. Spend your Voidcores where the loot pool is worth the roll.

Priority 1: Tier token bosses The five tier bosses in Venomous Abyss (Entombed Sentinels, The Lost Explorers, Vashnik, Sszorak, The Twin Fangs) carry the highest-value single drops in the raid. Set bonuses outperform raw item level upgrades, particularly at two-piece and four-piece thresholds.

Priority 2: Weapon drops Weapons carry the largest per-slot item level impact of any gear piece. If a boss drops your BiS weapon, that's a roll worth spending.

Priority 3: The final two bosses The Coiled Altar and Ula'tek sit in the top item level tier. On Mythic, their drops reach 344 with Very Rare items. If you're rolling on Mythic, these two encounters offer the highest ceiling in the raid.

Priority 4: BiS trinkets Trinkets vary dramatically in value by spec. Check sim data before spending a roll — a trinket that's BiS for one spec is a vendor item for another.

Don't spend on: bosses whose loot pool contains nothing you need. A bonus roll on a boss where every drop is a sidegrade is a wasted coin, and Voidcores are not unlimited before Week 8.

One requirement: confirm your loot specialization is set correctly before rolling. A roll that lands the right item for the wrong spec is a wasted coin with no recourse.

Ascendant Venomstones — Pushing Past the Myth Cap

Ascendant Venomstones are the Season 2 successor to Season 1's Ascendant Voidcores. They exist for one purpose: upgrading your best gear past the normal Myth 6/6 ceiling.

What They Upgrade

Necklace eligibility is new this season — Season 1 only allowed weapons and trinkets. Factor that into your long-term planning.

The Cost and Ceiling

• 10 Ascendant Venomstones per upgrade

• Upgrades a fully upgraded Hero-track, Myth-track, or max-quality crafted item

• Result: Myth 8 equivalent (approximately ilvl 334)

• Standard Myth track caps at 6/6 (~328), so this is roughly a 6 item level jump on your highest-impact slots

Important prerequisite: the item must already be fully upgraded. You can't skip the crest grind by applying a Venomstone to a half-upgraded piece. Finish the item first, then apply the stone.

Where Venomstones Come From

All four sources are endgame content. There's no casual path to Venomstones — this is deliberately the season's hardest chase.

When to Use Them

Not early. Venomstones don't arrive until later in Season 2, and even when they do, spending them requires a fully upgraded item that you're confident is your long-term BiS.

The correct approach:

1. Get your gear to Myth 6/6 through normal Mistcrest upgrades

2. Confirm which weapon, trinket, and necklace are your genuine season-long BiS (check sims after tier set bonuses are active — the answer changes)

3. Apply Venomstones only to those three slots

The mistake to avoid: applying 10 Venomstones to a weapon in Week 12, then getting a better weapon from a Mythic drop in Week 14. The stones don't transfer. This is a late-season, high-confidence decision.

Where This Fits in Season 2 Gearing

The full picture of Season 2 upgrade currencies:

Mistcrests handle the normal grind. Flat 20 crests per rank, 120 for a full 6/6 upgrade — no scaling cost. Blizzard briefly introduced scaling costs on the PTR, called it a bug, and reverted it after community pushback.

Voidcores are your targeting tool. They let you roll for specific pieces at a higher item level than the boss would normally give.

Venomstones are the endgame ceiling. Three slots, late season, high confidence required.

Weekly Routine to Maximize Both Systems

Every reset:

• Clear Heroic Venomous Abyss — Myth-track Vault slot plus Myth 1/6 bonus roll targets

• Complete 8 timed Mythic+ runs (+10 or higher for Venomstone eligibility)

• Run Tier 11 Bountiful Delves for passive Venomstone and Mistcrest income

• Evaluate your Vault: take the item unless all three options are duplicates

Bonus roll discipline:

• Save Voidcores for tier bosses and weapon drops

• Verify loot spec before every roll

• Don't roll on a boss whose entire loot pool is sidegrades

Late season (Week 8+):

• Collect the weekly Voidcore from Orin Straylight in Silvermoon

• Begin banking Venomstones toward your three confirmed BiS slots

• Take the Voidcore Vault option more frequently as your gear consolidates

Common Mistakes

Taking the Voidcore in Week 1. Your Vault is full of upgrades in Week 1. Take the item.

Rolling with the wrong loot specialization. Check before every roll. There's no undo.

Applying Venomstones too early. The item must be fully upgraded, and you need confidence it's your season-long BiS. Ten stones is a real investment.

Ignoring Heroic once you're in Mythic progression. Heroic bonus rolls are Myth 1/6. That's not filler content — it's a genuine gearing path that stays relevant all season.

Assuming bonus rolls drop at boss item level. They don't. They drop at Vault level, which is a full track higher. This is the mechanic that makes the whole system worth engaging with.