WoW Midnight: the Hunt Season 2 guide — affixes, Ral'kala and reward track (patch 12.1)

The Hunt is getting a whole new dimension with patch 12.1 "Ula'tek's Curse." Starting Wednesday, August 12, 2026, normal and heroic modes move to Season 2 values; on August 19, nightmare mode and "Curse of the Isle" mode will also go live on Coiled Isle. Blizzard is taking the opportunity to overhaul the system in depth: a raised weekly cap, redistributed affixes, four new serpentine prey, a brand-new summonable boss, and a ten-tier reward track.

The most structural addition is the trio of corrosive souls, ossified relics, and Ral'kala, Terror of the Isle: nightmare Hunt becomes the gateway to special powers for your belt and bracers, usable across all open-world content. In other words, even players who neglected the system in Season 1 now have a concrete reason to run it every week.

This guide is based on the official preview published by Blizzard in French and on PTR data collected by the specialized press. Progression figures from the PTR may still change before the final patch notes: we flag it every time that's the case.

The schedule and how it works starting August 12

The basic principle doesn't change: you accept a target from Astalor Bloodsworn, complete objectives across Midnight's zones, then face your prey in one of three difficulties — normal, heroic, or nightmare. Season 2 doesn't add a fourth tier, but recalibrates enemy power and rewards.

• Week of August 12: normal and heroic modes at Season 2 values.
• Week of August 19: nightmare mode and "Curse of the Isle" mode, alongside the Venomous Abyss raid and Abundant Depths.

To unlock the new reward track, complete the quest "Hunt: A Creeping Threat." Your progress can be tracked in the Excursions tab of the Adventure Guide (SHIFT + J), and unlocked rewards are purchased from the Ali'a Assembly and the V'anore Assembly, at Astalor's Sanctum in Silvermoon.

As for pacing, PTR data gives a clear breakdown: the cap goes from 10 to 15 hunts per week, the first four each grant 1,000 points of progress, subsequent ones drop to 50 points, and each track tier requires 4,000 points. In short: four hunts per week are enough to gain a tier, and the remaining eleven serve loot, currencies, and achievements rather than progression.

Affixes: Ambush in normal, more danger above

Blizzard is completely redistributing the Hunt's affixes. On normal difficulty, only the Ambush affix remains active: your target can attack you by surprise while you're fighting other enemies or triggering a trap. On heroic and nightmare, Ambush disappears in favor of the other affixes, and Astalor's random orders (like "kill this enemy quickly") are simply removed: the threat now comes from the terrain, not a list of constraints.

• Torment: gradually increases damage taken, by 2% per stack based on your progress through the hunt, up to 100%. Dawdling comes at a cost.
• Pack Ambush: a group of scouts bursts out of the shadows while you're already in combat.
• Exploding Corpse Snakes: snakes burst out of corpses and explode, spraying venom when they die.
• Toxic Snare: poisoned nets drop on your position; triggering them roots or slows you, with Nature damage on top.

The last three still appeared in English on the PTR as of mid-July, and the French-language press still refers to them that way: we're therefore keeping their original wording until the French client version is available, with the parenthetical glosses being our own. Note that these affixes stack: getting rooted in a puddle of venom while a group of scouts shows up is a perfectly possible scenario on nightmare.

Four new serpentine prey on nightmare

The official page announces "four new targets in nightmare mode"; early PTR tests allow us to name them: Janoa the Hook, Kursak the Coiled, Batani the Scaled, and Kadani the Claw, all tied to snakes, venom, and Ula'tek's servants. Normal and heroic difficulties, meanwhile, continue to draw mainly from Season 1 targets. Each new prey brings its own achievements and unlocks decoration items for the Warband Hall.

Good news for collectors: starting with patch 12.1, completing a hunt on a given difficulty automatically validates the achievements for lower difficulties. A nightmare win checks off the heroic and normal versions in one go — no more killing each target three times.

Ral'kala, Terror of the Isle: the boss you have to earn

Ral'kala, Terror of the Isle is a boss exclusive to nightmare-mode hunts on Coiled Isle. To summon it, you must burn ossified relics in the island's haunted braziers while a nightmare hunt is active. Relics are obtained through expeditions completed on the island in nightmare mode or when "Curse of the Isle" mode is active — Blizzard hasn't yet detailed the exact content of this mode, only its role as a relic source and its activation date.

Taking part in the summoning isn't just an altruistic gesture: the "Whispers from the Other Side" bonus, unlocked at tier 1 of the track, increases your loot chances and the currencies earned from Ral'kala by 50% when you helped summon it. On the rewards menu: corrosive souls, corrosive coins, and, according to the PTR, the Pale Hexweave pet and the Felfire Ravager mount.

Corrosive souls: powers for all open-world content

The corrosive souls, obtained by completing hunts and Depths, are used at the Altar of Corrosion to graft a random special effect onto a belt or bracers. The item then receives the Corrosive tag, and a new soul lets you reroll to change the power. Excess souls can be traded for corrosive coins.

Important limitation: these powers are disabled in raids, dungeons, battlegrounds, and arenas. They're designed for Coiled Isle, Depths, Ritual Sites, and the rest of the open-world content. The Corrosive Codex lists the available effects, still shown in English on the PTR. Some telling examples: Ophidian Maw summons a giant serpent under the target and executes non-boss poisoned creatures below 20% health; Gorgoneion Gaze petrifies nearby enemies when you drop below 50% health; Ouroboric Cycle cycles bonuses through tertiary, secondary, then primary stats, extended while you're poisoned. Many of these effects grow stronger when your character or their target is poisoned: the season's theme is consistent right down to the itemization.

The reward track, tier by tier

The track has ten tiers. Here's what to remember about each one, leaving aside Warband Hall decoration items (chests, golden compass, tapestries, jar, and Silvermoon blood knight shield, among others).

At a pace of one tier per week with four hunts completed, expect around ten weeks to finish the track — tiers 4 and 9 are the priority milestones for anyone optimizing their gear.

What gear to aim for depending on difficulty

According to the PTR, upgrade paths should remain aligned as follows: Adventurer-level gear in normal, Veteran in heroic, and Champion in nightmare, with nightmare coffers potentially also containing high-level Season 2 crests. These assignments still need to be confirmed in the final patch notes.

The real optimization lever is the loop between Depths and Hunt: afflicted souls and then tormented souls only drop from heavy chests in Abundant Depths level 6 or higher, and Abundant Depths don't return until August 19, along with the keys. The week of August 12 will therefore allow neither souls nor nightmare hunts: use it to bank points on normal and heroic without trying to force things.

Your roadmap for the first two weeks

Week of August 12: complete "Hunt: A Creeping Threat" as soon as possible, chain your four 1,000-point hunts on normal or heroic, and save your remaining eleven attempts for currencies and achievements. Realistic goal: reach tier 2 of the track before nightmare mode arrives.

Week of August 19: switch to nightmare as soon as it opens. Prioritize expeditions on Coiled Isle to stockpile ossified relics, group up at the haunted braziers to summon Ral'kala — while actually taking part in the summoning, never as a bystander — and invest your first corrosive souls into whichever belt or bracers you plan to keep the longest. And keep an eye on the official patch notes: the values cited here come from the PTR, and Blizzard has a habit of adjusting these kinds of numbers at the last minute.