Ascendant Venomstones Farming Guide - Midnight 12.1.5

Ascendant Venomstones Farming Guide Quick Summary:

• Ascendant Venomstones start dropping during the week of October 20, not on the October 13 patch launch.
• You need 10 Venomstones to upgrade one eligible item.
• They drop from Heroic/Mythic raid bosses, Mythic+10 or higher, Tier 11 Bountiful Delves, and Nightmare Prey Champion chests.
• Only fully upgraded Hero, Myth, or maximum-quality Tidal Crafted weapons, trinkets, and necklaces qualify.
• Current PTR values take Hero 6/6 from 321 to 328 and Myth 6/6 from 334 to 340.

Can't afford the new Sporebearer mount with all the utilities? Buy WoW Gold at Skycoach and get the needed amount to get that new limited-time mount that can be fitted with different NPCs and services!

 

 

 

WoW Midnight Ascendant Venomstones

Much like Ascendant Voidcores before them, the Venomstones are there to further improve your gear for Midnight 12.1.5 after it’s already reached its limit. This time you can also improve necklaces, unlike Voidcores, which could only work on weapons and trinkets. Compared to Season 1, where you had to create a core from 5 Voidshards, this time you need 10 Venomstones for each upgrade. To sum up, Ascendant Venomstones are a very endgame upgrading system to push your build to its absolute limits. It’s there to keep you grinding before the next season releases. Here’s what you can and cannot upgrade with Ascendant Venomstones:

Item Type	Can Use Venomstones
Weapon	Yes
Trinket	Yes
Necklace	Yes
Helmet/Shoulders/Chest	No
Other Armor	No
Rings	No

Somewhat reminiscent of Blizzard’s own Diablo 4 masterworking, it’s not the same. Masterworking is quite cheap in comparison to Venomstones. Venomstones can be farmed with most relevant endgame content, but it’s unknown so far how many of them you’ll get per run. Don’t forget that Raid bosses, Tier 11 delves, and Nightmare Prey Champion chests all have lockouts. This means while the Venomstones are unlimited, you won’t get as many as you imagine. This, however, doesn’t concern Mythic+ dungeons, but I’m gonna bet that the amount you get from Mythics isn’t gonna be as big as from other activities. In short, getting enough of them is far from a quick Saturday grind, which means you shouldn’t upgrade every single weapon you got from Hero or Myth track immediately. 

How to Unlock Ascendant Venomstones

Ascendant Venomstones are time-gated and will take two weeks to unlock rather than becoming available as soon as Patch 12.1.5 drops. During the reset in the week of October 13, which is the current week at the time of writing this article, go to Orin Straylight beside the Catalyst in Silvermoon City and accept the Ancient Depths, Ancient Venom quest. Completing it starts Orin’s research, which finishes during maintenance the following week. After the October 20 reset, Orin offers Ascending with Venomstones, and completing that quest enables Venomstone drops. Here’s how you unlock the Ascendant Venomstones in Midnight 12.1.5:

Date	What Happens
October 13 NA/October 14 EU	Patch 12.1.5 launches
Week of October 13	Complete Ancient Depths, Ancient Venom
Week of October 20	Orin finishes his research. You also complete Ascending with Venomstones
After Completing It	Ascendant Venomstones begin dropping

So if you hoped for an immediate unlock with the mid-season patch release, I have to disappoint you. This week, you can only complete one of the two quests. To start the quest, locate Orin, who can be found beside the Catalyst in Silvermoon /way 40.0 64.7. You should only do it once, thankfully. No need to do this questline on every character you have. While you can’t farm the Venomstones this week, finish the Ancient Depths and Ancient Venom this week so that you reach them faster with the October 20th reset.

How to Farm Ascendant Venomstones

If you farmed the Voidstones last season, it’s the same story all over. You can safely skip this part of the article cause you won’t find any new info here. There are four confirmed sources of Ascendant Venomstones, with zero ambiguity. It drops on high-end content only, so don’t expect a lucky drop at any Mythic+ below 10. Ascendant Venomstones drop from all of the following activities:

Source	Requirement
Raid Bosses	Heroic or Mythic
Mythic+	+10 or higher
Bountiful Delves	Tier 11
Prey	Nightmare Champion gear chest

There’s no info on the number of Venomstones you get per activity, but I guess Mythics are gonna be the source of them for people who are ready to grind nonstop, since other activities have a weekly lockout.

Farming Mythic+ Dungeons for Ascendant Venomstones

Any Mythic+ dungeon at +10 or higher can drop Ascendant Venomstones. There is no benefit to pushing a +15 instead of a +10 specifically for Venomstones, so if your only goal is this currency, clear the one that you can do the fastest. Note that keys at +9 and below are not gonna drop Venomstones. I have high certainty that this activity is going to become the main dedicated farming method. Mythic+ is repeatable, and that’s their biggest advantage compared to the rest of the endgame grind. This mirrors the Season 1 Ascendant Voidshard system almost exactly. With patches, devs eventually made +10 completions a guaranteed, uncapped source for those shards, which I suppose will work exactly the same way for Venomstones.

Best Way to Farm Ascendant Venomstones

The best farm depends on what content you can comfortably clear, but for a geared character it’s not much of a choice, as you can do whatever at this point. Do the content that has lockouts first because you’re probably doing that content anyway, then farm +10 or above Mythic+ if you still need more (and you probably need more). Tier 11 Bountiful Delves are a great alternative for solo players who don’t have a regular dungeon group, though you have to know that they’re limited. Here’s the best way to farm Ascendant Venomstones:

1. Complete Ascending with Venomstones quest first: Note that even with the full release of Venomstones, you can’t farm them until you’re done with Orin’s quest.
2. Kill Heroic/Mythic raid bosses: Beat the activities that have a lockout first.
3. Do Nightmare Prey Champion chests: Nuff said
4. Run Tier 11 Bountiful Delves: Best choice if you prefer solo content
5. Farm +10 Mythic+: The best source that you can grind nonstop once every other content is exhausted this week

If +10s are easy for your group, farm them as a group. It won’t be hard to get a group in any dedicated Discord channel. You don’t need to push higher keys just to qualify, and repeatedly completing a comfortable +10 beats waiting for another raid reset.

 

 

How to Use Ascendant Venomstones

Once you have 10 Ascendant Venomstones, go back to the Catalyst in Silvermoon City. Pay attention to what is said next! Your item needs to be a fully upgraded Season 2 Hero or Myth piece, or a maximum-quality Tidal Crafted weapon, trinket, or necklace. Get to the Catalyst and use the Venomstones on the eligible item. It will gain the Ascendant Venomforged status, and from now on it can’t be upgraded any further through the normal track. Here are the requirements for upgrading your gear with Ascendant Venomstones:

• Weapon, trinket, or necklace
• Midnight Season 2 item
• Hero 6/6, Myth 6/6, or maximum-quality Tidal Crafted

If your gear satisfies the requirements above, it’s good to go. If it’s not, but you want to get to the best current gear, check out this guide. Note that not every piece of gear can be upgraded, even if it’s a weapon, trinket, or a necklace. If it’s an Elevated Myth gear with iLVL 344, you cannot upgrade it. If it’s already Venomforged, you cannot upgrade it as well. 

 

 

Best Items to Upgrade With Ascendant Venomstones

Venomstones are valuable enough that I wouldn’t immediately use the first 10 just because the button lights up. Your best target depends on your class and current BiS list, but the default priority is usually going to favor pieces with the biggest throughput impact and the lowest chance of being replaced. If you know a Myth or elevated item is realistically within reach, wait instead of locking Venomstones into the Hero version. The upgrade priority for Ascendant Venomstones is:

1. BiS Myth Weapon: If you’re confident you’ll keep this weapon, it’s your #1 choice as it has the most impact on your performance.
2. Best Long-Term Trinket: Some trinkets scale extremely well with item level, but this is class/spec dependent.
3. Second Trinket: Can also be upgraded if you want to keep it as well
4. Necklace: The newest addition to the gear that can be upgraded with Ascendant items. A useful permanent stat increase, but isn’t as important as trinkets or weapons.

For dual-wield specs, remember that the upgrade applies to an individual item, so upgrading both weapons would require two separate sets of Venomstones. As always, for perfect results, I recommend simming trinkets before upgrading them.

F.A.Q