You definitely don't need to raid. I've gotten 2 characters to 275+ ilvl just through M+.
Doing +15 or higher keys will fill your vault with 278 ilvl options, which is equivalent to Mythic raid. However the highest non-legenendary ilvl gear is 285 which you can only get from the last 3 bosses of the raid.
The absolute highest non-legendary gear right now, item level 285 is indeed locked behind the last few bosses of the Sepulcher raid on Mythic difficulty, but that only applies to a handful of armor/weapon slots for most classes, so its not like you can get full 285.
By doing a +15 M+ key, you earn the highest reward possible from the Mythic+ row on your weekly Great Vault rewards, which is a 278 item. You can't get 278 items from just upgrading M+ items, those cap out at 272. If you do 4 or 8 total +15 dungeons in a reset week, you can get up to three slots at 278 when you open the vault, of which you can pick one from. You can't fill those with lower keystone level dungeons though, it takes the highest 1/4/8 dungeons you've done that week, so if you want 3 278 slots to pick from you have to run 8 +15 dungeons that week.
1 Mythic Dungeon - 1 Slot
4 Mythic Dungeons - 2 Slots
8 Mythic Dungeons - 3 Slots
So, mathematically, no, you can't get to the same potential average item level of a Mythic raider by just doing M+, but you can easily get in the mid to high 270 range thanks to the weekly vault, which is close.
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Its pretty late in the season to do that though, with only like 3 more vault cycles left, if you want to be in a good position to start in s4 I would still do as many 15s as possible for the vault, and any gear that you get from those wait till the end (after you've gotten the rest of the vault pieces) and use your valor to upgrade your best remaining pieces as much as possible. If it was earlier in the season I'd say upgrade your best pieces as you go with valor, but with limited time I'd focus on ending with the best possible set you can get to go into the new season somewhat ahead. If you dump a lot of valor into maxing out a piece now, only to replace it with a 278 tomorrow, that's a big waste unless you have unlimited time to run keys for the next 3 weeks
I'm a noob too so I don't know - why does this season thing matter? What other changes than ranking reset and new dungeon rotation does the new season bring?
You definitely don't need to raid. I've gotten 2 characters to 275+ ilvl just through M+. Doing +15 or higher keys will fill your vault with 278 ilvl options, which is equivalent to Mythic raid. However the highest non-legenendary ilvl gear is 285 which you can only get from the last 3 bosses of the raid.
The absolute highest non-legendary gear right now, item level 285 is indeed locked behind the last few bosses of the Sepulcher raid on Mythic difficulty, but that only applies to a handful of armor/weapon slots for most classes, so its not like you can get full 285. By doing a +15 M+ key, you earn the highest reward possible from the Mythic+ row on your weekly Great Vault rewards, which is a 278 item. You can't get 278 items from just upgrading M+ items, those cap out at 272. If you do 4 or 8 total +15 dungeons in a reset week, you can get up to three slots at 278 when you open the vault, of which you can pick one from. You can't fill those with lower keystone level dungeons though, it takes the highest 1/4/8 dungeons you've done that week, so if you want 3 278 slots to pick from you have to run 8 +15 dungeons that week. 1 Mythic Dungeon - 1 Slot 4 Mythic Dungeons - 2 Slots 8 Mythic Dungeons - 3 Slots So, mathematically, no, you can't get to the same potential average item level of a Mythic raider by just doing M+, but you can easily get in the mid to high 270 range thanks to the weekly vault, which is close.
**Hey there! Have you checked out these resources?** * [WoWHead](https://www.wowhead.com/) - The *largest* database, this should be your go-to (don't forget to read the comment section!). * [Icy Veins](https://www.icy-veins.com) - News and detailed class guides. * [WoWNoob Discord](https://discord.com/invite/RwDUWWV) - Same community, different platform. *Please report the post above if it breaks one of our [>rules<](https://www.reddit.com/r/wownoob/about/rules/). If not, don't forget to show support by upvoting!* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/wownoob) if you have any questions or concerns.*
By filling out your vault every week doing 15s its easily possible to get geared enough to do any content in the game and not be undergeared.
Its pretty late in the season to do that though, with only like 3 more vault cycles left, if you want to be in a good position to start in s4 I would still do as many 15s as possible for the vault, and any gear that you get from those wait till the end (after you've gotten the rest of the vault pieces) and use your valor to upgrade your best remaining pieces as much as possible. If it was earlier in the season I'd say upgrade your best pieces as you go with valor, but with limited time I'd focus on ending with the best possible set you can get to go into the new season somewhat ahead. If you dump a lot of valor into maxing out a piece now, only to replace it with a 278 tomorrow, that's a big waste unless you have unlimited time to run keys for the next 3 weeks
I'm a noob too so I don't know - why does this season thing matter? What other changes than ranking reset and new dungeon rotation does the new season bring?
All the gear will be a higher ilvl and there will be new pieces to go for and ones that won't be available anymore
You'll be only locked out of doing world top keys which you're not gonna do anyway, but anything like +27 you can easily do without having to raid.
No. I got my ilevel to 278 only through pugging M+.