Lairs Preview in Patch 12.1 – World Difficulty Solo Queue

Blizzard has released a blog detailing the new Lairs feature coming in Patch 12.1, and how the World difficulty has a solo queue feature!

The Tidebound Grotto Lair

Step into Lairs, a new evolution of world boss encounters that gets you into the action faster. Enter a monster’s lair on World difficulty to join a dedicated instanced encounter with other players, rally your allies, and take on fearsome bosses without the wait or heavy coordination.

These bosses will scale in difficulty through Normal, Heroic, and Mythic (15-25), allowing coordinated raid groups to also take on these new challenges.

Where There’s a Lair, There’s a Way
Similar to Delves, Lairs are found in specific locations throughout the zone, with an available summoning stone just outside the instance making it easier for players to take on these bosses at a difficulty of your choice.

Queuing Solo?
After selecting World difficulty and pressing Enter, you’re delivered straight into the Lair while players gather around you. While waiting for other participants to enter, champions enter a two-part scenario while the instance automatically fills up with additional challengers.

The first part of the scenario calls heroes to take down elite monsters until the Boss appears, but have no fear, you won’t be soloing the boss. This just ensures a certain critical mass before the second part of the scenario can begin. Boss difficulty scales between 5-40 players, ensuring that a large range of group sizes can walk away with epic loot.

Groups
For pre-made groups, the leader must choose the difficulty and enter first. Once inside, the rest of the group can follow as the raid group fills around you.

Higher Difficulties
Lairs are also available for organized pre-made groups on Normal, Heroic, and Mythic (15-25) difficulties, letting groups of all sizes enjoy these new encounters. Lairs employ a scaling difficulty even on Mythic, allowing tons of flexibility in whom you bring along.

Dive Into The Tidebound Grotto
Brave champions must make their way to the Tidebound Grotto, but get ready to hold your breath because you’ll need to swim down to the Lair entrance in the waters below The Coiled Isle. If you have an aquatic mount, now’s the time to make good use of it!

Week of 12 August : World Difficulty
Week of 19 August : Normal, Heroic, and Mythic (Flexible-Scaling) Difficulties

Hidden beneath the waves of the Atal’utek lies the Tidebound Grotto, a submerged cave veiled by shifting tides. Within, the naga sorceress Nymrissa Wavecaller bends the tides to conceal her domain—and to drown any who dare uncover it.

Location : The Coiled Isle
World Bosses : 1
Difficulties : World, Normal, Heroic, Mythic
Level : 90

“Nymrissa Wavecaller commands the restless sea itself, concealing her lair beneath shifting tides. Those who dare uncover her sanctuary find her murloc minions eager to answer their mistress' call.”

Tidebound Victors Get the Grotto Spoils
The harder the difficulty, the greater the reward. Make things more challenging with four difficulty levels—World, Normal, Heroic, and Mythic—each with its own recommended item levels for brave adventurers.

Difficulty