---
title: 'The #1 Rule to Increase Your Mythic+ Score (Not Clickbait)'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=JRWAoc6LZgI'
video_id: 'JRWAoc6LZgI'
date: 2026-08-01
duration_sec: 706
---

# The #1 Rule to Increase Your Mythic+ Score (Not Clickbait)

> Source: [The #1 Rule to Increase Your Mythic+ Score (Not Clickbait)](https://youtube.com/watch?v=JRWAoc6LZgI)

## Summary

This World of Warcraft Mythic+ guide argues that the single biggest factor separating high-rated players from average ones is offensive cooldown usage. Using a Demonology Warlock case study and an MDI pro's trash-pull decision, it shows how overthinking when to pop cooldowns silently erases entire uses across a dungeon. The core rule: if a cooldown will last the full duration of the current pack, pop it nine times out of ten.

### Key Points

- **The ultimate question** [00:27] — The biggest factor separating high IO players from average M+ players is the decision of when to pop cooldowns. Most players constantly ask 'Should I pop my cooldowns here?' during a key.
- **Too many variables** [02:03] — Pull size, tank route, upcoming bosses and trash HP all influence cooldown decisions. In pugged keys the tank's plan is often unknown, making it even harder. But only one question actually matters.
- **Warlock case study** [02:42] — A Demonology Warlock in an 18 tyrannical Darkheart Thicket holds Demonic Tyrant (90s cooldown, 15s uptime) through several trash packs to save it for the boss, Zavius.
- **The hidden cost of holding** [04:42] — Within roughly two and a half minutes of logical holds, the warlock lost more than an entire use of their strongest offensive cooldown. Even a minimal-value pop on the first trash pack would have cleared the dungeon faster.
- **High-rated players never hold** [05:32] — A Retribution Paladin's Avenging Wrath (1-minute cooldown) is used near the maximum casts per minute in top runs of the same dungeon, while lower-rated players leave gaps while waiting for 'perfect' moments.
- **Dungeon as one race** [06:11] — Top players treat the entire dungeon as a single race to the finish, not as separate pulls or checkpoints. An offensive cooldown is like a short burst of speed; wasting that burst slows the whole run.
- **Pro example: Shelly** [07:34] — MDI pro Shelly pops his offensive cooldowns on the final trash pack before Oakheart in a 28 tyrannical key, even though he won't have them for the boss. The trash use secured value and an extra overall cast.
- **Boss-saving is the biggest misconception** [08:51] — The belief that cooldowns must be saved for boss pull phases is one of the most common traps for aspiring M+ players. It causes lost uses and slower dungeon clears.
- **The #1 rule** [09:49] — Before every pack ask: 'Will my offensive cooldown last for the full duration of this pack?' If the answer is yes, pop it nine times out of ten. Exceptions exist, but are rare.

## Transcript

brain dead and easy to follow rule that literally anyone can use to improve their Mythic plus score now you're probably already thinking that sounds too good to be true right well if I asked you to name the biggest factor
that sets apart High IO players from the average Mythic plus enthusiasts like you average Mythic plus enthusiasts like you and me what would you say hold on before comments not having to deal with a group finder is of course a big one but the
biggest Factor well think back to the last key you did I'm willing to bet at some point during that run you thought to yourself should I pop my coold Downs here this very question right here is the Ultimate Game Changer that
the rest of us we can all immerse ourselves in countless online guides Master dungeon mechanics or even just simply rely on weak oras to do it for us but here's the kicker there isn't anywhere that just tells us simply when
to use our cooldowns in every dungeon well that's exactly what you're going to you're feeling stuck at your current score where you just can't push no matter how hard you try then skill cap is the solution you've been looking for
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below deciding and learning when to pop cooldowns present such a huge challenge countless factors influencing our decisions and even more so if you don't know your tanks plan route a luxury we often don't get in pugged keys because
of this every key we end up asking ourselves questions like should I pop my cool Downs now or wait for a larger pull to maximize their impact will my would my cooldowns offer greater value on the tougher trash mob ahead can I use
my cool Downs here and still have them available for the upcoming boss in turn cooldowns all in the hopes to just get some more value out of them and hopefully give us a better chance at timing the key but the truth is only one
of these questions actually matters in order to demonstrate this we're going to be delving into the decision-making of a demonology warlock navigating through a keystone level 18 tyrannical key however the thought process they undergo is
something I'm certain we can all relate to irrespective of our class or spec demonology warlocks have one major cool down demonic Tyrant coming with a 90c cool down and 15sec uptime like we can see they're finishing up the penultimate
boss asra seron inside of tyrannical dark heart Thicket pausing here let's start with a simple question demonic tyrants about to be ready should they use it take a few seconds to think about your
clearly we can see that the boss is dying way too fast and only has 4 million Health left which for a cool down lasting 15 seconds wouldn't be of this 18 key makes the correct decision to hold on to it but now after
jumping into the tunnel all that stands between them and zavius or a couple of very easy pulls the tank grabs the first three mobs which albeit is a rather small pull for a tyrannical key but after all they've just finished a boss
so the group may be low on cooldowns so thinking about it there's not much Point our tanks planning on pulling something larger
four again we could pop here since there's an extra mob meaning we get slightly more value but upon further consideration never mind they're dying a bit too quickly it's probably not going to be worth it after
the pack of bats there are four of them and they have slightly more Health but uh hold on a second remember this is a tyrannical key we need to ensure we have and using them here would be cutting it too close so let's just hold off until
we get to zavious at this point we're now at the boss meaning it's time to build up some resources and aim to set up our burst as efficiently as possible all right perfect now is the time to finally pop Tyrant regardless of your
the choices we saw our warlock make weren't anything unusual every single one of them had a logical reason behind it yet what often gets overlooked is that within this time frame almost two and a half minutes quietly ticked away
meaning our warlock lost well over an entire use of their strongest offensive cool down and in this case even if they popped it immediately on the first Trash Pack and got minimal value they still would have cleared the dungeon faster
and what we saw here does and will happen numerous times throughout your keys not only losing you a ton of overall damage from losing multiple uses of your offensive cooldowns but also greatly hindering the speed at which you
check out any aspiring Mythic plus players logs or even streams and pay close attention to how often they use their offensive cooldowns you'll very quickly notice that there's always gaps where they're holding on to them for
extended periods for any number of reasons we just covered exactly like we see here with a retribution Paladin's one minute static cooldown of avenging higher rated player across the same
dungeon the same affixes and more or less the same amount of PS and you'll hold on to their cooldowns for any extended period at all in fact they've almost always got near the maximum cast per minute compared to how long that
dungeon took when it comes to popping your offensive cooldowns top players understand that you don't need to try to Output the dungeon by overthinking when value out of your cooldowns as at that point you're just out playing yourself
and why this is the case is because top players view dungeons very differently to players like you or me instead of breaking a dungeon up into multiple checkpoints or pulls they view it as one entire entity allow me to explain at
essentially a race we want to get from the start to the end in the quickest time possible take an offensive cool down like avenging wrath this can be viewed exactly like having a short burst of speed that you can use every minute
for 20 seconds to get you to the Finish Line faster for a lot of us though we instead tend to overthink and over complicate this and thus start trying to optimize when and how we're using that boost in turn unnecessarily slowing us
down and also losing uses across the race as a whole to put this Theory to the test I want you to put yourself in the shoes of this Retribution Paladin they're about to engage one final pack before pulling the ancient protectors
inside of 22 tyrannical everlue having the boss standing right in front of you there's no denying that using avenging there's no denying that using avenging wrath here might seem like a complete
even though we're dealing with one non-fortified trash pack one minute has already passed just like that an entire use of avenging wrath is lost now of avenging wrath would have disposed of the trash quicker meaning they wouldn't
engaged but hold that thought for a second here we find MDI Pro Shelly in fighting one final Trash Pack before they pull oakheart on a 28 tyrannical
to start building up some damage and then aim to transition that to the boss challenging tyrannical bosses season 3 has to offer however Shelly still pops his offensive cooldowns on the trash knowing full well that they're going
poll will he have his Tyrant ready for the boss no of course he won't but ask instead the real question you need to ask is did he get value and the answer
is yes the bottom line is that his offensive cooldowns last for the full duration of a trash pack that had to die anyways for him and his group to progress forward in that dungeon not to mention more importantly by using his
cool down here there's a much higher chance that he gets an additional use across the dungeon as a whole remember more uses more damage the fast the dungeon gets cleared we never want to risk losing an entire use of our
cooldown across the dungeon whether it stems from a mindset derived from being Downs on trash or maybe just that we always want to look good on the boss belief that we always need to save cooldowns for the start of boss PS in
Mythic plus and this right here is hands down one of the biggest misconceptions that all aspiring Mythic plus players fall into you know this because you've done it yourself now don't get me wrong once you
Edge level of keys there are certain bosses where sometimes you'll need to save offensive coold Downs a couple that come to mind are mind Bender gersa And Thrones of tides in order to kill the storm flurry totems quickly or the first
boss and mazon's rise to dispose of the Radiant Barrier as soon as possible but cool Downs if these situations become a pressure point that they can't otherwise overcome and in doing so they won't lose a use across the dungeon whereas for the
pressure points like this are actually far and few between meaning it's perfectly fine to play slightly longer boss fights if we're speeding up the remember those questions we mentioned at the start of the video the ones we ask
oursel every dungeon well the only one of these that really matters and the number one rule to get on the path for pushing higher Keys quicker and easier offensive cool down last for the duration of this pack if the answer to
that question is yes then nine times out of 10 you should just pop them naturally as always there are exceptions to any rule but if you consistently strive for offensives across the dungeon as a whole then you're going to see rapid
Improvement so while we may have not told you exactly where to pop your we said we would hopefully what we've understanding that learning when to pop your cooldowns in every dungeon really
isn't that complicated at all unless you decide to make it that way a very simple solution to a very common problem and Quon usage is just one of the main pain points that our MDI and tgp experts pick up on when providing our subscribers
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exclusive discount and begin your journey today all right guys that wraps want to thank you for watching and we'll catch you in the next