WoW Midnight Prey Guide: Season 2 Hunts, Rewards, and Catch-Up

Quick summary

• Prey is Midnight's open-world hunt system. You pick a target at the Hunt Table in Astalor's Sanctum (Silvermoon City), fill an Anguish crystal with outdoor objectives, then fight the target.
• Loot by difficulty: Normal drops 266, Hard 279, and Nightmare 292 Champion. Their Great Vault rewards are 279, 292, and 305 Hero 1. Only the first two hunts per difficulty each week give a gear chest.
• Season 2 board: 15 hunts a week. That's 12 base hunts plus two Hard and one Nightmare on the Coiled Isle, with four new serpent targets and the repeatable boss Ral'kala.
• New in 12.1.5: below Journey rank 4, each hunt gives a full rank (4,000). From rank 4 to 9, your first four hunts a week give 2,000 each. Nightmare Champion chests drop Ascendant Venomstones.
• Afflicted and Tormented Souls now have to be used between hunts, not during one.

Unlock Prey and the Season 2 hunts

1. Reach level 80. The unlock quests are level 80–90 content; below 90 you can only run Normal hunts and receive an Aspiring Preyhunter's Chest instead of the full rewards (Warcraft Wiki), so the full feature starts at 90. Our 80–90 leveling guide covers the route.
2. Talk to Astalor Bloodsworn in Silvermoon City (about 55.0, 63.4) for Prey: Astalor's Initiative. Follow it through To the Sanctum! to unlock the Hunt Table.
3. Get into Astalor's Sanctum. The orb is the fastest way back between hunts.
4. Unlock Season 2 content. Method says A Slithering Threat needs one Coiled Isle hunt on Nightmare, plus the first chapter of the Curse of Ula'tek story.

Hard and Nightmare open as soon as you unlock Prey.

Choose a difficulty

Each zone offers three targets, one per difficulty. Torment values come from Icy Veins.

Difficulty	Torments	Gear chest (first 2/week)	Great Vault	Mistcrests	Group help
Normal	Ambush only	266 Adventurer 1	279 Veteran 1	10 Adventurer	Other players can help
Hard	Torment (+2% damage taken, stacking) plus the Season 2 torments	279 Veteran 1	292 Champion 1	10 Veteran	Solo
Nightmare	Stronger Torment (+4% stacking, +4% more every 60 seconds outside rested areas) plus the Season 2 torments	292 Champion 1	305 Hero 1	10 Champion + 5 Hero (Wowhead)	Solo

Season 2 torments (Icy Veins, Warcraft Wiki):

• Pack Ambush: a pack of serpentine scouts attacks while you're in combat.
• Exploding Corpse Snakes: snakes burst from corpses and explode in a venom circle when killed. Step out.
• Toxic Snare: Envenomed Nets slow you and deal nature damage. Keep moving until the casts stop.

Dying on Hard or Nightmare also costs hunt progress (Icy Veins).

Pick	Pros	Cons	Best for
Normal	Fast, groupable, alts can run it while leveling	Adventurer loot and Veteran Vault	Leveling alts, Journey points only
Hard	Champion Vault slot, manageable solo	Torment stacks if you're slow	Undergeared mains, quick Vault filler
Nightmare	Hero Vault slot, Champion chest, Hero crests, Venomstones (12.1.5)	Harder, solo-only, progress loss on death	Geared solo players

Example: your World row shows 292 from Hard hunts and Tier 7 Delves. Switching two of those to Nightmare hunts or Tier 8 Delves raises those Vault choices to 305 Hero 1.

Run a hunt from start to finish

1. Pick a hunt at the Hunt Table. Each listing shows the zone, difficulty, torments, and rewards.
2. Fill the Anguish crystal at the top of your screen. Sources (Wowhead):

Anguish source	Notes
World quests and Prey world quests	Biggest chunks, especially in the hunt zone
Treasures	Quick progress while looting
Rares	Kill for progress
Traps on the ground	Disarm for progress, and keep Disarmed Traps to use later
Coalescing Anguish / Remnants of Anguish	Interact, kill the spawn
Ambushes	Survive them, then Riposte

1. Find your target. When the crystal glows red, its location shows on your minimap.
2. Fight it. Click the Anguish crystal at that spot to start the boss fight.
3. Roll bonus loot with one Nebulous Voidcore if you want.

Ambushes. While you're in combat in the hunt zone, your target can attack at random. Bring it to 50% health or hit it with a Disarmed Trap and it flees, leaving progress behind. After it flees, look for a red mist nearby and hit it once more for bonus progress (the Riposte).

Older affix lists naming Hunter's Momentum, Seeping Gore, Echo of Predation, and Bloody Command describe Season 1.

Know the weekly limits

Limit	Value	Source
Hunts on the board	15 (12 base + 2 Hard + 1 Nightmare on the Coiled Isle)	Wowhead
Gear chests	First 2 hunts per difficulty per week. Later clears give gold and profession materials	Wowhead, Warcraft Wiki
Big Journey awards	First 4 hunts per week (any difficulty), then 50 each	Warcraft Wiki, Wowhead
Soul bonus gear	Once per week per character for each soul type	Warcraft Wiki
Random hunts	Extra hunts from Astalor after Journey rank 2, paid in currency	Warcraft Wiki

Every hunt also gives Coffer Key Shards for Bountiful Delves and Remnants of Anguish for the vendor. You don't need to clear all 15.

Catch up the Preyhunter's Journey in 12.1.5

The Journey is Warband reputation with 10 ranks of 4,000 progress (Warcraft Wiki). Before 12.1.5, the first four hunts a week gave 1,000 each, or one rank a week. Blizzard's 12.1.5 notes add catch-up:

Your rank	Journey per hunt (12.1.5)	Hunts per rank
Below 4	4,000 per hunt (a full rank). This replaces the first-four bonus and doesn't use it up	1
4–9	2,000 for each of your first four hunts a week, then 50	2
10	Done	n/a

What this means: a Warband that's behind gains one rank per hunt until rank 4, then moves through ranks 4–9 at two ranks a week. Blizzard's final notes say below 4 and 4–9, so we use those. Check the live tooltip.

Blizzard's developer note says the catch-up is meant to help new and returning players earn the Journey rewards, "including decor and Hero track equipment in conjunction with Delves."

Use Afflicted and Tormented Souls

• Afflicted Soul (rank 4): drops from Heavy Trunks in Tier 6+ Bountiful Delves. Used on a Nightmare hunt, it speeds up progress and adds bonus Champion gear.
• Tormented Soul (rank 9): same source, bonus Hero gear.
• Each bonus is once per week per character (Warcraft Wiki).
• 12.1.5 change: Blizzard's notes say souls "can no longer be used while a hunt is active and must be used between hunts." Guides written before October that say to use them mid-hunt are out of date.

Our Delves guide covers the Bountiful Delves that drop them.

Hunt the Coiled Isle targets and Ral'kala

Method lists the four Season 2 targets: Janoa the Fang, Batani the Scaled, Kursak the Coiled, and Kadani the Claw. Defeating all four gives Prey: Coiled Nightmares.

Ral'kala is a separate, repeatable boss (Wowhead, Method):

1. Finish the first chapter of the Curse of Ula'tek story and Prey: A Slithering Threat.
2. At the Image of Astalor (about 58.2, 48.5 on the Coiled Isle), turn on Curse of the Isle before you start a hunt. You can't toggle it mid-hunt. A Nightmare Coiled Isle hunt also works (Method).
3. Collect Ossified Relics from island pickups, a world quest, enemies, and a daily source.
4. Contribute at a Haunted Brazier. The total is 100 shared relics. Ignore the old "98 relics" workaround.
5. Kill Ral'kala. Drops include Corrosive Souls, Corrosive Coins, the Pale Hexscale pet, the Hexflame Reaver mount, and decor.

Spend Remnants of Anguish

Construct V'anore in Astalor's Sanctum sells transmog, mounts, pets, toys, and profession recipes for Remnants of Anguish. Construct Ali'a sells decor (Warcraft Wiki).

Item	Remnant of Anguish
Ensemble: Preyseeker's Refined Armor	1,600
Ensemble: Preyseeker's Rugged Armor	1,600
Formula: Enchant Shoulders - Nature's Embrace	500 (plus Moxie)
Technique: Restful Bronze Bench	500 (plus Moxie)
Voldy	800
Preyseeker's Hubris	2,000
Preyseeker's Hearthstone	2,000

Prey vs Delves for the World row

|---|---|---| | Best Vault slot | 305 Hero 1 (Nightmare) | 305 Hero 1 (Tier 8+) | | Repeatable gear | Champion chest (2 per difficulty per week) | Champion 2 coffers with a key | | Group play | Normal only | Up to 5 players at any tier | | Venomstones (12.1.5) | Nightmare Champion chests | Tier 11 Bountiful only | | Extras | Coffer Key Shards, Journey, Ral'kala | Hero crests on Tier 11, Gilded Stash |

They feed each other. Prey shards become Delve keys, and Delve Heavy Trunks drop Prey souls.

Returning, boosted, and alt players

• Returning in 12.1.5: take the catch-up. Each hunt is a full rank until your Warband reaches rank 4 (Afflicted Souls). After that, do four hunts a week. Run Nightmare as soon as you can clear it for the 305 Vault slot and Venomstones. Our 12.1.5 catch-up guide puts Prey next to the Labyrinth and the raid.
• Boosted characters: Prey still needs level 90 and the unlock chain. Start on Hard to learn the target's abilities while torment stacks are lower, then move to Nightmare.
• Alts: Journey progress is Warband-wide, so do the four big awards on whichever character is most convenient.

Weekly Prey route

1. Check which character still needs this week's gear chests.
2. Do the four big Journey hunts, on the highest difficulty that character clears reliably.
3. Finish the first two chests on each difficulty you care about.
4. Between hunts, use a soul only on a character that hasn't claimed that bonus.
5. Turn on the Curse before your Coiled Isle hunt, gather relics, contribute one, and kill Ral'kala for the daily bonuses.

Our weekly checklist fits Prey alongside raids, keys, and Delves.

Want a hand with this?

If you would rather not grind this part yourself, World of Warcraft services are listed on FullBoosts. Read Blizzard's End User License Agreement before you buy any service from anyone, FullBoosts included — a marketplace listing isn't publisher permission.

Frequently asked questions

How do I unlock Prey in WoW Midnight?

Reach level 90 and take Prey: Astalor's Initiative from Astalor Bloodsworn in Silvermoon City. Finishing To the Sanctum! unlocks the Hunt Table. Season 2 targets come through A Slithering Threat.

What item level does Nightmare Prey drop?

Nightmare's gear chest gives 292 Champion 1/6, and its Great Vault reward is 305 Hero 1/6. Since 12.1.5, Nightmare Champion chests can also drop Ascendant Venomstones.

How many Prey hunts can I do per week?

The Season 2 board has 15. Only the first two hunts on each difficulty give a gear chest, and only the first four hunts give the big Journey award.

How does the 12.1.5 Prey catch-up work?

Blizzard's notes say characters below rank 4 get 4,000 progress, a full rank, per hunt. From rank 4 to 9, your first four hunts each week give 2,000 each.

When do I unlock Nightmare Prey?

As soon as you unlock Prey, per Wowhead. Older guides that say rank 4 describe Season 1.

Can I do Nightmare Prey with a group?

No. Icy Veins describes Hard and Nightmare as solo, while other players can help on Normal.

How do I summon Ral'kala?

Turn on Curse of the Isle at the Image of Astalor on the Coiled Isle, collect Ossified Relics, and contribute to a Haunted Brazier until it reaches 100 shared relics.

What does Rank 10 of the Preyhunter's Journey give?

Custom hunts through Preferential Killing, the Servant of Astalor title, and the Preyhunter's Fury mount from Construct V'anore.