Mythic Raszageth defeated! Echo claims three straight in thrilling end to WoW RWF Vault of the Incarnates

The foul wyrm Raszageth the Storm-Eater has been defeated, and the Vault of the Incarnates vanquished, as Echo clears WoW Dragonflight’s first Mythic+ raid in the RWF. Finally, after 10 days of solid raiding, Echo claimed the victory in the afternoon of Dec. 23, saving the holidays for the raiders. 

However, the win wasn’t without controversy, as the kill of Raszageth came after a hotfix nerf to the boss which occurred while fellow RWF competitors Team Liquid were sound asleep. This has led some to doubt the quality of Echo’s clear. 

But in reality, Echo were somewhat ahead of Team Liquid in execution even before the nerf. It’s likely even without it, Echo would have taken the victory thanks to their consistency and bold strategy of delaying their clears to farm Normal and Heroic difficulties. 

The clear marks the third-straight World First clear for Echo, who claimed victory in the RWF Sanctum of Domination, and RWF Sepulchre of the First Ones. Conversely, the second place finish for Liquid, who killed the boss just over four hours later, marks another crushing almost-victory in the RWF.

The start of the race saw the eventual first and second-place finishers take two wildly different approaches. While Team Liquid spent a short time gearing in Normal and Heroic, Echo and other guilds grinded for a full two days, not killing a single boss until Dec. 17. 

This saw them fall to World 83rd for Eranog, 48th for The Primal Council. But after starting raiding they surged into the first really “wall” of the raid, taking down Terros world fourth, before sidling up in a comfortable second place, just a few hours behind Liquid. The guild had banked on being better geared heading into the second leg of the race, and as the resets hit, Echo were just seemingly better geared to clear bosses quickly.

As a result, it all came down to the final boss, Raszageth, who’s devilishly hard mechanics had every guild who faced it struggling to push it beyond 60%. Finally on Dec. 21, the teams pushed the boss below 20%, and its seemed like it was sprint for the finish. But in heartbreaking fashion, as Team Liquid went to bed on Dec. 22, Blizzard introduced a hotfix. The next day, Echo’s renewed vigor claimed the boss' life before Team Liquid could catch up.

Ultimately, the raid was still Echo’s RWF to win, and their execution needed to be perfect regardless of nerfs. Still, this will be a bitter pill for the Liquid Guild to follow, missing out on yet another World First in less-than-ideal circumstances.