A timed Mythic+ dungeon awards 12 crests of the tier matching its key level; finish over the timer and you still get crests, but fewer. Heroic and Mythic 0 dungeons pay lower-tier crests in smaller batches, raid bosses and Delves add more, and every tier has a weekly cap that grows each week, so roughly eight timed keys fills a week.
Crest payout by activity
| Activity | Crests | Notes |
| Mythic+ key, beaten the timer | 12 | Tier depends on key level; this number has held across recent seasons |
| Mythic+ key, over the timer | Reduced | Blizzard has tuned the exact over-time amount between seasons; the end-of-dungeon screen shows what you got |
| Heroic dungeon | Small batch, lowest tier | Catch-up currency for fresh characters |
| Mythic 0 dungeon | Small batch, second tier | One lockout per dungeon per week |
| Raid boss kill | Per boss | Tier follows raid difficulty: LFR, Normal, Heroic, Mythic |
| Delves (bountiful, higher tiers) | Per clear | Solo-friendly source of mid-tier crests |
- Crests come in four tiers. In The War Within they were called Weathered, Carved, Runed and Gilded; the top tier is what upgrades Hero and Myth track gear.
- Each tier has its own weekly cap, and in recent seasons that cap rose by 90 per week, with missed weeks rolling forward so you can catch up.
- The 12-per-timed-key rule has been stable since late Dragonflight through all of The War Within. If the current season shifted key-level breakpoints, the dungeon completion screen is the source of truth.
Which crest tier does my key level drop?
Higher keys pay higher tiers. In The War Within Season 2 and 3, Mythic 0 dropped the second tier (Carved), keys from +2 through +6 dropped Runed, and +7 and up dropped Gilded, the top tier. Season 1 had Gilded start at +8 before Blizzard lowered it. The pattern is the same every season even when the exact breakpoint moves by one level: the crest tier steps up when you cross the key level where the loot track also steps up.
Practical takeaway: the first key that pays top-tier crests is the most important number to know each season, because a +7 and a +12 pay the same 12 crests. Once you are farming crests rather than score, push only as high as the payout requires.
How many dungeons to hit the weekly crest cap?
With a cap increase of 90 per week and 12 crests per timed key, seven keys leave you at 84 and an eighth key tops you out (the excess is lost, not banked). That is why eight timed dungeons is the standard weekly routine for anyone gearing through Mythic+, and it lines up neatly with the eight-dungeon Great Vault slot.
Raid boss kills of the matching difficulty count toward the same cap, so a full Heroic raid night reduces the number of keys you need for that tier.
Do depleted keys still give crests?
Yes. Finishing a dungeon after the timer expires still awards crests, just fewer than the 12 for a timed run, and the completed run still counts toward your Great Vault progress. What you lose is the key level (it drops by one) and the extra crests. Abandoning the dungeon without killing the final boss awards nothing, so if you are close to the end, finishing is almost always worth it.
Can I convert or trade crests between tiers?
Recent seasons let you trade higher-tier crests down to a lower tier at the crest vendor, which helps when your top-tier stash is full but you need a lower tier to upgrade an alt slot or a trinket still sitting on a lower track. Trading upward is not possible; the only way to earn top-tier crests is doing top-tier content.
If you would rather have a vetted human team carry the timer pressure, PewPewShop runs play-together Mythic+ keys with experienced players: a single Mythic+ Dungeon Boost from EUR 24, a Mythic+ Specific Dungeon from EUR 20, or the full Weekly Vault — 8 Dungeons package from EUR 55 that also caps your crests for the week.