Every War Within Season 2 Mythic+ dungeon has at least one pull that costs far more time than its trash percentage is worth. It's the pull where keys die at +10 and above, not because the group is undergeared, but because the route walked into a cast-heavy clump with bad line-of-sight, a roaming patrol overlapping a fixed pack, or an avoidable mini-boss that adds three minutes for 2% count. Knowing which single pull to skip or re-angle in each dungeon is usually worth more to your timer than any individual cooldown.
This is route triage, not a full pull-by-pull. For each of the eight S2 dungeons, here's the one section that quietly burns your timer and the cleaner line to take instead.
Cinderbrew Meadery — the bee + bottling room double-stack
The room with the Venture Co. Patroller packs and the swarming Bee adds is where pugs lose the most time. People pull the bottling-line mobs into the bees and suddenly there's an interrupt-heavy mess with Honey Volley going out and bees fixating the squishiest target. Don't merge them. Clear the line packs first, let the bee group reset to its corner, then take it isolated with the group stacked so the fixate is predictable. You lose ten seconds of walking and save a wipe.
Operation: Floodgate — the Disturbed Kelp + turret gauntlet
The stretch after the first boss with the turret and the Disturbed Kelp casters is the classic Floodgate timer-killer. The kelp's Toxic Bloom plus the demolisher's frontal in an open area means people overpull trying to grab count efficiently and eat unavoidable overlap damage. Take the turret side along the wall, skip the optional kelp cluster on the far ramp entirely if your count allows, and never pull the demolisher into the caster pack. Floodgate has generous trash percentage; you do not need every pack.
Theater of Pain — the gauntlet bridge before Mordretha
The Banehoof / Diremaul gauntlet packs leading toward the final area are where good keys time out. Players try to AoE the whole bridge at once, the Shackled Soul adds and the ranged casters overlap, and a single missed interrupt on Necrotic Bolt Volley snowballs. Pull the bridge in two clean halves with a defined CC plan on the casters, not one giant ball. The two extra seconds of repositioning beats the 40 seconds you lose to a battle-res chain.
The Rookery — the lightning crystal corridor
The corridor of Cursed Thunderer and Stormrider packs around the crystals is the trap. The Thunderers' Crackling Thunder is heavy unavoidable AoE, and groups chain-pull through the crystals without stopping, so the healer is permanently behind. Activate the crystal, burn one pack, and let the crystal reset between pulls instead of pulling two crystal packs into one. Rookery is a short dungeon — controlled corridor pulls almost always beat the greedy line.
Priory of the Sacred Flame — the courtyard triple-pack
Priory's courtyard is the single most overpulled section in the season. The Arathi Footman, Knight, and Lightspawn mobs each bring stops, frontals, and a heavy magic burst, and pugs love to chain the whole courtyard for a fat pull. At +10 and up, that pull needs near-perfect interrupts or it deletes someone. Split the courtyard into two pulls with assigned interrupt rotation on the casters. If your group's interrupt coverage is shaky, the courtyard is the section to play safe — it's where most Priory keys actually die.
Darkflame Cleft — the Candle King darkness section
The kobold + candle mechanics section in the dark is a time sink because people fight the darkness instead of routing around it. Grab the Everburning Lantern, keep it on the group, and don't pull extra Blazing Fire Elemental packs you don't need for count. The optional packs off the main path here add little percent for a lot of mechanical risk. Light discipline plus a tight skip past the side rooms saves a clean minute.
The MOTHERLODE!! — the speedbarge / oozing trash floor
The mid-dungeon floor with the Venture Co. mechanized packs and the slow elevators is where momentum dies. The Crawler Mine and Mech Jockey overlap is deceptively spiky, and groups waiting on the elevator pull extra to "be efficient" and then sit through downtime anyway. Pre-pull before the elevator, don't grab the bonus side pack, and keep the mines kited away from the stack. This dungeon rewards constant forward motion more than fat pulls.
Operation: Mechagon Workshop — the trash before King Mechagon
The final stretch of Defense Bot and Mechagon trash before the King is dense with frontals and stuns. Pugs ball it all up on the ramp and the overlapping cleaves plus the stun chain wipe the group at low health. Pull in two staggered groups along the ramp so cooldowns line up, and skip any optional bonus bot that isn't on the direct path. Save a defensive rotation for this section specifically.
When the route isn't the problem
If your group is consistently timing the first two-thirds and only dying to these named sections, the fix is route discipline, not a higher key. Pull these spots smaller, assign interrupts, and accept losing a few seconds of count for a clean run. That alone moves most groups from +9 reliably to +11 and +12.
That said, routing only matters if the timer is actually achievable for your group. If you're stuck farming a specific key level for vault — say you need a +10 every dungeon for the weekly chest but your schedule won't give you the hours to grind the comp — a single timed Mythic+ carry for the keys you're short on is a reasonable time-for-money trade to bank the vault slot, then go back to pushing your own keys with the routes above. If you're improving week over week on your own, though, just keep running them — route knowledge sticks, a carry doesn't.