The second campaign of the Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role premiered on January 11, 2018—four months after the conclusion of the first campaign—and concluded on June 3, 2021.

[1][2][3] The series starred Travis Willingham, Marisha Ray, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, Sam Riegel, Liam O'Brien, and Laura Bailey as the players with Matthew Mercer as the Dungeon Master.

It occurs at a time of very high tensions between the Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty—two of Wildemount's major powers, which are divided by the Ashkeeper Peaks mountain range.

Over the course of the campaign, the Mighty Nein work towards rooting out political corruption, especially within the Cerberus Assembly, and establishing peace between the Kryn Dynasty and the Dwendalian Empire after war breaks out.

[32] Mercer is positioned behind a gamemaster's screen in the inset portion with space for his notes; in the center of the table, there is an area for the miniatures and maps used in combat.

[34][35] The show returned with the 100th episode of the campaign on July 20, 2020; before then, a video explaining how the production team was implementing the guidelines within the Hollywood White Paper and setting out the social distancing requirements that would be followed was uploaded to Critical Role's YouTube channel.

The cast reprised their roles in a canonical story focused on the Mighty Nein coming together in the wake of events surrounding the Apogee Solstice in 843 PD.

[46][47][44] Beau and Caleb, as NPCs played by Mercer in the third campaign, were among the many people who failed to stop Archmage Ludinus Da'leth from utilizing the solstice in a ritual which resulted in the red moon Ruidus being locked in the sky and arcane powers across Exandria going awry.

[46][48][49] During a panel at MCM Comic Con London after the special, cast members mentioned that they hoped to revisit the Mighty Nein in future stories.

[52][53] As part of the show's tenth anniversary celebration in 2025, Critical Role has announced a live tour which will occur in cities across the United States and Australia.

[4][6] Like the previous campaign, episodes 1 through 51 were aired live on Twitch and YouTube channels run by Geek & Sundry, and on the Legendary Digital Networks' Alpha service.

It takes place at a time of very high tensions between the Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty—two of Wildemount's major powers, which are divided by the Ashkeeper Peaks mountain range—and war is imminent.

[64][65][66] The Menagerie Coast occupies the southwestern coastline and is governed by the Clovis Concord, a coalition of eight city-states that includes Nicodranas and Port Damali.

Some parts of the story take place on the Lucidian Ocean, off the shore of the Menagerie Coast, and on Eiselcross, a frozen continent north of Wildemount.

[85] Turney also wrote that viewers should enjoy the show at "their own pace" and "not stress about completing all episodes" within a set period of time;[79] additionally, there are many "Critical Role summaries and recaps" online for those "who want to quickly catch up to a certain arc".

Critics also commented on the campaign's various plot twists and revelations, with a particular emphasis on Mollymauk's death and the return of his body in the form of the antagonist Lucien.

Tyler Wilde, writing for PC Gamer in 2018, said Molly's death impacted both the cast and the community with the Twitch audience left "inconsolable".

[87] Margarida Bastos included Molly's funeral on Collider's "9 Most Memorable Moments From Critical Role's The Mighty Nein" list stating that "it's impossible not to be moved by the actors' heartfelt performances.

Moreover, the fact that Molly's funeral acquires a whole new connotation almost a hundred episodes later, establishes the full relevance of this moment in the grander scheme of the story".

[90] According to Hoffer, "one of the biggest twists of the series" is Molly's resurrection – "we could be heading towards another an epic storyline centered around the only Critical Role PC who died in the middle of a campaign and wasn't brought back to finish his story.

[91] Academic Emma French, in Real Life in Real Time: Live Streaming Culture (2023), highlighted "Laura Bailey's decision to nonviolently defeat an opponent using an insignificant, novelty magical item"; while it "made expert use of in-game mechanics", the sequence "was mainly praised for how it served the narrative" as "Bailey was perceived as remaining true to her character, Jester".

[81] Academics Lisa Horton and David Beard, in the book The Routledge Handbook of Remix Studies and Digital Humanities (2021), highlighted the "found-family" group dynamic model which "the newly fledged Mighty Nein began to emulate and improve to the extent that this became a subtheme for the entire campaign".

[84]Robyn Hope, in an essay in the book Watch Us Roll (2021), felt the show's set design was "not distracting" but instead "evocative of the fantasy genre" with a façade of wood and stone along with "lighting on the back walls" that is changed "to match the mood of the scene".

[96] Two series of comic books expand on the campaign's setting; Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins focuses on the backstories of the main characters[97] and Critical Role: The Tales of Exandria covers the side-stories of non-player characters such as Leylas Kryn, and the Bright Queen of the Kryn Dynasty and her eternal lover Quana.

[91][100] Other products based on the campaign include the art book Critical Role: The Chronicles of Exandria The Mighty Nein,[101] and the board game Uk'otoa.

[102] As part of a sponsorship deal between Critical Role and D&D Beyond in 2018, an animated ad spot for the platform was produced which featured the Mighty Nein characters in combat.

[104] In January 2023, it was announced that the campaign will receive an animated television adaptation for Amazon Prime Video titled Mighty Nein.