Delves Guide for the War Within

Delves are bite-sized, role-agnostic, replayable world instances that allow you to engage in quick yet rewarding adventures. Delves can be experienced solo or in a group of up to 5 players alongside a customizable NPC companion. In this guide, we will cover everything you need to know about Delves in the War Within.

Delves are short, 10-15 minute scenarios designed to fit into your gameplay schedule and contribute to your character's progression, as they provide credit toward the Great Vault rewards in the War Within.

Unlike dungeons and raids, Delves can be completed solo or with a group of up to 5 players. The flexibility combined with their role-agnostic nature makes Delves accessible to all types of players.

Delves are designed to be replayable, with varying levels of difficulty and rewards. The season companion can be customized to fit your playstyle, whether you need a healer, a damage dealer, or a support character. Delves have 11 Tiers of Difficulty, providing a challenging experience for players of all skill levels.

When exploring Khaz Algar, you will find each delve marked on your Map with a unique cave icon, making it easier to locate them as you travel through the zones.

As you approach the icon on the Map, check your surroundings for cave openings, ruins, and other visual cues in the environment.

Khaz Algar contains 13 Delves in total at launch. The 13th Delve is a secret seasonal one that is difficult but offers unique rewards!

Isle of Dorn	The Ringing Deeps	Azj-Kahet	Hallowfall
Earthcrawl Mines	The Waterworks	The Spiral Weave	Skittering Breach
Kriegval's Rest	The Dread Pit	Tak-Rethan Abyss	Nightfall Sanctum
Fungal Folly	Deepwalker Hold	Zekvir's Lair (13th secret delve)	The Sinkhole
			Mycomancer Cavern

When you approach the entrance to a Delve, you will be greeted by a special User Interface window that provides important information to prepare you for your run.

At the top of the UI, the name of the Delve is displayed. Beneath it, you will find a dropdown menu that lets you select the Tier of difficulty. Higher tiers are more challenging but also give you better rewards.

The UI also provides a brief description of your main objectives in a Delve. For example, your task is to free miners from spider webs, kill Nerubians, and so forth. Make sure to read this before entering so you are aware of the primary goals.

On the right side, the UI lists the rewards you will receive upon completing the Delve. Rewards typically include Experience for your companion and the treasure room contains chests that you can open for gear, Resonant Crystals, Radiant Echo, Titan Disc Fragments, Valorstones, and Undercoin.

In the War Within, each new season introduces a fresh companion to aid you in your Delve runs, starting with Brann Bronzebeard in Season 1. Your NPC companion comes with a fully customizable Talen Tree, allowing you to tailor his abilities to best support your journey through the various Delves in Khaz Algar.

To make the most of Brann's abilities, check out our comprehensive guide to Brann Bronzebeard, where we dive deep into his Talent Tree, best curios to equip, and strategies for optimizing his performance in your Delve adventures.

Bountiful Delves have glowing icons compared to regular Delves and offer increased rewards because they provide access to Bountiful Coffers found at the end of your run. These special chests can be opened with Restored Coffer Keys that you can get by collecting Coffer Key Shards from world activities and quests. A timer will be displayed indicating the remaining time before another Delve becomes Bountiful.

You should always prioritize completing Bountiful Delves over regular Delves to get better loot.

When you reach max level, you will receive the Bountiful Delves quest in Dornogal, which requires you to obtain a Restored Coffer Key and find a delve that offers a Bountiful Coffer.

While regular Delves only drop Item Level 554 gear that cannot be upgraded, Bountiful Delves offer better gear with increasing difficulty.

• Tiers 1-11 Regular Delves provide Item Level 554 Non-Upgradeable Gear;
• Tier 1 Bountiful Delve offers Item Level 561 2/8 Explorer Gear;
• Tier 2 Bountiful Delve offers Item Level 564 3/8 Explorer Gear;
• Tier 3 Bountiful Delve offers Item Level 571 1/8 Adventurer Gear;
• Tier 4 Bountiful Delve offers Item Level 577 3/8 Adventurer Gear;
• Tier 5 Bountiful Delve offers Item Level 584 1/8 Veteran Gear;
• Tier 6 Bountiful Delve offers Item Level 590 3/8 Veteran Gear;
• Tier 7 Bountiful Delve offers Item Level 597 1/8 Champion Gear;
• Tier 8+ Bountiful Delve offers Item Level 603 3/8 Champion Gear;

Once per week in Season 1, you will loot Delver's Bounty, an item that guarantees a Hidden Trove at the end of your next run. Using the item resulted in Item Level 610 1/6 Hero gear in Tier 8.

It is also worth noting that revives impact your chance at loot, so the more you die, the less likely you will receive loot.

One of the significant benefits of running delves is the opportunity to earn endgame gear that contributes to your overall character progression. Not only do delves offer valuable loot, but they also grant credit towards unlocking rewards in the Great Vault, making them a very important part of your weekly activities.

For more details about the item level of gear found in the Great Vault, check out our separate guide.

Delves are divided into 11 tiers of difficulty, with Tier 1 being the easiest and Tier 11 the most difficult.

During Early Access and at War Within launch, players will only have access to Tiers 1, 2, and 3. Higher tiers starting from Tier 4 are unlocked when Season 1 begins on September 10, when your character earns the War Within Delves: Endgame achievement.

You do not need to unlock tiers for each delve separately. When you complete say Earthcrawl Mines Tier 7, Tier 8 will unlock for all Delves.

It is important to note that loot scales only up to Tier 8. Tiers 9-11 are for bragging rights only, and they do not offer better loot.

The Delves UI at the beginning of the run provides you with the recommended item level for each Tier of difficulty.

• Tier 1: Recommended item level: 515+.
• Tier 2: Recommended item level: 532+.
• Tier 3: Recommended item level: 545+.
• Tier 4: Recommended item level: 548+.
• Tier 5: Recommended item level: 567+.
• Tier 6: Recommended item level: 574+.
• Tier 7: Recommended item level: 587+.
• Tier 8: Recommended item level: 600+.
• Tier 9: Recommended item level: 610+.
• Tier 10: Recommended item level 620+.
• Tier 11: Unknown.

Delves feature various mechanics that improve the depth and complexity of each run. Below are key elements you will encounter during your runs.

At the beginning of each delve and at its checkpoint, you will find Explorers' League Supplies. This interactive object allows you to repair your gear or set up talents for your NPC Companion.

Most delves consist of 2-3 scenario-like objectives that must be completed before you can face the final boss. These objectives will change every time you enter a delve. There are multiple variations of objectives for each delve.

In Earthcrawl Mines, you need to rescue Webbed Lamplighters and survive a Nerubian ambush.

Inside delves, you will come across Sturdy Chests hidden in various locations. These chests contain Companion Experience and Resonant Crystals.

Mislaid Curiosities are small bags found on the ground that contain Companion Experience.

Often, you will come across Rare Elites that grant you Torghast-like powers when defeated or other collectibles. These are completely optional, but the powers are great as they increase your likelihood of succeeding in a Delve, which is important when doing higher tiers.

The special powers are temporary and only last for the duration of the Delve.

As you progress through delves, you will find checkpoints strategically placed close to the final objective before the boss encounter.

When you die, you will respawn at the checkpoint and not at the beginning of the delve. At these checkpoints, you can sell gear, adjust Brann's abilities, and repair your gear. Reaching the checkpoint will grant you +1 Revive.

When you enter a delve, you will notice a "Revives Remaining" counter in the Delve UI. The counter shows how many times you and your party members can die and respawn inside the same delve. Every time a player releases their spirit after death, one revive is subtracted from the total.

The number of revives remaining at the end of the delve directly impacts the quality of the rewards you receive at the end of your run, so it is very important to play cautiously.

In Tiers 1-3, there is no death limit. For Tier 4-11, you have a maximum of 5 revives for each run.

When you lose all your revive in Tier + Bountiful Delve, you will not receive a Bountiful Chest at the end of it. It is recommended to zone out and start anew.

At the end of the delve, you must fight a boss to unlock the treasure room and reap rewards. The final boss will always be the same for each delve.

For each death while facing the final boss, you will receive a stack of Delver's Determination. It increases your health, damage dealt, and healing received by 5% per stack.

When you defeat the final boss, you will reach the Treasure Room, which consists of multiple loot chests.

Found only inside Bountiful Delves, Bountiful Coffer is an epic chest that contains the best loot. It requires Restored Coffer Keys to open. It also has a chance to provide you with Radiant Echo for the Worldsoul Memory event, and other rewards.

The rare chest contains Titan Disc Fragments for the weekly quest. You will also receive Undercoins, Valorstones and Companion Curios.

Completing Bountiful delves in The War Within Season 1 grants credit toward a progression system called Delver's Journey. Upon reaching certain milestones, you will unlock additional customization options for the Delver's Dirigible mount and other rewards.

Check out our Delver's Journey guide for more information.

Delver's Headquarters is located in central Dornogal. Brann Bronzebeard has a base set up here, which serves as the main Delves hub and vendor location in the expansion.

To learn more about the Delver's Headquarters and the vendors you will find there, check out our dedicated guide linked below.

Every once in a while, you will receive a quest from Brann Bronzebeard at the Delver's Headquarters that offers 1 Pinnacle Cache, a weekly cache containing materials for upgrading, gear, gold, and more. To earn the cache, you must complete 2 Tier 6+ Delves. Keep in mind this quest is on rotation with other weekly quests and will not be available every week.

Delver's Dirigible is a mount from delves that you receive shortly after reaching Level 80 in the War Within expansion. We cover its acquisition and customization options on a separate page.

A new bonus event is coming in the War Within expansion tied to delves. During the event, you will receive better rewards from delves. The first event is slated for October 1, 2024.

Every Season, you can earn different rewards from delves. From transmog to the Ivory Goliathus mount, we have you covered with our dedicated guide!