WoW The War Within Delves Guide

Heroes of Azeroth, there’s a new kind of danger lurking under the surface! Introducing WoW The War Within Delves guide, where we will talk about the brand-new activity that will be available to you in the upcoming expansion. This activity has inherited and learned a lot from special activities of previous expansions. Think about Island Expeditions, Scenarios, and even the Tower of Torghast, all combined to bring you the most exciting new way to play the game and earn exclusive rewards. In this guide, we’ll explain this activity, its details, and, more importantly, the WoW Delves loot – which is the main reason you should it out. 

Delves fits with the expansion's theme – for the most part, the events take place in an underground kingdom. But what’s even more impressive is that this activity is placed on the same pedestal as endgame raiding, Mythic+ dungeons, and PvP. Despite the compact size of the instances, which we’ll talk about more in a little bit, this is going to be a major addition to the expansion. Anyway, let’s dive right into it.

 

WoW The War Within Delves Explained

Delves are a new PvE activity set in various locations across Khaz Algar, which is a massive subterranean continent and the main new location in War Within. In terms of qualities, Delves are very short and compact solo or group dungeons. They’re meant to take no longer than 15 minutes to play through by either one player or a group of 5 at maximum.

Each Delve includes an NPC guide who accompanies you through the adventure, offering valuable insights and lore connected to your objectives. Unlike limited-time events like Plunderstorm, Delves are a permanent part of the game, providing long-term content for players to explore.

The rewards from Delves integrate into the broader endgame progression system, similar to raids and other high-end content. For those who may find raids too time-consuming, Delves offer an accessible alternative, allowing you to progress without the pressure of committing to a full raid. Of course, Delves are completely optional, and if you prefer focusing on raids or Mythic+, you won’t miss out by skipping them.

Delves also stand out in their design. They function within open-world zones, eliminating the need for loading screens as you enter. While they may remind you of dungeons, they have a more open-ended structure. Instead of predictable boss encounters, Delves often surprise players with unique final challenges, though the promise of treasure at the end of each adventure remains unchanged.

Another major feature of Delves is their evolving nature. Replaying the same Delve can yield new experiences, as different effects and events may occur on subsequent runs. The gameplay combines familiar combat mechanics with fresh elements like platforming, light puzzles, and innovative traversal options, keeping each run unpredictable and engaging.

Finally, a key aspect of Delves is the upgradable NPC companions. These guides aren’t just there to provide narrative flavor; they actively participate in battles and can be customized to fit your preferred playstyle. Whether you need a healer, DPS, or another type of support, your companion can adapt accordingly. At higher levels, these companions can equip Curios, powerful trinkets that grant them special abilities, making them essential partners throughout your journey in Delves.

Brann Bronzebeard is your companion for the Delves in Season 1. You can make him to be either a healer of DPS. Both of these Brann's roles come with an arsenal of abilities.

DPS Abilities:

• Ancient Weapon Oil: Temporarily enchants a nearby player's weapon, causing their spells and melee attacks to deal additional Fire damage for 15 sec.
• Gryphadin's Battle Harness: Summons Brann's gryphon companion to bombard nearby enemies for significant damage every 1 sec for 10 sec after any player uses a major cooldown ability. Can occur every 1 min.
• Ice Trap: Hurls an ice trap at enemies attacking an ally, reducing their movement speed by 50% and occasionally holding them in place for 3 sec. Trap lasts for 15 sec.
• Monkey Leash: Summons Brann's pet monkey Glibb, increasing the movement speed of nearby players by 10%.
• Steel Traps: Hurls steel traps that snap shut on the first enemy that approaches, dealing moderate Physical damage instantly and over 15 sec.
• Thirty Yards of Rope: Throws a rope to free players from stuns and bonds, granting immunity to such effects for 4 sec.
• Volley: Rains a volley of arrows down on multiple enemies, dealing moderate Physical damage to enemies in the area.

Healer Abilities:

• Aegis of Ironforge: Creates a shield at a player's location when they take damage, reducing damage taken by 20% and preventing loss of control effects while within it for 8 sec. Can occur every 3 min.
• Ancient Alchemy Stone: Increases the overall healing received by a player by 1.0% for 6 sec when healed by Dwarven Medicine. This effect stacks.
• Antidote Salve: Cleanses an infected player, removing all Poison and Disease effects.
• Bag of Snacks: Launches a volley of snacks at injured players, restoring a moderate amount of health over 2 sec.
• Dwarven Medicine: Throws healing potions near injured players that restore a moderate amount of health upon walking through them. Limit 3.
• Emergency Supplies: Instantly heals a player for 25% of their maximum health when they fall below 30% health. Can occur every 3 min.
• Relic of Uldum: Brandishes a powerful ancient relic, healing nearby allies for significant healing over 15 sec.
• Tranquilizing Blow Dart: Fires tranquilizing darts at empowered enemies, removing 1 Enrage and 1 Magic effect.

Common Abilities:

• Aspect of the Turtle: Deflects all attacks and takes 30% less damage for 5 sec while unable to attack when Brann is low health.
• Brann's Epic Egg: Summons an egg after any player applies a loss of control effect to an enemy. The egg hatches into a devilsaur after 15 sec, attacking nearby enemies and causing them to cower in place for 2 sec every 15 sec.
• Feign Death: Feigns death when being attacked or if players escape combat, tricking enemies into ignoring him.
• Flint and Tinder: Builds a campfire after exiting combat that increases the Versatility of those nearby by 1 and allows cooking.
• Ol' Faithful: Uses his gun to fire ranged attacks at enemies.
• The Bronzebeard Spirit: Heals for 30% of maximum health after taking significant damage. Can occur every 15 sec.

Some of these abilities will be locked by default, but as you clear the Delves with Brann, he'll level up and unlock them.

 

WoW War Within Delve Tiers

When you first enter a Delve, your character will start at Tier 1, with the higher tiers locked. Only the first three Tiers will be accessible until your character reaches level 80. Tiers are akin to difficulty levels for Delves.

After reaching level 80, completing the campaign, and equipping at least 548 gear in every slot, you'll unlock the "War Within Delves: Endgame" achievement. This achievement grants access to Tier 4 Delves. From there, each successfully completed Tier unlocks the next (e.g., finishing Tier 4 unlocks Tier 5, and so on) up to the final Tier 11.

If you're playing in a party, the group can only access the highest Tier that all members have completed. For example, if two players can access Tier 8, but one can only do Tier 6, the party will be limited to Tier 6.

Once you complete a Tier in any Delve, that Tier level becomes available for all Delves, both for your character and your Warband. The Delve interface allows you to select the Tier and review its level requirements, hazards, and rewards.

Delve Tiers also come with recommended minimum item levels (iLevels), similar to Torghast. While you can attempt higher Tiers than recommended, Tier 8 provides the maximum-level rewards. Tiers 9-11 are mainly designed for achievement hunters, with no further armor requirements beyond Tier 8, as the iLevel cap is 600. So, this is what the Delves tier progression looks like:

1. Starting Point:

• Character Level: Any level.
• Available Tiers: Tier 1 (Tiers 2 and 3 locked).
• Tier 1 Recommended ilvl: 515+.

2. Progression to Tier 3:

• Tier 2 Recommended ilvl: 532+.
• Tier 3 Recommended ilvl: 545+.

3. Level 80 and Campaign Completion:

• Requirement: Reach level 80, complete the campaign, and equip 548 gear in all slots.
• Achievement Unlocked: War Within Delves: Endgame.
• Unlocked Tiers: Tier 4.
• Tier 4 Recommended ilvl: 548+.

4. Tier Progression:

• Completing Tier 4 → Unlocks Tier 5.
  • Tier 5 Recommended ilvl: 567+.

• Completing Tier 5 → Unlocks Tier 6.
  • Tier 6 Recommended ilvl: 574+.
• Completing Tier 6 → Unlocks Tier 7.
  • Tier 7 Recommended ilvl: 587+.
• Completing Tier 7 → Unlocks Tier 8.
  • Tier 8 Recommended ilvl: 600+ (provides maximum rewards).
• Completing Tier 8 → Unlocks Tier 9.
• Completing Tier 9 → Unlocks Tier 10.
• Completing Tier 10 → Unlocks Tier 11 (Maximum).

Party Restrictions:

• Tier Access: Limited to the highest Tier completed by the lowest-ranked party member.

Warband Sharing:

• Completing a Tier: Unlocks that Tier for all Delves, both for you and your Warband.

Tiers 9-11: Primarily for achievements, no further ilvl recommendations (ilvl caps at 600).

How to Find Delves in WoW The War Within

Let it be known that you’ll be able to easily find a WoW The War Within Delves entrance for most of them. However, there will also be secret ones. The developers really want you to explore the location to find these hidden adventures. Anyway, each new zone in the expansion will contain some amount of Delves (usually between 2 and 4) at the launch of the expansion. Here, we’ve listed all WoW Delves Locations:

You will be exploring and finding out what happens in those Delves on your own; we already have descriptions for some of these bite-size adventures:

• Earthcrawl Mines: Located in the Isle of Dorn, this delve is a dig site taken over by Nerubians.
• The Sinkhole: Found in Hallowfall, this delve is situated at the very bottom of the zone where water gathers, and kobyss lurk and lure victims.
• The Dread Pit: Situated in the Ringing Deeps, this delve takes players into a forward base of operations used by Nerubians to assault the Machine Speakers.

It’s worth repeating once again the objectives that you will have to complete, and even the encounters themselves will change from week to week, rendering these Delves alive and dynamic.

Besides there's a place where you can track all of your Delves-related progress. The Delver's Headquarters can be found in Dornogal by these coordinates - 48 44. This is where you will also be able to claim the rewards from completing delves, which we'll talk about in the next section. Furthermore, the headquarters have two vendors who can sell you some supplies:

1. Reno Jackson
2. Sir Finley Mrrgglton

The Delves UI tab is also accessible next to Dungeons, Raids, PvP and M+ Dungeons.

WoW Delves Rewards

Let’s talk about WoW Delves Gear. There are a bunch of rewards you can get your hands on by completing various Delve tiers.

Gear and Item Levels

Delves provide class and level-tuned gear, with item levels scaling based on the Delve Tier. The higher the tier, the higher the item level. For instance, Tier 1 rewards gear at 561 ilvl, whereas Tier 8 offers up to 603 ilvl. Using a Restored Coffer key in Bountiful Delves boosts these rewards significantly. Gear from Delves can also be upgraded through various tiers of quality, starting at "Explorer" and moving up to "Hero."

Undercoins and Resonance Crystals

Players collect Undercoins and Resonance Crystals throughout Delves, both of which are essential currencies. Undercoins can be spent on a variety of items like gear tokens, cosmetic upgrades, and mounts. Resonance Crystals are used for purchasing delve-themed cosmetic armor and other rewards.

Mounts

• Delver’s Dirigible: This customizable airship WoW Delves mount is earned by completing the Bountiful Delves quest. Players can unlock cosmetic upgrades for the Dirigible by completing additional Delves and achievements.
• Ivory Goliathus Mount: This large beetle mount is the reward for completing the meta-achievement "Glory of the Delver," which requires mastering all aspects of Delves.

Companion Upgrades

Each Delve run also offers a chance to upgrade your NPC companion, Brann Bronzebeard. The first delve completed daily grants bonus Companion Experience, accelerating his progression.

Cosmetic Items

Delve runs may also reward rare cosmetic transmog items, such as:

• Fungarian Helms (Soporific Shroom Cap)
• Kobold Candle Helms (Taken Candle)
• Kobyss Skull Helms (Deep Nautic Helm)

These cosmetics are themed around different Delve environments and serve as rare drops from chests at the end of a Delve.

Bountiful Delve Rewards

Participating in Bountiful Delves provides additional rewards, such as:

• Radiant Echo: A currency used for further upgrades.
• Reputation Bonuses: A chance to earn a one-time 1.1k reputation bonus for various factions by using a Restored Coffer Key.
• Delver’s Bounty: A special map that, when used, guarantees an extra Hidden Trove Chest in a future Delve, granting gear of the same tier as the original Bounty was earned.

Bonus Event and Great Vault

Completing Delves also contributes towards WoW Great Vault Rewards slots, with additional gear rewards for completing 2, 4, or 8 Delves each week. Additionally, weekly bonus events increase the rewards for completing Delves during specific periods.

Furthermore, the loot that you’ll use for progressing through the endgame will be found in special WoW Resplendent chests, which is what the devs mean by the treasure at the end of each Delve. Whether we like it or not, these chests will be locked, and a special kind of key will be needed to pry them open.

Those keys will be obtainable from various sources outside of Delves themselves; you can get them for doing all kinds of stuff, such as repeatable quests, open-world content, etc. What’s cool about them – is the WoW Resplendent Keys Rewards, which will include various new cosmetic items like funny mushroom hats and other stuff.

The War Within Delves Achievements

No new activity in World of Warcraft can exist without a set of achievements for players to earn through that activity. This holds true for the Delves. Behold the list of Delves achievements in The War Within:

• That Extra Push Over the Cliff
• Immortal Spelunker
• Nemesis
• Hitting one's Stride
• Undying Caver
• Dawn of a new Delve

 

 

Conclusion

Delves could be easily overlooked because of their size. They might seem like unimportant side content, but that is far from the reality. They are a new endgame activity, which will be treated and expanded by the developers with the same focus as raids, Mythic+, and PvP. Even though these mini-dungeons are really small compared to the other types of endgame content, they’re clearly made to provide busy players who don’t have as much time with a better way to progress their character and keep up with the meta and ilvl grind.

In short, you’re looking at small, non-instanced adventures with dynamic objectives and encounters where you’ll be traveling with an upgradable NPC who can be customized to play different roles in a group. At the end, you’ll get a special chest that can be unlocked with a key. The loot in that chest will contain everything from scalable endgame gear to collectible items such as mounts, pets, hats, and so on. There’ll even be a special section in the Great Vault where you’ll be able to claim weekly rewards for running these Delves. As for WoW Delves how to find, there’ll be 12 Delves in total upon release with the 13th planned for release with Season 1. There’s no quest or any other kind of requirement needed to enter these mini-adventures. Just come to the right place and enter to start your adventure. 

We intend to cover more news regarding this type of activity, so you can expect to see more Delve guides! See ya!

F.A.Q.