Delvings

Overview

Introduced with Before the Shadow, Delvings are a way to optionally increase the difficulty of certain Missions in order to earn rewards and gear roughly equivalent to Tier 3 raids. Delvings can be run with one or two people, the same as regular missions, and are currently only available to characters at their server's Level Cap. Access to the missions that have Delvings enabled requires purchase of Before the Shadow.

Starting Out

A letter will be sent with a strange gem attached. This gem will start a quest that directs you to a mission-giver. Any of the mission-givers in Swanfleet or Cardolan advance this quest. You will be given a  Delving Zircon, used to change the difficulty of a Delving to tier 1.

Advancing Tiers

There are ten tiers of Delvings available, each more difficult than the last. To activate a Delving in a mission, locate the Delving Stone near the entrance to the mission and interact with it. Choose the quest that corresponds to your desired Delving tier and accept it. Ten of these quests can be completed each day. Once you have accepted the quest, interact with the Delving Stone again to place the correct Delving gem in the stone and activate the Delving. Complete the mission as normal, and do not leave the instance until you have located the Scout and the Delving quest has advanced to Objective 4: Speak with the mission giver. Leaving the instance at any point before this will fail the Delving quest and reset the mission to base difficulty.

Successfully completing and turning in a Delving quest will reward a Delving gem to start the next tier. Leaving the instance early will leave you with a cracked version of the gem that can be bartered with a Delving Quartermaster for an undamaged gem so you can try again.

Skipping ahead through tiers is possible. Higher tier Delving gems can be bartered from a Delving Quartermaster for bags of coins purchased from the Delving Quartermaster.

Tiers

Delving tiers become progressively more difficult. Higher tiers inflict passive Dread, have more dangerous Malices active (see below), and give mobs more powerful bonuses through Delving Strength, up to a maximum of +1000% at tier 10.

 Delving Strength

Delving Tier	Gem Required	Dread	Active Malices	Delving Strength (Morale)	Delving Strength (Damage)	Rewards
Tier 1	Delving Zircon	+0	1	+20%	+120%	Tier 1 Delving Chest	10 Delving Writ
Tier 2	Delving Agate	+1	1, 2	+40%	+140%	Tier 2 Delving Chest	10 Delving Writ
Tier 3	Delving Bloodstone	+2	1, 2, 3	+60%	+160%	Tier 3 Delving Chest	10 Delving Writ
Tier 4	Delving Adamant	+2	1, 2, 3, 4	+100%	+210%	Tier 4 Delving Chest	10 Delving Writ
Tier 5	Delving Garnet	+3	1, 2, 3, 4, 5	+140%	+260%	Tier 5 Delving Chest	20 Delving Writ
Tier 6	Delving Beryl	+3	2, 3, 4, 5, 6	+180%	+310%	Tier 6 Delving Chest	20 Delving Writ
Tier 7	Delving Aquamarine	+4	3, 4, 5, 6, 7	+250%	+400%	Tier 7 Delving Chest	20 Delving Writ
Tier 8	Delving Emerald	+4	4, 5, 6, 7, 8	+320%	+550%	Tier 8 Delving Chest	30 Delving Writ
Tier 9	Delving Amethyst	+5	5, 6, 7, 8, 9	+390%	+700%	Tier 9 Delving Chest	40 Delving Writ
Tier 10	Delving Opal	+5	6, 7, 8, 9, 10	+500%	+1000%	Tier 10 Delving Chest	50 Delving Writ

Malices

Malices are various buffs and extra mechanics present in Delvings. There will be a maximum of five malices present in any given Delving. There are different sets of malices that rotate weekly on Thursday at 3:00 a.m. server time, denoted with numbers.

Variant 1 Malice Mob Effect Player Effect  Variant 1 - Malice 1  Diseased Cloud I  Variant 1 - Malice 2  Thick Hide  Variant 1 - Malice 3  Fear of Death  Variant 1 - Malice 4  Daunting Disease  Variant 1 - Malice 5  Virulent Poison  Variant 1 - Malice 6  Variant 1 - Malice 7  Sauron's Eye I  Sauron's Eye I  Variant 1 - Malice 8  Fear of Death  Variant 1 - Malice 9  Sauron's Defence I  Variant 1 - Malice 10

Variant 3 Malice Mob Effect Player Effect  Variant 3 - Malice 1  Debilitating Miasma  Debilitating Miasma  Variant 3 - Malice 2  High on Life I  Variant 3 - Malice 3  Instilled Panic  Variant 3 - Malice 4  Physical Adaptation: Melee  Physical Adaptation: Ranged  Variant 3 - Malice 5  Creeping Doom  Variant 3 - Malice 6  Hampering Miasma  Hampering Miasma  Variant 3 - Malice 7  Blood Rage  Variant 3 - Malice 8  True Face of Fear  Variant 3 - Malice 9  Physical Adaption: Melee  Physical Adaption: Ranged  Variant 3 - Malice 10

Variant 4 Malice Mob Effect Player Effect  Variant 4 - Malice 1  Fire-storm I  Variant 4 - Malice 2  Encroaching Shadow  Variant 4 - Malice 3  Explosive Devastation I  Variant 4 - Malice 4  Sauron's Touch I  Variant 4 - Malice 5  Festering Wound  Variant 4 - Malice 6  Fire-storm I  Variant 4 - Malice 7  Clutch of Flies II  Clutch of Flies II  Variant 4 - Malice 8  Explosive Devastation I  Variant 4 - Malice 9  Glass Cannon  Variant 4 - Malice 10  Pestilent Discharge

Variant 5 Malice Mob Effect Player Effect  Variant 5 - Malice 1  Fire-storm I  Variant 5 - Malice 2  Poison Puddles I  Variant 5 - Malice 3  Sauron's Defence I  Variant 5 - Malice 4  Stab at Thee  Variant 5 - Malice 5  Glory In Pain  Variant 5 - Malice 6  Sauron's Lash  Variant 5 - Malice 7  Poison Puddles I  Variant 5 - Malice 8  Sauron's Shroud  Variant 5 - Malice 9  Sauron's Defence I  Variant 5 - Malice 10

For the following effects the Malice is yet unknown:

 Deadly at Range

Rewards

Delving quests reward  Delving Writs and chests of random rewards. Delving Writs can be used in barters with the Delving Quartermaster. Delving chests have a chance to drop bundles of crafting materials, equipment that can be worn or disenchanted, character boosts, and more. Higher tier chests are more likely to drop better rewards. There are also several deeds that reward titles, Delving Writs, and Virtue Experience.

Deeds

Delving Deeds

For more detail, see Delving Deeds

Delving Deeds‎ (38 P)

See Also

• LOTRO's Guide to Delvings