Delvings
Overview
Introduced with Before the Shadow, Delvings are a way to optionally increase the difficulty of certain Missions and World Instances 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 (150 on non-Legendary servers, 100 on Treebeard). Access to the missions that have Delvings enabled requires purchase of Before the Shadow.
- As of Update 35, The Library at Tham Mírdain and The School at Tham Mírdain also have Delvings enabled.
- As of Update 36, The Annúminas instances Glinghant, Haudh Valandil, and the Great Barrows instances Sambrog, Thadúr and The Maze also have Delvings enabled.
- As of Update 38, the minimum level to run Delvings on non-Legendary servers was raised to 150 due to the level cap increase.
- As of Update 38.1, Delvings are enabled in most Umbar missions.
- As of Update 39, most of the missions available in the Elderslade are now available as Delvings. Also Epic Malices have been added to Delvings.
Starting Out
At level cap, 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 tiers 1, 2, or 3.
Advancing Tiers
There are twelve 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 delving quests can be completed each day, no matter the tier. 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, one of the same tier and, on tiers 3, 6, and 9, one for the next tier. Leaving the instance early will fail the Delving quest and you will have to 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 12.
Malices
Malices are various buffs and extra mechanics present in Delvings, which are organized by type. There will be a maximum of five Malices present in most Delvings, limited by one per type. Tier 10 has six active Malices, and tier 12 has seven. Malices will rotate daily, consisting of six different sets, denoted with numbers.
See the following table with possible variants per tier and Malice types:
With U35 new Malices were introduced that give you the ability to counter their effects:
- Epic Monster Skills (Tier 5)
- These are powerful but slow induction enemy Malice skills. Only one attacking enemy will be able to use these skills over the Malice skill's cooldown, that enemy will glow, and you can interrupt its induction. If you don't, the skill will complete!
- Cursed Hotspots (Tier 10)
- These hotspots are cast by enemies on themselves to heal, do more damage, and get other benefits. You will need to move the enemy from its location to lose the effect.
With U39 Epic Malices have been added to Delvings. These are Malices that affect you or the space itself:
- Epic Fervour (Tier 9)
- Your Fervour and intensity grows with each enemy defeated. For each enemy defeated, gain a stacking damage buff. Buff stacks up to 10 times.
- Epic Tempest (Tier 9)
- Storm clouds form in the space, spawning every 45 seconds and roiling through the space. There are 4 possible storms: Storm of Fire, which does fire damage to you and enemies; Storm of Lightning, which does lightning damage to you and enemies, Storm of Healing, which heals you and enemies, and Storm of Protection, which grants an Armour buff to you and enemies.
- Orc Tunnels (Tier 9)
- Orcs and goblins are digging under your feet! Orc tunnels will pop up in the space every 90 seconds. One tunnel will spawn per player. Destroy the tunnel or it will spawn a random Delving orc or goblin every 30 seconds!
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. Delving chests have a 1 hour expiration delay and are automatically destroyed if they're not opened before the hour is over. There are also several deeds that reward titles, Delving Writs, and Virtue Experience.
Barter
Delving Stones | |
---|---|
Item to Receive | Items to Trade |
Delving Zircon | Delving Bag of Copper Coins |
Delving Garnet | Delving Bag of Gold Coins |
Delving Emerald | Delving Bag of Gold Coins |
Delving Amethyst | 3 Delving Bag of Gold Coins |
Delving Rewards - Recipes | |
---|---|
Item to Receive | Items to Trade |
Umbari Word of Craft: Haste Recipe | 1500 Delving Writ |
Umbari Word of Craft: Anger Recipe | 1500 Delving Writ |
Umbari Word of Craft: Defence Recipe | 1500 Delving Writ |
Umbari Word of Craft: Focus Recipe | 1500 Delving Writ |
Umbari Word of Craft: Fury Recipe | 1500 Delving Writ |
Umbari Word of Craft: Shadow Recipe | 1500 Delving Writ |
Umbari Word of Craft: Tactics Recipe | 1500 Delving Writ |
Umbari Heraldry Recipe Selection Box | 4500 Delving Writ |
Delving Rewards - Upgrades | |
---|---|
Item to Receive | Items to Trade |
Pearl Cloak Thread | 3500 Delving Writ |
Iridescent Jet | 2000 Delving Writ |
Piece of Petrified Driftwood | 4000 Delving Writ |
Consumables & Travel. | |
---|---|
Item to Receive | Items to Trade |
3 Delving Edhelharn Tokens | 100 Delving Writ |
5 Universal Delving Power Potion | 250 Delving Writ |
5 Universal Delving Morale Potion | 250 Delving Writ |
Sea-farer's Humble Essence Box | 30 Delving Writ |
Sea-farer's Flickering Essence Box | 150 Delving Writ |
Return to Andrath | 100 Delving Writ |
Return to Cardolan | 100 Delving Writ |
Return to Clegur | 100 Delving Writ |
Guide to Andrath | 100 Delving Writ |
Guide to Cardolan | 100 Delving Writ |
Guide to Clegur | 100 Delving Writ |
Muster at Andrath | 100 Delving Writ |
Muster at Cardolan | 100 Delving Writ |
Muster at Clegur | 100 Delving Writ |
Level Cap 130+ | |
---|---|
Item to Receive | Items to Trade |
Return to Annâk-khurfu | 100 Delving Writ |
Guide to Annâk-khurfu | 100 Delving Writ |
Muster in Annâk-khurfu | 100 Delving Writ |
Level Cap 150+ | |
---|---|
Item to Receive | Items to Trade |
Return to the Bloody Eagle Tavern | 100 Delving Writ |
Guide to the Bloody Eagle Tavern | 100 Delving Writ |
Muster at the Bloody Eagle Tavern | 100 Delving Writ |
Armour drops
Armour obtained from chests:
Possible Chest Content
Upon opening delving chests, depending on the completed tier
General Items
Barter Items
Crafting Items
Legendary Items
Deeds
Quests
For more detail, see Mission: Before the Shadow Quests, Mission: Umbar Quests or Mission: War of Three Peaks Quests
For more detail, see Delving Quests
Wrapper quests:
- [150] Delve Deeper (Weekly)
- [150] Delve Deepest (Weekly)
- [150] Delve Into the Darkness (Weekly)
Delving Quests:
- [150] Tier 01: Delving Zircon
- [150] Tier 02: Delving Zircon
- [150] Tier 03: Delving Zircon
- [150] Tier 04: Delving Garnet
- [150] Tier 05: Delving Garnet
- [150] Tier 06: Delving Garnet
- [150] Tier 07: Delving Emerald
- [150] Tier 08: Delving Emerald
- [150] Tier 09: Delving Emerald
- [150] Tier 10: Delving Amethyst
- [150] Tier 11: Delving Amethyst
- [150] Tier 12: Delving Amethyst