How to Gear Up in Delves - The War Within Season 2
One of the major changes for World of Warcraft: The War Within Season 2 is the ability to get quality gear through Delves.

Gearing in a Delve isn’t entirely a new concept; it was something that was possible in Season 1, but it has been greatly expanded for Season 2. One major way Blizzard is accomplishing this is by overhauling how the tiers in Delves work. In the patch notes for 11.1, Blizzard stated that any Delve above tier 8 in Season 1 was “meant purely for players who wanted a challenge.” Blizzard is now letting players obtain more desirable rewards, such as Gilded Crests on a Tier 11 Bountiful Delve.

Our guide on gearing in Delves will go over everything you need to know about obtaining the best gear through Delves in The War Within Season 2.

How to Obtain Gear in Delves
The gear you get from Delves depends on the Tier you run and whether or not you’re unlocking a Bountiful Chest.


Delve Rewards in The War Within Season 2

Delve Tier Level Bountiful Delve Rewards Initial Upgrade Level Great Vault Level Initial Great Vault Upgrade Level
1 610 Adventurer 1/8 623 Veteran 1/8
2 613 Adventurer 2/8 626 Veteran 2/8
3 616 Adventurer 3/8 629 Veteran 3/8
4 619 Adventurer 4/8 632 Veteran 4/8
5 623 Veteran 1/8 639 Champion 2/8
6 626 Veteran 2/8 642 Champion 3/8
7 636 Champion 1/8 645 Champion 4/8
8 639 Champion 2/8 649 Hero 1/6
9 639 Champion 2/8 649 Hero 1/6
10 639 Champion 2/8 649 Hero 1/6
11 639 Champion 2/8 649 Hero 1/6


If you are not running a Bountiful Delve, loot will be capped at Tier 3 and drop ilvl 593 gear.

You can also obtain Gilded Undermine Crests up to 3 times a week by completing a Tier 11 Bountiful Delve in Season 2 of The War Within.



Completing Delves Also Fuels Your Great Vault
That’s not all, though, as completing these Delves also fuels your Great Vault in a similar manner to Raids and Mythic+. Take, for example, my Great Vault for this week.


Despite not completing a single Mythic+ dungeon or killing any raid boss, I can pick and choose.

It’s a very welcome change that makes gearing in The War Within easier than ever before. Even though the gear I can get directly from a Bountiful Delve is capped at ilvl 639, I’m still actively encouraged to keep pushing higher tiers for better rewards.

Best Brann Delve Curious for The War Within Season 2
Brann has a new role in Season 2 of The War Within: he can now tank, making life easier for the classes that can’t tank themselves.

With Brann now able to perform all three roles (Tank, Healer, DPS), he also has a new suite of Curious at his disposal. The question remains, though, which curious are best for Brann?


Curios for The War Within Season 2
There are two types of curios available for Brann in The War Within Season 2:

Combat Curios:
  • Automatic Footbomb Dispenser – Brann's spells and abilities have a chance to drop 2 footbombs on the field for 10 sec. Running into a footbomb kicks it at your enemy target, dealing significant Fire damage to all enemies in a 6-yard radius.
  • Goblomagnetic Bouncing Grenade – Brann has a chance during combat to toss a GMB grenade at an enemy target, dealing moderate Nature damage with a 20% chance to stun for 1.5 sec. This has a 25% chance to bounce to a new target. The grenade can safely bounce on party members.
  • Impact Conversion Matrix – Upon entering combat, Brann activates the conversion matrix for 10 seconds. A small percent of all party damage dealt during this time is converted to primary stat and split between party members. After the conversion matrix powers down, the primary stat buff persists for 10 sec. This effect cannot occur more than once every 2 min.
  • Mechasaur EZ-Build Kit – Brann's Epic Egg now houses 1 mechasaurs that taunt enemies for 4 seconds while within the egg. Mechasaurs will periodically stomp in addition to their usual abilities, dealing moderate Fire damage split between nearby enemies. Affected enemies explode after 5 seconds, taking moderate Fire damage.
  • Pinged Augment Chip – Brann's maximum health is increased by 4%, and his damage and healing done is increased by 20%. While in combat, Brann may become targeted by mechanical bots that fixate on him which can be destroyed or dispelled. If they reach Brann, he will suffer 30% of his maximum health in damage and be stunned for 5 sec.
  • Pocket Factory – Brann's spells and abilities have a chance to commission the Pocket Factory to build 1 turret to assist for 10 sec.
  • Reverse Engineered Goblin Death Bomb – When any player's health falls below 50% during combat, Brann throws a giant bomb that explodes on impact. The explosion knocks back, slows surrounding enemies by 45% for 5 sec, and heals nearby party members for 35% of their maximum health. Can only occur every 1.5 min.


Utility Curios:
  • Biofuel Rocket Gear – Party members are equipped with Biofuel Rocket Gear. Each enemy slain fuels the Biofuel Rocket Gear, increasing Movement Speed by 2% and Haste by 2% for 10 seconds, stacking up to 10 times.
  • Comically Large Magnet – When Brann uses Gathering Tools, there is a 100% chance to magnetize Discarded Plating to party members, granting them 5% of their maximum health as a shield that regenerates out of combat.
  • Kaja'Cola Carrier – Mislaid Curiosities now have a 35% chance to contain 1 Kaja'Cola, and once per delve, Brann now summons a Kaja'6-Pack when creating campfires.
  • L00T RAID-R – Every 60 sec or 5 sec after entering combat, scan the environment highlighting Mislaid Curiosities and making enemies below 95% health take 4% more damage for 10 sec.
  • Overdrive Pylon – After 30 seconds of combat, party members and Brann deal 5% more damage and healing for 20 seconds. Can only occur once per combat.
  • Pacifist Rig – During combat, a pilot is designated to be over 8 sec before airdropping the Pacifist Rig MK-1 at their location, equipping them with it for 10 sec, and knocking back nearby enemies.
  • Three Dimensional Bioprinter – Damaging an Elite creature below 40% health creates an imperfect copy of it at 50% power to fight by your side. Only 1 copy can exist at the same time.



Best Curios for The War Within Season 2
Here’s my go-to setup, which helps me clear Tier 11 Delves despite having a current ilvl of 620.


Mechasaur EZ-Build Kit and L00T RAID-R are the best Curios for Season 2 Delves, in my opinion. The Mechasaur buffs Brann’s Brann's Epic Egg, helping to add another viable ally that can also taunt enemies and deal damage. It’s been vital to be able to tackle Tier 11 Delves despite lacking gear.

Additionally, the L00T RAID-R can be used to obtain additional resources and deal extra damage to enemies. It’s the best of both worlds as a utility curiosity that can effectively be used inside combat.



Jake has ignored his backlog to play World of Warcraft for 20 years, why should he stop now? While he spends most of his time in Classic with his friends, he's still checking in on the game's other versions on a regular basis, because at the end of the day, nothing beats WoW
This article was originally published in forum thread: How to Gear Up in Delves - The War Within Season 2 started by chaud View original post
Comments 12 Comments
  1. Voidism's Avatar
    Never tried L00T RAID-R. Will now! Thanks!
  1. Gojira's Avatar
    Nice post, many thanks !
  1. meheez's Avatar
    As soon as I'm done with the Underpin and the likes I feel like im done with the delves for the season.
  1. mtmf's Avatar
    Why does it say your vault gear is level 649 but hero 4/6 from doing tier 11 delves? That's confusing and not true, starting at tier 8 it's always 649 and hero 1/6, but you upgrade up to hero 6/6 with crests like everything else.
  1. jla's Avatar
    "Initial Great Vault Upgrade Level/Initial Upgrade Level" loot tables are wrong, they are 1/8 champion and 1/6 Hero for tiers 8-11
  1. PixelFox's Avatar
    I've started calling all the little loot items in delves that (in bountiful delves) can contain Brann XP boosts "muffins" after the tiny mushroom ones that looked muffiny to me, and today I realized that means they're actually Brann Muffins.
  1. Just Passing through's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Voidism View Post
    Never tried L00T RAID-R. Will now! Thanks!
    Even wit Brann at lv80, I still run with that curio and loot the mislaid curios, because they can drop the thing that summons the Underpin to your delve and otherwise cost 2000 Undercoin.

    Quote Originally Posted by meheez View Post
    As soon as I'm done with the Underpin and the likes I feel like im done with the delves for the season.
    To each their own - I use delves to fill my Vault with 1/6 hero gear on several classes, because I want to collect several tier sets that I like (Palay, DK..Warrior to a degree) - hoping for Tier appearances in the Vault or upgrading them with the Catalyst.

    But yeah..if you don't care about that...or get the gear from elsewhere..I understand why ?? Underpin or even just ?? Underpin ends your journey.
  1. Darknessvamp's Avatar
    I'd argue Pocket Factory and Pacifist Rig with full upgrades are a better loadout for running delves. Rig spawns consistently enough to wipe out packs of enemies in seconds even on Tier 11 and gives a huge damage boost against the boss while also offering an extra life in-case you're about to die once per run plus Pocket Factory spawns new turrets each pull guaranting a shield and about 50% of instant killing several enemies. The Ez-Build Kit replaces Brann's existing egg and downgrades it until the curio is fully upgraded and even then has a chance to bug like the regular devilsaurs causing them to not deal fire damage or apply their explosive debuff and the Raid-R is a pretty limited debuff especially against high-health enemy packs in higher tier delves and the ability to find hidden treasures highlight hidden treasures isn't all that useful as you're able to find the objects just by looking around already.
  1. Tjista's Avatar
    So the most efficient use of delves would be doing three t11s and five t8s, right? Or are there still more benefits of running t11s after getting the gilded chest three times?
  1. Zendhal The Black's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tjista View Post
    So the most efficient use of delves would be doing three t11s and five t8s, right? Or are there still more benefits of running t11s after getting the gilded chest three times?
    t11 delves award more Runed crests (that you can turn to gilded once you outgrow them)
  1. Cierah's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tjista View Post
    So the most efficient use of delves would be doing three t11s and five t8s, right? Or are there still more benefits of running t11s after getting the gilded chest three times?
    The most efficient use of delves is three T11s, with one using a map, to max out gildeds (21 from the three delves and 10 more from the map) and to get 11 runed per run, provided you killed every Nemesis pack. After those three, you run five 9s. These will net you 7-8 runed each provided you kill every Nemesis pack to max the chest at the end. Tier 8 will only net 5 runed per run.

    Yes, doing eight 11s will get the biggest net of crests, but they will also take more time to complete where on 9s you can pull bigger groups and you have more lives to play with.

    The next question would be bountiful or not. Run bountifuls for the gildeds. After that, it depends if you need the champion gear or not. If you don't then you can camp on your favorite delve for the rest of the runs regardless of state.

    - - - Updated - - -

    I've found the Kaja carrier to actually be quite good. It doesn't disrupt play like the rig and at 4/4 you get quite a number of buffs that help you grind through faster. This does mean finding as many of those curiosities as possible but if you do there's a lot of extra oomphage as a result.
    The downside - die and you lose the buffs.
  1. Just Passing through's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Tjista View Post
    So the most efficient use of delves would be doing three t11s and five t8s, right? Or are there still more benefits of running t11s after getting the gilded chest three times?
    If you can safely do them and need the runed...and have the extra time...do 11s. Personally I do 3x11 (one with a bounty) and 1-5 x 8. Mostly because I want to collect the three mythic sets that I like best (Paladin, Warrior, DK) so I run 2 chars of each class.

    The second char of each class is a bit worse geared, to do a T11, I run Fungal Folly and Mycomancer cavern, as the exploding spore mechanic really helps. (and going in as tank specc)

    As a matter of fact, Mycomancer, Fungal Folly, Dread Pit and Earthcrawl mines are the Delves I love to do. Everything else depends on the story inside, but I tend to avoid the Underwater ones. Kriegsvald Rest and Waterworks were annoying to me in S1 but they kinda reworked them in parts, so they are ok.

    Final note to other ppl reading the thread: I find Delves really easy as a tank. So if your class has a tank specc, try that one out. They even helped me apprechiate Warrior tanking - a specc I always disliked, but it really shines. Not only decent dps, but I actually feel immortal as a Prot warrior. I don't consider me a good player...but as a tank I easily do delves 10-15 ilv lower than recommended. (Easily=Underpin's Exploding Ally is the only Mob where I need to focus, if it spawns and use all my defensives and a bit of luck...also running around and screaming like a little girl )

Site Navigation