Delve
Delve is a form of exploration designed for end-game content, where players select their attack type and pack size, then delve into the depths of the dungeon they have entered.
Delve is unlocked through quests later in the game, deep inside Twisted Memories, and will make use of Reincarnation to unlock the system.
It is suggested that players have reincarnated at least 25 times and be at level 5,000 before entering, as the monsters here are stronger than the monsters you face when not at this location.
They are also not the same monsters you may have been fighting to get here.
Delve locations can also drop quest items and give XP bonuses based on pack size.
One thing to know about Delve is that, while at a location which offers Delve, you cannot manually fight creatures or choose regular exploration.
Let’s discuss a little more about how you access Delve and how it works as new end-game content.
Accessing Delve
As mentioned, Delve-based content is more end-game content. To access it, you need to have access to the Twisted Memories plane. Then you will need to start the quest: The Mysterious, Yet Familiar Man.
This quest kicks off an entire story known as The Emerald Mirror. Along the way, you will complete: A Price to Play. A Game to Win.
This will get you an item known as the Ever Burning Candle. This quest item allows you to enter the Delve in Twisted Memories and then select an attack. See image to the right or bottom for mobile.
In the image above, we can see that we get some information about delve, and the option to set up delve. If you click the X to close the information, anytime after that, in which you open exploration while at a delve location you will be taken immediately to the set up.
As discussed, once you have the Clasp of Silver Dreams, you can now select a pack size, which comes with some benefits. See image to the right or bottom for mobile.
Here, I have selected 25 creatures, and we can see that we get a 200% XP bonus applied to the XP for each creature we kill. This bonus is applied after all other bonuses are applied.
What happens as we delve?
A few things can happen:
The monster chosen is always random, even for a pack size greater than one. While yes, every creature in a pack size greater than one will be the same monster with the same stats, once you win that fight and then move on, the next monster (or pack of monsters) will be a newly chosen monster.
This means, on one hand, you could fight 25 of a creature, then on the next round, you fight 25 of another creature.
Each fight increases the monster’s strength by that location’s Delve % increase.
For example: You fight 25 of Creature A at 0% increase. You win—congrats! Your next round comes up and it picks Creature B; that creature is now scaled by 3.25%, so you fight 25 of them. Your third fight is now 6.50% stronger, and so on and so on. You will die eventually, but that’s ok.
As you fight, you will see Exploration messages in the tab. See image to the right or bottom for mobile.
Please Note: There are three routes to this ending: you died, you took more than ten turns to fight a single beast during your encounter, or an error occurred during the exploration that forces it to quit.
There is one other way you can end Delve, aside from stopping it like you can with Exploration: surviving the full 8 hours.
Please Note: The location(s) that contains the Delve feature, will always determine how long between fights and the % of enemy increase per fight.
Do the enemies here have elemental atonement?
No. Enemies in Delve, at the time of this document, do not have elemental atonement, this can change in the future and if it does this section will be updated to reflect that.
Pack Sizes and XP Bonuses
When you first unlock delve, you wont have the option to select a pack size, you will only have the option to select an attack type. Upon setting it you will fight for 8 hours. Either until you die, you take too long or you cancel the delve.
Once you have: Clasp of Silver Dreams You will be able to select a pack size. The higher the creature count the more XP you get per fight, after all bonuses are attached.
Lets see how much Bonuse XP % you can get per pack size:
- For one Enemy: +0%
- For Five Enemies: +100%
- For Ten Enemies: +150%
- For Twenty Enemies: +175%
- For Twenty Five Enemies: +200%
These bonuses, as stated are applied after ALL your other bonuses and after the total XP has been calculated.
Monsters in a pack do not grow individually, that is, if you select 25 and kill one of the creatures, the other 24 will not then grow by X%, instead you will fight all 25 at what ever strength they are, then on the next pack fight, that pack as a whole, will grow by X%.
Surviving and Quest Items
As mentioned, the goal of Delve is not about surviving 8 hours. It’s about seeing how long you can survive.
Delve is meant for you to take a hard look at your gear, your enchantments, your alchemy items used, your skills, class skills—all of it—and see where you can tweak things to get better results and survive longer.
What happens if you do survive for a while, though? Say 6 hours?
Even when you die, fail to kill a creature in 10 hits, or the automation ends because you reached eight hours, you will find some kind of treasure to take home that is given to you regardless of inventory space.
If you survive for less than 2 hours, you will get:
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1,000 Gold.
If you survive for 2 or more hours, you get:
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1,000,000 Gold.
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One Unique Item.
If you survive for 4 or more hours, you get:
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1,000,000,000 Gold.
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One Mythic Item.
If you survive for 6 hours or more, you get:
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1,000,000,000,000 Gold.
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One Cosmic Item.
Quest items can drop from Delve locations, but the location itself will tell you how long you must survive for them to start dropping. Then they use your skill Looting (with no deductions) to determine if you get the quest item or not.
As you progress the Emerald Mirror quest line (which unlocks Delve and pack size choices), you will be required to make use of Delve to get the quest items to progress the story.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Delve is meant to be more end-game: push your character to its limits. Delve is also not designed for you to survive the full 8 hours. Eventually, yes, you will be able to—but around the time you start to unlock this, maybe not.
Delve can drop quest items, provided you follow the rules of the location. For example, see image to the right or bottom for mobile.
When clicking View Location Details, you will now see—while at a Delve location—the % increase per fight and the hours needed to survive until quest items drop.
Delve deep, child, and see how long you can survive for!
Do you want me to keep quest names exactly as written (including capitalization), or standardize them all to title case?