The Delver's Journey renown track in WoW Midnight completely changed how delves work. If you're still running delves without pushing your renown to rank 9, you're leaving hero track gear on the table. This guide covers every rank reward, the fastest way to farm reputation, and how to turn delves into your best gearing method in Season 1.
What Is the Delver's Journey in WoW Midnight?
The Delver's Journey is a 10-rank renown track that unlocks progressively better rewards from delves. It replaced the simpler system from The War Within with a proper progression path that scales your loot quality all the way up to hero track (276 ilvl) gear.
The track is account-wide, meaning every alt benefits once you hit a rank. Rank 9 is the real target. Rank 10 exists but doesn't add anything game-changing.
Reputation comes primarily from running bountiful delves, especially tier 11. You need 42,000 total rep to hit rank 10 (4,200 per rank).
All Delver's Journey Rank Rewards
Not every rank matters equally. Here's what actually impacts your gearing:
| Rank | Reward | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Gilded Sash in tier 11 delves | Gives hero crests (uncapped). One of the best crest farms in the game. |
| 3 | Sanctified Banner in bountiful delves | Extra chest at delve end. Can drop warbound gear, undercoins, materials. |
| 4 | Gilded Sashes grant myth crests | 20 myth crests/week/character from delves (20% of weekly cap). |
| 5 | Zoron vendor at tier 6+ delves | Random champion track gear for undercoins. Any slot, any piece. Refreshes every run. |
| 6 | Buy 2 restored coffer keys/week | 2,000 undercoins each. Save these for rank 9 when they give hero track gear. |
| 7 | Coffer key vendor toy | Buy keys inside delves. 1-hour cooldown. |
| 8 | Champion warbound gear from tier 9+ delves | ~50/50 between champion and veteran track. Infinitely farmable. |
| 9 | Hero track gear + untainted mana crystals | THE big one. Tier 11 bountiful coffers drop hero track gear or 45 mana crystals. Hero track items added to Zoron vendor. |
| 10 | Minor cosmetic/convenience | Not critical. Rank 9 is the real goal. |
Rank 5: Zoron Vendor Explained
At rank 5, a vendor named Zoron spawns at the end of tier 6 and above delves. In The War Within, this vendor only sold trinkets on a weekly rotation. In Midnight, Zoron sells any piece of gear that can drop in delves: armor, weapons, trinkets, rings, necklaces. Everything is randomly rolled each time you complete a delve.
Prices range from 2,000 to 4,000 undercoins. Two-handed weapons and trinkets sit at the expensive end. The key detail: undercoins are freely tradable between characters and infinitely farmable from bountiful delves. So you can funnel undercoins from your main to a fresh alt, run easy tier 6 delves, and buy champion track gear for almost nothing.
Rank 9: Hero Track Gear from Delves
Rank 9 is where delves go from "decent gearing" to "one of the best gearing methods in the game." Two things happen:
- Tier 11 bountiful coffers now have a chance to drop hero track gear (276 ilvl) directly. If you don't get a gear piece, you get 45 untainted mana crystals instead. Tier 8/9/10 bountiful coffers also reward smaller amounts of crystals.
- Zoron's inventory now includes hero track versions of every item he stocks. You buy them with untainted mana crystals: 100 for wrists/gloves/belts, 150 for shoulders/chest, 200 for weapons/trinkets.
The weekly cap on untainted mana crystals is 250 per character, with a maximum of 1,000 held. You earn them passively just by doing your normal delve runs. The best first purchase for most specs is a hero track weapon from Zoron (200 crystals).
Before rank 9, hero track gear from delves was only available through the Great Vault. Now you can get multiple pieces every week just from running tier 11 bountiful delves and shopping at Zoron.
Fastest Way to Farm Delver's Journey Reputation
Here's the TL;DR: run tier 11 bountiful delves with coffer keys on as many level 90 characters as possible. That's it. More alts = faster progression because the track is account-wide.
Rep Per Tier 11 Bountiful Run (With Keys)
| Source | Rep |
|---|---|
| Delve completion | 250 |
| Maxed nemesis chest (4 groups) | 125 |
| Coffer key on bountiful chest | 300 |
| Total per run | 675-700 |
At 4,200 rep per rank and 42,000 total to rank 10, that's roughly 60 keyed bountiful runs. Spread across 5 alts, that's 12 runs per character over a few weeks.
Weekly Bonus Rep Sources
- Weekly quest item (1,500 rep): Drops from delve chests. One-time per account per week. Turn it in at the Delver's area for a huge chunk of rep plus undercoins.
- Hidden trove maps (300 rep each): One per character per week. Maps drop randomly from chests or are guaranteed from defeating the nemesis boss. Pick up the nightmare prey quest from Aselor (3 nightmare preys) on every character to get a force-spawn item for the boss.
Infinite Rep Farm (Solo Players)
Here's something the game doesn't tell you: if you keep running the daily bountiful delve after your first completion, it continues giving 125 rep per run on tier 11. Only the bountiful delve works for this. Regular delves give zero rep on repeats.
This also works for undercoins. If you need undercoins for Zoron or coffer keys, just keep farming the bountiful delve. Find the fastest one and chain-run it.
Optimal Weekly Delve Routine
For each level 90 character, here's the weekly checklist:
- Run tier 11 bountiful delves. Use all available coffer keys on the bountiful chest.
- Max out the nemesis chest every run (kill all 4 nemesis groups).
- Buy 2 restored coffer keys at the vendor (4,000 undercoins total, requires rank 6).
- Pick up Aselor's nightmare prey quest. Complete 3 nightmare preys to get the boss force-spawn item.
- Use the map from the nemesis boss to open the hidden trove chest (300 bonus rep + hero track gear at tier 11).
- Grab the weekly quest item when it drops and turn it in (1,500 rep, account-wide).
After keys are spent, cycle to your next alt and repeat. If you only have one character, infinite-farm the daily bountiful delve for 125 rep/run.
Gearing Alts Through Delves (Post-Rank 9)
Once you hit rank 9, delves become arguably the best way to gear up fresh level 90 characters. Here's why:
- Your companion (Brann/Leer) at level 60 can carry you through tier 11 delves even with low gear.
- Every bountiful delve run has a shot at hero track gear (276 ilvl).
- You passively accumulate untainted mana crystals to buy hero track pieces from Zoron.
- Champion warbound gear (rank 8) drops from tier 9+ delves infinitely, so your alts gear up your other alts.
- Undercoins are tradable. Send them from your main to your alt for instant champion track purchases.
Compare this to mythic+ where you can run a dozen keys and walk away with nothing. Delves guarantee progression every single week.
Tips for Efficient Delve Farming
- Always run bountiful delves. Non-bountiful delves give zero rep and zero undercoins on repeat runs.
- Start buying coffer keys at rank 6 even if you haven't hit rank 9 yet. Stockpile them. They become incredibly valuable at rank 9.
- Undercoins are the hidden currency. They buy champion track gear, coffer keys, and nemesis force-spawn items. Farm them from bountiful delves.
- Hero crests from gilded sashes are uncapped. Even if you don't need gear, delves are one of the best crest farms in Midnight.
- Myth crests from delves cap at 20/week/character (rank 4+). That's 20% of your weekly myth crest cap just from running delves you'd do anyway.
- Find the fastest bountiful delve for infinite farming. Some delves are significantly quicker than others.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to reach rank 9 of the Delver's Journey?
With 5 alts running tier 11 bountiful delves with keys, you can reach rank 9 in about 2 weeks. With a single character doing the infinite rep farm (125 per extra run), it takes longer but is still achievable within 3-4 weeks of focused farming.
Can you get hero track gear from delves before rank 9?
Only through the Great Vault. The weekly vault can reward hero track gear from tier 11 delves. But rank 9 is when hero track gear starts dropping directly from bountiful coffers and appears on the Zoron vendor.
Are undercoins account-wide or character-specific?
Undercoins are character-specific but freely tradable. You can mail them between your characters with no cost. Farm them on your main and send them to alts for quick champion track gear from Zoron.
What's the best delve tier to farm for gearing?
Tier 11 for maximum rewards (hero track gear, myth crests, most rep). Tier 6 if you just want to refresh Zoron's stock cheaply on undergeared alts. Both work for infinite undercoin farming as long as they're bountiful.
Is the Delver's Journey renown track per character or account-wide?
Account-wide. Hit rank 9 once and every character on your account benefits from hero track delve rewards, Zoron's upgraded inventory, and all other rank perks.
How many untainted mana crystals do you need for a full hero track set?
Rough estimate: weapon (200) + trinket (200) + chest (150) + shoulders (150) + legs (150) + helm (150) + gloves (100) + boots (100) + belt (100) + wrists (100) + rings/neck (100 each) = around 1,500-1,700 total. At 250/week cap, that's 6-7 weeks per character, not counting direct hero track drops.
Related Guides
- WoW Midnight Delves Guide: Rewards, Tips, Nemesis Delves
- How to Gear Up Fast in WoW Midnight Season 1
- Introduction to Upgrading Gear in Midnight
- Midnight Delves Overview
- WoW Midnight Mythic+ Guide
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