Today we are going to delve into Delve, a topic players have been eager to explore in PoE 3.23. It is all about struggle and reward, making it a must try for anyone who wants to push their limits and get the best of both worlds. This guide will talk about builds and the Delve meta, scaling challenges and why Delve is so darn amazing.

 

• What is Delve?
• Why should you try Delve in PoE 3.23?
• Delve Builds
• Delve Scaling & City Chance
• Experience Rates
• Delve Build Requirements & Defensive Layers
• Mageblood in Delve & Self Upgrading
• Deep Delving Meta Builds
• Sulphite Collection Atlas Tree
• Sulphite Map Setup & Scarabs
• How to Delve & Popular Strategies in PoE 3.23?
• Fossil Farming is Dead
• Delve Generator & Upgrade Order
• Biomes & Cities
• Rare Fossils & Which Ones to Farm
• Other Worthwhile Nodes
• Minion & Aura Nodes
• Delve Bosses & Loot Drops
• Delve Profits & Where It Comes From

 

 

↖ What is Delve?

The first thing is first; lets understand what exactly is Delve. With its own ecosystem, metagame, scaling and difficulty levels that are independent of other parts of PoE maps or acts, it becomes a beautiful piece of end-game content – standing separate from everything else.

 

↖ Why should you try Delve in PoE 3.23?

Why delve? Easy – infinite scaling! Regular white monsters in delve have more HPs than uber bosses after a certain point. It’s an easy task compared to the challenges in normal maps. Delve offers meaningful upgrades for your character; unlike maps where you might gain a half-a-second boost at best, extra 20-30 million DPS can be life-changing in some delves.

 

↖ Delve Builds

At some point squishy characters will struggle after several hundred depths into delving while delving builds thrive everywhere else instead. They kill bosses well enough; they tank good numbers; they also map quite efficiently. A delve build is an overall character that can do all games' content without any stress.

 

↖ Delve Scaling & City Chance

Knowing how delve scales is important. Monster damage spiking rapidly as monster life goes up more quickly when going deeper into delves. Additionally rare cities like V Outpost, Abyssal City and Primeval Ruins need high biome chance. Going deeper not only boosts profits but increases your chances of encountering these lucrative biomes, especially the Primeval Ruins.

 

↖ Experience Rates

Delve is not just about treasure; it's an XP mine. Delve is a place where you can hit level 100 with proper farming level. Even if you are not looking to go past the deepest delves, realistically in few days of consistent delving at medium depths a player will get to 100.

 

↖ Delve Build Requirements & Defensive Layers

There are specific builds for deep delving. One of the key ones being physical to elemental conversion where armor will be applied on elemental damage mitigation by using the transcendence keystone. Other defensive layers are high armor, evasion, crit damage reduction and maxed resistances. They are vital for survival, while elusive effect stacking or stacking evasion can also be efficient.

 

↖ Mageblood in Delve & Self Upgrading

Mageblood becomes a necessity after 1k depth to survive through rising challenges. It has become inevitable yet the good news is that Delving pays well enough to afford them. Delve feels like a roguelike game that lets you perpetually upgrade/ change and scale everything around you for profit as well.

 

↖ Deep Delving Meta Builds

Now let's explore various deep delving builds that can take you into new depths in PoE 3.23. Consequently, these builds have been designed for navigating dangerous depths while taking into account challenges posed by delves.

 

 

Low Budget Deep Delver: Boneshatter

• Overview: If you're dipping your toe into delving or going for it without much poe currency, Boneshatter is probably a great build to start out with. This straightforward and reliable build has remained an iconic deep delver since its inception stage.
• Two-Handed Weapon Build Variant: A fairly cheap option that can take you quite far, but lacks some tankiness beyond a certain depth.
• One-Hand and Shield Build Variant: Make the switch around 1,000 to 1,500 depth for more survivability, stacking physical taken as Elemental.
• Advanced: Nebuloch Fire Variant (expensive).

 

Low Budget Deep Delver – Mana Stackers

• If Boneshatter is not your thing, Mana Stackers are something to consider. This build is an affordable entry point into deep delving either with Manabond or a bow variant.
• Recommendation:The bow version is commonly perceived to be more expensive; however, it can be surprisingly budget-friendly. Check out the supplied build guide for further details.

 

Medium Budget Deep Delver – Armour Stackers

• For those with a little bit more money to spend on gaming, Armor Stackers will be a great option. Essential Mageblood is needed to stack armor in this build.
• Fun Fact: Armour Stackers are versatile and excel not only at diving but also in other various content across Wraeclast.

 

High Budget Deep Delver – Eye of Winter

• The highest level of delve builds stands at the Eye of Winter. This build is converted into chaos via Original Sin and becomes a juggernaut that can handle anything thrown at it by the game.
• Unmatched Immortality: Eye of Winter as one of the best builds in the game offers incomparable survivability and DPS. It’s an investment but worth every Exalted Orb.

 

High Budget Anomaly – Strength Stackers

• Anomaly Build: Meet the strength stacker, a build that does not fit inside any box. In his profile Tur Twister showcases a tanky strength stacker taking advantage of Progenesis, Elemental flasks, elusive effects, max block chance and Grace for outstanding survivability.
• Caution: This might not be proven deep delver but it has been dominating the ladder with a unique and interesting playstyle.

 

Notable Mention: Detonate Dead

Former Champion: Detonate dead is still a strong choice despite corpse explosion builds being better. Although it might not hit the former heights, it is great for delving, easily reaching depths of 2,000 to 3,000.

 

↖ Sulphite Collection Atlas Tree

Next, let's go into the essential Atlas Tree setup for Sulphite Collection. While the Atlas Tree itself does not have direct impact on delving, optimizing it can significantly increase your Sulphite gathering efficiency.

 

Focus Points:

• Introduce quantity nodes in the middle part of the tree.
• Get two Sulphite Lodes at the top to increase map modifier effects.
• Choose delve nodes: Mining Byproducts Packed with Energy and Guarded Hoards for efficient Sulphite acquisition.

 

Bonus Tips:

• Use Shrine nodes for acceleration Shrines.
• Try to get Coveted Shrines that give more quantity during Sulphite node encounters.
• Have Red Alters in place so that invitations are easy to farm.

 

↖ Sulphite Map Setup & Scarabs

To make your descent into Delve as smooth as possible you must optimize your Maps and Scarabs. For an efficient setup follow these steps:

 

Map Setup:

• Chisel every map up to quality cap.
• Alch every map once.
• Unwanted mods on maps can be "rerolled" using pee.re – create a custom rejects filter before doing this!
• Think about rolling maps until they reach 75% or 80% quantity for faster sulphite accumulation purposes.

 

Scarabs and Sacrifice Pieces:

• Gilded Sulphite Scarabs are preferred for optimal results.
• Three different Sacrifice Pieces will add up extra 15% increased quantity.

 

↖ How to Delve & Popular Strategies in PoE 3.23?

Come, let us decode the mysteries of Delve strategies. There are two ways you can go: shallow delving or deep delving. While shallow divers prefer to go horizontally at a comfortable depth; deep divers keep going down till they hit rock bottom. Some builds can go infinite while most cap at 1,000 to 1,500. If you want to delve for money, do some horizontal farming around 300-350. Warning: bosses get tougher below 300, so gear up!

 

↖ Fossil Farming is Dead

RIP the old wall-hunting strategy. Fossil crafting nerfs hit hard and now Delve is ranked third as the best fossil source. Simulacrum and Legion are the new kings on this block. If you want delve exclusive fossils then go deep but remember petrified forests suck. Skip them if you can.

 

↖ Delve Generator & Upgrade Order

Upgrade your Voltaxic Generator before diving into the abyss. Forget about Darkness resistance; flares are your friend. Sulfite Capacity should be upgraded first for a smoother delve. Keep the light on! It's essential to upgrade Light Radius as well. Flares? Begin by upgrading up to 10-11 then max out duration at 24 later on.

 

 

Dynamite doesn't matter until deeper delvers though later on in each league that becomes important too! Don't spam click upgrades but shift click like a pro gamer would be doing it? Have unused Azurite? Spend it all on Nico's resonators and make huge profit.

 

↖ Biomes & Cities

Delve presents different biomes and cities such as Magma Fishers, Sulfur Vents and Frozen Hollows among others. However Petrified Forests should be avoided since you will get lost like in a maze without any directions whatsoever; they are no fun at all! Cities have yellow borders and are less common but more rewarding – particularly for league starters. Skip Petrified Forests whenever possible for a smoother journey.

 

 

↖ Rare Fossils & Which Ones to Farm

Discover the gold mines of Delve – Fossil nodes! Smuggler's Stash? Pass. However, if it says Crystal Spire or something like that, dive! If you want those delve-exclusive fossils: Hollow, Fractured; Fecund and Glyphic are what to get. Haunted Tomb and Stonewood Hollow? Ignore them; they're not worth the trouble. See the description for a quick list of fossil nodes to devour.

 

↖ Other Worthwhile Nodes

Rare fossil nodes are not the only gems in Delve; there are plenty of other nodes that give different rewards. Do not bother with generic nodes like those that yield currency, gems or armor. Instead focus on unique-iconed nodes that promise specific item types.

 

For example, a node talking about "lightning items" might give valuable rings such as conductivity-on-hit rings. These rings can cost quite a lot (especially if well-rolled) during the beginning of leagues; they can be sold for big bucks. Watch out for Restless Rubble nodes as they often cough up profitable items in addition to fossils.

 

↖ Minion & Aura Nodes

Green skull and gooey textures characterize top priority minion or aura-related items' nodes. Depending on Fractured versions and ES helmets with physical damage taken as chaos, chest plates with +1 specters, and rings with life reservation efficiency are bases that can sell at a high price.

 

Fractured ones are especially useful, especially if used on ES helmets too. It is also important to note that +1 specter chest plates prefer ES bases over anything else while high evasion or armor bases may go for good prices.

 

↖ Delve Bosses & Loot Drops

Lich, Architect and Alls Uprising are housed in special nodes in each city. Architect before Alls but skip Liches. Architect drops ballsy aspect for crafting on Adorned People, a highly sought after unique item. For the record , Alls Uprising amulets that have Envy's reservation can be very profitable.

 

Similarly, amongst Dorian's Mammary maps, which are helpful for league challenges, you may occasionally get one from Architect as well. On average you can expect about 4-5 days of profit per boss – however this could change significantly depending on what happens during any given night and how many hours they are played for in total each day making it more or less possible to make a lot of money off them.

 

↖ Delve Profits & Where It Comes From

The fact that Delve profits differ makes it possible for you to earn around 20 div per hour like solo magic find players at depths of 1-1.5k. The deeper the dive, the more profitable it becomes; and at 1.5k depth, it is estimated that potential earnings would be around 30-35 div per hour. The remaining 10% comes from other sources like bosses, rare fossils, and resonators. 

 

More treasured gems are gotten from hollowed out nodules as a result of which the price of these items increases with an increase in delving depth while rare fossils become less rare. The bosses make delving more consistent through their drops which add value to players' effort. Though greater rewards are achieved from deeper delving; this comes with greater challenges.

 

Related: PoE 3.23 Full Blueprint Guide.

 

Therefore, if you haven't started going into Delve yet then it is time to gear up and prepare your Delve build because you will need it when you go on this adventure. It is full of challenges and appears to have no bottom end but its rewards are just limitless too! Therefore, dive into Delve’s chasm—if you dare!