The War Within made Delves a real endgame pillar, and every season since, players ask the same question: can Brann and a coffee replace a Mythic+ roster for gearing? The answer depends entirely on which part of the gear curve you are standing on.
Where Delves win
The early curve belongs to Delves, unambiguously. Bountiful Delves at Tier 8 hand out strong pre-Hero-track pieces on a solo schedule with zero group friction, and the weekly Great Vault contributions come from content you literally cannot fail to schedule. For a returning player or a fresh alt, a week of focused Delves outpaces what a comparable week of low pugged keys delivers — with none of the leaver risk.
Where Mythic+ takes over
The ceiling belongs to keys. Once you need Hero-track upgrades and Myth-track vault slots, Delve rewards flatten while M+ keeps scaling: higher keys, better vault, crest income that upgrades your existing pieces. The crossover hits around the point where Delve loot stops replacing anything — typically two to three weeks into a season for an active player.
The efficient season plan
- Week 1-2: spam Bountiful Delves, fill every vault row, spend crests without hoarding.
- Week 3+: shift to M+ for Hero and Myth track; keep one Delve day for the vault row and Brann levels.
- Alts: Delves remain the alt-gearing king all season long.
The group-content wall
The honest catch: the M+ half of this plan requires groups that succeed, and pug quality falls off a cliff exactly at the key levels where Delve-geared players arrive. That wall — geared enough for +8s, not trusted by +8 groups — is where most solo players stall, and it is precisely the gap timed key carries exist to bridge. Cross it once, and the rest of the season's gearing takes care of itself.