In Path of Exile 3.29, Delve is an extremely profitable activity. In Curse of the Allflame league, Fossils have essentially become a Delve-exclusive resource, while the amount of Sulphite you can obtain has also increased significantly.
However, Delve is not a particularly intuitive mechanic, and some players are unsure where to send the mine cart or how to increase their rewards. Let's take a look at how Delve works.

Depth and Reward Mechanics
In Delve, you need to follow your mine cart as it descends deeper and deeper. The deeper you go into the mine, the greater the rewards become. As your depth increases, rare Fossils and boss nodes will also appear more frequently.
You can obtain rare currencies such as Hollow Fossil, Fractured Fossil, Faceted Fossil, and Glyphic Fossil.
At depth 300, Hollow Fossils are considered relatively rare. They usually do not appear in large clusters. However, at depth 1,500, you may notice three, four, or even five Hollow Fossils appearing close together in the same area, with only a few travel nodes between them.
As you continue descending, the amount of Azurite obtained from Azurite nodes will also continue to increase. Although there is currently no conclusive evidence showing exactly when Delve rewards stop scaling, the general consensus among players is that the reward scaling continues up to depth 1,500.
This means that if your only goal is to farm PoE currency in the mine, the ideal farming range is around depth 1,500 to 1,600, and there is little reason to continue going deeper. This allows you to farm as efficiently as possible.
If you are new to Delve and simply want to farm some currency in the shallow or mid-depth areas, it is recommended that you reach at least depth 300. Of course, going deeper is always better, but you also need to pay attention to your farming efficiency.
Perhaps you can completely clear everything at depth 500, but when you try to push down to 700, you start running into trouble. You may die occasionally, certain nodes may become difficult to handle, and some bosses may take two or three attempts to defeat. In that case, you may be better off returning to depth 500 first.
Difficulty Scaling Curve
Delve's difficulty reaches its maximum scaling at depth 6,000. However, the difficulty does not increase along a straight line from 0 to 6,000. The mine becomes particularly steep in difficulty between depths 500 and 1,200.
Within this range, monster health and damage increase exponentially. Once you pass depth 1,200, the difficulty scaling curve starts to flatten out.
In PoE 3.29, a decent build can reach around depth 500 to 600. However, if you really want a character capable of breaking through depth 1,000 and even pushing toward 1,500, you will generally need a build specifically designed for Delve.
Darkness Farming

Darkness farming refers to stopping along your travel path after discovering Broken Walls that can be destroyed with explosives. Behind these walls, you will usually find chests and Fossils.
Since all Fossils are now exclusive to Delve, every Fossil has a certain amount of value. At present, even the common Fossils are worth around 8 Chaos Orbs each.
Behind these Broken Walls, you can usually find 3 to 10 Fossils with relatively little effort, making them a quick source of additional income. Resonator Troves also have a higher chance of appearing behind these walls, and this type of chest is guaranteed to drop a four-socket Resonator.
If you are farming currency in the shallow or mid-depth areas of the mine, Darkness farming can be an excellent source of additional income. However, as you descend deeper, the darkness becomes extremely dangerous, so the rewards may no longer justify the risks.
Voltaxic Generator
You can use Voltaxic Generator to manage various Delve-specific upgrades. These include increasing your Sulphite capacity, Darkness resistance, Light radius, and other stats.
If you plan to farm Delve seriously, you should raise your Sulphite capacity to the maximum as soon as possible. This allows you to stay in the mine for longer and reduces the frequency of traveling back and forth between maps and the mine.
If you plan to spend a long time farming horizontally at depths below 1,000, especially if you intend to explore the darkness, upgrading your Darkness resistance and Light radius can make your experience in the mine much more comfortable.
Delve Builds
Few players are willing to choose Delve as their main strategy because if your build is not strong enough, this type of gameplay can become extremely frustrating. Only well-geared players can truly run this mechanic effectively.
In Curse of the Allflame league, the top Delve ladder builds mainly include Double Strike, Strength stacking, and Luminary.
Double Strike and Strength-stacking builds have long been staples of deep Delve, while Luminary is a new face in PoE 3.29.
If you are new to Delve and simply want to experience the mechanic, you absolutely do not need to play these top-tier builds. There are plenty of builds that can comfortably reach around depth 1,000 or even 1,500 with a much lower investment.
You can choose Shield Crush Juggernaut, which performs extremely well in Delve below depth 1,000. Other solid choices include Boneshatter and Eviscerate.
That covers the basic mechanics of PoE 3.29 Delve. If you have never tried it before, it can offer a refreshing change of pace. As a farming strategy, it also has relatively little competition, so you do not have to worry too much about Fossil values dropping sharply.



















