LEAD Side Day Moria – The Great Delving: Level 51-53

Welcome to LOTRO Epic A Day, where I guide you on an epic journey through Middle-Earth, one day at a time. Each Book of the Epic quest is separated into its own Day, with Side-Days for leveling up to the next book. Gather up your belongings and hit the road, a new Day awaits!

Entering Moria, we pass through Hollin Gate and emerge in the Great Delving. This region features the Durin’s Threshold entrance area and Dolvien-view (a quest hub that serves as a central location until reaching the 21st Hall) and exits into both deeper and higher parts of the mine. There are also plenty of enemies to fight here; gredbyg bugs and deep-claws roam the region and goblins have set up several camps. We’ll encounter corruptions for the first time, buffs that can be removed with different skills for each class, and new rewards for defeating enemies: ixp runes to add experience to your Legendary Items, Rusted Dwarf Tools to trade in for new LIs, and even the occasional raw, un-identified LI found obtained from humanoid enemies (like the goblins). Before entering Moria and the Great Delving, I highly recommend gaining Kindred rank with Thorin’s Hall and purchasing a goat; horses can’t be used in Moria and the distances are rather long to be traveled on foot.

Great Delving Quest Hubs

Most regions in Moria feature one main quest hubs, with the occasional camp or hub set up elsewhere in the area. While quests will generally be around the same level for one region, there are also several repeatable quests that are several levels higher as well as the odd quest that takes you deeper into the mines. Any location coordinates provided show where the location is on the map, but sometimes paths lead higher or lower to the place, so  it is important to pay attention to your surroundings while exploring.

Durin’s Threshold (Rec 51): The very first steps in Moria take us through Durin’s Threshold (7.9 S, 116.1 W), a small camp with vendors and a Stable-Master but little else besides a few short quests. It may be worth noting that there is a goblin camp nearby, if you want to hunt them outside of the camp in the eastern side of the Great Delving.

Dolven-view (Rec 51-53): Dolven-view is the central hub of the Great Delving (8.5 S, 112.3 W). Vendors and barterers abound here, as well as a Stable-Master and a Milestone (probably the best place to mark as your milestone skill location until reaching the 21st Hall). The Relic and Forge Masters will assist you with Legendary Items, enabling you to equip them, deconstruct them, and forge new relics. You can also trade for new LIs by giving the class traders Dwarf Tools or Khuzdul Tablets. Two dwarves in Dolven-view (Mundgeirr and Fastarr) offer instance quests that can each be repeated once a day – these quests are highly valuable because they reward LI titles that add damage types to your weapons or fused relics to add bonus stats. There are also Iron Garrison Guard and Miner faction representatives found at the back of Dolven-view. Take note that there are no crafting facilities here; you will find superior-level facilities in the 21st Hall.

Moria Reputation

There are two factions to gain reputation with in Moria, the Iron Garrison Guards and Miners. Quests will offer reputation points for either faction depending on the individual quest, but we can choose who to trade barter-items with to gain additional rep; Broken Engravings, Cracked Etchings, and Crystal Lamp Fragments can be found on any of the enemies within Moria.

The Miners offer Hunter and Warden skills to return quickly to the 21st Hall as well as several pieces of equipment and two goats. If you don’t have the Throin’s Hall Goat you should concentrate on this faction to help with traveling through the enormous mines.

The Guards offer a legendary trait for each class as well as several other pieces of equipment. If you have a goat already it is probably worth your time to concentrate on this faction, depending on how much the legendary trait specific to your class interests you.