⛏️ Delving guide, 1 to 99

Delving digs up ore, with a one-in-five chance of a gem on top. Clawsmithing and Trinketry turn them into gear.

The quickest route

Doing the action with the most XP an hour at each level, back to back, Delving 1 to 99 takes about 160 hours (13,034,431 XP). Life skills carry on while you nap, action by action, so much of that happens while you're away.

Levels	Do this	Where	Time
1–10	Dig in the Flowerbed	Hearthmeadow Fields	7 min
10–20	Dig Under the Roots	Acorn Hollow	12 min
20–30	Dig the Old Badger Sett	Acorn Hollow, Lilypad Shallows	23 min
30–40	Prise Loose Pipe Iron	B1: Drainmouth	45 min
40–50	Dig the Shipwreck Sands	The Wreckreef	1.6 h
50–60	Dig the Moor Bogs	The Grey Kennels, The Rookery Walls	3.5 h
60–70	Delve the Owlspire Caves	The Hollow Library, The Rookery Walls, The Ink Stacks	7.9 h
70–80	Dig Under the Cutlery Drawer	The Sink Lake, The Ink Stacks, The Weathervane Spires	18.2 h
80–88	Dig the Buried Temple	The Colonnade of Bast, The Weathervane Spires, The Smugglers' Bazaar	30.7 h
88–94	Dig the Permafrost	The Colonnade of Bast, The Smugglers' Bazaar	41.3 h
94–99	Delve the Grey Barrows	Greytuft Hold, Salamander Springs, The Cat-Haunted Wood and 3 more	55.3 h

Set your own levels and bonuses in the life skill calculator.

Every action

XP an hour at the action's own level.

Level	Action	Makes	Where	XP an hour
1	Dig in the Flowerbed	Shiny Pebble, Glass Bead	Hearthmeadow Fields	10,452
10	Dig Under the Roots	Copper Nugget, Amber Chip	Acorn Hollow	16,457
20	Dig the Old Badger Sett	Tin Nugget, Moss Agate	Acorn Hollow, Lilypad Shallows	23,400
30	Prise Loose Pipe Iron	Pipe Iron, Sewer Jade	B1: Drainmouth	32,000
40	Dig the Shipwreck Sands	Wreck Silver, Coral Bead	The Wreckreef	40,320
50	Dig the Moor Bogs	Bog Iron, Moor Garnet	The Grey Kennels, The Rookery Walls	49,745
60	Delve the Owlspire Caves	Starsteel Ore, Owl's-Eye Opal	The Hollow Library, The Rookery Walls, The Ink Stacks	58,800
70	Dig Under the Cutlery Drawer	Spoon Steel, Sugar Quartz	The Sink Lake, The Ink Stacks, The Weathervane Spires	68,677
80	Dig the Buried Temple	Sun Gold, Sun Topaz	The Colonnade of Bast, The Weathervane Spires, The Smugglers' Bazaar	78,171
88	Dig the Permafrost	Rime Iron, Ice Sapphire	The Colonnade of Bast, The Smugglers' Bazaar	86,108
94	Delve the Grey Barrows	Greysteel, Ghost Opal	Greytuft Hold, Salamander Springs, The Cat-Haunted Wood and 3 more	92,104
99	Dig Under Morrow's Vaults	Crown Gold, Heart Ruby	Greytuft Hold, Salamander Springs, The Cat-Haunted Wood and 3 more	96,300

Tips

Gems are the scarce part of Trinketry, so keep them.
Ore and gems trade well; crafters always need more.
At a Delving spot, tap Play for Dig down, a 30-second minigame. A gold score (90 points) gives +25% Delving XP for 15 minutes while your cat keeps working, and the first gold puts a look in your wardrobe.
Each week's contest features one life skill; the three cats who gain the most XP in it win big gold prizes.

More on Delving: its wiki page, and the other life skill guides.