Midnight Season 2 doesn't officially begin until next week, which means most Delve rewards are still politely waiting behind the seasonal starting line.
Mostly.
There is one rather valuable exception.
Players can obtain
one item level 305 Hero 1/6 piece per character this week by using a Trovehunter's Bounty and completing a Tier 8 or higher Delve.
That makes the little treasure map one of the most valuable items available during the Patch 12.1 pre-season.
And there is one very important rule:
Do not use it too early.
Trovehunter’s Bounty Can Give Hero 1/6 Gear
After progressing through the Patch 12.1 campaign and unlocking the Vaults of Atal'Utek, players can pick up the quest
Vaults of Atal'Utek: A Toxic Tour.
Completing activities in the Vaults rewards several items, including a Trovehunter's Bounty.
The Bounty is effectively a Delve treasure map.
Activate it, complete an eligible Delve, and a Hidden Trove appears at the end containing bonus loot.
During Season 2, completing a
Tier 8 or higher Delve with the Bounty active can produce an
item level 305 Hero 1/6 item.
That is considerably better than the normal pre-season Delve loot available this week.
Do Not Activate the Map Until Tier 8
This is the important part.
Season 2 resets Delve progression, meaning Warbands need to work their way back through the difficulty tiers.
Trovehunter's Bounty scales its reward according to the Delve tier you complete.
So if you enthusiastically click the map and immediately wander into a lower-level Delve, congratulations:
You have successfully converted your Hero-track opportunity into worse loot.
Wowhead specifically recommends holding the Bounty until you have unlocked Tier 8 and are ready to run a Tier 8+ Delve.
This is one of those rare WoW situations where the optimal strategy is:
Receive exciting item.
Do absolutely nothing with exciting item.
Why Item Level 305 Matters This Week
Patch 12.1's pre-season already offers useful catch-up gear.
Mythic 0 dungeons are currently dropping item level 292 Champion 1/6 gear, giving mains and alts a head start before Mythic+ opens.
The Trovehunter's Bounty jumps well beyond that.
At item level 305 and Hero 1/6, the reward is already sitting on the same Hero track that becomes much more common once Season 2's proper endgame systems activate.
For a character still wearing Season 1 gear, that can be a very real upgrade.
For an alt, it can be enormous.
You Only Get One Guaranteed Shot Per Character
This is not an endlessly farmable Hero-gear loophole.
The important pre-season opportunity is the Trovehunter's Bounty provided through the Vaults quest, giving each character one reliable route to that Hero-track reward this week.
Once Season 2 begins, Delves move into their normal seasonal reward structure and Hero gear becomes less unusual.
Right now, though, item level 305 stands out.
Which means this little map deserves considerably more respect than most objects sitting beside old Hearthstones and seventeen currencies in your bags.
Pre-Season Has Become Surprisingly Good for Gearing
This continues an interesting trend with Patch 12.1.
The week before Season 2 isn't really a dead week.
Mythic 0 already drops Champion gear.
Season 2 Sparks are already appearing.
The new dungeon pool can be learned before timers arrive.
And now Delves contain one carefully hidden Hero-track reward for players who know where to look.
Our pre-season checklist already covers the broader list of things worth doing this week, but the Trovehunter's Bounty deserves a special warning of its own.
Get the map.
Unlock Tier 8.
Then use it.
In that order.
Because nothing says World of Warcraft quite like receiving a valuable treasure map and immediately being told that the smartest thing you can do is resist clicking it.
Source: Wowhead
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