These mechanics were specific to The War Within. The Delves feature and Brann's companion role were redesigned for Midnight, but everything below reflects how the system worked across TWW's three seasons.
When The War Within launched, Brann could operate in two roles: Damage Dealer and Healer. Patch 11.1 added a third — Tank — making him a genuine off-tank who could hold enemy attention while the player dealt damage from range. Choosing the right role for the tier and content type was one of the main levers players had to tune how difficult a delve felt.
At a glance:
The full ability roster for each stance is listed below.
In Damage Dealer stance, Brann's ten confirmed abilities were:
Switching Brann to Healer replaced this entire DPS loadout with a restoration-focused set.
In Healer stance, Brann's ten abilities shifted to a restoration-focused toolkit:
At Tier 8 and above, the Healer stance tended to outperform Damage Dealer in overall run efficiency — the extra survivability reduced deaths and potion consumption more than the lost DPS cost in clear speed.
Added with Patch 11.1, the Tank role gave Brann threat generation and defensive utilities that players running tougher solo builds especially valued at Tier 10 and 11:
At the Tier 11 Zekvir's Lair, Tank stance let players focus entirely on the boss mechanic without managing add threat, making it the default recommendation for that delve tier. Players who want to push Zekvir efficiently can also explore Delves boost options to skip the learning curve.
Role switching happened at the Explorers' League Supplies crate — a small supply chest available at the entrance to each delve and at mid-delve checkpoints. Interacting with it opened a menu where players could change Brann's current stance. The switch took effect immediately, though it could not be done in combat.
The Delves tab (default hotkey H) also displayed Brann's current role and allowed changes outside of active combat from within the interface. Players who arrived at a difficult encounter mid-delve and found their current role was underperforming could switch at the next checkpoint rather than abandoning the run.
Brann's level was shared across an entire Warband — meaning all characters on the account contributed to and benefited from his progression. This made it worthwhile to run Delves on alts even if the main character's Brann was already capped, since any character's run contributed to the shared pool.
XP sources included enemy kills inside delves, treasure chests, and delve completions. Above level 15, only Bountiful Delves (the weekly bonus variant) awarded XP, making them the primary leveling path for players pushing Brann past mid-range. The level cap was 60 at TWW launch, raised to 80 in Season 2, and reached 100 by Season 3. Higher Brann levels unlocked improved base stats and, at certain thresholds, new ability ranks across all three stances.
Curios were equippable items for Brann with two available slots: one Combat slot and one Utility slot. They dropped from delve completions, Bountiful Coffers, and weekly quests, and existed in four quality ranks: Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Epic.
Upgrading a Curio's rank did not require a vendor or currency. Instead, looting the same Curio from a higher-tier delve automatically raised its quality — so running harder tiers both geared the player and improved Brann's equipment simultaneously. The Curio pools available changed each season, meaning BiS combinations from Season 1 were not necessarily optimal in Season 2 or 3.
At the top difficulty tiers, pairing a defensive Combat Curio with a throughput Utility Curio in Healer stance or a threat-generation Combat Curio with a sustain Utility in Tank stance were the commonly recommended frameworks.
Three roles were available during The War Within: Damage Dealer, Healer, and Tank. Damage Dealer and Healer were available from TWW's launch in August 2024. Tank was added with Patch 11.1 in February 2025.
Interact with the Explorers' League Supplies crate found at the delve entrance or at mid-delve checkpoints. This opens a stance-selection menu. Switching cannot be done in combat, but the next checkpoint after a difficult encounter is the natural moment to reassess and swap if needed.
At Tier 8 and above, Healer was the standard recommendation for most builds because sustained healing reduced deaths more than Brann's DPS contribution improved clear speed. At Tier 11 — the Zekvir's Lair — Tank stance became preferred because Veteran of Ironforge drew adds away from the player, allowing full focus on the boss mechanic.
Warband-wide — shared across all characters on the account. Every delve run on any character contributed XP to the same Brann level pool. This made alt runs useful for Brann progression even when the main character no longer needed delve gear.
Brann had two Curio slots: one Combat and one Utility. Items dropped from delve completions and Bountiful Coffers in four ranks (Common to Epic). Rank improved automatically by looting the same Curio from higher-tier delves — no upgrade currency or vendor was involved.
A supply chest placed at the start of each delve and at checkpoints within it. Interacting with it allowed players to change Brann's active role, restock consumables, and review the current delve objectives without abandoning the run.
No. Coffer Keys were earned by players from Coffer Key Shards, which dropped from enemies inside delves. Brann had no mechanical role in the coffer or key system. Bountiful Coffers were opened by spending a Coffer Key at the end of a Bountiful Delve.
The cap increased across TWW's seasons: 60 at launch in Season 1, raised to 80 in Season 2, and 100 in Season 3. XP above level 15 came exclusively from Bountiful Delves, making them the main leveling activity for players pushing toward the seasonal cap.
