When is a Delve fully explored?

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A delve is fully explored when the party has gained all required skyshards, which by default is 3 unless the encounter specifies otherwise. A delve tracks progress through skyshards, which are icons found on some delve cards. The delve is considered fully explored once all of its skyshards have been revealed and gained by the party [p.78 — Skyshards]. Unless the specific encounter states a different amount, 3 skyshards are required to complete this [p.76 — Delve Card Anatomy]. This total can be reached through any combination of skyshard icons — whether gained from faceup delve cards with a skyshard effect, or from facedown delve cards that are treated as skyshards (for example, when no matching tile is available to draw) [p.78 — Skyshards], [p.77 — Drawing Cards and Tiles]. Being "fully explored" also directly affects which hexes count as explorable: once all required skyshards have been drawn for the encounter, no hex can be explored further, since one of the conditions for a hex being explorable is that "not all skyshards have been drawn for the current encounter" [p.77 — Explorable Hexes]. This concept ties into battle objectives: for a Survey objective, the party must fully explore the map by gaining all required skyshards (default 3) or the encounter is failed. For an Uncover objective, the party must fully explore the map (gain all skyshards) and then successfully retreat [p.86 — Battle Objectives]. Watch out: Gaining "enough" skyshards to satisfy an Uncover objective's XP reward is not the same as being "fully explored" — the Uncover objective still requires all skyshards plus a retreat to succeed, even though partial skyshards still grant XP if the party retreats early [p.86 — Battle Objectives].

When is a Delve fully explored?

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