Missions are the narrative spine of Shadowrealm: 14 hand-authored steps arranged into 2 chains. Unlike daily quests, which are drawn from a pool and reset, missions are fixed, ordered, and completed exactly once.
A daily quest sets a target and refreshes: spend this much energy, win this many fights. A mission is a step in a story that expects something specific of you, and it stays until you do it. There is no rerolling a mission and no deadline on one.
That makes missions the best structured introduction to systems you have not touched. A chain will walk you through crafting, or the jails, or the stronghold, in an order that makes sense, which is far more useful early than a randomly drawn daily.
Chains unlock in sequence, and later steps assume you have the rank and the systems access the earlier ones taught you. There is no benefit to rushing: a step that asks you to deliver crafted goods is faster to complete once you actually have a working Forge routine than it is to brute-force early.
Mission rewards are fixed rather than rolled, so unlike a drop you always know exactly what a chapter pays before you commit to it. They mix gold, XP, and items, and a handful grant something no other source does.
The ones worth planning around are the chapters that grant access rather than currency: a mission that unlocks a city changes what the rest of the game looks like far more than its gold reward suggests. If a chain is gating a city you want, that chain is your priority regardless of what else is on offer.
Several mission steps ask you to DELIVER items rather than simply perform an action: crafted gear, materials, a specific piece of equipment. Delivered items are consumed, so read the requirement before handing over something you were using.
One practical warning: gear that is listed on the marketplace or held in a trade is in escrow and cannot be delivered. If a mission refuses an item you are certain you own, check whether it is sitting on the market first.