Amrine Excavation is the first Expedition in New World. This guide will fully prepare you and help you get the most out of this Expedition!
Amrine Excavation is the first Expedition or Instanced Dungeon available in New World. By the end of this guide, you should able to take on this Expedition confidently, even if underleveled.
Table of contents
Preparations
Before running Amrine the first time, it’s highly recommended you reach level 23. This will give you access to the repeatable sidequest “Bones for Barkimedes” as well as Faction Missions for the Expedition. These will amp up the XP you get from a run considerably and are highly worth getting when you can.
When progressing through Amrine Excavation, it is important that all players hit the Ravager enemies before they die. Not doing so will result in the Succulent Bone item for the “Bones for Barkimedes” sidequest from dropping.
There’s also a sidequest chain from William Heron in Everfall which eventually takes you to Amrine Excavation. This sidequest alongside the Main story quest will both give an Amrine Tuning Orb, which gives you access to the Expedition. This side quest will also provide a large amount of XP alongside the others that can be stacked up.
If you’re playing as a tank, and are having trouble getting your hands on a Carnelian Gem, there’s another sidequest that starts with the Windward Tavern-keep’s “No Confidence Stew” side quest. The side quest “No Mere Shot Across the Bow” will reward you a Sword with a Carnelian Gem, which will enable you to properly tank the Expedition. If you can, it’s also recommended to pick up a Kite Shield, so you can block the boss much more reliably.
If your group lacks a tank with a carnelian gem, having ranged weapons for the boss encounter is highly recommend. You’ll often have to kite the boss out and it will go slower than usual.
Completing the Expedition
If you’re under-leveled, you can expect this Expedition to take at least an hour, depending on how smoothly the boss goes. If you’re on level, this can be done in 30-40 minutes.
Above is the Map for the Amrine Excavation Expeditions. The sections below will refer the names of each area on the Map.
Excavation
This section is pretty straightforward. When you first enter the Expedition and head further into the Excavation Site, there’s a Lore entry on the left you can grab for extra XP.As you head further in, you’ll come across a Plaguegeist and another Lost enemy. After dispatching them, you have two paths forward.
A speed path which you carefully jump the gap over the chasm, or a safe path that has you kill a couple extra lost by bypass the jump. The only risk the speed path has is that if you miss you need to respawn, which thankfully it’s not a very precise jump, just need to be careful about potentially body blocking those jumping after you.
After this set of narrow paths around the chasm, we come to a more open room. You can bypass the enemies on the left side of this if desired, by jumping over the railing to the right. This only skips a few weak mobs that wouldn’t take long to dispatch either way. At the bottom of this ramp, there will be an Abomination and few of the standard Lost.
Just past this Abomination and Lost is a Withered Hive, which will continually spawn more basic Lost. Take this out quickly and then you can claim the Elite Supply Chest next to the nearby tent.
Over on the left side in the second Abomination you can find here, along with a couple Silver Ore nodes. Clearing out the Abomination will allow you to harvest this Silver freely.
In the middle of the room is a few more Lost and a Wraith. Killing this group spawns another pair of Wraiths, with one being an elite. Take them out to be able to open the Azoth Seal to the next section.
Grand Traverse
For now, we’re sticking to the lower sections of the map. We’ll be coming back later, but there’s a few things we can clear out of here.
In the Northwest corner, there’s a platform with an Elite Electrogeist named Mad Mckenzie as well as a Plaguegeist. They use a lot of AoE magic attacks which need to be dodged, or you will become Electrified. Electrified rapidly drains your Stamina and will prevent Stamina recovery until it ends.
After taking down Mad Mckenzie, you can drop down to the waterfall on the North side of the area to find a hidden Elite Supply Chest. Unlike other Elite Chests, the ones found in Expeditions are available for each run of an Expedition.
These are highly rewarding chests, giving you several pieces of gear. Down near the Elite Chest, there’s also an additional 2 Silver Ore nodes, as well as a couple Rivercress that can be collected.
Head back up the stairs to the West side of this area and head back up. Go under the raised platform, and fight the Ravager and Faminegeist standing here and move to the next area. We’ll be looping back here later.
Excavated Caverns
This next area doesn’t have a whole lot to it, as it’s a very short section.
To the North (left of entrance) of this area, there’s a Lost and another Faminegeist. Take them out and you can mine the nearby Soulspire (requires 50 Mining) for additional resources.
To the South there’s another Withered Nest. This Withered Nest, like the last one is surrounded by Lost. There’s also a Name Elite Lost here name Zippy. Zippy has the Cold Aura Modifier, which slows you if you’re in melee range.
After Dispatching Zippy and the Withered Nest, you can translate the Azoth script next to where the Withered Nest was previously. Doing so allows you to continue to the next area.
Broken Vestibule
Coming into this area, if your tank or healer are under-geared or under-leveled, it’s highly recommended to go around the room and clear the existing enemies first. There’s two Withered Nests as well as an Abomination that need to be cleared to make the next step easier.
Once the Nests are cleared, you can proceed to break the Ancient Azoth Seal in the middle of the room. Make sure your party is grouped on the East side of the seal, so as to not accidentally aggro more than a mob or two.
Breaking the Ancient Azoth Seal will spawn additional Lost, and a few Faminegeists around the outer area. One of these Faminegiests Elite named Burnt Becca.
Burnt Becca is a highly dangerous enemy, as she will cast a large AoE fire spell that deals heavy initial damage, leave a dangerous area on the ground, as well as applies a few Burn stacks with the initial hit. This spell is indicated by the ring of fire on the ground, as shown below.
After this, you can exit back into the Grand Traverse. Be sure the grab the Supply Stockpile that’s hidden behind the Eastern pillar just past the exit door. This will give you a few pieces of armor, Refining materials and usually a potion or two.
Grand Traverse
Now back in the Grand Traverse, we have a quick and easy puzzle to take care of here.
Start by clearing the Lost around the first Pressure Plate. In addition to this pressure plate, there are two other pressure plates that need to be activated. The first is on the lower West side, where you fought Mad Mckenzie. The second is near the eastern door, which you can drop down to.
With all three activated, some extra mobs will spawn. The pad to the lower West will spawn a Plaguegeist and the one on the Eastern door will spawn an additional Ravager. Kite both mobs to the upper level and AoE them down before continuing.
Before crossing the Bridge, you can aggro the Mobs on the other side and pull them over for a safer encounter. You can also fight them on the other side as well, just Do not ever fight them on the bridge. They have a high chance of making you dodge off, or just pushing you off with attack, dealing additional fall damage. The Named Elite can also push you off with their on death effect.
Among these mobs is an Elite Abomination named Safety Officer Richards. They’re not too much of a threat outside of the increased health and damage of being an Elite. They are an explosive Elite, which means under 10% health, they will also try to explode on you if you don’t stagger them. They will trigger the same explosion on death, so stand clear or block after you taken them down. If you’re level 19-20 this will deal close to half of your health. Take down the remaining Ravager and you’re free to continue into the second to last area.
Star Shrine
To your immediate left upon entering this area is Nakashima’s Tools. This will give you the required item to start the upcoming mid-boss and only one person needs to grab it.
When you enter the lager area there will be a few Lost to your left, dispatch them before moving on to the bigger threats in the room.
Further back to the left is a Plaguegeist, to the right is an Abomination and there’s a Ravager in the far back.
Once these are cleared out, you can head around the wall to the west, to collect another hidden Elite Supply Chest.
Mini-Boss: Foreman Nakashima
Now, you can place the Hallowed Candle you picked up from Nakashima’s Toolbox earlier, to spawn the mini boss Foreman Nakashima. Foreman Nakashima is a Arcane-Enchanted Faminegeist with a few special attacks. All of their attacks will deal Arcane damage. They also have random pair of a single Offensive Elite Modifier (typically Brutal or Shattering) and and a Defensive Elite Modifier (usually resistance to a specific element).
This mini-boss can be challenging if you’re not prepared and don’t know the mechanic to its special attack. I’ll refer to this attack as Cursed Ring while explaining it.
Cursed Ring Mechanics Explained
Foreman Nakashima targets a random player and places Cursed Ring around them covering a radius of about 5 meters. If you are caught in the Cursed Ring, or are near it, do not break attempt to pass though it. If any player steps or dodges through the ring from either direction, all players inside Cursed Ring and within 3 meters of the edge of the ring will be stunned.
While Cursed Ring is active, Foreman Nakashima will spawn waves of ghosts that cannot be blocked or dodged and deal incredibly high Arcane Damage. These ghosts will have gaps between them, as indicated by the paths in the image shown below. Stand in the safe spaces to avoid damage.
If you are in Light Armor, and you are the only player caught in the ring and the only player near the ring, you can dodge out of the ring safely and avoid the incoming damage, but will still suffer the stun.
At 75% Health, Nakashima will cast the Cursed Ring centered on them, and send the ghosts outwards from the center. There are still gaps where you can safely stand near the edge of the ring. Be careful as Nakashima will occasionally knock you backwards unless you block their melee attacks as well.
Starting at 50%, Nakashima will use the self-targeted version of Cursed Ring more often if there is a target in melee range when Nakashima uses the ability. Usually casting this version every 2-3 casts.
After Foreman Nakashima has been defeated, Claim your chest and lore nearby then head over to the Eastern exit. This exit path has another Ravager as well as a few Lost to deal with before proceeding into the hall.
This hall has an Elite Faminegeist named Frozen Forrest, a Plaguegeist and a few lost. Frozen Forrest usually has the Brutal Modifier, increasing their damage dealt. Frozen Forrest can also cast a version of the Ice Gauntlet’s Ice Spike. Combined with the Brutal Modifier they often carry, getting hit the the Mighty Spike portion of this attack can deal significant damage.
After this hall is clear, you’ve reached the final respawn point and have reached the arena for the final boss.
Obelisk Cavern
This last area is purely the boss arena for this Expedition’s boss, Simon Grey. This room also contains an Elite Supply Chest near the exit, as well as the altar you pull your Heartgem from, which is require for the Main Story Quest that leads you here.
There’s also a few Lost here that you can kill for a large DPS opening at the very start of the fight, as it will force him to Summon Minions as his first action.
Expedition Boss: Simon Grey
Simon Grey is a massive Ravager-type enemy that uses a lot of similar attacks as the basic Ravagers, but have additional effects here. In addition to basic attacks, Simon Grey has two key skills he uses to make things a bit harder. If you’re tanking this boss, be prepared to dodge if you don’t have a Kite Shield yet.
Basic Attacks
Simon has two basic attacks he will use, a Swipe attack and a Slam attack. Each of these can be blocked. The Slam does significantly more damage when not blocked and can also stun.
With a Kite Shield and the Sturdy Grip passive, each of these will deal 65 Block damage, leaving you with 45 Stamina. Without Sturdy Grip, they’ll deal roughly 76 Block Damage. Against a Round Shield, they will deal roughly 84 Block Damage without Sturdy Grip and 72 with it.
If Simon targets a player not already in Melee Range, he will charge at them and perform one of these two attacks when in range.
Attack Combo
This is a quick one-two attack skill that can get someone killed if they get hit by both parts of it, especially while under-leveled. Simon will perform a Slam attack, stunning the player that he hits if it’s not blocked. This is quickly followed by a swipe attack.
When Tanking with a Kite Shield, It’s best to Block the Slam then dodge the swipe. Blocking the Slam prevents you from being stunned, and forcing you to eat both hits. Evading the Second fully exhausts your Stamina, but lets you avoid all the damage without getting stunned from a block break. If you drop your block immediately after the Slam hits you may have enough Stamina remaining to not be entirely out of stamina after dodging, but only with a Kite Shield.
A Round Shield will take too much Stamina Damage from blocking these attacks, so it’s more reliable to dodge both. Dodging both requires better timing, but can result in not having your Stamina entirely depleted as you may recover enough between attacks to just barely not run out of Stamina.
Summon Minions
Simon will stop attacking for a brief moment to summon additional Minions. Simon will do this if he has one or less minions alive. There is also an internal cooldown for this summoning skill of roughly 30-60 seconds, where he will not use it even if minions are not active currently.
With a proper tank, it’s best to save any AoE Taunts for when these minions are summoned. This will allow your party to kill them quickly with AoEs while still damaging the boss.
Enraging Vomit
Just like the Ravagers, Simon Grey has a “Vomit” attack. Though his isn’t just a single hit attack. This attack is unblockable, but the initial hit can be evaded.
Simon Grey will “vomit” dealing moderate damage to anyone in front of him and inflicting Disease. This Vomit will create dangerous terrain that deals Nature Damage and applies Disease with every tick of damage while you’re standing on it.
If Simon Grey has Minions active they will immediately run to this vomit and “consume” it, gaining Enraged. Enraged increases their speed and damage for a short time. This status is visually represented by red particle effects around the minions.
Berserk
Simon Grey himself can also go Berserk, increasing his damage for roughly 20 seconds. This does not increase the Block damage he deals however, so tanks can still block as normal. However, Simon will not use this ability unless he’s under 50% in most encounters. He can use it rarely above 50% Health but it’s used much more consistently when under 50%. This status is indicated by the red particle effects around Simon.
If a DPS pulls aggro while he’s in this state, can one shot them if they don’t have enough Health or Armor. Typically if you’re level 23+ and in full Light Armor you can usually still survive a single hit. If you’re at or under level 20 without any Constitution, he can one shot you pretty consistently. Either way, it’s best to dodge his attacks.
Strategies for Defeating Simon Grey
Now let’s talk the common strategies for defeating Simon Grey. There’s two strategies that are often employed here, The Kiting Strategy and the Tanking Strategy.
The Kiting Strategy
The Kiting Strategy will take a long time to actually kill Simon Grey, but is the easiest way to tackle this boss while under-leveled. You’ll want several ranged DPS and a Healer for this. Typically, this can also be great if all players have few mastery points in the Life Staff as well, as it allows any player to be a healer or DPS for this fight. Simon Grey like most other Lost, is Weak to Nature.
If going the Life Staff Route, you’ll need a minimum of 6 Life Staff Mastery, as you’ll need a bare minimum of 5 points to spend. These points should go into the protector Tree, grabbing all three skills and Orb of Protection’s fist upgrade, as well as Absolved from the Healing Tree. This will give you ways to deal damage without a mana cost, while providing healing and buffs to the kiting player.
If you’re stacking Life Staves or not, it’s best to have one player kiting the boss, and another kiting minions. It’s best that the player kiting the minions is using a melee weapon to occasionally deal damage and block to hold their aggro a bit easier. This will allow the remaining players to deal ranged damage to the boss safely.
When the Boss Starts and you can see his health bar, the party should immediately open fire on him. He’ll immediately Summon Minions leaving him open to attacks for a pretty lengthy amount of time.
After this, Aggro may juggle a bit between the DPS. Healers should focus on keeping whoever is currently kiting the boss at or near full health, while occasionally healing the player kiting minions. The player kiting the boss should be ready to use Health Potions if they do get hit by Simon.
Due to the kiting leading to aggro shifting often, the Healer need to pay close attention and not waste too much mana by healing when it’s not necessary. This will not only waste mana but can pull aggro from the boss as well as the minions. With a mix of Medium and Light Armor (but still in the Light Armor class), most players should be able to survive a single hit.
The Tanking Strategy
This is a much easier way to kill the boss, but requires a well equipped tank to do properly. They will need a Sword with a Carnelian Gem and a Kite Shield to do this properly. You can refer to the Preparations section of this guide for where you can get an easy to access Sword that comes with a Carnelian Gem in it. A Kite Shield will be a purchase or a random drop.
The Tank is this case, will be in Heavy Armor, but have more damage oriented Attributes. This is because to consistently hold aggro over your DPS, especially if they are higher level, you will need to deal a lot of your own damage. The Carnelian Gem will help you hold aggro, but you need to also generate more.
The Tank needs a minimum of 4 Mastery points to spend, taking Sturdy Grip, Shield Bash, Defiant Stance and Shield Bash’s upgrade. Further points can be used to pickup additional damage, like Empowered Stab and Whirling Blade; or additional Defense, like maxing out Defiant Stance. But these two skills and the mentioned passives are the minimum required for this fight.
At the opening of this fight, it’s Important that the tank positions to Backstab the boss when he first spawns, so they can generate a lot of aggro early. Melee DPS should be hitting him in the front to start, so they they aren’t risking taking damage from an early attack but also so they’re not generating high aggro prior to the boss being taunted.
Do not use a Taunt Skill until AFTER Simon has Summoned Minions. Use this free, early window to build as much aggro as possible via backstabs. Once Simon has Summoned Minions, Use Defiant Stance. This will Taunt him and all of his minions. Hopefully your team should have enough AoE damage to dispatch the minions while dealing damage to the boss. Once the initial Taunt Ends use Shield Bash to Taunt Simon again.
From this point on, the Tank should hold Defiant Stance for when Minions are summoned. This should allow you to keep your party free to DPS while you hold the boss relatively still.
This concludes our Guide for the Amrine Excavation Expedition. We hope you can now take on this Expedition with absolute confidence and understand the strategies and mechanics for each of the bosses in the Expedition.
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