Excavation question for master antiquities

LindaiBawn

I can excavate up to master items, but on master I keep running out of time. The number of levels of dirt seems to have increased up to 7 or 8 levels deep as well. I've tried the trowel and heavy shovel with of course the hand brush, but keep running out of time. Is there a 'trick' to dig out the antiquity?

Thanks

[Tim]

Necrotech_Master

i usually use the heavy shovel that digs out the large area and just go straight for the main object

i use the brush to "level" the area since the heavy shovel can only dig out the 9 squares if they are on the same "layer" starting and connecting to the central square

there are other techniques involving using the fissures to blow away large sections of the dirt, but ive never really cared to figure out how to use them lol

LostHorizon1933

I can't remember the name of the tool, but it scoops out a 3x3 area at the same height. I use it like this:

• Try to use the spotter on the non-beige squares. (Where it's not too deep.) I usually check the squares at (4,4) from each corner until I find yellow or green.
• It is better to go ahead and erase some of the beige dirt to get to the brown dirt if you need more places to use the spotter. Remember, if you clear 4 squares, you can then use the 3x3 tool on ANYTHING ... not necessarily a full block. Most frequently for me that's a line or an L shape.
• Once you are in the correct area, start pounding away with the "free" tools (the 3x3 and the digger) until you get within a few squares of the bottom (you can tell by watching the "grain sequence" for a set of squares you've cleared).

And all this depends on having the "extra time" perk.

maximusrex45

You want to try and puit two points into Excavator's Reserves, that gives you more time, and Heavy Shovel, that will allow you to dig up a larger area faster.

I locate the item and then try to clear a 3x3 area over the majority of the item to the same level, then I fully charge up my heavy shovel, if clearing a flat area didn't, and use it to dig down over as much of the area as possible. I then recharge up the shovel by digging over any part of the dig that the shovel isn't covering.

As you get closer to the object be careful and only half charge the shovel, because if you break through with a fully charged shovel too deep it will destroy the dig and you will need to find another dig site nearby and try again.

ShawnLaRock

Use the tool that locates the item one square away from each corner. You might have to dig down one or two levels for it to work. This will give you the largest chunk of area to hone-in on your item.

I also try to never “waste” any charges in either the trowel or heavy shovel. When it is full I use it up somewhere / anywhere that might be a benefit - instead of just single click click clicking when it is already full.

As soon as I have an idea of where the antiquity is, I start filling my charges by levelling a path between the fissures, and use heavy shovel when charged. This way I am doing both things at once - again, using my single clicks to connect fissures & fill charges, and the bigger tools to uncover the antiquity.

Also helps to take a bird’s eye look at the entire dig site to plan your route between fissures - and I always try to make the longest, most windy snake path between them, so I blow up as much area as possible - giving myself the best chance at all the bonus loot.

S.

Edit: although it is most “efficient” using the heavy shovel on a full 3x3 area, remember that you can still use it on fewer. This allows you to use your heavy shovel charges to flatten out your dig area, as opposed to using all single clicks - even when you only want to level just 2 or 3 or 4 squares, for example - and not the full 3x3.

Arunei

Note, since this wasn't specifically mentioned; a fully charged Heavy Shovel (using the Brush 4 times fully charges it) will clear two layers.

Necrotech_Master wrote: »

i usually use the heavy shovel that digs out the large area and just go straight for the main object

i use the brush to "level" the area since the heavy shovel can only dig out the 9 squares if they are on the same "layer" starting and connecting to the central square

there are other techniques involving using the fissures to blow away large sections of the dirt, but ive never really cared to figure out how to use them lol

Using fissures takes some getting used to since it's not really well-explained in the game. The areas with steam can be connected (aka all of them being on the same layer) and then the space between them blown up by clicking one of the steaming spots with a fully charged Trowel. The best use of this is to try and cover as much of the dig space as possible with your path, since the more area you explode, the better your chances of uncovering bonus loot.


The path will be blue when your Trowel is fully charged, and red if it isn't. You can see how the path is connected to each square and covers a wide area. This is harder to accomplish on Gold and Orange Antiquities because you have fewer moves (aka less 'time' to spend leveling the path and charging the Trowel).


You can see here how the square in the upper left corner isn't connected to the path, because there's a section that's on a different layer separating it from the path.


A triggered fissure immediately blows up all the layers to the bottom in the highlighted path, so it uncovers a lot of space.

Necrotech_Master

@Arunei very helpful explanation, and this is not really explained basically at all in the game lol

i personally never cared much for the bonus loot since 90% of it is just junk which is why i only generally focus on digging up the main item, anything else after that is gravy lol

Arunei

@Necrotech_Master
Yeah, in most cases the bonus loot is kinda trash. Unfortunately, I believe for the various Ancestral Motif styles like Ancestral Nord or Ancestral Akaviri, the only way to find the Style mats for them is as bonus loot. Some of them are pretty darn expensive too, like Etched Bronze being around 6k each on PC NA.

Necrotech_Master

Arunei wrote: »

@Necrotech_Master
Yeah, in most cases the bonus loot is kinda trash. Unfortunately, I believe for the various Ancestral Motif styles like Ancestral Nord or Ancestral Akaviri, the only way to find the Style mats for them is as bonus loot. Some of them are pretty darn expensive too, like Etched Bronze being around 6k each on PC NA.

i think i have a few dozen of those lol, but i never use them really, if i absolutely had to craft something in those styles i would just use one of the several hundred crown mimic stones ive gotten, and if i wanted to use it visually i would just use outfit station lol

the indeko triangle runes are decently valuable too, and only available from antiquities

kringled_1

Etched bronze at least has the potential to be abundant, as it's the style material for the vateshran hollows sets. Ancestral nord, high elf, and orc seem to come up a lot in master writs, but availability of the style stone in traders isn't very high, presumably because they don't drop often.