The Excavation Site: Wetlands is World of Warcraft: Forever’s new dungeon for the late 20s: a level 26 to 31 Titan dig site in the hills above Whelgar’s Excavation, with four bosses and 14 quests for both factions. Blizzard added it in the October 1 beta build. The portal sits on a hilltop at 47.9, 56.5 in the Wetlands, and the only way up is a path that starts near Thelgen Rock at 53.2, 65.8.
This guide covers a full run for both factions, with loot and quests as they stand after Blizzard’s October 8 beta build. That build fixed the broken Titan Relic follow-ups, raised dungeon mob XP by about 20% and turned most of the quest rewards here from blue to green.
Where the data comes from: coordinates and quest data come from beta data sites, named each time, read between October 6 and October 10; item stats are the live game’s. Updated November 2: Blizzard’s dungeon overview of October 20 still lists 24 to 29 instead of the beta’s 26 to 31, and the October 15 build raised gnoll and Dragonmaw respawns in the Wetlands. Updated November 3: the entrance map’s routes now follow the roads around the marsh and along the river. Updated November 5: the live client confirms the 26 to 31 range, and the boss loot table now shows the live stats, which differ from our first version for six of the nine drops.
Excavation Site: Wetlands Entrance and Location
The Excavation Site: Wetlands entrance is a portal on a hilltop south-east of Whelgar’s Excavation Site, at 47.9, 56.5 on the Wetlands map (wowhandbook; Zockify has 47.8, 56.3). You can’t climb straight up: the path starts near Thelgen Rock, the spider cave to the south, at about 53.2, 65.8 (Zockify, Icy Veins). The meeting stone is near 52, 64, a short walk down from the portal (wowhandbook).
Alliance: From Menethil Harbor or Loch Modan
Fly to Menethil Harbor (flight path at 9.5, 59.7), take the quests from Caitlin Grassman and James Halloran in town, then ride east on the main road and south along the river to Thelgen Rock. Without the Menethil flight path, ride north from Loch Modan through Dun Algaz, which comes out right next to Thelgen Rock.
Horde: Ride South From Hammerfall
The Wetlands has no Horde flight path. Fly to Hammerfall in the Arathi Highlands, take Dragonmaw Rumors from Zaruk (74.5, 35.6), ride west and south to Thandol Span, cross it and follow the road south past Dun Modr. The Deathstalker Agent waits behind a small hill at 51.5, 59.3, just north of the meeting stone (Warcraft Tavern). Get Changing Tastes from Borstan in Orgrimmar before you leave Kalimdor. The other new dungeons’ entrances are in our WoW Forever new dungeon locations guide.
Excavation Site: Wetlands Level and Requirements
The Excavation Site: Wetlands is a level 26 to 31 dungeon. Blizzard’s October 1 beta notes moved it up from the 24 to 29 of Blizzard’s earlier dungeon list (quoted by Icy Veins), and the live client of November 4 keeps the beta’s numbers: its Group Finder lists the dungeon from level 26, and the boss drops need level 26 and 28. Blizzard’s own dungeon overview of October 20 still prints the older 24 to 29, so go by the game. Warcraft Tavern and Icy Veins print 26 to 33.
| What | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Level range | 26 to 31 | Blizzard’s October 1 notes, live client |
| Group Finder level | 26 | Live client, unchanged from the beta |
| Accept the quests | Level 24, all 14 | Beta client (wowhandbook, wowforevertalents), Icy Veins |
| Quest levels | 31 (Highland Hides: 28) | Beta client (wowforevertalents) |
| Boss loot | Item level 31, requires 26 (first two bosses); item level 33, requires 28 (Relic Guardian) | Wowhead’s Forever database (November 5) |
| Lockout | None in the beta | wowforevertalents, kami-labs |
Go at 28 to 30. The Relic Guardian’s drops need 28, and under Classic rules these level 31 quests pay full XP until 36 (we found no report that Forever changed that). The beta was capped at 30, so the run at 31 and above is untested. Our WoW Forever dungeons by level list shows what to run before and after.
Excavation Site: Wetlands Quests for Alliance and Horde
The Excavation Site has 14 quests in the beta client: nine for the Alliance and five for the Horde (Zockify, wowforevertalents). Warcraft Tavern and Icy Veins list eight because they count each chain once. Seven start outside the dungeon, four inside, and three are follow-ups outside. Numbers match the maps.
Alliance quests
| # | Quest | Starts at | Needs first | Task and turn-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lost in the Thicket Things, then Heartwoven | Caitlin Grassman, Menethil Harbor 11.9, 58.8 | Nothing (optional breadcrumb: Seeking Caitlin, Llana, Astranaar, Ashenvale 35.0, 48.5) | Find Ardin on a wooden platform by the last boss; his Heartwoven goes back to Caitlin |
| 2 | Highland Hides | James Halloran, Menethil Harbor 8.6, 55.7 | Young Crocolisk Skins | 4 Thicket Raptor Hides from Shadetooth and the Thicket raptors, back to James |
| 3 | Horrors in the Highland | Rethiel the Greenwarden, Wetlands 56.4, 40.4 | Tramping Paws, Fire Taboo, Blisters on the Land | Horrible Rootcore from the Highland Horror, back to Rethiel |
| 4 | Songblade Search, then Fallen in the Fen | Dorin Songblade, Lakeshire, Redridge 25.7, 46.5 | Nothing | Daewyn’s body, in a tent in the Dragonmaw camp past Shadetooth, starts Fallen in the Fen for Dorin |
| 5 | Lost Relic Carry, then Prehistoric Prism | Titan Relic from the Relic Guardian | Nothing | Prospector Whelgar’s cave (38.8, 52.4), then High Explorer Magellas, Ironforge 69.7, 18.6 |
- Dorin’s coordinates: Icy Veins and kami-labs list 30.8, 46.6, most likely measured on the Classic Redridge map. Forever redrew Redridge; on its map Dorin stands at 25.7, 46.5 (Zockify, wowhandbook, wowforevertalents’ beta log of October 10).
- Highland Hides was bugged when Warcraft Tavern tested it: it doesn’t count as a dungeon quest and pays only 1,150 XP and 12 silver in the client data.
- Rethiel’s chain is a grind: Mosshide gnolls, then Crude Flints from them, then 12 stealthed Fen Creepers along the rivers (Warcraft Tavern). The October 15 build raised gnoll respawns in the Wetlands, which should shorten the first steps.
- Titan Relic: until October 8, handing the relic to Whelgar or Bashana used it up, so the follow-ups couldn’t be finished. The October 8 notes fixed that, and wowforevertalents’ beta client data shows Prehistoric Prism starting from a new copy of the relic.
Horde quests
| # | Quest | Starts at | Needs first | Task and turn-in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Changing Tastes | Borstan, The Drag, Orgrimmar 57.2, 53.3 | Nothing | 4 Thicket Raptor Meat from Shadetooth and the Thicket raptors, back to Borstan |
| 7 | Dragonmaw Rumors | Zaruk, Hammerfall, Arathi Highlands 74.5, 35.6 | Nothing | Meet the Deathstalker Agent outside the dungeon |
| 8 | Open the Maw | Deathstalker Agent, Wetlands 51.5, 59.3 | Dragonmaw Rumors | Kill 2 Dragonmaw Saboteurs and 4 Dragonmaw Warders, loot a Dragonmaw Dispatch from a Thaumaturgist, back to the Agent |
| Elder Knowledge, then Earthen Echo | Titan Relic from the Relic Guardian | Nothing | Bashana Runetotem, Elder Rise, Thunder Bluff 71.1, 34.2, then Muln Earthfury, Skywatcher Plateau, Mulgore 33.4, 22.5 |
Open the Maw also hands you a Bloody Map with Dwarvish text and no known use (Warcraft Tavern, Zockify). For Earthen Echo, leave Thunder Bluff to the north and take the path up at about 40.3, 17.6 (Warcraft Tavern). Quests that start from an item stopped being shareable in the October 1 build, so everyone needs their own relic.
Excavation Site: Wetlands Bosses and Tactics
The Excavation Site has four bosses in the client: Saltspine, Shadetooth, the Highland Horror and the Relic Guardian, in that order. Tactics come from Icy Veins and wowhandbook. Trash to respect:
- Stalker’s Thicket hides stealthed raptors in the tall grass. Clear the bushes before you pull anything next to them.
- The Lost Marsh is waist-deep water that blocks line of sight. Pull packs back onto dry stone (wowhandbook).
- The Dragonmaw camp holds the Saboteurs, Warders and Thaumaturgists for Open the Maw, so Horde groups should clear all of it.
Saltspine
Saltspine, a crocolisk, sits on a lake; clear the nearby trash first. Only two abilities matter (Icy Veins): Dust Storm hits everyone in melee range and lowers their chance to hit by 25%, so ranged players stay out, and Tendon Rip slows the tank.
Shadetooth
Icy Veins calls Shadetooth perhaps the hardest fight here. He pulls with two Thicket Hunters that put Infected Wound on the tank (less healing taken per Icy Veins, more physical damage taken per wowhandbook). Crowd-control both hunters or kill them first, and remove Infected Wound if anyone can. Shadetooth casts an area fear of about four seconds (wowhandbook) and Rend on the tank, and enrages at 30% health: save stuns for that. Fight him in the cleared crocolisk den, away from the bushes, so nobody gets feared into a fresh pack.
Highland Horror
The Highland Horror stands by a camp hut after Shadetooth (Icy Veins); wowhandbook says it sits off the main route. Zockify, Icy Veins and wowhandbook list no boss drops for it, only the Horrible Rootcore for the Alliance quest, so Horde groups can skip it. No site has published its abilities yet.
Relic Guardian
The Relic Guardian stays inactive until someone uses the Archival Panel to its right, so heal up and buff first. It knocks back and stuns the tank, and its Thunderclap slows everyone in melee range, so healer and ranged keep their distance. Despite being a construct, it can be stunned and slowed (Icy Veins, wowhandbook).
Excavation Site: Wetlands Loot
Every boss drop is blue and binds on pickup: item level 31 and level 26 to wear from Saltspine and Shadetooth, item level 33 and level 28 from the Relic Guardian. Stats are the live game’s, from Wowhead’s Forever database on November 5, and match the last beta build; six of the nine differ from the older beta values wowhandbook still lists. Zockify and Icy Veins agree on who drops what.
| Boss | Item | Type | Stats | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saltspine | Saltscale Girdle | Mail waist | +9 Strength, +9 Intellect | Paladins |
| Supple Bellyskin Leggings | Leather legs | +6 Strength, +14 Stamina | Feral druids | |
| Glinteye Slippers | Cloth feet | +9 Stamina, +6 Spirit, +7 spell power | Priests, mages, warlocks | |
| Shadetooth | Garb of Florid Feathers | Leather chest | +9 Agility, +15 Intellect | Druids, hunters |
| Raptorclaw Greaves | Mail feet | +7 Strength, +7 Stamina, +6 Intellect | Paladins | |
| Raptor’s Gaze | Off-hand | +4 Stamina, +4 Intellect, +8 spell power | Casters | |
| Relic Guardian | Reliquary Mantle | Mail shoulders | +12 Stamina, +0.4% hit | Warrior and paladin tanks |
| Golemsight Long Gun | Gun, 16.6 DPS | +6 Agility | Hunters | |
| Ring of Power Regulation | Ring | +6 spell power, 3 mana per 5 sec | Healers |
Mail goes to warriors and paladins because Classic hunters and shamans learn Mail at 40. Shadetooth also drops Blueprint: Greenhouse and the Relic Guardian Blueprint: Rock Garden, camping blueprints for the Herbalism and Mining camp objects (Zockify, Icy Veins).
Quest Rewards After the October 8 Changes
Blizzard’s October 8 notes lowered “various dungeon quest rewards” from blue to green with new stats. Here that hit nine of the 13 reward items; only the four Titan Relic rewards stayed blue (qualities: beta client build 70338 via wowforevertalents; stats: Wowhead’s Forever database, both October 10; unchanged in the live client of November 4). wowhandbook still shows the old versions.
| Quest | Pick one of | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| Prehistoric Prism (Alliance) or Earthen Echo (Horde) | Heavehammer (two-handed mace, 27.7 DPS, +32 attack power, +60 armor), Healer’s Staff (+12 Stamina, +67 healing, +22 spell damage, 5 mana per 5 sec), or a faction cloak: Explorer’s League Dustcover (+5 Agility, Intellect, Spirit) or Furs of the Earthen Ring (+5 Strength, Intellect, Spirit) | Blue |
| Horrors in the Highland | Ironwood Destroyer (two-handed mace, 22.2 DPS, +19 Nature spell damage), Hornbeam Heft (one-handed axe, 11.5 DPS, +6 Strength, +26 spell power) or Curl of Life (ring, +5 Stamina, +5 spell power) | Green |
| Fallen in the Fen | Daewyn’s Girdle (cloth, +6 Spirit, +7 spell power) or Songblade Stabilizer (mail, +6 Stamina, +0.4% dodge) | Green |
| Heartwoven | 4 Greater Healing or 4 Mana Potions, plus a Swiftness Potion and a Satchel of Potions | Potions |
| Changing Tastes | Serrated Raptor Claw (dagger, 17.2 DPS, +3 Agility, +6 attack power) or Satchel of Potions (trinket: random heal, mana, speed or fire damage to yourself), plus a cooking recipe and five Twice-Spiced Raptor Slices | Green |
| Open the Maw | Knife-Polishing Rag (cloth wrist, +4 Spirit, +6 spell power) or Dirt-Heavy Bracers (leather wrist, +4 Spirit, +10 attack power) | Green |
The cut was steep: Hornbeam Heft was a 21.5 DPS blue axe before October 8 and is now a green caster axe. The Titan Relic chain is the reward worth chasing for both factions: Healer’s Staff for any healer, Heavehammer for two-handed melee. Heavehammer’s stats changed too (wowhandbook still lists +7 Agility, +26 attack power).
How Much XP the Excavation Site Quests Give
At normal quest values, the nine Alliance quests pay 20,660 XP and the five Horde quests 10,330, by the beta client’s quest tables (wowforevertalents, wowhandbook). Dungeon quests in WoW Forever pay a bonus on top, but no site lists the real turn-in values for this dungeon.
| Quest chain | Faction | Normal XP (beta client) |
|---|---|---|
| Seeking Caitlin, Lost in the Thicket Things, Heartwoven | Alliance | 630 + 2,500 + 3,150 = 6,280 |
| Songblade Search, Fallen in the Fen | Alliance | 3,150 + 3,150 = 6,300 |
| Lost Relic Carry, Prehistoric Prism | Alliance | 630 + 3,150 = 3,780 |
| Horrors in the Highland | Alliance | 3,150 |
| Highland Hides | Alliance | 1,150 |
| Alliance total | 20,660 | |
| Elder Knowledge, Earthen Echo | Horde | 630 + 3,150 = 3,780 |
| Dragonmaw Rumors, Open the Maw | Horde | 250 + 3,150 = 3,400 |
| Changing Tastes | Horde | 3,150 |
| Horde total | 10,330 |
For the Hall of Thanes and the Ruins of Lordaeron, wowhandbook lists rewards of 3.2 to 3.75 times the normal value without saying which build they come from (see our Hall of Thanes guide and Ruins of Lordaeron guide). Blizzard’s October 1 notes say dungeon quests “now reward 50% less extra experience beyond normal quest values”. The City of Dalaran suggests those multiples predate the cut: its quests pay 9,400 XP each in the beta client’s quest data of October 13 (wowforevertalents), only 2.4 times the normal level 33 value of 3,950, which is what a 3.75 times reward comes to once the bonus is halved. Applying the same range here gives our estimate:
- If they predate the October 1 cut (most likely), the halved bonus leaves about 43,000 to 49,000 XP for the Alliance, a little over one level from the start of 28 (41,400 XP to 29 on the unchanged Classic curve), and 22,000 to 25,000 for the Horde, about half a level. The City of Dalaran’s ratio points to the top of each range.
- If those multiples are current, the Alliance quests pay about 66,000 to 77,000 XP, 1.6 to 1.8 levels, and the Horde quests 33,000 to 39,000, most of a level.
Either way the Alliance gets about twice the Horde’s quest XP here. Dungeon mob XP went up about 20% on October 8, together with a fix for a party XP bug, and Blizzard expects the pair to “dramatically increase experience earned in dungeons for most players”. Take every quest and run it once; whether repeat runs pay off now is untested. Our WoW Forever XP changes guide covers the rest.
FAQ
Where is the Excavation Site: Wetlands entrance?
On a hilltop south-east of Whelgar’s Excavation Site in the Wetlands, at 47.9, 56.5. Take the path that starts near Thelgen Rock at 53.2, 65.8; the meeting stone is near 52, 64.
Can Horde do the Excavation Site quests?
Yes. Horde players get five: Changing Tastes from Borstan in Orgrimmar, Dragonmaw Rumors and Open the Maw via Zaruk in Hammerfall, and Elder Knowledge and Earthen Echo from the Titan Relic the last boss drops.
Is the Excavation Site in WoW Classic?
No. Classic has Whelgar’s Excavation Site, an outdoor dig in the Wetlands, but no dungeon there. The Excavation Site: Wetlands instance is new in WoW Forever.
Does the Excavation Site have a lockout?
Not in the beta (wowforevertalents, kami-labs). The client holds an unused daily-lockout version, so the rules at launch are unknown.
Sources: Blizzard’s beta development notes (October 1, October 8). Blizzard’s dungeon overview and its earlier level list via Icy Veins; dungeon and quest data from Warcraft Tavern, Zockify, Icy Veins, wowhandbook, wowforevertalents and kami-labs; item tooltips from Wowhead’s Forever database (October 10 and November 5) and the live client’s game data via wago.tools. Maps: Blizzard Entertainment.