WoW Forever Excavation Site: Wetlands Guide
Entrance, preparation, route, boss tactics and quest planning for Excavation Site: Wetlands.
Official recommended band: 24–29 · Five players · Wetlands, hills near the excavation roads
Entrance and access
Follow the new hill road in the Wetlands. The guide marks the meeting stone and approach around 53.4, 65.3 and the instance entrance around 47.8, 56.3. Alliance can approach from Menethil or Loch Modan; Horde travel through Hillsbrad and Arathi. Collect the relevant flight paths before the long walk.
Before you go
The official band is 24–29. The tested guide recommends 26–32 because the Relic Guardian is level 31. A level-24 quest pickup is not evidence that a full group at 24 will comfortably clear. Bring reliable crowd control and disease removal; avoid a full wipe because the run back is long.
Route checklist
- Stay on the visible paths through the thicket; grass can spawn additional Lurkers. Clear open space for each pull.
- Clear around Saltspine and keep ranged players outside his short-range dust effect.
- Clear the crocodile cove for Shadetooth, mark his two Hunters, and plan a fear-safe fight location.
- At the Relic Guardian, recover resources and press the Archival Panel on his right to begin. Loot the Titan Relic before leaving.
Dangerous trash
Thicket Lurkers can spawn as players walk through tall grass. Matriarchs call more Lurkers when low. If a pull contains a Matriarch and other enemies, remove the other enemies before triggering the low-health summon. Avoid walking backward into the grass during combat.
Boss tactics
Saltspine
Clear nearby enemies first. Ranged damage and healers should stay more than 10 yards away to avoid Dust Storm’s hit penalty. The tank should expect Tendon Rip.
Shadetooth
Control one or both Hunters and dispel Infected Wound. Fight in the cleared crocodile cove so the fear cannot push the group into grass. Do not drag the encounter through water; the Hunters can reset. Use slows or stuns during the low-health Enrage.
Relic Guardian
Activate with the Archival Panel. Keep ranged players outside Thunderclap range, position against knockbacks and prepare healing for tank stuns. Stuns, slows and the room’s structures can buy recovery time.
Quest and loot planning
Saltspine’s listed drops include Glinteye Slippers, Saltscale Girdle and Supple Bellyskin Leggings. Changing Tastes offers Satchel of Potions or Serrated Raptor Claw and also awards the Twice-Spiced Raptor Slice recipe. The relic chains offer Heavehammer or Healer’s Staff alongside a faction-specific armor choice. Horrors in the Highland offers Ironwood Destroyer, Curl of Life or Hornbeam Heft. Compare current item stats with your role before choosing; the unrelated Blackfathom rewards in the overview source were excluded.
Open the faction quest checklist before departure.
After a wipe
If a resurrection-capable party member is alive, confirm whether they can recover the group before everyone releases. Otherwise return to the same entrance as a ghost, regroup and restore resources. Review the failed pull’s positioning and extra enemies before trying again.
Related planning tools
All dungeons · Quest directory · Excavation Site: Wetlands quests · Control and defensive abilities · Gear planning
Sources and review
Encounter and quest reference: Riyani’s Excavation Site: Wetlands guide, updated 2026-10-08; reviewed here November 3, 2026. Level bands and locations: Blizzard’s dungeon preview, October 21, 2026. Beta observations can change. Our route checklist is an editorial organization of those references, not a claim of an independently recorded clear.
Sources and version
Announced systems: Blizzard’s Forever Deep Dive. Base data and racials: Talents Forever, November 2 export under CC BY 4.0. Talent trees additionally incorporate the official launch notes, cross-checked with ForeverChanges on November 3. See coverage and remaining numeric uncertainties.