The three coolest heroes do the cool moody walk to the edge of the cliff, fly the cool bird into the vast map, and drop down (in a cool way). And… what now? Was there supposed to be a cool boss somewhere? What are all these places on the map?
No worries, we got you covered in this guide. Even if you already tried a couple of Expeditions and are still a bit lost, we will have some advice for you below. We will go over the basics, some key strategies, best locations to hit, and the common pitfalls to watch out for.
So, let’s get started!
How Expeditions Work
Once you select your Nightlord/final boss (we suggest you get comfortable with one Nightlord at a time), you will get dropped down onto a partially randomized map with a ticking timer.
In simplest terms:
- You have 2 Days to explore the map, level up, and get your equipment.
- Defeat enemies, loot chests, visit Sites of Grace, make sure to hit some Churches (different from Great Churches), and shortcut around the map, hitting up enemy settlements and bosses.
- Each Day, the outer edges of the map will close in on you as a circle, until you are held at a location on the map where you will need to face your Night Boss (there is one such boss fight for Night 1, and one for Night 2).
- Once Day 3 hits, you will have to enter a portal, have an opportunity for last-minute shopping with your leftover XP (Runes), and then you will face the Nightlord.
If you beat the boss, you win. If you lose during any of the Boss battles, you still get partial rewards depending on how far you got. Losing during the Day will lose you one level and the unrealized Runes you had on you (which you can loot from your body).
If you wanted a little bit more clarification on what constitutes as getting knocked down, dying, and respawning, check out our guide on How to Revive Teammates.
What to Do During Expeditions (& Where to Go)
Some of the map features are designed to help you level and bolster yourself early on. Others are more challenging and meant to be visited later, but provide higher rewards in turn. So, let’s discuss priorities.
Day 1 Plan
Day 1 is a tricky one to get off the ground sometimes. Go after smaller camps and enemies, and make sure to at least get above Level 3 by the end of it even if things get off the rails, and shoot for Level 5+ to ensure you have enough health and damage to withstand the first Night Boss.
- Churches are the best form of insurance. They will increase your Sacred Flasks/healing count by 1. If you don’t know where to go on Day 1, head to an area with a Church. Hit up nearby Field Bosses after.
- Hit Sites of Grace, often. Each level counts right now, and the worst thing you can do is pile up unrealized Runes and then accidentally fall down into a pool of lava and respawn without them.
- Try to make the Castle one of your destinations. Interact with the map on the top to learn 3 locations of the Scarabs in the area. (Area under the Castle will go smoother on Day 2.)
- Hunt down some of the Scarabs after that to get Talismans (which are a powerful equipment item).
Day 2 Plan
Day 2 is your chance to catch up if the first day didn’t go according to plan, but if you get a bit too confident and greedy, it’s also easy to screw up. You will want to get to levels 9-10 in your group. Characters at level 8 and below will likely have a harder time surviving.
- Visit any leftover Churches, Scarabs, and focus on Field Bosses. Visit the Main Encampment.
- If you have Blue or White weapons remaining by mid-day, hit up the Tunnels or Merchants to upgrade them.
- Depending on the Shifting Earth/Event on your map (the Volcano, for example), this would also be a good time to try for the tougher bosses within. Rewards are usually quite worth it.
- If there is no active Event going on, this is a good opportunity to hit up the Castle again and visit the area under it.
- If you still got time, you should already have some Stonesword Keys to take to an Evergaol Arena to round out your levels before facing the Night Boss.
Once Day 3 hits, the only real thing you can do is go up to the Nightlord. You can spend any remaining runes there (if you are feeling nervous, healing Warming Stones often come in handy — just make sure to remember about them, and announce using one to your allies). If you want some strategy suggestions here, check out our guides for Bosses.
We have some more of the Locations and priority suggestions in our dedicated Locations Guide.
When Running Out Of Time
Out of all problems, the night Circle suffocating your map is probably one of the toughest. Most often the problem is trying to get to a location that is already swallowed up by it. Yes, you can run beyond the line, but it will sap your health relatively quickly.
There are some cases where the risk might be worth the reward, but you have to be very careful:
- You can risk running inside a Church, since picking up a Sacred Flask from the altar also restores your full health. Just make sure that it’s not too far from the edge of the night Circle.
- In most of the cases, fighting a boss beyond the Circle is not worth it — your health will drain faster than you will notice. However, if you know a particular enemy to be an easy pick, you can kite/lure them over the edge and defeat them in the safe area. Be careful wasting too much time on these kinds of undertakings.
Overall, the best method to dealing with the timer is to run a couple of Expeditions and get a feel for it (even if the runs themselves are not successful). At regular intervals, open up your map to take a look — you might want to know what’s near you anyway. Keep track of how close you are to the edge.
If the edge is getting a bit too close for comfort, the Spectral Hawk Tree paths often lead away from its edges (look at the wispy lines connecting them), so wrap up where you are and pick a location on the map where you can travel quickly and spend some time leveling.
Getting Best Items
For the most part, tougher bosses get you tougher enemies, and finishing up an area will get you better rewards than merely running by it.
Some of the best locations for loot are:
- Great Churches (easier option, which works well for Day 1)
- Shifting Earth/Events (tougher bosses, meant for nearly complete builds on Day 2, but also very good rewards)
- Castle (if there is no active event, you can hit the area under the Castle on Day 2 for high-tier rewards)
- Ruins & Main Encampments (you can wrap up with these on Day 1 and do some at the start of Day 2)
- Field Bosses (you will get more out of them if you try to incorporate them while you travel — try to learn their types and rewards; check out our Bosses guides)
- Scarabs (specifically Talismans, which are key to powerful builds)
- Evergaols (if you got extra time, you can visit these to round out your levels towards the end of Day 2, before facing the Night Boss)
Remember to be mindful of your group when looting chests, which you will encounter a lot of. If you pick up something of use to another player, you can drop it on the ground for them to pick up. Even if an item isn’t interesting enough to swap out their main weapon, remember that passive effects persist even if the item is not actively wielded.
What to Do Before Expeditions
It’s almost too easy to forget to set your Relics — after 1-2 runs, you will have something you can equip (unless you are unlucky to have absolutely no color matches for your current character). Some kind of a bonus is better than no bonus, and you might only remember that you went in with empty or outdated picks once you start a run.
Also, take a second to review the Visual Codex information for your Nightfarer — some abilities can be charged, or have a counterattack, and it’s not immediately obvious in the chaos of the moment. Even better, take your Nightfarer pick to the Sparring Grounds at the Roundtable Hold in between Expeditions and follow the tutorials to learn their full moveset. You might be surprised what you missed.
