Archaeology Leveling Guide | WoW Archaeology Guide 1 - 525

Archaeology is the newest secondary profession, released in the last expansion, Cataclysm. Here in this guide I will show you all the basics you need to know to level it up. With this profession you will not gain any significant end-game benefits. The most of the items are just pets and mounts, but you can also find some epic and rare items (armor, weapons). Archaeology is mostly for fun, it really isn't that important to have, and you will not get rich with it.

If you want to earn a lot of money with your professions (also with farming certain materials), I warmly recommend this Tycoon Gold Addon. It is an in-game addon, with it you will dominate the game without endless grinding.

If you are leveling up your character, I would recommend you a good WoW Leveling Guide, which shows you in-game (it's an addon) where to go and which quest to do. Personally I use Zygor Guides and it took me 5 days of playtime from level 1 to 85.

Dig Sites

Of course the first step is to visit one of the Archaeology Trainers. Once they teach you Archaeology, you can see the dig sites on your map. There are icons like little shovels. There are always 4 dig sites per continent, and when you dig one, the new one appears. The number of the sites you are able to see depends on current Archaeology skill and your character level. Don't worry about the competition, because these places are player-specific, only you can see them, also the objects you dig out.

This is how the dig site looks like on your map:

Survey and Fragments

The new ability is called Survey. You can of course use it only inside the dig area. When you use the Survey, it points you to the direction of the buried fragment and with one of the three colors (red, yellow, green) indicates the distance. Check this picture and you will know what I'm talking about:

When dig out, you'll get fragments specific to a particular race. There are 10 races in total, it of course depends on the zone you dig. At each dig site you are able to search 3 times before the site despawns and a new one spawns on your map. This is the list of the races you will get artifacts from:

• 1-300 - Eastern Kingdoms/Kalimdor - Fossil, Night Elf, Troll, Dwarf
• 300 - Outland: Draenei, Orc
• 375 - Northrend: Nerubian, Vrykul
• 450 - Uldum: Tol’vir

Artifacts

After you get your first fragment, you start a research project. You need certain amount of fragments to create an artifact. It may vary from 25 to 150, depends on the skill. When you gather enough fragments, you create an artifact by clicking on Solve button. If you have more fragments than you need, don't worry, they will start the new research project. Keep in mind that it is all random and it is based on your Archeology skill level.

Archaeology Leveling

For me the best practice is digging sites until you reach 50, of course you save all the fragments. When you get to 50, start solving the artifacts. You get 5 skill points for any solved artifact (if you get the rare one, you get 15 skill points).

Leveling Alchemy is a good choice. But note that this profession is not gonna make you rich. IMO, Tycoon Gold Addon is the best in-game addon ever made. Using it I found out many profitable ways to get tons of gold easily. I warmly recommend it to you if you want to dominate the game without endless grinding.