Expeditions
Basics
Expeditions are instanced PvE areas, accessible from the cities in Albion.
There are three types:
- Individual Expedition (Solo)
- Sellsword Expedition (Group)
- Hardcore Expedition (Group)
- Commonly abbreviated HCE
What Are Solo and Group Expeditions?
Expeditions are instanced PvE missions which can be accessed through the Expedition Master NPC in cities. These expeditions are relatively short, with a successful run taking 20 to 30 minutes on average for group expeditions and 10-15min for solo expeditions. They are also considered fairly safe: In case you die, you will be transferred to the start of the expedition or your last reached checkpoint, without losing any gear, you will only lose durability on your equipment (5%).
Expeditions are available in two variants: solo and group. To queue for a groups expedition you need to find the Expedition Master NPC in a nearby city. Depending on your equipment, you will be automatically be assigned a role:
- Defensive Your role is to tank, making sure the mobs and bosses of the expedition focus you.
- To get this role, wear plate armor. It is also recommended to wear tank role weapon such as 1H Mace
- Supportive Your role is to heal and shield your teammates, making sure everyone survives.
- To get this role, your main weapon should be a healing staff (holy or nature) and its recommended to wear cloth armor.
- Offensive Your role is to deal damage and kill the mobs while avoiding taking damage.
- Most other weapon types and armor types fit into this category.
Once you have selected a group-size and tier difficulty, you will be teleported to an expedition, where you will be given a mission. When you are assigned to a specific role, you are locked to that specific role the whole duration of the expedition and other players can see your role as well. Complete the mission and a portal will appear to bring you back to the city you came from. You will have 60 minutes to complete solo expeditions and 120 minutes for group expeditions, failing to complete the mission will teleport you back to the city. Leaving an expedition prematurely will put you on a penalty timer before you can start another expedition.
Sigils: Special Expedition Rewards
Expeditions are ideal content if you are not quite ready to venture into the open world or if you are simply lacking the time. Not only will you earn silver and fame during the expedition (albeit less than in the open world), the first expedition of the day will give you additional fame and a Royal Sigil. Royal sigils can only be awarded once per day. The one time reward span across both group and solo expeditions, meaning if you do a T4 solo expedition, and then a T6 group, the T6 sigil will not be awarded. Therefore it is recommended to do the highest possible difficulty you can first, before attempting other expeditions.
These Royal Sigils, in combination with regular equipment parts, are used to craft royal armors. There are three different Royal equipment sets: Cloth, leather, and plate. Similarly to artifact items, they are unlocked through the combat-tree of the Destiny Board. Each royal equipment piece will also have its own unique spell, which makes for 9 unique spells.
Important:
Royal armors are special items which require an NPC drop. However, keep in mind that to craft them you need the normal player-crafted armors. Thus although sigils are theoretically an infinite drop, royal armors still do not harm the player-driven economy.
How to unlock higher tier expeditions?
Expeditions are divided by tiers, as are many parts in Albion Online. You can unlock new expeditions by killing creatures in the world of Albion, the more creatures you kill the higher your ‘Reaver’ tier will be. Similarly to the adventurer’s progression, reaver tiers are unlocked through the combat-tree of the Destiny Board.
If you want to host a Master’s expedition you need to be a Master’s Reaver and the needed ‘Average Item Power’.
List of Expeditions
There are two types of Expeditions, solo, and group with a total of 11 different environments.
Individual Expedition (Solo)
- Journeyman's (T3) Curious Excavation
- Adept’s (T4) Fishy Business, Preaching to the Dead
- Expert’s (T5) Lumber Lunacy, Stone Wars, Lurking Underneath
Sellsword Expedition (Group)
- Adept’s (T4) Fishy Business, Preaching to the Dead
- Expert’s (T5) Lumber Lunacy, Stone Wars, Lurking Underneath
- Master’s (T6) Fungicide, In the Raven's Claws, Eternal Battle, Three Sisters, Fistful of Silver
Hardcore Expeditions
Hardcore Expeditions are the more challenging variation of the normal expeditions. These are group only and require coordination and proper role execution to complete.
To join a hardcore expedition, players must first acquire a "Map" of Level 1 - 18. The higher the level the tougher the Hardcore expedition.
You can loot maps in the open world, or buy them at the auction house. The maps are in the "token" category, and the easiest way to search for one is to type "lvl. X" where X is the level of the map you're looking for.
It is worth noting that only one player needs to own a map. Once he creates his 5 man party, he can start the expedition from the same portal as the normal expeditions by selecting the third tab and putting the map in the slot. Then his party will all be prompted to enter.
Once inside, you will notice that you have a quest to complete (just like normal expeditions) and two timers.
If you finish the map before the first-timer, you will get a free map of one level higher for a random zone (e.g. finishing a level 1 Stone Wars might grant you a level l2 Lumber Lunacy or any other level l2).
When the second timer runs out, the whole party will be kicked out of the map and back to your expedition portal. even if you were mid-fight.
Death
A death in an HCE will:
- Make you lose 5% durability on everything you're carrying. Not only what you have equipped but also what you carry in your inventory.
- Make you lose effects like consumed foods.
You can then either wait to stand up (as in the open world) which gets you to keep your current food or press die and come back from the latest checkpoint that you activated by running past it.
Choosing to die and come back will make you lose any food you had ongoing, and grant you an invulnerability bubble that will last for 10 seconds or 10 meters.
Dying in HCE will never cause you to be looted and lose your gear.
Map Names and Guides
- Preaching to the Dead
- Fishy Business
- Stone Wars
- Lumber Lunacy
- Lurking Underneath
- Fungicide
- Three Sisters
- Eternal Battle
- Fistful of Silver
- In the Raven's Claws
Hardcore Expeditions Bonuses
Level | Silver increase | Loot increase | Fame increase |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 115% | 115% | 117% |
2 | 181% | 181% | 155% |
3 | 264% | 264% | 113% |
4 | 377% | 377% | 174% |
5 | 524% | 524% | 252% |
6 | 717% | 717% | 352% |
7 | 970% | 970% | 482% |
8 | 1170% | 1170% | 782% |
9 | 1515% | 1515% | 864% |
10 | 1955% | 1955% | 1140% |
11 | 2510% | 2510% | 1494% |
12 | 3190% | 3190% | 1950% |
13 | 4025% | 4025% | 2535% |
14 | 5075% | 5075% | 3292% |
15 | 6375% | 6375% | 4266% |
16 | 6700% | 6700% | 4485% |
17 | 7040% | 7040% | 4714% |
18 | 7400% | 7400% | 4955% |
Related Patch Notes
Patch Link | Date | Patch Name | Patch Notes |
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Version 21.000.1 | 21 November 2022 | Beyond the Veil Update | Diminishing Returns have been reworked for knockbacks and knocking enemies into the air, to prevent players being stun-locked by repeated knock-ups:
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Version 19.060.1 | 2 March 2022 | Lands Awakened Patch 6 | Previously, immunity to certain debuffs was set up such that triggered effects intended to ignore immunity did not. This has been reworked to allow certain unique systems to overlook immunity. Examples:
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Version 19.060.1 | 2 March 2022 | Lands Awakened Patch 6 | Hostile Dismount status now prevents looting of killed hostile players. Additionally, players must now dismount before looting a killed player. This change was made for two reasons:
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Version 18.090.1 | 28 July 2021 | Call to Arms Patch 9 |
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Version 18.000.1 | 17 March 2021 | Call to Arms Update |
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Version 18.000.1 | 17 March 2021 | Call to Arms Update |
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Version 18.000.1 | 17 March 2021 | Call to Arms Update |
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Version 1.17.410.184451 | 2 February 2021 | Rise of Avalon Patch 13 (Balance Patch) | Consumable items that commonly collect in large stacks can now be used in a single click via the new Use All Button in the item UI.
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Version 1.17.406.182620 | 13 January 2021 | Rise of Avalon Patch 12 | Smart Cluster Queue
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Version 1.17.406.181307 | 10 December 2020 | Rise of Avalon Patch 11 | Some of the recent changes to Hardcore Expeditions and the Black Market have led to an influx of Silver into the game economy. To ensure the value of player Silver and overall stability of the player economy are preserved, we are making the following adjustments:
Hardcore Expeditions
Satchels of Insight
To offset these changes somewhat, and to incentivize players venturing into the open world more, we are making the following adjustment: Group Randomized Dungeons
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Version 1.17.406.181307 | 10 December 2020 | Rise of Avalon Patch 11 |
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Version 1.17.406.179120 | 16 November 2020 | Rise of Avalon Patch 9 |
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Version 1.17.406.177096 | 21 October 2020 | Rise of Avalon Patch 7 / Brimstone & Mist Midseason Update and Hotfix 7.1 |
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Version 1.17.406.177096 | 21 October 2020 | Rise of Avalon Patch 7 / Brimstone & Mist Midseason Update and Hotfix 7.1 | The following changes give players more control over how they set up armies for the queue. Player sorting is now done on a per-party level, meaning the system will attempt to keep existing parties together:
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Version 1.17.406.177096 | 21 October 2020 | Rise of Avalon Patch 7 / Brimstone & Mist Midseason Update and Hotfix 7.1 | New Disarray parameters ensure the ZvZ meta plays out in a similar way across a wide range of fight sizes, while still offering smaller groups protection from large armies:
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Version 1.17.406.177096 | 21 October 2020 | Rise of Avalon Patch 7 / Brimstone & Mist Midseason Update and Hotfix 7.1 |
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Version 1.17.404.173341 | 27 August 2020 | Rise of Avalon Patch 2 | Disarray (zerg debuff) curve is flattened further and now hard caps at 30% (150 or more players). Example values:
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Version 1.17.403.172369 | 12 August 2020 | Rise of Avalon Update and Hotfix 1, 2 |
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Version 1.16.396.168823 | 22 June 2020 | Queen Patch 14 and Hotfix 14.1, 14.2, 14.3 | Healing Sickness (2 sources of Healing)
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Version 1.16.396.167506 | 4 June 2020 | Queen Patch 13 and Hotfix 13.1 | Players waiting to enter a cluster via the Smart Cluster Queue now also add to the total Disarray headcount in the cluster for which they are queueing. For example:
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Version 1.16.396.167506 | 4 June 2020 | Queen Patch 13 and Hotfix 13.1 | Additionally, the effects of Disarray, AKA the zerg debuff, no longer accelerate as quickly with higher player numbers. The new debuff thresholds can be seen in the chart below.
As a reminder, the following 3 attributes are affected by the debuff:
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Version 1.16.396.165550 | 5 May 2020 | Queen Patch 11 (Season 9 Patch) and Hotfixes 11.1, 11.2, 11.3 | The following adjustments affect guilds and alliances that own 10 or more territories in the first case, and 20 or more in the second.
Siphoned Energy Drain: The penalty still starts at 10 Territories, but now increases in increments of 3%:
Fame and Silver Penalty: The penalty now starts at 20 Territories and increases by 1% per additional territory:
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Version 1.16.396.165550 | 5 May 2020 | Queen Patch 11 (Season 9 Patch) and Hotfixes 11.1, 11.2, 11.3 |
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Version 1.16.393.161872 | 11 March 2020 | Queen Patch 7 |
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Version 1.16.393.161872 | 11 March 2020 | Queen Patch 7 | Following up on the community’s feedback, we have reworked the loot in randomized dungeon chests according to the following principles:
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Version 1.16.393.161355 | 4 March 2020 | Queen Patch 6 |
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Version 1.16.393.161355 | 4 March 2020 | Queen Patch 6 | Items without a durability stat will no longer be destroyed upon knockdown.
Previously, the following behavior occurred:
After Patch 6:
This change is intended to help introduce newer players to combat without item loss (i.e. in yellow zones), and to avoid situations where players were confused about what happened to items. It should also improve the overall loot experience in Elite Dungeons, where a large percent of loot was previously destroyed by being knocked down repeatedly. Item destruction rate and durability loss rate upon death (killed by another player, suicide, etc.) are not affected by this change. |
Version 1.16.393.161355 | 4 March 2020 | Queen Patch 6 | Introduced a feature that will delay players from leaving a Hideout set as "Home" after respawning there multiple times. The effect has a 10-minute cooldown, meaning after 10 minutes without dying and respawning in a Hideout the counter returns to zero.
Time penalties:
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Version 1.16.393.160869 | 26 February 2020 | Queen Patch 5 |
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Version 1.16.393.159852 | 12 February 2020 | Queen Patch 3 | Items and Silver gained are now tracked separately in the combat log:
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Version 1.16.392.158262 | 20 January 2020 | Queen Update | Item Power progression has been streamlined and simplified, and now increases in a linear manner. More details: https://forum.albiononline.com/index.php/Thread/121085
In addition, Mastery Modifiers have been added to the Mastery Bonuses of high-tier equipment:
This bonus applies to all Armors, Weapons, and Offhands, and includes IP bonuses from basic Specializations as well as advanced Masteries. Enchanted gear will be calculated at the level of its base tier, i.e. T5.0 through T5.3 all receive the same 5% bonus. Sample case: if you get an additional 100 IP from your Destiny Board Masteries for swords, using a Tier 6.2 Sword will give you a 10% additional boost to that Mastery bonus, for a total bonus of 110 IP. |
Version 1.16.392.158262 | 20 January 2020 | Queen Update |
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Version 1.16.392.158262 | 20 January 2020 | Queen Update |
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Version 1.15.389.155349 | 29 November 2019 | Percival Patch 11 |
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Version 1.15.387.150212 | 18 September 2019 | Percival Patch 5 (Midseason Patch) |
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Version 1.15.383.147232 | 31 July 2019 | Percival Patch 2 and Hotfix 2.1 | Loot Table Updates
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Version 1.15.383.147232 | 31 July 2019 | Percival Patch 2 and Hotfix 2.1 | Access Rights
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Version 1.15.382.145855 | 10 July 2019 | Percival Update |
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Version 1.14.381.140241 | 10 April 2019 | Oberon Patch 2 / Free-to-Play Launch |
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Version 1.14.381.140241 | 10 April 2019 | Oberon Patch 2 / Free-to-Play Launch | Respawn Changes
Special Island Move
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Version 1.14.381.140241 | 10 April 2019 | Oberon Patch 2 / Free-to-Play Launch | As of April 10, Albion Online will be entirely free to download and play. Existing players can continue playing as normal, while new players can create an account and play the game without purchasing a pack. The Premium system continues unchanged, and Premium status can still be purchased with either real-world money or ingame currency. |
Version 1.14.379.138841 | 20 March 2019 | Oberon Update - Oberon Update Hotfix #1, #2, and #3 | Player Execution
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Version 1.13.369.136513 | 20 February 2019 | Nimue Balance Patch (Patch #7) | General Balance Changes
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Version 1.12.365.127503 | 10 October 2018 | Merlyn Season 4 Patch |
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Version 1.12.365.127503 | 10 October 2018 | Merlyn Season 4 Patch |
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Version 1.12.365.125448 | 6 September 2018 | Merlyn Patch 4 |
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Version 1.12.365.123101 | 31 July 2018 | Merlyn Update | The reward curve for Hardcore Expeditions has been flattened, meaning they will generally reward somewhat less Silver and loot for killing mobs:
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Version 1.12.365.123101 | 31 July 2018 | Merlyn Update | Veteran Mad Chops (Heretic Mob) has been slightly reworked:
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Version 1.11.362.119971 | 20 June 2018 | Lancelot Patch #9 |
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Version 1.11.362.118022 | 25 May 2018 | Lancelot Patch #7 |
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... further results |