Lost Sector Guide: Excavation Site XII

For all Lost Sectors this season, the time limit is always set at 15 minutes before any additional revives you obtain throughout the activity are taken away. If you are running on Legend difficulty the recommended Power is 1310, while at Master it is 1340. While you can complete the activity while under-leveled, it is best to keep yourself within 10 Power of the activity otherwise enemies will be able to kill you more easily as well as take much longer to defeat. While a few things change from Legend to Master, the overall strategy used to get through should be about the same.

Enemy (Cabal): Scorched Earth: Enemies throw grenades significantly more often.

Destination: Memory of a Bygone Past - Incoming Arc and Knockback damage increased.

Burn: Isolated Flames - +50% Solar damage dealt and received.

Champions (Cabal): Barrier & Unstoppable - This mode contains both Barrier and Unstoppable Champions, which cannot be stopped without an Anti-Barrier or Unstoppable mod, respectively.

Limited Revives - Limited fireteam revives. Gain additional revives by defeating Champions.

Legend Modifiers - Recommended Power 1310

Locked Loadout - No changes to weapons, armor, mods, or subclasses while in the activity.

Match Game - Enemy shields are more difficult to break without its respective elemental damage type.

Extra Shields - Elemental shields added to specific enemies (Arc for Colossi)

Total of 4 Champions.

Additional Master Modifiers - Recommended Power 1340

Extra Champions - Increases total Champions up to 7.

Master: Attrition - Regeneration is greatly impaired. Defeating enemies may create wells of Light.

Guardians looking to clear this Lost Sector should ideally focus on being able to clear large groups of enemies quickly and keeping aggressive Champions at bay. Grenades and other area-of-effect abilities will be invaluable as you battle the Cabal.

Hunter:

For Hunters looking to lean into the Solar burn’s buff, Way of the Sharpshooter Gunslinger is the way to go, although Way of a Thousand Cuts can potentially clear the Lost Sector very quickly with well-placed Blade Barrages. For a safer route, Revenant has a massive amount of add-clearing potential and good crowd control that can keep you safe from getting mobbed.

Warlock:

With the amount of enemies squeezed into this cave system, Shadebinders will find that their Iceflare Bolts and Bleak Watcher Aspects will thrive in a target rich environment, and can demolish smaller adds along with Champions with the use of Winter’s Wrath. Another option available to Warlocks is running Attunement of Chaos Voidwalker to take advantage of the Bloom explosions to chain multiple kills on lesser Cabal.

Titan:

This Lost Sector can be a little dangerous for Titans as their best clearing abilities are tied to getting into close range. For Sunbreakers, use of Hammer of Sol is going to be key, and while Code of the Fire-Forged also offers options against Champions, Code of the Siegebreaker is still going to be the safest option due to Sunspots’ healing. For Sentinels, Code of the Commander will be helpful due to the Controlled Demolition explosions, but is similarly risky to running Sunbreaker.

Scout Rifles: Depending on how far back you play, Scout Rifles can be an excellent option for taking out enemies at a distance as well as taking out Barrier Champions. A Hung Jury with Firefly can take advantage of the Solar burn to clear out the Cabal quickly.

Auto Rifles: While more of a mid range option, Auto Rifles still provide an excellent amount of add clear and serve as an additional tool against Barriers. The Number and other Auto Rifles with perks such as Multikill Clipcan help thin out your enemies.

Sweet Business: For Guardians that prefer to stand their ground as they’re being pushed by the enemy, this Auto Rifle serves as constant damage and can clear out adds with little need to reload. With Anti-Barrier Rounds, you can rip through Barrier Champions as well.

Devil's Ruin: Unstoppable Sidearm is an option Guardians can take in to this Lost Sector, but Devil’s Ruin specifically synergizes well with Stasis, as you can use the charge mode to stun Unstoppable Incendiors out of a freeze, freeze them again, and repeat.

Anarchy: Good for use against Unstoppable Champions with Unstoppable Rounds, pairs well with Breach and Clear to quickly burn down Champions as well as the boss. Can also be used to prevent mobs of enemies from pushing too far against you, lay out traps, or apply hit and run tactics.

Anti-Barrier Auto Rifle & Anti-Barrier Scout Rifle: Having a weapon for stunning Barrier Champions is vital for getting through this Lost Sector, so choose according to your preferred playstyle.

Arc Resistance & Concussive Dampener: Legionary Arc blasters along with Barrier Colossi weapons can potentially melt you and should be one of the elemental types you consider building against. Concussive Dampener, on the other hand, can help defend against cluster rockets, grenades, Psion blasts, Incendior blasts, and even environmental damage such as when you get hit against a wall.

Solar Resistance: The majority of Champions in this Lost Sector are Incendiors with Solar damage that is being buffed, not to mention the large amount of Cabal grenades that will be launched at you, so it can pay off to use this mod to protect yourself from your enemies.

Sundering Blast: This mod provides additional burst damage when you stun any Champion and can be used to clear enemies surrounding these Champions quickly.

Glacial Inheritance: For Guardian running Stasis, this mod will refund Super energy as you get kills with your Stasis Super and will help you get faster runs with the potential add clear.

Energy Accelerant: Gives a damage boost to weapons that make use of the Firefly, Dragonfly, and Chain Reaction perks. A good addition for those running Hung Jury or most Heavy Grenade Launchers from the past two seasons.

Breach and Clear: Arguably the strongest mod you can pull from the Seasonal Artifact currently, allows you to buff your damage when shooting Champions, bosses, or elemental shields off with a Grenade Launcher as well as reloading any stowed weapons.

Enemies: Legionaries, 1 Unstoppable Incendior

The entrance is a very straightforward area to progress through. When you first spawn in you will see a handful of Legionaries that can be easily taken out by shooting the surrounding explosive barrels and then turning your attention to the Unstoppable Incendior.

If you want to make full use of your environment, a good strategy for taking down the Champion here is to stun it immediately and then blow up an explosive barrel so it takes full damage while simultaneously clearing out the Legionaries. Should the Incendior charge, you can back off out of sight into a nook next to the Lost Sector exit barrier until you lose the Champion’s attention. Alternatively, if you have Stasis you could buy yourself a few seconds by freezing it, and it should drop aggro after it unfreezes. Once you whittle down the Unstoppable Incendior, the barrier into the rest of the Lost Sector should go down.

As soon as the previous barrier goes down you will notice a large quantity of Cabal sitting on or beyond the Bridge. The best course of action to avoid losing revives here is to take out smaller Cabal at a distance before turning your attention to the Champions. This is due to the fact that you will be bombarded anytime you try to peek out of cover and will likely have to run back as well with the amount of grenades that will be lobbed your way.

Be cautious, however, taking down a certain number of adds can spawn in new waves, and eventually will also open up the domed barrier surrounding the boss area. Whenever you have thinned out the lesser enemies to a comfortable number turn your attention to the Barrier Colossus and try to get it to pop its Barrier, once you stun it you can kill it and potentially use the Champion as a means to clear out even more enemies surrounding it with explosive mods you may have equipped.

Keep in mind that the Unstoppable Incendior is low priority as long as it is nowhere near you. If you ever see it charging in your direction, back off closer to the entrance and try to isolate the Champion. If you can get it to a favorable spot, go ahead and stun it and quickly dispatch it.

On Master difficulty, the bridge will be even more crowded due to two additional Champions spawning there. Employ the same tactic above and take out lesser Cabal before focusing on the Barrier Colossi and only engaging the Unstoppable Incendiors when you can isolate them. Be aware that the Colossi will be constantly looking for an angle to shoot you from, and once the boss barrier goes down, they will potentially be in more dangerous positions.

As previously mentioned, the boss dome will go down once enough enemies have been taken down, so make sure that you can slay as many Champions as possible before that condition is met. The majority of Cabal that haven’t been defeated by the time this barrier goes down will back off and cluster near the boss at the back of the Lost Sector. Be cautious when approaching this next area.

Boss: Dust-Choked Thrag (Colossus)

Enemies: Legionaries, Psions, Phalanxes, Nightmare Legionaries, 1 Unstoppable Incendior (1 additional Unstoppable Incendior on Master)

As the Cabal barrier goes down, most of the remaining enemy forces will converge onto the top portion of the Lost Sector. When pushing through to this area, be wary of Nightmare Legionaries that will boast additional health and will be harder to take down. Should you be able to take down one of these Nightmares they will drop an orb of Unstable Essence that will allow you to deal more damage to other Nightmares, including the Lost Sector boss.

Before moving up to the boss, be sure that any straggling Champions from the previous area have been taken down and be wary of the Unstoppable Incendior that may peek from higher ground. On Master difficulty there will be two Incendiors to worry about, but it is simple enough to bait them away from their group and take them out, similar to the previous area. Remember, if you have Sundering Blast or other such mods, you can use Champions as a means to clear out lesser adds.

Once all Champions have been taken care of, you can make your way up the slope on the right of the boss arena and take quick shots against any Cabal surrounding Thrag, who will take aim at you with its Solar gatling gun. The Colossus boss will be the only enemy with an elemental shield in the Excavation Site, and will be shielded by Arc. As a Nightmare enemy, picking up any Unstable Essence here will help buff your damage against Thrag further. Remember to make use of Breach and Clear as well and this boss should go down quickly. You can also use a finisher on this boss to take it down more quickly. Once Thrag is defeated, pick off any stragglers or just move over to claim your loot from the reward cache. Similarly to other EDZ Lost Sectors, Excavation Site XII does not currently have any triumphs for clearing it flawlessly or otherwise, so feel free to focus only on getting a Platinum clear.

Possible Loot

Legend (1310) - Enhancement Core (Uncommon), Exotic Armor (Rare)

Master (1340) - Enhancement Core (Uncommon), Exotic Armor (Common)

For Lost Sectors with Leg Armor as the reward, there is a chance at the new Star Eater Scales, Boots of the Assembler, or The Path of Burning Steps Exotics.