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Comment by sandyra

Seeking to complete a newly unlocked rare artifact? Then this post is for you!

There are two rare Vrykul artifacts:

Nifflevar Bearded Axe requiring 130 fragments with 3x Vrykul Rune Stick that can be used (my 6th Vrykul solve)
Vrykul Drinking Horn requiring 100 fragments with 3x Vrykul Rune Stick that can be used (have not yet personally acquired this)

While I may not have solved all 32 archaeological rares (I have 24 thus far), after hundreds of hours dedicated to the cause I can say this - there is a method to the madness! And I say madness because archaeology is one profession that should not be taken lightly. Get ready to dig... Lots.

When you arrive at a dig site, take a look around you. The surrounding mobs will generally be the best indication of what kind of archaeological finds you may uncover while surveying there. If you're surrounded by ogres, or something less obvious, then consider what the local settlements are predominantly comprised of, or who the local lore is related to.

In the Hinterlands or STV you'll be surrounded by throngs of trolls - and whadya know, the Troll Archaeology Finds go hand in hand. Wetlands, Badlands and Burning Steppes are all known for their dwarven dwellings - and similarly, so are most the archaeological finds. If animals dominate the land, then appropriately you will often find fossils.

Archaeologically speaking, the Night Elves thoroughly dominate Kalimdor, Dwarves and Trolls the Eastern Kingdoms, and Fossils neatly scattered across both. Outlands are only for the Orcs and Draenei archaeological finds. While Northrend is proving most interesting with Night Elvish and Troll Fragments popping up in addition to the expected Nerubian and Vrykul Fragments. For anything Tol'Vir, it's all in Uldum and Uldum alone (will update if this changes). Unfortunately, dig site spawn locations in Uldum share the same continent as Kalimdor - maximum total of four. This means you're gonna have to keep digging Fossil & Night Elf Frags (among others) all over Kalimdor in order to possibly have the Uldum dig sites spawn. Stay tuned!

There are always exceptions to every rule, but you'll find by and large that the above theory holds true. For those of you seeking dig site locations only, see below.

Vrykul Archaeology Fragments in the following dig site locations (revised and updated 19/02/12):

Northrend

Grizzly Hills - Voldrune
Howling Fjord - Baleheim, Halgrind, base of Utgarde Keep, Skorn, Gjalerbron, Nifflevar, south-east of New Agamand
Icecrown - Ymirheim, Jotunheim, Njorndar Village (south of Jotunheim)
Storm Peaks - Brunnhildar Village, Sifreldar Village, Valkyrion

Fossil Archaeology Fragments
Troll Archaeology Fragments
Dwarf Archaeology Fragments
Night Elf Archaeology Fragments
Draenei Archaeology Fragments
Orc Archaeology Fragments
Nerubian Archaeology Fragments
Tol'vir Archaeology Fragments
Mogu Archaeology Fragments
Pandaren Archaeology Fragments

For a complete tally of ALL the archaeology solves you have slaved through, use the following macro (updated for MoP):

/run print("Total artifacts"); for x=1,12 do local c=GetNumArtifactsByRace(x); local a =0; for y=1,c do local t = select(9, GetArtifactInfoByRace(x, y)); a=a+t;end local rn = GetArchaeologyRaceInfo(x); if( c > 1 ) then print(rn .. ": " .. a); end end

This will produce a list like this:

Total artifacts
Dwarf: 44
Draenei: 11
Fossil: 64
Night Elf: 179
Nerubian: 4
Orc: 12
Tol'vir: 128
Troll: 87
Vrykul: 8
Pandaren: 25
Mogu: 26

Vrykul Archaeology Fragment

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