In New World, Expedition Mutations are an End-Game progression activity that provides players with exclusive loot and Umbral Shards. In our New World Mutation Guide, we’ll cover how to enter a mutation, the different mechanics you’ll face, the rewards you’ll get and more!
Expedition or Dungeon Mutators in New World are mutations of the normal Expeditions in the game. Mutators are a form of end-game content, and they change the familiar by augmenting the normal and named enemies found within the expeditions. This changes the way the encounters inside the dungeon function vs the normal/vanilla versions of the dungeon.
Each mutation will have 10 levels of difficulty with the rewards, including Umbral Shards, increasing accordingly with the difficulty level.
There is a recommended Gear Score for each level of difficulty that directly factors into enemy scaling, therefore, players will want to be in that gear score range in order to increase the chances at success.
It’s important to point out that the combat scaling is specific per individual player and separate from the base difficulty increases in health and damage.
You can see each active mutation Expedition for the week by viewing your map and looking for the rotating Red icon on the Expedition.
You need to complete the normal/vanilla version of the Expedition prior to being able to participate in the mutated version. However, if you’re invited to a group that has access to the mutations and you successfully complete the mutation you will be rewarded with your codex (more on that below) and will unlock the first level of mutations.
In order to enter the Expedition, you will need a Mutated Expedition Tuning Orb. You can obtain one by both crafting an orb and purchasing an orb from your faction vendor. Crafting an orb has a 7-day cooldown, and purchasing the orb from the faction vendor has a 3-day cooldown.
Once acquired you can craft the Orb.
In order to purchase an orb from the faction vendor, you will need to be ranked 5 with your faction and have 10,000 faction tokens and 1,000 coin. You can purchase 1 orb per 3-day period from your faction vendor.
Once you have obtained a Mutated Expedition Tuning Orb you can then enter the Mutated Expedition. Entering the expedition functions just as a normal expedition would. You need at least 3 people from your party to be there in order to start the dungeon.
Your orb will be consumed upon entering the Expedition just as a normal expedition. Therefore, you can access the dungeon a maximum of 3 times per mutation cycle utilizing your own orbs, both purchased and crafted, per 7-day mutation cycle.
After that point, you will have to join someone else’s group who has an orb just as you would a regular expedition until your orbs come off of cooldown.
Each time you complete a phase of the mutated expedition you will receive a codex increase for that expedition. This means you have unlocked the next tier of difficulty. This unlock is dungeon specific and will persist through the mutation cycles. Meaning, once you have reached a certain difficulty for a specific dungeon you will still have up to that difficulty unlocked. Upon completion, you will also receive a set amount of Umbral Shards based on the difficulty level and your team’s performance.
For example, you can join someone that has a codex level of 9 and is able to participate in the level 9 dungeon even if you have only unlocked up to level 3. If you are successful with that group your individual codex will increase by 1, so you will then be able to unlock level 4 with your own orb. The person who was on level 9 will also increase their codex by 1 and will then be able to unlock level 10 with their own orb.
During a mutation you will be earning a score that will determine your ranking upon completion of the mutation phase. You will be rewarded either Bronze, Silver, or Gold. The score is a shared value among the entire group.
You must achieve at minimum a Silver ranking in order to progress to the next level of the Mutation. The score is determined by a number of different factors, including:
Your team can also earn bonus points for run efficiency, minimal respawning/wiping, speed, and taking down all the targets. The total score is tallied at the end of the Expedition Run.
There are 10 tiers of difficulty for each dungeon mutation. The difficulty of the dungeons ramps up with each subsequent difficulty ranging from Normal to Elite. Each tier of difficulty has a recommended Gear Score Range.
Level | Difficulty | Recommended Gear Score |
1 | Normal | 602 |
2 | Normal | 604 |
3 | Intermediate | 606 |
4 | Intermediate | 608 |
5 | Intermediate | 610 |
6 | Hard | 613 |
7 | Hard | 616 |
8 | Hard | 619 |
9 | Elite | 622 |
10 | Elite | 625 |
As the difficulty increases the Mutators will also increase. The normal versions will have a Mutation only, intermediate will have Mutations & Promotions, and hard-elite will have Mutators, Promotions, and a Curse (more about the types of mutations below).
The mutation effects per dungeon are random for that particular mutation week. The mutation effects include Elemental Effects, Promotions, and Curses. Only Elemental effects are on levels 1-5. Both Elemental & Promotion effects are combined for levels 6-8, and Levels 9-10 will have all three effects including elemental, promotion, and curses.
Each mutated dungeon will offer the same loot drops as the normal version of the dungeon. However, in addition to the normal drops there will be additional drops that will be specific to each level. The amount of drops will also depend on the Expedition.
Along with the Expedition drops you will also be rewarded with Umbral Shards Upon Completion of the Expedition. The below chart outlines how many shards you will receive based on the difficulty level of the mutation and your group’s performance within.
Mutations Level | Reward Tier | Umbral Shards Rewarded |
1 | Bronze | 27 |
1 | Silver | 33 |
1 | Gold | 40 |
2 | Bronze | 40 |
2 | Silver | 50 |
2 | Gold | 60 |
3 | Bronze | 53 |
3 | Silver | 67 |
3 | Gold | 80 |
4 | Bronze | 80 |
4 | Silver | 100 |
4 | Gold | 120 |
5 | Bronze | 133 |
5 | Silver | 167 |
5 | Gold | 200 |
6 | Bronze | 533 |
6 | Silver | 667 |
6 | Gold | 800 |
7 | Bronze | 1000 |
7 | Silver | 1250 |
7 | Gold | 1500 |
8 | Bronze | 1333 |
8 | Silver | 1667 |
8 | Gold | 2000 |
9 | Bronze | 2667 |
9 | Silver | 3333 |
9 | Gold | 4000 |
10 | Bronze | 4000 |
10 | Silver | 5000 |
10 | Gold | 6000 |
The Expedition Mutations are intended to be difficult end-game content. In order to complete the content, you will want to review the mutations prior to entering the Expedition and utilize the proper perks and consumables to complete the mutation.
You’ll want to ensure you have proper attribute food for your particular build, and have some powerful honing stones on hand. You will also want to utilize the proper weapon coatings, ward potions, and trophies depending upon the enemy type and the mutation. Check out our damage type vs mob type chart for information regarding which type of damage would be most beneficial for which situation.
Be sure to Slot the proper gems in your armor and weapons to maximize damage and mitigation. You can check our gem chart for information on what effects each type of gem has.
It would also be a good idea to utilize weapons that include the proper Bane Perk and armor that utilizes the proper Ward Perk, such as the Corrupted Bane Perk and the Corrupted Ward perk.
That completes our New World Mutation Guide. For more on Umbral Shards and how to use them to get to item level 625, check out our Umbral Shard Guide.