The Atlas of Discovery DLC introduces two new skills and a ton of items to Melvor Idle, including a new combat mechanic. Let’s see what they are and how you should go about collecting them.

New Skill: Cartography

Cartography is one of the newer skills to enter Melvor Idle: Atlas of Discovery. The goal here is to explore the vast world and discover new regions containing items, lore, dig sites, and buffs for other skills. Let’s discuss each of them in detail:

1. Lore – Each newly discovered hexagon has some lore attached to it. It doesn’t contribute to the gameplay and only serves as a flavor text.

2. Dig Sites – These are special areas that you can explore further with the Archaeology skill (discussed later).

3. Active Point of Interest – The hexagons give additional buffs to other skills. However, the buffs remain active as long as you’re located in the hex.

4. Hex Mastery – Once you’ve discovered the ENTIRE map, you can survey the hexes once again. Doing so grants you bank slots and other bonuses, depending on the number of hexes you’ve actually mastered.

Cartography is a slow skill, so remember to grab the shop upgrades once you have enough resources.

Archaeology

Archelogy is the other new skill to enter the game. In it, you can excavate the dig sites previously discovered in Cartography for artifacts.

There are five maps on every dig site. To start excavating, you’ll first have to select the map, followed by the tool. There are four tools:

1. Sieve – Tiny Artifacts

2. Trowel – Small Artifacts

3. Brush – Medium Artifacts

4. Shovel – Large Artifacts

There is also an Artifact value for every map in Melvor Idle, which indicates the chances of finding an artifact per excavation attempt. You can increase these values by upgrading and refining the map in Cartography. Avoid excavation until you have upgraded the maps to the Perfect Tier and unlocked all of the map refinements.

Note: You’ll need paper to upgrade maps, which you can do from the Create Dig Site Map option inside the Cartography skill.

Excavating Specific Artifacts

During excavation, selecting a single tool increases the chances of finding an artifact in that category. If you select multiple tools, then the chances drop significantly.

So if you’re looking for a specific artifact, choose a single to excavate with at any given time.

Donating to the Museum

You donate one of every artifact to the museum. For every 10 you donate, you’ll get a reward.

New Combat Mechanic: Barrier Gems

Barrier gems are a new combat mechanic introduced in Melvor Idle Atlas of Discovery DLC. Some gems only apply status effects, while others boost the damage you deal to shielded monsters.

You’ll need the higher-tier gems if you want to defeat the more powerful enemies introduced in this expansion.

Combat Area

Barrier monsters have a shield around them that can only be damaged by familiar attacks, so you’ll have to level up your Summoning skill if you want to play the expansion. They are invincible as long as the shield is up and active.

There are numerous combat familiars, but if you’re just starting out, make sure to have plenty of Minotaur, Centaur, and Witch summoning tablets.

They provide a flat bonus to all the basic attack types, and their synergies are also effective against monsters up to the master difficulty.

Slayer Areas

The new slayer areas in Melvor Idle Atlas of Discovery are quite difficult. We tried dealing with a few without the new gear and never got past the first area.

The new monsters have a crystallization attack that keeps stun-locking our character while they regenerate their shields. So remember to craft the right gear before venturing out into the slayer area.

Dungeons

In Melvor Idle, you can do the first two dungeons if you have the end-game gear for the base game (god armor and god sword). However, after the first two, monsters have a bigger shield, which cannot be easily taken down without the right gear.

You can technically defeat them, but the time taken to bring down the shields is not at all optimal. It’s best to grab the crystal gear before jumping into the third dungeon.

Armor Weapons

The traditional weapons are useless against these new monsters. You’ll have to smith/craft a special set of gears to defeat them.