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Pirate Adventures

Venture into dangerous pirate-controlled waters through special treasure maps that transport you to instanced encounters filled with ruthless pirates, treacherous bosses, and valuable plunder. These high-seas adventures offer challenging PvM content with unique rewards.

How to Start

Obtaining Pirate Maps

Pirate maps are special treasure maps that randomly drop from monsters throughout Britannia:

  • Drop similar to regular treasure maps
  • Come in different tiers (colors) indicating difficulty
  • Single-use items consumed when activating
  • Can be traded or sold to other players

Activating a Map

To begin a pirate adventure:

  1. Double-click the pirate map in your inventory
  2. A gate will appear leading to the pirate instance
  3. Enter the gate to begin your adventure
  4. The instance is created for your group

Entry Restrictions

  • You cannot open another pirate map while inside a pirate map instance
  • Cannot open pirate maps in certain areas (CTF, Codex Rifts, etc.)
  • One account per player in the instance
  • Ethereal mounts cannot be used inside the instance

Map Tiers

Pirate maps come in different tiers, each with increasing difficulty and better rewards:

Red Tier

  • Entry-level pirate encounters
  • Basic pirate crews
  • Good for solo players or small groups
  • Moderate rewards

Blue Tier

  • Intermediate difficulty
  • Features the Ancient Drowner boss
  • Requires coordination
  • Better loot and pirate currency

Purple Tier

  • High difficulty
  • Features Captain Grimjaw as the boss
  • Requires well-equipped groups
  • Best loot and highest pirate currency rewards
  • Additional pirate abilities and mechanics

The Pirate Instance

Environment

Once inside a pirate instance:

  • You're transported to a pirate haven or ship
  • The area is filled with hostile pirates
  • Must defeat all enemies to complete the instance
  • Bosses spawn after clearing normal pirates

Pirate Enemies

Regular Pirates:

  • Various pirate types with different abilities
  • Can use weapons, shields, and some have magic
  • Skills and stats randomized for variety
  • May have special abilities depending on type

Pirate Scouts:

  • Special scout AI - will flee at low health
  • Can hide when fleeing
  • Re-engage when health returns
  • More tactical and challenging

Pirate Cannoneers:

  • Operate ship cannons
  • Long-range attacks
  • Require line-of-sight to fire
  • Won't shoot at dead players

Pirate Lookouts:

  • Scout-type enemies
  • Alert others to your presence
  • Can hide and stealth
  • Require careful approach

Boss Encounters

Ancient Drowner (Blue Maps)

The Ancient Drowner is a powerful undead pirate captain:

  • Significantly buffed stats and skills
  • Large hit point pool
  • Enhanced armor rating
  • Area-of-effect water attack (requires line of sight)
  • Drops valuable loot and pirate currency

Captain Grimjaw (Purple Maps)

The most feared pirate boss:

  • Massive hit point pool
  • Very high armor rating
  • Multiple special abilities
  • Can summon additional pirates
  • Best drops in pirate instances

Instance Mechanics

Healers and Vendors

After entering the instance, friendly NPCs appear:

  • Healers to resurrect fallen players
  • Vendors selling basic supplies
  • Available until the instance ends
  • Disappear when instance resets

Ship Cannons

Some pirate instances feature ship combat:

  • Cannons deal significant damage
  • Require line of sight to hit
  • Can't shoot through ship floors
  • Destroy cannons or avoid their fire arcs

Instance Timer

  • Complete the instance by defeating all pirates and the boss
  • Completion: 5-minute grace period before ejection
  • Abandonment: If all players leave, instance resets in 15 seconds
  • Failure conditions: None - take your time

Pirate Instance Clock

A special clock item displays:

  • Remaining enemies in the instance
  • Click to see current count
  • Helps track progress
  • Updates in real-time

Rewards

Pirate Currency

Complete pirate instances to earn pirate-specific currency:

  • Amount scales with map tier
  • Awarded upon defeating the boss
  • Can be spent at reward vendors in Dawn
  • Saved across all characters on your account

Loot

Pirates and bosses drop valuable items:

  • Weapons and armor
  • Gold
  • Magic items
  • Special shipwrecked items with unique labels
  • Rare decorative items

Unique Items

Special items only found in pirate instances:

  • Shipwrecked goods (decorative)
  • Special fish (if fishing allowed)
  • Pirate-themed equipment
  • Boss-specific drops

The Smuggler's Market

What is it?

Shady merchants have set up trading posts throughout the world, selling resources and supplies at premium prices. These "seafaring entrepreneurs" only conduct business at night.

Features:

  • Available only during nighttime hours
  • Sell resources at premium prices
  • Multiple locations across Britannia
  • Accept gold only
  • Useful when resources are scarce

What They Sell:

  • Basic resources (ore, leather, wood, etc.)
  • Reagents
  • Potions
  • Other supplies

Night Trading

If you're desperate for supplies and can't wait for shops to restock, smugglers offer a convenient (if expensive) alternative during night hours.

Strategy & Tips

Group Composition

  • Tank: Warrior or tamer with dragon for boss aggro
  • Healer: Mage or bard to keep the group alive
  • DPS: Dexxers or mages for damage output
  • Support: Bard for provocation and discord

Tactics

  • Clear regular pirates systematically
  • Watch for scout-type enemies that flee
  • Position carefully around cannons
  • Save resources for boss fights
  • Communicate boss ability timing

Optimal Builds

  • Tamer: Excellent for all tiers, pets tank boss damage
  • Mage: Area damage for pirate groups, healing support
  • Dexxer: High damage on bosses, especially purple tier
  • Bard: Provocation invaluable for managing multiple pirates

Common Mistakes

  • Rushing into cannon fire
  • Ignoring scouts that alert reinforcements
  • Not saving heals/resources for bosses
  • Entering without a group on higher tiers

Patch History

Pirate Adventures were introduced in Patch 0.16 and have received extensive updates:

  • 0.16: Initial pirate instance system (Red tier testing)
  • 0.17: Pirate restrictions added
  • 0.18: Instance counter and improvements
  • 0.19: LOS blocking for cannons, label fixes
  • 0.20: Barding difficulty adjustments
  • 0.23: Ancient Drowner buffs, ethy restrictions
  • 0.24: Extensive pirate AI and stat improvements, Captain Grimjaw buffs
  • 0.25: Instance timer adjustments (completion 10min → 5min)
  • 0.30: Boss timer fixes
  • 0.43: Smuggler merchants added

For detailed changes, see the patch notes.