Black Zone Survival Tips

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The Black Zones (and to a lesser extent the red zones) in Albion Online are full loot PvP and where some of the most rewarding content in the game takes place.

These zones come with risk, but offer a considerably higher reward (Black Zones are +320% fame / +160% loot, Red Zones are +230% fame / +125% loot). For many players there is a notion of "gear fear" - what happens if I die and lose all of my gear? One of the ways to get the most out of the game is to work against that fear and to build up your confidence to push beyond it. We hope that this guide will help you accomplish that.

Tips for Surviving in the Black Zones

Here are some things to keep in mind to get the most out of the full loot zones in Albion Online, and to conquer your gear fear.

Only Take What You Can Afford to Lose

The best way to minimize gear fear is to only bring a loadout into the full loot zones that you are willing to lose. To do this you can setup a loadout for a build that is based around Tier 4.1 (that is to say T4 gear with enchantment level 1). When you die in a full loot zone you drop all of your loot and all of your equipment, so a full loadout for this purpose includes a level of mount you are willing to lose, some food and some potions.

  • Gear - a set of Tier 4.1 for an activity appropriate build. For the full loot zones the importance of having a build you can trust is more important, you can check our Albion Online Builds for recommendations
  • Backpack - the level of backpack that you bring can be of personal preference - if you're only going to grind mobs for fame, you can maybe skip or go low tier, but if you're gathering you likely want something bigger.
  • Mounts - like the backpack this is likely dependent on your activity in the black zones. For mount suggestions you can take a look at our Albion Online Mount Guide to see what the guild recommends for different activities, levels of personal wealth, etc.

Travel

Here are some tips for traveling in the black zones:

  • In the portal area where you zone into the outlands there will be an invisibility buff that will prevent other players from being able to see you for 2 minutes.
  • You will want to avoid the portal adjacent zones if at all possible, gankers will look for people leaving the portal hubs. Use your 2 minutes of invisibility to get away from the portal hub
  • Know where you're going ahead of time, you can take a look at this atlas to help you plan.
  • When choosing a destination consider the following:
    • Is it the zones prime time? You can look at the top of the zone map to see when the prime time is, it is listed in UTC. Guilds will have members on hand to protect their zones during prime time, as that is the window they can invaded
    • Consider tier, active events, available resources, etc
  • While in the black zones you will want to stay off of the roads - cut through as much as possible, be careful around bridges and other chokepoints

Black Zone Base of Operations

We currently are running most of our Black Zone ops out of our alliance partner's hideout in Wetgrave Bog. The hideout is currently in the process of being upgraded to level 3, once that upgrade is complete (ETA May 4th) we will be able to bind our home point there, which will make running BZ events, etc much easier.

Getting to Wetgrave Bog

There are two paths to get to Wetgrave Bog, it's still up in the air which is our preferred, but we think the below zone order applies. Please note it is dangerous to get out there (although not to the point you should be afraid of popping out there, you just want to be heads up, have a decent mount, and have gear you are willing to lose).

Preferred Route

Start in Lymhurst portal. Lymhurst Portal -> Watchwood Precipice -> Watchwood Lakeside -> Munten Fell -> Giantweald Dale -> Giantweald Edge -> Flatrock Plateau -> Flatrock Cliffs -> Wetgrave Marsh -> Wetgrave Bog

For those who prefer map directions: Lym Portal -> NE -> NE -> NW -> NW -> NE -> SE -> NE -> NW -> NE

Please be careful in all zones, but particularly in Wetgrave Marsh.

Guild Black Zone Notes

Event Level Black

When officers are running events in the black zone, we will typically observe slightly modified rules for discord voice chat while in the black zones themselves. The idea is ALWAYS to have fun in AKS, and that should take precedent so you're not going to get too much shit if you don't follow this guidance, but we would ask that in order to maximize fun for everyone you follow these common sense etiquette when in Black Zone level events:

  • At any given time there will be an assigned officer shot caller, if they are conveying information to the group, please let them do so without interruption
  • Our policy in general is not to instigate fights, unless it is someone or some group that has been identified as an enemy of the guild
  • If a fight comes to us, and the shot caller assess that its a fight we should take, we will take it - try not to engage without the shot callers say so

Officer Script

For Black Zone events, officers should give these reminders:

  • Only wear what you are willing to lose,
  • Always keep your mount out, if you walk out of the circle, get it back up ASAP
  • Remember to inspect gear - Y is the hotkey
  • We will not proactively take fights, we will sometimes defend ourselves or an objective. Your shot caller will let you know.
  • When we arrive in the portal zone in the black zones, there will be invisibility buff, we will take that and run a zone away before that invisibility fades
  • We will avoid roads if at all possible.

Other References

ProfessorScythe's Black Zone Roaming Guide Series