Welcome to another of our Basic Builds guides for beginner-to-intermediate players. Each guide presents a suggested build and describes how its abilities work in tandem. You can try these out as-is, or use them as a starting point to create new builds of your own.
Characteristics
This build features the Nature Staff, a healing weapon located in the hunter tree that is characterized by its large area healing abilities and its thorns abilities that offer continuous damage.
Here’s the full breakdown!
Equipment and Skills Used
Adept’s Nature Staff
Thorn Growth
Your Q creates a field of thorns on the ground that applies charges to all enemies within every 0.5 seconds; it has a short cooldown and can be recast 3 times
Brambleseed
Your W places a line of seeds on the ground that will grow after a short time, throwing all enemies on top of it into the air; both these effects deal damage, the latter more so
Circle of Life
Your main ability heals up to 5 allies in a large radius around you; if enemies within that radius have at least 3 thorn charges on them, they take additional damage and are rooted for a short time
Adept’s Mage Cowl
Firebreath
Your Cowl has an offensive spell that briefly ignites enemies in a small cone in front of you
Adept’s Mercenary Jacket
Bloodlust
This jacket's active ability allows you to regain some health every time you auto-attack or cast a damage spell
Adept’s Soldier Boots
Rejuvenating Sprint
Your shoes’ active ability is a sprint that also heals you slightly
Adept’s Bag: Increases carry weight capacity
Adept’s Cape: Increases Energy and passive Energy Regeneration
Minor Poison Potion: Inflicts damage-over-time effect on targets and decreases their resistances for its duration
Pork Omelette: Increases your cast speed and cooldown rate, allowing you to use your abilities more frequently
Journeyman’s Riding Horse: Brings you swiftly across the map while adding more carrying capacity
Pros and Cons
Pros:
Fast clear speed
High sustain
Good for healing small PvE groups
Affordable
Cons:
No additional mobility besides boots spell
High standtime and cast time
Not suited to large-scale fights
Playstyle
Your Q-spell creates a field of thorns on the ground that repeatedly applies a charge to enemies within it. It can also be recast within three seconds up to three times. Using an auto-attack on an enemy within the thorns consumes them while dealing bonus damage.
Your W-ability places bramble seeds on the ground that shoot up after a short delay, launching enemies into the air and interrupting them. Its two damage instances allow for good synergy with the Mercenary Jacket.
You may change your W to Revitalize for tougher enemies. This will allow you to increase your sustain at the expense of some damage and crowd control.
Your E-spell is a large-area heal that can be used for group play. It has a strong synergy with Thorn Growth, as it roots all enemies that have at least 3 charges on them. It also deals some bonus damage.
The whole weapon kit can alternatively be used to heal groups, by switching the Q to Rejuvenation or Rejuvenating Flower and the W to anything other than Brambleseed.
The cowl has an additional damage spell that allows you to take down groups of enemies more quickly.
The jacket can be used to regain health. It is best used in combination with your W and E-abilities as they can hit multiple targets and apply lifesteal charges more quickly. Your Q does not trigger Bloodlust as it doesn’t deal direct damage. Auto-attacks are also advised while using this jacket.
Your boots offer a sprint ability that can regain a small amount of health quickly, while providing increased movement speed.
An enemy encounter should look something like this:
Stack multiple Thorn Growths and try to get all enemies inside the areas.
Use the W to keep them away from you or to interrupt their key abilities.
Cast your E when all enemies have multiple thorn stacks on them.
Use auto-attacks on the enemy you’re trying to finish off for additional damage.
When you drop to low health, use your jacket followed by Brambleseed and auto-attacks. You may also use your boots to create space and heal even more.
Energy can be an issue, so it’s recommended to use the energetic passive and auto-attack enemies in between cooldowns.
That's it for this week - stay tuned for more Basic Builds guides coming soon!
The Arcanist Vanity Bundle is now available to buy! This premiere bundle includes a full costume set plus a matching Arcane Direboar Mount Skin for your Direboar base mount.
With its vivid colors that evoke the Mists, the Arcanist bundle transforms you and your Direboar into mystical warriors. This premiere bundle includes the following wardrobe and mount skin items:
Arcanist's Helmet
Arcanist's Armor
Arcanist's Boots
Arcanist's Cape
Arcane Direboar
As with past bundles, you can use all costume and mount skins with all characters on your account, on both servers, and they are never lost or destroyed. All items will be unlocked in the ingame "Appearance" menu after purchase.
Grab this premiere bundle today and bring your mystical aura to Albion!
Albion Online Breaks All-Time Player Record
After a successful Closed Beta and Early Access period, Albion's new server, Albion East, launched for all players worldwide on March 20. That day, the surge of new players reached 277,000 total active users, a new all-time record for the game. And just over a week later, on Sunday, April 2, that record was smashed when the servers had a combined total of over 300,000 active users!
(Note: for the purposes of this chart, "users" refers to active accounts.)
During these record-breaking windows, active Steam users also reached their highest-ever numbers for the game, with a new all-time peak of 25,833 concurrent players on Steam alone, which is just a fraction of Albion's overall player numbers.
The previous record of 271,000 daily active users was set in June 2021, after the official mobile launch of the game. The recent launch of Albion East achieved this milestone without introducing a new platform, and represents a strong start for the game's new two-server system.
The Rites of Spring are Back!
Spring has sprung, and Albion’s most bold and brave are rushing across the lands. For they know that this is the time of year when special chests appear, containing seasonal objects and maybe even prized Spring Cottontail Eggs.
But this time a new type of egg has been discovered, one which has spelled trouble for more than one unfortunate adventurer…
Yes, the Rites of Spring are here for the next two weeks! And to mark the occasion, we’ve created a brand new video:
Ruthless Rabbits Released!
As with last year’s event, Spring Treasure Chests will appear in the open world, containing valuable items and - sometimes - a Vibrant Spring Cottontail Egg, which can be raised into the Spring Cottontail mount. This year, though, you might come across a darker, more sinister type of egg. By all means raise these too, but be careful - you’re about to unleash the Caerleon Cottontail!
This is a vengeful, vicious version of the Spring Cottontail. Like its cute cousin, it is a mount with a quick hop ability. But this one comes with other, more terrifying talents. If you manage to rear one, they will repay your trust and act as a loyal steed. Your enemies, on the other hand, won’t be so fortunate…
The Eerie Cottontail Egg is extremely rare - so get out there now and start ransacking those chests to find one!
Further Treasures Await
Along with these rare and valuable rewards, Colored Eggs are once again sprouting across the lands, containing chocolate, Surprise Eggs, and, very occasionally, Cottontail Eggs. Furthermore, all chests will be spawning at an increased rate for the next two weeks - so there’s abundant wealth to be found out there. And Albion’s vanity merchants will be hawking their seasonal wares once again, like the Eggsecutioner vanity weapon, “Bunny Stalker” Wardrobe items, and more.
The Rites of Spring runs until April 19 at 23:00 UTC on Albion East, and April 20 at 10:00 UTC on Albion West. So go and head out into the open world today and see what treasures await. Who knows, you might end up with a fierce new friend…
Watch Invasion Day Live on AlbionTV
It’s Invasion Day on Albion West this weekend with territories being reset - and we're covering it live on the AlbionTV Twitch channel starting Saturday at 17:30 UTC. Join our hosts Lewpac, Bogul, and Shozen as they cover the Invasion Day madness live! All fights are broadcast live with a 15-minute time delay.
Starting at 18:00 UTC, guilds will have new opportunities to claim territories and launch attacks. Those in the North and South American time zones can also tune in for the second round of territory resets on Sunday at 00:30 UTC with hosts Tazzik, Shozen, and Robinhoodrs, with territories becoming claimable at 01:00 UTC.
Between the two reset broadcasts, we'll also be broadcasting Level 5-7 Crystal League fights with no delay at 20:30, 21:30, and 22:00 UTC.
For current season schedules for Albion West and Albion East, see this forum post.
Watch a video of the previous Albion West Invasion Day here:
Basic Builds: Great Fire Staff
Welcome to another of our Basic Builds guides for beginner-to-intermediate players.
Characteristics
This build features the Great Fire staff, a magic staff with large area-of-effect spells, great burst damage, and additional damage-over-time effects.
Equipment and Skills Used
Adept’s Great Fire Staff
Burning Field
Your Q fires an orb onto the ground, dealing direct damage and further damage over time.
Flame Blast
Your Q ignites an enemy which ends in an explosion after a short time.
Flame Pillar
Your main ability creates a flame pillar that damages enemies in a wide area. Hitting at least one enemy will further reduce the spell’s cooldown.
Adept’s Scholar Cowl
Energy Shield
Your Cowl has a defensive spell that decreases your damage taken while recovering energy for every hit taken.
Adept’s Cleric Robe
Everlasting Spirit
The robe's active ability offers a shield upon taking damage that makes you invulnerable and increases your damage by 20% for 3 seconds
Adept’s Soldier Boots
Wanderlust
Your shoes’ active ability is a charge-up movement skill that lets you escape from fights or chase down targets
Adept’s Bag: Increases carry weight capacity
Adept’s Cape: Increases Energy and passive Energy Regeneration
Minor Poison Potion: Inflicts damage-over-time effect on targets and decreases their resistances for its duration
Catfish: Buff food that greatly increases Health Regeneration outside of combat, getting you back to full health quickly after clearing mobs
Journeyman’s Riding Horse: Brings you swiftly across the map while adding more carrying capacity
Pros and Cons
Pros:
Fast clear speed
Large area of effect spells
Good for small PvE groups
Good for small-scale PvP
Affordable
Cons:
No additional mobility besides Boots spell
Long stand and cast times
Not suited to large-scale fights
Playstyle
Your Q-spell creates a field of fire which deals damage instantly and every 0.5 seconds to enemies within it - try to keep enemies inside it as long as possible.
Due to its relatively high cooldown, you have a lot of time to kite enemies and apply additional auto attacks which, paired with your passive “Burn”, deal substantial damage.
Your W-ability ignites enemies and puts a bomb on them. After 1.6 seconds it explodes and deals damage in a 5m radius. Try to place it on mobs that are near each other so they all take damage.
Your E-spell is best as an opener, as it allows you to hit enemies while they’re standing still. It has a relatively short cooldown which is further reduced when hitting at least one enemy. Use this spell as frequently as possible to maximize damage output.
When you’re low on Energy or need extra Energy, use your Cowl ability. For every hit taken you replenish some Energy while generally decreasing the damage you take.
The Robe's strong defensive skill can be used to avoid damage. As long as you take damage in the 1.5 second window after activation, you receive an invulnerability shield making you immune to damage while increasing your damage output by 20% for 3 seconds.
Your boots make up for your lack of mobility. They have a charge-up ability that offers escape from fights. While this allows you to cover large distances, it has a 1-minute cooldown.
That's it for this week - stay tuned for more Basic Builds guides coming soon!
Albion East Launch Stats
It's been just over two weeks since the massive public launch of Albion East, which shattered Albion's all-time concurrent player record as it introduced an untouched version of the game world for the first time since launch. To celebrate this tremendous milestone in Albion's history, we've put together this infographic with some of the major (and less major) stats from the new server! (Click to expand)
We'd like to extend a warm welcome to those starting out in Albion East, and are enjoying seeing a new version of Albion take shape. New players can look forward to more Basic Builds guides coming soon, and stay tuned for more articles and Dev Talks about what's next for Albion!
Get the Steelplate Cougar this Referral Season
Another Referral Season is here, and this time you have the chance to claim the much-loved Steelplate Cougar with a single referral!
This skin makes your Swiftclaw base mount even more powerful and intimidating to behold - and once you’ve unlocked it, it can be used by any of your characters on that particular server (either Albion East or West).
To make some of our most beloved skins available to players who missed them the first time, we will be rerunning some older referral rewards
These can be any referral skins or mounts released from April 2019 onwards
Referral seasons will now last one month, rather than two
There will, of course, still be all-new referral skins produced
Referral seasons will now end on the last day of every month at 23:59 UTC
Extra Gold for Founder Pack Referrals
Remember that Albion East Founder Packs are valid for referrals - and when you refer a friend who buys one you’ll get 1,000 Gold rather than the usual 500!
Founder Packs contain exclusive Wardrobe and Mount Skins that will never be sold again, and mark the historic launch of the Albion East server. These items - and the Gold and Premium in the Packs - can be claimed on either server, so they can be enjoyed no matter where someone prefers to play.
They’re only available until 10:00 UTC on April 30, so you have until then to enjoy some extra Gold for your referrals!
How to Earn Seasonal Referral Rewards
Send your referral link, which you can find here, to a friend. (You must be logged into your account on the website to view this page.)
Your friend creates an account and starts playing Albion Online (preferably along with you!).
The first time your friend purchases either an Albion East Founder Pack or at least 30 days of Premium, they will trigger a reward for you: 1,000 Gold for a Founder Pack, 500 Gold for Premium.
For your first referral this month, you’ll get the Steelplate Cougar Swiftclaw Skin.
On top of that, for your very first referral ever, you'll receive a T8 Recruiter's Pile of Tomes, worth a massive 200,000 Fame.
This Referral Season lasts until 23:59 UTC on April 30, so invite your friends and enjoy these rewards!
The Hunter Challenge Returns
(Please note: Adventurer’s Challenges now end on the last day of every month at 23:59 UTC.)
Let the hunt begin! For all of April, take the Hunter Challenge: earn points for open-world activities, unlock chests to get valuable loot, and claim your very own Black Panther mount.
Hunt Down Fantastic Items
BLACK PANTHER: This month's Challenge sees the return of the mighty Black Panther, a sleek feline mount with a fearsome appearance. It boasts a powerful speed boost spell that can propel its rider across large distances – helping both hunters and hunted alike.
AVATAR RING: Reach your goals to unlock the Hunter Challenge avatar ring to give your favorite avatar a hunting-themed border. This non-tradable item permanently unlocks this avatar border for one character, or can be traded for one Adventurer's Token at the Vanity Merchant.
SEASONAL SPECIALS: All month, reach weekly goals to unlock Hunter Challenge chests. In addition to valuable rewards like Adventurer's Tomes, Silver bags, and rare resources, this month's chests contain various hunting-themed statues and furniture items.
As always, you can earn Challenge Points by gathering, fishing, farming, and killing monsters. Points count simultaneously toward a daily bonus, a weekly unlockable chest, and the monthly mount. So log in, head out into the open world, gather points, and claim your rewards!
Basic Builds: Light Crossbow
This is the second Basic Builds guide for beginner-to-intermediate players. Each guide presents a suggested build and describes its abilities. You can try these out as-is, or use them as starting points to create your own. (Check out the previous guide here).
Characteristics
This build is based around the Light Crossbow, which has strong burst damage that takes down small enemy groups quickly.
Full breakdown:
Equipment and Skills Used
Adept’s Light Crossbow
Explosive Bolt
Your Q is an area damage ability with a short cooldown
Caltrops
Your W throws a trap that decreases enemy speed and increases your own
Exploding Shot
This E-ability launches a bomb on your target that explodes after a short duration
Adept’s Scholar Cowl
Energy Shield
Your Cowl has a defensive spell that decreases damage taken, and recovers energy for every hit taken, while active
Adept’s Cleric Robe
Everlasting Spirit
The robe's active ability offers a shield upon taking damage that makes you invulnerable and increases your damage by 20% for 3 seconds
Adept’s Soldier Boots
Wanderlust
Your shoes’ active ability is a charge-up movement skill that lets you escape from fights or chase down targets
Adept’s Shield: Passively increases defenses and CC-resistance
Adept’s Bag: Increases carry weight capacity
Adept’s Cape: Increases Energy and passive Energy Regeneration
Minor Poison Potion: Inflicts damage-over-time effect on targets and decreases their resistances for its duration
Catfish: Buff food that greatly increases Health Regeneration outside of combat, getting you back to full health quickly after clearing mobs
Journeyman’s Riding Horse: Brings you swiftly across the map while adding more carrying capacity
Build Pros and Cons
Pros:
Great burst damage
Fast clear speed
Good for small PvE groups
Affordable
Cons:
No additional mobility besides boots spell
Not suited to large-scale fights
Playstyle
Your Q-spell is your bread and butter. With its low cooldown and high base damage, it’s great for clearing mobs. In between Qs you can use your W, E or auto attacks.
Your W-ability throws a trap which doesn’t deal much damage but slows enemies, while boosting your movement speed. It’s on a low cooldown, allowing it to be used often. (This spell unlocks on Level 15 Crossbows, so you might have to defeat more mobs before you can use it.)
Your E-ability, Exploding Shot, is a good starting ability that attaches a bomb to your target. This does little initial damage but explodes after 2 seconds, dealing more damage in a larger radius. If the target dies before the explosion, it does not deal area damage.
Combining these skills with your passive, Well-Prepared, unlocks even more damage potential. To use it effectively, use your Q as the fourth spell. This immediately removes any cooldown from it and you’ll be able to use Q twice in quick succession. Since your Q has a short cooldown and you have additional abilities, you can cycle through multiple passive rotations quickly.
When you’re low on Energy or need extra Energy, use your Cowl ability. For every hit taken you replenish some Energy while generally decreasing the damage you take.
The Robe's strong defensive skill can be used to avoid damage. As long as you take damage in the 1.5 second window after activation, you receive an invulnerability shield making you immune to damage while increasing your damage output by 20% for 3 seconds.
Your boots make up for your lack of mobility. They have a charge-up ability that offers escape from fights. While this allows you to cover large distances, it has a 1-minute cooldown.
That's it for this week - stay tuned for more Basic Builds guides coming soon!
