VIII. Construction
IX. Mobs and farming
X. Dungey
XI. PvP
XII. Mounts
XIII. Additionally
VII. Islands
There are two types of islands – personal and guild.
The island has an owner, co-owners, and visitors. On the board at the entrance inside the island itself, you can set the names of players or the names of guilds that can visit your island, and perhaps even build and collect resources on it.
Islands can be upgraded, but the cost of each level increases exponentially. The higher the level of the island, the more buildings you can make on it.
On the island you can build:
- Field for sowing
- cattle pen
- Cage for wolf cubs/boars/bears
- House with storage chests
- Crafting games
You can also assign an access level to buildings and chests so that the crocodile from your guild does not get all your supplies.
In a guild, the usual rule is not to share the islands with all guild members (because the teleport list is clogged with a bunch of extra lines). What you do when playing with friends is up to you.
Here you have 3 islands, plus 6 more islands for your two friends. Distribute these 9 islands so that some of them are completely sown as fields, some as paddocks, some as a warehouse, some as crafting sites grouped by task.
When you collect resources, it will be more convenient to go through 4 islands with farms and 4 islands with a cattle pen than to go through 8 islands, where everything is mixed up. Worse than the vegetable gardens in the Autonomous Region - they didn’t come up with anything for sadness and despondency. Gardening is very tedious, so think in advance about how to place and what on each of the islands available to you.
Obviously, the re-crafting of iron (if you do not use a guild or city) is better placed next to the blacksmith who crafts from iron. But it’s quite a convenient option to re-craft resources on one island, craft a mage/warrior/bow on the second, and craft a warehouse and craft horses/food on the third. Well, in that spirit.
We placed on the guild island on CBT1:
3 types of crafting guns/items
3 types of recrafting
Crafting tools/accessories
And on a separate island there is already crafting alchemy/food/horses.
The guild has only 1 island (but no one bothers you to have an academician), 1 character has only 1 island (but you can have up to 3 characters per 1 account).
Unlike a personal island, a guild island has a chest and a guild auction.
I wouldn’t bother with rare craft (horses, for example) and would use the craft in cities. Yes, you will overpay in taxes, but not as much as processing thousands of resources every day on someone else’s crafting machine.
VIII. Construction
City map:
They are built in specially designated areas on the islands or in the city. Press B (English) and select a place:
Upgrade via the Repair button, then to the Upgrade tab:
There is nothing complicated about it, the main thing is to find a place.
IX. Mobs and farming
There are 2 types of mobs: animals and humanoids.
Animals are added (for example, T1 frogs), but the base fauna is represented by T1 rabbit, T2 fox, T3 wolf, T4 wild boar, T5 wolf, T6 bear, T7 wild boar and T8 bear. The skins of these animals can be collected and then processed into leather. T4+ skin is very valuable. To collect the skin you need a knife.
Leather is a rare resource (as it does not grow everywhere and you need to farm mobs first). So, focusing on improving your knife skills and farming T4+ leather is a profitable endeavor.
Humanoid type mobs (skeletons, followers of Morgana, etc.) give silver when dropped.
All mobs drop fame to level up their equipment proficiency, but they must be no lower in tier than the equipment itself; in some cases, you can level up on T3 wolves with T4 equipment.
The dungeons contain humanoid type mobs, so these are dungeons for farming silver.
There are dungeons with mobs, but they are owned by the owners of the resource territories with the dungeon. It is there that you can easily farm a bunch of T4 boar skins, for example.
There are also mobs in the ordinary world, sometimes in very large numbers, they respawn quite quickly, but they give silver/skins in large quantities only if they have not been beaten for a long time. Here the system with mobs is similar to any resource.
A freshly grown t2 birch tree will be filled with 3/15 resources; the more it is not collected, the more resources it contains. After some time, the birch tree will already be 15/15, and it is more efficient to collect such a birch tree than to look for a bunch of 3/15 birch trees on the map. It's the same with mobs. Going to the dungeon in the morning and farming a bunch of silver is easier than running around in a crowd around the active farming zone.
Previously, fame also depended on the fullness of the mobs, but now this has been fixed to the average value, otherwise only the morning nerds could swing normally.
The higher the mob (like another resource), the longer it takes to respawn and fill.
Starting from T3, mobs are aggressive. Therefore, the first rule of JSC:
Never run away from mobs deep into the map. Run back to the road. Even T3 noob wolves will easily bite you to death, you will lose some res (about 30%), the strength of things, and something may even crack.
T6 bears can stun, so even on a horse it is sometimes difficult to escape.
If you are farming in a PvP location, do not overload your inventory and move away from the entrance to the location or zone where you are farming. If you leave a bunch of mob corpses behind you, the chance that enemies will come running to your corner looking for easy money is very high.
X. Dungey
Dungeons, as I already said, are of two types - with animals for farming skins and with mobs for farming silver. In AO the dungeons are very mediocre in terms of tricks.
Standard dungeons are designed for an infinite number of people and are not instances. This is the same open world with a pvp mode inherited from the location. In green locations, you cannot kill an enemy who has entered the dungeon with you, but in other locations you can (in semi-pvp you can simply knock him out so many times that he will quickly become naked).
But there are also instances. These are portals inside dungeons. After killing certain bosses, a portal opens with more difficult mobs and bosses, where only 5 people can enter.
There are semi-instances - fire portals in locations (not in dungeons), opened after killing a demon (the slang name for such dungeons is “demony”). 2 packs may or may not enter this portal. Inside there are quite weak mobs and a boss who spawns 10 minutes after entering (or 15, I don’t remember). In principle, an analogue of the deradikon in Aion, only with a complete wipe after death, if no one has a cutting stick.
The rules of behavior in dungeons are simple - do not aggro too much, if you become aggro - run away. Some mobs will chase you for a very long time, but everyone has range aggro.
Of the difficult bosses, the only bosses are in portals (not in the demonyat), where you have to tinker, even if you are well dressed. For me, these are interesting bosses with the need to play with five players according to certain tactics selected for the boss.
In dungeons you need tanks with aggro, healing and damage control. A tank without aggro (a warrior-stunner, with a hammer, for example) is useless, since mobs are very easy to heal and damage. In large dungeons it is better to have a spare tank with aggro.
If there are a lot of mobs, then one shoots at the mobs and runs away, the tank grabs one of those running after him.
If mobs are running after you, you break away and they start to return - they will first run to the place where they live (you cannot aggro them on the way back). But if, while they are running after you, someone hits them or gets healed, the mobs will spread to him.
Noob dungeons can be easily farmed by a fair mage, you just need to take armor for HP regen and a hat for mana regen. With the advent of the meteor (line t4.2 and higher), he generally has the fastest leveling, but the fire mage is useless in GVG and in PvP there is not much use for him (it is very difficult to cast a meteor clearly), but in PvE, from my personal experience - very self-sufficient build. And I played as a tank, a warrior, a fire mage, a frost mage, and I plan to be an archer in CBT2.
Dungey is the place to rock the hills. It takes an unrealistically long time to level up solo, so try to get into the dungeon party while playing as a healer.
Large dungeons are difficult even for 10-20 people, because one mistake and the healers or the tank fall - your clothes break and you are left in the middle of the dungeon without healers and a tank. You can’t go forward - there are unkilled mobs there, you can’t go back - there are mobs that have already respawned while you were walking through the dungeon. The option, of course, to run back with at least something and leave the dungeon is non-zero, but in serious dungeons this is very difficult.
It seems like they are promising to introduce a mobile repair station for things. This will remove the hardcore (personally, I am against these stations), but will allow you not to abandon the dungeon halfway if the tank’s aggro gun breaks (not trash, but just turns red).
I play in the English interface, although there is a Russian one. But not everything is translated and the Russian interface is difficult in some places, although searching at the auction is easier.
Customize the interface for yourself. You can choose the tablet and PC version of the button layout, you can remove unnecessary things from the screen or the size of the interface. Graphics are also customizable.
There are chests and auctions in each place.
Each cluster is located on its own server, servers can be in different parts of the world, so the ping depends on your location.
Any 10+ people on the map (except for the black location) who are nearby (within about one or two screens) are displayed on the map as red dots, even if they are not in the party.
Don't trust anyone you don't know. There are thousands of cases when you farm in a PvP location for an hour in the company of other mob players, and then they step aside, turn on the PC and loot you.
To participate in pvp, you need to enable PC mode. This is done on the shield icon next to the avatar in the upper left corner of the screen. The process is long, about 60 seconds. To move between locations you should not attack anyone for about 10-15 seconds. Run away more carefully. If just before leaving you fired a stun at the enemies who attacked you, you will not be able to leave the location for some time.
You cannot enter the city in PvP mode, as it is a green zone. You'll have to turn it off. If you beat enemies in PC mode, you cannot remove PC mode for about 20 minutes. If you need to move things to a city chest, you can ask a friend to move everything without a PC penalty.
PC mode also turns off for a minute or so.
City guards will hit those in PC mode who hit other players within their line of sight, but they are easy to escape. So you shouldn’t carelessly stand and trade your face with a green nickname (without a PC) behind the guards - one will lead the guards away (you can even kill them), others will pull you in with a hook and dismantle you.
A player with a green nickname can beat any player with a red nickname without any penalties. If you turn on PC, then everyone except your allies receive a red nickname on your screen, but remain green players. A crowd of players without any organization will attack you, if the crowd is large (and in the cities word will quickly spread that you are ganking at the entrance) - you will be swept away.
Principles of a good gank:
We move quietly. This means that we move not by clicking on the ground, accidentally killing rabbits that are hit, but by holding down the mouse button and moving it in the direction of movement. When you kill a rabbit with a basic attack, you can hear it quite far away - the targets will scatter.
We do not use acceleration from boots unnecessarily. The sound of acceleration can be heard on several screens, plus if you suddenly have to catch up with someone or run away, you will be left without acceleration.
Let's not get sick. Heal can be heard in half the location, this is the loudest sound in the game.
We don’t ride horses unless necessary. It also sounds very good. Although in the latest patch the wolf mount has very low noise. Wolf is definitely a gank mount, but it is very expensive.
If there are 9 of you or less, move in one group, not falling behind or overtaking the raid leader. If more, split up. The correct way to split up is to launch forward a scout with a hook and a stun, who can coordinate the movement of the group and the search for enemies.
No character overloads during a gank. It is optimal to carry with you what you are wearing and that’s it.
Looting enemies (and now finishing off) - after the RL command. Never start looting your opponents in the middle of a battle - your help is still needed in the battle itself. If the party is large and you are not weak, turn off the display of allied nicknames, leave the nicknames of enemies and yours.
A good gank is a quick gank. The simplest entertainment is to send a green spy to the gates of a large city and shoot when someone on horseback or on foot runs through a PvP location. A couple of screens from the exit from the city, a gank brigade suddenly crawls out of the bushes, knocks the enemy off his horse and strips him. On average, if you don’t want to get lyuli from a larger clan, don’t stay longer than 5 minutes in one place.
When moving between locations, a bubble is placed on the players, with the help of which the player is invulnerable to damage (but not to control). This bubble has a cooldown, so going back and forth from a semi-pvp to a pvp location while using the dough will not work.
If you entered a location, look to see if the mobs at the entrance have been killed. If yes, the chance of finding the target is higher.
The opposite situation is when entering a location with bridges (you will understand when you see it), run under the dough on a horse as far as possible and do not hit the mobs. This way the enemy will understand that most likely there is no one in the location, since the mobs are standing.
If you are being chased by a crowd that cannot be defeated, try to immediately get on your horse and run away. The options “I’ll just save a friend” and “I’ll come from behind and hide” usually lead to your teleport in your underpants to the nearest city.
Don't gank something you're afraid of losing.
Always have 3-4 extra sets of clothes and spare horses in your home city. Otherwise, while you are crafting/buying new kits, your pack will already be forced to change its location.
For a gank you need at least 1-2 people with hooks, several people with control, healing and, to your taste, AoE damage dealers. The mechanics of the game are such that a lot depends on the build of your squad; there are no unambiguous imba compositions (although they do exist if bugged skills are introduced, like Frost Staff 4.3 with imba icy rain).
XII. Mounts
There are several types of mounts in the game:
Donkey (given if you invite at least one friend who bought the founder's package):
As you can see, for 10 such friends you will also receive a t3 knight.
Horses t3-t8. You can get a horse from the start for 10 friends or the legendary founder's package. Details here:
Reinforced horses (higher durability, they will take longer to knock you off, are expensive, and are usually not used).
Bulls t3+ (actually oxas are oxen)
Wolf T6 (the fastest, but does not add carrying capacity). With a low (very low) chance it is knocked out of T6 wolves.
T7 boar (slower than a wolf, but fast and with high resistance to being shot down). Dropped from T7 boars.
Bear T8 (I haven’t used it, most likely, it’s just steeper in parameters than a wild boar, but slower than a wolf). Knocked out of T8 bears.
Horses and bulls can be raised on a farm. But first you will have to open them in the achievements board, planting all sorts of carrots, etc.
On a farm, horses/calves grow up to a certain point, then they need to be fed (obligatory) with straw, after which they will grow further and can be collected. The head of a horse/bull appears in your inventory, then you go with it to the horse crafting facility and use resources (leather) to create a Frankenstein horse.
Crafting horses/bulls:
A horse is almost 2 times faster than running on foot. With each tier, the speed of the horse and the CC (crowd control) of the horses increases. Also, a steeper horse increases the carrying capacity more. At the initial stage, collecting resources without a horse, and even more so moving between locations, can be a good way to be lured in this way. Therefore, take it as a fact that you should have a horse as early as possible, and preferably with a reserve.
Bulls at the first stage have little effect. They are needed only for crafters and transporting large amounts of resources between locations. At the first stage, don’t bother with bulls, very soon they will cost a penny, or you can craft them yourself.
Here's a quick comparison between moving on foot and on low-tier mounts:
T3 horse:
T4 horse:
Wolf (t6, fastest mount in the game): 
It is very difficult to catch up with an enemy on a mount, because if you are knocked off the mount, then all your skills go into cooldown, you can use acceleration from your boots and break away from the enemy anyway. If you are chasing someone, then you won’t be able to catch up with the horse on foot, and if you catch up with him on a horse and jump off while moving, your skills will be on cooldown, and it’s difficult to knock one or even several people off your horse with auto-attacks. Therefore, if you see a group ganking, try to run away from it on your horse.
It is also very difficult to disassemble the bull, since it will take a long time to beat it. But the bull understands the problem of control quickly.
Don’t try to run away from your enemies on horseback towards the bears, they have a camp, and the chance that you will be knocked off your horse and dismantled right there by the mobs is very high. Actually, it’s not worth running through a crowd of mobs on a horse either, even at farming/quality.
p.s. The article turned out to be very long and took 3 days, I even had to think about it at work. But one thing I realized is that it is very difficult to describe everything in one article. It is difficult to keep the complete structure in mind, to describe it in detail, but without turning the manual into a three-volume book. So let’s do this, if you have questions, ask them in the comments, I will answer them as best I can.
This guide does not cover all aspects.
Coolness
VI–IX levels.
Command center.
Factory. Air defense.
Field airfield.
Iron will
The game scheme is designed for airplanes VII-X levels.
Sectors located on the map:
Fortified area. The least complex and protected areas.
Airbase.
Command center. Guarded by defenders: 3 light aircraft. Every 110 seconds, calls in a strike flight of five bombers to attack enemy territory (excluding neutral territories). The strike link flies out from the edge of the map in the direction of the target, after which it is bombarded, causing significant damage. The amount of damage depends on the number of bombers reaching the target. Having captured one territory, the command center switches to attacking another. Bombers can be intercepted and destroyed by enemy team aircraft. Brings 3 influence points every 5 seconds. Installed 6 light + 4 high-altitude air defense guns.
Factory.
The last argument
The game scheme is designed for airplanes VII-X levels.
Sectors located on the map:
Fortified area.
Military base. Guarded by defenders: 2 heavy aircraft. Every 20 seconds, launches a missile attack on adjacent neutral or enemy-controlled territory until it is captured. After this, a new territory is selected as the target of missile strikes. Brings 3 influence points every 5 seconds. Installed 4 light + 6 high-altitude air defense guns.
Airbase. Guarded by defenders: 4 light / 2 heavy aircraft. Gives you the opportunity to change the class and model of the aircraft on the tactical screen, choosing from battle-ready and appropriately leveled aircraft in the Hangar. It is a point of re-entry into battle (you can select this territory to appear above it after the destruction of the aircraft). Brings 3 influence points every 5 seconds. Allows you to restore strength and critical damage to the aircraft. Reduces the waiting time to re-enter battle by 10 seconds for all pilots of the team controlling this sector. 6 light air defense guns installed.
Gordian knot
The game scheme is designed for airplanes VII - X levels.
Sectors located on the map:
Fortified area. Guarded by defenders: 2 light / 2 heavy aircraft. When captured, they gain 3 influence points every 5 seconds. Installed 2 light + 2 high-altitude air defense guns.
Field airfield. Guarded by defenders: 6 light aircraft. It is a point of re-entry into battle (you can select this territory to appear in battle after the destruction of an aircraft). Brings 3 influence points every 5 seconds. Installed 2 light air defense guns.
Factory. There are no defender planes. Brings 3 influence points every 5 seconds. Brings 80 influence points every 120 seconds. If the territory was captured by another team during the countdown, the countdown starts again. 6 high-altitude guns installed
Command center.
Equilibrium
The game scheme is designed for airplanes VIII - X levels.
Sectors located on the map:
Fortified area. Guarded by defenders: 2 light / 2 heavy aircraft. When captured, they gain 3 influence points every 5 seconds. Installed 2 light + 2 high-altitude air defense guns.
Factory. There are no defender planes. Brings 3 influence points every 5 seconds. Brings 80 influence points every 120 seconds. If the territory was captured by another team during the countdown, the countdown starts again. 6 high-altitude guns installed
Command center. Guarded by defenders: 3 light aircraft. Every 110 seconds, calls in a strike flight of five bombers to attack enemy territory (excluding neutral territories). The strike link flies out from the edge of the map in the direction of the target, after which it is bombarded, causing significant damage. The amount of damage depends on the number of bombers reaching the target. Having captured one territory, the command center switches to attacking another. Brings 3 influence points every 5 seconds. Installed 6 light + 4 high-altitude air defense guns.
Sphere of influence
The game scheme is designed for airplanes VII - X levels.
Sectors located on the map:
Fortified area. Guarded by defenders: 2 light / 2 heavy aircraft. When captured, they gain 3 influence points every 5 seconds. Installed 2 light + 2 high-altitude air defense guns.
Airbase. Guarded by defenders: 4 light / 2 heavy aircraft. Gives you the opportunity to change the class and model of the aircraft on the tactical screen, choosing from battle-ready and appropriately leveled aircraft in the Hangar. It is a point of re-entry into battle (you can select this territory to appear above it after the destruction of the aircraft). Brings 3 influence points every 5 seconds. Allows you to restore strength and critical damage to the aircraft. Reduces the waiting time to re-enter battle by 10 seconds for all pilots of the team controlling this sector. 6 light air defense guns installed.
Wings of War
The game scheme is designed for airplanes VI - IX levels.
Sectors located on the map:
Fortified area. Guarded by defenders: 2 light / 2 heavy aircraft. When captured, they gain 3 influence points every 5 seconds. Installed 2 light + 2 high-altitude air defense guns.
Field airfield. Guarded by defenders: 6 light aircraft. It is a point of re-entry into battle (you can select this territory to appear in battle after the destruction of an aircraft). Brings 3 influence points every 5 seconds. Installed 2 light air defense guns.
Command center. Guarded by defenders: 3 light aircraft. Every 110 seconds, calls in a strike flight of five bombers to attack enemy territory (excluding neutral territories). The strike link flies out from the edge of the map in the direction of the target, after which it is bombarded, causing significant damage. The amount of damage depends on the number of bombers reaching the target. Having captured one territory, the command center switches to attacking another. Brings 3 influence points every 5 seconds. Installed 6 light + 4 high-altitude air defense guns.
Factory. There are no defender planes. Brings 3 influence points every 5 seconds. Brings 80 influence points every 120 seconds. If the territory was captured by another team during the countdown, the countdown starts again. 6 high-altitude guns installed
Game schemes for the "Invasion" mode
Attack on the coast
The game scheme is designed for airplanes VI-X levels.
Sectors located on the map:
Fortified area.
Airbase.
Support point.
Game patterns for the "War of Attrition" mode
Gordian knot
The game scheme is designed for airplanes V - VIII levels.
Sectors located on the map:
Fortified area. Guarded by defenders: 2 light / 2 heavy aircraft. Installed 2 light + 2 high-altitude air defense guns.
Airbase. Guarded by defenders: 4 light / 2 heavy aircraft. 6 light air defense guns installed.
Command center. Guarded by defenders: 3 light aircraft. Installed 6 light + 4 high-altitude air defense guns.
Support point. There are no defender aircraft. 4 high-altitude and 6 light air defense guns are installed
Game schemes for the "Escort" mode
Thunderclaps
The game scheme is designed for airplanes IX - X levels.
Sectors located on the map:
Support point. There are no defender aircraft. 4 high-altitude and 6 light air defense guns are installed
Whether your desire as a player is to fulfill the role of tank, healer or damage dealer, there are always certain playstyles that adhere to a niche role better than others. Today, we would like to discuss upon a well-rounded tank build that can bode well in a group of any size.
An Iron-clad tank is designed for disrupting foes and controlling the pace of a battle. Whether large-scale, small-scale, having an Iron-clad on your side is typically advantageous. If you enjoy rendering rival healers useless, harassing enemy backlines and forcing them out of position, all while being as sturdy as a brick wall, then this may be just the build you were in search of.
For starters, let’s establish the armor set and weapon of choice used in this build.
1) Medium Plate Helmet
2) Heavy Cloth Chest
3) Heavy Cloth Boots
4) Iron-clad Staff
Choosing medium helmet may come as a surprise, but bear with me as there is good reasoning for the decision. Let’s discuss the skills we will want to forge onto our armor and weapon before heading out into the open world.
Medium Helmet Skill:
Medium Helmet is a personal favorite in Albion, as it offers a multitude of skills that are very useful on most builds, depending on what form of PvP you are involved in. For most intents and purposes, your choice of skill for this build would be Meditation - a versatile skill which reduces all currently active cooldowns by 10 seconds. This essentially means that your skills will be available again faster so you can do your job even more effectively.
Although you will usually want to have meditation for most team fights to increase your availability of crowd control (CC) cooldowns, another option primarily for small-scale ganking would be Defenseless Rush. This skill offers a 72% movement increase that will allow you to catch and hold your opponents in place, while your allies catch up to finish them off.
Medium Helmet Passive:
Since your job is to be the primary crowd control player in your group, the best passive to take would be Authority, which increases all CC duration by 5%, furthering your disruption capabilities.
Heavy Chest Skill:
The primary skill we will want to take for this build would be Root Prison - you guessed it, another CC oriented skill that roots any opponents surrounding you for 4 seconds. Root prison is one of the strongest CC skills in the game, and often times sets up your team to land critical area of effect (AoE) damage on your opponents.
Although the cooldown of root prison is rather extensive (30 seconds), this is one area where meditation comes into play, and effectively reduces the cooldown of root prison by 10 seconds. You’ll have it off cool-down and ready to go before you even realize it.
Heavy Chest Passive:
The passive we will want to take here would be Toughness - increasing your armor and magic resistance by a significant amount. This is the bread and butter of your survivability, and will allow you to rampage behind enemy lines for extended periods of time while mitigating the damage you receive.
For our heavy boots, the skill we will want to grab is Defensive Sprint - increasing your movement speed by 100%, like most sprints, while also increasing your armor and magic resistances tremendously for 3 seconds. The effectiveness of this skill is self-explanatory; simply rush into enemy lines with defensive sprint, receiving a huge bonus to your resistances that make you nearly un-killable. In the case that your enemy tries to focus-fire you down, it is highly unlikely that you will die with such high resistances and a competent healer on your side.
Heavy Boots Passive:
Similar to your heavy chest passive, you will also want to forge Toughness onto your boots, which will further strengthen your armor and magic resists. I think you understand the point I’m trying to make here: build as tanky as humanly possible.
Finally, we have our choice of weapon: Iron-clad Staff.
In order to unlock your Iron-clad staff, you will first want to begin by unlocking fame through the archery branch in the destiny board. After you master Journeyman's Bow, you'll want to pick up an Adept's Quarterstaff which will lead you directly into unlocking your Iron-clad Staff. It’s a very simple process to achieve and is more than worth your time-investment when you realize how much fun it is playing ping-pong with your rivals!
Now, let’s briefly discuss which 3 weapon skills will optimize your role of crowd-control and tanking with Iron-clad staves.
Concussive Blow: Generally speaking, this is an extremely useful ‘Q’ skill that comes with a variety of utilizations. To begin with, it does fairly solid damage to your enemy, while applying a slow to them at the same time. As if a slow wasn’t already handy enough, after landing this skill 3 times in succession on your opponent, they are briefly stunned and vulnerable to any damage your allies throw at them.
Stun Run: Another key skill in your CC rotation, stun run also offers a ton of utility. After casting the skill, you receive a 38% movement speed increase. During this duration, the next auto-attack you land will stun your enemy. This serves as a critical skill for canceling enemy casts, and interfering with the enemy healer’s ability to keep their allies alive.
Hurricane: Easily considered the most important skill in this build, we have Hurricane. Spinning in a frenzy for 5 seconds, knocking back any enemy in your path, canceling their casts and throwing them out of position… It is hard to deny the value of this skill. Paired with Meditation, you are nearly capable of casting this skill back-to-back with little delay, which would easily leave any group of enemies devastated.
Playstyle & Combos
The playstyle of a CC/Tank build such as this one is very straight forward: play aggressively. With the amount of defensive utility you have to offer, conjoined with the heavy crowd-control that Iron-clad staves offer, this is a build that will be a challenge for any group to take down. If you are left alone to attack your enemies freely, you have the utility to essentially make healing for the enemy a living nightmare by continuously stunning and knocking back their healers. If the enemy decides to focus-fire you, you have the defensive utility and damage mitigation to soak their damage, basically making them waste cooldowns. In either scenario, you have a distinct advantage.
A very common combo used in most Iron-clad builds starts off by using defensive sprint and stun run. The speed increases stack between these two skills, so this easily allows you to follow up with an auto attack on the focus target, in order to secure a solid stun. While the enemy is stunned, you can freely land a concussive blow which will keep them slowed even after your stun has finished. The most important part of this rotation is the finisher: hurricane. While the enemy is stunned, you can then run behind them, cast hurricane, and repeatedly knock them back towards your allies to secure the kill. This is essential, as it forces them out of position and is nearly impossible to recover from unless they have mobility such as blink to escape.
Pros: The pros of our build are limitless. You offer a wide variety of utility to any team composition and you’d be hard-pressed to find a group that wouldn’t be interested in what you have to offer in terms of PvP. The build offers high defenses, significant crowd control and even moderate mobility. You have complete control over the pace of the fight and are the determining factor towards which enemies are focused down.
Cons: A con of this build is that it doesn’t fare well in solo-play. Offering very little in terms of damage, it doesn’t excel at 1v1 nor is it optimal for solo-grinding for PvE fame, however, that isn’t really your job when playing this build. It’s entirely designed for team fights and ensuring that your enemy is disrupted as much as possible. If you are passionate about tanking for your group and would enjoy playing a well-rounded tank that has a tangible influence on the outcome of a team-fight, then this build is certainly worth checking out.
Battle awaits.
A sturdy tank is always needed on the battlefield, so it’s time to head out and give those enemy healers an experience they’ll never forget. With hurricane at your disposal, you’ll send your enemies flying back into town without any gear before they even realize what hit them.
Well, what are you waiting for? Your guild awaits their newly-found tank in Albion.
Each player wants to fulfill a specific role in battle. Whether it's a tank, a healer or a damage dealer, everyone wants to be indispensable in battle. But there are undoubtedly different playstyles that perform better than others (in the context of achieving a specific goal, of course). Today we will discuss a good tank build that is suitable for groups with different numbers of participants.
The “battleship” build is designed to destroy opponents and control the tempo of the battle. Having an Ironclad in your party will give you a distinct advantage in both small engagements and large scale battles. If you want to make the existence of enemy healers meaningless, demolish the enemy’s defense line and destroy his position, then you have come across the right article.
Armor set and weapons required for this build
- Medium iron helmet
- Heavy cloth bib
- Heavy cloth boots
- Iron staff
You might be surprised that we chose the medium iron helmet. Do not rush to be indignant - this choice is due to a compelling argument, which I will reveal below. For now, let's discuss the abilities we'll be using on armor and weapons before we head into the bare field.
Skill for medium iron helmet
The medium helmet is my personal favorite in Albion Online. It provides skills that are best suited for most builds depending on your PvP preferences. The logical choice for this build would be Meditation– a universal ability that reduces the cooldown of your active abilities by 10 seconds. This means that your skills will be available much faster, which means you can perform your role much more effectively.
Even though you'll be using Meditation most often (to increase the frequency of your crowd control abilities), I also recommend taking reckless rush. This skill will provide a 72% increase in speed, which will allow you to control the enemy (catch up and slow him down so that your allies finish off the poor guy).
Passive skill for medium iron helmet
Since your main party goal is crowd control, your best passive skill would be Authority, which increases crowd control duration by 5%.
Heavy Cloth Chest Abilities
The defining skill for this build will be... yes, Root Cage, you guessed it! Another ability focused on crowd control will surround your enemies with roots for 4 seconds. Root cell This is one of the best abilities for control. In addition, it will often be critical for you to have AOE damage to the area.
Yes, the cooldown of the ability is quite long (as much as 30 seconds), but this is where meditation comes in handy, which will very usefully reduce the cooldown to 20 seconds. Your abilities will be updated and ready to use before you even finish reading this sentence (or not).
Passive skill for Heavy Cloth Chestplate
As a passive skill, I recommend choosing Sustainability– it will significantly increase the level of protection and resistance to magical damage. This is the source of your “invulnerability.” The ability will help you endure enemy lines for a long period of time without dying from the damage received.
Abilities for Heavy Cloth Boots
For boots we take Jogging in defense, which increases your speed by 100% and resistance to damage and magic for 3 seconds. The effectiveness of the skill is obvious: you rush into the enemy's position using a run, and receive a huge bonus to resistance, which makes you practically invulnerable. In this case, the enemy will try to focus fire on you (useless, because you are unlikely to die with such resistance to damage and a competent healer from your team who will heal you).
Passive skill for heavy fabric boots
As with the bib, you need to select Sustainability for boots - this will add extra resistance to physical and magical damage. I think you understand what I'm getting at - we are creating a tank for which armor and resistance are the defining elements.
Finally, our weapon: the iron staff
In order to open access to the iron staff, you need to gain fame through the archer branch. After you unlock the Wanderer's Bow, study the Adept's Staff, which will later allow you to use the Iron Staff. As you can see, getting an iron staff is quite simple. Believe me, this is not only a smart investment of your time, but also a fun opportunity to “play ping pong” with your opponents.
3 weapon abilities that define the role of tank and crowd control
Concussive Strike: In general, this is an extremely useful skill that can be used in various variations. For example, it deals pure damage to the target while slowing it down. In addition, if the ability is successfully stacked 3 times, the target will be stunned, which means it will be vulnerable to attacks from your allies.
Stunning Charge: Another key skill in your rotation. After casting, you gain a 38% increase in speed, and your next auto attack stuns the enemy. This is an indispensable skill that will allow you to disrupt enemy castes and interrupt the abilities of the enemy healer, who is planning to save his allies from certain death.
Tornado: Hand on heart, I’m ready to call this skill the most significant for the entire build. You spin and unleash a flurry of punches for a full 5 seconds. By knocking back and destroying enemies in your path, you also interrupt their cast... It's hard to underestimate the importance of this ability, right? Coupled with meditation, you are able to spam a tornado over and over again, devastating enemy ranks.
Playing style and combinations
The tactics for playing an armadillo are quite trivial: play aggressively. The combination of resist abilities and crowd control skills will make life difficult for any group that tries to take you down. If you are given the opportunity to freely attack opponents, use your arsenal to become a living nightmare for enemy healers: distribute stuns left and right, interrupting their abilities. If the enemy decides to focus fire on you, you can easily defend, ignoring most of the damage and causing them to waste abilities. Either way, you have a clear advantage
A common combination in Iron Staff builds is to use a Defensive Run and a Stun Charge. Abilities gain speed from each other, allowing you to focus on auto-attacking one target that will be stunned. While the target is stunned, you can use a concussive strike, which will slow them down after the stun has expired. An indispensable element in the rotation is the tornado. While the enemy is stunned, you can run up behind him and use a tornado to quickly throw him towards your allies (who will certainly finish off the poor fellow). As you understand, this action will not allow enemies to free themselves in time and move freely (unless they have a skill that provides mobility, for example, teleport).
Pros and cons of the Battleship build
Pros: The advantages of this build are almost limitless. You provide a wide range of useful abilities and actions for a group of any composition. There is hardly a team that does not want to have you in their ranks, because you have everything you need to win in PvP. The build provides high protection, allows for crowd control and moderate mobility.
Minuses: The downside of the build is that it is not intended for solo play. A low damage rate will not allow you to succeed in 1v1 battles and is not optimal for PvE grinding. However, this build is intended for those who have completely different tasks. It is designed for team fights and is designed to inflict maximum damage on the enemy line of defense. If you like being a tank and breaking through enemy formations with a group, if you understand that a good tank greatly increases your chances of winning, then this build is worth a try.
To victory!
A strong tank is simply irreplaceable on the battlefield, which means it’s time to perform and give enemy healers incomparable pleasure. With a tornado in your arsenal, you'll send your opponents on a long flight into the city without any equipment faster than they can even understand what happened.
What are you waiting for? The group is already tired of waiting!
