Ancient Lands in Albion Online: portals, risk and rewards

What the Ancient Lands are

The Ancient Lands are a realm of floating islands above Albion, linked by a network of Leygates. They mix PvE and PvP: inside you fight Ashborn monsters and new creatures, and you run into other parties.

It is group (or solo) content, with short sessions and its own rewards, including Dragonslayer gear and the Firewing Drake mount. Because it mixes combat against players and against monsters, the most used builds are hybrids.

How to enter

You enter through portals in the open world, and the portal size sets the group:

• Small: 1 to 5 players.
• Medium: 5 to 7 players.
• Large: 15 to 20 players.

The number of players that enter decides who you face: solo against solo, groups of 2 to 3 against groups of 2 to 3, 4 to 5 against 4 to 5, 5 to 7 against 5 to 7, and 15 to 20 against 15 to 20.

A portal appears locked and only opens after a wait that depends on its size. Once open, it stays accessible for a few minutes. To enter, every party member must declare themselves ready and channel for a moment, then the leader decides when you go in. The timings have been adjusted in patches, so check the current values in the game.

Inside, parties are anonymous to one another and each one appears at a different entry point.

What to do on the islands

You arrive on one of the outer islands and see two quests: a local one, for the island you are on, and a global one, which ends in the final encounter.

• Defeating an island's enemies completes its local quest and gives a Leygate Keystone.
• Keystones activate the Leygates that link the islands, and you can take one out of a Leygate to use on another route.
• There are four Drakes on some islands, marked on the map. You must complete each of those islands' quests to complete the global quest.
• Once the global quest is done, the central island opens after a moment and gives access to the last challenge: the Fire Drake. Defeating it gives plenty of loot and opens a portal back to the region you came from.

If you want to leave early, any entry portal on the outer islands takes you back to the original region. Island chests (except the central one) only open after the island's quest is done, so nobody can snipe the main prize and leave the objective to the others.

Spirit Essence and bleedout

Spirit Essence is a stackable buff that only exists inside. Each stack increases the fame you earn and gives more damage and defense against monsters. You get it from interacting with dragon statues, from defeating monsters (with some chance), from enemies such as Drakes (always) and from defeating players. It is lost when you leave the Ancient Lands.

If a player knocks you down, 50% of your Spirit Essence goes to the opposing group and the rest is lost.

In PvP, a player who is knocked down does not die right away: they enter bleedout, and allies can revive them before the timer ends. Moving away from the ally trying to revive you makes the timer run out faster. Revived players return with a stacking 10% maximum health debuff, which lasts while you are inside.

Risk and gear limits

Risk depends on the portal's zone:

• In yellow zones, portals lead to partial-loot Ancient Lands (orange zone), where you only lose your inventory when you die.
• In red and black zones, they lead to full-loot Ancient Lands.

In the partial-loot ones there is also item freeze: the items you carry in your inventory when you enter are frozen and do not drop if you die, but whatever you pick up inside does. Check in the game whether this rule still applies.

There is a soft cap of 1200 item power, with different effects in partial-loot and full-loot lands. So gear above that value gives less than it seems: it is not worth spending more than needed.

Rewards

The main rewards are:

• Dragonslayer gear: made with Fire Dragon Scales, which drop from Drakes and dragons. The Jacket creates a protective zone and gives more damage and cooldown recovery, the Hood reveals invisible enemies and slows their recovery, and the Shoes build up movement speed you can spend to refund your weapon cooldowns.
• Firewing Drake: a rare mount. The Firewing Drake Egg is a rare prize from the Dragon Sanctuary and is raised in a kennel, feeding it other mounts. Instead of a gallop it glides, does not lose the glide when taking damage (only stuns end it) and is immune to forced movement effects.
• Consumables: Leyfin Omelette (less cast time, less cooldown and more healing), Lifeward Potion (revives whoever would be defeated, once) and Drake Egg biscuits (more combat and gathering fame for 25 hours).
• Draconic Insight: a standing that rises by interacting with statues, sacrificing bones at altars and defeating Drakes and dragons, and unlocks cosmetics.

Ancient Bones, which drop from Drakes and sometimes from chests, are offered at Ancient Altars: a small sacrifice gives 10% fame for 1 hour and a large one gives 20% for 2 hours, and nearby allies gain too. Chest loot was increased in patches, so values can change.

Dragon Sanctuary

The Dragon Sanctuary is the hardest PvE encounter in the game, built for raids of up to 20 players. It goes through an Ashborn stronghold, high-level bosses and, at the end, Azaryon, the Fire Dragon.

To enter you need a Spirit Waystone, obtained by combining fragments found in the Ancient Lands, as a drop from Fire Drakes and dragons, or by buying it (it and its fragments can be traded and sold on the Market). The Waystone's tier sets the Sanctuary's tier, and using it in an open-world region of the matching tier opens the portal, which can only be used by one raid at a time.

There is no item power cap, so you can bring your best PvE gear and an optimized composition. Whoever defeats Azaryon receives a Lingering Dragon Spirit for seven days, which makes the next runs harder. The fight's values have been tuned in patches, so check in the game.

Dragon attacks

Dragons also attack the Royal Continent and the Outlands, in open-world encounters any player can join. On the Royal Continent they are announced just before, and in the Outlands well ahead, to give time to prepare and contest the objective.

The goal is to bring the dragon's health down until it flees. When it flees it leaves a chest with loot for those who contributed, solo or in a group. In the Outlands, repelling an attack also gives Might and Favor, which count toward the guild season objectives.

How to prepare

Before you go in:

• Pick the portal size that fits your group: small for solo, duo and trio, medium for 5 to 7 and large for 15 to 20.
• Remember that gear above 1200 item power gives less, so spend what you need.
• Bring a heal potion and food, and check whether the Lifeward Potion and the Leyfin Omelette give you an edge.
• Plan your way back: any entry portal on the outer islands brings you home.

For builds, the balance is between surviving against players and killing monsters quickly. In the site's PvE builds, the Ancient Lands activity gathers our proposals, solo and group (tank, healer and ranged DPS). They are starting points: adjust them to your style and to what you bring.

What to check in the game

The Ancient Lands are recent and change with patches, so check:

• Portal opening and entry times.
• The item freeze rule in partial-loot lands.
• The item power cap and how it affects your gear.
• Chest and Drake loot.
• Dragon Sanctuary requirements and the Waystone's tier.