November 11, 2023

Pirate101 Obsidian Floating Dutchman Guide

For the first time in SIX years, Pirate101 has received multiple updates in a single year with the inclusion of Sinbad 2, Bryne’s Dreadnaught, and Sinbad 3. One of the most distinguishable fights comes from the July 2023 update with the (re-)introduction of a VERY old friend, the Obsidian Floating Dutchman!

Some of you may remember him as an early game boss sitting in Perdition’s Cauldron near the Presidio. He still drops some gear usable at level 70 today; a remarkable achievement most bosses cannot claim. With only a few epics and just 199 health, chances are, this guy served as a slight challenge at best at the appropriate level. You may have even been disappointed to see how easy he was in revisiting him, and thus never had a chance to find out what his ‘Pestilence’ did.

Well, lo’ and behold. The July 2023 update gave him a FIERY return! He did not take his first defeat well at all, and this time, he’s more than prepared to take down the same Pirate who defeated the Armada. With new abilities and powers, as well as a few new friends amidst our absence, this new Obsidian Floating Dutchman is an absolute juggernaut who is more than capable of enacting his revenge!

Obsidian Floating Dutchman Location

This fight is located in the Vortex of the Soul in Monquista’s Tierra Primata Skyway. Keep to the blue windlane and it should be somewhat close to Zenda.

After entering the vortex, you can enter the sigil and then use an obsidian key, similar to the Scrimshaw bosses.

Obsidian Floating Dutchman Battleboard

Before reading about ANY of the individual mobs, know that the enemies ALWAYS start first on turn 1. With a fight on this difficulty, this is a MASSIVE disadvantage for the player.

There’s also a middle part of the board that cannot be traveled over unless some form of jump or teleport is used. This area starts out with some smoke clouds that block line of sight of ranged enemies but it goes away after an enemy travels through it.

Enemies

Level 75 Buccaneer 12,495 health

Cheats/Powers:

Has a copy of Revive, Gambit of Steel, Dance of Steel, and Gallant Defence. Usually, he will use either Gambit or Dance of Steel as his first moves. The Revive and Gallant Defence activate at random. (Don’t worry, he doesn’t have the spell power for the Revive to heal proportionately to his max health.)
Incredible chaining potential based on his epics.
Dutchman has a normal amount of movement range but has flight, allowing him to bypass some obstacles.
Now for his main cheat: Pestilence! When he moves near an ally of the player team, all units on the player team who are adjacent to Dutchman will be inflicted with a ‘Pestilence’ debuff. Any other ally who is adjacent to someone with Pestilence will receive pestilence themselves, so this essentially spreads like a virus.
If a companion with the Pestilence debuff dies, as long as Dutchman is alive, he will resurrect that companion as a level 75 enemy. Fortunately, the resurrected companions do not have access to any rank 3 epics and have lower health. However, they all still have the same powers as when they were companions.
If a minion, pet, or Pirate dies with the Pestilence debuff, Dutchman will not resurrect them, even if he is alive.

Level 75 Buccaneer 4,924 health

Cheats/Powers:

Has a copy of Vicious Charge and Leviathan’s Call. Like most buccaneer enemies with Vicious Charge, such as the Terrorcotta minions, this will be the first power the buccaneer ghosts use. The Leviathan’s Call is rarely ever used, if ever.
Incredible chaining potential based on epics. Fortunately, it does not have Turn the Tide.
Normal amount of movement range but has flight, allowing it to bypass some obstacles.
Note that Merciless 2 activates if the Floating Spirit moves near an ally who is close to death. Merciless 2 will activate as a normal attack that will do heavy damage to things that are on the verge of death.

Level 75 Swashbuckler 4,103 health

Cheats/Powers:

Has a copy of Assassin’s Strike, Dance of Steel, Gambit of Steel, and Walk in Darkness. Assassin’s Strike is usually used pretty early in the fight and the Floating Phantom’s version usually does about 2400 damage without the bleed damage taken into account. The Dance/Gambit of Steels are used at random and the Walk in Darkness is rarely used.
Over 200 dodge by default, allowing for incredible Riposte chains.
Normal amount of movement range but has flight, allowing it to bypass some obstacles.
Cheap Shot 5 can immobilize allies trying to move away from the Floating Phantom. Sneaky Sneaky 2 allows the Floating Phantom hide at the end of many turns.

Level 75 Privateer 5,859 health

Cheats/Powers:

Has a copy of Enduring Discipline, Gunnery, and Reinforce. These powers will be used at random.
Bladestorm chains might get a bit messy if it gets really lucky. Witch Hunter 3 could be an annoyance for witch-based attacks within melee range of the Floating Ghost.
Normal amount of movement range but has flight, allowing it to bypass some obstacles.
Has Charming Gaze, which may be a little bit annoying if you remember the privateer from the Nefarious 6 fight.

Level 75 Witchdoctor 3,720 Health

Cheats/Powers:

Has a copy of Jobu’s Embrace and Mojo Burn. These powers will be used at random. Mojo Burn can cause devastating damage with a full team of Old Scratches.
Essentially the same as the buccaneer ghost but with witchdoctor talents. Difference here being that while the buccaneer is melee, the witchdoctor has incredible range, meaning it has potential to snipe an unprepared ally from the half of the board that cannot be walked through.
Has Scent 2, which will remove ally hides that are near the Floating Shade

Now that we know the enemy a bit better, let’s take a look at how to actually beat this thing.

(Credits to the wiki for the snapshots of these!)

Strategy

With the high power of these minions in addition to how enemies go first, it may prove to be a challenging fight to solo. As a result, the strategies discussed will be in the context of a group. In a group, Dutchman is guaranteed to spawn but the types of ghosts that will spawn are random. Do expect to fight at least one of every type of ghost, however.

Nonetheless, this fight CAN be soloed! If you choose to solo this, you will be up against Dutchman and four ghost minions he has, one of each class, making this a 4v5.

Classes:

Honestly, there isn’t really a set order of classes you MUST use. Of course, the standard Old Scratch mojo spam of Privy/Witch/Musket works in this fight but that doesn’t mean they’re the only classes.

Swashbucklers can still be valuable as most of the enemies are melee, giving them some Riposte potential, as well as their ability to freely jump over the unwalkable middle area. This makes them the only class that can freely traverse the entire board with no consequences.

Buccaneers can land Vengeance Strike on Dutchman, which can stun him. This stun can actually temporarily disable Dutchman from resurrecting a companion who dies on the same turn after he gets stunned (this is NOT the same as the doubloon stun, which will disable all normal epics but none of the cheating ones). They also have Hold the Line 3 for dodge reduction as well Reckless Frenzy for a potentially quick kill on the boss himself.

Companions:

This is a basic list of companions that you could use. You are obviously not limited to only these companions but hopefully this will give some good insight.

Old Scratch: Even though the Floating Shades present a threat to mojo users, Scratch buffed teams are simply too efficient at killing large groups of mobs for a few Mojo Burns to be a complete deterrent from using him.
Gracie Conrad: Her mine can still do major damage to the mobs especially in a largely Scratch team. That golem minion of hers also has Hold the Line 3, which is useful for reducing enemy dodge, especially on the Floating Phantom.
Emmett: With many movement reduction debuffs, a 50% damage debuff, and a team heal, Emmett is sure to be a strong supporting choice for a Privateer to use.
Chantel: Just an offensive powerhouse for muskets, what can I say?
Peter Quint/Fan Flanders: These are probably used depending on your respective class and/or your team happens to not be Scratch based.
Ratbeard: Great defensive utility with the knockback and accuracy reduction if your team is not Scratch based.
El Toro: That buff is still pretty good if your team is not Scratch based and he has a good line of epics. I also just wanted to end the section off with some emojis like the recent update notes, so, 🎺 🎵 🎵 🎺

In battle:

Now of course, Pirate has a lot of RNG so it’ll be impossible to write an exact step-by-step guide on everything you MUST do. There’s also some really overpowered gear; Tide + Blood Flames (Scratch buffs, baby!) are STILL a devastating combo even in this fight.

In this fight, there is even MORE starting RNG than usual simply because enemies move first. The first turn luck can range from minimal damage done to your team to someone’s entire team being dead or close to death, so you’ll need to find a way to adapt to the situation. Nonetheless, to give some expectation on what to expect doing this fight, I’ve written some steps on what should be expected as the fight progresses.

WARNING ABOUT FLEEING: Once Dutchman is dead, NO ONE can join the fight.

After surviving the first round, use whatever buffs you may see fit. For defense, it is a great idea to use a Scratch buffed Valor’s Rampart, Triton’s Chorus, or a Fort on someone. You may even need to use a heal if someone is on incredibly low health already. If mobs get very overwhelming on the first turn, you can use a doubloon to push them all back. You can even have someone use tide and treat the fight like a normal tide/flame fight. However, there are some things to keep in mind if you do this:
1. The Dutchman and Floating Ghosts have Alert, making them take 50% less damage to traps.
2. If you use Frozen Tide, if the enemies have no targets, they may use some of the powers that were previously said to be rarely used, similar to how the Terracotta minions almost never use Leviathan’s Call unless Frozen Tide is used.
  1. The Floating Phantoms will use Walk in Darkness
  2. The Floating Spirits will use Leviathan’s Call
  3. The Floating Ghost will have a greater chance of using Discipline
  4. The Floating Shades will have a greater chance of using Mojo Burn
  5. Note that the Ghost/Shade ‘anti-tide’ powers do have a much greater chance of happening in any fight than the Phantom/Spirit’s ‘anti-tide’ powers.
Try to get rid of Dutchman as fast as possible. This way, companion deaths (if they happen at all) will not be as punishing.
1. There are many things that may obstruct line of sight in this particular battleboard. Do not worry if your attacks can only hit ghosts but not Dutchman, these minions are still incredibly powerful in their own right. Depending on what’s within range, it is perfectly fine to kill some ghosts earlier than Dutchman for the following reasons:
  1. The swashbucklers’ Assassin’s Strike basically one-shots almost ANYTHING that gets touched by it.
  2. The buccaneers basically have the damage that Dutchman has, minus the massive health and Turn the Tide. This chaining potential still makes them a massive threat.
  3. The witchdoctors’ Mojo Burn can kill a heavily Scratch-buffed unit almost immediately. Even without that Mojo Burn, their high range and chaining potential still makes them a force to be reckoned with.
  4. The privateer ghosts are honestly not that bad, especially in comparison to the rest of the enemies. They can be focused last.
Once Dutchman is dead, finish the rest of the ghost minions. There may be some stragglers in the half of the board that cannot be walked through. In the event that neither ranged attacks can reach nor anyone has a mobility power/talent that can help them travel, don’t be afraid to summon a minion using doubloons to lure the remaining enemy. They will usually be within attacking range by moving towards the player side of the board shortly after. This is incredibly rare in a group but to give you an example of what it looks like:

What a predicament!

And that’s about it! Congrats on beating the Floating Dutchman!

Rewards:

In my opinion, these are the rewards that Verminius Blightbeard and Black Annie Rackham SHOULD’VE dropped. Featuring five unique hats, three of which offer some of the strongest powers of their class, and five permanent parrot mounts with ‘very fast’ speed, these are certainly some handsome rewards!

Appearance (same for all hats)

Dutchman’s Inflated Hat

Dutchman’s Floating Hat

Dutchman’s Hovering Hat

Dutchman’s Flying Hat

Dutchman’s Sailing Hat

Orange Parrot

Lilac Parrot

Yellow Parrot

Aura of Pestilence from Pestilence Control (similar to accessory badges such as Nefarious 6)

There are also Pale and Pink Parrots that drop in this fight but are not included here. If you have pictures of them, feel free to let us know!

Final Thoughts

There you have it! An early game boss that has finally been transformed into an endgame one. Players can finally see his main cheat without having to die as a level 5 pirate!

This is definitely not the worst fight in the game but I do have one grievance. I don’t see a reason as to why the middle portion of the board cannot be walked through. The enemies’ starting half of the board can be walked through by the player, but not that middle part. While environmental restrictions aren’t a bad idea in itself, I just don’t see why it would make sense for the player to be unable to traverse the entire board, even after the smoke clouds clear away.

I would say that this is among the top 3 hardest fights in the game. It’s definitely not Black Annie levels of hard but it’s harder than Blight in a group. Definitely has a nice reward pool with some quirky gear and I’m surprised that they made permanent parrot mounts, even if they’re not the same color as the Boochbeard Bundle mount.