September 6, 2019

Pirate101 PvP Gear Farming Hotspots

Let me guess, you’ve reached the endgame and have finally completed the main storyline, defeating Kane? Have you been farming for PvE gear for ages, eventually obtaining it? Feeling bored and want to get deeper into Pirate101’s premiere side activity in PvP? This article is definitely for you then, as it will feature some of the best places to go for your PvP gear.

First Things First

Before we start, I will give you this advice: Do NOT go immediately into Ranked PvP foolishly thinking that you’ll be able to compete. Why?

Ranked PvP is essentially dead at the moment. The rewards are no longer desirable, so almost no one bothers with it. If the original rewards return, this may temporarily change, but for now, you won’t face many skilled players in Rank. The Spar Chamber is a better environment to hone your skills in
Another reason is definitely your gear. Since you’re a new player in the PvP halls, it’ll be extremely difficult for you to compete with your PvE gear. You are likely to be deficient in protections, heals, and possibly attacks.
Finally, the use of cheese sets ( things like summon spam, Old Scratch, etc.) and Time Warp make it even harder for you to compete. These will be frustrating and often downright impossible for you to face at the beginning, particularly without experience or a suitable gearset.

Why Should I Prioritize Gear?

PvP gear gives you better results compared to the gear you were using for PvE, particularly if that gear was stat-based. For example, you need protections to tank a buck’s chains, a privy’s zeal, etc etc. I often see swashbucklers running full moo tower gear– using 0 protections. This puts them in a dangerous position since they will be unable to survive the mid to late game. Furthermore, their opponents that have protection will easily tank their damage.
There are certain powers that are only useful in PvP. For instance, one of swashbuckler’s deadliest powers is their Assassin’s Shroud, which leaves a 5 round, heal-blocking poison. Some players opt to use Technomage’s Glasses, which give a Dispel Magic card. This power removes the heal-blocking ability of Assassin’s Shroud, making you more likely to survive it. The same applies with Sprocket Key’s Purge Magic.
Most importantly is that it puts both players on an equal footing. You will both have protections, heals, attacks etc. Although skill is important, if you don’t have enough attacks or protection, you will inevitably lose.

The next part of this article will discuss some farming hotspots and the gear you can expect to get from them.

Important Bosses for PvP Gear

Friar Sand

He’s one of the best spots to farm for PvP gear for 1 of the 5 classes. He also provides some nice options for 2 of the other class. One of the best things about farming him is that it’s a single boss fight. No long dungeons or running around collecting items. Finally, the battle has a special victory condition: once Friar Sand dies, the battle ends. All you need to do is send your pirate and all your companions at Friar Sand on round 1 and you are likely to immediately win the fight.

Drops

Swashbucklers obtain the largest amount of PvP loot from him. He drops 2 items that provide a Valor’s Fortress (Tantojutsu Headband and Boots of Sanctuary). He also drops an important outfit that gives a Revive heal, another essential (Shaolinquan Vestment).

Buccaneers come in second if they’re fan of running hybrid weapons like the Haywire Swashbuckler set or Armada Blade. He drops a pair of boots for them that give the ever-annoying and dodge reducing Uncanny Shot (Snapshot Greaves). For bucks of any playstyle, Sand has an Assassin’s Strike robe (Mifune’s Gusoku), which depending on your gear choices for other slots, can be a valuable addition.

Witchdoctors can get a Fort (Kami No Sensei’s Garb) or Revive (Black Jade Shenyi) robe if they’re not on the Moo Robe plan.

Bishop

Bishop is quite the interesting farming spot for PvP gear. The dungeon is pretty long and tedious, but you can always farm the first Bishop fight only, ignoring the rest of the dungeon. If you decide to do this (the optimal strategy), know that there is a single mob fight before you first encounter Bishop. His drops are quite indeed worth it though! So the hassle is somehow worth it.

Drops

Swashbucklers definitely get a gear piece to farm for if they prefer a more aggressive, pressuring setup: Sprocket Key. This item gives a power called Purge Magic, which removes any ongoing positive buff effects (protections, stat buffs, heal over time ticks, etc).

Buccaneers get most of the important loot from him actually. He drops some essential gear pieces, such as Helm of the Valiant, which gives them a Valor Fortress protection shield. Having forts as a buck lets you tank swashbucklers’ poisons, Musketeer bombs and traps, and Witchdoctor’s spells. This is especially important when facing Scratch buffed variants of these attacks.

Another thing Buccaneers can get from Bishop if they’re running another different setup is Defense Minister’s Tarleton which gives them a Revive heal. However, Buccaneers have a lot of flexibility with their revives (they can put them in any slot except their patch), so this isn’t a particularly essential piece.

One final important piece of gear they can get is the Arms of the Valiant, an outfit that grants an Assassin Strike. This is super important as Buccaneers rely heavily on powerful guaranteed attacks, not just their chains.

Musketeers as well have one piece to go for, the Technomage’s Glasses accessory. It gives a power that removes any kind of negative debuffs in a 3×3 area, helping them a lot against accuracy reduces or curse effects from bucklers’ Assassin’s Shroud. Privateers can run this piece as well as a temporary accessory but ONLY IF THEY DO NOT HAVE THE SOUL SHROUD ACCESSORY. If you do have the Soul Shroud accessory, (Which i’ll discuss later in this article) please read on and use it over Techno’s glasses.

Witchdoctors can get a fort (The Robe of Houndini) robe from this boss.

Tyler

Tyler is another important farming spot for PvP gear. Like Friar Sand, it is a one fight instance and there isn’t any extra work to do, like in the Bishop fight. However, his drop rates can be quite frustrating but can’t be any worse from Rooke (who shares many of Tyler’s drops).

Drops

For Buccaneers, they definitely have at least 1 essential PvP gear piece he drops, the Schemer’s Eyepatch Accessory. This grants them access to a 2nd Assassin’s Strike and is a pure melee buck’s only real option for an Accessory. Another essential gear piece Buccs can get from Tyler is Special Branch Badge, a charm that grants Valor’s Fortress.

Don’t forget that Witchdoctors exist! They get a share from Tyler’s loot table as well. He drops the Eyeglass of Reverance totem for them, which gives them a Valor Fortress. KI knows how squishy they are ,so they gave them an extra shield to somewhat lessen their worries against melees (for an extra round or two).

Privateers‘ share from the loot table of Tyler is also pretty good. They can get the Simply Smashing Monocle, a Totem that grants Vicious Charge. However, it’s only used in niche gearsets and isn’t a necessity. However, he also drops a very important gear piece for them: the Special Branch Ribbon, a charm that grants an Assassin’s Strike. Keep in mind that Privateers need to carry at least 2 Assassins, so this one is quite a must.

Diskylos

This dog is one of the most excellent farming spots in Aquila and is also a 1 fight instance. He can be quite annoying to deal with, due to his 13k health, the highest health in game for a single boss/creature. However, his loot is definitely worth it.

Drops

Swashbucklers do have 1 important piece of gear from him which is Ascelipus’ Talisman, an eyepatch that provides their 3rd Valor Fortress. It is needed for sure to complete their suite of 3 protections (it’s also the only truly good eyepatch option). Also, for hybrid melee Swashbucklers, there is an outfit and ring from Diskylos that grant them an Uncanny Shot power. The outfit is Chlamys of Bellerophon and the ring is Ring of Apollo

Privateer gets a loot share as usual. He drops another important gear piece, the Imperator’s Panoply outfit. It gives them their second ultra-important Assassin’s Strike. Do note that this robe is only available from the group plunder chest, so solo fighters will need to look elsewhere for this robe.

Buccaneer gets another hybrid gear piece to their anti-buckler crusade, the Patch of Strobing Blasts. It gives them another Uncanny Shot option, which puts massive pressure on swashbucklers.

Musketeers can get a pair of trick shot granting eye-patches, Patch of Asterion’s Ruin and Patch of Tyche’s Blind Luck. They grant Inferno Shot and Hurricane Round, respectively. Although this may not seem like much, these patches are among the most popular options

Tyson

This chicken wrestler is arguably one great boss to farm for Muskets and Buccaneers. He provides these classes with some critical gear pieces that will definitely be needed for PvP. Each additional pirate fighting him will spawn an extra copy of Tyson, so don’t be intimidated by this boss’s large loot table

Drops

For Buccaneers, all they’ll need from him is Dragoon’s Heavy Boots. These boots will give them a Walk in Darkness power card (a 5 round hide). This will help them in PvP to buy sometime to recover, buff and get ready to face their enemy again or to go aggressive against squishy foes with it.

As for Musketeers they can get plenty of Valor’s Armor (absorb) pieces from him such as Matador’s Headgear, Ranchero’s Finery (robe).

Finally, Swashbucklers can pick up Cattle Baron’s Boots, which grant an absorb. These are probably only useful if you’re opting to use a 2 absorb setup with Old Scratch

Tower of Moo Manchu

One of the best and coolest places to farm for PvE gearsets, right? But in fact, it’s also one of the best places to farm for PvP gear items. Regardless of how long this tower can take (a well oiled team with Scratch, Frozen Tide, and Blood Flames can rush through in 45 minutes, while inexperienced groups may slog through in 2 hours), it’s definitely worth your while.

Drops

I’ll discuss the drops in two sections: Tower gear and Unique loot. Almost all classes benefit in a way or another from certain Tower gear pieces in PvP. By tower gear, I mean items that have 2 power grants. These can be obtained from various fights within the tower at random, as well as in the 4-lock chests after the 4th and 8th floors.

Swashbucklers need the ring and totem to complete their standard PvP gearset (And hat too if they’re running another setup that involves Stormzilla’s Egg). It may be worthwhile to pick up the tower robe or totem as well, as they are viable choices in certain matchups.

Buccaneers need the tower ring if they’re running the traditional setup. Other setups will occasionally run the tower robe or charm, particularly in matchups where forts are less important (the mirror and Privateers).

Privateers need their Hat, Boots, Totem, and Ring.

Although they rarely use both simultaneously, Musketeers need to pick up the tower hat and totem

And finally, Witchdoctors need tower hat and/or boots for many PvP setups.

Unique loot in the Tower

For Swashbuckler, there’s quite a bit of nice PvP loot you can get. Keep an eye out for the Zayat Jacket, which grants a revive. Although this robe is auctionable and common in the Bazaar, you’re likely to pick it up in the tower at some point. Another important item for Swashbucklers is the Seven Lamps Locket, a revive-granting charm. It leaves them at 4 heals if they have a rally pet (5 with a Spring Champion weapon). However, you’d have to sacrifice Sprocket Key for it. Which is a good deal in my opinion. This charm is one that you’re going to have to pick up in the tower, as it shows up very rarely in the Bazaar, unlike Zayat Jacket

There’s also a weapon, the Staff of Power (Swashbuckler). However, it isn’t recommended for use in 1v1s. For more details, see this article.

When it comes to Privateers and Witchdoctors we’re talking about one item, the Death’s Bargain accessory which gives a talent called Soul Shroud. This accessory is super important as it helps them to drain the opponent’s health and recover some health. Furthermore, for Witchdoctors, shroud helps them to counter the opponent’s Witch hunter talent. If Soul Shroud triggers on the opponent’s turn, triggering their Witch Hunter, the witch will be able to avoid the 50% protection buff that Witch Hunter gives.

A second good loot item for Privateer is the Staff of Power (Privateer) as it has one of the highest base weapon powers for Privateers in game.

Kane

Kane is arguably one of the easiest endgame dungeons to complete. And let me tell you, even though the Machine Control Room has 2 minion fights before the final encounter with Kane, it doesn’t actually take longer time to finish it. And it definitely never gets old. It’s one of my most favorite battles! Kane’s exclusive loot is viable only if you’re a privateer or a musketeer. He also drops some of the aforementioned Aquila items that can be found in the Diskylos section.

Drops

Privateers can get the infamous Firstmate’s Boon from him. It buffs one companion’s weapon power, absolutely demolishing the entire opposing crew if played correctly. However, there are counters for it.

Musketeers get their true grit/quick adjust charm or totem from him. It’s quite good, actually, against Nausica’s grit chains and Quick Draw 3 units, like the fox we all love and fear, Bonnie Anne!