Caravans

Caravans are armed merchant camps scattered along the Ancient Roads. Each camp is led by a Caravan Master and defended by a squad of Caravan Guards. Wipe out the camp and you earn Hunter Points, Gang Points, and a roll on the caravan's loot — including the boss essence and boss keys used to summon bosses. (If you hear other players talking about "merchants" out on the Roads, these camps are what they mean.)

Finding a caravan

Caravans spawn at fixed campsites along the Ancient Roads — reach the Roads through the /warp menu. Look for the tier-colored banner flying over a camp: black for a Coal caravan all the way up to purple for Netherite. When a camp has been cleared, its banner comes down until the caravan returns.

Cleared camps don't stay empty for long — a replacement caravan rolls in shortly after, and it re-rolls its tier: anything from Coal up to the highest tier the current level cap allows, with higher tiers more likely. A caravan that sits untouched for a long while eventually packs up and is replaced too.

Tiers

There are eight caravan tiers. Higher tiers field more guards, hit much harder, and carry better loot.

Hunter ranks

You can only damage a caravan whose tier you've unlocked with your Hunter rank — open it with /hunter. Everyone starts at rank I (Coal); each rank unlocks the next caravan tier (and the matching shade tier) and is bought with Hunter Points:

Hunter Points come from killing caravans, shades, and bosses. Higher-tier kills pay out far more, and kills well below your unlocked rank pay out less — you can't farm Coal camps forever. Leaderboards: /huntertop for Hunter Points, /caravantop for caravan kills (with an optional tier filter).

How the fight works

1. Kill the guards first. The Caravan Master can't be damaged while any guard lives — and attacking anyone in the camp turns the whole squad on you. Guards chase whoever attacked the camp and return to their post if you run far enough.
2. Finish the master. Once every guard is down, the master falls to a single hit. The real fight is the guards.
3. Grab your loot. Drops are briefly reserved for the player who landed the kill, so nobody can snipe your rewards.

Both the master and each guard award Hunter Points and Gang Points on death, and caravan kills count toward clue scrolls, quests, and season pass challenges.

Loot

Every guard and master rolls on a loot table matched to its tier. Expect:

• Enchant dust — the most common drop from guards, and masters carry stacks of it too.
• Boss essence — caravans are a major source. Coal and Iron camps drop Lamia essence; Lapis and Redstone add Echidna; Gold and Diamond add Thanatos; Emerald and Netherite add Hephaestus. Higher-tier camps also drop bundles of lower bosses' essence.
• Boss keys — masters have a rare chance at a summoning key for the same bosses.
• Booster boxes and Forge Fuel — utility drops from masters.
• Wayfarer and Raider armor trims — rare master drops at every tier.
• Mid and high tiers: masters add Shard Satchels (from Redstone up), Motes of the Ancients, Calcite Charge Satchels, and rare Perk Swap / Stat Swap tokens (from Gold up), and Heroic Meteor Flares (from Diamond up).

Your Alignment choice in the wild zones matters here too: Pilgrims deal less damage to camps, while Wanderers have a chance at — and Defilers are guaranteed — a second loot roll on each kill.

Warlord caravans

Once Warlord's Caravans are unlocked through the server Fund (/fund), every 4th caravan that spawns is replaced by a ⚔ Warlord ⚔ variant — you'll spot the red glow on the whole camp and the lit brazier at the campsite.

A warlord master is a real fight: three times the health, twice the damage, and unlike a normal master it fights back — it won't fall in one hit once the guards are down. It holds its ground at the camp until the last guard dies, then comes for you. Warlord kills count toward their own quest objectives on top of normal caravan credit.