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 the camp and you earn Hunter Points, Gang Points, and a roll on the caravan's loot, including boss essence and boss keys. (If other players talk about "merchants" out on the Roads, these camps are what they mean.) Caravans are the reliable early/mid-game hunt — there's always a steady way to earn while you gear up. See The Hunt for how they fit alongside Shades & Wraiths.

Finding a caravan

Reach the Ancient Roads through the /warp menu. The Roads open at Fund I — the same as the Forgotten Polis — so there's no Hunter rank to grind first; access is tied to the Community Fund, not to you.

Look for the tier-colored banner flying over a camp: black for a Coal caravan up to purple for Netherite. A cleared camp's banner drops until a replacement rolls in shortly after, and a caravan left untouched too long eventually packs up and is replaced.

The road scales to the level cap: caravans always spawn at the highest tier the current cap allows, so the whole road climbs in lock-step as the cap rises each day — no more low-tier caravans cluttering the place once you've out-leveled them.

Tiers

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

Caravan tier access scales with your mining level — you can only damage a caravan whose tier your level has reached. As you level up, higher tiers open automatically; there's nothing to unlock first.

Hunter perks

The old Hunter rank-unlock system is gone. Hunter Points are now spent in a perk shop — open it with /hunter. Several perks apply directly on the Ancient Roads against caravans and their escorts: Hunter's Edge (more damage), Hunter's Ward (damage reduction), Hunter's Luck (more loot), and Plunderer's Fortune (double-drop chance). See Hunter Perks for the full list.

Leaderboards: /huntertop for Hunter Points, /caravantop for caravan kills (with an optional tier filter). Caravan kills count toward clue scrolls, quests, and Season Pass challenges.

How the fight works

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

Loot

Caravan loot is built around a clean core of boss essence + Motes + boss keys:

• Boss essence is the main drop, aligned to boss progression so you stop hoarding essence you can't use: Lamia at Coal/Iron, Echidna at Lapis/Redstone, Thanatos at Gold/Diamond, Hephaestus at Emerald/Netherite. Higher tiers give fewer but stronger essences — climbing a tier means better essence, not a bigger pile.
• Motes of the Ancients are an uncommon bonus, and boss keys let you summon the matching boss.
• Expect the occasional trickle of enchant materials and boosters mixed in, with rarer chase rewards layered on top.
• Caravan escorts each drop a single essence on death.

Armour trims: the Raider trim now drops from caravans (more often from Warlord caravans), and the Wayfarer trim remains a rare caravan chase drop. Both slot into your gear.

Your alignment choice in the wild zones matters here too: Pilgrims deal less damage to camps, while Wanderers and Defilers both have a chance at a second loot roll on each kill (Defilers the better odds of the two, both reduced this season).

Warlord caravans

Once Warlord's Caravans are unlocked through the Community Fund, every 4th caravan that spawns is replaced by a ⚔ Warlord ⚔ variant — spot the red glow on the camp and the lit brazier.

A Warlord master is a real fight: far tougher than a normal master, and unlike one it fights back once the last guard dies rather than falling in a single hit. Warlords clearly out-drop normal caravans and count toward their own quest objectives on top of normal caravan credit.

Version history

v2.0.0

• Caravan tier access now scales with your mining level — no Hunter rank needed, and the Ancient Roads open at Fund I.
• The Ancient Roads scale to the level cap: caravans always spawn at the highest tier the cap allows.
• Hunter ranks were replaced by a Hunter perk shop (/hunter); damage, defense, and luck perks now apply on the Roads.
• Caravan loot was rebuilt around boss essence + Motes + boss keys — essence is boss-progression-aligned and fewer-but-stronger at higher tiers; booster-box drops cut 75%; escorts drop a single essence.
• The Raider trim moved from KOTH to caravans — a rare drop, rarer still from Warlords.
• Defiler and Wanderer's bonus loot-roll chances were reduced.