PvP Basics
PvP on Ancients runs on an alignment system: you choose how much risk you're carrying before you step into a danger zone, and that choice decides who can hurt you and what you stand to lose.
Forgotten Polis is the heart of open PvP — with the Ancient Roads removed in Map III, Polis is now the only alignment zone. Reach it through /warp. Fights can also break out inside the prison, but there they're policed by guards, and you can always settle a score consensually with a /duel.
This section covers where PvP happens, the alignment choices and their bonus drops, the death penalty, combat tag, and combat logging.
Starting a fight
You can only start a fight with a sword or axe — opening hits with anything else are blocked. Once someone attacks you, a short retaliation window opens and you can fight back with whatever you like. Gang-mates can never hurt each other anywhere, with two carve-outs: an active /duel, and a same-gang cell raid where you're on opposite sides.
Alignment
You pick an alignment on entry, and it's locked until you leave and re-enter the zone. Each one trades safety against reward:
| Alignment | PvP | Mob damage | Bonus loot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pilgrim | Off both ways | 25% less | None |
| Wanderer | On | Normal | 20% chance of a second loot roll |
| Defiler | On | Normal | 50% chance of a second loot roll, harshest death penalty |
For Season 2 the bonus-drop rates were reduced: the Defiler's second loot roll is now a 50% chance (was guaranteed) and the Wanderer's is 20% (was 30%).
Warping out
Leaving a zone has a warmup that depends on your path: roughly 15 seconds as a Wanderer and 20 seconds as a Defiler. These are alignment floors layered over your rank delay, and an outpost teleport-time buff can pull the real wait lower. The warmup cancels if you move or take damage. There are no instant escapes mid-chase.
Dying in a zone
Death inside Polis is expensive:
- Loot you gathered inside drops where you fell, for someone else to claim.
- What you brought in returns to you on respawn, except items you gave away during the visit.
- Defilers risk their gear. If the Defiler penalty applies, each weapon and armour piece has an independent 25% chance to drop.
- Every zone death is a 5-minute deathban from the zone and routes you back to prison spawn.
The penalty is capped by your killer's risk level. A Wanderer who kills a Defiler only triggers the lighter Wanderer penalty. Your gear can't be taken by someone who wasn't risking their own. But dying to mobs as a Defiler costs the full Defiler penalty.
Combat tag
The moment you land or take a hit, you'll see "You are now in combat!". While tagged, escape commands are blocked — /home, /sethome, /warp, /mines, /spawn, /tpa, /tpahere, /tpaccept, /trade, /pv, /jet, and /cellvisit. The tag wears off shortly after the fighting stops.
Combat logging
Logging out doesn't save you. Disconnecting outside a safe zone (whether you're tagged or not) leaves a stand-in for about 20 seconds carrying your gear and health. If it's killed, you drop loot exactly as if you'd died, and your attacker gets the credit. If it survives, you resume where it left off when you log back in, including any damage it took.
Reading damage numbers: increased vs more
Combat wording is standardised across enchants, trims and jewels:
- Increased bonuses are additive. Every increased source you have sums into one pool that scales your base damage once. Two 20% increased sources give +40%.
- More bonuses are multiplicative. Each more source multiplies on top of everything else. Two 20% more sources give ×1.44.
- Critical strike bonuses read +X% to Critical Strike Multiplier — the number is added to your multiplier rather than scaling it.
A more multiplier is worth a lot more than the same number as increased once you're stacking bonuses, so read tooltips carefully.
Leech
All healing from dealing damage is Leech: a percent of the damage you deal is Leeched as Life instead of healing instantly. Every source — the Lifesteal enchant, the Orb of Moros implicit, weapon and wand trim leech, of Vampirism jewels, the Wraithheart's Soul Siphon — banks into one pool that heals you at up to 1 HP per second combined. Overflow banks up to 6 HP and keeps draining at the capped rate; the bank empties the moment you reach full health, and clears on death.
Weapon notes
- Bows are a real weapon: arrows pierce most of a target's armour, so a well-drawn shot genuinely hurts geared players.
- Glass-cannon tradeoff: holding an Ancient bow makes you take +15% damage and a wand +10%. See Wands, Bows & the Glass-Cannon Tradeoff.
- Wands and bows stay PvE-only: they do nothing to other players, so save them for bosses and shades. Wand enchants only matter against mobs.
- Trinkets don't touch PvP: with one exception: Ensnare, a rechargeable trinket dropped by Uber Echidna, is the only item in the game that affects PvP.
Open PvP also fuels events like KOTH and Skywars, where your alignment and your gang decide who you can hit. Stack the right gear before you step out.
Version history
v2.0.0
- Defiler and Wanderer bonus drops were reduced. The Defiler's second loot roll is now a 50% chance (was 100%) and the Wanderer's a 20% chance (was 30%).
- Bows are a real weapon now — arrows pierce most of a target's armour, so a well-drawn shot actually hurts geared players.
- Holding an Ancient bow makes you take +15% damage and a wand +10% (a spelled-out glass-cannon tradeoff); wands and bows remain PvE-only against players.
- Diamond and iron sword and axe base damage increased 10%.
- Damage-over-time ticks and magic damage were re-classified for combat buffs — DoTs no longer feed or break on-hit effects, and magic now counts as a real hit — and every duel now ends with PvP cooldowns fully reset.
v3.0.0
- The Ancient Roads were removed — Forgotten Polis is now the only alignment zone.
- Healing from dealing damage is now Leech: every source banks into one pool capped at 1 HP per second, with up to 6 HP banked.
- Damage wording standardised everywhere: increased bonuses sum additively, more bonuses multiply, and crit reads +X% to Critical Strike Multiplier.
- Added Ensnare, an Uber Echidna trinket, the only item in the game that affects PvP.