How to Stay Safe in the Red & Black Zones

When you play games you play to win, no matter the cost. Albion Online challenges that notion by stripping you off of your worldly possessions upon death in the Red and Black Zones where you’re more likely to lose everything to a free to play player. But you can’t stay away from the increased risk these zones carry, you want that loot, and that’s completely understandable, everybody does, even your dog wants it. So, in this guide we’ll show you what you can do in order to stay safe in the Red and Black Zones of Albion Online.

Albion Online – How to Stay Safe in the Red & Black Zones

So you might be thinking as a new player… what makes the Red and Black zones so special? And why will I lose everything? Well you’ll lose everything because these are PVP areas, leaving you with more things to worry about than just trash mobs and booby traps!

Red zones are found in the center of the royal continent around the city of Caerleon. PVP can be made possible by setting your status as hostile before attacking other players, what? You have to give others a chance somehow!

Now if you’re a non-hostile player and like keeping to yourself, the most important thing to help you keep safe in the red zone is hostile counter at the bottom left corner of your mini map. The counter shows how many hostile players are around you so if that zero turns into a one you should sound the alarm and keep a close eye one everything that moves.

Another indicator for hostile players is the red health bar, this happens once they set their status to hostile so if you’re a potential attacker you’ll know that these people know the rules and there will be no harm if either one of you die to one another!

In the black zone however, any player can attack others at any time without any penalty, there’s no hostile counter either. To get to a black zone you must first enter a portal city which can be accessed through the realm gate at the north of Royal City or find a connection through an Avalonian Road.

To stay safe in the black zones the number one important thing to do is to take the invisibility shrine whenever you’re going out. The zones outside of the portal cities are extremely dangerous so you usually would want to take the invisibility shrine and travel two to three zones outward to do whatever activity you plan on doing and then journey back whenever possible.

Tips & Advice

You need to treat these zones as if they were casinos, you only want to walk in here with things you’re okay with losing. If you can’t afford to lose anything then don’t go here at all, you’ll only experience two things: pain and suffering.

Now that you’re accustomed to what will happen, another thing you should accept when walking into a red or black zone is the fact that you will definitely die eventually. Build up your wealth in the safe zones first if you’re not comfortable with your current gear set.

Since this is a no holds bar kind of area, you should assume that every hostile player is out to get you, but that doesn’t mean you should go out of your way to attack others who are clearly minding their own business. But if they do linger around your screen long enough then you should definitely be on your guard nonetheless.

You should also inspect everyone you see from a safe distance and learn their items to understand if they will be a threat to you. Some common favorites include claws, double-bladed staves, grail seekers, and whispering bows. If you see someone with these equipped then you would know that giving them a wide berth is your next best course of action.

You would be wise to stay away from dismounted players, these people are criminals who don’t bother with trivial things like hiding their intentions. They will go invisible and try to cut you off as soon as you show on their screen so turn around and try a different path whenever you see one nearby!

Speaking of dismounted, you should keep your mount close by, nothing more needs to be said here. You basically just want to get in there, do your business, and get out as fast as possible. If a player comes along and you don’t have your mount ready then they can simply dismount next to you and you’ll likely won’t be able to get back on your mount before they attack.

And for the last best piece of advice, head off the beaten path. Going off-road can be the difference between life and death, the fastest path from point A to B is rarely following the main road. Not only will you get ambushed here more often but you also take more time as well, a resource that you don’t really have much off due to the constant danger you’re exposing yourself to.

Practice moving in the shortest path possible while dodging the mobs along the way, our ancestors did it to avoid bandits and highwaymen so why shouldn’t you? These are the most important things to know in order to stay safe in the full loot red and black zones of Albion Online, hope this guide helped and will make you better at giving thieves a headache whenever they cross paths with you!