Albion Online News

Today’s Dev Talk is a bit different than usual, because after 11 years at the helm of Albion Online, Robin Henkys is stepping down as Game Director. While he will continue to play a role in the development of the game, Robin is taking a step back from his day-to-day responsibilities in order to focus more on his family. Overall creative leadership will pass on to three longstanding members of the senior design team – Moritz Bokelmann, Michael Schwahn, and Jon Craft.

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Robin had this to say about the transition:

“After 11 years as Game Director, I’ve recently stepped down from this responsibility and I’m passing it into new hands. We wanted to make sure this transition was handled with care, and most importantly, with continuity in mind. Rather than bringing someone in from outside, we’ve looked inward and promoted from within.

The people stepping into the design leadership roles are long-standing members of our senior design team – people who have been in the trenches of Albion’s development for many years, and who many of you know well. They know this game inside and out, and they’ve helped me to shape its direction.
I’m really thankful for the joy Albion has given me over the years, and I want to thank all of you for continuing to be a part of that.

I’m really looking forward to seeing where the team takes the game from here. It’s an exciting time for Albion Online, after all. The game is bigger than it ever was, and there are more people working on it than ever before. I’m also still going to be a part of that.

Even now, I’m working in the background on long term plans for the game, expanding the world of Albion and its backstory. I also won’t completely disappear from videos. In fact, please let us know in the comments what questions you may have about this transition, and we’ll make sure to answer them if we can.”

Robin’s tenure as Game Director saw Albion Online go from strength to strength, with many important milestones along the way, and his impact has been immeasurable. The new creative leadership team bring boundless passion, experience, and talent to the game, though, and its future is in good hands indeed.

For Robin’s full statement, and to hear from two of the new Creative Directors, check out the video above. And if you have questions, post them in the comments – we’ll be back with a new video to address them soon!

This patch focuses on Guild Season content, introducing the next batch of Crystal Weapons and several balance changes to shake up the ZvZ meta ahead of the new season.

[h3]New Crystal Weapons[/h3]

This patch introduces three brand-new Crystal Weapons, craftable from Artifacts awarded in Conqueror’s Chests at the end of Season 26. Each Crystal Weapon has its own unique, powerful spell:

• Flamewalker Staff (Fire Staff): Spontaneous Combustion transforms you into a raging fireball, flying towards your enemies and dealing damage to those in your path
• Forgebark Staff (Nature Staff): Dual Nature allows you to switch between fortifying your allies and ensnaring your enemies
• Arclight Blasters (Crossbow): Flickershots unleashes a barrage of energy bolts as you spin through the air, dealing damage and increasing your resistances

[h3]Season 27 Changes[/h3]

The following categories in the Conqueror's Challenge have had their Might requirements per level reduced, while their Season Point output for each level has also been reduced to maintain overall Season Point payouts:

Treasures

• Might needed per Level: 13,000 → 10,400
  • Season Points per Level: 20 → 16

Crystal Creatures

• Might needed per Level: 6,000 → 4,000
  • Season Points per Level: 30 → 20

Smugglers

• Might needed per Level: 34,000 → 27,200
  • Season Points per Level: 20 → 16

Gathering has also had its Might requirement per level reduced, to make it easier for smaller guilds to earn Season Points from this activity:

Gathering

• Might needed per Level: 3,500 → 2,700

[h3]Other Changes[/h3]

• Smuggler Crates are now visible on the minimap to everyone in the same region
• Players can now send only one message every two seconds in the following chat channels:
  • Say
  • Whisper
  • Help
  • Faction
  • Faction Local
  • All language channels
• The following automated chat message has been changed:
  • “Player x has committed suicide.” → “Player x has died.”
• Text entered in the Marketplace UI search box now carries over when switching between the Buy and Buy Order tabs
• The Kills and Deaths tabs in the Player Stats UI now remember the previous dropdown selection on opening

[h3]Combat Balance Changes[/h3]

Axes

Despite multiple nerfs, Infernal Scythe has continued to dominate as the ZvZ damage dealer of choice, crowding out alternatives. The damage of the second swing has been increased but converted into a DoT to disincentivize zergs from running five per party.

• Bloody Reap (Infernal Scythe)
  • 2nd swing now deals damage in 3 ticks over 2 seconds (doesn’t stack)
  • Damage per tick below 40%: 85 (total damage 220 → 255)
  • Damage per tick above 40%: 47 (total damage 120 → 141)

Raging Blades has been a powerful component of axes’ domination in ZvZs, so its area has been reduced to limit its effectiveness in the largest fights.

• Raging Blades (all Axes)
  • Radius: 6m → 5m

Crossbows

Energy Shaper has remained a niche pick in ZvZs. Its total channel duration has been reduced, while the damage per tick has been increased to make accurate beams deadlier in a shorter time.

• Divine Engine (Energy Shaper)
  • Channel duration: 3.3s → 2.6s (Total ticks 11 → 9)
  • Damage per tick (vs players): 96 → 117
  • Damage per tick (vs mobs): 57 → 70
  • Initial tick: 0.2s → 0.1s

Daggers

Because Demonfang has been a menace in ZvZ, it has received multiple nerfs to damage and resilience penetration over previous patches. Some of that damage has now been restored.

• Blood Ritual (Demonfang)
  • Damage per cast: 106 → 112

Due to the significant setup required for Ring of Death, its penalty for misexecution has been softened, giving Twin Slayer players more opportunities to land the one-shot.

• Ring of Death (Twin Slayers)
  • 1st cast cooldown: 25s → 15s
  • Energy cost: 12 → 10

Fire Staffs

Raging Flare’s damage has been condensed and increased to provide Fire users with a quicker, more impactful long-range damage option.

• Raging Flare (all Fire Staffs)
  • Cast time: 0.6s → 0.4s
  • Impact damage: 186 → 205
  • DoT ticks: 6 → 3 (1s interval unchanged)
  • DoT damage per tick: 7.2 → 21.4
  • Total DoT damage: 43.2 → 64.2

Frost Staffs

Frost’s spell stack requirement has been reduced, as it felt too high on builds using less spammable abilities like Frozen Surge and Frost Nova. This will help Frost players keep enemies locked down more consistently.

• Frost (all Frost Staffs)
  • Stack requirement: 5 → 4

Icicle Staff has remained a niche defensive tank option in ZvZs, but its dramatic hit delay has made it feel outdated in modern Albion, so this has been reduced to improve responsiveness.

• Frozen Hell (Icicle Staff)
  • Hit delay: 0.7s → 0.3s

Permafrost has been a strong ZvZ option, but its crowd control when stacked as an 8-man bomb squad has left too little room for reaction. With such a consistently valuable long-range stun, its damage has been reduced to compensate.

• Ice Crystal (Permafrost Prism)
  • Damage: 184.69 → 173
  • Stun duration now ignores diminishing returns (but does not apply it)
  • Stun duration no longer refreshes by consecutive Ice Crystal stuns

Hammers

Grovekeeper has fallen out of favor as both an engage and peel tank option. The bonus resistances for hitting targets have not felt impactful to Grovekeeper players, so they have been removed in favor of an instant knock-up, making engages more deadly, even against enemy cleanses.

• Ground Pound (Grovekeeper)
  • Removed: Increased resistances per targets hit
  • Added: Knocks up all targets for a duration based on the amount of enemies hit
    • 1, 2, or 3 enemies hit: 0.4s knock up
    • 4, 5 or 6 enemies hit: 0.8s knock up
    • 7 or more enemies hit: 1.2s knock up

Holy Staffs

To help Exalted Staff feel more responsive and succeed in its intended role of clearing hostile ground areas, its long cast time has been reduced.

• Sanctify (Exalted Staff)
  • Cast time: 1s → 0.6s

Maces

Dreadstorm Monarch has struggled to find a strong foothold in the meta. As a result, the value of Eye of the Storm’s uncleansable resistance reduction has been increased, to help it compete with alternative pierce options.

• Eye of the Storm (Dreadstorm Monarch)
  • Resistance reduction: 0.15 → 0.18

Vendetta’s pull hit delay has felt overly generous to opponents, so it has been shortened to help Camlann compete with other clump tank options.

• Vendetta (Camlann Mace)
  • Hit delay: 1.5s → 1.2s

Nature Staffs

Protection of Nature has been a strong defensive tool with a very high uptime. Its high damage reduction, paired with the bonus healing received, has resulted in targets having too much survivability too often in smaller-scale group fights, so its resistance has been reduced somewhat.

• Protection of Nature (all Nature Staffs)
  • Resistance: 0.24 → 0.2

Quarterstaffs

To help Fatal Blades counter fast ZvZ engages, its damage reduction now stacks higher and faster, but with reduced duration.

• Fatal Blade (Black Monk Stave)
  • Damage reduction (vs. players): 22% → 30%
  • Duration: 6s → 5s
  • Initial tick: 0.25s → 0.1s
  • Projectile speed: 30 m/s → 35 m/s

Soul Shaker has fallen out of favor as a viable defensive tank option in ZvZs. To help players better protect their team’s flanks, its root duration has been increased to match its area duration.

• Soul Shaker (Grailseeker)
  • Area duration: 4s → 3.5s
  • Root duration: 3s → 3.5s

Soulscythe has remained a niche shotcaller option in ZvZs, so its standtime has been reduced to make it feel more responsive and return control to its users more quickly.

• Tornado (Soulscythe)
  • Standtime: 0.7s → 0.4s

Spears

While Cripple has been a good tool to counter swords, adjustments have been made to help it feel powerful in more situations, more often.

• Cripple (all Spears)
  • Damage type: magical → physical
  • Added: Auto-attack speed is reduced by 25% for 4s
  • Cooldown: 20s → 18s
  • Move speed buff duration: 5s → 4s
  • No longer gives bonus damage when purging a sprint

Swords

The previous buff to Blade Cyclone has been reverted, as it became the default option and outperformed all other options, particularly for Carving and Infinity Blade players.

• Blade Cyclone (all Swords)
  • 1 charge damage: 70 → 60

War Gloves

To help Ursine Maulers find more success, the damage reduction from a previous nerf, originally paired with a significant resilience penetration decrease, has been reverted.

• Hundred Striking Fists (Ursine Maulers)
  • Damage per tick: 32.4 → 36 (vs players)
  • Delayed damage: 27 → 30 (per stack)

Some of Infernal Boulder’s instant damage has been moved into its DoT component, to both reward skilled players for hitting all three boulders and to limit its effectiveness when stacked in ZvZs.

• Infernal Boulder (Hellfire Hands)
  • 1st boulder damage: 199.5 → 177
  • 2nd boulder damage: 133 → 126
  • 3rd boulder damage: 66.5 → 76
  • DoT tick damage: 14 → 18

Armors

To make Protection of the Fiends more risky, its negative resistance penalty has been increased, making it more important to combo with allies or cancel the channel early.

• Protection of the Fiends (Demon Armor)
  • Caster resistance reduction: 0.34 → 0.37

Taunt has been simplified to apply the same effects regardless of the selected target, while increasing its value as a short-cooldown damage option for Plate Armor users.

• Taunt (all Plate Armors)
  • No longer distinguishes between target types
  • Bonus Damage vs All: 10% → 20%
  • Defense vs Players: -10% → -20%

Capes

The Fort Sterling Cape has had its cooldown significantly reduced at higher tiers to justify its price increase and enable players to rely on it as a consistent cleanse option.

• Untouchable (Fort Sterling Cape)
  • Base cooldown: 139 → 168
  • Cooldown reduction per 100 IP: 3s → 8s (118s → 112s at 700 IP, 91s → 40s at 1600 IP)

Potions

Invisibility Potion’s damage reduction has not been significant enough or lasted long enough to give opponents a fair chance to react to fully undetectable engages. Damage reduction has now been changed to reduce all damage dealt by players, making it harder to bypass the penalty with stacked damage buffs. The effect also lingers for 2 seconds after exiting stealth, rather than starting from the moment of use, giving players a chance to fight back if revealed early.

• Invisibility Potion
  • Ability damage reduction → Damage vs All reduction (-50% value is unchanged)
  • Duration: Fixed time on cast → While Invisible, and remaining for 2s once revealed

Other

• Judgment (Lightcaller) visuals have been updated to be more readable in large-scale fights

[h3]Fixes[/h3]

Spell Fixes

• Spinning Blades (Dual Swords): Fixed issue where immunity to Crowd Control persisted after impact
• Holy Beam (Holy Staffs): Fixed issue where stacks persisted after casting was interrupted
• Razor Cut (Bear Paws): Fixed issue where the same enemy could be hit multiple times
• Time Freeze (Great Arcane Staffs): Fixed issue where frozen enemies could still receive healing from lifesteal effects

UI Fixes

• Fixed issue where the Arena queue timer would not reappear if a player canceled the match invitation
• Fixed issue where combat logs in the Death Recap would be overwritten by new actions performed on the player when switching tabs in the UI
• Fixed issue where the ‘Take All’ button on the Marketplace would reset filters without resetting the filter text
  • The text is now reset along with the filters
• [MOBILE] Fixed issue where main dynamic action button on the virtual controller could appear to remain in motion after use
• [CONTROLLER] Fixed issue where ‘Select Next Party Member’ keybinding option was missing from the Settings menu

Other Fixes

• Fixed Faction Warfare “connection bug”; it is now always possible to capture Outposts in a region if at least one adjacent frontline or backline region is owned by your Faction
• Fixed issue where it was possible for players to buy their own items at the Marketplace
• Fixed issue where Rock Giant’s Aspect would not pursue players or use melee attacks

Guild Season 26 is about to reach its dramatic conclusion, and with the final Invasion Day upon us, guilds across all servers are scrambling to make their last moves. This season was the first with the new shortened format, and it’s been wild from the very start. With only 59 days to fight and claim territories, the action has been fast and ruthless.

Before the final reset shakes up the Outlands one last time, let’s take a quick look at how things stand:

• Albion Europe: The Woof Woof coalition started strong but faced overwhelming pressure from the massive GIRTH alliance. Their desperate defense of Deathwisp Bog turned into a bloody warzone, and despite holding out for several days, Woof Woof eventually lost their home zone and withdrew from the race for first place. Heralds of Valhalla stepped in to claim the top spot, but in a surprising twist, Woof Woof returned at the end of March with one goal: deny Contingent second place. With just 30,000 Season Points separating them, all eyes are on whether they can pull it off during the final point payout.
• Albion Asia: Peony Flower continues their reign with allies holding the second and third positions, making the top of the rankings look locked in. But behind the scenes, war has raged on. A fierce conflict between 1PIG and JIN has turned Rivercopse Fount and Runnelvein Sink into contended battlegrounds, while the XM Alliance has been launching bold attacks against Peony’s coalition. Could cracks be forming in the reigning power? These tensions may not change Season 26’s results, but they’re already setting the stage for a potentially explosive Season 27.
• Albion Americas: IFures continue their steady march toward their third season victory and that coveted third gem. This time, with their coalition member Outlimits in second place, there’s been no sign of betrayal… yet. However, the CHEF alliance has kept things interesting, waging open war and contesting territories in a fierce final push. With Make Albion Great Again still chasing second place, the pressure is on. Closing a 150,000-point gap would be a massive play, but this is Albion, and we’ve seen crazier!

[h3]

[/h3]
[h3]Watch the Battles Live on AlbionTV[/h3]
The final Invasion Day is more than just a reset – it’s the last chance for guilds to shift the rankings and cash in on high-value territories. Don’t miss the climactic battles across the Outlands as guilds clash one last time this season.

Catch all the action live on AlbionTV (twitch.tv/albiononline):

• Albion Asia: April 5, 14:00 UTC
• Albion Europe: April 5, 18:00 UTC
• Albion Americas: April 6, 01:00 UTC

With only days left until the end of Season 26, the leaderboard is still in flux, and the tension is sky high. Who will triumph, who will fall, and who might surprise everyone at the last minute? Tune in and find out!

Already looking ahead to Season 27? Then check out the official forum thread and get ready for another season of warfare. See you on the battlefield!

As part of an ongoing AlbionTV (twitch.tv/albiononline) interview series highlighting AOCP Ambassadors, Hosshii will be joining the broadcast this Friday, April 4 at 20:00 UTC! Known for her fiery ZvZ battles and her uplifting energy, she’s got a story worth hearing – and we’re here to give you a preview before she goes live.

[h3]Hosshii_Japan[/h3]

• YouTube: youtube.com/@hosshiijapan
• Twitch: twitch.tv/hosshii_japan
• Main Focus: ZvZ & Mists PvP

Hosshii brings a one-of-a-kind presence to the Ambassador program. Since joining after our last major update, she’s quickly become a bright and recognizable force in Albion’s competitive scene. Her high-energy ZvZ streams are packed with fast-paced action and set to a banging J-core soundtrack that keeps the spirits high and the chaos fun.

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She pulls viewers straight into the action with live caller comms, low delay, and a front-row seat to Albion's most explosive battles. But what really makes her stand out is the vibe – she’s always smiling and giggling (especially after ganking an unsuspecting gatherer in the Mists), which somehow manages to make even the most brutal clashes feel charming. Who knew that mercilessly killing your enemies could be so cute?

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Outside of ZvZ, Hosshii is documenting her growth in small-scale PvP across the Mists and Roads. She’s open about not having ‘pro-level’ mechanics yet, but that’s part of the charm. Her content captures the steady, honest journey of improvement, with all the heroic (and hilarious) moments along the way. She’s just being real, and her viewers love her for it.

As an Ambassador, she’s working to shine a spotlight on ZvZ for Asian players, showing that anyone can jump in – and maybe even giggle their way through a frontline push. If you’re into high-stakes brawls, community vibes, and the occasional panicked burst of Japanese, Hosshii’s content is your new happy place (≧▽≦)!

This Referral Season, a mythical Unicorn emerges from the mists of legend. Its coat gleams like morning frost, its golden eyes hold the wisdom of ages, and upon its brow, a horn of pure light. Invite a kindred spirit to Albion and transform your lowly Riding Horse into a fairy tale fantasy for all characters on that server.

[video]https://assets.albiononline.com/uploads/media/default/media/video_/media/642d3ad134888_720.mp4[/video]

But why let the magic end there? Turn this fable into an entire saga – the more allies you bring, the greater the gifts that await:

• Refer 1 Friend: Unicorn mount skin
• Refer 3 Friends: A T7 Pile of Tomes worth 100,000 Fame
• Refer 5 Friends: A T8 Pile of Tomes worth 200,000 Fame
• Bonus for your first-ever referral: A T8 Pile of Tomes worth 200,000 Fame
• Additionally, for each friend you refer, you'll receive 500 Gold!

Getting your friends in on the action is as simple as following these steps:

• Step 1: Share your referral link with a friend, which you can find here when logged into the website with your game account
• Step 2: Your friend signs up to Albion Online
• Step 3: Your friend purchases at least 30 days of Premium status, unlocking your rewards

Whether you dream of galloping into battle like a fabled hero, or you just want to prance around looking fabulous, don’t miss your chance to claim your very own Unicorn before April 30 at 23꞉59꞉59 UTC.