Ancient Lands in Albion Online: Portals, Timers, IP Cap and Maps

The Ancient Lands are floating islands you reach through Ancient Lands Portals that spawn in the open world. Portals in yellow zones lead to the orange version, where you keep what you bring in. Portals in red zones, the Outlands and the Roads of Avalon lead to the black version, which is full loot. Both versions soft cap Item Power at 1,200.

Inside, you clear islands, open Leygates to move between them, hunt four Drakes to call the Fire Drake in the center, and fight other groups of your size for the chests. The values in this guide come from the game's data and texts and from the official Dragonfire patch notes.

Where Ancient Lands portals spawn

Since Dragonfire Patch 1, portals show on the World Map wherever you are, so open it to look for one instead of searching map by map. Dragonfire Patch 3 made Small portals in yellow zones spawn much more often (average spawn time down from 45 to 15.5 minutes) and cut their Fame and loot by 30%.

Portal sizes and timers

Each portal has a size, and the size sets how many players can go in:

• A new portal is locked first: its tooltip reads "Ancient Lands Portal opens in" with a countdown. Then it stays open for the entry window, and after that it closes and disappears 5 minutes later.
• Matchmaking counts the players who enter, not the size of your party. A Small portal has three brackets: a player alone only meets other solo players, a group of 2 or 3 meets groups of 2 or 3, and 4 or 5 meet 4 or 5.
• The party leader starts the entry, and only party members standing at the portal and channeling are counted. Anyone who is not ready is removed from the group.
• You cannot enter again for 10 minutes after entering the Ancient Lands.
• Dense clouds close in during the last 5 minutes of a run, so be at an exit before the time runs out.

Orange or black: what you risk

When you enter an orange portal, every item in your inventory is frozen: frozen items are not lost on death, items you pick up inside are not frozen, and leaving unfreezes everything. Black runs give more: in the game's data, Small black portals multiply monster Fame about twice as much as orange ones (6 against 2.9 for a solo player), with more silver from monsters.

Rules for both versions:

• Bleedout instead of death. A player defeated in PvP falls into Bleedout. An ally can pick you up; if nobody does, you slowly lose Health and die. After a revive you have "Recently Hurt": 10% less maximum Health for 45 minutes.
• No mounts. You walk, and you move between islands through Leygates.
• You cannot log out inside. You leave through a portal.
• Everyone is anonymous. Other players show as "Mysterious Stranger" and guilds are ignored, so anyone outside your party is an enemy.
• Your party is locked. You cannot invite, leave or kick inside, and you can only trade within your group.
• Healing is lowered by 40% for everyone inside (the "Lingering Spirits" effect, the same value as in the Mists).

The Item Power cap

Item Power up to 1,200 counts in full. Above it, orange counts only 20% of the extra and black 35%:

Effective IP = 1,200 + (your average IP − 1,200) × 0.20   (orange)
Effective IP = 1,200 + (your average IP − 1,200) × 0.35   (black)

Going from 1,200 to 1,600 average IP is worth only 80 IP in orange and 140 in black. Gear far above the cap costs a lot more silver for little gain, which matters most in black, where you can lose it. The Item Power guide shows how tier, enchantment, quality and your Destiny Board add up to your average IP.

How a run works

1. Start on an outer island. The map has eight start points along its edge, and several groups of your size bracket share it.
2. Clear the island quest. Each island has a quest in your tracker: defeat half of its monsters (since Patch 1). Completing it unlocks the island's chests (on every island except the central one) and a Leygate Keystone.
3. Open a Leygate. Carry the Keystone to a pedestal to activate a Leygate to a nearby island. The minimap shows which Leygates are active and where they lead. You can also take a Keystone back off a pedestal, which turns that Leygate off.
4. Use Leygate Defense. After you go through a Leygate you are immune to damage and crowd control for 4 seconds and hidden from monsters, but you cannot attack for the first 2 seconds. Attacking or casting ends it, and you can get it only once every 10 seconds.
5. Hunt the Drakes. Four Drakes sit on Drake Islands. Defeat them to complete the Drake Island quests.
6. Kill the Fire Drake. Once enough Drake Island quests are done (the region quest in your tracker shows how many), the Fire Drake appears in the center of the map after a short delay. Patch 3 moved 10% of the value of the Drake chests into the Fire Drake's central chest, so expect other groups there.

Spirit Essence

Monsters, Drakes and Dragon Statues give Spirit Essence, a buff that stacks up to 15 times. Each stack gives +2% damage against monsters, +1% defense against monsters and +2% combat Fame, so a full stack is +30% damage, +15% defense and +30% Fame. A Drake gives 3 stacks and the Fire Drake 8. You keep it through the run, but you lose it when you leave, and you lose all of it when you fall into Bleedout.

Dragon Altars and Draconic Insight

The Albion Free Market map shows 12 Dragon Altars. Offer Ancient Ritual Bones, which drop from Ancient Lands chests, for a blessing that also goes to the allies standing near the altar:

Offerings, Dragon Statues and Drakes raise your Draconic Insight, a standing with ten ranks from Novice to Enlightened (10,000,000 points). It unlocks the Ancient Mystic vanity set (mask, garb, boots and cape) and the Ancient Mystic avatar and avatar ring at the altar.

Ancient Lands maps

Albion Free Market has both versions on its map pages: Ancient Lands (Orange) and Ancient Lands (Black). They share the same island layout, so one map teaches you both. Turn on Mobs to see where monsters spawn and Points of Interest for the altars, fishing spots and lore spots.

Use the map to learn the shape of the islands before a run: the start points are on the outer islands and the Fire Drake appears on the big central island, so every group ends up moving toward the center. Fishing spots on the islands hold the Ancient Lands' own rare fish, the Leyfins.

What you can get

A Waystone, which can also drop whole from the Fire Drake chest, reveals a Dragon Sanctuary when used in the Outlands near a region of its tier: a 20-player raid against Azaryon, the Fire Dragon. On top of the chests you get Fame, silver and regular loot from the monsters. During the Draconic Surge event the Ancient Lands and Dragon Sanctuaries give +10% Fame and +10% loot; the daily bonus icon in Albion Free Market's top bar shows when it is active.

Going in solo

There is no single best Ancient Lands solo build, but the rules of the zone decide what works:

• Enter a Small portal alone. One player entering puts you in the solo bracket, so you only meet other solo players.
• Stay near 1,200 Item Power. Above it, gear gives only 20% (orange) or 35% (black) of its extra IP, so a cheaper set loses little.
• Bring self-sufficient damage and escapes. There is no mount, healing is 40% lower, and nobody can pick you up from Bleedout.
• Pick your build before you enter an orange portal. You cannot change equipment inside; in black you can.
• Start in orange. You keep what you bring, so it is the place to learn the islands and the Drakes before you risk a full set in black.

To find a build, filter the Albion Free Market builds by group size and zone: solo builds for orange zones and solo builds for black zones. Every build card shows its average IP, so you can see how much of it the cap will cut.

Related guides

• Zones and flagging: yellow, red, black and orange zones and what you lose in each.
• The Depths: the other orange content, for small-group PvP.
• Roads of Avalon: the roads where black Ancient Lands portals also spawn.