Flameheart was just stretching when he raised the Ghost Ships from the Sea of the Damned. Now he is truly flexing his power as he summons Ashen Lords into the Sea of Thieves!
Ashen Lords are a brand new land-based threat for any pirate brave enough to take them on. They can be found at the new World Event indicated by the Ashen Winds Cloud above the encounter.
This guide will teach you everything you need to know about Ashen Lords and give you some helpful tips for the battlefield. If you are more of a visual pirate, you can check out our video guide that will also prepare you for the fiery fight ahead!
These new Ashen Lords being summoned into the Sea of Thieves are not like any Skeleton Lord you’ve fought before. They are elite commanders, transformed by Flameheart himself to act as his most trusted and powerful troops!
Ashen Lords take the threat level up a notch with brand new abilities and weapons at their disposal. You’ll think twice before crossing one once you feel the wraith of their all mighty Roar of the Devil move!
Movement
Ashen Lords are bigger than your average Skeleton Lord. They also move much slower. Generally that is…
Ashen Lords are able to close the distance in an instant by using their Lunge Attack. This move is telegraphed so you will have a short amount of time to move out of the way before the Ashen Lord is in your personal space.
Weapons
Ashen Lords do not wield any mechanical weapons. Do not expect to see one holding a Blunderbuss, Flintlock or Eye of Reach. An Ashen Lord’s great power leaves them with no need for human-made tools.
Instead, Ashen Lords hurl large Fire Rocks from a distance and melee with their Ashen Cursed arm for close-quarters combat. You can expect their fire rocks to light you ablaze and their mighty arm will deal lots of damage and hurl you backwards.
Damage
Anything you would normally damage skeletons with will damage Ashen Lords. You can use all your weapons, gunpowder barrels and cannons on Ashen Lords.
They do not have a weak spot and are not more vulnerable to one type of weapon over another so do your worst with what you feel comfortable with.
Health
An Ashen Lord cannot regenerate health. Don’t expect to see them eating bananas during the fight. This means that you don’t need to worry about having to back off from the fight to regain your own health.
You’ll know how far into the battle you are with an Ashen Lord by the set of abilities they have at their disposal as well as the speed of their beating heart. An Ashen Lord’s heart will beat faster when they are low on health.
Another tell to look for to determine how far along you are in the battle is the Ashen Lord’s confidence in the dialogue. An Ashen Lords dialogue will change based on their health to indicate progress through the battle.
During the first stage of the fight, the Ashen Lord will exude confidence and speak down to the pirates attacking them.
As the battle continues and the Ashen Lords health depletes however, the Ashen Lords will begin to become frustrated and then even fearful for their own life.
Unlocking Moves
An Ashen Lord battle is comprised of three stages. As you deal damage to an Ashen Lord, the battle will progress through each stage and the Ashen Lord will unlock a new ability at each new stage.
You’ll know you have moved onto the next stage of the Ashen Lord fight when the Ashen Lord enters their Vulnerable State. Once the Ashen Lord is knocked out of this vulnerable state, they will unlock their new ability to use against players.
Vulnerable State
When an Ashen Lord is in their Vulnerable State, they will kneel down with their chest raised towards the sky. They cannot attack when in this state but can receive damage.
This is an opportune moment for dealing lots of damage until they jump out of this state and unlock their new ability in the next stage of the fight.
As we mentioned earlier, fighting an Ashen Lord is broken up into three different stages. With each stage progression, Ashen Lords will unlock a new ability to use against you!
The Ashen Lords have the following moves at each stage of the Battle:
Stage 1
Fire Breath
Just as it sounds, Ashen Lords can exhale flames from their mouth! This flamethrower jet of fire causes damage as well as sets players on fire.
You don’t want to attack with a sword while they are breathing fire. Getting in close proximity at any angle will ignite your pirate!
Fire Rocks
Ashen Lords can hurl Fire Rocks at players. When hit with one of these Fire Rocks, players will take damage but not light on fire.
Ashen Lords can also throw these Fire Rocks at nearby boats. They will not start a fire but will leave a hole.
The Ashen Lord will throw Fire Rocks horizontally towards their target.
Fire Boulders
Fire Rocks are not the only threats that can be hurled towards you. Ashen Lords will also throw large Fiery Boulders into the sky with hopes of hitting surrounding pirates!
If it hits a player, or lands near them, it damages them and sets them on fire!
These Fire Boulders can also be thrown at nearby boats. They will leave several holes and will light your boat on fire!
Ashen Lords will lob Fire Boulders vertically into the sky towards their target. You can easily spot the difference between the Boulder and Rock as the Boulder is slightly larger and on fire.
Melee Strikes
The mighty Ashen Lords will use their Ashen Cursed right arm to strike players when they are close causing them damage and knocking them back across the Island.
These melee strikes will not light you on fire but will cause you a good deal of damage.
Lunge Attack
While Ashen Lords appear to be slow, lumbering foes, they have one quick trick up their sleeve! Ashen Lords can perform a long, fast melee strike where they will leaps toward a player, closing the distance in an instant!
This attack causes lots of damage and knocks the player back across the battle ground.
Summon
For those who have fought Skeleton Lords before, the Summon ability will be familiar. Ashen Lords can also summon skeletons, of the Ashen variety, to fight beside them.
Expect a horde of sword and blunderbuss wielding skeletons to follow you until you dispatch of them.
The amount of skeletons that will spawn during Summon will increase with each stage of the fight. It will also increase each time another player enters the fight.
Ash Cloud
This ability will make it very hard to see where your foe has run off to! Ashen Lords can create a large Ash Cloud from the spores of their back drastically reducing visibility in the battle. Anything inside the Ash Cloud will be masked by it at further distances.
Stage 2
After the Ashen Lord has gotten up after its first Vulnerability State, it will have access to another ability. When fighting the Ashen Lord in the second stage of the fight, it will be able to use all the Stage 1 abilities as well as…
Knockback
This is another familiar ability for those Skeleton Lord slayers. Ashen Lords will pound the earth, creating a shockwave that that causes damage, sets nearby players on fire and knocks them back a long distance across the Island.
Stage 3
After an Ashen Lord has left its second Vulnerability State, it will have its final ability to use against you and your crew! Expect the Ashen Lord to use all the Stage 1 and Stage 2 abilities as well as…
Roar of the Devil
A devastating attack where the Ashen Lord punches its arm into the ground and summons Volcanic rocks from the heavens and geysers from the earth whilst breathing a flamethrower of Fire.
The Roar of the Devil will also boil any nearby water so don’t think you will be safe hiding in any pool of water! The rocks that fall from the sky will also damage you underwater.
Ashen Lords can only be found at the Ashen Lord World Event. You’ll know the Ashen Lord World Event is active by spotting a large fiery tornado floating in the sky. This Ashen Winds Cloud will be above the island that the Ashen Lord resides on.
Once on the island, head to the exact spot the tornado is almost touching ground. You’ll find several Ashen Skeletons performing a ritual where the Ashen Lord will be summoned. Getting near the ritual will officially start the World Event.
The Ashen Lord fight is broken up into three stages. As you progress through the stages of the fight by damaging the Ashen Lord, it will unlock new abilities.
All of your weapons will do damage against Ashen Lords as well as your ship’s cannons. There are no tricks to damaging an Ashen Lord. Continue to damage it just as you would any other Skeleton Lord or Skeleton Captain.
To defeat an Ashen Lord effectively though, you’ll want to understand the abilities it can use against you and how to take utilize of the battlefield you are fighting on.
Before diving into the three different stages, there are several important tips to know when engaging an Ashen Lord:
Ammo
The ritual site where you will find the Ashen Lord on the island that the World Event cloud has marked will have an Ammo Crate nearby.
It will be handy to locate it quickly so you don’t need to spend time running back to your boat for ammo or hunting for an Ammo Crate before hand to bring to the fight.
You’ll find the Ammo Crate near the spawn location of the Ashen Lord most likely sitting next to several Resource Barrels.
Resources
Similar to the Ammo Crate you’ll find near the Ashen Lord battle will be plenty of Resource Barrels. These Resource Barrels will be filled with fruit for you to use during the battle.
The available fruit will most likely not carry you through the entire fight so you will at least want to clear out the Outpost you start on or a nearby island for extra fruit.
Using Your Ship
Lots of pirates are accustomed to by now placing their ship in an advantageous spot to use their cannons against Skeletons and Skeleton Lords. To use this strategy on an Ashen Lord, you will need to park you boat at a distance.
Ashen Lords, unlike previous land-based threats, can damage your ship and light it on fire! If you are in range, they will throw Fire Rocks and Fire Boulders at you. Both of these will put holes in your ship with the later igniting your ship.
The devastating Roar of the Devil ability that the Ashen Lord will unlock on the final stage will also rip your ship to pieces if it is close enough.
Look For Cover
The Roar of the Devil ability the Ashen Lord will use during the final stage causes giant flaming boulders to fall from the sky. Think of the Ashen Lord getting to spawn their own personal volcano from the Devil’s Roar right on top of you!
If you don’t want to die during this move, you’ll want to back away far enough from the fight or get under cover. If the battle is taking place near a tunnel or arch, you’ll want to head there as soon as you see the Ashen Lord start this move.
Sword Dash
During the battle the Ashen Lord will summon lots of Ashen Skeletons. These skeletons are relatively weak and can be killed with a simple sword dash. We found it useful to have a sword equipped for easy clearing of skeletons that will surround you and your crew.
With an Ammo Crate nearby, carrying two guns will not be as necessary.
An easy way to dispatch of the summoned skeletons is to get them to follow you until they form a train. Then sword dash through all of them at once and continue to focus your efforts on the Ashen Lord.
Ashen Lord Fire
Any move that involves fire that the Ashen Lord uses will damage you even if you are in water. You’ll have to be even more agile as you battle an Ashen Lord not having the sea of a nearby pond to keep you safe!
Crew Size
The Ashen Lord World Event scales appropriately to the range of different size crews. You can expect an Ashen Lord to attack more frequently if there are larger and more crews present during the fight.
More skeletons will also spawn during an Ashen Lord’s Summon ability if more crews and players are present.
Now that we have a good foundation to lean on for the battle, let’s go over each stage:
Stage 1
During the first stage of the Ashen Lord battle, the Ashen Lord will have six of its eight moves available to use.
Use your weapon of choice on the Ashen Lord and constantly do damage to it. We suggest using a gun from a distance as getting close enough with a sword will result in a melee strike or use of Fire Breath. If you are quick enough, a Blunderbuss will work just fine.
While you do damage, you will want to dodge and counter any ability the Ashen Lord uses against you. The longer you are alive, the more damage you are doing and the quicker you will reach victory!
Both of an Ashen Lords projectile abilities can easily be predicted and dodged if you are looking for them. As soon as an Ashen Lord conjures a rock in its hand, be prepared to dodge left or right of where you are currently standing. Same goes for an Ashen Lords Lunge Attack.
As for summon, as suggested, a simple sword dash will dispatch of them quickly. They are very weak so if you decided to equip two guns instead, one bullet from any will do the trick!
Keep dodging and fighting until the Ashen Lord is forced into its Vulnerable State. Do as much damage as you can against the Ashen Lord while it is idle as this damage will be counted towards damage in the next stage.
Stage 2
The Ashen Lord will have just unlocked its Knockback ability after it leaves its Vulnerable State. The farther away you are from the Knockback the less damage you will take.
Being close to the Ashen Lord during the Knockback will light you on fire. When you see the Ashen Lord prepare to smack the ground, run away and wait for the ability to have finished.
Continue to dodge the abilities and damage the Ashen Lord until it goes into its Vulnerable State for a second time.
Stage 3
Prepare for the Ashen Lord’s most deadly attack. The Roar of the Devil! You will want to stay clear the Ashen Lord as large fire boulders will rain down in a circle around the Ashen Lord. Any nearby water will also become boiling hot so don’t seek refuge there.
If you can find cover, you will be safe from the attack there. Running outside the radius of the attack will also keep you safe from any falling lava rocks.
You can damage the Ashen Lord while it is consumed by the Roar of the Devil. A few Flintlock shots or Eye of Reach shots from a distance are your safest bet to continue damage while it attacks.
Once you have inflicted enough damage, the Ashen Lord will finally be killed, the World Event will have been completed, and some lucrative Ashen loot will appear for the victors!
Upon defeating the mighty Ashen Lord, geysers will erupt nearby! These geysers will push up Ashen Treasures out of the ground.
You’ll find Ashen Villainous Skulls, Ashen Captains Chests and more near where the Ashen Lord was taken down.
You’ll also be rewarded with the the new unique item, the Ashen Winds Skull! It can be found on the exact location where the Ashen Lord was killed similar to bounty skulls for Skeleton Captains.
When held similar to other treasure, the Ashen Wind’s Skull can be used like a Flamethrower, releasing a jet of raging fire, setting nearby players, skeletons and ships on fire!
For more on how much this new piece of treasure is worth, how to use it and where to sell it, head on over to our article here: Ashen Winds Skull
How to unlock the Sails of the Ashen Winds sails?
To unlock the Sails of the Ashen Winds sails for purchase you must complete the “Hunter of The Ashen Winds” commendation.
To complete the Hunter of the Ashen Winds commendation, you must sell 25 Ashen Winds Skulls to the Order of Souls.
On top of the sails there are 4 tattoos to unlock. To unlock these tattoos you’ll have to defeat each of the four Ashen Lords five times each!
Ashen Winds Commendations – The Bilge Rats Reputation Tab now contains a range of Commendations for engaging the Ashen Lords and even utilizing the devastating Ashen Winds Skull against your enemies!
Hunter of Captain Grimm – Defeat Captain Grimm 5 times. (20 doubloons)
Hunter of Red Ruth – Defeat Red Ruth 5 times. (20 doubloons)
Hunter of Old Horatio – Defeat Old Horatio 5 times. (20 doubloons)
Hunter of Warden Chi – Defeat Warden Chi 5 times. (20 doubloons)
Banisher of the Flame – Defeat 25 Ashen Lords. (30 doubloons)
Hunter of the Ashen Winds – Sell 25 Ashen Winds Skulls. (30 doubloons)
Skull of Fire – Sell a fully ignited Ashen Winds Skull.
