Wiki · Combat
PvP, Skulls, and Death
How PvP flags, skulls, death penalties, safe kills, and Amulet of Death rules work.
PvP is controlled by level checks, zone rules, faction rules, party rules, guild protections, skull status, and death penalties. The skull system is mainly a same-faction PvP penalty system.
PvP entry requirement
Characters must reach level 50 before they can engage in PvP by attacking or being attacked.
Safe Mode: prevent accidental PvP
Safe Mode ON limits who you can damage. It does not make you immune to other players. Monsters remain valid targets, so you can leave it on while hunting.
Use the Safe Mode button in the game HUD. A shield marks ON; a red skull marks OFF. Wait for the ON/OFF label to return after changing it—while the spinner is visible, the change is not yet confirmed. If it cannot be confirmed, click again to restore ON.
| With Safe Mode ON | Can you damage them? |
|---|---|
| A peaceful player, including a rival faction outside a war | No. |
| Someone who damaged you within the last 60 seconds | Yes, even if they share your party, guild, or faction. |
| A skulled player in your faction | Yes, unless they are also in your party or guild and have not attacked you. |
| A party or guild member who has not attacked you | No; their skull alone does not remove this protection. |
| An eligible war opponent outside your party, guild, and faction | Yes, subject to the normal war and zone rules. |
Safe Mode OFF removes this extra targeting protection; it does not bypass the PvP level requirement, safe zones, or other combat restrictions. Your pets follow your Safe Mode rules too.
Logging in or reconnecting starts with Safe Mode ON. Changing maps keeps your chosen mode, so check the HUD before entering a dangerous area.
Skull types
Skull states include:
- White — lasts
15 minutes; triggered by attacking a same-faction player who has no skull. It marks you as an aggressor but adds no death penalty by itself. - Yellow — lasts
1 week; triggered by killing at least one same-faction player unjustifiably. It increases XP/skill loss by1.3xand raises equipment drop chance by30%. - Red — lasts
2 weeks; triggered by killing3+same-faction players unjustifiably within the configured window. It applies2xXP/skill loss and full loot drop.
What counts as unjustified
A kill is unjustified when you kill a player who:
- is in your same faction
- has no skull
These cases are safe kills that do not give a skull:
- killing different-faction players
- killing players who already have a skull
- killing your own party members
- kills in arena maps
- kills during faction wars
Skull progression
The player-facing progression is:
- attack a same-faction player with no skull → White skull
- kill them unjustifiably → Yellow skull
- kill
3+same-faction players in the tracked window → Red skull
Skull timers can reset when another unjustified kill is committed.
Death penalties by game mode
The main game mode names are Standard and Permadeath.
- Standard mode applies the legacy hardcore-style XP/skill loss and random equipment drops when you have no skull.
- Permadeath mode soft-deletes the character and drops all items on death.
The death system also protects low-level non-permadeath characters from item, gold, XP, and SP penalties below level 20.
No-death-penalty areas
The death penalty flow skips penalties for Arena and Training scene types. Use these areas for safer practice when available.
Amulet of Death
Amulet of DeathAmulet of Death can protect against death penalties, but skull status matters:
- No skull, White, and Yellow — the amulet protects you and is consumed.
- Red — the amulet has no effect, is not consumed, and full red-skull penalties apply.
The confirmed protection message is: Your Amulet of Death protected your items, XP, and skill points.
If penalties apply, the confirmed message is: You lost some items, XP, and skill points.
Gold and item loss notes
Death can affect equipment, inventory, XP/SP, and carried gold. Currently, 10% of inventory gold is lost on every death and is not protected by Amulet of Death.