GvG Mechanics
This feature no longer exists.
Guild vs Guild Battles (GvG's) were instanced battles in which players fought to gain control over open-world Home Territories, Resource Territories or to gain ownership over one of the six cities on the Royal Continent.
With Queen Update they have been replaced with Open-World Territory Battles and Crystal League.
Old system
The matches are fought in a 5vs5 format except when competing for the ownership of cities, in this case, the format is 20vs20. The victor of a GvG battle is determined through a combination of capture points and killing the opposing team.
GvG battles are always fought with a full-loot ruleset. Black-zone GvG battles are considered one of the toughest challenges in all of Albion.
How to Initiate a GvG
To initiate a Guild vs Guild battle, an attack must first be launched from either a Siege Camp or a neighboring territory.
- Launching an attack from a neighboring territory can be done at any time from the world map, if you have the correct permissions within your guild.
- Launching an attack from a Siege Camp requires a player of the attacking guild to be at the Siege Camp, during the time frame when the Siege Camp is enabled. Clicking the Siege Camp-symbol on the world map will show you when it is possible to launch the next attack on a territory.
(?) Each territory has a GvG time frame as shown in the territory info box when clicking on the zone on the world map.
(?) GvG fights launched during the GvG time frame are scheduled for the next day at the first available slot.
If the attack is launch outside of the GvG time frame of the attacked territory, the attack is considered to be launched during the next time frame and will be scheduled the day after the next time frame.
If an attack was launched from a territory, there is a cooldown period and another attack can not be launched for the next 24 hours. (confirmed 24h or after/before next timeslot?)
GvG Costs
The basecost to launch a GvG costs is X.XX Silver (currently about 1.5m), but varies in price depending on the global discount.
There are ways to get back most of the attack cost:
- 90% of the costs are reimbursed if at least 1 point is taken from the defending guild during the battle. This is done to prevent attacks without players showing up for the fight.
- 5% of the attack cost goes to the winning team of the GvG battle.
- If attacking team scores no points, 95% of the costs go to the defender and 5% is a silver sink.
Siege Camp
The timers of Siege Camps may vary depending on the GvG time frame of the zone, but an attack can be launched to the territory regardless (.. of what? they also auto pacify after an hour). See the information above about GvG time frames.
When launching an attack from a Siege Camp, you may use the battle vault to store your items for the GvG battle (see below for more information about battle vaults).
See the Siege Camp article for more information.
Picking Gear For a GvG Fight
During a GvG battle, guilds can only bring a limited amount of weapons and armor. The gear that is used during the gear must be prepared prior to the GvG and must be stored in the correct battle vault to be usable during a fight, in case one member of the team dies and loses his items due to the full-loot rule set.
It is advisable to organize the gear you are going to use during a GvG beforehand, this means, for example, picking the right spells or splitting stacks of buff-food or potions beforehand, so that during the heat of battle you are not distracted by inventory management and can just right-click equip your gear.
Each home-territory and each resource territory has their own, unique battle-chest and your team must place their gear in the correct territory or Siege Camp (the one you’re attacking from) to be usable during the GvG.
Battlevault
- Battlevaults store up to 64 slots of items, with no weight restriction.
- Only equipable items can be stored in a battevault:
Siphoned energy can be placed into the chest as well.
Item Power Restrictions
GvG's on the Royal Continent are item power soft-capped, similar to yellow zones.
During yellow and red zone GvGs item power above 800 is reduced by 80% on the Royal Continent.
Examples:
- 1000 IP -> 840 IP
- 1300 IP -> 900 IP
Scaling item power caps are also in effect in GvGs that take place in the Low-Outlands and Mid-Outlands.
The IP caps are as follows:
- Anglia & Glouvia (Low-Outlands): 50% scaling above 1000 IP (for example, 1500 IP becomes 1250 effective IP)
- Cumbria & Siluria (Mid-Outlands): 50% scaling above 1200 IP (for example, 1500 IP becomes 1350 effective IP)
How to Join a GvG
If you are a member of the guild that is launching the attack, you can join a GvG by opening the guild menu ('G' per default), choosing the GvG you want to join and then click join. If you have the rights to invite your guild members to a GvG (see guild rights system) you can invite your team members or members of your alliance (?). Guild members with the permission (x?) can also kick players from a GvG.
Once the GvG starts (you’ll see a warning) everyone who signed up to the GvG will be teleported to the battle. Players fighting in the GvG battle must be in the correct zone when the GvG starts to be teleported. It is possible to zone in later as well (?).
- if you’re attacking you can either be in the attacking zone or the defending zone
- if you’re defending you must be in in the defending territory
GvG Fight Mechanics & Rule Set
Guild vs Guild fights have different rule sets, depending on the type of territory you’re fighting over.
The general rule set for a resource territory GvG battle are as follows:
Points:
- Each team starts with 150 points. Teams can only lose points, but not gain points.
- The first team at 0 loses the GvG fight.
- There are 3 capture points (stones) on the map. At the start of the match, these are unclaimed.
- Claiming a stone removes 1 point for the other team.
- Every minute of the fight, the team with fewer stones will lose points - depending on the capture difference of stones captured
- If your team has fewer stones captured than your opponents you will lose 10 points every minute.
- If the enemy holds two stones and you hold none you will only lose 10 points, not 20 points.
- If the opposing team has captured all three stones, you will lose 20 points every minute.
- If a player dies, 4 points will be deducted from his team's score.
Timer:
- At the beginning of a GvG, there is a 30-second timer, during which both teams are locked to their tent area to prepare and get ready.
- A GvG fight can last for a maximum of 25 minutes. If no team has won at the end, the defender team wins.
- When killed, a player must wait a certain time to respawn. This respawn time will grow longer as the GvG fight progresses.
Tents:
- Players within the range of their tents are immune to damage and CC and regenerate a 20hp per second.
- Enemies that come to close to the tent will be hit by a high damage beam to prevent tent-diving.
Special ruleset for City GvG (20v20):
- Cities have 5 stones
- Both teams start with 200 points
- Kills during city fights are only worth 1 point
- Having 1 more stone than your opponent will score 20 points
- Having 3 more stones than your opponent will score 40 points
- Having 5 more stones than your opponent will score 60 points
- Scoring only happens every 2 minutes
Counter Attacks & Retaliate Mechanics
When a territory is attacked and the defending team successfully defends against the attack - they may choose different options depending on the outcome:
- Counterattack: If the defending team wins with 100 points or more, the game triggers a counter-attack on the attacking territory 30 mins after the start of the initial GvG. Counter attacks happen outside of GvG slot times.
- Retaliate: when the defending team lose a territory but own a neighboring territory (or a Siege Camp still available on the same map), they can launch a retaliate within 30 minutes of the ending of the GvG.
- Retaliates happen at the next slot available (what slot post S7?), unless done within 10 minutes of the full hour, then it goes to the next slot. For example, retaliating at 19:55 puts the GvG at 21:00.
GvG Lockout System
Getting locked:
- When a player fights in a GvG, unless he wins a defensive GvG with 150 points, his character is locked for exactly 24 hours on the territory on which he used the battle vault. (war camps count as a separate territory adjacent to the territory in the zone they are in)
- For City GvGs the lockout happens if the defender points reach 195 or below.
- Automatic counter-attacks do not reset the lockout timer (Wrong, each GvG counts as a separate lock, as does the counter) [confirmation needed]
- Retaliates reset the lockout timer. (Same as above, nothing gets reset it simply adds another lock. So at that instance you will be locked at several instances, this becomes relevant if you GvG in multiple zones next to each other in the same day)[confirmation needed]
Lock effect:
- For 24 hours, your character character can only defend this territory or an adjacent one, and/or attack from this territory or an adjacent one.
- Adjacent territories are connected with a white line on the world map. Select All in the second drop-down menu in the upper right corner of your screen while viewing the world map.
- The lockout lasts 24 hours and not 23 hours 59 minutes. For example, If you play a GvG at 20:00 on Monday, you cannot join a GvG starting at 20:00 on Tuesday unless territories are adjacent.
Ways to Train for GvGs
- Arenas
- Item power soft-capped at 800 IP
- No risk of losing gear
- Can queue solo or as a group (up to 5)
- 5v5 Hellgates:
- IP above 1000 reduced by 50%
- Get very good fame (350k if you kill all bosses), and decent loot at the end from the middle boss
- Train 5v5 with real consequences
- Many of the 5v5 comps run in HG's are different then what is run in GvG at this moment
- GvG Training Battles (Scrims)
- (guide: https://forum.albiononline.com/index.php/Thread/86776-GvG-Training-Battles-A-Quick-How-To-Guide/)
- most teams train with 1300-1350 avg. IP, so 8.1 or good specializations are needed.
- Crystal GvG
- IP above 1000 reduced by 50%
- Train 5v5 with real consequences
- Requires a territory to participate
GvG Seasons
Guilds can compete in GvG Seasons, that last around 3 months and since Season 4 award special rewards for the top-ranked guilds. The details about the previous GvG Seasons can be found here:
- GvG Season 1
- GvG Season 2
- GvG Season 3
- GvG Season 4
- GvG Season 5
- GvG Season 6
- GvG Season 7
- GvG Season 8
- GvG Season 9
- GvG Season 10
- GvG Season 11
- GvG Season 12
- GvG Season 13
- GvG Season 14
- GvG Season 15
- GvG Season 16
- GvG Season 17
- GvG Season 18
Related Patch Notes
Patch Link | Date | Patch Name | Patch Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Version 21.000.1 | 21 November 2022 | Beyond the Veil Update | Diminishing Returns have been reworked for knockbacks and knocking enemies into the air, to prevent players being stun-locked by repeated knock-ups:
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Version 19.060.1 | 2 March 2022 | Lands Awakened Patch 6 | Previously, immunity to certain debuffs was set up such that triggered effects intended to ignore immunity did not. This has been reworked to allow certain unique systems to overlook immunity. Examples:
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Version 19.060.1 | 2 March 2022 | Lands Awakened Patch 6 | Hostile Dismount status now prevents looting of killed hostile players. Additionally, players must now dismount before looting a killed player. This change was made for two reasons:
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Version 18.090.1 | 28 July 2021 | Call to Arms Patch 9 |
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Version 18.000.1 | 17 March 2021 | Call to Arms Update |
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Version 18.000.1 | 17 March 2021 | Call to Arms Update |
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Version 1.17.410.184451 | 2 February 2021 | Rise of Avalon Patch 13 (Balance Patch) | Consumable items that commonly collect in large stacks can now be used in a single click via the new Use All Button in the item UI.
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Version 1.17.406.182620 | 13 January 2021 | Rise of Avalon Patch 12 | Smart Cluster Queue
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Version 1.17.406.181307 | 10 December 2020 | Rise of Avalon Patch 11 |
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Version 1.17.406.179120 | 16 November 2020 | Rise of Avalon Patch 9 |
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Version 1.17.406.177096 | 21 October 2020 | Rise of Avalon Patch 7 / Brimstone & Mist Midseason Update and Hotfix 7.1 | The following changes give players more control over how they set up armies for the queue. Player sorting is now done on a per-party level, meaning the system will attempt to keep existing parties together:
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Version 1.17.406.177096 | 21 October 2020 | Rise of Avalon Patch 7 / Brimstone & Mist Midseason Update and Hotfix 7.1 |
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Version 1.17.406.177096 | 21 October 2020 | Rise of Avalon Patch 7 / Brimstone & Mist Midseason Update and Hotfix 7.1 | New Disarray parameters ensure the ZvZ meta plays out in a similar way across a wide range of fight sizes, while still offering smaller groups protection from large armies:
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Version 1.17.404.173341 | 27 August 2020 | Rise of Avalon Patch 2 | Disarray (zerg debuff) curve is flattened further and now hard caps at 30% (150 or more players). Example values:
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Version 1.17.403.172369 | 12 August 2020 | Rise of Avalon Update and Hotfix 1, 2 |
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Version 1.16.396.168823 | 22 June 2020 | Queen Patch 14 and Hotfix 14.1, 14.2, 14.3 | Healing Sickness (2 sources of Healing)
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Version 1.16.396.167506 | 4 June 2020 | Queen Patch 13 and Hotfix 13.1 | Players waiting to enter a cluster via the Smart Cluster Queue now also add to the total Disarray headcount in the cluster for which they are queueing. For example:
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Version 1.16.396.167506 | 4 June 2020 | Queen Patch 13 and Hotfix 13.1 | Additionally, the effects of Disarray, AKA the zerg debuff, no longer accelerate as quickly with higher player numbers. The new debuff thresholds can be seen in the chart below.
As a reminder, the following 3 attributes are affected by the debuff:
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Version 1.16.396.165550 | 5 May 2020 | Queen Patch 11 (Season 9 Patch) and Hotfixes 11.1, 11.2, 11.3 |
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Version 1.16.396.165550 | 5 May 2020 | Queen Patch 11 (Season 9 Patch) and Hotfixes 11.1, 11.2, 11.3 | The following adjustments affect guilds and alliances that own 10 or more territories in the first case, and 20 or more in the second.
Siphoned Energy Drain: The penalty still starts at 10 Territories, but now increases in increments of 3%:
Fame and Silver Penalty: The penalty now starts at 20 Territories and increases by 1% per additional territory:
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Version 1.16.393.161872 | 11 March 2020 | Queen Patch 7 |
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Version 1.16.393.161872 | 11 March 2020 | Queen Patch 7 | Following up on the community’s feedback, we have reworked the loot in randomized dungeon chests according to the following principles:
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Version 1.16.393.161355 | 4 March 2020 | Queen Patch 6 |
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Version 1.16.393.161355 | 4 March 2020 | Queen Patch 6 | Items without a durability stat will no longer be destroyed upon knockdown.
Previously, the following behavior occurred:
After Patch 6:
This change is intended to help introduce newer players to combat without item loss (i.e. in yellow zones), and to avoid situations where players were confused about what happened to items. It should also improve the overall loot experience in Elite Dungeons, where a large percent of loot was previously destroyed by being knocked down repeatedly. Item destruction rate and durability loss rate upon death (killed by another player, suicide, etc.) are not affected by this change. |
Version 1.16.393.161355 | 4 March 2020 | Queen Patch 6 | Introduced a feature that will delay players from leaving a Hideout set as "Home" after respawning there multiple times. The effect has a 10-minute cooldown, meaning after 10 minutes without dying and respawning in a Hideout the counter returns to zero.
Time penalties:
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Version 1.16.393.160869 | 26 February 2020 | Queen Patch 5 |
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Version 1.16.393.159852 | 12 February 2020 | Queen Patch 3 | Items and Silver gained are now tracked separately in the combat log:
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Version 1.16.392.158262 | 20 January 2020 | Queen Update | Item Power progression has been streamlined and simplified, and now increases in a linear manner. More details: https://forum.albiononline.com/index.php/Thread/121085
In addition, Mastery Modifiers have been added to the Mastery Bonuses of high-tier equipment:
This bonus applies to all Armors, Weapons, and Offhands, and includes IP bonuses from basic Specializations as well as advanced Masteries. Enchanted gear will be calculated at the level of its base tier, i.e. T5.0 through T5.3 all receive the same 5% bonus. Sample case: if you get an additional 100 IP from your Destiny Board Masteries for swords, using a Tier 6.2 Sword will give you a 10% additional boost to that Mastery bonus, for a total bonus of 110 IP. |
Version 1.16.392.158262 | 20 January 2020 | Queen Update |
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Version 1.16.392.158262 | 20 January 2020 | Queen Update |
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Version 1.15.389.155349 | 29 November 2019 | Percival Patch 11 |
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Version 1.15.387.153912 | 13 November 2019 | Percival Patch 10 |
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Version 1.15.387.153912 | 13 November 2019 | Percival Patch 10 | With the new standalone season starting today, two new systems will be in place:
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Version 1.15.387.150212 | 18 September 2019 | Percival Patch 5 (Midseason Patch) |
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Version 1.15.383.147232 | 31 July 2019 | Percival Patch 2 and Hotfix 2.1 | Loot Table Updates
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Version 1.15.383.147232 | 31 July 2019 | Percival Patch 2 and Hotfix 2.1 | Access Rights
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Version 1.15.382.145855 | 10 July 2019 | Percival Update | Crystal and City GvG Changes
Crystal Realm GvGs are now available between seasons. These between-season fights do not generate season points, but still offer loot and rewards. The threshold for which money invested in 20v20 city GvGs is returned has been adjusted from 149 points to 195 points. Since points are scored on a subtractive basis, this means that attackers now need to score fewer points to get their Silver back. Additionally, match length for city GvGs has been increased from 25 minutes to 30 minutes. City GvGs have been added to the practice GvG "scrims" available. To initiate a practice city fight, one party of 20 must invite another party of 20 using the regular chat commands (see here for more info). The new map name is "city". |
Version 1.15.382.145855 | 10 July 2019 | Percival Update |
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Version 1.14.381.140241 | 10 April 2019 | Oberon Patch 2 / Free-to-Play Launch | As of April 10, Albion Online will be entirely free to download and play. Existing players can continue playing as normal, while new players can create an account and play the game without purchasing a pack. The Premium system continues unchanged, and Premium status can still be purchased with either real-world money or ingame currency. |
Version 1.14.381.140241 | 10 April 2019 | Oberon Patch 2 / Free-to-Play Launch | Respawn Changes
Special Island Move
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Version 1.14.381.140241 | 10 April 2019 | Oberon Patch 2 / Free-to-Play Launch |
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Version 1.14.379.138841 | 20 March 2019 | Oberon Update - Oberon Update Hotfix #1, #2, and #3 | Player Execution
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Version 1.13.369.136513 | 20 February 2019 | Nimue Balance Patch (Patch #7) | General Balance Changes
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Version 1.11.362.119971 | 20 June 2018 | Lancelot Patch #9 |
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Version 1.11.362.119971 | 20 June 2018 | Lancelot Patch #9 |
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Version 1.11.362.118022 | 25 May 2018 | Lancelot Patch #7 |
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Version 1.11.362.116876 | 2 May 2018 | Lancelot Midseason Patch | Halved the respawn speed of Siphoning Mages (but doubled their drop value) to make mage raiding more attractive compared to other activities.
The GvG buff for owning mages prior to a GvG has been removed for both attackers and defenders. Activation times of siege camps now occur twice per day, with half the camps activated at 3:00 UTC and the other half at 18:00 UTC. |
Version 1.0.34.184.105727 | 6 December 2017 | Kay Update |
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