Albion Online Zones, PvP & Economy Terms

In Albion Online the map decides the rules. The colour of a zone tells you whether another player can only knock you down or kill you and take everything you carry, and that risk is also what makes the better resources and loot worth the trip. On top of the open world sit separate realms such as the Roads of Avalon, the Mists and, since Dragonfire, the Ancient Lands, each with its own entry rules. All of it feeds an economy where players craft nearly every item and trade it for Silver.

This glossary explains the zone types, the special areas, the solo and group PvP content with Infamy, and the money side: Silver, Gold, the three game realms, market fees and the Black Market. It helps you judge where you can go with which gear and what an amount of Silver means on your server. Facts are checked against the game on 1 November 2026: the Dragonfire update (since 31 August 2026) with Patch 3 of 12 October 2026, and Guild Season 34, which started on 12 September 2026.

Term	In short	Where you meet it
Silver and Gold	The in-game currency and the premium currency	Inventory, Gold Market, shop
Realms (Europe, Americas, Asia)	Three separate game worlds	Login screen
Zone colours	Blue, yellow, red and black PvP rules	World Map, zone names
Full loot	Death drops everything you carry	Red and black zones, lethal content
Royal Continent and Outlands	The southern and northern continents	World Map, Realmgates
Roads of Avalon	A shifting network of portal roads	Gateways to Avalon on the map
Mists	Small solo and duo instances behind wisps	Will o' Wisps in the open world
Ancient Lands	Dragonfire's floating islands with Drakes	Portals on the World Map
Corrupted Dungeons	Solo dungeons with PvP invasions	Antiquarian's Den, open world
Infamy	Progress and reward bonus in demonic content	Player stats, rankings
Hellgates	Small team PvE and PvP instances	Hellgate rituals, open world
Marketplace, setup fee and tax	Local player markets and their fees	Every city
Black Market	The NPC buyer that supplies mob loot	Caerleon
Territories and hideouts	Guild land and bases in the Outlands	Guild Seasons, region maps

Silver and Gold

Silver is the everyday currency of Albion Online. You earn it from mobs, chests, selling to other players and the Black Market, and you spend it on gear, materials, repairs, fast travel, Premium and almost everything else. Bags of Silver from dungeon chests and challenge rewards are bound to the character and are not taxed by your guild, while Silver picked up from the ground can be (community wiki).

Gold is the premium currency, bought with real money in the web shop or the in-game store. The official FAQ lists its uses: Premium status, vanity items, and trading for Silver with other players on the Gold Market. That exchange is player-driven, so the Silver price of Gold, and with it the Silver price of Premium, changes with supply and demand. A sum of Silver is only meaningful on one realm, since the realms have separate economies.

Example: "Gold went up again, Premium costs more Silver this month."

Realms: Albion Europe, Americas and Asia

Albion runs three separate game worlds, usually called realms or servers. Albion Europe opened to all players on 29 April 2024 as a fresh world for the Europe and MENA regions, fully separate from the existing two. When it launched, the older servers were renamed: Albion West became Albion Americas and Albion East became Albion Asia.

Characters, Silver and items stay on the realm where they were made, so you choose your realm for ping and for the time zone of the events you want to join. Event times differ by realm: Season 34 began on 12 September 2026 at 00:00 UTC on Albion Asia and at 11:00 UTC on Americas and Europe. Old forum posts and guides that mention "West" and "East" refer to today's Americas and Asia.

Example: "Which realm are you on? I play on Europe, my friends are still on Americas."

Zone colours: blue, yellow, red, black

Each open-world zone has a colour that sets its PvP rules. Blue zones are the safest, built for learning the game. In yellow zones PvP can happen, but defeat only means a knockdown and some durability loss on your gear; the official beginner guide stresses that you lose no possessions there. The community wiki gives a PvP knockdown in yellow zones as three minutes.

Red zones allow lethal PvP against players flagged as hostile, with full loot, and attacking someone has reputation consequences. Black zones are all in the Outlands: any player can attack any other without losing reputation, which the official world guide sums up as winner takes all. A fifth colour, orange, arrived with the Abyssal Depths update in 2025 and is also used in the Ancient Lands: a partial-loot rule where you keep your equipped gear and only your inventory drops on death. Resources and Fame get richer from blue to black, which is why gatherers accept the risk.

Example: "Stay in yellow until you can afford to lose the set, then try red."

Full loot

Full loot means that a killed player drops everything equipped and everything in their inventory, which the killer can then pick up. It applies in red and black zones, in the Roads of Avalon, in lethal Mists, in Stalker and Slayer Corrupted Dungeons and in lethal Hellgates. According to the community wiki, each dropped item has a 33% chance to be destroyed (turned into trash) instead, and Silver and Gold are never dropped.

Death is not permanent: you respawn in the last Royal City you visited or at a home you set, such as a guild hideout. Players therefore keep spare sets in the bank and talk about "regear", a guild covering the cost of lost gear. The rule is the reason why cheap, effective builds are popular for risky content, and why the official Corrupted Dungeons guide advises never bringing gear you cannot afford to lose.

Example: "Full loot zone ahead, put the expensive cape in the bank."

Royal Continent and Outlands

The Royal Continent is the large southern landmass where every new character arrives after the tutorial. It holds five Starter Towns, the five Royal Cities (Lymhurst, Bridgewatch, Fort Sterling, Martlock and Thetford, one for each biome) and Caerleon in the middle. It has blue, yellow and red zones but no black zones, and Faction Warfare takes place here.

The Outlands are the northern continent, made entirely of black zones. You reach them through the Realmgates in the five Royal Cities; Caerleon has none. This is where most guild warfare happens, with territories and hideouts, and where three small towns called Rests (Merlyn's, Morgana's and Arthur's Rest) let you trade, craft and log out safely. Since Dragonfire, Resource Guardians also spawn in tier 6 and higher regions of the Outlands, without warning and without a map marker.

Example: "We are moving the whole guild from Martlock to the Outlands this season."

Roads of Avalon

The Roads of Avalon are a network of hundreds of regions reached through Gateways to Avalon, portals that open and close at random across the world. A portal lets either 7 or 20 players through before its charges need to regenerate. Portals from blue or yellow zones always lead to a tier 4 Road, portals from red or black zones usually to a tier 6 Road, and tier 8 Roads are only found deeper in the network or behind 20-player raid portals.

Black zone PvP rules apply inside, so the Roads are full loot. The golden markers on the Road give your mount a 70% speed buff, and the areas beside it hold Avalonian mobs, chests, dungeons and high-tier resources. Guilds can place hideouts in Avalonian Rests. The rings around each gateway show group size, tier and zone type of the destination, and many players read the name endings too, for example "-aum" for wood or "-un" for a large gold chest.

Example: "There is a T6 road with a gold chest two portals from Thetford, bring a group."

Mists

The Mists are small instanced regions for solo players and duos. You enter by following a Will o' Wisp in a yellow, red or black zone until it opens a portal. Regular Mists take one player per portal; Greater Mists, found from red and black zones, take up to two and allow you to team with one other player. Mists entered from a yellow zone are non-lethal, those entered from red or black zones are lethal and full loot.

Inside, every player outside your party appears as "Mysterious Stranger", so you cannot tell who you are fighting. You can gather all five resource types in any Mists region, free caged wisps, clear camps and earn Brecilien Standing, which eventually reveals the hidden city of Brecilien. A wisp's rarity sets how rich and dangerous its Mists region is, and after a variable time the fog closes in and returns you to where you entered.

Example: "Found a legendary wisp in red, going in solo."

Ancient Lands

The Ancient Lands arrived with the Dragonfire update on 31 August 2026: a realm of floating islands above the clouds, reached through portals for different group sizes (small 1 to 5 players, medium 5 to 7, large 15 to 20). You complete island objectives, open Leygates with Keystones, hunt Drakes and push toward the Fire Drake in the centre. Its loot can include Spirit Waystones, which let a raid of up to 20 players enter the Dragon Sanctuary and fight Azaryon, the Fire Dragon.

Portals from yellow zones lead to orange-zone Ancient Lands where only your inventory drops on death; portals in black zones lead to the full-loot version. The realm has a 1,200 IP soft cap. Patch 3 of 12 October 2026 made small yellow-zone portals much more common (average spawn time from 45 to 15.5 minutes) but cut their Fame and loot by 30%, while small portals in red and black zones kept their rewards. An Item Freeze protects the items you bring in, so only loot found inside can be lost.

Example: "Small portal in yellow is up again, quick island run before the raid?"

Corrupted Dungeons

Corrupted Dungeons are solo dungeons full of demons where another player can invade you, or you can invade them. You enter from the Antiquarian's Den in any Royal Continent city, from orange-glowing entrances in the open world, or with a Corrupted Dungeon map. Killing mobs and mini-bosses earns Infamy until the final boss appears.

There are three difficulties, and the Abyssal Depths patch notes of 2025 switched their entry check to base Item Power. Hunter: at least 700 base Item Power, and PvP defeat is only a knockdown. Stalker: at least 900 base IP, tier 6 mobs, and full loot, you lose equipment, inventory and mount. Slayer: at least 1,100 base IP and 100,000 Infamy, tier 8 mobs, full loot. When you are invaded, destroying three Demonic Shards banishes the intruder; winning the fight gives you part of their Infamy and their loot.

Example: "Grinding Hunter until I have enough Infamy and silver for Stalker sets."

Infamy

Infamy is the progress system of Corrupted Dungeons and Hellgates. Inside one run, Infamy from kills counts toward spawning the final boss. Everything you earn is also added to your character's total, which appears in your stats and in rankings. A higher total gives you more Fame in Corrupted Dungeons, and it also means you are matched against players with higher Infamy.

PvP moves Infamy between players: losing a fight in a Corrupted Dungeon costs 10% of your total Infamy, and the winner takes a share of it. Reaching 100,000 Infamy unlocks Slayer dungeons for good, even if your total falls below that later. The community wiki notes that Corrupted Dungeons and each Hellgate format keep their own separate Infamy.

Example: "Lost 10% of my Infamy to an invader, back to farming mobs."

Hellgates

Hellgates are instanced fights against demons and, usually, another team of players. You open one with a Hellgate ritual, which can be crafted at the Artifact Foundry, looted or bought, and the entrance then appears some zones away. The community wiki describes them as team content for a fixed party size, mainly 2v2 and 5v5, each in a non-lethal version (knockdown) and a lethal one (full loot), with matchmaking by the party's average Hellgate Infamy.

When two teams meet, lava starts closing in from the edge of the map until one side wins. Patch 3 of 12 October 2026 made the lava harsher for stalling: it now also lowers defense against players by 50%, to give damage-focused teams a better chance against full-stall compositions. Entry also checks base Item Power, which depends on the zone where the Hellgate is opened.

Example: "Need a healer for 5v5 lethal Hellgates tonight."

Marketplace, setup fee and tax

Every city has a Marketplace, and each one is local: what is listed in Lymhurst cannot be bought in Martlock. Prices are set entirely by players. Selling directly fills another player's buy order, while a sell order waits until someone buys it, so the official beginner guide advises checking which one you use.

The community wiki lists the fees. The setup fee is 2.5% of the price, paid when you create or change a buy or sell order. The transaction tax (also called sales tax) is 8% of the final price, or 4% with Premium. Orders stay listed for 30 days, and items must be at full durability to be listed. Since markets are local, moving goods between cities, often through dangerous zones, is a trade of its own.

Example: "Setup fee plus tax eat about 10% without Premium, price it higher."

Black Market

The Black Market in Caerleon is a special NPC buyer that explains where mob loot comes from. When a mob is killed or a chest opened, part of the Silver goes to the Black Market trader. If an item is in stock (because a player sold it there), it can drop as loot; if not, the trader raises its buy order until it meets a player's sell order. That is why every item a mob drops was crafted by a player, and it keeps its crafter's name.

You can only sell there, never buy. Tools (except the skinning knife) and gathering gear are not accepted, lower tiers and normal quality are in highest demand, and part of what is sold is destroyed as an item sink. Caerleon is ringed by red zones and fast travel there is only allowed with an empty inventory, so hauling gear to the Black Market is a well-known risk, and a favourite target for gankers.

Example: "Black Market pays more for 4.1 bows than Martlock, I'll run them to Caerleon."

Territories and hideouts

Territories are claimable spots in the Outlands that guilds fight over during Guild Seasons. A season lasts about eight weeks in two four-week halves, each opened by an Invasion Day on which all territories turn neutral and must be retaken. Outside Invasion Days, territories can be raided or attacked during their region's one-hour prime time. Season 34 started on 12 September 2026 and reached midseason in October.

A hideout is a guild base with a bank, guild bank and respawn point, placed in the Outlands or in an Avalonian Rest of the Roads of Avalon. Hideouts can be attacked by the guild that owns the local territory, which is why the community wiki calls hideout life a mix of politics and war. Guilds with enough Season Points can declare a Headquarters hideout, from 1,000 points for one in the Roads of Avalon up to 200,000 for a quality 6, tier 8 region.

Example: "Our hideout is vulnerable at 20 UTC, everyone online for prime time."

FAQ

Where can I play without losing my gear?

In blue and yellow zones, non-lethal Mists, orange-zone Ancient Lands (only your inventory drops), Hunter Corrupted Dungeons and non-lethal Hellgates. Defeat there means a knockdown, not full loot.

Can I move Silver or characters between Europe, Americas and Asia?

The realms are separate worlds with separate economies. Characters and Silver stay on the realm where you play, so pick the realm before you start investing.

How much does selling on the market cost?

A 2.5% setup fee when you create the order and an 8% tax on the sale, reduced to 4% with Premium. Selling directly into an existing buy order skips the waiting, but you accept the buyer's price.

How do I unlock Slayer Corrupted Dungeons?

Reach 100,000 total Infamy and at least 1,100 base Item Power. The Infamy unlock is permanent, even if your total drops after lost fights.

Related terms

• Albion Online Fame, mastery and progression terms
• In the general gaming terms: money sink · server region · LFG and LFM
• Onlyfarms services: Albion Online services · Albion Online Silver · Infamy Points