Introduction
The Pirate Captain is the 9th class to be introduced to Trove and with it brought a large update to what’s now known as the Treasure Isles. The Pirate Captain is a short ranged magical damage class that fires a pistol in a small cone in front of the player. Because of it’s ability to set up turrets, the Pirate Captain is capable of doing very high consistent damage. Coupled with the burst damage of it’s decoys and the sheer power of it’s ult, you’ll be blowing up the battlefield!
Advantages
- Very consistent damage
- No energy (Uses “Doubloons” to restore energy)
- Strong abilities (Turrets deal a lot of damage)
- Nice AOE on basic attack
- Decoys pull aggro
Disadvantages
- Short range
- Turrets need Doubloons to upgrade; better against large groups of enemies since you’ll get Doubloons faster
- Moving turrets destroys them
- Needs to fight to restore energy
- Relies on abilities for damage
Role of a Pirate Captain
Most of the Pirate Captain’s damage comes from it’s abilities, specifically, it’s turrets. You can only place 1 down at a time so you need to make sure it’s set up in a good spot where it has a clear line of sight of all nearby enemies; otherwise it’ll just be shooting a wall. You’ll have short range so you need to stay close, but usually don’t have to worry about pulling mob aggro, since for the most part, you can spam cast decoys. Set up a turret then start shooting everything while spamming decoys is your job!
Pirate Captain in Solo Play
The Pirate Captain can get tanky and this is probably advised because of your short range but you won’t be face tanking mobs like a Knight or a Dracolyte. The Pirate in solo play is pretty easy so try to think of it more as a short ranged Fae. You’ll constantly be throwing down decoys and autoing. Because the decoys pull aggro of nearby mobs when they’re thrown down, it’s very easy to keep mobs off of you. The only problem of course, is if you run out of energy (Doubloons) but if there are enough mobs and you’re hitting all of them with your basic attack, you should be able to throw down plenty. They don’t last too long since they can only take 3 hits but they explode when they die and you can pretty much always throw a few down if you keep hitting mobs with your pistol. Start a fight with your turret so that it quickly levels up and unless it’s a boss fight, I usually don’t throw down my ult.
Breakdown of Skills
[Passive] Plunderbuss: Attacking enemies causes them to drop Doubloons, which restore energy and increase the damage of any active First Mate turret.
You don’t regen energy. Instead, to replenish energy, you shoot enemies and collect Doubloons! They are automatically picked up so you don’t have to worry about chasing after them. You only get Doubloons by hitting enemies with your basic attack and the more enemies you hit the more Doubloons are dropped!
[Active RMB] First Mate: Load a cannon for yer trusty Parrot and let your enemies taste its lead.
This is where a lot of your damage comes from. You throw down a parrot controlled turret that shoots nearby mobs. The damage of this turret upgrades depending on how many doubloons acquired since it’s been put down. Basically, put the turret down, shoot a couple things to collect the doubloons and BAM, turrets been upgraded. It can upgrade twice and you’ll see the turret physically change when it does. These can’t be destroyed by mobs so make sure you place it somewhere where it can shoot everything nearby!
This is how upgraded cannon looks.
[Active 1] Pretend Pirate: Strap a bomb to yer bilge rat and send him out to distract your foes. A blast will be had by all!
These are your decoys. This ability keeps you alive in fights. Basically, you throw this pirate look-a-like down that mobs can’t resist attacking. Once it takes 3 hits, BOOM, explosion that damages all nearby mobs. Considering how often you’ll be putting these things down, the damage is pretty good and well.. because it’s the only ability you have that actually costs anything, use it whenever you can! These little things last for a bit so don’t worry about putting down too many, just make sure to keep throwing them down. Any ability that keeps you and your teammates from taking damage is a great one, and it’s an even greater one when you can spam it!
[Ultimate] Man o’ War: When you need to keelhaul yer foes, just light the fuse of yer Man O’ War and watch it turn ‘em to chum. Yum!
So, if turrets and decoys aren’t enough for you, the Pirate also comes equipped with a bigger scarier machine that lobs explosives at your enemies! Just like your turret, mobs can’t attack it but unlike your turrets, this thing won’t upgrade from Doubloons. You place it down and it starts going crazy! Explosions everywhere, high AOE damage and lets throw in some knockback as well! This is why I said you’ll be blowing up the battlefield… because when you couple this thing with all your decoys, explosions is all you’ll see. This is, unfortunately, an ultimate ability so it does have a cooldown. I would say use it whenever it’s up but if you can, save it for boss fights because it’ll just make everything a lot easier. It requires no attention when you place it down so you can just keep doing what you normally do.
Gearing Up
Weapon
- Magic Damage
- Max Health
- Health Regen/Jump
- Attack Speed
Face
- Max Health
- Attack Speed
- Magic Damage/% Health
- Health Regen
Hat
- Max Health
- Attack Speed
- % Health
- Health Regen
Ring
- Magic Damage/Health
- Health Regen/Jump
For the Pirate Captain, you’ll want a lot of attack speed because the faster you attack, the more Doubloons you’ll get. For the weapon I say Health Regen or Jump because it depends on what you want for your ring. Both Magic Damage and Health are good options but it depends if you want to be more damage or more tank. For the secondary stat on the ring, if you get Health regen I say go for jump on weapon and if you get Jump go for Health regen on weapon. Again for your face, the Magic Damage or % Health just comes down to whether you want to be more damage focused or tankier. I personally like to do a lot of damage so I went with Magic Damage everywhere I could have it, including ring which also has Health Regen as it’s second stat so I have Jump on my weapon. You don’t need energy regen at all for this class so don’t bother with it on your weapon/ring.
Combat Guidelines
Fighting as a Pirate Captain, unlike the past 2 classes, doesn’t require you to dodge much. You’re like a Dracolyte with decoys so just stand there and fire your pistol. You don’t, for the most part, have to worry about taking damage as long as you keep throwing down decoys to keep the mobs off you. Because of this, the Pirate is great in solo play since the mobs will pretty much be ignoring you while you blow them up. I always start a fight by throwing down my turret first just so it can level up as soon as possible. After your turrets down just continue to shoot your pistol while throwing decoys down and that’s pretty much how you Pirate.
In groups, the Pirate plays pretty much the exact same way. You have short range so you have to stay close to the mobs regardless, and your decoys should help keep aggro off other players too. Just make sure to set up your turret somewhere where it has all nearby mobs in it’s line of sight. Everything you do is basically AOE damage besides your turret of course, but think of your damage like a Dracolyte. Draco bombs are your decoys which also pull aggro and your fireball shooting familiar is your turret! The Pirate being a mix of the Draco and Fae is probably the easiest way to describe it and I feel it took the best parts of each of those classes. It’s a very straightforward to use class that is also very strong.
Your ult is pretty crazy and it’s kind of nice to just throw it down and not have to worry about it. As long as it’s somewhere near the mobs it’ll be blowing them up so there isn’t much to aim or anything like that. Just run into a pack of enemies and start throwing all your stuff down. You might not have the single target or burst damage like some other classes but they can’t compete with your AOE and are probably pretty thankful to have your decoys keeping mobs off them. Making your class as effective as possible just pretty much comes down to where you place your abilities. Because everything you do is placing immobile things on the ground, you need to make sure that where you place them will make them the most effective. So… just throw things at the enemies and you should be golden!
Conclusion
The Pirate Captain is a pretty straightforward class so there wasn’t too much to cover when it comes to actually fighting. You don’t regen energy so instead use Doubloons and your decoys are the only thing that have an energy cost. All your abilities are things you place on the ground and when you do that they just do their own thing. Your turret and ult shoot things on their own and your decoys just stand there insulting the enemies. Not really any advanced tips or anything for the Pirate so just make sure you place your abilities where they’ll be most effective. So, if you want an easy class that can control and destroy the battlefield, then maybe try out the Pirate Captain!