Gamigo’s acquisition of Kingsisle last year promised exciting things for not only the flagship game, Wizard101, but also for the fan-favorite, long-neglected Pirate101. With two (non-story) updates in the works before the 10-year anniversary in October, it’s an exciting time to get into, or back into, Pirate101. Starting out in the game can be quite challenging, there are a lot of systems to learn, and especially if you’re coming from Wizard101, the combat system is completely different. 

To help new and returning players get to know the systems as they play the game, we’re starting this new guide series, with different posts covering a variety of topics and systems that are found within Pirate101. This first guide starts with the basics, including creating your character and the vital and game-changing choices that you can make, getting to know your screen, and getting about. In future installments, we’ll also be covering combat, companions, ships, pets, and much more. 

We’re also working on something exciting for those of you that enjoy discussing and learning about the story of Pirate101, so stay tuned… Soon. 

The Guide

In this first guide, we will try to provide information on the main parts of the game to make your gaming experience fun, so that you can fall in love with the game just as much as we have.  Once you know what to look for and how to get there, the awesome adventure begins.

Pirate101 is a subscription game* (monthly, 6 months, or yearly) but there is a free-to-play trial period that will allow you to try out the game until you reach a certain part of the story. Once you reach this point, you can decide how you want to proceed to play the game. You can do so by either using the in-game premium currency, Crowns, to purchase areas that you can keep forever or by purchasing a subscription that gives you access to all areas for the period of the membership. There are multiple differences that we have seen between subscription(SB) and free-to-play/crowns player (F2P). Three of these are the size of your bag (Backpack: (SB) 120 slots – (F2P) 80 slots), the areas you can play (Areas: (SB) all areas open – (FTP) very limited areas, unless you pay for them using crowns), and access to member benefits such as Double Pet XP and Free Miracle Mitch services. If you choose to play with crowns, you can expand your backpack to 120 slots using the Backpack Elixir available in the crowns shop. 

If you choose to play in crowns, it will cost you a total of 94,700 crowns to access all the premium areas, plus any additional costs for crown shop items. At the cheapest (non-sale) rate for crowns, at 800 crowns per dollar ($100 for 80,000 crowns), this will cost you roughly $120. However, you will have to pay the $80 (60,000 crowns) and $50 (30,000 crowns) for $130 if you wish to purchase just the amount you need for the areas. These will be cheaper to purchase during crown sales. 

Making your character

There are some choices to be made that will lead the path to your storyline, and give you certain powers and starting companions. We have tried all of the following combinations and at this point, those choices will be your personal preference. Whichever way you choose will be a fun challenge for you. Some things to consider are below:

Class selection is not the first option during this screen, but it is something that impacts some of the other choices, so we have put this first to help you understand how you want to play. 

So how’d ye end up locked in this brig? (Your Class)

This is where you pick your Class – Starting Power – Weapon -Starting Companion

Going clockwise around the compass starting top right:

• Smuggling, Musketeer – Grape Shot – Archaic Sparquebus – Wing Chun
• Hoodoo, Witchdoctor  – Ghostwail –  Feathered Staff – Kan Po
• Treason, Privateer – Gunnery – Unlucky Buckler – Egg Shen
• Brawling, Buccaneer – Mighty Charge – Battleworn Spear – Kobe Yojimbo
• Dueling, Swashbuckler – Sneak Attack – Pirate Daggers – Subodai

Musketeers are primarily ranged players, can hit hard like Buccaneers, and have some cool powers with the traps and bombs. Musketeers like to play from afar, as they are not a good match versus melee players but if you buff right and bomb/trap correctly, you can prevent anyone from coming close to you. Humble Misty would say dropping bombs from afar and staying out of the middle of battle is her way to go. She has learned to strategically place the bombs away from her melee friends that like to be up close in the battles.

Witchdoctors are the closest to Wizards that you’ll find in Pirate101, but they don’t use Wizard magic, they use Hoodoo magic (be careful to remember that!). Witchdoctors can hit incredibly hard, and insanely fast, with the right spell power buffs and Old Scratch by their side, but are incredibly weak when in a close-up fight with enemies.

Privateers are great team players, they recruit the most companions; giving you a great array of fighting crew to choose from and utilize. They’re able to rally their team to strength and victory using a full armory of buffs and shields. They also have firebombs that can help at long distances and reach across the whole board. Privateers aren’t great by themselves, so make sure you keep your companions healthy! Humble Misty is torn between Musketeer and Privateer. Even though she loves dropping those bombs and traps, she also loves keeping her team alive. 

Buccaneers are absolute units. They’re tanks with a heavy hit and can create some insane chain attacks that can eliminate an enemy (or enemies…) if you’re playing the game right. In Sheldon’s opinion, this is the best class to play 😉 

Swashbucklers are great assassins, they can hit hard and hit fast before the enemy even realizes they’re nearby thanks to the cunning sneak attacks that they can learn. 

If you’re a new player, we’d suggest playing Buccaneer or Musketeer to get a great feel of the game with a relatively easy play through the game. 

How did you lose your parents? (Receive another companion)

Below is a list of your choices of how you were orphaned and what companion you will receive.

(Starting on top going clockwise around the compass)

If your parents:

• They’re lost in a storm you will receive Milo Graytail, the Swashbuckler
• Were blasted by the Armada you will receive Gaspard De Vole, Buccaneer
• Got lost in search of treasure you will receive Lucky Jack Russell, a Privateer
• Died in a mutiny you will receive Dead Mike, the Buccaneer
• Were tragically eaten by a sky squid you will receive Birgus Latro, a Buccaneer

We recommend Lucky Jack Russell for new time players as he has access to a great selection of abilities and talents and is a good all-rounder companion for any class. If you’re planning on playing Swashbuckler, Milo Graytail will be a great compliment to your class and he is a fun companion to have around during the story. Birgus is a great tank companion that you can use as a punching bag and heavy hitter if you need it in certain battles. Dead Mike, unfortunately, has a poor selection of talents and isn’t the best companion. If you’re looking for a challenge when playing the game, we’d recommend using him to make things interesting. Gaspard is a decent choice for experienced players. 

These are all good companions, but Humble Misty’s favorite is Gaspard De Vole because of his fighting graphics. He spins in a ball with one of his hits. It’s very humorous to watch! Sheldon’s favorite is Lucky Jack Russell, purely for his love of Dogs and Marleybone. 

[Spoiler] These companions are recruited following your completion of the presidio dungeon, in the quest “Quid Pro Quo” in Book 1, Chapter 0. 

So who raised ye, then? (Your Talent)

This choice will give you a natural talent that adds +5 to your power.

(Starting top right going clockwise around the compass:)

• Raised by the Dogs of Marleybone you earn Keen Eyes (+5 to Accuracy)
• Raised in the Deserts of Krokotopia you receive Naturally Spooky (+5% to Spell Power)
• Raised by the Bears of Grizzleheim you earn Naturally Tough (+5% to Health)
• Raised by the Wharf Rats of Skull Island gains you Born Sneak (+5 to Dodge)
• Raised by Ninja Pigs in MooShu gives you Born Warrior (+5 to Weapon Power)

The general recommendation from many players is to choose Krokotopia as where you are raised for any class that you will choose, because the added 5% spell power can make a huge difference to all classes. For buccaneers, you can either choose Krokotopia for the spell power boost or Grizzeheim for the health boost, depending on how you want to play. You can choose the other options if you wish, but they only provide minimal (if at all) benefits when playing the game. 

The Looks of Your Character and Choosing Your Flag

You will have a few steps and choices to make on how your pirate looks and choosing your flag. There is always a ‘Back’ button on the left and a ‘Next’ button on the right, so you can always go back and change something while you are in this section. Once you accept, the pirate is made, but before you click accept there is one important thing you might want to consider. When you choose the colors of the flag, the background colors determine what color your companion’s outfit will be. This can be changed with the bazaar NPC if you don’t like it, but Humble Misty suggests looking at your companion’s outfit and making corrections in color before you press done!

Once you choose to accept, you can skip the tutorial or go through it. If it is your first time in the game, we suggest going through the short tutorial because it will give you the basics of fighting, interacting with the NPCs, and a sailing lesson. 

Welcome to Skull Island – Your Main Screen

You might have noticed a lot of different buttons on your screen and see pink pear-shaped objects with wings flying around Skull Island. First, the pink flying things are Yum Yums and they will heal you, so just run through one if your health circle is low. “Health Circle?” you ask. Look at the bottom left corner of your screen, the big red circle is your health. You will also see 5 little buttons with symbols in them, and if you scroll over any button on your screen, a description of that button will pop up for you. 

Starting with Left Bottom Screen:

From the left to right:

1. “Go to Skull Island” – This is where Avery resides and when your quests are completed in each zone, you end up talking to him. 
2. “Go to Life Fountain in …” or “Go to your Current Ship” – Most places you sail to will have a life fountain where you can interact with “X” to heal. When you die in battle it will also send you to your last Life Fountain. It comes in handy when you want to port back for another quest. Note: if you go to another Life Fountain, you will lose the one you had. – If you are unbottling your ship on the dock, this same button will change to a ship icon, which you can click to board and start sailing.
3. Go Home – In the beginning, you have a bunkhouse you can go to, and you can put things in your shared and personal bank here. You can also decorate the bunkhouse until you buy a place of your own.
4. “X” “Mark this spot.” It is good to mark a place you need to get back to, especially when you know you will lose the closest life fountain.
5. -> X: “Teleport to …” Go to that mark. This is the button to push when you want to go back to the place you marked. Make sure you re-mark it when you land because your “X” will disappear when used.

*Note: If you have pets or companions on training, when they are done you will see an open chest in the bottom left-hand corner above your health circle. If you see a present to the right of your health circle, it means you either used a code or bought something in the Crown Shop and it is waiting for you. Click on the open chest to open up the Pet/Companion training windows and Click on the present to redeem something on your gift list.

Bottom Middle Screen:

The Green Bar on the bottom center of the screen is your XP bar. This bar will fill up as you earn more experience points. (Note in the picture used the bar does not have any green. It is because she is new and only has 2 XP points. As her XP grows the green will move right until it is filled.)

The Yellow Arrow above the green bar is your quest arrow. The number in the arrow will get smaller as you get closer to your quest, but if your quest is in another area, the number will change once you get into the new zone. Underneath the arrow it tells you what quest you are going to, so Friendly Misty Morgan’s quest is to “Destroy Last Slingshot in Skull Mountain”. 

The Top Middle Screen:

The five little boxes show on the screen when you scroll your mouse over a little red triangle, otherwise, they are hidden and only a little red triangle is seen.

From left to right:

1. My Character – this button will tell you anything you want to know about your character including your backpack, powers, badges, companions, and pets. You can also click on “See all notifications” to check what quests you have done so far. Another way to view this is with a quick keystroke when you press “C”.
2. My Quests – show your quests, the El Dorado Map pieces, your windstones, all the puppet shows you have opened, and your location map. Quick keystrokes are “Q” for Quest and “M” for location map.
3. Your Ship – lets you unbottle your ship at the dock and shows your ship equipment. Press “E” for the quick keystroke.
4. Membership and Crowns – Upgrade Now, Buy Crowns, Crown Shop, Redeem Gift, and ways to earn Crowns. The Crown Shop button is where you go to buy houses, housing items, gold, equipment of all kinds, companions, pets, mounts, ships, and elixirs. I wouldn’t worry about buying anything in the beginning but you can see what type of goodies are coming ahead. 
5. Options – Tutorial Tips, Help Pages, Options, Customer Support, Select Pirate, and Quit Game

The Top Corner Buttons:

[There are a few extra buttons in the top corners that are there when you have a free account but are not there when you have a subscription. Those are the “Upgrade Now” and the “Earn Crowns” buttons.]

Last but not least, a few more important buttons are available on your screen

1. Left Hand Top Corner: Chat – It will give a quick chat list of things you can say, or you can press the enter key and it will open up a text chat window where you can type to others in the area. The same chat window will let you see what rewards you picked up from your quests and chests.
2. Left Hand Top Corner: Next to the Chat button, you may also see a “Shop Now” button and a Kingsisle icon. The “Shop Now” is a quick way to get to the crown shop and if you see the Kingsisle icon there is a special for either pet training, companion training, or Miracle Mitch companion heal going on.
3. Right Hand Top Corner: Friends list – Quick key is “F” to open the same window.  At the top of the window, it will show you Online and an arrow on each side of it. Click on either arrow and you will see Ignored and All Friends. There are 3 bottom buttons that give you options to invite your friends. They are:  Have a true friend where you can give your friends a code outside the game to become a friend, it allows you to text chat with them. The second button is a friend finder if you received a code for another KingsIsle game and the third is an Invite A Friend button to earn crowns by inviting a friend to play.  

As you see, there are lots of choices available to you! Don’t get stressed because they will teach you most of this as you play the game. If you are really lost, go to the gear on the top middle dropdown bar and click ‘Options’. Go to the first joystick button from the left and click it. The third row down is Tutorial Tips. 

Click the arrow next to Tutorial Tips, until it reads “All” and then confirm by clicking “OK”. This will give you lessons as you go through the beginning battles and will tell you what is needed at the time. Once you have things figured out, just open options back up and put it back to “Critical Only”.

Now that we have the basics out of the way, let’s go have some fun. The screen buttons will make more sense and become “old hat” in a short amount of time. Don’t stress and go raise Kane!

The Fun Ahead!

This is where the excitement begins! In future parts of this series, we will be taking you through some of the things asked for by the other pirates in Pirate101. Adventures of the Spiral (AoS) will be looking at the following items in parts to come:  combat & companions, pets, ships, mounts, worlds, housing, shinies, and gold.

Follow Adventures of the Spiral (@OfficialAotS), Sheldon (@SheldonCentral), and Humble Misty (@GmaFoley) through the Guide series!