This is my second post on the forums i suppose, and this is also my first guide, so…things might get messy 
This guide is meant to teach Dark Sea Explorers, or remind already proficient Dark Sea explorers on how to deal with Atlantean Ships, several methods i mention use the method of ambushing ships via crippling or slowing them down first, this tactic allows you to take the least damage from your ship, while it also avoids your ship being deatomized into oblivion by these Atlantean Brigs.
Some methods i’ll mention aren’t likely used by Dark Sea Explorers, from what i know, or maybe they already used alot, but i just lack the information of that.
Well anyways, let’s talk about method 1:
-Method 1:Gale Trapping
This method allows you, with the usage of potions or with rarely-spawning whirpools, to stun an Atlaean ship temporaily, and then ambush them by using a big AOE move to aggro the entire crew, making the ship stop shooting, well…Brigs may perform a desperation mortar shot at the same time the crew chases you down, from my experience.
Here is a step to step guide:
1.Brew a gale throwable
- To start, get a Gale Nova/Supernova, preferrably Tier 3+, albeit wouldn’t recommend Supernova tier 4 and 5, as it might backfire and catch your ship into the whirpool, which will make it take damage unless you have stability 100%.
- The methods to finding the required catalysts and reagents are as follows:
Nova Reagent:
Star Coral-Found in Underwater Structures and Diving Spots, Underwater Structures contain alot of these.
Supernova Reagent:
Sunken Element-Found by Fishing, from my experience, i get 2 sunken elements per 100 fish average, however…this is a rough estimate, and the amount of sunken elements you get will vary.
Basic Gale:
Amphibious Bloom-found in abundance in Underwater Structures, can also be found in decent amounts in diving spots.
High Gale:
Aeroplast-Found on Sky Islands, would recommend server-hopping whenever you can’t find anymore aeroplast, or do something else while waiting.
Step 2.Get chased by a local Atlantean Ship
-I Don’t think i need to explain this one.
Step 3.Find an Island
-Islands, such as islands with entrances to the center of the islands, or with turns or intersections, allow you to cut chase with an Atlantean Ship after throwing the gale throwable, just be aware that you won’t be able to escape from certain sections temporaily.
Step 4.Throw the potion
- Throw the potion, temporaily creating a whirpool and getting the chasing Atlantean Ship stuck.Throw delay is affected by ping, so it might take longer to throw it in laggy servers.
Finishing Step.Ambush the crew
- Attack the crew with a move with decently big AOE, such as:
Weapon Arts:
-Striking Gale
-Tempest
-Sword Draw:Mountain Wind
-Sword Draw:Flash Strike
-Rising Tide
-Beast Instinct
etc.
Strength Builds:
-Striking Gale (if Warlord)
-Shining Cycle (If Warlord)
-Smash technique.
and more.
Magic Builds:
-Surge (only use it to aggro NPC’s, not recommended for combat unless synergised with another magic.)
-Javelin
-Explosion Spell
-Pulsar
-Ultimate Art Explosion, has big enough AOE in certain cases to aggro every atlantean inside a Ketch, not sure about Brigs though.
And that’s Method 1, now onto Method 2:
Method 2:Mortar Sniping
-This method is mainly used when an Atlantean Ship’s chasing you, and you can’t see any islands nearby, this method can be used as a step for other methods.
Here is how to perform this method by steps:
Step 1.Get a Brig
-I think this method is self-explanatory.Refer to various other guides on how to earn enough money for a Brig, but you likely have one.
Step 2.Get a long-range Mortar
-Get a mortar, preferably a Howitzer, or anything with Howitzer-like range, as it will allow you to snipe Atlantean Ships from far away, even if they aren’t rendered on your screen.
Step 3.Get a couple chainshots.
-Just like it says in the description, it temporaily slows down ships.If you are going for a speed build, best case scenario is that the ship might despawn, otherwise…it’ll still chase you down, albeit it’ll be very far away from you.
Finishing Step.Fire away at them!
-Even if your mortar chainshots miss, that dosen’t mean this method’s not working, you can get closer to the chasing Atlantean Ship in order to snipe them easier, be careful with Brigs though.
Method 3.Outsmarting the AI
-if you are a good ship driver, this method allows you to sink a Atlantean Ship by outsmarting the…well, sometimes not intelligent ship AI, sometimes, if the weather’s Dire in the Dark Sea (which it always is), you can manipulate a Atlantean Ship’s AI into ramming itself onto a tornado, yes, it’s possible, i once got a Atlantean Ketch to half health myself, because a conveniently placed tornado was on the island i took refugee on.
Here are various Weather Events that allow you to use this method:
Tornadoes-These Tornadoes cut through your sails like butter, and if a conveniently placed Tornado’s on a island you just found, you can get an Atlantean Ship on it, because these guys don’t bother to dodge these!
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Whirpools-They are rare, but if you find one, you can replicate Method 1 mentioned in this guide, just don’t get inside a Whirpool yourself.
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Zeus’s Grace-Kinda RNG based, but if you somehow, somehow miracously get the chasing atlantean ship struck by lightning, there is a chance that the crew might get vaporized, allowing for a easier fight when you find a island, or it might just automatically sink, who knows.
Before i’ll end this off, here are some images that i took, mainly for method 1:
-Example potion used for Gale Trapping
-And here it is in action, apologies if i didn’t catch a atlantean ship for research purposes, but when i tried to find one…it just noclipped through a unloaded island part, and i couldn’t even clip through it, couldn’t have been more flabbergasted in my entire Dark Sea exploration career.
Hope this guide allows you not to get obliterated by Atlantean Ships the next time you go on a Dark Sea Exploration.
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