How to Beat Ashen Lords in Sea of ​​Thieves Ashen Winds Update - Weaknesses, Counters, Tactics

The Ashen Lords are a new threat Sea of ​​Thieves. You can find them on any of the large islands in the game and you can tell that they are summoned by the big red tornadoes you see spinning over these places. When you visit them and activate the Ashen Lord, you face one of the four available opponents: Old Horatio, Warden Chi, Captain Grimm, or Red Ruth. They all have the same attack and abilities, but they have different dialogues.

Image via Rare

How to fight the Ashen Lords

There are three stages to the Ashen Lords' combat, similar to the other Skeleton Lords of Sea of ​​Thieves. They share many of the same attacks, like a melee attack that knocks players back, a searing strike, a shock wave, a boulder throw, and they can summon skeletons to fight on their behalf. The big difference is that many of these attacks come with a hint of fire. One notable ability they all have is the fire breath movement where they lower themselves to release a wave of flames from their mouths. The attack also sets the Ashen Lord on fire, making it harder to stay near them.

Image via Rare

During the first phase of combat, you want to use your sword and weapons as you traditionally would when fighting any other skeleton captain. You want to use the same tactics that you would fight any of the other skeletons, but most of all you want to remember where the closest body of water is and lure the Ashen Lord near that location. All of your crew can jump into the water to keep the flames from doing damage, increasing the amount of time you can stay in combat.

Ashen Lords Signature Attacks

The Ashen Lords have two new attacks:

• Ash Cloud: The Ash Cloud brings a layer of deep gray fog to the battlefield. It makes it a lot harder to see anything during the encounter, and it all rings a lot further away.
• Volcano: In the final phase of combat, the Ashen Lord performs a volcanic attack similar to an erupting volcano around them. You can see when this happens as they kneel on the ground and use their fire breath attack. Unfortunately, all of the water gets unbelievably hot and you can't get in. Geysers erupt from the island and volcanic rocks erupt from the base of the island.

The Ash Cloud attack can be annoying for players who are disorganized or who rely on in-game voice chat to communicate. Carefully navigate the ash cloud to find the ash lord and keep damaging them.

Image via Rare

The attack on the volcano is by far the most powerful blow they have. You need to know where the flying rocks above you are coming from, while also preventing water or geysers from gushing out of the ground. Your entire crew needs to keep moving because being hit by these rockfall is instant death, and one of you will need to get a teammate back on their feet before you die.

New phases and tactics - use your ship

The Ash Lord indicates that a new phase will begin with gathering power, forcing themselves to kneel in their position. It's a good opportunity to attack them right now, dealing a lot of damage to them before they get back to their feet.

A great way to defeat an Ashen Lord is to use your ship's cannons. The Ashen Lords choose to fight near the shore and ammo crates, allowing players to access their ranged weapon and bodies of water to take out any fire they may have on them. By using the cannons of a ship, you can speed up the fight.

Take your time to try these encounters. Some players may be able to find ways to complete it in smaller numbers, but a full crew is recommended to take out these legendary enemies.