BDO Shadow Arena: Battle Royale (Black Desert Online)

Shadow Arena: Battle Royale was an ultimate fight to the finish battle in small groups up to 3 or solo. It came to Black Desert Online on February 27th 2019, after a pre-release trial, and ran through 4-10-19. Hopefully, it will be back soon after more “development”.

In BDO’s Shadow Arena, you enter a battle field that gets smaller and smaller with 50 other players. The last group standing wins the top ranking and rewards. Destroy chests, monsters, or other players and gain loot to make yourself stronger. Everyone wins something in Shadow Arena, because the loot you pick up converts into Silver at the end of the match.

Old Shadow Arena Times

—— Currently, Shadow Arena is closed, until further notice! ——-

Before being closed for more development, Shadow Arena was only available during certain times each day. Weekend players enjoyed a 24 hour game window, but Shadow Arena was limited on Weekdays.

Old EU Runtime Schedule

• Monday – Thursday 9 hrs. daily
  • 15:00 UTC – 00:00 UTC
  • 16:00 CET – 01:00 CET (Next Day)
• Friday – Sunday 10 hrs. (Fri.) + 24 hrs. (Sat.) + 24 hrs. (Sun.) = 59 hrs.
  • 13:00 UTC (Friday) – 00:00 UTC (Monday)
  • 14:00 CET (Friday) – 01:00 CET (Monday)

Old NA Runtime Schedule

• Monday – Thursday 9 hrs. daily
  • 22:00 UTC – 07:00 UTC (Next Day)
  • 15:00 PDT – 00:00 PDT
  • 18:00 EDT – 03:00 EDT (Next Day)
• Friday – Sunday 11 hrs. (Fri.) + 24 hrs. (Sat.) + 24 hrs. (Sun.) = 59 hrs.
  • 20:00 UTC (Friday) – 00:00 UTC (Monday)
  • 13:00 PDT (Friday) – 23:00 PDT (Sunday)
  • 16:00 EDT (Friday) – 02:00 EDT (Monday)

Shadow Arena Rewards

Shadow Arena Rank	Black Rock	Black Rock Loot	Kamasylve Chest	Kamasylve Chest Loot
1st Place Reward Honorable reward for those who ranked 1st place in the Shadow Arena.	Resplendent Black Rock	Black Stone x3 Black Stone (Armor) x3 Memory Fragment x1-2 Cron Stone x1-2 Concentrated Magical Black Stone (Armor) x1 Concentrated Magical Black Stone x1	Kamasylve Chest	RNG 1 reward: Orkinrad’s Belt Basilisk’s Belt Ring of Crescent Guardian Narc Ear Accessory Sicil’s Necklace Ogre Ring Tungrad Necklace Tungrad Belt Tungrad Earring Tungrad Ring Memory Fragment x3 Cron Stone x3
2-10th Place Reward Reward for those who ranked 2-10th place in the Shadow Arena.	Radiant Black Rock	Black Stone x3 Black Stone (Armor) x3 Memory Fragment x1-2 Cron Stone x1-2 Concentrated Magical Black Stone (Armor) x1	Kamasylve Chest	RNG 1 reward: Orkinrad’s Belt Basilisk’s Belt Ring of Crescent Guardian Narc Ear Accessory Sicil’s Necklace Ogre Ring Blue Whale Molar Earring Witch’s Earring Tree Spirit Belt Ancient Guardian’s Seal Memory Fragment x2 Cron Stone x2
11-20th Place Reward Reward for those who ranked 11-20th place in the Shadow Arena.	Sturdy Black Rock	Black Stone x3 Black Stone (Armor) x3 Memory Fragment x1 Cron Stone x1	Kamasylve Chest	RNG 1 reward: Basilisk’s Belt Ring of Crescent Guardian Narc Ear Accessory Sicil’s Necklace Blue Whale Molar Earring Witch’s Earring Tree Spirit Belt Ancient Guardian’s Seal Forest Ronaros Ring Bensho’s Necklace Memory Fragment x1-2 Cron Stone x1-2
21-30th Place Reward Reward for those who ranked 21-30th place in the Shadow Arena.	Faint Black Rock	Black Stone x3 Black Stone (Armor) x3	Kamasylve Chest	RNG 1 reward: Ring of Crescent Guardian Narc Ear Accessory Sicil’s Necklace Blue Whale Molar Earring Witch’s Earring Tree Spirit Belt Ancient Guardian’s Seal Forest Ronaros Ring Bensho’s Necklace Ancient Weapon Core Black Stone (Armor) x4-5
31-40th Place Reward Reward for those who ranked 31-40th place in the Shadow Arena.	Rough Black Rock	Black Stone (Armor) x3	Kamasylve Chest	RNG 1 reward: Narc Ear Accessory Sicil’s Necklace Blue Whale Molar Earring Witch’s Earring Tree Spirit Belt Ancient Guardian’s Seal Forest Ronaros Ring Bensho’s Necklace Ancient Weapon Core Scarla Necklace Black Stone (Armor) x3

Shadow Arena with Blessing of Kamasylve

While in Shadow Arena, your Energy regenerates as if you are offline, at only 1 Energy per hour. Normally, when you are logged in, you get 1 Energy every 3 minutes. To compensate for this, players with a Kamsyvle Blessing are given a boon.

Blessing of Kamasylve gives you an extra chest, when you rank at least 40th in Shadow Arena. The higher your ranking, the better the chest.

Blessing of Kamasylve costs 1000 Loyalties (10 days of logging in for one hour) or 1,250 Pearls. ($12.50).

Additional Buffs from Blessing of Kamasylve:
Energy Recovery +2
Item Drop Rate +20%

Shadow Arena Silver Earnings

Shadow Arena can be played by anyone, even brand new players. It's actually a great way for a beginner to BDO to earn some silver and get a basic feel for some of the classes. Even if you are terrible at BDO and don't know what you are doing, the game still rewards players based upon the gear they pick up, with yellow grade giving 400k for each.

Look at the image to the right that shows an earnings of 740k in about 8 minutes. This was my first match and I spent allot of time just trying to learn the key presses, consumables, skills, etc. Even in that round I earned 740k just from the loot I picked up. That was by killing no one and being mercilessly killed by a group of thugs in the end. LOL!

So lets say we do equally bad, factoring 10 minutes for each round and play SA about an hour. You could make about 4 million silver playing really bad and not knowing what key press does what. Not bad for a noob! :)

Shadow Arena Lobby (Marni's Secret Isle)

This will switch you to a new channel, in which you are in the same location, but you can only see other people waiting to enter a SA Match. Here you can read the menus and learn more about Shadow Arena. You can also click on a party icon to find a SA group. The devs were also generous enough to include a convenient BUY Kamasylve Blessing button. HA :)

Shadow Arena Lobby Menu Choices:

• Solo: Enter all by your lonesome. :( One is the loneliest number that you'll ever do... la.. la..
• Party: Better chance of getting ranks. If even one person gets a good rank and everyone else dies, the entire party wins that rank's rewards. (Just don't press "Leave" until all the party is dead.)
• Practice: 25 minute matches. Get full skill set and practice against others.
• Private Room: Normally locked and only used during special events.
• Find Party: only Shadow Arena parties can be applied to unless you switch channels.
• Shadow Arena Rewards: shows a number if you have unclaimed rewards. Must be outside Lobby to collect rewards. Access Kama Blessing shop from here ;)

Practice Match:
In the February 27th 2019 patch, "Practice" match was added.

• All classes instantly receive their full skill set.
• Practice Match duration is only 25 minutes. (It will end instantly, with no warning.)
• All classes are plentiful and never disappear.
• Contaminated Man and Contaminated Woman appear to make good practice targets. Just try killing one and see...
• You can be killed by other players. If this happens, you can rejoin and start over as a Black Spirit.
• Dark Fog does not close in. You may want to dive in though, just for the fun of it. ;)
• Practice matches do not require 50 players.

Is Party better than Solo?
Find a party if you can because you can get all the benefits of the party member that ranks the highest. Parties can be 2 or 3 players. Even if you are solo, you can enter as a party and may be able to rank high because the pool of people may be 17 instead of 50. (For example, if everyone in the battle except you is part of a 3-man group then there would be only 17 groups. That means you get at least rank 17 in this scenario.)

Party Play Tips:

• The game does NOT put you in a random party. You have to make or join one yourself in the Lobby.
• When your Party Leader joins a match, the entire party joins as well.
• You will be separated from your party and placed randomly on the map.
• Decide ahead of time where to meet up.
• Stay in Black Spirit form until you quickly find your party members. (For the speed + jump buff.)
• You can share gear with Party members. Shift + LMB drops the item.
• Some party leaders require Mic be turned on to communicate.

I'm in! Now what?
Every class starts with a set of very basic skills that includes Sprint, F button attacks, and some sideways and forward click attacks. Get started smashing chests so you can get at least one good CC skill and one good attack skill.

Shadow Arena Lobby Text & Practice Hints

I have copied the text that is visible once you have entered into the Shadow Arena lobby. The top right window gives quite a bit of info. I also tried to include all of the hints that pop up as your are in the Practice area. Did I miss any?

RULES:

• The Arena will start in 60 seconds after 40 to 50 people join the room.
• If you leave the Shadow Arena during a match, you won't be able to join it again.

PLAY SHADOW ARENA:

• You'll start the game as a Black Spirit. Quickly find an Adventurer trapped within a sealing stone to possess.
• Defeat monsters and break chests to obtain gear and skills.
• Enraged Black Spirits will attack players in the Dark Fog.
• Defeat others and be the last one standing to win.
• You can join the game in parties of up to 3 members. If the party leader enters the arena, the other members will automatically join as well.

BASIC GUIDE:

• You can easily find trapped characters and defeat more monsters near the tower surrounded by the black spheres.
• Monsters have a higher chance to drop gear, and chests have a higher chance to drop Skill Books.
• Skill Books will automatically add a skill to the quick slot bar in the right-hand corner of the screen. Collecting a skill book from an already owned skill will reset its cooldown.
• As the match progresses, stronger monsters will start to appear. They will have a higher chance to drop higher grade items
• Defeating another adventurer will recover 40% of your HP
• You can change the order of items and skills by dragging them with the mouse.
• You can collect higher grade items by defeating monsters

HOTKEYS:

REWARDS:

The equipment that was collected can be exchanged for silver.

• Yellow: 400,000 Silver
• Blue: 80,000 Silver
• Green: 30,000 Silver
• White: 10,000 Silver

You'll receive a black rock depending on your survival rank. You can obtain Black Stones, Concentrated Magical Black Stones, and Memory Fragments upon use.

- Winner: Resplendent Black Rock
- 2nd-10th: Radiant Black
- 11th-20th: Sturdy Black Rock
- 21st-30th: Faint Black Rock
- 31st-40th: Rough Black Rock

You can claim rewards from the Shadow Arena reward window

You will not receive silver and team ranking rewards if you leave the Shadow Arena while you or a team member is alive.

Shadow Arena Consumables

Shadow Arena provides consumables during the battle that you can use by pressing keys <Z, X, C, V, B>. You start SA with 1 HP Potion, 1 Swiftness Potion, and 3 Fire Bombs. To obtain more, you have to destroy and loot chests. Chests are scattered randomly throughout the battleground. You can even find some in strange places: rivers, on top of scarecrows, hidden inside buildings.

Dark Fog & Black Spirits

A Dark Fog circles the map. After some time, it starts to close in, making the arena smaller. You can outrun it.

• Dark Fog does around 25 damage per second.
• After a short duration, a Black Spirit will spawn. (2 to 3 seconds)
• Black Spirit does large AOE attacks that one shot you.
• AOE also reaches to players just outside the fog!

Underground Caves:
Black Spirits can also appear in underground caves and around cave entrances. This can be kind of buggy as well, with some Black Spirits being able to reach through a cave below you to kill you through the ground. Until this is fixed, avoid cave entrances.

Black Towers

Try to be aware of where the Black Towers are located. This is where the density of mobs and class stones are increased. Expect to run into other players here for that reason. If you are just starting, run in and grab your class. Don't hang around here, if you want to live... muwhaha. I mean, if you don't have enough gear or skills yet and aren't ready to PVP.

For those that can't see the images below, Black Towers are very large stone structures with a black, evil looking orb on the top.

Shadow Arena Bosses

Bosses were added to Shadow Arena in the February 27th 2019 patch. Players report that it takes about 30 seconds to kill one.

You are guaranteed boss gear and a nice buff:

• Muskan: Muskan’s Shoes, Max Stamina +300 (3 mins.)
• Dastard Bheg: Bheg’s Gloves, AP +30 (3 mins.)
• Giath: Giath’s Helmet,  All Resistance +30% (3 mins.)
• Red Nose: Red Nose’s Armor, HP auto-recovery +15 (3 mins.)

Red Nose

Giath

Dastard Bheg

Muskan

Shadow Arena Boss Dropped Gear

Below I have compiled pictures of the most powerful gear in BDO's Shadow Arena. These are all boss pieces dropped after killing one of the four bosses that spawn. It's helpful to know what your opponent is wearing and what you are up against. Their gear will help you make a better decision on wether to engage them in combat, or try to creep away in true bug-like fashion. ;)

Shadow Arena Strategy Tips

• You can rotate your camera while holding the middle mouse button to check if somebody is chasing you, without turning your character.
• You will not be able to see your opponent's health or name.
• If your opponent turns and starts to run, you can assume he's almost dead or is waiting for a cooldown. Use Elixir of Swiftness, and/or Fire Bomb to catch him.
• There are no Awakening Skills in Shadow Arena and all the skills you loot are Level 1
• Skill gain chance is very RNG and you may not get all you need. Some players report getting the same skill 10+ times.
• Gear Tips:
  • Equip any upgrades by pressing G
  • Looting yellow grade gear forces the cheer animation, which stuns you, but also gives you an iframe
  • The game will always pick the higher AP item. (Nouver will prioritize over Kutum. This is good.)
  • Bosses are worth fighting because they drop the best gear. Be careful that you don't get jumped during the fight!
• Early Shadow Arena Tips:
  • More classes and mobs spawn around the Black Towers. Be careful, because other players will be attracted for this reason. If you can run in and out real quick just to find and grab the class you want would be good. Don't get into a PVP fight early on.
  • Take at least a few minutes to destroy boxes and gain consumables and skills.
  • In the beginning, prioritize chests because they are destroyed faster than monsters and have a higher chance to drop Skills.
  • Have 240 AP before being agressive. Below this, it takes too long to kill another player with just basic attacks with low AP.
  • Aim for 190 DP before engaging in PVP.
  • If you attack too early in Shadow Arena, other players don't have good gear yet and most will just run away.
  • Hunt chests until you have at least one good attack Skill and a CC.
  • The kill feed will alert you as to who to watch out for and who has the best gear. It will let you know their class and may help if you want to try to avoid them until you are properly geared up.
• Late Shadow Arena Tips:
  • When you are ready to hunt other players, look for the Black Towers.
  • Monsters that spawn around the Black Towers are more dense.
  • As you approach the end, gear is very high-value and there is more of it to pick up after defeating someone. This can open you up to danger, as time standing in one position in a PVP battle arena will draw attention. You can place a trap, before you loot, to prevent being jumped in melee. Turn the camera and keep a watchful eye while looting.
  • Be wary of approaching someone near the fog. If they stun you near it with a stun trap, they can run in and out of the fog quick and spawn a Black Spirit to instant kill you. This is a strategy some players use. They stay hidden until the very end, then try to bait and trap you by placing Stun Traps in terrain that hides the traps.
• Kuno and Mystic start with Movement Speed buffs that stack with the Elixir of Swiftness. Dark Knight, Tamer, Sorceress, Valkyrie, Mystic, Warrior, Musa, and Kuno can pick up at least 1 Skill Book that causes them to run faster than norml.

Dark Vase

Dark Vase
The Shadow Arena Dark Vase Buff is a powerful set of buffs that significantly boosts AP, Speed, DP, and pretty much everything. It gives a great advantage, but only lasts 1 minute. During this buff, take the time to be aggressive. Even if you have sub-par gear, you can win with an opening CC in 1v1.

The Dark Vase is very non-descript and doesn't look like an evil "DARK VASE". Its appearance is sandy colored with a dark, thin band. It's tall and slender and looks the same as many other vases in Shadow Arena waiting to be smashed. However, the Dark Vase is usually located in a weird spot, like in a field or open fruit grove.

Shadow Arena seems to spawn 1 Dark Vase per circle. Many times you won't see it until the last circle, if at all.

Players with this buff have a strange white and purple glow around them.

Shadow Arena Videos by Other Players

There are some entertaining Youtube videos on Shadow Arena. The one by Morrolan below, is my favorite because it's very helpful to beginners.

Shadow Arena Class Skills

I moved the Class Skills for Shadow Arena onto a seperate web page. This one was getting too big! :)

Shadow Arena Class Skills

Shadow Arena Patch Notes & Announcement

I moved the Patch Notes for Shadow Arena onto a seperate web page. This one was getting too big! :)

Shadow Arena Patch Notes & Announcement