Hot-Air Ballooning

Basic Information

A two-person balloon.

Hot-Air Ballooning is a special activity that allows players to ride in a balloon aircraft. A Hot-Air Balloon Kit may be purchased from Kelpie in Zardine. There are two kinds:

• The Small Hot-Air Balloon Kit costs 650 Gold and can only carry two riders.
• The Large Hot-Air Balloon Kit costs 3,420 Gold and can carry up to 8 riders. It also has ballistae that players may use to shoot Ballista Bolts, which are also bought at Kelpie.

Pets cannot be summoned when in the balloon, or taken aboard, within the exception of the Jungle Scout Imp, Lava Walker Imp, and Warp Imp Pets.

Flying Details

A balloon almost out of fuel.

Right-click the kit and select "Use" to create the balloon. The Hot-Air Balloon can only be created on Iria, Sliab Cuilin, Abb Neagh, Taillteann, Corrib Valley, Blago Prairie, and Tara. To get on the balloon, simply click on it. To get off, simply click anywhere outside the balloon. Once made, you will notice a yellow bar that resembles a Stamina bar over the balloon, as well as a red HP bar. The yellow bar is the fuel, and it will deplete at a steady rate. To keep the balloon going you must supply fuel before it runs out. The Fuel will deplete even if the balloon is on the ground and/or not in use. You may purchase 5 Flint stones for 5,260g at Kelpie. However, if it is raining in Zardine, you can mine for Flint in rocks by the volcano, but only while the weather persists. Simply drag and drop Flint stone onto the stone above the steering wheel to add fuel. If holding a stack of flint, only one will be added at a time. No need to divide before adding. If you fail to keep the fuel up, when it runs out, the balloon will simply float gently to the ground right below where it is. Then it will disappear, forcing the player to buy another balloon if he/she wants to fly again. You can only land the balloon if its altitude is less than 40m. While the Balloon is landing, the Wyverns will continue to shoot, although the shots will only hit you when you are holding onto the steering wheel. The HP bar reduces when the balloon is attacked by Wyverns. It cannot be recovered in any way. When the HP runs out, the balloon will break and all players riding it will fall immediately to the ground. The damage done to the balloon is based on the amount of damage the riders take. So, wearing full elemental enchants of the same type as the Wyverns' attacks, thus rendering their damage to you to 1, successfully negating the odds of the balloon getting destroyed. However, this cannot be done if using ballistae due to the fact that the ballistae will mask over into the hand slots.

Steering

Click on the steering wheel in the center of the balloon to begin flying. Your character will start steering and be unable to use any other skills. A steering controls window will open up (seen at the left). The up arrow increases your height. You must click and hold it to increase altitude. The down arrow decreases altitude in the same way. To choose where to fly, you may click on the ground (difficult to do when you're at high altitudes) or click on the minimap. Your character's stamina will steadily decrease while steering. Once you've set the location and the balloon is flying, you may stop steering at any time and let the balloon go on its own.

Balloon PvP

It is possible to engage in Elf/Giant-Paladin/Dark Knight PvP while flying in a hot-air balloon.

See the PvP page for details.

Slaying Wyverns

Player frozen by Ice Wyvern.

• Besides being a method of transportation, the balloon ride offers a sort of mini-game in Zardine, much like Rafting in Courcle.
• Wyverns fly in the western side of Zardine. They will attack your balloon if you get close to them. You may use the balloon as your base to attack them in return. Note that the balloon has health of its own.
• Wyverns may only be hit by Ranged Attacks, Magic, or Alchemy.
  • However, players using Magic or Alchemy may have a more difficult time due to shorter range.
  • Fireball, Thunder, or Ice Spear cannot be used.
• Every Wyvern killed will add stars to your score. Return to Kelpie for your rewards.
  • There are three different type of Wyverns: Ice, Lightning, and Fire; each one uses only breath attacks of its element.
    • Fire Wyverns are worth 5 stars each.
    • Lightning Wyverns are worth 4 stars each.
    • Ice Wyverns are worth 3 stars each.
      • Wyverns with titles such as "the Hungry" give double the amount of stars as normal untitled ones.
  • The more players you have in the balloon, the fewer stars each kill brings in, because they are divided equally among each player. However, it may be easier to hunt with more players.
• If your balloon runs out of fuel, your hunting trip is over. If you enter another balloon, you sacrifice the stars you have earned up to that point.
  • As the balloon is landing/crashing, players aboard the balloon are immune to the Wyvern's attacks.

Strategies

• The Wyverns tend to do drive-by breath attacks. The best time to shoot a Magnum Shot would be right as they come in to attack.
• It may be prudent to have a player or two using the corresponding Magic Shield skills when the Wyverns swoop in.
• You may also use the ballistae to shoot at the Wyverns. Better bolts can be obtained as a reward for hunting Wyverns.
  • Generally, having decent ranged combat skills or Chain casted Firebolt is better than using the ballista.
  • Fully Chain Casted Firebolt is a very excellent way to take out Ice Wyverns and can do so in 1 to 2 hits with a decently ranked Firebolt.
    • Note: In order to shoot your Firebolt, your hot-air balloon needs to be higher than the Wyverns, or directly above/under them.
• Fireball, Thunder, Ice Spear and Demigod skills do not work on the Balloons, however; Demigod form may be activated to boost recovery rates.
• A Large Balloon is easier to work with than a small one due to the ability to move around.
• If things get rough, you may also use the Playing Dead action. However, their breath attacks have splash damage, so you may get knocked out of Playing Dead if a party mate is hit by it.
• Remember that the balloon will continue on the path you've set it on when you stop steering. For a (relatively) safe escape when the balloon's HP is low, set it to fly away from the Wyverns then use Playing Dead.
• Another strategy could be wearing 9 pieces of equipment (2 Accessories, a Hat, Clothes, 2 Weapons (or weapon and shield) gloves, shoes, and a robe) enchanted with the element of the Wyvern you'll be fighting and then using magic to kill. Ex: Chaincasted firebolt on Ice Wyverns while wearing full ice gear thereby rendering the Wyverns' damage to 1 while you can Firebolt relatively safely. Be warned, Ice Wyverns can still freeze you.
  • Normally there's more than one, if not all three, types of wyverns in one area, so you might end up having extra damage dealt to you.
  • Because of the situation stated above, the full elemental tactic works best on areas that have a single species of Wyvern, such as the skies near Calida Camp.
• It is possible to use Doppelganger against the Wyverns given they are close enough to execute the skill.
  • Due to Wyverns respawning instantly after defeat, any remaining clones will continue to hit the same Wyvern once it has respawned.

Advice for Giants

• Rank 1 Throwing Attack can be very lethal against Wyverns, allowing Giants to keep up with Humans and Elves. It is recommended to have a Bone Atlatl because it has the farthest range of any Atlatl.
• Giants with high Rank Bolt Magic and Chain Casting Wands can do fairly well against Wyverns, particularly when Chain Casting Firebolt against Ice Wyverns. However, this will use large amounts of Mana that Giants generally don't have very much of.
• Giants can resort to shooting Ballistas since they lack Ranged Skills. During this time they should turn on auto-combat. It will aim and shoot automatically and allows for less effort with more output.
• For larger parties, lower-level Giants are ideal here as healers using Healing, Phoenix Feathers, and especially Party Healing.
• Remember Beast - it increases damage even with ballista and restores HP and Mana for offensive magic and healing.
  • Giant Full Swing cannot hit the wyverns. If aimed properly skill will just cancel and enter cooldown mode without any damage done.

Rewards

One star.

Five normal Stars are one Big Star.

• Your score will determine your rewards.
• You'll always be offered the item in bold. You have a small chance to get the other items listed.
• Partial stars are rounded down. ie. Half of a star = 0 star

# of Small Stars	# of Big Stars	Gold	Exploration EXP	Item Set 1	Item Set 2
1~5	less than 1	460 g	700	Small Hot-Air Balloon Kit x1 MP 10 Potion x5 Bandage x10	Small Hot-Air Balloon Kit x1 Stamina 30 Potion x5 Ballista Bolts x30
6~10	between 1~2	1400 g	1000	Ballista Bolts x10 Handmade Bandage x10 Enchant Scroll (Burst Soldier) x1	Thin Thread Ball x5 Handmade Bandage x10 Sunlight Herb x5
11~15	between 2~3	3000 g	1500	Large Hot-air Balloon Kit x1 Base Herb x10 Bloody Herb x10	Thick Thread Ball x5 Handmade Ballista Bolts x30 Enchant Scroll (Mana Magician) x1
16~20	between 3~4	5480 g	1750	Wyvern Claw x1 Stamina 50 Potion x10 Snake Gauntlet x1	Iron Ore x10 Large Hot-air Balloon Kit x1 Flint x2
21~25	between 4~5	7170 g	2010	Handmade Ballista Bolts x10 Fine Silk x1 Ancient Taming Cane x1	Iron Ore Fragment x10 Fine Handmade Ballista Bolts x30 Enchant Scroll (Poison Archer) x1
26~30	between 5~6	8790 g	2360	Wyvern Claw x2 Iron Ingot x10 Fine Handmade Bandage x10	Copper Ore Fragment x10 Finest Silk x1 Likeability Potion x1
31~35	between 6~7	10690 g	2610	Wyvern Claw x3 HP 50 Potion x10 Giant Bird Leg Boots x1	Mandrake x10 MP 30 Potion x10 Silver Ore Fragment x10
36~40	between 7~8	12360 g	2900	Fine Handmade Ballista Bolts x10 Flint x5 Tikka Wood Taming Cane x1	Fine Leather x1 Enchant Scroll (Mana Witch) x1 Gold Ore Fragment x10
41~45	between 8~9	14500 g	3110	Wyvern Claw x4 Ring Bow x1 Mana Herb x10	MP 50 Potion x10 Finest Handmade Ballista Bolts x30 Wood Board x1
46~50	between 9~10	16050 g	3760	Wyvern Claw x5 Fine Fabric x1 Enchant Scroll (Poison Hunter) x1	HP 100 Potion x10 Finest Handmade Bandage x10 Finest Fabric x1
51+	more than 10	17810 g	4200	Finest Handmade Ballista Bolts x10 Poison Herb x10 Lightning Warrior's Helmet x1 Hebona Shoes x1 Thames Plate Boots x1	Golden Herb x10 Enchant Scroll (Burst Warrior) x1 Finest Leather x1 Arbalest x1 Enchant Scroll (Hawk) x1 Enchant Scroll (Viscount) x1

Related Titles

#	Name	Requirement(s)	Effects
24	the Daring Hot-air Balloon Pilot	Add fuel when the balloon is about to crash. Note: Fuel must be added within the last second before the balloon completely runs out to earn the title, about 4 seconds after the fuel bar turns completely black.	MaxSP -30 Dex +10 Will +10 Int +5, Luck +5 Protection +3%
90	the Wyvern Hunter	Turn in 1000 Wyvern Claws to Kelpie	MaxHP +10 MaxMP +10 MaxSP -10 Str +20 Dex +20 Luck -15 Will -15