Looking to hold his dominion over The Devil’s Roar, Captain Flameheart has commanded the construction of two Ashen Garrisons deep within the region. Raiding one of these strongholds for the treasure they hold will not be easy.
You’ll need to contend with a heavily defended sea wall, fiery traps, locked doors, and waves of Flameheart’s fiercest warriors before you can crack open the Treasury and plunder the rewards inside!
What is an Ashen Garrison?
Ashen Garrisons are heavily fortified naval strongholds located in The Devil’s Roar. Each Ashen Garrison has a reinforced sea wall, cannon emplacements, fire traps, hostile Skeletons, resources, weapons, and a Treasury.
To reach the Garrison Treasury, you must scale the sea wall, gain access to the inner Garrison, and navigate locked rooms filled with Skeletons, Garrison Keymasters, a Captain of the Vault, and a Custodian of the Treasury. Defeating the Custodian of the Treasury will reward you with a Garrison Treasury Key you can use to open the Garrison Treasury.
Ashen Garrisons can be active or inactive. When active, any pirate can raid an Ashen Garrison for the treasure it holds. Unlike Skeleton Forts, Ashen Garrisons do not have a giant cloud above them when active. Also, more than one Ashen Garrison can be active at the same time.
An active Ashen Garrison will have raised flags that you can spot from a distance. They will also emit a ghostly red light. As you approach an active Ashen Garrison, you will hear a warning bell ring as hostile Skeletons take up position to fire a barrage of cannonballs at your ship.
Once you are on an active Ashen Garrison, you will find weapon-wielding Skeletons roaming the sea wall and halls of the Garrison, ready for a fight!
After clearing an Ashen Garrison, it will become inactive for around 12 minutes as long as no one is within 1km of it.
Ashen Garrison locations
There are two Ashen Garrisons in the Sea of Thieves that you will find in The Devil’s Roar region. Each Ashen Garrison has a different look with unique structures. However, while the Ashen Garrisons are visually distinct, the mechanics to complete them are the same.
You can easily find one by scanning your ship’s Map Table. Just look for an island in The Devil’s Roar with “Garrison” in its name.
The two different Ashen Garrisons are:
- Servant’s Oath Garrison at the map coordinates V10
- King’s Chalice Garrison at the map coordinates Y22
A Raid on an Ashen Garrison
If you are Reputation Level 25 with any Trading Company, you can dive to an on-demand Ashen Garrison through your Quest Table. You’ll find the Raid on an Ashen Garrison Voyage under each Trading Company’s Raid Voyages.
While the mechanics of the Raid Voyage are similar to an emergent Ashen Garrison, the treasure inside the Vault will be exclusively Trading Company treasure, just like other Trading Company Voyages.
Sail or Dive to the Ashen Garrison
You can sail to an Ashen Garrison directly or dive to an Ashen Garrison by voting for a Raid on an Ashen Garrison Voyage from your ship’s Quest Table. You can start the Raid Voyage for any Trading Company and will find treasure specific to that Trading Company inside the Garrison Treasury.
Scale Ashen Garrison Sea Wall
Whether you sail or dive, you can expect a shower of cannonballs to rain on your ship from defending Skeletons as you approach the Ashen Garrison. Dock near the sea wall and equip a Grapple Gun if you don’t already have one in your loadout.
As the sea wall is too tall for you to hop off onto, you’ll need to scale the sea wall to start your assault on the Ashen Garrison.
Point your Grapple Gun at one of the many structures lining the perimeter and fire to propel yourself on top of the sea wall.
Unlock the Guardhouse
Now that you are on the Ashen Garrison, you can begin your attack!
If you head straight to the inner Garrison, you will discover its main door locked. To unlock the door, you must first open the Guardhouse. The Guardhouse is the structure on the sea wall lined with banners and three torches above its entrance.
To open the Guardhouse, you’ll need to open three other structures on the sea wall by raising a corresponding Capstan. You can locate the three structures by looking for buildings with large metal gates blocking their entrance.
On Servant’s Oath Garrison, the three structures you need to open are the Lighthouse, Sentry Post, and the Bonesmith Forge.
On King’s Chalice Garrison, the three structures you need to open are the Lighthouse, Armoury, and the Workshop.
Locate one of the three structures, find the nearby Capstan, and raise it to gain entry. Each time you raise a Capstan, you can expect a wave of Skeletons to emerge and defend the structure.
Inside each structure is a Guardhouse Lock. Pulling all three Guardhouse Locks will unlock the Guardhouse. Each time you pull a Guardhouse Lock, a torch on the Guardhouse will light, and another wave of Skeletons will appear to stop your assault on the Garrison.
Ashen Keys
As you battle across the sea wall, opening structures and unlocking the Guardhouse, you’ll want to keep an eye out for Ashen Keys. Once inside the Garrison Treasury, you will find locked compartments with additional treasure that you can only unlock with Ashen Keys. Unlocking the compartments will progress the Compartment Crook Commendation.
You can find the Ashen Keys inside cabinets, cupboards, crates, and other furniture you can open while raiding an emergent Ashen Garrison.
Lower the Sea Gate
You’ll also want to use a pulley to lower the Sea Gate for a quick escape and unlock the ‘Open Up!’ Commendation.
You can find the pulley on scaffolding overlooking the Sea Gate from the inner Garrison. Use your Grapple Gun or walk across the ramparts to reach the pulley, interact with it, and fully lower the gate. As soon as the gate is as low as it can go, you will complete the Commendation.
Unlock Garrison
After you pull the third Guardhouse Lock, the entrance to the Guardhouse will lower, and you can enter. Inside, you will find a fourth and final lever, the Garrison Entrance Lock, which opens the Garrison Main Door.
Unlock Vault
With the Garrison’s main door unlocked, it’s time to head inside and battle through waves of Skeletons and Skeleton Captains to reach the Garrison Treasury. However, you won’t get very far, as you will quickly encounter locked doors blocking most of your access to the Garrison.
To start unlocking the doors, you must defeat the crew of Skeletons and the Garrison Keymaster waiting for you inside the Garrison. The Garrison Keymaster is a Skeleton Captain, identified by a nameplate above its head. More importantly, defeating a Garrison Keymaster will drop a Garrison Key that you can use to open any one of the several locked doors inside the Garrison.
Each time you unlock and open a door, another crew of Skeletons and a Garrison Keymaster will emerge, allowing you to acquire another Garrison Key to open another door. There is also a chance for the Captain of the Vault to appear. The Captain of the Vault holds the Garrison Vault Key, which you need to access the Garrison Treasury.
You could get lucky and discover a Captain of the Vault in the first area you unlock. Or, you might need to unlock every door to find one. The Captain of the Vault will appear in the last room you can unlock if it doesn’t appear sooner.
You’ll want to work on unlocking the lower level first, as you’ll need to gain access there anyway to reach the Vault and Treasury.
Unlock Office Room
Each Garrison also has an Office Room with a journal that you can read. You’ll need to use one of the Garrison Keys to unlock it. If you are looking for some lore, make sure you crack open the Office Room before taking out the Captain of the Vault.
You can find the Office Room on the lower level of Servant’s Oath and King’s Chalice Garrison.
Unlock Store Room
You’ll also want to hunt down the Garrison Store Room Key as you rummage through the inner Garrison. While you can find it in any piece of furniture inside the inner Garrison, we’ve had the most luck looking in the larger pieces with two handles, such as cupboards.
You can find the Store Room on top of Servant’s Oath Garrison and the middle level of King’s Chalice Garrison.
Unlock Treasury
Once you have the Garrison Vault Key, open the Garrison Vault on the lower level. You’ll find another wave of Skeletons inside, as well as the Custodian of the Treasury. Defeat the Custodian of the Treasury for the Garrison Treasury Key.
With the key in hand, use it on the large circular door to open the Garrison Treasury and complete the Ashen Garrison.
Mega Stash Rewards
If you take on an Ashen Garrison on the High Seas during Season 18 Act 3, you also have the chance of finding a Mega Stash inside the Treasury. The Mega Stash adds a significant amount of high-value treasure to the loot pile.
You have a chance of finding a Mega Stash inside an emergent Ashen Garrison, and one you dove to through the Quest Table. However, the probability of encountering a Mega Stash is much higher at an emergent Ashen Garrison than at an on-demand one.
The Treasury of an emergent or Raid Voyage Ashen Garrison with Mega Stash treasure includes:
- 5x Ashen Chest of Bones
- 5x Humble Gifts
- 5x Generous Gifts
- 1x Chest of Rage
- 2x Ashen King’s Chest
- 1x Magma’s Grail
- 3x Devil’s Remnant, Brimstone Casket or Roaring Goblet
- 1x Pristine Tooth of Feared Redmaw
- 1x Pristine Scale of Feared Redmaw
- 2x Pristine Megalodon Tooth or Pristine Megalodon Scale
- 1x Crate of Precious Gemstones
- 2x Crate of Ancient Bone Dust
- 3x Crate of Volcanic Stone or Crate of Fine Ore
- 1x Ashen Winds Skull
- 1x Ashen Villainous Bounty Skull
- 4x Ashen Disgraced Bounty Skull or Ashen Foul Bounty Skull
- 1x Ashen Chest of Legends
Locked Compartments
Also inside the Treasury are four locked compartments that require an Ashen Key to open. You’ll find some additional treasure inside each compartment. The treasure you can find includes Emissary Flags, Skulls, and Mermaid Gems.
If you are sailing the High Seas, you’ll also find Lighthouse Logs. Lighthouse Logs are exclusive to Ashen Garrisons. However, you are only guaranteed to find at least one in each Treasury, and your chances of finding more are small. So, make sure to collect all the available Ashen Keys found across the Ashen Garrison to have the best chance at finding them!
Selling enough Oath Lighthouse Logs and Chalice Lighthouse Logs will complete the An Oath Fulfilled and My Cup Runneth Over Commendations, as well as unlock pieces of the Dark Skies ship set!
Rowboat
You can take advantage of various Harpoons around the Ashen Garrison to ferry the treasure to your ship. However, one of the easiest ways to move the treasure is to load it onto a Rowboat and leave through the Sea Gate you opened earlier.
Just outside the Vault on the lower level, you’ll find a nearby rowboat in the water. Before you load the Rowboat full of treasure and leave, you’ll want to dock the Rowboat at one of the pieces of scaffolding along the inner Garrison wall to work on the Ashen Oar Rival Commendation. If you are at the King’s Chalice Ashen Garrison, you can dock it right there by the Vault! You will only get credit for docking the same Rowboat once per Ashen Garrison.
