Pirate101: Soloing the Scylla - A Guide

Too often, I hear people asking for assistance with the Scylla. Clearing tokens is usually the issue. But, as it turns out, there are some tricks available to you to be able to very easily solo this battle.

Soloing the Scylla

It's really not as difficult as it sounds. Many players have done it, and your pirate can, as well. 

Tip: The Scylla area is a single-ship zone. Friends can come along for the ride, but can't help you on their own ship. Make sure to dock your ship at Nova Aquila in case you die! This will give you an easy and fast way to return. If you went directly from Skull Island to Monquista to Aquila, you'll have a long sail back.

Tip: Gather blue Yum-Yum Fruits at Nova Aquila to fill up your potion bottles in case they are needed during the fight. You can actually use those potion bottles in the middle of fighting the Scylla heads to completely heal your ship. This allows even far under-leveled pirates to complete this battle alone. 

Stage 1: Right Heads

The first thing you should do is carefully inch up along the right side. Use the "[" and "]" keys to move between targets. Target one of the heads on the right. You should have a grey target. Now, move in slowly until your target turns orange.

Tip: In ship battles, there's no need to get close enough to have a red target. This makes it easier for other ships to board you, and many ship powers are actually less accurate at shorter range!

By staying just at the edge of the orange, you not only keep yourself at such a place that you can back out if things go south, but you may also be able to reduce your incoming damage by up to 50% by staying out of range of the left heads. You also ensure you won't get caught by the spawns when you're done. You can check this by anchoring your ship (pressing spacebar) and making sure your targets look like this as your rotate through them.

Proceed to defeat the first of the two heads on the right - Fire and Earth. The two heads on the left are Ice and Storm. Another way to verify that you're in range of only two heads is to look at which attacks are hitting your ship. If you only see Fire and Earth, you're in the right spot.

Tip: Each head registers as a different boss monster, so you get cool ship loot from defeating each one. As you become proficient at defeating the Scylla, you may be back to farm!

After you defeat the second head, immediately back up! Being in ship to ship (or ship to Scylla) combat gives you this ability, but upon disengaging the head, you may have to actually turn your ship around. Now, move to safety, out of the range of the heads. Don't worry, they don't respawn.

Tip: If you're a lower nautical level and can't handle both heads on a side at once, take out only one (so your progress is saved, because if you move away, living heads will heal), and then back up and wait for your ship to heal.

Stage 2: Ship Cleaning

The reason most people have trouble is that after two heads, a big, black cloud pops up, full of Scylla Spawns. What many pirates don't know or need another pirate to manage is the tokens on their ship. There are actually monster tokens (pictured) that add a Scylla Spawn for every one that's there. Scylla Spawns are the little green monsters you'll fight on your ship.

Move to safety and press spacebar to anchor your ship, then tab to switch to the player view. Clear your tokens.

Tip: Clear the monster tokens and complete your ship repairs, but you may choose to leave some obstacles tokens on your ship and use them to your advantage. 

As you become more experienced with this method, you'll actually be able to skip Stage 2 and go directly to the other heads, and then complete the spawns after the Scylla dies. But, to avoid any issues the first few times, do stages two and three after your first two heads.

Tip: When you go to fight the Scylla Spawns, you may choose to use a different ship. You might want your largest one, or even your raft. In the Spawn battle, and battles in which you board in general, sometimes it can be to your advantage to have a smaller playing area to use AoEs and other attacks. Beware, though! The Spawns are tough and you should weigh your options based on your class.

Stage 3: Scylla Spawns

Head straight into the cloud. A ship battle will begin, and you'll need to defeat a now reasonable amount of Scylla Spawns, given that you've cleared your ship of monster tokens. While tough enemies to beat, the Spawns shouldn't give you too much trouble. 

Tip: The Scylla Spawns drop a first-generation pet version of themselves. Some people will farm them for this reason. As you level your pirate and get additional assistance from other players, you may leave some monster tokens for extra chances at the pet. 

Stage 4: Left Heads

With the Scylla Spawns dead, move your ship out of range again. Heal up as need with potion bottles, or just sit tight at the sidelines casting heals while you wait for your ship to be fully restored. Again, don't worry, the Spawns don't respawn, either.

Now, you're free to move where you want and how you want. There is no location where you can only be targeted by one head and not the other here, so, while staying at an orange-target distance, take down the final town heads, which are Storm and Ice.

Congratulations, you've completed the Scylla fight! The fight ends in a cinematic explosion, and you can press "x" to sail to Ithaca.

Shortcuts and Other Tricks

Tip: If you find that you are having trouble defeating the actual Scylla heads, you may not have an appropriate nautical level and/or ship to taken them on. You may choose to upgrade your ship or gain more nautical experience to level you up many way. I personally recommend nautical XP parties and companion tasks. Usually, a nautical level in the mid to high-forties will be sufficient.

Tip: If you find that you are having trouble with the Scylla Spawns even after clearing monster tokens, you may be under-leveled for the battle, which is not uncommon. Remember that friends can assist you on your ship with this battle. (can they teleport???)

Tip: Remember that once you're comfortable with this method, you can defeat all of the heads by going just inside the range of the Scylla on both sides and avoiding the cloud of Spawns until the end.

Tip: Once you've completed the Scylla once, you don't have to defeat it every time! There a passage that opens up to your right when you said in that you can use on your next trip to Ithaca. Or, you can defeat it for fun.

As always, thanks for reading and see you in the Spiral!