Villainy

Villainy records harmful open-zone kills. The meter is kept on your character, ranges from 0 to 10,000, and turns you into a villain at 5,000. The Stats screen shows your progress.

Gaining villainy

Kill condition	Villainy gained
Victim attacked you or a party member first in the current fight	0
Kill a flagged victim fewer than 5 levels below you	0 from the level difference
Kill a flagged victim at least 5 levels below you	100 per level of the full difference
Kill an unflagged victim	An additional 2,000
Land a hit without a kill	0

For a victim five levels below the killer, the following examples apply unless the defensive exception removes the gain.

Victim flag	Villainy gained
Raised	500
Lowered	2,500

Being unflagged is not protection from an attacker.

Lowering the meter

Action	Reduction
Kill a monster at your level minus 1 or higher	1
Complete a quest	Up to 200, within the credited progress report
Claim a raid reward while below the red threshold	500, once for that raid
Claim a raid reward while already a red villain	No raid reduction
Wait, pay gold or die	No reduction

Red-villain consequences

Consequence	Rule
Skull	Red
PvP flag	Forced on
Insurance protection on a player-kill loss	Does not protect a red villain
Settlement streets inside the open zone	Do not protect the villain
Ordinary players in those streets	May attack the villain while retaining their street protection
Guard hunt in those streets	2 hunters immediately, then 1 more every 30 seconds, up to 6
Hunter damage reduction	95%; a landed hit still deals at least 1

Hunters mirror important parts of the villain's combat skills. Clearing an ordinary crime does not end this hunt. Leaving the streets, falling or dropping below the villain threshold sends the hunters away. Use eligible monster kills and quest progress to reduce the meter; gold and a deliberate death will not clear it.

Sources (7)

Last edited 29 Oct 2026. View history · What links here.