Euphonia's Challenge: The Treasure of Crystal Cove Guide

Euphonia's Challenge, The Treasure of Crystal Cove (most people just call it “Crystal Cove”) is a recurring event in Dungeons & Dragons Online where you'll encounter ghostly Champions, battle pirates, and help a group of mining-inclined Kobolds in exchange for great rewards! Crystal Cove originally debuted for DDO's 5th anniversary and has received several big updates over the years, including this year in 2022. Read on to learn more! 

Crystal Cove will return on Wednesday, September 14th and will be available through October 2nd! 

The Short Version: What's New! 

2022 has seen an update to the mechanics of Crystal Cove as follows: 

  • Treasure Map Pieces no longer appear in-game, and are no longer needed in order to open the door to the Crystal Cove Collection Challenge. The Challenge is now open as long as the event is running. You still need a Treasure Compass in order to access the challenge. 
  • Players can acquire Treasure Compasses and Doubloons when defeating special Ghostly Champions that can sometimes appear in dungeons of hard difficulty or higher while the Crystal Cove event is active! 
  • Copper, Silver, and Gold Doubloons can now sometimes appear in chests throughout the game while the event is active. 
  • Pirate's Grog no longer references Map Pieces, and offers the chance for enemies to drop Doubloons when defeated throughout the game while the event is active. 
  • There are new rewards! 

How to Get Started: 

Travel to Smuggler's Rest by speaking with Sailor Calatin, who is located in The Harbor on the docks.  

Smuggler's Rest is a unique wilderness zone where you can battle pirates, earn Doubloons, and uncover hidden chests! Unlike other wilderness areas in Dungeons & Dragons Online, Smuggler's Rest does not have Explorers and Rares; rather, it is an experience for characters of all levels to explore together! This public instance spawns enemies based on the level of the characters nearby, so be careful if you are a low level adventurer wandering near higher level characters. 

Smuggler's Rest is also home to the ship where you will access the reward vending chests and the Crystal Cove Collection Challenge. Nearby is the Rook's Gambit, a tavern where pirate-hunters can repair their gear, rest, and access a chest in the far corner of the room to acquire older versions of Cove loot that have since been updated or replaced. While fighting enemies in Smuggler's Rest you will occasionally acquire Treasure Maps in your inventory! Clicking on these items will place a marker on the Smuggler's Rest map where a chest can be found. 

The Crystal Cove Collection Challenge: 

In order to access the Crystal Cove challenge you'll need a Treasure Compass. You can get these Compasses when defeating enemies in Smuggler's Rest, besting Ghostly Champions that appear while the event is active, by purchasing them with Doubloons from Euphonia's Barter Box, or in the DDO Store. The Challenge is offered from Challenge Rating 1 to 37; running the Challenge at a difficulty lower than your character level provides fewer Green Dragonshards at the end, and running the Challenge at a difficulty above your character level provides more Green Dragonshards when you successfully complete the challenge. You'll earn Quest XP when completing the challenge as well! If your character is five or more levels above the level of the Challenge, or if you are five or more levels below the highest level character in your party you will not earn XP.  

Kobold Miners are trying to do their work but need your help to guide them and take care of pirates trying to stop the job! Over the course of 20 minutes you will place torches to guide kobolds to Dragonshards they will collect then return to Foreman Yip-Yip at the start of the Challenge. You'll battle enemies throughout to earn Stolen Gems and keep the poor Kobolds alive! This Challenge supports up to six players to help make the task easier, although this Challenge can be run solo with practice. 

Your torches need to connect! You'll see the line being created as you place torches on the ground, so make sure your path connects! You can pick up torches and re-place them, and you can get more torches along with other special Cove items from Foreman Yip-Yip: 

You will also acquire some of these special items while defeating enemies in the challenge. Remember that you can drop these torches and requisition items for your friends inside of the Challenge by dragging them from your hot bar to the dungeon space itself in addition to trading them normally.  

Once you've collected enough Dragonshards to satisfy Foreman Yip-Yip, collecting additional Dragonshards will earn you more Green Dragonshards at the end of the Challenge! The kind of gems that drop depend on the level of enemies being battled, and the gems generally correspond to the level of their related item upgrade. Stolen Gems are awarded when defeating an enemy rather than at the end of the Challenge, and are awarded to the character who defeats the enemy. 

Crystal Cove Rewards: 

Crystal Cove has extensive rewards available to earn, including consumables, low-level cosmetic items, upgradable items from levels 4 to 32, Augments, summoning items, and more! Here are the current rewards: 

  • NEW FOR 2022:
    • Diamond of Festive Strength +2
    • Ruby of the Surging Tide
    • Ruby of Adamantine Blessing
    • These new for 2022 items are available at level 4 and are generally cosmetic in nature:
    • The Darkwood Skull (Tower Shield)
    • Orb of Many Charts (Orb)
    • Copper Dwarven War Axe (Dwarven Axe)
    • Squid Smasher (Maul)
  • Here are the other items available to barter:
    • Pirate's Grog
    • Treasure Compass
    • Lesser/Standard/Greater Vials of Seafog
    • Jolly Roger Bomb
    • Lesser/Standard/Greater Dowsing Rod
    • Gem/Greater Gem of Ocean's Winds
    • Gem/Greater Gem of Freezing Tides
    • Potion of Treasure-Finding
    • Glass Cannon (Rune Arm)
    • Ship-Siege Bow (Long Bow)
    • Captain's Cutter (Falchion)
    • Hull-Melter's Mace (Light Mace)
    • Hull-Wrecker's Hammer (War Hammer)
    • Ship-Chaplain's Sidearm (Morningstar)
    • The Drowned (Orb)
    • Ratkiller (Maul)
    • Brigand's Cutlass (Scimitar)
    • Cutthroat's Smallblade (Short Sword)
    • Ornamented Dagger (Dagger)
    • Broken Oar (Quarterstaff)
    • Flotsam (Dagger)
    • Swashbuckler (Buckler)
    • Cavalry Plate (Heavy Armor)
    • Duelist's Leathers (Light Armor)
    • Brawling Gloves (Hands)
    • Ring of the Buccaneer (Ring)
    • Treasure Hunter's Spyglass (Trinket)
    • Gem Trade-In (Trade one kind of Stolen Gem for another)
    • Doubloon Exchange (Trade one kind of Doubloon for another)
    • Treasure Map Piece Turn-in (Trades deprecated Treasure Map Pieces for Doubloons)
    • Additionally, there is a second Reward chest that you can use to purchase special Pirate Hats and Bandannas that offer benefits while battling in Smuggler's Rest and the Crystal Cove Collection Challenge! 

These hats earn you additional Doubloons when in Smuggler's Rest or the Challenge, and each have three additional Enchantable item slots: 

  • Crystal Rush: This slot bestows benefits to nearby Kobolds in Crystal Cove. 
  • Adventuring Bonus: This slot offers a benefit during general adventuring like a boost to your Stats, additional Hit Points and more. 
  • Skilled Seaman: This slot offers a bonus to a specific Skill. 

The slots are filled with Items you'll get from Euphonia's Hat Box in exchange for Doubloons and Green Dragonshards, Note that slotting these items into your Hat will increase the Minimum Level of the item as described in the item's descriptive text.  

Further Reading: 

Yarr! We hope you enjoy Crystal Cove! Here are some player-created resources for further information, tips, and tricks: