Damage over Time effects are status effects that are applied to a target, reducing their Health until the effect expires or is removed. In Pirates Online, DoT effects cannot reduce a target's health to zero, leaving it at 1 health point. Several skills can inflict DoT. Some Weapon Skills can inflict DoT as well. There are several different DoT conditions:
Poison[]
Poisons are substances either from a creature's bite or sting, or from venom applied to bullets or blades. Pirates can poison an enemy with the Adder Dagger skill or the Venom Shot Pistol Skill. Some weapons also have Venom Strike which reapplies poison on each hit.
- Poison deals damage as a percent of the enemy's starting health. For regular enemies this is 1% and for bosses half of this at 0.5%.
Pirate Skills:
Weapon Skills:
Enemies that use poison in battle:
You can heal this affect with the skill Cleanse.
Acid[]
Strong acids can burn through many kinds of materials, including tissue. Pirates can inflict acid burns on an enemy with the Pestilence skill.
- Acid deals a fixed 5% of the enemy's starting health, quickly draining the enemy's current health however the effect doesn't last long. Cannot stack.
Pirate Skills:
Enemies that use acid in battle:
Fire[]
Fire can burn through all. Pirates can set enemies ablaze with the Scorch, Flaming Skull, Fire Bomb, Cursed Fire, and Inferno Sweep skills. In ship combat this is done using firebrand ammo.
- On regular enemies fire does 70 + 2% of the enemy's current health. On bosses it is half of this. So, as an enemy's health gets closer to 0 fire damage will get closer to the minimum values 70/35.
- On ships, firebrand also deals a percentage of the ships health per burn damage. The percentage ranges from 0.5% at rank 1 to 4% at rank 8, and deals 7 burn ticks over 8 seconds.
Pirate Skills:
Weapon Skills:
Enemies that use fire in battle:
- Voodoo Doll Users (except Undead Witchdoctors)
- Grenade Users (using fire bombs)
Wound[]
A wounded fighter who is in continued pain will keep losing small amounts of health until the wound heals.
Pirates can wound enemies with regular Dagger attacks, the Sidewinder skill, as well as with Cannon (Enemy crew only) and Grenades if they have the Shrapnel skill.
- For normal enemies, wound deals 0.1% of the enemy's starting health per stack. Bosses are half this rate at 0.05%.
- Wound can get up to 200 stacks total and pirates generally add several stacks of wound when using an attack that adds any. For example, a regular dagger attack on a boss adds 3 rather than 1 stack.
Pirate Skills:
Weapon Skills:
Enemies that wound their opponents in battle:
You can heal this affect with the skill Cleanse.
Curse[]
Curses increase your attack power by 30% or inflict negative status effects to enemies.
Pirate skills
Enemies that curse your pirate:
Enemies that Wound Over Time[]
| Enemy | Attack | Damage |
| Spanish Undead Conquistador | Dual Cutlass X-Slash Dual Cutlass Core |
Wounded |
| Big Alligator | Crushing Bite | Wounded |
| Huge Alligator | Crushing Bite | Wounded |
| General Darkhart | Double Cut Sidewinder Throwing Blade |
Wounded |
| Undead Executioner | Wild Swing Savage Blow |
Wounded |
| Samuel | Wild Swing | Wounded |
| Hired-Guns | Adder Crippling Blade Eviscerate Sidewinder |
Venom Weaken Wounded Wounded |
| Flotsam | Wild Swing | Wounded |