Pirate101 Challenge #4: First Mates Only

Ahoy!

It's time for another post in my "10 Ways to Make Pirate101 More Challenging" series.  I hope everyone is enjoying these posts so far, and that they are giving all you pirates ideas for some new ways to play the game!  Let's get started!

The object of the fourth challenge is to play the entire main story with just your first mate.  This doesn't mean you have to choose one companion to use the whole game.  You just have to complete all battles with only one companion per battle.

Rules

1.  Give all your companions except your first mate tasks, or place them in your house/bunkhouse. This will allow you to enter each battle with just the companion that is assigned to be your first mate.

2.  You may use any spell minions or doubloon minions you have.

3. You may also use a pet.  However, the pet must start out at level 1, like your pirate and level up accordingly.

4.  You may switch out your first mate with any other companion at any point during the game, even before every battle if you want to.

5.  For companion promotions, make sure you set whichever companion you are promoting to be your first mate.

Tips and Tricks

1.  Keep several different companions with different classes and abilities leveled up so you can
switch them out for different battles.

2. Complete as many side quests as possible.  This will allow you to max out your companions to a higher level and let you equip better gear.

3.  Get the best gear you can for your level.

4.  You might play with trying out different talents on your companions than you normally would. For example, maybe focus on defensive talents more than offensive.

5.  Definitely train a second class on your pirate.  This is something I haven't had to do with any of mine while questing normally, but for this challenge, it would help a lot!

My Witchdoctor fighting Hydra with El Toro as her only companion

Exceptions

If you decide to complete side quests for this challenge, you may use the normal amount of companions.  Only for the side quests though!  Once you go back to questing on the main story, be sure to start using just your first mate again.  Companion promotion quests do not count as side quests for this challenge.

Variations

1.  To make this challenge easier, use 2 companions instead of just one.

2.  To make it harder, use only one companion for side quests as well as main quests.

3.  Try using the same companion as your first mate for the whole game.

Good luck if you try this!  I would love to hear about your experiences!  Just comment below.  Thanks for reading and see you soon with Challenge #5! :)