How to Unlock New Ships in Skull & Bones

If Captain Jack Sparrow taught us anything, it’s that a pirate is nothing without their ship. This is also true in Skull & Bones, as there are plenty of new vessels to acquire. Here’s how to unlock new ships in Skull & Bones.

How to Unlock New Ships in Skull & Bones

To unlock a new ship in Skull & Bones, you’ll need to meet several different criteria. You can see them listed below:

• You must own the blueprint of the vessel. These can either be purchased or earned as rewards for contracts, usually during the main story.
• You must have the proper infamy rank. Infamy is gained by completing contracts, sinking other ships, and generally doing pirate things. It’s basically an experience system.
• The proper materials. The bigger and higher the rank of the ship, the more you’re going to have to plunder and harvest.

Related: Does Skull & Bones Have PvP?

Where to Find Blueprints in Skull & Bones

The easiest way to find blueprints to unlock new ships in Skull & Bones, at least during the first 15 hours of your plundering adventure, is to visit the Shipwright in Sainte-Anne or traders around the Red Isles to find blueprints. This way, you’ll eventually find blueprints for small-sized ships. Once you reach a high enough rank, you can make a Bombardier, the Padewakang class ship; however, that requires sailing far northeast to Telok Penjarah, the second Pirate Den in the game. If you have blueprints, though, the Shipwright in Saint-Anne will build you whatever you need. 

Here are the ships that the Saint-Anne Shipright can build, along with the Infamy ranks required to unlock them, if you have found the blueprints:

• Rammer, Bedar Class (Infamy: Rover I)
• Defender, Hulk Class (Infamy: Rover I)
• Sentinel, Cutter Class (Infamy: Rover I)
• Firebrand, Barge Class (Infamy: Buccaneer I)
• Blaster, Sloop Class (Infamy: Buccaneer I)
• Bombardier, Padewakang Class (Infamy: Brigand I)
• Vanguard, Snow Class (Infamy: Corsair I)
• Hullbreaker, Brigantine Class (Infamy: Cutthroat I)
• Pyromaniac, Sambuk Class (Infamy: Cutthroat I)

Each class has different perks to go along with it, so ships within the same Infamy tier generally are just as good as the others, depending on what role you want to fill.

How to Farm Materials for Ship Building in Skull & Bones

The prices for even the smallest ships in Skull & Bones are quite high. The Sentinel ship requires 6 Bronze Ingot, 6 Iroko Plank, and 12 Fine Jute. These are all refined materials that must be either looted from opposing ships, purchased from vendors, or refined from raw materials at the Refinery in Saint-Anne, which is located to the right of the Shipwright. 

To find these materials, check your map for specific trade routes that have them. These are the dotted lines found all over your map. Along those routes, you’ll find plenty of merchant ships carrying these goods. Stock up on cannonballs and repair kits and head out to plunder until you have reached the required materials.

That’s it for how to unlock new ships in Skull & Bones. Given how Ubisoft has quite a lot of plans for the future of this live service game, expect there to be bigger and more fearsome ships to unlock and terrorize the seas with in the future.

Skull & Bones is now available in open beta on PC, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, and PS4.