Skull and Bones boasts a complex and highly customizable naval combat system that allows players to outfit their ships with powerful anachronistic weapons and armor attachments. Below you will find all the tools of destruction and defensive add-ons you can use in the game. Note that this is a work-in-progress guide that will be updated regularly as new weapons and armor attachments are added to Skull and Bones.
Skull and Bones damage system
Before we get into the weapons and armor, it’s important to understand what each damage type in Skull and Bones does. The types of damage your weapons inflict cause different effects and debuffs on targets.
- Blunt and Crushing: basic damage categories that interact with some armor types differently.
- Explosive: deals additional damage to structures, such as coastal outposts.
- Fire: it can set ships on fire, which deals continuous damage over time.
- Flooding: it can sink ships faster. Sinking is not always the best option, as it forfeits a portion of the ship’s loot.
- Piercing: this damage type partly ignores enemy armor.
- Tearing: it deals more damage to sails, potentially slowing down enemy ships and making them harder to maneuver.
Related: Skull and Bones post-launch roadmap – All upcoming content and updates
Ship weapons in Skull and Bones
Weapons in Skull and Bones come in different damage types, sizes, prices, and placements. Some ships can mount more guns, though every ship in the game has a solid baseline of weapons slots you can fill up with implements of destruction. The most common weapon types are Cannons and Bombards: weapons that can be mounted on any part of your ship.
- Demi-Cannon: a short-range cannon that can be very powerful at close range but loses accuracy long-range as its shots scatter. Deals flooding damage.
- Long gun: a long-range precision weapon that might be slow to fire but packs quite a punch. Deals blunt or fire damage. It’s your ship’s sniper rifle, if you will.
- Siege Bombard: this bombard shoots very dense and precise projectiles, dealing an extreme amount of damage in a reduced area. It is a very effective weapon against static targets. Deals piercing damage.
- Flaming Bombard: shoots firebombs that deal high fire damage around the impact zone. Deals fire damage.
- Repair Bombard: rather than shooting at enemy ships, this Bombard fires “healing projectiles” at your teammates, repairing their ships. If you are your group’s designated support, this is a good pick. This “weapon” is more useful if mounted on a Brigantine or any other ship with increased repair capabilities.
Mortars and Rockets can only be mounted in the auxiliary (middle of the ship) slot, and small ships cannot have them at all. Although these Skull and Bones weapons are powerful and have area-of-effect damage, enemy ships can use the Bracing mechanic to reduce incoming Mortar damage.
- Blasting Mortar: has a large explosive radius, but its projectiles take longer to reach their destination. Deals explosive damage
- Siege Mortar: its blast radius is reduced in comparison to the others, but it deals a very high amount of damage and does not have damage drop-off from its blast radius. Deals crushing damage
- Repair Mortar: similar to the Rapir Bombard but with a much longer range, this Mortar has no damage capability, and instead fires oakum bombs to repair allied ships.
- Revolver Rocket: this rack-mounted launcher has fewer shots per magazine but more damage than a classic Rocket. It fires one shot at a time and deals piercing damage.
- Field Rocket: has an improved range and projectile speed compared to the other types. Deals explosive damage.
Ballista type weapons in Skull and Bones have excellent accuracy and single-target damage, and can be charged for increased destruction. Fittingly, they may only be equipped by medium-size and larger ships. They go in the bow slot.
- Multi-bolt Ballista: can load a bundle of bolts and fire them all at once. Though it is highly inaccurate, it deals a massive amount of damage. Deals flooding damage.
- Twin Winch Ballista: this Ballista uses twin winches for charged shots, which have longer range and hit harder. Deals piercing damage.
Finally, there are a handful of very powerful, niche Skull and Bones weapons that follow their own rules. The first is the Quick Release Torpedo, which is highly accurate and deals a ton of flooding damage, but takes forever to relead; an alternative variant may be equipped to inflict explosive damage instead of flooding. The second special weapon is the Greek Fire: a flamethrower that can set ships on fire and destroy them quickly but requires you to drift in uncomfortably close quarters to your target.
Armor attachment types in Skull and Bones
Equipping your ship with powerful weapons is only half the equation. To come out on top in naval skirmishes, you need to understand how each armor type interacts with different weapons, and customize your ships in Skull and Bones accordingly. Here are all the armor attachments in Skull and Bones we know of so far.
- Reinforced Wood armor: Strong against piercing and crushing attacks but weak against flooding or fire attacks.
- Metal armor: Strong against blunt and crushing damage but weak against piercing and fire.
- Spiked Metal armor: A heavier and spiked variation of metal armour that increases ramming damage.
- Terracotta armor: Strong against flood or blunt damage but will crumble when damaged by explosive or crushing attacks.
- Stone armor: Strong against piercing and fire damage but beware of explosive and crushing damage.
- Leather armor: Strong against explosive and fire damage but will tear when faced with piercing or flood damage attacks.
