Skull and Bones is a robust pirate game full of plundering and sailing the high seas but after spending a few hours on the ocean, I wish the game had a better tutorial system. Many of the best features in Skull and Bones aren’t explained. It forces you to figure how the most basic systems (besides how to access the in-game store, of course).
To make your pirate life easier when you start Skull and Bones, here are some things I wish I knew when I started the game.
Hunt Hippos, Crocodiles and Sharks Using a Dhow
I had no idea what a Dhow was. I thought it was a weapon but it turns out, a Dhow is a small ship. It makes sense. In Skull and Bones, you’ll use a Dhow to get around small ravines and access tighter streams your larger ship can’t get into.
The Dhow is also the only way you can hunt animals. Very early in the game, it will task you to hunt a set number of animals for a vendor bounty. However, it simply states “Dhow required” and if you’re like me, you probably have no idea what this is.
Head over to your ship selection and select “Change Ship”. Here, you can now select the Dhow (the flimsy ship you complete the tutorial with). With it, you’ll be able to hold down R2 (LT) and enter the spear combat mode. You’ll be able to toss spears at animals around the game, kill them and loot their skin and meat.
If there’s a small ravine on the map with an animal icon in it, you’ll need the Dhow to enter this tight area. But be warned, tougher animals such as the MadCap live in these areas. Even with the second Hunting Spear upgrade, I wasn’t able to kill this animal. If you’re struggling with a kill, come back later after upgrading your spear.
Use Fast Travel Often
Due to the MMO nature of Skull and Bones, you’ll have to fetch and carry items for many of the quests. Instead of sailing up and down from port to port, be sure to fast travel to the ones you’re able to.
Keep in mind that not all areas feature fast travel. So you’ll have to position your fast travel to the nearest port in order to get to a vendor or location to turn in your quest.
Another tip here – you don’t have to be at a dock in order to fast travel. You can be walking around on your feet at an outpost. If you’re at a fast travel location (even on your feet), simply open the map and hover over another fast travel location. Bam! You can now travel there.
Loot Everything
Fast travelling in Skull and Bones costs money so this leads to the next tip. Be sure to loot everything you see. This obviously goes without saying but the shipwrecks are especially lucrative in loot and silver.
Using your map, if you zoom in to the maximum zoom, you’ll see all the bootable items and wildlife in the area. If you’re nearby something, be sure to head towards it and loot it. Shipwrecks hold many items which you can sell and Silver is needed for basically all purchases.
Trees give you wood used to craft new weapons and ships. Metals are important too and can be refined for later upgrades.
If you hate the timing mini-game which comes with every new loot spot, you can also disable that in the settings. Head over to Settings – Gameplay – Enable Auto Harvest. Now, resources will automatically get harvested. It takes some time but you won’t have to time the button presses yourself.
Become The Smartest Trader Out There
Throughout the game, you’ll collect a bunch of items that serve different purposes. The most important for making Silver are commodities. These items sell at various rates depending on the trade routes and origin. But knowing where to sell what isn’t explained in Skull and Bones.
If you want to sell your set of gems at the highest possible rate or Spice for more Silver than usual, you’ll need to focus on the “Highest in Demand” tab on your map.
Open your map and hover over a region. Regions are divided by black lines that cut out different territories in the game. Each has a higher demand for an item than another. When hovering over the region, you’ll see a “Highest in Demand” section.
This section tells you what items will sell for more if you flog them at a trader situated on that part of the map. So if you have gathered a load of Gin, selling it in the Bloody Channel, for example, will get you more Silver.
Keep in mind that you’ll need to zoom out on the map to the second-most zoom in order to have this tab appear.
You can also easily make money each time you visit Sainte-Anne. In the town, various vendors sell commodities that are guaranteed to sell for a higher price in other regions. If you’re there, pick up a few to take with you wherever you’re going. Chances are, you’ll find a trader who will buy it back for profit.
Treasure Map Tips
Throughout Skull and Bones, you’ll find treasure maps that hold locations to…. treasure. Again, the game doesn’t explain this very well. It doesn’t tell you that each location for each treasure can only be found in areas where you can walk around. So don’t sail around looking for these.
Instead, look at the map and compare it to the world map. The X represents an explorable location. Head there and you should see a pop-up saying “treasure is in this outpost”.
Walk around this area now and find the drawing to dig up the treasure chest and get that sweet loot.
How Do Ship Upgrades Work?
Another major missing tutorial in Skull and Bones is upgrading your ship. The game doesn’t explain how to get a better ship or how to improve your current one. However, it is easy to understand.
There are ten ships to build across the game at launch. Each ship can also achieve a max base level of 5 but getting to that number requires using better weapons and armour on the ship itself.
This means you can’t technically upgrade the actual hull of the ship. This ranking goes up past 5 when you take out a Cannon I and install a Cannon IV, for example. The ranking also increases when you install better armour and furniture.
When you reach a higher rank with a ship, focus less on improving that model and more on gathering resources to build a new one. Perhaps a better, larger ship. Especially if you’re struggling to find better weapons and armour for that current build. Chances are, these materials are available later in the game.
You can also build multiple ships of each type and equip them with different weapon types. That way, you can have a ship for close combat, ranged combat and perhaps speed. It saves having to change your weapons around each time you need a different approach to a plunder raid.
Use the Shortcut Wheel
The last tip is likely one that will save your life. Use the shortcut wheel. Skull and Bones features a shortcut system that is brought up using the Square (X) button. You can easily assign certain items to this wheel including better repair kits and food.
When the going gets tough, you can quickly press the shortcut button to hover over a shortcut you made and use the item. This really helps in certain situations. For example, when you’re sailing away from angry ships and run out of stamina, you can quickly use the Grilled Bread to get a stamina boost.
When you’re running low on health and need an improved repair kit, you can quickly use a Repair Kit II to heal more damage than the standard kit. You can also use this shortcut wheel to use emotes and fireworks.
Honestly, I had no idea I could assign an entire range of shortcuts to this wheel until I found my first firework. The game once again doesn’t tell you anything.
Read more tips on Skull and Bones below:
