Assassin's Creed 4: How to board ships
Rattling sabers, boarding ships - in Assassin's Creed 4 you do both of them almost full-time. With our guides, we not only give an overview of the basic techniques of boarding, but also give you a trick that even larger ships no longer pose a problem. The next loot will be a breeze!
Beginner's guide for Assassin's Creed buccaneers
We have briefly summarized the most important points that you should consider for "normal" boarding.
- Binoculars: Before you randomly attack and board one of the many ships on the high seas, you should look for suitable prey with the binoculars (available on the steering wheel). In this way you will not only see the name and type of the ship, but also the type and amount of the freight. In addition to money, you can loot metal, wood, and fabric for ship upgrades. Rum and sugar can be resold for a profit.
- Ship types: You can ignore simple gunboats and schooners relatively quickly, as they are not only quickly sunk, but also have little load. A brig is more interesting and demanding. Frigates and warships are the most powerful and "most productive" road users on the high seas. From time to time there is also the chance to raid convoys, where you have to cope with several ships at once.
- Cannons: In addition to the normal front and side cannons, you can upgrade your ship with heavy cannons, mortars and hunting cannons. Mortars are especially helpful because they have a long range and do a lot of damage. As soon as an enemy ship has been shot ready for boarding, briefly hold the Y (XBox) or triangle (Playstation) buttons in order to work on its weak points with your rotating basses. That brings additional damage.
- Boarding: As soon as a ship is sufficiently destroyed, you can board it at the push of a button. Before swinging on board, however, you should use the rotary basses (left and right of the steering wheel) to fire at the enemy crew. Then you have to get the rest of the crew down and often perform additional tasks such as destroying the enemy flag. When all the tasks are done, you can decide whether to use the ship to lower your profile, incorporate it into your fleet or use it to repair the Jackdaw.
Professional guide: This is how battle-tested AC veterans board
With a little trick, advanced privateers can get big prizes relatively early. Here is the step-by-step guide.
- Approach the chosen victim from the front - it doesn't really matter whether you sail towards the ship or simply stop in wait. It is important that the opposing ship is moving towards you (!).
- Now get off the wheel, jump into the water and start swimming. Once climbed aboard the ship, about ten opponents appear that need to be eliminated. The snipers in the ship's rigging can be dangerous.
- When the fight is over, disembark and take over the steering of the Jackdaw again. If you now fire at the enemy ship, you can board it immediately - without a fight - and may just have to climb onto the mast and destroy the flag.
- During the whole procedure, make sure that you are not well known, that you are not in a restricted area, that there are no yellow cones aimed at you and that the opposing ship is not ready to fight. With this trick you can get hold of powerful warships with little loss and little damage.
And this is how you get through every sword fight in Assassin's Creed 4.