There are a couple of ways to go about ship combat in Skull and Bones. The easiest and most common method of combat you’ll likely use is simply depleting a ship of all its health and sinking it, allowing you to collect its loot from the wreckage. However, there’s a secondary way to collect loot from an enemy ship: board it.
Boarding an enemy ship can actually reward you with more loot than you would normally get by sinking it. There is sometimes hidden loot stowed away on ships that can only be earned by boarding it. Of course, boarding can take more time and effort than firing a few cannons into the side of an enemy’s vessel, so there are pros and cons to each combat method.
Before you can make that decision, though, you need to know how to board an enemy ship effectively in Skull and Bones.
Boarding enemy ships in Skull and Bones
The process of boarding a ship is fairly simple once you understand what needs to be done. Follow the steps below to properly board an enemy ship:
- Deplete a ship of over half its HP by firing cannons into it, ramming it, etc.
- Get near the ship once half its HP is gone and position your ship on the starboard or port side.
- Aim in with your cannons like you’re going to fire, but instead, look for an on-screen prompt that says “Crew Boarding.”
- Press the required button next to the prompt (R on PC/Y on Xbox/Triangle on PS5).
- After you press the button, your ship will shoot out several ropes with hooks on the end of them.
- Successfully boarding the ship requires at least one of these hooks to latch onto the enemy’s hull. You need to be close enough for the hooks to reach.
- If you latch onto the ship, a cutscene will play that shows your crew reeling in the ship. A reward menu will then appear that allows you to take some or all of the enemy ship’s loot.
It will likely take you a few tries to get the boarding process down, as there are some nuances to learn. For example, the ropes your ship shoots out can only go a certain distance and you need to lead the ropes in the right direction if your ship is moving. Also, I only recommend boarding an enemy ship if you’re in a one-on-one battle, as boarding with other enemy ships firing at you can significantly deplete your ship’s HP.
Successfully boarding an enemy ship can reward you with valuable resources such as Bog Iron (used to make Cast Iron Ingots), Cogwheels, cannons, cannonballs, and different kinds of currency. Be careful you don’t exceed your ship’s inventory weight limit by taking all of those extra resources, though, as your crew’s stamina will deplete much faster the more weight you’re carrying.
