Best Ship Gear In Windrose: Which Cannons, Hull and Naval Tactics To Focus On

Let's be honest, the thing we all love most about pirate games is sailing around in an absolute unit of a ship. Windrose is no different, and thankfully there are a lot of ways for you to make sure your ship is the fiercest around.

In this guide, we'll be running through all the gear you can get for your ship, how the upgrade and ascension systems work, and which upgrades are worth going for first.

We also have a guide that lists all of the ships you can get in Windrose if you haven't seen them all yet.

Ship Gear Categories

Every ship (other than the Boat, bless) has four gear slots that are managed at the Wharf. Every gear slot is for a different piece of ship gear, and with the exception of Boarding Party Gear, they can all be swapped out for various different variants, and upgraded through the ascension system.

The ship gear categories are:

• Cannons: Your primary source of damage during naval combat, it is essential to keep these upgraded.
• Hull Modification: Increases your ship's DEF stat, reducing incoming damage. Without it, you will be blown away by enemy cannons.
• Boarding Party Gear: increases the combat power of your crew during boarding actions.
• Naval tactics: Provides an additional passive buff for your ship.

Other than the Boarding Party Gear, all of the powerful ship gear is locked behind having certain Reputation Levels with the various Factions in the game.

Ship Gear: Cannons

In this section we'll break down all of the available options for the cannon gear slot, and make a recommendation. It's worth noting upfront however that all of the cannon options are good so you can't go far wrong, don't worry if you want to just pick something that suits your playstyle.

All Available Cannons

Following is a list of all available Cannons:

Important: Make sure that your ship can support the cannons you are crafting. Only the Blackbeard Ketch, Blackbeard Brig and all Frigates can support 24lb cannons.

Cannon Abilities

As with your weapons and armour, you can upgrade your cannons 'rarity' from Rare to Epic. Doing so will unlock a new ability for any of the named cannons that you bought from the Buccaneers. The effects of each of the cannons is listed below

Best Cannons in Windrose

As previously mentioned they are all pretty good, but our opinion is that the Perfectly Ordered cannons (highest lb version your ship can support) are the best cannons currently in Windrose. Hitting an enemy within 4 seconds after reloading is incredibly easy to do so you are pretty much always at 30% faster reload speeds.

Unfortunately the Perfectly Ordered cannons do probably have the weakest 'Epic' ability, with the Devastating Cannons having the best, so once you reach that stage of the game (late game), feel free to play around.

Ship Gear: Hull Modifications

Your Hull is incredibly important in Windrose and is essentially what is going to keep you alive during naval combat.

All Available Hull Modifications

Once again, there is no 'bad choice' when it comes to Hull Modifications in Windrose. That being said, here's the full list:

Hull Modification Abilities

Hull Modifications can also be ascended to Epic rarity and they also gain an additional ability.

Best Hull Modification in Windrose

We think that the best Hull Modification in Windrose is Hull Bracing: Keelhold. In long naval battles, repairing multiple times using Combat Repair Kits is essential so being able to receive the full heal and for 30% longer at Epic is invaluable.

Ship Gear: Naval Tactics

Naval Tactics are different to Cannons and Hull Modifications in that they cannot be upgraded or ascended, and instead simply provide a passive benefit to your ship.

All Available Naval Tactics

A full list of all available Naval Tactics is shown below:

Naval Tactics Passive Buffs

As mentioned, Naval Tactics cannot be upgraded or ascended, so there is only one effect to note.

Best Naval Tactics in Windrose

First of all let's be clear, Naval Tactics IV is for sure the worst option. With that out of the way, we think that the best Naval Tactics is Naval Tactics III: Stretch The Supply.

Not only is the additional 30% Repair Kit length insanely valuable when paired with Hull Modification: Keelhold as above, Grog is also super powerful providing either +15% damage, +15% damage resistance of +15% reduced reload times.

Ship Gear: Boarding Party Gear

Boarding Party Gear is a bit of an oddity when compared to the rest of the ship gear. It is crafted at the Shipwright's Workshop (along with all of the other ship gear) at Uncommon rarity but there is only one option and it cannot be ascended to a higher rarity. It can however be upgraded from Level 1 to Level 15.

The upgrades are expensive but with good reason, a high level Boarding Party Gear allows your crew to handle the enemies when you board a ship, making the whole process much easier, safer and faster.

Upgrading & Ascending Ship Gear

Upgrading Ship Gear

All ship equipment is upgraded at the Shipwright's Workshop using the Upgrade tab. Each upgrade increases the item's level by one and improves its core stat; a level 1 item at 100 ATK or DEF, becomes 120 at level 2, for example.

Note: You cannot upgrade or Ascend ship items unless they are in your personal inventory, which means you need to remove them from your ship first at the Wharf.

After you complete the 'Local Threat' in each zone, you will unlock the next 5 upgrades for each item, and you'll be able to craft the item at the next level. So for example once you complete the Coastal Jungle zone, you can craft Ship Gear at Level 6 and upgrade it to Level 10.

Ascending Ship Gear

Ascending works in the same way it does with weapons. Take the item you want to ascend to the Shipwright's Workshop. When you ascend from Rare to Epic you will unlock the second ability for that piece of gear. Note that you will need Tumbaga Ingots to ascend any item, including Ship Gear

Check out our other content for more in-depth Windrose guides and expert tips including