King of Seas guide: The best skills and special weapons for your ships

King of Seas has a plethora of gear pieces and equipment for you to pick up and loot. However, there are a select few that’ll truly aid you as you progress further in the campaign. Try to find higher-level versions of these, if you can, as you continue onward with your journey. Here’s our guide to help you with the best skills and special weapons for your ships in King of Seas.

Note: For more information, check out our King of Seas guides and features hub.

King of Seas guide: The best skills and special weapons for your ships

Outside of your regular cannon fire, the ship skills, abilities, and weapons that you pick up in King of Seas belong to four categories: Boatswain, Specialist, First Mate, and Special Weapon. While skills can be equipped by any vessel, special weapons are restricted based on the craft that you’re using.

Note: These types of equipment can be obtained by visiting a carpenter’s shop, completing quests, picking them up as random loot from shipwrecks/buried treasure (‘X’ marks on islands), and capturing/defending settlements.

Boatswain: Explosive Barrel, Deadly Wake, or Pirate Party – Believe it or not, the Explosive Barrel skill is actually very helpful due to King of Seas‘ laughable AI. The AI tends to chase you, which means you can drop the Explosive Barrel behind you and watch the vessels go boom. Deadly Wake also has a similar effect, except it’s the waves behind you that’ll do damage.

An even better, albeit rarer option, is Pirate Party. This casts fireworks in an AoE, ensuring that all nearby ships and structures get constantly damaged for a short period of time.

Specialist: Ethereal Navigation or Seagull Army – Ethereal Navigation speeds up your ship’s movement. It’s a decent means of traveling across great distances in the ocean, as well as an emergency button if you need to get out of dodge.

Speaking of an emergency skill, Seagull Army makes your craft impervious to projectiles for several seconds. You can pop it if you know you’re about to take a beating.

First Mate: Welcome to Hell – Welcome to Hell is probably the best King of Seas skill that defines “cheese.” As long as a vessel is in range, you can shoot out a fireball that homes in on the target. It’ll then cause a damage-over-time effect to the hull, sails, and crew. All that’s left is to let the enemy chase you, slow down to use the ability each time it’s off-cooldown, and let the flames bring your opponent to ruin.

Just be careful when using it in situations with multiple ships that are close to you. The ability will automatically target the nearest ship regardless if it’s hostile, neutral, or friendly. Oh, and the fireball itself can miss if an obstacle or structure is in the way.

Special Weapons: Haunted Ship (galleon), Magic Whirlpool (frigate), or Dead Men Tell No Tales (frigate) – Whether you’re the captain of a galleon or a frigate, you’ve got the tools to help you defeat your foes. Both Haunted Ship and Magic Whirlpool cause tremendous damage via an AoE. Likewise, the former converts damage done into health for your vessel, and the latter pulls craft closer to the center of the vortex.

Then, there’s Dead Men Tell No Tales, which is akin to that scene from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. It’s the one where the HMS Endeavour got annihilated by two ships surrounding it except, this time, you’re the one firing all your cannons (both broadsides) multiple times. It’s actually a good way of capturing Merchant-owned/neutral harbors since you can get close to a fort to blast the defenses, and any ships on the opposite side, before sailing away to recuperate.

King of Seas is available via Steam. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.