Black Flag Resynced Naval Upgrades make the Jackdaw tougher, improve its weapons and help you survive difficult fights at sea. You buy regular ship improvements at Harbourmasters using Reales and collected materials. The highest tiers also require Ultimate Ship Plans found through exploration.
You’ll unlock the upgrade options after completing the main story quest Raise the Black Flag. From then on, you can improve your ship’s armour, weapons and storage as you collect Reales and materials. Checking enemy cargo with your Spyglass makes it much easier to find what you need.
Where to Buy Black Flag Resynced Naval Upgrades
Talk to a Harbourmaster and select Upgrade Ship. Open the Upgrades tab, highlight the part you want to improve and hold Install. Ubisoft’s gameplay support also confirms you can upgrade and customise the ship from the Captain’s Cabin. The Harbourmaster is particularly useful when you need to buy supplies before setting sail.
Each upgrade costs Reales and materials, with the price shown in the menu. To unlock higher tiers, upgrade the Harbourmaster’s shop at Great Inagua once you’ve completed the Sequence 4 mission This Old Cove. Twelve of the final upgrades also require an Ultimate Ship Plan. Finding the blueprint opens the upgrade, but you still need to pay for it.
Best Black Flag Resynced Naval Upgrades to Buy First
If you’re losing naval battles, hull armour is a good starting point. Extra protection lets the Jackdaw withstand more cannon fire and gives you time to brace. Broadsides are a strong next investment because you’ll use them against ships alongside you. Mortars help against tougher enemies before you get close.
| Hull armour | Helps the Jackdaw survive cannon volleys |
| Broadside cannons | Improves attacks when fighting alongside an enemy ship |
| Mortars | Adds damage options at a distance |
| Ram and bow weapons | Helps when chasing or closing on ships |
| Swivel guns | Provides additional damage in naval battles |
| Ammunition storage | Lets you carry more supplies for longer fights |
| Harpoon upgrades | Useful when hunting sea creatures for materials |
That’s a useful order for a combat-focused playthrough, rather than a fixed shopping list. Move storage higher if you’re always running out of ammunition, or invest in harpoon equipment if you’re spending more time hunting than fighting warships.
Ship upgrades and secondary firing modes are separate rewards. Find the new weapon modes while exploring the Caribbean: heated broadsides, double-shot bow chasers and shrapnel barrels all give you additional attack options. You can also recruit the Padre for Ram Dash and Deadman Smith for his special mortar barrage.
Black Flag Resynced Naval Upgrades: How to Get Resources
Use the Spyglass on an enemy ship before attacking. It shows the cargo aboard, making it easier to target the materials needed for your next purchase. Boarding a disabled ship earns twice the loot of sinking it, according to Ubisoft. After winning the boarding fight, take the cargo and choose whether to repair the Jackdaw, reduce your wanted level or add the ship to Kenway’s Fleet.
For more Reales, larger captured ships such as frigates and men-of-war offer a Captain’s Lockbox choice after boarding. It awards extra money instead of using the capture to repair the Jackdaw, lower notoriety or add a vessel to your fleet. If repeated boardings leave you short of sailors, recruit replacements at taverns, free captive pirates on land or rescue castaways at sea.
You don’t have to fight ships for every material. Collect floating loot, search burning ships, take forts, open underwater chests and harpoon wildlife. Captured vessels assigned to Kenway’s Fleet can also return with income and trade goods. The fleet is managed directly inside Resynced, rather than through the original game’s companion application.
| Resource | Where to get it |
|---|---|
| Wood | Board ships carrying Wood; inspect their cargo with the Spyglass first |
| Metal | Look for Metal aboard stronger ships, including frigates, and collect rewards from captured forts |
| Cloth | Plunder ships carrying Cloth or raid plantations |
| Reales | Sell cargo such as Rum and Sugar, collect treasure and run Kenway’s Fleet missions |
Before setting sail, check what you’re missing for the next improvement. Targeting a ship with the right cargo is faster than fighting everything in sight, and it keeps your wanted level lower. The more trouble you cause at sea, the stronger the Pirate Hunters that pursue you.
Black Flag Resynced Naval Upgrades: The 12 Ultimate Ship Plans
There are 12 Ultimate Ship Plans, with six inside underwater wrecks and six found through treasure maps and buried chests. The diving bell becomes available through the Sequence 6 mission Diving for Medicines and is needed for deeper wrecks. Our separate Ultimate Ship Plans walkthrough covers all twelve Resynced coordinates.
The plans unlock final improvements to hull armour, mortars, ram, swivel guns, broadside cannons, round shot, heavy shot, fire barrels, storage and harpooning. After finding a plan, return to a Harbourmaster to buy the relevant upgrade. The Ship This trophy requires the completed improvements, not simply finding their blueprints.
Do Black Flag Resynced Naval Upgrades Carry Into New Game Plus?
Yes. Title Update 1.0.8 preserves purchased Jackdaw upgrades, Reales, resources and Kenway’s Fleet progression when starting New Game+. Story progress and forts reset, and you must reach the relevant story point to regain access to the ship, but its purchased improvements remain.
New Game+ adds tougher ships in later cycles, while Nightmare independently increases naval damage. You can adjust the naval difficulty without changing combat, stealth or activities. This makes your hull and weapon upgrades useful even if you’ve already finished the original campaign.
Build up the Jackdaw a little at a time. Inspect cargo, board ships that carry useful supplies, and spend your winnings on the parts that will make the next fight easier. Once the regular upgrades are done, work through the twelve Ultimate Ship Plans for the final tiers.
Source: Ubisoft’s official Black Flag Resynced naval gameplay deep dive.
