Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced isn’t exactly a very difficult game to master. However, if you are new to older AC titles, or just AC titles in general, then you might be having some hiccups during the early parts of the game.
So I will be going over a couple of tips and tricks along with some systems that the game has so that you can have a much easier time once you finally get access to the Jackdaw and the world opens up.
We have further divided the guide into three parts: General Combat, Exploration, and Naval Combat.
Mastering General Combat in AC Black Flag Resynced
So when it comes to basic gun and swordplay, the mechanics in Black Flag are pretty straightforward. It’s usually a parry and dodge fest where you are waiting for the enemy to attack, and then you are retaliating with a counter to immediately open them up to a critical takedown.
However, there are a few nuances to the system that you will want to keep in mind, especially when you are reaching the mid-to-end game.
Firstly, the armor that you put on Edward and the pet that you have on deck are purely cosmetic. They have no impact on gameplay, so you can just go for whichever pet or armor you want.
However, the stats matter when it comes to the swords and guns that Edward carries. Along with having a damage number, swords come with a takedown count as well, which lets you have additional critical attacks on enemies after you get the first counter takedown.
Guns, on the other hand, have stats like damage and draw speed.
Now both Legendary Swords and Guns also come with special abilities. Like the Le Bourgeoys Blades are Pistol Swords that fire an extra bullet when using heavy attacks, and the Dark Worker’s Pistols that won’t consume ammunition when you are shooting them while being anonymous.
Moreover, while each sword type has standard R1 attack animations, they have different heavy attacks. Cutlasses, for example, do an AoE sweep when you hold down the attack button, while Pistol Swords fire bullets and Rapiers close the gap on the enemy by performing forward stabs.
So your play style will be a mix of the weapon type and pistol you are using, along with the Trinket you have equipped. Trinkets provide passive buffs to Edward, and they range from aiding in combat by reducing incoming damage to helping out with crafting by increasing the amount of materials you get from skinning animals, to helping in exploration by letting you breathe longer underwater, and more.
So try out different combinations to see which one fits your playstyle the best. But at the end of the day, the majority of combat is going to come down to parries and dodges. Countering enemies and taking them down with a critical is what 80% of combat will be.
However, that’s not to say that you can’t be proactive about taking down enemies and just not wait for them to attack you. By constantly hitting their guard, you can break it to open them up for a critical; however, it comes with some risks, as certain enemies wil deflect your attacks.
Additionally, you can even shoot an enemy to instantly break their guard, allowing an instant takedown. This is particularly useful against the bigger foes who carry large axes and guns.
Smokebombs and Rope Darts also come in handy when you are surrounded. A Smokebomb will instantly block the enemies’ line of sight, and you can then perform executions on the ones that are affected by it.
A Rope Dart will pull an enemy in, and you can perform a light attack combo on them. Now, if the enemy is lining up to shoot you with a pistol, then you can use a Rope Dart to instantly open them up for a takedown; this is very useful against elite enemies and bosses.
Now, there is a stealth aspect to Blag Flag; however, the game is more of a pirate game than an assassin game. So stealth tools are rather limited, and honestly you will hardly be relying on it.
But if you are looking to go for the stealth route anyway, then the whistle feature is going to be your best friend. The whistle has a pretty big range, and you can use it to lure enemies into your hiding spot one at a time and take out an entire group of them like this without even having to unsheath your cutlass.
The other two stealth tools that you have are the Rope Dart and the Blow Dart. The Rope Dart will let you assassinate enemies when you are up on a ledge. This makes sure that you don’t leave a body behind, which will make sure that you don’t alert anyone patrolling the area.
Blow Darts, on the other hand, come with ammunition types like sleep and berserk. Sleep will put an enemy to bed as long as the effect persists on them or if they are awoken by one of their comrades.
Berserk will make an enemy completely lose their sense and attack their allies. You can use it on an elite officer and see them whittle down an entire camp as you just wait and watch from a screen away.
But honestly, stealth isn’t really as inviting as full-on combat in Black Flag Resynced, as there is honestly a special kind of joy in taking your cutlass and stabbing it through an enemy’s face over and over again.
Mastering Exploration in AC Black Flag Resynced
Now that we have combat out of the way. It’s time to talk about exploration. Now, if you are serious about making the most of Black Flag’s endgame, i.e taking down all the forts and the legendary ships, then you might want to open every single chest that you come across.
Every time you visit a new location, you will see that the game displays certain stats about it like the available animals, chests, secrets, waypoints, and more.
Now these chests are some of the best sources of trading goods, crafting mats, coins, and so much more.
Coins are needed for almost everything in Resynced. From buying weapons to upgrading the Jackdaw as well as your hideout.
Later upgrades and legendary weapons are very expensive, so you will need to rack up on a lot of coins during exploration.
So this is where the waypoints come in. Once you get on top of one and synchronize with it, it will reveal all the collectibles around it. So a great way of hunting down chests and treasure maps in a new area is to sync up with all the points there.
Now let’s take Havana, for example. It’s one of the first ports that you unlock, and by just synchronizing with all the points there, you will unlock the location of every single treasure chest there.
If you loot all of them along with finding the treasure chest near the battlements to the south, you should have somewhere over 10k coins. Getting this much currency early on will help you unlock some key establishments and get your hideout upgrades going as soon as you unlock it in Great Inagua.
Chests also carry important crafting schematics, especially for the Jackdaw.
When you unlock the Diving Bell during the “Diving for Medicines” mission, you eventually reach an area where a shark is patrolling. There are several chests there, with the one inside a wreckage carrying the Hull Armor Ultimate Plan.
This schematic lets you fully upgrade the Jackdaw’s defenses to level 5, letting you tank more hits from Man-O-Wars as well as the Legendary Ships.
So if you are looking to make the most of the endgame after the story is over, then you will need to get each and every one of the upgrade schematics. This means that you can’t skip out on looting chests.
That being said, chests also contain other valuable items like miniature ship models, paintings, as well as other cosmetic items that you can decorate your hideout with. Getting and putting up enough decorations will unlock a side quest with Bernard the butler, who will then reward you with some legendary gear.
Now speaking of valuable loot, another great way of acquiring a ton of resources is to ransack the various warehouses and plantations across the map.
However, to gain access to a warehouse, you will need the key to it. And there are two ways of acquiring it. You can either clear out the officers in the area till you get the key from one of them, or you can investigate and look for clues to pinpoint its exact location.
For example, one of the first warehouses you will get to ransack is the one in Nassau. When you approach it, you will see that a Captain’s Note is stuck beside the warehouse door. Reading it will reveal that the key is on an officer to be found by the beach to the south.
So you can just bee-line there, kill the officer, and loot the warehouse. This will let you save a lot of time, without having to take on dozens of Redcoats all at once.
These warehouses will often have treasure maps as well, which will lead to even more loot. So don’t sleep on them and ransack every single one that you come across while sailing the high seas. Moreover, warehouses reset after a while, so you can hit these locations over and over again.
Killing and skinning all the animals that you come across is also important for helping Edward get his upgrades. Animal skin and bones are used to upgrade remedy and dart pouches, Edward’s max health, pistol slots, and more.
These upgrades are incredibly useful during the late game in higher difficulties, and allow for more flexibility during combat.
Mastering Naval Combat in AC Black Flag Resynced
In Resynced, naval skirmishes have seen extensive changes over the original. The way you approach combat here is by starting it off by firing mortar rounds on an unaware ship.
When not in combat, enemy ships are either stationary or move slowly. As mortar fire takes a while to land, starting your combat off with it is going to be ideal for dealing a lot of damage right away.
Now once you fire off the first flurry of mortar shells, you are going to want to ram into the ship as hard as possible. This does a ton of damage, which is further increased once you have unlocked the ramming skill by recruiting Padre.
These attacks will usually open up multiple weak points on the ship, which are indicated by the red markers. This is where the Swivel guns come in, and you can fire the guns on the spots by aiming and tapping R1 to deal additional damage.
Swivel guns are also very useful in blowing up barrels that ships drop behind them. If you run over these barrels, your Jackdaw will take a lot of damage. However, if you use the Swivel gun to blow them up as soon as they are deployed, then the enemy ship will get damaged by it, as they are going to be inside its blast radius.
One big addition in Naval Combat is the Fire Rounds. You get access to them on both front-side and broadside cannons. These are alternate rounds which are amazing at dealing a ton of damage at close-to-mid range.
However, try not to use them if the enemy ship is far away. It is not at all effective, so switch to the heavy shots, as they deal more damage from a distance.
However, your goal will be to constantly close the gap, switch to fire rounds, and unleash the cannons on the enemy. This will create a lot of weak points, which you can then focus down with the Swivel Gun.
If you are playing Naval Combat on Normal or Hard, then you will want to master the brace mechanic as well. During incoming fire, by tapping and holding Square, your crew will be able to perform a brace, which will significantly reduce the damage of an incoming attack.
The brace feature gets even more effective once you unlock Lucy Baldwin as your shipwright.
This mechanic is key for taking on the more challenging encounters like the Forts, Man-O-Wars, and finally the Legendary Ships.
You will need to take down Forts to unlock fleet missions in that area. You will then need to capture ships like the Frigates and the Man-O-Wars so that you will be able to send these out on said missions, as these are some of the best ways of passively earning coin and resources.
Once you perfect your brace timings, no ship will be able to take you down, and your Jacksaw will be a menace to deal with in the high seas.
However, it’s best not to go around challenging every Frigate you meet in the early game. This is because you are yet to have some proper upgrades done to your ship, and Frigates in the early game hit hard.
So stick to Brigs and Schooners till you accumulate enough resources to get a lot of the defensive and offensive upgrades going.
Finally, make sure to get the schematics for the final upgrades to your Jackdaw. Legendary ships are no pushovers, and they are going to sink you in the blink of an eye if you are not challenging them with maxed-out stats.
