Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is nearly upon us, bringing back the magic of the original while improving, overhauling, and even adding to it in some spectacular ways. It’s a pretty big game with plenty of systems to learn and leverage, whether you’re on land, sea or airborne, blade first, en route to some poor fool’s neck. Fortunately, we have 15 tips and tricks to help you master the ways of the pirating world, starting with…
Advanced Parkour
As smooth as parkour can feel in Resynced, especially with all the modern upgrades, long-time fans will want more control and precision. So head into the Settings and turn on Advanced Parkour. Suddenly, the whole world opens up in terms of parkour opportunities, whether it’s side ejects and back ejects from differing heights, the ability to Parkour Up and Down, and even a Manual Jump. Mastering all this – and the environment – is key to traversal, but it feels so satisfying.
Look and Observe
Eagle Vision returns and still serves the same function as in the original – namely, highlighting enemies, making it easier to track and assassinate them when the situation calls for it. However, Kenway has picked up some new tricks, including the new Observe function from Assassin’s Creed Shadows. Besides tagging enemies, it also highlights different clues and objectives, making it that much easier to get the job done (while also assassinating every jobber in your path).
Disable Alarm Bells
With the number of different stealth, mobility and combat tools available – give it up for the ability to crouch anywhere – it’s always important to remember the basics. Areas like plantations have alarm bells to alert each other when things go wrong, so it’s always ideal to disable them beforehand, thus stopping some random from escalating an already dicey situation.
Fights in Tight Spaces
Parries, takedowns, stagger bars – all that is well and good, but sometimes, you just want to toss some fool. As much as the environment is key for parkour, it’s devastating during combat. For example, an enemy kicked into a wall is subject to a quick takedown. Explosions and sweeps can ground foes before some tactical stabbing. If you’re on a ledge, kick an enemy off and let gravity do the rest, and when outnumbered, funnel them through pathways for those ideal Chain Assassinations.
The Rope Dart
The Rope Dart is a versatile weapon that became available in Sequence 11 of the original – a pretty late time. However, Resynced mixes things up by introducing it in Sequence 3. Why is this important? Because it introduces several ways to open enemies up to attacks, not to mention interrupting them and even pulling any gunmen off high ground. It also allows for distractions, like suspending foes to attract their friends while you sneak by.
The Spyglass
If there’s one thing to take away from sailing the high seas, it’s that you don’t need to attack every single ship. Is it fun? Absolutely, but if you’re seeking out specific upgrades, it’s better ot use the Spyglass. This helpfully marks the different materials each ship is carrying, thus letting you speed up the Jackdaw’s progression.
Always Be Boarding
Fighting other ships and rogue waves while priority targets hound you can make it difficult to board every single vessel. But when the opportunity is available, it’s always worthwhile, since you’ll receive double the rewards. Just make sure to take out the Scouts first to commandeer their muskets and use smoke bombs to take out heavy foes, especially later in the game.
Reach Great Inagua First
We get it – the Caribbean is beautiful, and there’s no shortage of places to explore or side content to take on. But at least hold your horses until you reach Great Inagua and unlock the Hideout later in the story. Not only does it provide access to managing the overhauled fleet, side missions and buildings that can increase maximum passive income and unlock additional slots for said fleet, but you can also take advantage of new facilities like the Treasure Dealer and Fisherman’s Wharf.
Don’t Ignore Templar Hunts
Of course, there’s also that ominous-looking door in the Hideout with a hanging skeleton, which requires multiple keys to unlock. These require completing Templar Hunts, and while they’re a returning activity, there have been a few changes (including better incorporation with the plot). Regardless, it’s worth pursuing each key because they unlock the Templar Armor, granting increased resistance to enemy attacks and more survivability in the process.
New Animus Rifts
For many, Black Flag is as much about the characters – like Blackbeard, James Kidd, and even Kenway himself – as the world, so being able to learn more about them is always a nice touch. And you can do just that courtesy of the new Animus Rifts. There are four, which are completely optional, but they might provide some much-needed narrative closure.
Improving the Jackdaw
As much as plundering other ships will grant resources for upgrading the Jackdaw, you’ll need to partake in several different activities to improve it further. For example, the Heated Shot becomes available after completing the mission “Proper Defenses.” But if you want Heavy Shot and Mortar Bombs, they unlock from the Quartermaster. In the same vein, seizing forts Charlotte and Dry Tortuga can provide Double Shot and Shrapnel. Sample a bit of everything across the Caribbean – it could lead to huge gains.
More Valuable Forts
But if you’re really looking for a priority activity above everything else, it really helps to capture Forts. Besides the above unlocks and usual rewards, they’ll reveal more points of interest across the region, thus highlighting more details. You can also unlock more missions for Kenway’s Fleet, which means even more lucrative opportunities.
Recruit the New Naval Officers
New to Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced are the three Officers – Lucy Baldwin, The Padre, and Tobias “Deadman” Smith – who can join your crew and add new abilities. Lucy’s Perfect Brace further reduces damage taken with the right timing; The Padre’s Ram Dash allows for higher speed ramming; and Deadman lets your broadside weapons unleash another volley in aimed mode. Best of all, they can be recruited without needing to completely wrap up their respective quests (though it doesn’t hurt since you’ll learn more about them).
Dive Anywhere Often
The Diving Bell is still available for some of the existing wrecks, but Resynced now lets you dive anywhere. And while your first thought may be to explore anywhere and everywhere for sunken treasure chests, it also opens up new opportunities for stealth. Instead of sneaking around guards or trying to find the best route to reach a ship as Edward, try diving and getting the drop on them by sea. They won’t see it coming (pun intended).
Customizing the Difficulty
Last but not least, there are three difficulty settings – Forgiving, which is for those who only care about the story; Intended, which is as close as you’re going to get to the original; and Hard, a step up and a real challenge for the legendary seafarers among ye. However, Resynced lets you separately adjust these for combat, stealth, activities and naval combat. Don’t feel like getting bogged down against other ships? Want to push your fighting skills to the limit? Tweak everything to your heart’s content.
