Skull and Bones received a major update with the release of version 1.3 on March 19th. In this guide, we’ll delve into the patch notes for Skull and Bones, which encompass various improvements and fixes. Many of these changes have been long-awaited by players since the game’s initial release.

The patch notes for Skull and Bones cover a wide range of aspects, including general gameplay adjustments, contract modifications, bug fixes, and enhancements to PvP mechanics. It’s anticipated that players will appreciate the additions and refinements introduced in update 1.3.

Voice & Text Chat

In this update, Season 1 has been extended by a week, now totaling 13 weeks instead of 12. Voice and text chat features, including group voice chat, group text chat, and World text chat, have been re-enabled.

Gear Adjustments

Following gear score adjustments, efforts have been made to facilitate reaching ship rank 12 with diverse builds. While not delving into exhaustive detail, key changes include increasing the gear score of Scurlock’s Long Nines and Rahma's Legacy from 110 to 120. Consequently, a series of alterations to the gear score have been implemented, coupled with a reduction in the threshold to reach ship rank 12 from 1670 to 1630.

Open-World PvP

The recent addition of open-world PvP provides players with a fresh avenue for engaging in PvP outside of traditional event modes. By raising their PvP flag on the set sails screen before departing from outposts and Dens, players can choose to opt in or out of open-world PvP. Enabling the PvP flag allows players to engage in combat with others who also have their flag raised, excluding PvP-based activities.

In open-world PvP, players with their PvP flag enabled and a current kill streak are identified by a red skull icon beside their profile names. Friendly fire is enabled, meaning that hitting a group mate with PvP enabled will damage them, but players with their PvP flag off cannot deal damage to those with it on, and vice versa. However, in PvP activities like the Cutthroat Cargo, PvP is automatically enabled by all players.

Despite ship rank being disregarded during open-world PvP combat, developers have fine-tuned mechanics based on player feedback and data gathered from activities. Matchmaking criteria have been updated to consider players' last selected PvP flag preference, ensuring players with similar inclinations are matched together. Adjustments have been made to PvP damage and repair mechanics, with UI feedback indicating when a player target cannot be repaired by another player.

Combat Gameplay

In terms of gameplay updates for combat, several adjustments have been made. The visual clarity of the rocket aiming reticle has been improved to enhance player accuracy. The duration of the torn sails effects for the Brigantine Bullhorn perk has been significantly reduced, from an 80% reduction down to 40%, marking a substantial nerf.

However, the duration of Torn Sails for players has been increased to 10 seconds, accompanied by a boost in the slow multiplier from 0.5 to 0.66 seconds, potentially altering combat dynamics.

UI Improvements

They’ve made various UI improvements, such as activity invitations will no longer be shown when players are already in an existing activity. They’ve also added settings for hiding HUD elements, including quick action wheel widget, interaction prompt, stamina gauge, hostility indicator, and all the HUD. So, you can completely turn your HUD off.

Activities & Events

When it comes to activities and events, Cutthroat Cargo previously stood as one of the primary avenues through which players engaged in PvP activities. Accordingly, it was tailored to serve as an accessible PvP game mode. However, with the advent of open-world PvP, adjustments have been made to Cutthroat Cargo to maintain its integrity.

Participants can only opt into the activity during the pre-activity countdown period, with no option to join once it has begun. Fast travel is disabled during the active phase of the activity. As a result, if a player joins Cutthroat Cargo in its final moments without sufficient time to fast travel closer to the map, it provides an unimpeded voyage to the outpost for existing participants.

The destination outpost is now only visible to participants. Notably, the speed debuff for the Cutthroat Cargo carrier has been removed. Initially implemented to limit the Brigantine's speed to 14 knots, it has since been rescinded, allowing all ships to travel at their maximum speed. Similarly, the speed debuff preceding the carrier in Helm Wager has been eliminated, restoring the ability to achieve 18 knots in a Brigantine.

Inventory & Trading

In terms of inventory and trading, several enhancements have been introduced. The default open behavior for silver pouches and chests has been modified to open all pouches and chests in the stack. This change alleviates the inconvenience of having to open them one by one, especially when dealing with multiple chests.

Adjustments have been made to outpost vendors' store inventories to ensure persistence across different servers and platforms. This change prevents players from exploiting server switching to access varying inventories and commodities.

A new feature has been added, allowing players to cycle through inventory while in NPC shops. This functionality enables players to seamlessly buy and sell items directly from their warehouse, streamlining the trading process and enhancing overall convenience.