Ship Basics Guide

Introduction

There are lots of different types of ships in Black Desert Online. Mid-tier ships can have ship skills and also have their own ship UI and uses other than just transportation. Lower-tier/older ships, such as the row boat and fishing boat, are destroyed when they run out of durability, whilst higher grade ships are permanent, and can be repaired at a Wharf Manager if they are destroyed in combat.

Ships allow the player to travel through the rivers and oceans of BDO independently, without the need of an NPC ferry. Lower-tiered ships can be acquired by buying them from the Central Market or crafting them. But higher tier ships must be crafted by the player themself, and as the ships get larger, more materials and effort are required to construct them.

List of Ships

Ship UI

All ships also have the ship UI below when you board them:

Board/Disembark Function

As well as using the Ship UI to call or move to your ship wheel, the Board/Disembark function allows you to move between the dock and your ship wheel by pressing a button on the UI. You can use the “Board” button while stood near the wharf manager to automatically move you to the ship, then press the “Board” button again to move onto the wheel.

You can also use the “Disembark” button to move to the wharf manager from your ship, allowing easier movement for bartering and other sailing content.

Wind Speed and Direction

The wind direction and speed can change at any time and becomes stronger the further out at sea you are. The wind icon will change color depending on its strength.

On mid-tier ships, you can raise (fold) or lower (unfold) the sails. If the wind direction is facing upwards, then you will gain speed by unfolding the sails, and if the wind direction is facing downwards, then you can fold your fails to not be affected by the wind.

Ship Rations and Emergency Rations

Ship Rations are consumed when the boat is moving and will drain quickly when you use your ship skills or when you use island interactions. When you run out of ship rations, your boat will move much slower and may not even move at all if you are going against the wind/current. You are also unable to use ship skills if you run out of rations.

To restore your ship rations, you need to go to a wharf manager and refuel the ship. You can also get your ship crew to gather supplies from islands for the chance to restore a small number of your ship rations.

Ship Durability and Repair Items

Your ship durability is the red HP bar on the ship UI and is reduced when the ship takes damage from sea monsters/other ships, crashing into obstacles, or successfully hitting a target with the Ram ship skill.

When the ship reaches 0% durability, it is destroyed and you must return to a Wharf Manager to remote collect the ship.

You can repair your ship durability at a wharf manager by using the “Repair Damage” option when the ship is checked into the wharf.

If you are at sea, you can emergency repair the ship using the following items:

To repair the ship, interact with the mast while the repair item is in your character inventory.

Cannons and Cannonball Supply

Mid-tier ships, such as the Improved Epheria ships or higher, can no longer be mounted by a player and are instead controlled by the player at the wheel of the ship.

The cannons are controlled using LMB and RMB. LMB will fire all the cannons on the left side of your ship, and RMB will fire all the cannons on your right side. So if your ship has 4 cannons on each side, you will fire all 4 cannons on that side and use a total of 4 cannon balls. The cooldown for your cannons is seperate so you can fire both sides at the same time by pressing LMB+RMB.

On the mid-tier or higher ships, you also gain access to the new FocusFire skill which allows you to enter a different view and can help you with aiming your cannons.

• Enter FocusFire mode by pressing Q (for left-side cannons) or E (for right-side cannons)
• Use your mouse position to change the range you would like to fire the cannonball

Higher tier ships will automatically store a certain amount of cannon balls when you refuel them at a wharf manager (300 for Epheria Caravel, 600 for Epheria Galleass). This means you do not need to buy cannonballs for your ship, but if you run out of cannonballs you will need to go back to the wharf manager to restock or use Emergency Cannonball Supply items.

To use Cannonball Supply items, make sure the item is in your character inventory then press P to open your ship information. Use the (+) button next to cannonball capacity to use the supply items.

Gear and Inventory Management

Equipment and your ship inventory can not be used when you are out in the ocean. This means you will not be able to store items directly in your ship inventory and you must instead go to a wharf manager to deposit/withdraw items or ship gear from your boat. Use the “Load Cargo” option at the Wharf Manager to move to/from your ship.

However, you can move items directly from your town storage into your ship (if you are at a wharf manager in a town).

Transporting your Ship

If your ship is docked at another island, you can transport it to a different location by talking to a Wharf Manager.

• Transporting a ship costs 1,000,000 silver and takes 10 minutes

Use the “Transport Mount” button in the bottom left, then select a dock and the ship you would like to transport. This will move the ship to your current location.

You can also transport a ship from your current location, to another dock. This is done by selecting the ship at the Wharf Manager and using the “Transport” button from the drop down options. You can then select which wharf you would like the ship to be moved to.

While the ship is being transported, the text “Transporting” appears on the Mount status window. On the right, you can also view the time remaining for the transport to complete.

Ship Skills

Ship skills are only available on certain ships. You will need a certain level of sailing skill to use special skills. Skills also use up your ship’s power stat.

Currently, the fastest way to level your sailing lifeskill is by completing the sailing daily quests. You can also gain a small amount of EXP when sailing your ship.

There are Silver Embroidered Sailor’s Clothes which will give you higher sailing EXP and can be enhanced for a higher EXP gain. You can also use other lifeskill buffs to increase your sailing EXP.

Sailors and Crew Management

Crew members are used on ships to perform certain actions such as pillaging for resources on an island or for the bartering lifeskill. Each crew member has their own level and stats and can be leveled up by killing sea monsters to increase their stats. Crew members can go up to a maximum of level 10 and can gain exp by killing sea monsters.

Hiring Crew Members

To begin hiring crew members, you must first complete the “[The Great Expedition] Oquilla’s Eye” questline from your Black Spirit which will introduce you to bartering. The questline will give you a free crew member and also give increase your sailor slots.

Once you’ve completed the questline, you will need to buy a crew member contract. This costs 3 million silver and can be bought from the innkeeper Islin Bartali in Velia, from Philaberto Falasi in Port Epheria, or Criox at Velia docks.

You must then find a sailor to hire. Sailors are found in these locations:

• Velia – inside the Inn around the tables
• Port Epheria –  along the beach near the whale
• Iliya Island –  along the harbor and up the road

Interact with the sailor and use the “Hire Sailor” option to attempt to hire the sailor. If you fail, the contract is consumed and the sailor will walk away from you. You cannot attempt to hire the same sailor for a certain period of time (1 day or more). If you are successful, the sailor will now join your crew and can be assigned to a ship at the wharf manager.

Additional Sailor Slots

To gain more sailor slots after completing the questline, you will need to buy the “Captain’s Medallion” item from the pearl store:

• Pearl Store (F3) > Function > Captain’s Medallion – 500 pearls each (maximum of 14 purchases)

You can have a maximum of 50 sailor slots.

You can also obtain a quest from the Shipyard Director Chulong in Nampo Moodle Village, which will reward you with Sailor’s Oath x3, granting you 3 more permanent sailor slots.

• This quest can only be accepted and completed once per Family.

Quest Name	Quest Acceptance Conditions	Completion Reward
Chulong’s Gift	Completed the quest “”Sailors in Taverns and Inns”” (This quest can be completed while proceeding with the questline in: Suggested – “[The Great Expedition] First Sailboat into Oquilla’s Eye!”)	Sailor’s Oath x3 200 Contribution EXP

Managing your Crew

Some crew members will demand more cabins and this may limit the number of crew members you can have on your ship.

If you run out of Rations on your ship, your crew members will start to lose condition. When a crew member runs out of Condition, they will no longer do any actions on your ship and their stats will no longer apply. They must be fed a new food item called Chowder to recover. Sailors also drop to 0 Condition if you Remote Collect your ship, or if your ship is destroyed.

Sailors can also become sick. To cure a sick Sailor you must use an Elixir of Regeneration, which is made using Simple Alchemy.

Sailor Stats and Types of Sailors

When you hire a sailor you can see the type of sailor on the name tag above their head. Below is a table showing the base stats each type of sailor can have. As the sailor levels up it will gain better stats.

The best sailors you can get for Bartering are the Innocent Sailors.

Credit goes to the Sailing Discord for the image below (click to enlarge):

Ship Sea Crystals

Sea Crystals can be equipped to mid-tier and higher ships, giving your ship a buff to 1 of the 8 possible stats.

There are 4 different grades of Sea Crystals:

When you obtain a Sea Crystal, press RMB on the item to obtain a crystal with one random stat bonus.

The Sea crystal can then be equipped on your ship by right-clicking the item while stood on your ship. Press F5 while standing near the wheel of your ship to open the Ship Information window.