Blackbeard Ketch

Blackbeard Ketch is a blackbeard variant of the Ketch ship class in Windrose. A ketch is one of the most common ships in the Caribbean, valued for its reliability and simplicity. Blackbeard ships are natural-born raiders. They sacrifice armor and cargo hold space, but make up for it with speed and the ability to mount larger-caliber guns. However, the durability of their hulls leaves much to be desired. Build one at the Wharf with the right Ship Design plan, then outfit the cannon, hull, naval tactics, and boarding party slots before setting sail.

Overview

Strategic Role

The Blackbeard Ketch trades hull durability and cargo capacity for speed and heavier guns. Boards faster, runs faster, survives less. Favored by pure PvP raiders who plan to overwhelm targets before the target can close range. Pair with high-damage cannons like the Tempered or Devastating line and stay out of 2v1 broadsides.

Mobility

The hull shape is shared with the stock Ketch, so turn rate and turning radius are similar to the stock class, while the variant's Max Speed is listed in the Overview above and may cap below the stock class' Gear 4 reading. Hull bracing, hold load, and wind angle still apply on top of the baseline values below.

See the Overview for this variant's Max Speed. The gear-by-gear breakdown is listed on the parent class article and applies subject to the variant's specific Max Speed cap (some variants top out below the parent's Gear 4 reading).

Build Cost

Construct Blackbeard Ketch at the Wharf after learning Ship Design: Ketch. The following materials are consumed when the keel is laid:

Equipment Loadout

Each Ketch carries dedicated slots for ship cannons, hull bracings, naval tactics, and crew equipment. The following items can be mounted on Blackbeard Ketch at the Wharf interface once the hull is built.

Cannon Slot

Blackbeard Ketch carries a main battery of 3 guns at 12 or 24 lbs (no secondary battery on this hull class). Each slot can mount the baseline cannon of its caliber or any of the three ascendable variants (Devastating, Perfectly Ordered, Tempered). See Ship Cannon Loadouts for each variant's exact Rare and Epic effect, and Shipwright's Workshop for the crafting interface.

Hull Slot

The Hull Slot accepts the baseline Hull Bracing or any of three Rare-tier ascendable variants: Hull Bracing: Iron Resolve (fortified HP), Hull Bracing: Keelhold (repair-kit duration unaffected by damage), and Hull Bracing: Standfast (cheap-material tradeoff). See Ship Cannon Loadouts for the full bracing table.

Naval Tactics Slot

Crew Equipment Slot

How to Unlock

To build Blackbeard Ketch you must first own the Ship Design: Ketch plan. Ship des plans are typically rewarded through faction reputation quests, purchased from Provisioners at matching reputation rank, or dropped by named ships during fleet engagements.

See Also

• ShipsThe top-level Windrose ship index

• WharfWhere ships are built and rigged

• Naval CombatThe broader naval combat system

• BoardingCrew-vs-crew boarding actions

• KetchThe stock Ketch variant

• Brethren KetchThe brethren Ketch variant

Details

Properties

Build Cost

Taught By