Frigate

Frigate is the stock variant of the Frigate ship class in Windrose. A Frigate is a true ship of war, designed to dominate open waters with heavy broadside firepower, a deep hull, and a large crew. Stock variants are the balanced middle ground of each class: no extreme strengths, no exploitable weaknesses, and the full slate of Hull Bracings, Naval Tactics, and Cannons available to the class. Build one at the Wharf with the Ship Design: Frigate plan, then outfit the four gear slots before putting to sea.

Overview

The stock Frigate trades the Blackbeard variant's speed and the Brethren variant's hit points for a round set of stats that never feels outmatched at its own job. Its 18 cannon slots, 160,000 hit points, and 50-strong crew place it well ahead of the Brig and Ketch in raw combat output, while keeping a 40-slot cargo hold large enough to make late-game trade runs viable between battles. It is typically the first Frigate-class hull a captain builds after clearing the mid-game progression wall, and remains a solid choice for any captain who wants one vessel that can handle patrol, escort, raid, and boarding duty without swapping hulls.

Strategic Role

The stock Frigate is the balanced loadout of the class: neither the fastest raider nor the toughest fortress, but versatile enough to handle escort, trade protection, or first-encounter combat. New captains who just finished the mid-game progression wall typically build a stock Frigate first because every Naval Tactics and Hull Bracings combo the class can mount is available out of the box. Compared to the Blackbeard and Brethren variants, the stock hull is cheaper to insure against total loss, easier to keep afloat in a messy fight, and less punishing to crew if you are still learning broadside cycling.

Against a Brig or Ketch the Frigate wins almost every straight exchange: more hit points to soak volleys, more cannons to return fire, and a large enough crew to make Boarding a realistic finisher if the enemy hull is crippled. The tradeoff is mobility. Smaller classes can disengage, reposition, and dictate wind angles more easily, so a stock Frigate captain who is out of position can get kited by a patient Blackbeard Brig or Ketch running hit-and-run tactics. Staying in a rotating broadside arc with the wind three-quarters off the stern is the Frigate's preferred fight.

Variant Comparison

All three Frigate variants share the same hull silhouette, crew cap, and plan progression, but their stat lines push them into very different playstyles.

Pick the stock Frigate if you want one boat that does every job passably, the Blackbeard Frigate if you plan to rotate aggressively and exploit the twelve 36-pound main battery, and the Brethren Frigate if you prefer a slower, tankier brawler that can take a sustained beating while your crew repairs between salvoes.

Mobility

Each gear step is a separate throttle notch. Speed, turn rate, and turning radius in calm wind are fixed per notch; Hull Bracings choice, hold load, and wind angle still modify the effective output. The reverse notch (Gear -1) is the only negative gear and pulls the hull backward while inverting the turn direction, useful for swinging a blocked broadside back onto a target in a narrow channel.

Full-sail speed peaks at 20.7 knots at Gear 4 with a following wind, but the Frigate's sweet spot for broadside cycling is Gear 3 (12 kn). That notch preserves enough turn rate to rotate the hull between volleys without overshooting the firing arc. Drop to Gear 2 (5.8 kn) when lining up a kill shot at close range, and return to Gear 4 only when closing distance or running from a fight you cannot win.

Build Cost

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

The build consumes eight raw crafting materials plus a stack of 50 Shipwright's Tools. Expect several trips to the foothills and tar pits to stockpile enough Foothills Iron Ingot, Tarred Planks, and Tarred Fabric for the first hull. Most captains chain-craft two or three Frigates back to back once the supply lines are set up, so the incremental cost of a second stock hull drops sharply.

Equipment Loadout

Every Frigate carries four gear slots that you fit at the Wharf interface once the hull is built: a main cannon battery, a secondary cannon battery, a hull bracing, and a naval tactic. A crew equipment slot holds Boarding Party Gear for melee engagements. Combat effectiveness is almost entirely determined by what sits in these slots, so treat the hull itself as a blank canvas and plan the loadout before sinking materials into the build.

Cannon Slots

The Frigate carries a main battery of twelve 24-pound guns and a secondary battery of six 12-pound guns, for eighteen cannons total. Each slot can mount the baseline cannon of its caliber or any of three ascendable variants: Devastating, Perfectly Ordered, and Tempered. Both batteries share the same caliber options as the other Frigate variants, with the exception that only the Blackbeard Frigate can swap main-battery slots up to 36-Pounders. For the stock hull, stick to 24-pound main and 12-pound secondary.

Recommended cannon mix: 24-Pounders: Devastating on the main battery and 12-Pounders: Devastating on the secondary. The Devastating ability inflicts a raked debuff for 25 seconds on any target struck by more than 50% of a volley, adding 10% extra damage taken per stack and stacking up to three times. Running Devastating on both batteries lets you pile the stacks faster than any other combination, and the epic ascension adds reload speed on top. If you prefer a patient, high-burst playstyle, 24-Pounders: Tempered rewards waiting six seconds after reload for a 40% damage bump on the next volley, which pairs well with Ambush openers. 24-Pounders: Perfectly Ordered suits captains who prefer pure sustained-fire uptime, especially on the smaller 12-pound secondary where frequent hits refresh the reload buff.

Hull Slot

The hull slot accepts the baseline Hull bracing or any of three rare-tier ascendable variants. Hull bracing adds defensive modifiers, influences how repair kits behave under fire, and is the single biggest survivability stat on the ship. See Ship Cannon Loadouts for the full bracing reference table.

Recommended bracing: Hull Bracing: Keelhold. In drawn-out Frigate fights you will usually pop multiple repair kits, and Keelhold's guarantee that damage does not cut the heal short (plus 30% extra duration at epic) is worth more than raw damage reduction on a hull this large. Iron Resolve is a strong alternate if you enjoy finishing fights at low HP, and Standfast works for single-burst encounters like raiding merchants.

Naval Tactics Slot

The Naval Tactics slot holds a passive trait that is always active while the ship is crewed. Tactics cannot be upgraded or ascended like cannons or hull bracing; you simply slot the one that matches your mission profile. Stock Frigates can slot any of the five standard tactics.

Recommended tactic: Naval Tactics III: Stretch the Supply. Paired with Keelhold hull bracing, it turns every Combat Repair Kit into a significantly stronger heal, and the Grog duration boost doubles the uptime of crew morale buffs. Ambush is the pick for premeditated first strikes on convoys, Silence the Guns for Frigate-versus-Frigate duels, and No Quarter for fleet patrols where you expect three or more kills per sortie.

Crew Equipment Slot

The crew slot holds Boarding Party Gear, a single uncommon-rarity item that is crafted once at the Shipwright's Workshop and then upgraded through fifteen levels rather than ascended. Higher levels give your fifty-strong crew far better survivability and damage output when you grapple an enemy ship and initiate Boarding. Because the Frigate's large crew makes boarding a realistic finisher for most duels, upgrading boarding gear is a higher priority on a Frigate than on a Ketch.

Recommended Builds

The Frigate can be tuned in three broad directions without changing the hull. Pick the build that matches the job; you can always reequip at the Wharf.

All-Round Patrol Build

• Main battery: 24-Pounders: Devastating × 12

• Secondary battery: 12-Pounders: Devastating × 6

• Hull bracing: Hull Bracing: Keelhold

• Naval tactic: Naval Tactics III: Stretch the Supply

• Crew: Boarding Party Gear at the highest level you can afford

This is the default loadout for a captain who cannot predict the next fight. Devastating on both batteries stacks the raked debuff fast, Keelhold keeps repair kits active under fire, and Stretch the Supply extends both healing and crew buffs through longer engagements.

Burst Ambush Build

• Main battery: 24-Pounders: Tempered × 12

• Secondary battery: 12-Pounders: Tempered × 6

• Hull bracing: Hull Bracing: Standfast

• Naval tactic: Naval Tactics I: Ambush

Built around a massive opening salvo. Ambush adds 130% damage to the first volley after two minutes of peace, Tempered cannons add a further 40% if you hold the trigger six seconds after reload, and Standfast provides a burst-shy cushion if the ambush fails to cripple the target.

Anti-Frigate Duel Build

• Main battery: 24-Pounders: Devastating × 12

• Secondary battery: 12-Pounders: Perfectly Ordered × 6

• Hull bracing: Hull Bracing: Iron Resolve

• Naval tactic: Naval Tactics V: Silence the Guns

For Frigate-versus-Frigate brawls. Silence the Guns cuts the enemy's reload speed and damage by 20% for 30 seconds on every hit, Devastating main battery layers raked stacks, Perfectly Ordered 12-pounders keep reload speed high from frequent small hits, and Iron Resolve scales damage resistance as the fight grinds your hull below 30% health.

Sailing Tips

A Frigate lives or dies by broadside cycling. The hull is too large to out-turn a Brig or Ketch at close range, so the goal is to force the enemy to cross your firing arcs while you rotate out of theirs. Keep the wind three-quarters off the stern when possible; a true beam reach is fastest but pushes your turn circle wide, and running directly downwind gives up the turn rate that broadside trading needs.

• Do not sail in a straight line under fire. Stock Frigate speed peaks at Gear 4, but sailing in a straight line while an enemy maneuvers hands them a free volley. Drop to Gear 3 and start turning the moment incoming shots start landing.

• Manage hold load. The 40-slot cargo is useful, but a fully loaded hull accelerates slower and turns slower. Dump heavy low-value cargo before engaging a fleet.

• Pre-load both batteries before the opening volley. The secondary 12-pounders reload faster than the mains and can stagger the raked stacks so they overlap rather than refresh.

• Aim for the hull, not the sails, in most fights. Damage kills ships; sails matter only if the target is trying to flee. Against a Blackbeard hull you usually want to kill the ship in the first three volleys, not chase it.

• Pop Combat Repair Kit under fire; save a long-duration Repair Kit for after the fight. Combat Repair Kits restore 30% over ten seconds and keep ticking through incoming hits (especially with Keelhold). Long Repair Kits restore more overall but any stray cannonball interrupts the two-minute heal.

Restoration and Loss Recovery

A Frigate's restoration cost is listed as High, which translates to a meaningful material tax whenever the hull takes heavy structural damage or sinks outright. In-field repairs on foot require Wooden Plank, Nails, fabric, and Rope in stacks that scale up sharply from what a Ketch or Brig needs. If the hull sinks entirely, you respawn it at the Wharf for a lump-sum wood cost and trigger another set of consumables. Keep a reserve stockpile at your home port before taking a fresh Frigate into contested waters; losing one without a spare set of materials can stall a playthrough for hours.

Restoration time scales with damage state, not just cost. A Frigate at 10% hull will sit in the Wharf queue longer than a Brig at the same percentage, so even a shortage of Combat Repair Kits during a fight can compound into downtime afterward. Always dock with at least 30% hull health remaining if you want to turn around a second sortie the same play session.

How to Unlock

The Frigate plan is a late-game acquisition tied to faction reputation. To buy Ship Design: Frigate you must reach the required reputation level with the Brethren of the Coast faction in Tortuga, then purchase the plan from the faction vendor using Piastres. Players typically reach this point only after clearing most mid-game content, so expect to run a stock Brig or Blackbeard Brig on the approach. Reputation is earned through faction-aligned contracts, fleet engagements, and trade missions; plan your grind before you start the brig-to-frigate transition so the cost does not stall a progression night.

Once the plan is learned, any Wharf of sufficient level can build the hull. Build a stock Frigate before chasing the Blackbeard or Brethren variants; the stock hull is cheaper to insure against loss and lets you practice broadside cycling without the Blackbeard's fragile 110,000-HP pool or the Brethren's 16-knot top speed punishing small mistakes.

See Also

• Ships: the top-level Windrose ship index.

• Blackbeard Frigate: fast, 36-pound-capable variant.

• Brethren Frigate: 200,000-HP tank variant.

• Brig: mid-tier class below the Frigate.

• Ketch: light class for raiders and traders.

• Wharf: where ships are built, rigged, and repaired.

• Naval Combat: the broader naval combat system.

• Ship Customization: the four-slot gear system that decides combat output.

• Ship Cannon Loadouts: full cannon and bracing reference tables.

• Boarding: crew-versus-crew boarding actions.

Details

Properties

Build Cost

Taught By

Variants

A complete list of Frigate variants in Windrose is shown below, with thumbnail, build cost, and comfort bonus for each entry. Click any name to open its dedicated page.