Y3S2 PATCH NOTES: CRIMSON WATERS

Y3S2: CRIMSON WATERS

Something stirs from beyond the barrier.
It comes. It seeks. Heralding a new tide.
And with it, the skies bleed crimson, reflected on waters as of yet undisturbed.
Do not quake in the face of this new threat. Loose the sails and stand strong: let not dread guide your path.
Are you ready, Captain?

HIGHLIGHTS

New Large Ship: Junk

Perk: Infernal Embers

Weapon hits on target enemies apply one stack of Ember, up to 20 stacks for 5 seconds, which decays one by one.

• Ember decreases Armor Rating by 2% and Fire Resistance by 2% per stack. Gain a stack of Inferno when hitting an enemy with max Ember stacks, up to 10 stacks, which lasts 5 seconds.

• Inferno decreases Reload Time by 0.5% and increases Weapon Damage by 3% per stack. Allied XSML, SML and MED ships within 500 meters gains half of the bonus provided by Inferno.

Upgraded Perk: Infernal Skies

• On attaining max stacks of Inferno, the next weapon hit on an enemy target will trigger a fiery explosion dealing 200% of your Weapon Damage as Fire damage. The effect has a 20 second cooldown.

New Challenges

World Tier Content and Updates  

Abyssal Fleet

A new enemy faction, The Abyssal Fleet, has invaded the Indian Ocean. It can be encountered predominantly on World Tier 4.

Featuring challenging enemies equipped with Armored Weakpoints, the Fleet is made all the more deadlier with proficiency in impacting your ship's ability to repair in combat.

Be prepared, Captain. These challenging fights will take time and require you to pay attention to incoming reinforcements – lest you be overwhelmed and quickly outnumbered.

Heralds of the Abyss World Event

A new World Event is available in World Tier 4. It can be started from its buoy on the map.

Trigger this event at your own risk and defend yourself against waves of invading Abyssal Fleet ships.

Those waves will culminate in a showdown against the new Abyssal Herald elite warship. Capable of a wide range of attacks, you must be vigilant and respond to them quickly to stay alive. Captains with a keen aim will be able to target vital weakpoints to assist them in taking down this new threat.

Abyssal Fleet Content Rewards

Abyssal Essence can be obtained from the Abyssal Fleet and can be used in mod transfers or at Blackwood for additional rewards, such as cosmetics, Adept Modded Weapons, and the craneless Barque skin: Crown of Ruin.

Alongside this, defeating Heralds of the Abyss provides a chance to obtain Adept Modded Weapons and Mythic Exclusive Mods. These particular mods are not obtainable from the Blacksmith via the regular methods.

This season’s available weapon categories of Mythic Exclusive Mods are: Culverins, Demicannons, Long Guns and Ballistas. Additional weapon types will be added in the future.

Quality Of Life Changes

Modification Transfer

A new service is available at the Blacksmith: Modification Transfer.

This feature allows for the transfer of Modifications between different equipment of the same kind. Singular or multiple Modifications can be transferred from a Source item to a Target item provided there is a valid slot unlocked.

Once the modifications have been transferred, the source weapon will be destroyed in the process.

Transferring Modifications will require a new material, Ascension Flux. This material can be obtained from salvaging Ascended items.

Seasonal Mastery Loadout

Seasonal Mastery Loadouts are now available, enabling players to save multiple Mastery Node and Perk allocations to switch between them seamlessly.

Mastery Loadouts can be set or changed in the Ship Loadout menu for ease of use when changing ships.

• Players can now save up to 10 Mastery Skill Tree Loadouts.

• Loadouts can be edited and saved directly from the Mastery Tree UI.

• Mastery Loadouts can be saved per ship, allowing players to swap ships without having to manually rebuild their tree each time.

Ship Details Overview

A new Ship Details screen has been added giving players a complete overview of their ship's stats, consolidating all sources in one place: Ship, Weapons & Armor, Furniture, and Mastery Tree.

This screen is accessible from both Ship Loadout and My Fleet.

Sort & Filter

• Further improvements to sorting and filtering across menus will be available:

• A Sort Order button has been added, allowing players to easily switch between Ascending and Descending order in the item list.

• Filter options are now grouped into clear categories for easier browsing.

• A Reset Filter button has been added to quickly clear all selected filters at once. The tick/untick icons have been updated to better reflect a "Multiple Choice" selection style.

The Sort & Filter panel for the Warehouse Inventory has been moved to the left side of the screen, so it no longer overlaps and obscures the item list behind it.

Fleet Improvements

• Updated the Change Ship UI with a more visual representation of each ship.

• Addition of Fleet Categories for better navigation.

Rewards Distribution Changes

• Daily logins will now be available for the whole season.

• Blackwood stocks have been updated to include Y3S1 equipment from Faction War and Smuggler Pass.

• Galleon blueprint can now be purchased from Blackwood.

• Blackwood now has an Abyss tab to purchase new Adept Mod weapons.

• Time Limited Event vendors (Halloween and Darktide Lullaby) now also include new Adept weapons with Ascended Weapon Chest.

Aura Action Wheel

• Added the ability to manually trigger the Ship Aura effects via the Action Wheel

What’s New

Seasonal Mastery Improvements

Year 3 Season 2 introduces a refreshed Seasonal Mastery Tree, featuring new Seasonal Perks, Major Skills and minor adjustments in the skill tree layout.

New Mastery Mechanic: Impetus

• This seasons’ Perks revolve around a new mechanic called “Impetus”

• Impetus is a combat resource that is acquired through utilizing the new Seasonal Perks and is likewise consumed to gain buffs and trigger powerful effects in other Seasonal Perks.

Sample Perk Build:

• [Level 10 Perk] Relentless Force: Generate 1 stack of Impetus (max 10) for every 8 weapon hits on enemies. Demicannons require 4 times as many hits. Generating Impetus increases Weapon Damage and Repair Amount by 15% for 5 seconds.

• [Level 30 Perk] Weakness Finder: Generating Impetus adds a 20% chance to convert any weapon shot into a weakpoint hit for 5 seconds.

• [Level 50 Perk] Firepower Order: When at 10 stacks of Impetus, fire an Auxiliary Weapon to consume 10 stacks and convert all weapon hits to weakpoint hits for 8 seconds.

Mastery Rebalancing:

The Mastery level requirement for the Tier 3 Seasonal Perk has been reduced to level 50 (previously level 60).

Although the raw Infamy requirements per level have been increased, this is balanced alongside a larger adjustment in Infamy gain across the World Tiers (see section “World Tier Infamy Rebalance” below). Overall, this adjustment achieves a steadier levelling pace at the early Mastery Levels, while also reducing the steep climb in infamy requirements at the later levels.

Seasonal Point Reset Recovery:

Returning players from previous seasons will earn a head start on Mastery Points at the beginning of a new season, based on their final progress in the prior season, accelerating their journey toward Mastery 80:

• Previously Level 60 > Start at Level 5 next season

• Previously Level 70 > Start at Level 10 next season

• Previously Level 80 > Start at Level 15 next season

Seasonal Affixes Refresh

With the introduction of a new Season, Seasonal Affixes have been refreshed, introducing 4 new Affixes and 1 returning Affix.

Balance Changes

Seasonal Journey

A new Seasonal Journey is available and will cover new content such as the Junk Ship Trial and this season’s quests.

New to this Season will be additional Mastery Point rewards on the Journey. Coupled with Mastery Levels, Captains can reach a total of 90 Mastery Points to use.

Weapons / Status Effects

Demi-Cannons

• Increased weapon damage when fired within 100m range.

• Weapon damage falloff now starts at 120m and beyond.

🛠 Dev Note: This is part 1 of an effort to align Demi-Cannons closer to shotguns. Part 2 will look at reload time and damage adjustments, with the long-term goal of enabling distinct Demi-Cannon variations, not just perk-wise, but also in handling, range, etc.

Agni's Fury

Fixed Agni's Fury to use actual projectiles for hit detection (previously used ray cast, causing visible desync on hits).

• Magazine size increased from 30 → 90.

• Damage per shot reduced from 619 → 206.

• Reload time reduced from 1s → 0.333s.

🛠 Dev Note: An overall balance pass following the hit detection fix, adjusting magazine size, damage per shot, and reload time accordingly.

Furniture

• Caustic Spall Station (Minor/Epic)

  Projectile speed bonus scaling cap for Flooding damage reduced from 30% → 15%. All other effects are unchanged.

🛠 Dev Note: Caustic Spall Station is overperforming. The bonus cap has been nerfed from 30% to 15%.

• Gimbal Ring Stores (Major/Epic) Replaced "Hitting a target over 180m away increases Demi Cannon damage by 17% for 12s" with: For every Demi-Cannon weapon equipped, increase weapon damage of equipped weapons by 5%. Projectile speed and Maximum Range bonuses for Demi-Cannon weapons unchanged.

🛠 Dev Note: Adjusted to align with the Demi-Cannons’ adjustment.

Ship Perks

• Frigate – Grit Armor gained per Grit stack increased from 40 → 50 (up to 10 stacks).

🛠 Dev Note: The Frigate currently lacks offensive modifiers but has the highest Hull health and Brace strength among all ships. This change further improves durability and allows more flexibility to invest Seasonal Mastery points into offensive nodes.

• Frigate – Resolve Brace Strength restored on activation increased from 10% → 20%.

• Schooner – Fury Chance to trigger Fury on self increased from 20% → 30%. Broadside Weapon Damage boost while Fury is active increased from 20% → 30%.

🛠 Dev Note: Fury's proc-based design felt like it needed a buff to land with more impact.

World Tier Infamy Rebalance

Infamy gain across the world tiers has been rebalanced to offer greater value to players who step up to the challenges of later world tiers, with various content types being adjusted differently to more accurately represent the challenge they pose:

Job Board Changes

The Job Board has been overhauled in Y3S2.

Seasonal Job Board contracts are no longer tracked through the Journal. Instead, The Job Board now runs on a dedicated cycle of daily and weekly Smuggler Pass challenges, giving you a steady stream of objectives to chase and rewards such as Smuggler Points, Guildmarks and Deep Iron throughout the season.

To get started, an Infamy quest “Hired Help” will be available at the start of the season in the Journal. This quest will direct you to the Job Board in Sainte-Anne and Telok Penjarah.

Contract Tiers & Rewards

Contracts come in three tiers of difficulty, each carrying their own share of Smuggler Points and Guildmarks:

• Easy : 150 Smuggler Points

• Medium : 300 Smuggler Points & 100 Guildmarks

• Hard : 1200 to 2000 Smuggler Points

The challenge pool is designed to encourage you to engage with the full breadth of the Indian Ocean's dangers.

Moonshine & Honorless

Challenges tied to Moonshine and Honorless events will also be accessible directly through the Job Board this season.

Smuggler Pass Highlights

Milestone Rewards:

The Junk blueprint will be available in the Milestone rewards, available in the Smuggler Pass UI.

The Milestone Rewards also feature a Ship Upgrade Material Bundle, which has materials specifically suited for upgrading the Junk at 6/7. Other Bundles for alternative Upgrade Levels are offered throughout the Smuggler Pass tracks.

The new pet tiger Miso will also be unlockable through the Milestone rewards track.

Track Rewards:

QUARTERMASTER:

New Armor: Pyroclasm (Epic Fire Berserker)

A new Armor,  Pyroclasm, is available in the Quartermaster track along with Junk Upgrade Bundle which offers resources to upgrade Junk to level 2.

[Perk] Stoked Inferno: Bracing hits from Ablaze targets builds a Burning explosion dealing 10% of Brace Health as Burning damage in a 150m radius. Each braced hit increases this by 10%, up to 70%. The explosion triggers when Bracing is released.

Additionally, Ascension Flux will also be available as rewards within the Quartermaster track as well as Shipmaster.

GUNNERMASTER

New Weapon: Scorch Song (Epic Burning Explosive Culverin)

A new weapon, Scorch Song, is available in the Gunnermaster Track.

[Perk] Ignition: Trigger an explosion when the target is either Ablaze or Shell-shocked. Ignition’s explosion deals 1000 Explosive Damage and an additional 20% Weapon Damage as Explosive Damage per hit. Consecutive shots increase this bonus up to 500%. This effect cannot trigger again for 30 seconds.

[Perk] Burning II: Adds 20% Damage as Burning Damage

[Perk] Combustion II: Adds 10% of damage as Explosive Damage.

SHIPMASTER:

New Major Furniture: Hellshot Smithy (Epic)

A new Furniture,  Hellshot Smithy, is available in the Shipmaster track. Additionally Upgrade Bundles with resources to upgrade the Junk ship to level 4 and 5 are available in the track as well.

Primary: Dealing at least 2000 Burning damage in a single hit to a target applies the Charred status effect to them for 30s. While charred, targets receive 30% more Burning damage and increase the Torn Sails status charge received by 15%. Charred targets that are also Ablaze will build Charred status on other targets within 150m.

Secondary: 10% of the Burning damage dealt to a target which is Ablaze is also dealt to other enemy ships within 150m.

Additional Y3S2 Rewards

• New Weapon: Drowning Hellion (Epic Flooding Demicannon)

• Requiem Of The Lost Reward

[Perk] Sea’s Fury: Each volley has a 15% chance of dealing 100% Flooding damage as Severe Damage. Every 5 hits increase this chance by 15%, up to 75%. If the target is Flooded, deal 200% Flooding Damage as Severe Damage instead.

[Perk] Flooding II: Adds 20% Damage as Flooding Damage.

• New Weapon: Hellfire (Epic Burning Rocket)

• Faction War Reward

[Perk] Burning Artillery: Fires a volley of 15 heavy rockets instead of many smaller rockets. Reduce target's Fire Resistance by 1% per hit up to 20% if the target is Ablaze, lasting for the duration of the status.

[Perk] Burning III: Adds 30% Damage as Burning Damage.

• New Weapon: Claws of the Deep (Epic Flooding Ballista)

• Faction War Reward

[Perk] Sinking Bolt: This weapon can be charged up to pierce through enemies, dealing damage as it pierces. Hits on a target have a 10% chance to instantly apply Flooded status to them. Flooded targets take 3% more weapon damage per hit up to 12%** from this weapon.

[Perk] Flooding III: Adds 30% Damage as Flooding Damage.

[Perk] Piercing I: Adds 10% Damage as Piercing Damage

• New Weapon: Drakon’s Jaws (Epic Burning Flooding Torpedo)

• Darktide Lullaby Reward

[Perk] Burning Thirst: Trigger an explosion when the target is either Ablaze or Flooded. Burning Thirst's explosion deals 1000 Flooding damage and an additional 20% weapon damage as Flooding damage per hit. Consecutive hits increase this bonus up to 500%. This effect cannot trigger again for 30 seconds.

[Perk] Burning II: Adds 20% Damage as Burning Damage.

Flooding I: Adds 10% Damage as Flooding Damage.

Arming: Increases damage from torpedoes by 150% when target is beyond 85m.

• New Major Furniture: St. Elmo’s Chains (Epic)

• Faction War Reward

Primary: Dealing Electric damage to Flooded targets also deals 50% of the  Electric damage to other nearby targets within 150m.

Secondary: Deal 50% more Electric damage to Flooded targets.

Tertiary: Increase the duration of the Flooded status on targets by 10%.

New Items at Blackwood

• New Weapon: Anathema (Epic Poison Bombard)

[Perk] Rotting Ammo: For every 50m away the target is, deal 10% more Toxic damage up to 100%. If target receives 5000 Toxic damage while poisoned, trigger a Toxic explosion dealing 40% of the weapon's damage as Toxic damage to enemies within 150m. This effect has a cooldown of 60 seconds.

[Perk] Toxic III: Adds 30% Damage as Toxic Damage.

• New Armor: Le Drac (Epic Flooding Explosive Armor)

[Perk] Floodstrike: Bracing hits from Flooded targets primes an explosion, dealing 10% of Brace Health as Explosive damage. Each braced hit increases this primed Explosive damage by 10%, up to 70%, for 30s. Ram a target to detonate.

• New Major Furniture: Infernal Artificer’s Bench (Epic)

Primary: 60% of Explosive damage dealt to a target with Shell-shocked is dealt as Burning damage. 40% of the Burning damage dealt to a target with Ablaze is dealt as Explosive damage.

Secondary: Increase Shell-Shocked and Ablaze charge rate by 10%.

Premium and Deluxe Edition Update

With Year 3 Season 2, we're updating the offerings for the Deluxe and Premium Editions of the game:

For the launch of Crimson Waters on 18th August, Ubisoft+ subscription benefits for Skull and Bones are being refreshed to align with Year 3 offerings.

Added:

• Legendary Kingpin Boost (Deluxe & Premium)

• Blacktorch Epic Brigantine Skin (Premium)

• Blacktorch Weapon Skin Bundle (Premium)

Removed:

• Investigation Mission Pack (now free in-game for all players)

• Year 1 Premium Bonus Pack

• Year 2 Deluxe & Premium cosmetics (Grand Game Collection still available via the in-game rotating store).

Unchanged:

• Base game access, digital collectibles (artbook + soundtrack).

Vanity

Valhalla’s Call/Doctrine of Faith

Silvered silk sails sing a requiem across the wind, and gold angels offer absolution to terrified crews about to meet their deaths. Each carving drips with the gilded greed and excess of empire - and of the ruthless rogue that claimed her own.

Serve no sword but your own. Devastate your enemies, plunder the seven seas, and strike hard, draped in glory, with the Valkyrs, a Barque-exclusive cosmetic skin, and the Doctrine of Faith character costume.

Dreadtide Set

The sea armors those it cannot drown.

Claim your dominion over the depths in the Dreadtide Set.

Time Limited Events

 Lover’s Festival

  Week 1 – Week 4

Darktide Lullaby

Week 1 – Week 4

New Elite Boss

Week 5 - Week 8

Assassins Creed Black Flag Resynced Cosmetic Event

  Week 5 – Week 7

Requiem of the Lost

Week 8 – Week 11

Ship Campaign

Two Ship Campaigns this season:

• Brig Ship Campaign scheduled for weeks 2 & 3

• Rerun of Barque Ship Campaign scheduled for weeks 5 & 6

The Campaign reward track has been expanded to now also grant all the materials required for the first 3 upgrade levels of the featured ship, through 3 additional reward tiers.

Giveaways

• Darktide Lullaby Giveaway is scheduled for week 2

• Boosters Teuling Favor is scheduled for week 5

• Requiem of the Lost Giveaway is scheduled for week 10

Seasonal Quests

New Quests: Freeman's Trail Continues

Lucian Harrow isn't the only one closing in on Uricko Freeman's secrets - and this season, the race gets personal. Team up with a survivor from Freeman's own crew as old rumors resurface, and a dangerous rival fleet moves to claim what's buried at Bukit Candi first.

• A Trail Renewed: Pick up where last season left off as a new lead reopens the hunt for Freeman's legacy.

• The True Cargo : Not everything Harrow's crew is hauling is what it seems. Some secrets are worth fighting for.

• The Unbending Flame : The trail comes to a head. What you walk away with may matter more than the treasure itself. Expect political maneuvering, a few surprises about who you can actually trust, and a season that leaves you holding onto something far more valuable than gold.

• Junk to Junk : Ever wanted to captain a Junk? A new side objective puts you at the helm of one for a hands-on sea trial - handle her, prove her worth, and bring her home in one piece.

Faction War

New Faction

With the DMC withdrawing, the Phoenix’s Talon arrives to challenge the Compagnie Royale.

Ascended Elite – Emberwings

With the Phoenix’s Talon, comes a new foe for  Compagnie Royale players. This flagship is manned by a crew of fiery pyromaniacs who will seek to overwhelm you with a barrage of fire and explosives.

War Convoy

Scarletcrest, an elite warship, arrives on the Indian Ocean with convoy in tow. For Compagnie Royale players, this is a new threat to be reckoned with.

Faction War Rewards

Territories Won:

• New faction themed ship vanity sets for Li Tian Ning’s faction (Phoenix’s Talon) & Compagnie Royale

• Classic progression rewards (Upgrade Parts, Masterwork Kits, Guildmarks, Chests, Deep Iron, etc.)

• 2 Ascended version of Y3S1 new weapons (mid-tier ascension)

War Victory Rewards:

• Faction themed fireworks for winning faction

• 20 Nightshade Pearls

• 10000 Pieces of Eight

War Defeat Rewards:

•   5000 Pieces of Eight

War Effort Additions:

•  New Furniture: St. Elmo's Chains

• New Weapons: Hellfire (rocket), Claws Of The Deep (ballista)

• Ascended weapons and armors crafted for the season: Piercing l’Aiguille, Flooding De Breker, Burning Alecto, Taunting Phoenix Crest, and more!

Faction Broker now sells previous seasons’ cosmetics for Guildmarks

• All items can be unlocked with a War Effort level requirement in Y3S2 Faction War

• Available items include Y2S4 & Y3S1 Rewards

• Y3S1 DMC & Compagnie Ship Vanity Sets – Req: War Effort level 20

• Y3S1 Compagnie Ship Aura– Req: War Effort level 30

• The Compagnie Aura of Y2S4 Faction War Rewards is now available to buy– Req: War Effort level 30

Faction War Timeline

• War Start: 18/08/2026

• War Ceasefire: 27/10/2026

• War End: 03/11/2026

New Player Improvements

Onboarding Changes

Quest “Seaworthy Charge”

• The base ship given by Scurlock now has a Major Furniture and an Armor already equipped on it.

• The quest rewards a Common Mortar and ammo. It does not reward Furniture and Armor anymore.

• Additional VOs from the crew added to help the player know what to do and warn them when they go in dangerous or uninteresting zones for the first time user experience.

• Removed escort ships around the 2 first Merchants ships the player has to hunt down.

• Removed the armor plating on weakpoints on the 2 first Merchant ships.

• Updated Fort-Louis cinematic with Asnah to mention the new Mortar rewarded.

Quest “Unwelcome Aboard”

• Players don’t need to equip Furniture and Armor and Reach Ship Rank 4 anymore but will still need to equip the Mortar.

• In the ambush by The Compagnie Royale on the way to Guérande, the Crew Attack optional goal is replaced by a Mortar kill optional goal, sustained by a light tutorial for Mortar aiming and shot.

• Plunder of Guérande has been reduced in general from 4 to 3 phases, and the cooldown for Plunder has been reduced to 30 seconds.

• Additional VOs from the crew and Asnah added to help the player know what to do and warn when going in dangerous or uninteresting zones for the first time user experience.

• Better badging and guidance elements for the quest’s goals in world and UI (Docks).

• During this quest, some options in the Docks and the Vendor of Fort-Louis are locked to focus on the tutorial teachings, until completed.

Quest “The Price of Secrets”

• Has been removed from the game.

Quest “Lion of Sainte-Anne”

• The goal to craft or upgrade a ship has been simplified to only craft. Upgrading a ship will be taught to the player later.

• Finishing the quest directly gives the quest “Brokered Ground” without injecting the now removed “The Price of Secrets” quest.

• Updated the end cinematic in Scurlock’s Office to send the player to meet the Sea People directly.

• Better badging and guidance elements for the quest’s goals in Indian Ocean and UI (Docks).

Tutorial big panel “Welcome To Indian Ocean” has been removed from the onboarding

Small Ships

• Can now equip Auxiliary Weapon from Upgrade Lvl 0.

POIs and Plunder

• Plundering is disabled until “The Lion of Sainte-Anne” quest is completed.

• Enemies from plunder waves are now badged for better identification.

Gameplay Camera/Aiming

• Increased the default sensitivity of camera while aiming for controllers for new players only.

• Camera and Ship when setting sail are directly looking at the objective during the first quests of the first time user experience.

Weapon UI

• All auxiliary weapons now have a better shot count/cool down visualization on UI.

Fixes and Improvements

A full list of fixes and improvements is here: [Y3S2 Fixes and Improvements]