Items

Black Flag runs two separate wardrobes and they barely touch. One belongs to the Jackdaw and is found rather than bought: design plans at the bottom of the sea and in holes in the ground, none of them on any shelf. The other belongs to Edward and is mostly bought: cutlasses and coats from the general store, with a handful of exceptions locked behind the side systems. Knowing which of the two you are shopping for saves a lot of wasted sailing.

The Two Item Economies in Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag

The ship's twelve plans split exactly down the middle

There are twelve elite design plans and they are what take the Jackdaw from serviceable to able to survive a Level 3 fort and a legendary ship. Six of them sit in chests inside underwater wrecks: the Elite Ram at La Concepcion, Swivel Guns at Devil's Eye Caverns, Hull Armor at San Ignacio, Round Shot Strength at the Kabah Ruins, Broadside Cannons at the Blue Hole and Mortars at Antocha. The other six are buried treasure, which means each of them sits behind a map before it sits behind a shovel: Mortar Storage at Matanzas, Heavy Shot Strength at Misteriosa, Fire Barrel Strength at San Juan, Heavy Shot Storage at Petite Cavern, Fire Barrel Storage at Isla Providencia and Harpoon Strength at Andreas Island.

That split matters for scheduling. The six underwater plans are all locked until Sequence 6, and the six buried ones need their maps first, so no amount of early sailing will get you a fully kitted ship. Coordinates and the exact spot inside each wreck are on the elite design plans page.

Buried treasure is a two step hunt

Twenty three treasures, of which nineteen are ordinary finds, three arrive through Kenway's Fleet and one belongs to the Digital Deluxe Edition and sits in Edward's inventory from the first minute. The important rule is that you cannot skip to the dig. Knowing where a treasure is buried does nothing until you are holding its map, and the maps only appear on your world map once you have taken the region's naval fort and synced its viewpoints.

Most maps are on a corpse somewhere unpleasant, several are inside Smuggler's Dens, and the three fleet ones are earned by sending ships to the British Colonies, Eastern Canada and the Mediterranean. Payouts run from 1,500 to 4,000 Reales, and the ones carrying a design plan pay 3,000 on top of the plan. All 23, with both sets of coordinates and the reward, are on the buried treasure page.

Edward's own gear is mostly a shop trip

The weapon list looks long and is mostly one line: buy it from the general store. Swap loadouts at the mannequin in the Jackdaw's captain's cabin. What is worth chasing are the few that no shop stocks. The Pistol Sword needs every Assassin Contract finished, the Golden Flintlock Pistol needs all fifteen Naval Contracts, the Scottish Broadsword needs three Social Treasure Chests, and the Persian Scimitars and Captain's Wheellock Pistols come from Community Challenges. The Blowpipe unlocks after Sequence 4 and is the single most useful thing on the list, because half the side content in this game assumes you have it. There is also a free route through enemies: disarm a Brute for an axe, a Scout for a dagger, a Gunner for a musket.

Outfits divide the same way. Several are simply for sale, several are crafted from pelts and skins you buy or hunt, and three unlock from having previous Assassin's Creed save data on the system, which quietly rewards a long shelf. The interesting ones are the trophies: the Stealth outfit for finishing half the Assassin Contracts, the Mayan outfit for the sixteen Mayan Stones, and the Templar armour, which needs all five keys before the Great Inagua cage will open and then cuts every point of damage Edward takes by a quarter. Requirements for every outfit are on the outfits page and every weapon on the weapons page.

Most of those trophies are earned in the side systems covered by our mechanics guide, and the places you dig and dive are in the locations guide. Our Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag guide ties the two economies together.