Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Jackdaw Upgrades: Full Tier List and Ultimate Blueprints

The Jackdaw is Edward's ship for the entire Resynced runtime. The upgrade tree mirrors the 2013 inheritance but adds the three new officers and Pathfinder, which makes the standard upgrade progression feel meaningfully different from the 2013 version. Most players will spend Sequence 6 through Sequence 12 working the priority list, then push into the Ultimate blueprint dig chain for the rest of the run.

This page is the hub for the upgrade tree. Per-page details:

• The standard upgrade table and material cost rows are sourced to IGN at research date 2026-07-15.
• The best-five priority list is sourced to Rock Paper Shotgun at research date 2026-07-15.
• The 12 Ultimate blueprint locations are sourced to Eurogamer at research date 2026-07-15.
• The three new officers and Pathfinder are sourced to Ubisoft's Naval Deep Dive at research date 2026-07-15.

Use this page as the upgrade spine and the walkthrough page as the sequence-by-sequence trigger for when each tier becomes available.

The full upgrade roster mirrors the 2013 inheritance, retuned for Resynced's Anvil-engine naval combat. IGN's Jackdaw upgrades wiki at research date 2026-07-15 is the reference table, organised by tier (one through five or six depending on the upgrade category). Material costs scale by tier; the Jackdaw starts with the basic Hull and a small broadside loadout, and each upgrade layer adds a slot, a damage bump, or a defensive modifier.

Categories in the standard upgrade tree:

• Hull: increases ship health. The Armored Hull tier is the highest-priority Hull upgrade.
• Broadside Cannons: increases damage per broadside salvo.
• Mortar: unlocks the heavy-artillery mortar that fires forward over the bow. Damage ramps through several tiers.
• Round and Heated Shot: switches the broadside payload to anti-crew rounds and then to fire rounds.
• Bow Chasers: upgrades the forward-facing guns for head-on combat.
• Ram: extends the ramming damage window and increases bow impact damage.
• Sails: improves top speed and turning, useful for catching frigates or fleeing naval combat.

The exact material cost figures per tier are listed on the IGN wiki page at research date 2026-07-15; this page uses the priority list rather than reproducing every cost row, so the canonical numbers stay in sync with the live source. Material costs assume default difficulty; PC and console post-launch patches may tweak them, so check the IGN wiki before committing to a long craft path.

The Best Five Jackdaw Upgrades To Buy First

Rock Paper Shotgun's best-upgrades piece at research date 2026-07-15 ranks the top priority Jackdaw upgrades as follows:

1. Armored Hull: the single biggest survivability bump. Required before you can survive late-game naval combat and most Legendary naval fights.
2. Mortar: lets you crack frigates and forts from long range without boarding.
3. Round and Heated Shot: changes the broadside payload to anti-crew rounds, which is the difference between sinking a crew and watching the ship limp away.
4. Bow Chasers: lets you pressure ships head-on, which matters in chase scenarios and in the legendary naval encounters.
5. Ram: closes the gap on frigates that try to flee and adds a meaningful bow-damage bump on contact.

The pattern across this list is "survivability first, ranged pressure second, chase tooling third." The full priority list and the IGN material cost rows live on the IGN Jackdaw upgrades wiki at research date 2026-07-15.

Upgrade Tiers Beyond Standard

Once the standard tiers are maxed, the next progression layer is the Ultimate Ship Upgrade blueprints. There are 12 in total, scattered across treasure-map dig sites, story rewards, and Animus Hub Project cycles. Eurogamer documents all 12 locations in the Ultimate Ship Upgrade locations guide at research date 2026-07-15; the dig chain depends on TheGamer's seven treasure-map pieces, which means treasure-map collection and Jackdaw Ultimate upgrades share a single Caribbean dig loop.

The 12 Ultimate Ship Upgrade blueprints are the long-tail goal of the Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced Jackdaw upgrades tree. Eurogamer's location guide at research date 2026-07-15 maps every blueprint to a dig site, a treasure-map piece dependency, or a story reward. Most blueprints come from the seven treasure-map pieces TheGamer documents; the rest unlock through Sequence 8 Blackbeard missions, Animus Hub Projects, or specific naval combat milestones.

Practical notes for the dig chain:

• Treasure-map pieces drop in fixed spawn locations across the major islands; TheGamer's guide maps all seven.
• The Jackdaw Ultimate blueprint dig sites share spawn pools with other chest-based collectibles. The collectibles hub covers the wider chest and treasure-map spawn pool.
• Pathfinder, the new Resynced navigation tool, lets you pin a destination on the map and highlights the route. This is the fastest way to chain Ultimate blueprint dig sites without bouncing between ports.

Ultimate blueprints assume default difficulty and standard treasure-map spawn rules; PC and console patches may shift spawn pools, so re-confirm Eurogamer's table before committing to a long chain.

Ubisoft fixed the launch-week bug where upgrading the Jackdaw while docked could make the ship disappear in Title Update 1.0.4 on July 16, 2026; current players should not need the older workaround after updating.

The 2026 Resynced release adds three Jackdaw officers to the crew roster, each unlocked through the Blackbeard storyline that opens at Sequence 8 in the Hideout. Per Ubisoft's Naval Deep Dive at research date 2026-07-15, the three officers bring their own combat bonuses and their own loyalty missions.

• Lucy Baldwin: bonus toward boarding and broadside combat. Unlocked mid-way through the Blackbeard Sequence 8 mission arc.
• The Padre: bonus toward crew survival and healing. Unlocked after the Stede Bonnet quest trigger.
• Deadman Smith: bonus toward mortar accuracy and Ram damage. Unlocked late in the Blackbeard storyline.

Each officer unlocks a loyalty side mission once recruited. The loyalty missions grant Jackdaw combat bonuses and feed the walkthrough Blackbeard branch count. The full sequence-by-sequence unlock order lives on the walkthrough page.

Pathfinder And Other New Navigation Tools

Beyond the officers, Resynced adds the Pathfinder navigation tool, which lets you pin a destination on the map and highlights the route in real time. This is the Resynced-specific upgrade to the inherited navigation system and the single biggest time-saver for chasing Ultimate blueprint dig sites across the Caribbean.

Other new Resynced features that touch the Jackdaw loop:

• Pets on the Jackdaw, which sit on deck and add minor cosmetic flavour without affecting combat.
• New sea shanties that play while sailing. These are separate from the shanties collectible list on the collectibles hub.
• New officer dialogue that fires when you approach legendary naval encounters.

The Jackdaw upgrade tree is the spine of the Resynced mid-game. Sequence 6 unlocks the standard upgrade board; Sequence 7 through Sequence 12 is where most players push the priority list and start the treasure-map dig chain; Sequence 8 opens the Blackbeard branch and unlocks the three new officers. Animus Hub Projects feed Jackdaw cosmetic unlocks but do not replace the standard upgrade tree.

The cross-references that matter most:

• walkthrough - sequence triggers for the Blackbeard branch and the three new officers.
• collectibles - treasure-map pieces, shanties, and chest spawn pool.
• outfits and cosmetics - cosmetic Jackdaw packs (Master Assassin Naval Pack, Blackbeard's Crimson Pack) and the ship cosmetic slot rules.

• IGN: All Jackdaw Upgrades - media/interview - checked 2026-07-15 - Source for the standard upgrade table, tiers, and material costs.
• Ubisoft News: Title Update 1.0.4 patch notes - official/store - checked 2026-07-19 - Confirms the Jackdaw-vanishing-on-docked-upgrade fix.
• Eurogamer: Ultimate Ship Upgrade Locations - media/interview - checked 2026-07-15 - Source for the 12 Ultimate blueprint locations and treasure-map dependencies.
• Rock Paper Shotgun: Best Ship Upgrades - media/interview - checked 2026-07-15 - Source for the best-five priority list (Armored Hull, Mortar, Round and Heated Shot, Bow Chasers, Ram).
• Ubisoft Naval Deep Dive - official/store - checked 2026-07-15 - Confirms the Anvil-engine naval loop, Pathfinder, pets on the Jackdaw, and the standard upgrade inheritance.
• Ubisoft Deep Dive: Expanding on the Original - official/store - checked 2026-07-15 - Confirms three new officers (Lucy Baldwin, The Padre, Deadman Smith) and the Sequence 8 unlock.
• TheGamer: All Treasure Map Piece Locations - media/interview - checked 2026-07-15 - Source for the seven treasure-map pieces that drive the Ultimate blueprint dig chain.