Collectibles & 100% Completion

What it asks

Forts are the heavily-defended coastal strongholds dotted around the Caribbean (marked with a crossed-cannons icon). There are 11 in total, and each is a two-part fight: a naval assault to break the shore defences, then an on-foot push to the fort captain.

Where they are — all 11

• North (easy): Dry Tortuga, Gibara, Eleuthera.
• Central (medium): Contoyor, Castillo de Jagua, Cruz, Punta Guarico, Navassa.
• South (hard): Charlotte, Serranilla, Chinchorro.

Work north-to-south as your Jackdaw gets stronger. Three of them double as legendary-ship unlocks — see Devil of the Caribbean below.

The routine that works every time

1. Circle the fort and knock out its mortar towers and cannon towers with your broadside and mortar. Keep the ship moving and brace the volleys you can't avoid.
2. Once the towers are down, the fort's health bar drops — dock at the marked spot and go in on foot.
3. Kill the two lieutenants and then assassinate the fort commander (both are highlighted on your HUD), then lower the flag to claim it.

Why it's worth doing early

Capturing a fort reveals the surrounding map region, unlocks fast-travel there, and lowers naval difficulty in those waters — so doing forts first makes every other collectible in that region easier to reach.

What it asks

The legendary ships are the toughest naval encounters in the game — enormous man-o'-wars that lurk in the white-water zones near the map's edges. Most only appear after you capture the nearby fort. Despite being the hardest fight, it's only a Bronze, and it's the trophy most completionists leave until last.

Where to find them

• HMS Prince — south-east of Navassa fort. The easiest; start here.
• HMS Fearless & Royal Sovereign — inseparable twins that spawn once you take Eleuthera fort; you fight both at once.
• La Dama Negra — south-west of Serranilla fort. Spams twin mortars non-stop — keep moving and brace.
• El Impoluto — far west near Cabo Rojo. The toughest: fast, aggressive and loves to ram, so save it for last with a fully-upgraded Jackdaw.

Prep before you even sail out

• Fully upgrade the Jackdaw first — max hull & armour, elite broadside cannons, heavy shot, upgraded mortar and ram, and the fire-barrel/ram upgrades. Undermanned, these fights are brutal; maxed, they're steady.
• Stock repair kits and keep your crew health topped up.

How to win the fight

1. Never sit still — sail a wide, constant circle so their broadsides miss and you can rake their flanks.
2. Time a perfect brace against their big heavy-shot volleys to take almost no damage.
3. Punish with heavy shot at close range on the exposed side; drop mortar rounds from distance when they're lining up on you.
4. Two of them (Prince & Sovereign) come as a pair — focus one down first while kiting the other, then mop up.
5. Finish weakened ships with the ram.

What it asks

Buy every functional upgrade for the Jackdaw: hull armour, broadside cannons, heavy shot, mortar, swivel guns, ram, fire barrels and the diving bell. The top-tier upgrades cost reales, raw resources (metal, wood, cloth) and upgrade plans looted from chests.

How to earn it efficiently

1. Attack trade convoys and warships and board them — boarding gives far more cargo than sinking. Prioritise metal and wood, the two resources the big upgrades drain fastest.
2. Pick up upgrade plans from chests as you clear regions; several elite upgrades are locked until you find their plan.
3. Buy upgrades in the ship menu until the list is empty — the trophy pops on the final purchase.

What it asks

Kenway's Fleet is the metagame you manage from menus (and the captain's cabin) — you send captured ships on trade routes for reales. To earn this you need at least one of every ship class in the fleet.

How to earn it

1. In a naval battle, damage a ship to the boarding threshold, board it, and choose "Send to Fleet" instead of repairing or looting for crew.
2. Capture a spread of classes — schooner, gunboat, brig, frigate, man-o'-war and so on — until every class slot is filled.

What it asks

Officers are named crew you rescue — typically by liberating prisoners on boarded ships and from a few specific events. Recruit the full set.

How to earn it

1. When boarding, look for the "free the crew / rescue officer" option and take it every time.
2. A handful come from specific naval targets and side events, so capturing a wide variety of ships across the map gathers them all naturally during the sweep.

What it asks

Great Inagua (yours from Sequence 4) has a rundown village you fund back to life, building by building. It's a pure reales sink with no combat.

How to earn it

1. Walk the village and interact with each restorable building to pay for its repair.
2. Fund every structure. Farm the reales from convoys, plunder and — the lazy way — fleet trade routes running in the background.

What it asks

Inside the Great Inagua manor are two sets of display slots — the Art Collection (paintings) and Equipment (the full set of swords, pistols and outfits). Fill every slot in both.

How to earn it

1. Art is purchased from harbourmasters and general stores across the map — buy every painting on sale as you pass through each port; some pieces come from completing content.
2. Equipment slots fill as you craft and buy the complete gear set — hunting-material upgrades (see Hunting), store weapons, and outfits.
3. Return to the manor and place everything until no slot is empty.

What it asks

The manor holds a wall of character portraits of the game's Templars and notable figures. Each portrait is awarded for completing that character's content — overwhelmingly the Templar Hunts and story assassination targets.

How to earn it

1. Complete every Templar Hunt (the optional assassination story-lines) and all story targets — each hands over a portrait.
2. Portraits auto-hang in the manor; the last one pops the Silver. This finishes hand-in-hand with Cartographer, since hunts are spread across the map.

What it asks

Underwater shipwrecks are diving sites reached with the diving bell (a Jackdaw upgrade that becomes available after Great Inagua). Each wreck has a set of chests to recover; you need every chest at every wreck.

How to survive the dives

• Air is your timer. Surface at air pockets inside the wrecks and swim through the rising bubble columns / conch spots to refill your breath meter.
• Sharks and moray eels patrol the wrecks. Break line of sight in seaweed beds, move between cover, and time your swims past the eel holes — don't try to fight, just slip through.
• Grab every chest before you ascend; the map filter shows which wrecks still have loot.

What it asks

Taverns in the major ports host board games — the Black Flag trio of Checkers (draughts), Fanorona and Nine Men's Morris. You must win at least one match of each.

How to earn it

1. Visit taverns in Havana, Kingston and Nassau and sit down at each game type.
2. Play against the NPC and win once per game. There's no timer, so take your time — Fanorona is the one people slip up on, so read the capture rules before committing a move.

What it asks

Smuggler's dens are hidden coves (revealed by viewpoints/exploration). Each holds a locked smuggler's chest that needs a nearby key. You only need to open one for this Silver, but there are several to find for full completion.

How to earn it

1. Sail into a smuggler's den and clear or sneak past the guards.
2. Find the key held by the den's captain (or hidden nearby), then open the chest.

What it asks

Treasure maps are hand-drawn loot items (from chests and ship captains) that point to buried treasure. "Restoring" a map means following it and digging up its treasure once.

How to earn it

1. Loot any treasure map and open it — it shows a sketch of a real landmark (a rock arch, a ruin, a distinctive tree).
2. Sail to the matching island, find the exact spot, stand on the dig marker and dig. First successful dig pops the Silver.

What it asks

Set foot in (or sail to) every named location — islands, ports, ruins, reefs and coves. This is the umbrella trophy your whole region-by-region sweep completes.

How to earn it

1. Work the map methodically, sailing to each location marker so it registers as discovered.
2. Sync viewpoints to expose anything hidden and check the map's completion tracker for stragglers — usually a couple of tiny reefs at the map's edges.

What it asks

Fully clear every activity and collectible in a single named location — chests, fragments, viewpoint, side content, the lot — so it shows 100%.

How to earn it

1. Pick a small island or port and sync its viewpoint to reveal everything.
2. Tick off every icon there. When the location hits 100% completion, the Bronze pops — worth deliberately finishing one small island early so you know the loop.

What it asks

Shanties are floating music-sheet collectibles — glowing pages that hover in the air on rooftops, masts and clifftops. Grab one to teach it to your crew (they'll then sing it while you sail).

How to earn it

1. Spot a drifting shanty page (they shimmer and hum faintly) and free-run or climb to snatch it out of the air.
2. Collecting one pops the Bronze. Grab the rest as you pass them — a full shanty book makes the long naval hauls far more pleasant.

What it asks

Scattered around towns and islands are seven friendly animals (cats, dogs, parrots and the like) that show an interact prompt instead of an attack option. Pet/interact with all seven different ones.

How to earn it

1. As you explore ports and villages, watch for animals with a "pet" / interact prompt rather than a combat marker.
2. Interact with seven distinct friendly animals across your travels — spread out, so this ticks over naturally during the map sweep.

What it asks

Use the crafting menu to upgrade Edward's gear (bigger ammo pouches, more health, larger dart/smoke capacity) with animal materials you hunt.

How to earn it

1. Hunt any animal for a skin/material (harpoon a shark, skin a jungle animal — see the Hunting page).
2. Open crafting and make any single upgrade — the Bronze pops instantly. Keep crafting the full set to help fill the manor's Equipment slots for Dilettante.

What it asks

Some Jackdaw weapons gain an alternate fire mode (heavy shot for the cannons, chain shot, upgraded mortar). Purchase any one such upgrade.

How to earn it

1. In the ship upgrade menu, buy a weapon upgrade that adds a secondary firing mode — Heavy Shot is the obvious first pick.
2. Pops on purchase, and it's on the road to Ship This anyway.

What it asks

The Jackdaw has several vanity slots — sails, wheel, figurehead, hull trim and so on. Equip a fresh cosmetic in every slot at least once.

How to earn it

1. Buy or unlock ship cosmetics (from stores and chests).
2. Open the customisation menu and change each vanity slot — the Bronze pops once every slot has something new equipped.

What it asks

Cumulative — spend 50,000 reales in total across upgrades, art, cosmetics and village restoration. Tracked over the whole save.

How to earn it

1. Just play the completion loop — Ship This, Dilettante and Governor blow well past 50,000 between them.
2. Keep fleet ships on trade routes so you always have reales to spend.

What it asks

Eat 20 food items — the fruit, provisions and rations found in markets, huts and barrels that restore a sliver of health.

How to earn it

1. Whenever you pass food pickups, grab and consume them (it doubles as free healing).
2. Twenty adds up quickly across the map sweep — no dedicated grind needed.