Combat & Naval Challenges

How to earn it

Long Bay is the island at map 498, 226, which opens up once you've reached Sequence 10. There are three hanged corpses strung up here, and you shoot each one down with a pistol headshot:

1. Body 1 — on top of the northern viewpoint (climb it and look for the rope).
2. Bodies 2 & 3 — hanging from the tree roots above the beach path that runs from that viewpoint down toward the beached ship.

Shoot all three and the trophy pops. Bring a full set of pistols so you don't have to reload between shots.

How to earn it

This one chains three tools together during a ship boarding, so do it on the enemy deck where railings are everywhere:

1. Switch to the Berserk dart and shoot an enemy with it so he turns and attacks his own crew.
2. Drop a smoke bomb on that same berserk enemy.
3. Run in and kick him (the shove/kick attack), then press the takedown prompt to boot him over the railing into the sea.

The kick has to land while he is both berserk and inside the smoke cloud, so tag him with the dart first, then smoke him right before you charge in.

How to earn it

You need 10 rope-dart hanging kills across the whole game (they carry over, so no need to do them in one go). Climb a tree branch or a wooden beam that overhangs a patrol path, wait in stealth for a guard to walk underneath, and press the hang prompt to string him up.

Best spots

Anywhere with overhead branches or beams above walking guards. Reliable ones: Tortuga (848, 350), Cat Island (707, 666) and the Kingston warehouse (605, 156).

How to earn it

You need five or more enemies inside a single smoke-bomb cloud when it goes off. The easiest place is a ship boarding: enemy crews cluster tightly on deck, so let five of them close in on you and drop the smoke at your feet. On foot, aggro a big group in Havana and funnel them into a narrow alley so they bunch up first.

How to earn it

Four pistol kills inside five seconds, which means you must first upgrade the Pistol Holster to Level 4 so you're carrying four loaded pistols. The clean way to guarantee it:

1. Put a cluster of enemies to sleep with the Blowdart (or soften them to low health first).
2. Fire one pistol shot into each in quick succession — one-shots on low-HP enemies chain the counter fast.

Alternatively, during a boarding use the quick-shot executions on already-weakened crew — four in a row comes naturally in the scrum.

How to earn it

Equip a sword whose stats include at least 4 "Maximum Takedowns" (check the weapon's inventory card). Then in a fight, parry a blue-glowing attack to open the counter window and immediately perform four takedowns in a row before it closes. A crowded ship deck where enemies stand shoulder-to-shoulder makes hitting four consecutive takedowns trivial.

How to earn it

Fight near a solid wall or corner, kick an enemy into it (the shove/kick attack) so he's pinned against the surface, then trigger the takedown prompt to finish him with the wall animation. Restricted-zone alleys in Havana or Kingston give you plenty of walls to work with.

How to earn it

"Ocelots" are the wild spotted cats that roam Abaco Island (583, 807). Walk up to one to provoke it — when it lunges, parry the strike, then hold your ground so it pounces again and parry a second time right after. Two parried lunges back-to-back and it's done. If it dies or flees, find another; several prowl the island.

How to earn it

Head to a warehouse or fort with an alarm bell and let yourself get detected on purpose. A guard will sprint to the bell to raise the alarm — as he grabs it and starts ringing, headshot him with a pistol for the instant kill. You must kill him while he is ringing, so keep a pistol drawn and ready before you trip the alarm.

How to earn it

Street Fight events appear as a chainlink icon when you're near one — they're most common in Havana, Nassau and Kingston. Captured pirates are being held by guards, and you need to free them so that not a single pirate dies. Rush the guards, pull aggro onto yourself, and cut them down fast; use a smoke bomb if the crowd starts overwhelming your allies. If a pirate goes down, reload and retry the event.

How to earn it

Burning ships are random world events, not ships you defeat in battle. One spawns at sea with a white icon, its deck already ablaze and stacked with loot. Sail over, board it, find a chair or bench on the deck and use the interact prompt to sit down. You never set the fire yourself.

The catch — and the farm

Only a fraction of burning ships actually spawn with a chair (roughly one in twenty), so this is an RNG grind. Fastest farm:

1. Save at Great Inagua.
2. Fast-travel to The Black Trench shipwreck at 184, 425.
3. If no burning ship (or no chair) appears nearby, reload the save and check again.

How to earn it

First recruit the Officer the Padre, who grants the Ram-Dash ability — complete his quests at map 446, 620 and 648, 348 — and upgrade the Jackdaw's ram. Then pick a fight that includes a Brig. When the Brig lines up to ram you, trigger Ram-Dash (L1 + R1 on default controls) and drive straight into it head-on so you counter its charge. Timing it against an incoming ram is what counts — a normal ram won't pop it.

How to earn it

Recruit the Officer Lucy Baldwin (quest at 446, 620) to unlock Perfect Brace. In naval combat, hold Brace in the split-second just before an enemy broadside or mortar actually lands — nail the timing and it registers as a Perfect Brace, taking near-zero damage. Do it three times (they accumulate across fights). Any hostile ship's volleys will do.

How to earn it

Convoys are timed naval events flagged with a white icon at sea. Attack the convoy, focus the Lead Convoy flagship, whittle its hull down until the Board prompt appears, then grapple across and complete the boarding objective to take it. Any single successful lead-ship boarding pops it.

How to earn it

During a storm, let a rogue wave strike the Jackdaw side-on (broadside) rather than bracing bow-first, and survive the hit — hold Brace to cut the damage. You don't have to hunt for one: it's effectively guaranteed during Sequence 2, Memory 6 (the Treasure Fleet storm escape), so most players get it there without trying. If you miss it, any later storm with rogue waves works.

How to earn it

Attack enough ships to fill your Wanted meter to maximum (Level 4), which summons Pirate Hunter ships to chase you down. Sink one of those hunter ships while still at max Wanted and the trophy pops. Upgrade the Jackdaw beforehand — the Level 4 hunter fleet hits hard and travels in numbers, so use the mortar and heavy shot to thin them before they surround you.