Greetings, Captains!

As the end of Year 2 Season 3 Guts and Glory, draws close, we once again want to take a moment to reflect and give a sneak peek of what you can expect with Year 2 Season 4 Eye of the Beast.

As always, we appreciate all the ways in which you engage with us, the community and our Devs. Whether you share feedback across various platforms or submit bug reports, your input is invaluable and plays a key role in helping us develop our future plans.

As we head into Year 2 Season 4 (and the future 😉) we hope you’ll continue to share your feedback, bug reports, and amazing in-game shots.

Contents

• Year 2 Season 3 Guts and Glory So Far
• Faction War
• Sloop of War
• Armor Ascension
• Y2S3.1 QoL Update
• Year 2 Season 4 Eye of the Beast
• Community Spotlights

Year 2 Season 3 Guts and Glory So Far

We kicked off Year 2 Season 3 with a range of key updates. The season introduced a new ship, the Sloop of War, a new feature with Armor Ascension and an entirely new end game, with Faction War, along with several quality-of-life improvements. We also added the Seasonal Hub and Journey, which has given players a new way to track progress and earn new seasonal boosts. In addition, the Item Ascension feature received some updates, allowing you to lock modifications and adding more reroll attempts.

During the mid-season update, we introduced a new War Event, Elite Warship, added Waterspouts, and implemented additional quality-of-life improvements. We closed out 2025 with the return of the Azure Solstice event, which was updated and brought a new challenge for players to tackle.

Faction War

The launch of Faction War marked the first step in our long-term vision to shape the Skull and Bones endgame experience. With this release, our goal was to give you a chance to dive into what we’ve built so far, while gathering your thoughts and feedback to help guide where we go next.

Faction War has given Captains the chance to pledge allegiance to either the Dutch Merchant Company or the Compagnie Royale. As we’ve progressed through the season many Captains have shared their appreciation of having the option to decide which Faction to pledge allegiance to. Throughout the season, we saw alliances strengthen and strategies evolve as you worked together to push your chosen faction forward. Battle Phase 5 was especially intense, with territories shifting back and forth until the very end. In the final moments, the Compagnie Royale made a decisive push, sweeping all 4 Territories and winning the war.

Since its launch, we’ve seen and received plenty of feedback on Faction War. Covering everything from rewards, the high number of notifications, to the content and activities.

Throughout the season, we’ve (already) started addressing some of it and implementing changes. With update Y2S3.1, we reduced the number of notifications for War Cargo, to make the experience smoother and less disruptive for those participating in Faction War.

As we mentioned previously, we’ve also been working on improvements to hostility. An improved system will arrive in Year 2 Season 4, where the faction you side with will now ally with you as you enter combat with the opposing faction within Conflicted Territories. It’s important to note hostility is a system that has a lot of ties to many features in the game, with many edge cases we need to consider before making changes. We’re looking forward to hearing your thoughts so that we can further refine and balance this system moving forward.

Another thing coming with Year 2, Season 4: Faction War exclusive rewards from this season will be made available at the Faction Broker; to be able to earn them, you will need to actively participate in Faction War. We’re also exploring new rewards, and not just cosmetics. In the future, you will also see rewards to help you further refine your ship builds!

We’ve noticed questions around the outcome of Faction War. Rest assured, it’s determined by player engagement, meaning the result depends on your collective actions. At times, your individual contribution may feel less impactful especially when many Captains are working together to support your faction. We’re exploring ways to provide more visibility into the War Assets you contribute, so you can better see the difference you’re making.

Faction War in Year 2 Season 4

As we step into 2026, Year 2 Season 4 is just around the corner and will continue the ongoing conflict between the Compagnie Royale and the Dutch Merchant Company. Our work on Faction War hasn’t stopped: the new season introduces Territorial Control, bringing the war closer to your Helm Empire. This means your manufactories will now feel the repercussions of the conflict and will play a direct role in the War Effort. When located within a Contested Territory, you’ll be able to produce War Assets in up to three locations simultaneously.

Speaking of territories, going forward with Year 2 Season 4, each battle phase will have at least 3 territories contested. This change comes from our learnings during the early battle phases in Year 2 Season 3, when there were only 2 contested territories it became one sided.

Year 2 Season 4 also introduces two new Faction War activities tied to manufactories: Extraction and Manufactory Raid, giving you fresh ways to engage with and influence the outcome of the war.

Manufactory Raid

This new event offers a different way to acquire Manufactories for your Helm Empire. To capture a Manufactory, you’ll need to defeat enemy ships and fill the capture bar. If you succeed in the raid, you’ll take ownership of the Manufactory and earn War Assets as an additional reward.

If you already own the Manufactories in a Contested Territory, these events will still appear, but instead of earning another Manufactory, you’ll just receive War Assets for your efforts.

Extraction

With your manufactories sitting in Contested Territories the stakes are higher and the risks increase. As such, if you’re producing War Assets, you will not be able to rely on your assigned ships and will have to take matters in your own hands. You didn’t think it’d be that easy, did you?

This is where the new activity, Extraction, comes into play. To secure your production of War Assets you will need to extract them yourself from the war-torn Conflicted Territories. Should the territory have the Auto-Collect bonus in effect, this will still be available, but it will not include the War Assets. Make sure to note whenever you go to extract your War Assets, the Extraction event will always trigger, and whilst in the event you won’t be able to go to any other manufactory producing War Assets.

Territory Bonus

During the war, Helm Territories will be subject to effects based on the state of the Territory and the Faction you’ve pledged allegiance to.

• Contested Territory: If the Territory is contested, the recommended Ship Rank for your assigned ship will be +1 above the usual recommendation.
• Faction Victory: If your Faction controls the Territory, the effect will work in your favor. You’ll receive a 10% boost to Production Rate, and the recommended Ship Rank will be -1 below the usual recommendation.
• Faction Defeat: If your Faction has lost the Territory, the effect will increase the recommended Ship Rank by +1 above the usual recommendation.

Whilst we won’t go into too much detail, our goal is to introduce more Faction War activities for you to get involved in. We’re currently exploring different possibilities with some ideas including Community Events, where you’ll need to work together as a Faction to complete goals which may have dramatic impacts on territories.

As we remain committed to a quality-first approach, we want to be transparent about where our current focus lies. Right now, our priority is to carry on our focus of strengthening the foundations of Faction War, with particular attention on the PvE experience. We’ve heard your requests for more Faction War PvP content. This is something we plan to explore in the long term, once we’re confident we can deliver experiences that are fun, engaging, and meet our high standards for quality.

Sloop of War

Since its introduction in Year 2 Season 3, the Sloop of War has earned plenty of attention and appreciation. With its focus on DPS and poison damage, it’s definitely a specialised ship, and has been especially valued by those who unlocked it early in the season.

Throughout the season we’ve seen various Sloop of War builds shared and we wanted to include some of those here:

• Sloop of War with Caustic for Max Boss Damage by Lightningsoul
• Kvitfrosts Toxic Selfheal Torps by kvitfrost
• Spall Station Sloop of War Sirene by kaeryo2
• Sloop of War Electric Toxic Bombard Build by CaptainGTI
• Sloop of War Torpedo Build by Ed_Straker65

We’ve already seen your excitement for next ship, our second Large Ship, the Corvette. We’re looking forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback once its released.

Armor Ascension

Armor Ascension marked an expansion of the ascension system first introduced in Year 2 Season 1. Whether you’ve chosen a mod to harden your hull, sharpen bracing, or steady your stamina, we wanted to give you a way to further customize your loadouts and playstyle.

Alongside Armor Ascension, Mod-locking and an increased reforge limit were added as a direct response to your feedback on the randomness of item ascension. We are planning to further increase the number of reroll attempts in the future, and with these make your experience more enjoyable.

We previously mentioned we are working on Mythic Mods, (name subject to change 😉) which will bring additional improvements to item ascension. We recently tested the Mythic Mods, and following player feedback we want to take more time to make additional changes to the feature. Once its ready to be released, we’ll have more information to share about what you can expect. Alongside Mythic Mods, when it comes to Armor Ascension, we are looking into improvements to alleviate the RNG variations applied. This is still in its early phase so will be spending time to work out the finer details before we share any more information.

Y2S3.1 QoL Update

Filter Tabs

Whilst originally planned for Year 2 Season 4, we were able to bring forward the introduction of Filter Tabs across a range of menus which have been a long-requested feature. With these tabs our goal was to make it easier and smoother to navigate when in menus such as the Ship Loadout, Cargo and Warehouse, and at Vendors. We’re continuing to refine and improve these, and in the future, you’ll see more introduced across other menus.

Removal of Boarding Cutscene

The Y2S3.1 update also saw the removal of the boarding cutscenes. Our goal here was to remove the friction and feeling of repetitiveness from being locked in during the animation. We wanted to make boarding more of an option, rather than focusing on sinking ships.

Mass Salvage Items

With this update, we added the option to mass salvage items you no longer need. This feature is part of our ongoing, targeted improvements to inventory management and is designed to make clearing out unwanted items faster and more convenient.

Merged Map

We’ve continued improving the UI, with a particular focus on the map. Over time, new additions have increased the number of tabs in your logbook, making it harder to navigate between the ones you need. Starting with Year 2 Season 4, we’re merging all maps into a single, unified tab. From here, you’ll be able to switch between the base map, Helm, and Faction War seamlessly. This change reduces the number of tabs you need to manage and makes it easier to move from the map to other sections, like cargo.

Should you have any feedback on future quality-of-life changes you would like to see the focus on next, be sure to share them with us on Discord and Reddit.

We continue to monitor the feedback and thoughts you share across all platforms and we greatly appreciate everyone who has taken the time to share theirs. Your feedback continues to play a big role in shaping what comes next, so make sure to share any feedback you have.

We want to emphasize that your Bug Reporter contributions do greatly help us to prioritize the most impactful issues and analyze the specific profiles of players affected by various issues.

Should you encounter any bugs, please continue to submit reports through the Bug Reporter - https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/game/skull-and-bones/bug-reporter

Year 2 Season 4 Eye of the Beast

We know many of you are eager to hear more of what is coming with Year 2 Season 4, especially something about a ship and the bigger threat. In the weeks ahead, keep an eye on our channels as we’ll soon start sharing more details about what’s on the horizon.

Once again, we want to thank you for your continued support, engagement, and passion. If you'd like early access to features in development, an opportunity to share your feedback directly with the team and help shape the future of Skull and Bones - be sure to join our Insider Program.

Looking Further

We know many of you are curious about what comes after Year 2 Season 4, and we’re excited to confirm that work on Year 3 is already underway. In November, we hosted an in-person workshop at Ubisoft Singapore where we invited some of our most engaged players and Insiders to share their thoughts on Year 3 plans. These players were chosen based on their extensive playtime, deep understanding of the game, and active engagement within the broader community. Our goal was to ensure strong alignment between our vision for the future and what the community wants. Throughout the workshop, we received incredibly encouraging feedback and support from our players and Insiders, which will help shape what’s next.

LILYWHITE – COMMUNITY LEADER

GILBERT-GALAD – COMMUNITY LEADER

MOTHERFLAME – COMMUNITY LEADER

KAERYO – COMMUNITY LEADER

ALPHA – COMMUNITY LEADER

CAPTAINGTI – CONTENT CREATOR

We know there is still plenty of work that needs to be done, and we’re excited to share more of our plans once we’re ready. For now, though our focus remains firmly on the next season, keep your eyes on the horizon though as we will be back closer to the end of the Year 2 Season 4 to start sharing more with you.

Community Spotlights

Throughout Year 2 Season 3 we’ve seen an increase in the content you have all been sharing. From screenshots in game, to guides, and the stories of your captains. We love seeing all the content you share of your adventures on the Indian Ocean and we’re looking forward to seeing what you’ll share in Year 2 Season 4.

Skull and Bones Tools – State of War

Back in our Faction War DevBlog we shared that Heinz, the mastermind behind Skull and Bones Tools had set up the State of War page. During the season it has evolved with more stats so you can see a real-time breakdown of how both factions are performing.

Hubac Twins Takeover

We couldn’t do a Community Spotlight without looking back on all the posts we saw when the Hubac Twins initiated a takeover. Whilst an unintended bug, the response especially the humorous comments were appreciated by the team.

📷 Local_Research7432 - Reddit

📷 Gymwarrior4 – Reddit

📷 Money-in-the-wind – Reddit

UGC Roundup

Photo by Khorne [DISCORD]

Photo by Top112 [STEAM]

Photo by Balerion [STEAM]

Join us live on January 28th at 2:00 AM UTC for our next Deck livestream on the Ubisoft Twitch channel. We will be covering this letter and taking the opportunity to answer your questions.

Not sure what time that is for you? Click here to check your local time.

P.S. Have you figured out what seven means for Y2S4 and Y3S1? Hint: It’s not gunports nor the number of ships 😉

See you on the high seas, Captains!