AC Black Flag Resynced Officer Guide: Building the Ultimate Pirate Crew
If you plan on surviving the endgame naval battles without turning the Jackdaw into expensive driftwood, you need to recruit specialized officers immediately.
The standard harbor upgrades simply don't cut it when you start bumping into the tougher British fleets roaming the map. You can dump a mountain of gold into your cannons, but the real power comes from tracking down unique crew members. These new characters bring exclusive abilities that fundamentally change how you handle ship combat in the remake. Finding them takes some actual work since the best ones hide behind late-game quests and nasty boss fights. I spent hours hunting them down so you don't have to wander the seas blindly.
The Jackdaw Command Structure
Before you go picking fights in the southern seas, here is a quick look at exactly who you're looking for and what they bring to the table.
Early Game Recruits
Your first few hours on the open water are mostly spent surviving by the skin of your teeth until you lock down these initial crewmates.
Adéwalé
You meet Adéwalé very early on during the Sequence 2 mission The Treasure Fleet. You both start out as prisoners rotting away on a Spanish galleon. After breaking out and stealing a ship together, he naturally slots in as your Quartermaster. He doesn't offer any magical buffs to your cannons, but his presence is absolutely mandatory for keeping the ship running during the first half of the campaign.
Lucy Baldwin
Once you wrap up the This Old Cove main quest in Sequence 4, Adéwalé points you in the direction of Lucy Baldwin. She's currently stuck as a prisoner trapped on a British fleet ship floating near the Salt Key Bank. Completing her introductory quest, A Proper Shipwright, officially brings her on board.
Lucy serves as your dedicated Shipwright and brings the single most important defensive skill in the game. She unlocks the Perfect Brace ability. If you time your brace right before enemy fire actually hits your hull, you shrug off a massive chunk of the incoming damage. Mastering this timing stops enemy mortar shells from turning your ship into a jigsaw puzzle during the tougher naval encounters.
The Padre (Abel Galvão)
Also unlocking in Sequence 4 after This Old Cove is Abel Galvão, better known as The Padre. You can find him hiding out in Caracol, a tiny village tucked away in the southeast corner of the map. He's a terrifying former pirate trying to escape his violent past through religion, but you'll drag him right back into the bloodshed by completing the A Second Chance side quest.
As your Master-at-Arms, the Padre actually jumps over the rails with you to fight alongside your crew during boarding actions and fort sieges. More importantly, he gives the Jackdaw the Ram Dash ability. This lets you trigger a massive burst of forward speed that deals catastrophic damage to anything in front of you. It's the perfect tool for instantly crushing annoying smaller ships without wasting a single cannonball. If you plan on tackling the brutal targets mentioned in my AC Black Flag Resynced fort locations guide, you definitely want his ramming speed to quickly break through blockades.
Late Game Legends
Before you pick a fight with the most brutal British fleets in the final hours, you need to round out your roster with the last two characters.
Tobias "Deadman" Smith
Tobias is a tortured soul and your future Master Gunner, but getting him is a massive headache. He's locked behind the A World Without Gold side questline, which only opens up after you finish Everything is Permitted in Sequence 11.
Before you rush into his quest, you need to fully upgrade your hull armor. To recruit him, you have to wipe out an entire British fleet commanded by a juggernaut called the HMS Demolition. This fight is incredibly punishing. If your pockets are empty, take a detour and read my AC Black Flag Resynced money farming guide to get the cash needed for those final armor plates. Once you survive the battle and head back to Great Inagua during the It's a Start objective, he officially joins your ranks. Deadman gives you the Cohort Mortar, which fires in a tight, precise pattern that's perfect for crowded ship battles. He also upgrades your broadside cannons to fire a devastating extra salvo.
Anne Bonny
Anne officially joins the crew as your new Quartermaster after you finish the Everything is Permitted main quest in Sequence 11. She steps in to replace Adéwalé. Considering she spent years breaking up bar fights and babysitting violently drunk pirates at her tavern, she's more than qualified to keep your crew in line. Like Adéwalé, she doesn't offer any specific combat perks for the Jackdaw, but she's a fantastic narrative addition to your final hours on the sea.
