After many years of development and countless delays, Skull and Bones has finally arrived. Ubisoft’s new open-world pirate game is very much a live service exercise, which means the game features a somewhat baffling array of different currencies – no less than six of them. Some of these currencies are earnable for free in-game, some you’ll need to spend real money to get. Allow us to demystify Skull and Bones rather confusing economy…
- Gold – Gold is Skull and Bones’ premium currency. It’s only used for buying cosmetic items for your avatar and ship, and at least of now, the large majority of purchases do not require Gold. Items that need to be bought with Silver or other currencies are much more common. You’ll also eventually need Gold to buy the premium versions of upcoming Smugglers Passes. You get roughly 1000 Gold per $10 spent in real money, although you do get bonuses for buying in larger amounts.
- Silver – This is your basic free in-game currency which you’ll get for completing sinking ships, plundering settlements, and completing most missions. The majority of cosmetics are purchased with Silver, as are gameplay-affecting items like ship upgrades, weapons, and consumable items.
- Pieces of Eight – These are earned by engaging with “The Helm,” which is Skull and Bones’ business sim endgame in which you complete Orders by delivering goods while outrunning rogue ships. Pieces of Eight can be used to buy cosmetics from regular merchants as well as items from the exclusive Helm Black Market. The Black Market sells an array of stuff, from rare materials, to weapons, to cosmetics, allowing you to bypass some of you the game’s usual grind, if you’ve got those Pieces of Eight.
- Sovereigns – These can be earned by achieving new ranks on seasonal leaderboards and can be exchanged for a few key cosmetics.
- Monstrous Tooth – This is a very limited currency earned by defeating the Kuharibu sea monster world event boss (here’s how to do that). The teeth can be exchanged for a few exclusive items from the Sea People Huntmaster in the Lanitra Outpost.
- Ethereal Ashes – This is another limited currency earned by defeating the Maangodin ghost ship world event boss (here’s how to do that). The ashes can be exchanged for a few exclusive items from the Mysterious Rogue merchant in the Oubliette Outpost.
Phew! I told you there was a lot of currencies in the game, but hopefully you now have a basic understanding of how it all works.
Skull and Bones can be played on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5. You can check out Wccftech’s other Skull and Bones guides here.