Skull and Bones’ PC performance is mostly smooth sailing, but do stow it on an SSD

C: shanty

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Because it’s somehow my job to worry about the technical fidelity of electronic toys, I’ve been eyeing the long-overdue arrival of Skull and Bones with some nervousness. After nearly a decade of delays , you’d probably just want to get it out the door, right? Skip straight to the open-world pirate adventuring, none of that ‘making it work on a range of graphics cards ’ nonsense.

But nope. For all its other shortcomings, Skull and Bones performs alright on PC, very often more smoothly than its system requirements suggest. Though I’d still recommend abiding by its SSD storage requirement – following the rules might not be very piratey, but installing on a hard drive will curse you to some pretty tedious load screen waits. Geoffrey Rush would hate it, honestly.

While Edwin sequesters himself in the starting area , let’s head below deck for a closer look at Skull and Bones’ PC particulars. That includes a full rundown of its graphics options – which include ray tracing and DLSS – and a quick guide to the best settings for an ideal prettiness-to-performance ratio.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Skull and Bones PC performance and system requirements

Ubisoft’s official specs don’t scream “quadruple-A” nearly as much as their executives do . These PC requirements are thoroughly middling, asking for some semblance of gaming power but not to the extent of other recent open-worlders, such as stablemate Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora . Granted, Skull and Bones is nowhere near as visually sumptuous as Avatar, but it’s no bad looker either.

Skull and Bones minimum specs (1080p / 30fps, Low preset)

• OS: Windows 10
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 / Intel Core i7-4790
• RAM: 8GB (dual-channel mode)
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (8GB) / Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 (6GB)
• Storage: 65GB (SSD required)
• DirectX version: DX12

Skull and Bones recommended requirements (1080p / 60fps, High preset)

• OS: Windows 10 / Windows 11
• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 / Intel Core i7-8700K
• RAM: 16GB (dual-channel mode)
• GPU: AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT / Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070
• Storage: 65GB (SSD required)
• DirectX version: DX12

Strictly speaking, an SSD is not so much required as it is strongly suggested , as there’s nothing stopping you from installing and running Skull and Bones off a mechanical HDD. This isn’t Starfield , where a lack of solid state speediness renders the entire thing unplayable – there are no megastutters or dysynced audio issues, as far as I can see.

However, even if Skull and Bones isn’t outright broken on hard drives, it can get a whole lot more boring. Besides the significantly stretched-out launch times, most kinds of loading transitions – even the ones that kick in when you speak to a merchant or questgiver – had me staring at black screen for several seconds, when those same transitions were near enough instantaneous on an SSD. This gets truly tiresome when you’re trying to do business around a bustling port, as you’ll be tripping over several these load screens in quick (figuratively speaking) succession. If you have or can make room on an SSD, seriously, drop anchor there instead.

Otherwise, Skull and Bones runs… fine? There’s a bit of a framerate drop in those hub ports, compared to out on the seas, but since most of your time will be spent on the latter that’s no terrible thing. Using the built-in benchmark tool and the Low preset, I also clocked the entry-level 6GB GTX 1060’s 1080p performance at 76fps – leagues ahead of the 30fps suggested by the minimum specs.

Image credit:Ubisoft

Low, like all the presets, does give itself something of an artificial advantage by including temporal upscaling by default. In this case it employs the mildly blurry Performance mode, while Medium and High both use Balanced, and Very High and Ultra High share the Quality setting. I’ve complained before about games leaning too heavily on upscalers to keep framerates up, though it’s more forgivable here as the TAA Quality setting genuinely looks like native 1080p – and when I manually switched the Low preset’s Performance mode to Quality, the humble GTX 1060 still produced a smooth 60fps.

Newer, faster GPUs will scale pretty well too. The RTX 3070 averaged 82fps at 1080p with the Ultra High preset, only dropping to 70fps at 1440p, and replacing TAA upscaling with DLSS on Quality mode pushed that up to 78fps. The RTX 4060 , Nvidia’s cheapest current-gen card, could also handle Ultra High with 70fps at 1080p and 60fps at 1440p. Keeping the more demanding resolution, it could reach up to 125fps on Low, though that involves making Skull and Bones look worse than it really needs to. I suspect most modern PCs will get by with at least a mix of Medium and High settings.

There are only two further disappointments. The first is that while DLSS is as useful as ever, and the AnvilNext engine’s TAA upscaler is surprisingly excellent, AMD FSR 2 has a relatively weak showing. It’s faster than TAA, as we’ll see in the settings guide tests below, but also looks noticeably grainer, with duller detailing.

The second is that Skull and Bones doesn’t want to play ball with the Steam Deck . Installing the Ubisoft Connect launcher is easy enough, thanks to Lutris, but the game itself invariably crashes withing seconds of starting up. A shame, considering it was just recently that Ubisoft’s own Assassin’s Creed Mirage played perfectly well on the SteamOS handheld.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Ubisoft

Skull and Bones: best settings guide

Let’s go with, oh I don’t know, say the RTX 4060 as our settings performance guinea pig for this one. Using that 60fps at 1440p result, via the Ultra High preset, we can lower individual quality settings to see which are worth toning down and which you can afford to keep up.

I’ll say right now that ideally, we want to keep upscaling quality as high as possible – it’s not so bad at 1440p but you’ll easily see the difference between Quality and Performance at 1080p, and it ain’t pretty. Instead, then, let’s mine the rest of Skull and Bones’ graphics settings for potential FPS gains.

Adaptive quality: Leave this off. Besides the jarringly sudden dips in visual quality that occur whenever you fall below the target framerate, I actually averaged slightly less than the Ultra High preset’s 60fps while the adaptive target was 60fps , ending up with 58fps instead. Ignore.

Shadows: There’s a teeny framerate increase up for grabs here, the RTX 4060 averaging 62fps on Medium shadows and 63fps on Low. The quality drop is noticeable, mind, so I’d suggest making other, more fruitful changes before resorting to these.

Upscaling type/mode: As per usual, Nvidia DLSS is the best of the bunch here, with its Quality mode blasting average performance up to 77fps. Quality-mode FSR 2 is also faster than the default TAA, producing 70fps, but it’s not nearly as sharp in the details. If your GPU lacks DLSS support, TAA Balanced may be a better option than FSR – this scored 70fps as well.

You can set the mode to Native, if you don’t want any upscaling at all, but DLSS and TAA can adequately recreate native resolution, so you might as well use one of them. Even if native TAA is only slightly slower than Quality, averaging 56fps.

Environment details: Here’s one you can drop. Switching from Ultra High to Medium got my RTX 4060 up to 66fps, a 10% bump all by itself, and without knackering the visuals. There’s a Low option as well, though it’s no faster than Medium.

Clutter: This doesn’t seem to affect performance one way or the other, both Medium and Low averaging 60fps. Stick to High.

Water: Considering it’s such an ocean-going game, cutting water quality in Skull and Bones can be a shrewd move. Both Low and Medium improved performance from 60fps to 67fps, so obviously, go with Medium.

Screen space reflections: This is one of those rare occasions where you might want to leave extra frames on the table. While disabling SSR got my RTX 4060 up to 67fps, it – unlike Medium water quality – amounts to a major drop in visual quality, filling the screen with a weirdly blank, flat-looking sea. Keep reflections on if you can afford it.

Volumetric clouds: These, on the other hand, can be turned down freely. I only got an extra 3fps dropping from High to Medium, but the quality difference is even smaller.

Ambient occlusion: Switching this off didn’t affect performance at all, still averaging 60fps. Leave this on.

Depth of field: Likewise, still 60fps from turning this off, so by all means keep it enabled.

Motion blur: Just the tiniest 1fps increase came from disabling motion blur. Still, it doesn’t serve much of a purpose, so you may as well ditch it.

Ray-traced global illumination: The one and only ray tracing effect in Skull and Bones, and an unnecessary indulgence. The quality difference between this and ‘standard’ lighting is negligible, and disabling it pushed the RTX 4060 up to 68fps.

Even with a relatively short list of PC graphics options, there are still a few tweaks that can seriously put the wind into your framerates. Here’s what I’d consider the best settings for Skull and Bones:

• Upscaling type/mode: DLSS Quality or TAA Balanced
• Environment details: Medium
• Water: Medium
• Volumetric clouds: Medium
• Motion blur: Off
• Ray-traced global illumination: Off
• Everything else: Ultra High preset equivalent

This mishmash still looks nice – definitely more like the High/Very High than Medium – but lets Skull and Bones run far quicker than if you used the former presets as they come. The RTX 4060, for instance, averaged 109fps with them (including DLSS), almost doubling Ultra High performance and dramatically smoothing out visits to those hardware-intensive hub towns.

Older rigs will benefit, too. Using these settings, the GTX 1060 could average a slick 57fps at 1080p, which is about as fast as the Low preset with TAA on Quality. Only, y’know, far better looking.

Skull and Bones

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

Rock Paper Shotgun is better when you sign in

Sign in and join us on our journey to discover strange and compelling PC games.

All 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints and where to get them

These areas have the highest chance of giving you Blueprints

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Looking for more Arc Raiders Blueprints? It’s a special day when you find a Blueprint, as they’re among the most valuable items in Arc Raiders. If you find a Blueprint that you haven’t already found, then you must make sure you hold onto it at all costs, because Blueprints are the key to one of the most important and powerful systems of meta-progression in the game.

This guide aims to be the very best guide on Blueprints you can find, starting with a primer on what exactly they are and how they work in Arc Raiders, before delving into exactly where to get Blueprints and the very best farming spots for you to take in your search.

We’ll also go over how to get Blueprints from other unlikely activities, such as destroying Surveyors and completing specific quests. And you’ll also find the full list of all 75 Blueprints in Arc Raiders on this page (including the newest Blueprints added with the Cold Snap update , such as the Deadline Blueprint and Firework Box Blueprint), giving you all the information you need to expand your own crafting repertoire.

In this guide:

• What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?
• Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes
• Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders Blueprints obtained from quests Blueprints obtained from Trials Best Blueprint farming locations

What are Blueprints in Arc Raiders?

Blueprints in Arc Raiders are special items which, if you manage to extract with them, you can expend to permanently unlock a new crafting recipe in your Workshop. If you manage to extract from a raid with an Anvil Blueprint, for example, you can unlock the ability to craft your very own Anvil Pistol, as many times as you like (as long as you have the crafting materials).

To use a Blueprint, simply open your Inventory while in the lobby, then right-click on the Blueprint and click “Learn And Consume” . This will permanently unlock the recipe for that item in your Workshop. As of the Stella Montis update, there are allegedly 75 different Blueprints to unlock - although only 68 are confirmed to be in the game so far. You can see all the Blueprints you’ve found and unlocked by going to the Workshop menu, and hitting “R” to bring up the Blueprint screen.

It’s possible to find duplicates of past Blueprints you’ve already unlocked. If you find these, then you can either sell them, or - if you like to play with friends - you can take it into a match and gift it to your friend so they can unlock that recipe for themselves. Another option is to keep hold of them until the time comes to donate them to the Expedition.

Full Blueprint list: All crafting recipes

Below is the full list of all the Blueprints that are currently available to find in Arc Raiders, and the crafting recipe required for each item:

Note: The missing Blueprints in this list likely have not actually been added to the game at the time of writing, because none of the playerbase has managed to find any of them. As they are added to the game, I will update this page with the most relevant information so you know exactly how to get all 75 Arc Raiders Blueprints.

Where to find Blueprints in Arc Raiders

Below is a list of all containers, modifiers, and events which maximise your chances of finding Blueprints:

• Certain quests reward you with specific Blueprints .
• Completing Trials has a high chance of offering Blueprints as rewards.
• Surveyors have a decent chance of dropping Blueprints on death.
• High loot value areas tend to have a greater chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Night Raids and Storms may increase rare Blueprint spawn chances in containers.
• Containers with higher numbers of items may have a higher tendency to spawn Blueprints. As a result, Blue Gate (which has many “large” containers containing multiple items) may give you a higher chance of spawning Blueprints.
• Raider containers (Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, Medical Bags, Grenade Tubes) have increased Blueprint drop rates. As a result, the Uncovered Caches event gives you a high chance of finding Blueprints.
• Security Lockers have a higher than average chance of containing Blueprints.
• Certain Blueprints only seem to spawn under specific circumstances: Tempest Blueprint only spawns during Night Raid events. Vulcano Blueprint only spawns during Hidden Bunker events. Jupiter and Equaliser Blueprints only spawn during Harvester events.

Raider Caches, Weapon Boxes, and other raider-oriented container types have a good chance of offering Blueprints. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints have a very low chance of spawning in any container in Arc Raiders, around 1-2% on average. However, there is a higher chance of finding Blueprints in particular container types. Specifically, you can find more Blueprints in Raider containers and security lockers.

Beyond this, if you’re looking for Blueprints you should focus on regions of the map which are marked as having particularly high-value loot. Areas such as the Control Tower in Dam Battlegrounds, the Arrival and Departure Buildings in Spaceport, and Pilgrim’s Peak in Blue Gate all have a better-than-average chance of spawning Blueprints somewhere amongst all their containers. Night Raids and Electromagnetic Storm events also increase the drop chances of certain Blueprints .

In addition to these containers, you can often loot Blueprints from destroyed Surveyors - the largest of the rolling ball ARC. Surveyors are more commonly found on the later maps - Spaceport and Blue Gate - and if one spawns in your match, you’ll likely see it by the blue laser beam that it casts into the sky while “surveying”.

Surveyors are quite well-armoured and will very speedily run away from you once it notices you, but if you can take one down then make sure you loot all its parts for a chance of obtaining certain unusual Blueprints.

Blueprints obtained from quests

One way in which you can get Blueprints is by completing certain quests for the vendors in Speranza. Some quests will reward you with a specific item Blueprint upon completion, so as long as you work through all the quests in Arc Raiders, you are guaranteed those Blueprints.

Here is the full list of all Blueprints you can get from quest rewards:

• Trigger Nade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Sparks Fly”.
• Lure Grenade Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Greasing Her Palms”.
• Burletta Blueprint: Rewarded after completing “Industrial Espionage”.
• Hullcracker Blueprint (and Launcher Ammo Blueprint): Rewarded after completing “The Major’s Footlocker”.

Alas, that’s only 4 Blueprints out of a total of 75 to unlock, so for the vast majority you will need to find them yourself during a raid. If you’re intent on farming Blueprints, then it’s best to equip yourself with cheap gear in case you lose it, but don’t use a free loadout because then you won’t get a safe pocket to stash any new Blueprint you find. No pain in Arc Raiders is sharper than failing to extract with a new Blueprint you’ve been after for a dozen hours already.

One of the best ways to get Blueprints is by hitting three stars on all five Trials every week. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blueprints obtained from Trials

One of the very best ways to get Blueprints is as rewards for completing Trials in Arc Raiders. Trials are unlocked from Level 15 onwards, and allow you to earn rewards by focusing on certain tasks over the course of several raids. For example, one Trial might task you with dealing damage to Hornets, while another might challenge you to loot Supply Drops.

Trials refresh on a weekly basis, with a new week bringing five new Trials. Each Trial can offer up to three rewards after passing certain score milestones, and it’s possible to receive very high level loot from these reward crates - including Blueprints. So if you want to unlock as many Blueprints as possible, you should make a point of completing as many Trials as possible each week.

Best Blueprint farming locations

The very best way to get Blueprints is to frequent specific areas of the maps which combine high-tier loot pools with the right types of containers to search. Here are my recommendations for where to find Blueprints on every map, so you can always keep the search going for new crafting recipes to unlock.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Dam Battlegrounds

The best places to farm Blueprints on Dam Battlegrounds are the Control Tower, Power Generation Complex, Ruby Residence, and Pale Apartments . The first two regions, despite only being marked on the map as mid-tier loot, contain a phenomenal number of containers to loot. The Control Tower can also contain a couple of high-tier Security Lockers - though of course, you’ll need to have unlocked the Security Breach skill at the end of the Survival tree.

There’s also a lot of reporting amongst the playerbase that the Residential areas in the top-left of the map - Pale Apartments and Ruby Residence - give you a comparatively strong chance of finding Blueprints. Considering their size, there’s a high density of containers to loot in both locations, and they also have the benefit of being fairly out of the way. So you’re more likely to have all the containers to yourself.

Buried City

The best Blueprint farming locations on Buried City are the Santa Maria Houses, Grandioso Apartments, Town Hall, and the various buildings of the New District . Grandioso Apartments has a lower number of containers than the rest, but a high chance of spawning weapon cases - which have good Blueprint drop rates. The others are high-tier loot areas, with plenty of lootable containers - including Security Lockers.

Spaceport

The best places to find Blueprints on Spaceport are the Arrival and Departure Buildings, as well as Control Tower A6 and the Launch Towers . All these areas are labelled as high-value loot regions, and many of them are also very handily connected to one another by the Spaceport wall, which you can use to quickly run from one area to the next. At the tops of most of these buildings you’ll find at least one Security Locker, so this is an excellent farming route for players looking to find Blueprints.

The downside to looting Blueprints on Spaceport is that all these areas are hotly contested, particularly in Duos and Squads. You’ll need to be very focused and fast in order to complete the full farming route.

Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Embark Studios

Blue Gate

Blue Gate tends to have a good chance of dropping Blueprints, potentially because it generally has a high number of containers which can hold lots of items; so there’s a higher chance of a Blueprint spawning in each container. In my experience, the best Blueprint farming spots on Blue Gate are Pilgrim’s Peak, Raider’s Refuge, the Ancient Fort, and the Underground Complex beneath the Warehouse .

All of these areas contain a wealth of containers to loot. Raider’s Refuge has less to loot, but the majority of the containers in and around the Refuge are raider containers, which have a high chance of containing Blueprints - particularly during major events.

Stella Montis

On the whole, Stella Montis seems to have a very low drop rate for Blueprints (though a high chance of dropping other high-tier loot). If you do want to try farming Blueprints on this map, the best places to find Blueprints in Stella Montis are Medical Research, Assembly Workshop, and the Business Center . These areas have the highest density of containers to loot on the map.

In addition to this, the Western Tunnel has a few different Security Lockers to loot, so while there’s very little to loot elsewhere in this area of the map, it’s worth hitting those Security Lockers if you spawn there at the start of a match.

That wraps up this primer on how to get all the Blueprints in Arc Raiders as quickly as possible. With the Expedition system constantly resetting a large number of players’ Blueprints, it’s more important than ever to have the most up-to-date information on where to find all these Blueprints.

While you’re here, be sure to check out our Arc Raiders best guns tier list , as well as our primers on the best skills to unlock and all the different Field Depot locations on every map.

ARC Raiders

PS5 , Xbox Series X/S , PC

Rock Paper Shotgun is better when you sign in

Sign in and join us on our journey to discover strange and compelling PC games.