This guide is about what you fire. How to position and when to shoot is in the PvP guide; if you are new, start with the beginner guide and the World of Sea Battle hub.
Weapon families
Weapons guide: best guns, damage, upgrades and tips (Alikun)Guns come in light, medium and heavy versions, and bigger ships carry heavier pieces. The families named in the official patch notes:
| Weapon | Role | B21 change |
|---|---|---|
| Standard cannons | All round broadside guns | More penetration, longer reload |
| Long cannons and culverins | Range and accuracy | Most reload faster; medium and heavy versions have more spread |
| Carronades | Short range, heavy hitting | Light and medium reload faster; heavy have more spread |
| Bombards and special weapons | Specialist pieces | Range, firing arcs, spread and reload reviewed per model |
| Mortars | Indirect fire over the target, area damage | Minimum and maximum range down by 5, larger blast radius on most |
| Heavy mortars and barrel launchers | Siege and area denial | Range, spread, penetration and shell speed revised; barrel launchers prepare faster |
| Falconets | Light deck guns | Fast ships get plus 10 percent range, siege ships plus 25 percent damage (B19) |
Across the board, B21 gave light guns more range and narrower firing arcs, while most heavy guns lost range but gained wider arcs and more spread. The result: small ships can now trade at distance, and big ships want to fight closer.
Aiming time: the stat everyone ignores
Since B21 each gun has its own aiming time: how long the broadside needs to converge on the point you are aiming at. Long guns and culverins reward patience; carronades are brawlers that you fire once you are close. If your shots scatter, you are firing before the guns have converged. Two effects to know: your own smoke screen slows your guns' aiming by 16 percent, and some ships and upgrades change aiming time, so read your ship card.
Ammo types and when to use them
The Steam store page lists the four core ammo types, and they cover most situations:
| Ammo | Target | Load it when |
|---|---|---|
| Round shot | Hull | Default. Sinking ships, forts, anything you want to break |
| Bar shot | Sails | A target is faster than you or about to escape; cripple the rig first |
| Grapeshot | Crew | Before boarding, or to cut an enemy's boarding crew below yours |
| Heated shot | Heavily armored targets | Against big armored hulls where round shot does little |
The patch notes also name special shot such as Saxon, heavy cannonball, Brandkugels and hollow cannonball. Their exact effects are in the in game tooltip and change with balance passes, so check them on your own ammo card rather than trusting old lists. Since B18, when one ammo type runs out the game switches to another type in your hold automatically, so keep a stock of round shot as the fallback.
Penetration, armor and aimed shots
Whether a hit does full damage depends on your shot's penetration against the target's armor, plus the angle it hits at. That is why heated shot exists for armored targets and why B21's higher penetration on standard cannons matters. Since B20, an aimed shot adds penetration instead of damage, so it helps most against heavily armored ships. The old bonus for hitting the stern was removed in B20, so aim where the target shows you the most side, not at the stern.
Loadouts by role
| Role | Guns | Ammo carried |
|---|---|---|
| Trader | Light long guns or culverins to discourage chasers at range | Bar shot first (stop the chaser), round shot |
| PvP brawler and boarder | Carronades or standard cannons | Grapeshot, round shot |
| PvP skirmisher | Long cannons or culverins | Round shot, bar shot |
| Fort and PvE | Heavy guns and mortars | Round shot, heated shot |
Ship classes add their own weapon passives (B19): warships get plus 5 gun range, merchant ships plus 20 percent damage with mines and barrels, and heavy ships take 10 percent less damage from mortars. Pick the loadout that leans into your class.
Mortars and fire after B21
Mortars ignore much of the positioning game: they lob shells over the target and hit an area. B21 reduced standard mortar range by 5 at both ends and enlarged the blast radius on most models, so they are better at hitting groups and worse at long range sniping. Polacca and Le Requin lost their mortars entirely (owners of the mortar upgrades were compensated). The Incendiary Mixture upgrade can no longer be fitted to heavy class ships, so heavy ships that relied on fire need a new plan; players who had it got gold back.
Consumables that change your gunnery
- Privateer powder: plus 10 percent damage (up from 7 in B21).
- Rum ration: plus 24 percent reload (up from 20), now costs 30 rum to make.
- Emergency powder charge: 10 percent bonus, rising to 25 percent at 33 percent durability (B20).
Weapon and ammo choices interact with your upgrades and specialists; see the upgrades and skills guide. For the ships that carry the heaviest broadsides, see best ships, and for fort gunnery, the PvE guide.
Broadside changes on specific ships (B21)
B21 also changed how many guns some ships carry, which changes how you arm them:
| Ship | Change |
|---|---|
| Pickle | Plus 2 broadside guns |
| Mercury, Polacca | Plus 1 broadside gun each |
| S.J. Nepomuceno | Three upper stern gun ports opened and armed |
| La Salamandre | Minus 2 broadside guns |
| Le Requin | Minus 1 to 2 broadside guns, mortars removed |
| Le Cerf | Minus 1 broadside gun |
| Le Saint Louis | Minus 6 bow guns |
| Polacca | Mortars removed |
The developers published a full before and after table of ship and weapon stats with the B21 notes; check it, or your own ship card, before buying a new set of guns.
A simple gunnery drill
- Pick one NPC type in a low danger region and fight it ten times with one ammo type.
- Wait for convergence before every broadside and note how much tighter the groups are.
- Switch to bar shot on a fleeing target and see how quickly it slows.
- Practice grapeshot then boarding on merchants until you never lose a boarding fight.
- Only then take the loadout into PvP.
FAQ
What ammo types are in World of Sea Battle?
The core four are round shot for hulls, bar shot for sails, grapeshot for crew and heated shot for heavily armored targets. Patch notes also name special shot such as Saxon, heavy cannonball and Brandkugels.
What changed for cannons in B21?
Light guns gained range with narrower arcs, most heavy guns lost range and gained spread, standard cannons got more penetration and longer reload, culverins and long guns reload faster, and every gun got an aiming time stat.
When should I use grapeshot?
Before boarding. Grapeshot kills crew, and the side with more boarding crew wins the boarding fight.
Are carronades good?
For close fights, yes. B21 made light and medium carronades reload faster, while heavy carronades got more spread.
What happens when I run out of an ammo type?
Since update B18 the game automatically switches to another ammo type in your hold.