Windrose Guide: How to Get Upgraded Boarding Party Gear
Stop relying on RNG drops. Learn exactly how to craft, upgrade, and equip the best boarding gear for your ship.
Quick Answer: Skip the RNG drop grind by crafting the base Boarding Party Gear using Copper Ingots, Rough Hide, and Coarse Fabric. Then, upgrade it using Mire Metal Ingots, Crocodile Hide, Tanned Leather, and Sewing Tools purchased from the People of Tortuga trader.
Boarding enemy ships in Windrose is easily one of the most satisfying ways to end a naval skirmish. But to pull it off smoothly, your crew needs the right equipment. The Upgraded Boarding Party Gear offers a massive advantage over the base version. While dataminers have found that it can drop as loot, relying on pure RNG is a terrible strategy. The most reliable path is crafting the base version yourself and then manually upgrading it. Here is the step-by-step process.
How to Craft the Base Boarding Party Gear
Before you can upgrade anything, you need the base gear. Crafting it requires a flat 7 units of three different early-game materials. They are not hard to find, but planning your resource run saves you from pausing halfway through.
| Material | Quantity | How to Obtain |
| Copper Ingots | 7 | Smelt Copper ore in a Furnace |
| Rough Hide | 7 | Hunt animals like wild boars |
| Coarse Fabric | 7 | Process plant fiber into fabric |
Copper Ingots are the biggest time sink here since you need a functioning Furnace to smelt them. Get your base infrastructure sorted out early to make the process painless. If you find yourself constantly short on Rough Hide, target wild boars. Knock out your hunting runs before you start crafting so you are not left waiting around.
Upgrading Your Boarding Party Gear
Once the base gear is sitting in your inventory, it is time to push it to the upgraded tier. The materials required for the upgrade are noticeably harder to gather. This steep jump in material rarity is exactly why you want an optimal crew running your base. In fact, checking out our Windrose Guide: All NPC Locations & How to Recruit Them will help you get the right workers assigned to heavily speed up this process.
Here is exactly what you need to hunt down for the upgrade:
- Mire Metal Ingot: Smelted in a Furnace by combining Ancient Scraps and Quagmire Powder.
- Crocodile Hide: Sourced by hunting in swamp areas.
- Tanned Leather: Crafted at a Tanning Rack.
- Sewing Tools: Purchased from a faction trader affiliated with the People of Tortuga.
Do not expect to rush this upgrade in your first hour of gameplay. Mire Metal Ingots require Ancient Scraps and Quagmire Powder, both of which are mid-to-late progression materials.
The Sewing Tools are the one curveball on the list. You cannot craft or farm them yourself. You have to buy them from the People of Tortuga trader. Secure your faction relationship and buy the tools before you go tromping into the swamps for Crocodile Hide. Making two trips is just a waste of time.
How to Equip Boarding Party Gear
Equipping works exactly the same whether you are using the base or upgraded version. There is no manual activation required during combat. Just slot it in, and your crew handles the rest when you attempt to board a pirate ship.
Here are the steps to equip your gear:
- Select your ship and click the Manage Ship option.
- Navigate to the Ship Customization menu on the left side of your screen.
- Drag the Upgraded Boarding Party Gear directly into the designated equipment slot.
The jump in material complexity from base to upgraded gear is a real hurdle. Plan your crafting infrastructure and faction standing ahead of time, and you will be dominating ship boarding in no time.
For more tips, strategies, and deep dives, check out our full collection of guides right here.
