Talents

Talents are various augmentations available in Windward.

Summary

Talents, also known as abilities, are either passive or active (the latter being marked with a star). Talents usually provide passive benefits for a ship, and can be obtained by spending talent points. Talents are obtained through experience points. You get one talent per level of experience. All talents, including any specializations chosen can be reset for a fairly nominal amount of gold, depending on your level and current faction standing with the town you are currently docked at. They may only be reset while docked.

• Specialization talents are enabled only by groups, and only one set can be enabled at the same time. Designed for more dynamic group play, each specialization aims to assist both the player and his/her team with area of effect buffs, and other special skills. Check each heading for further details.

• Specialization talents are unavailable until your level is 25+. Once you reach level 26, you will be able to choose to allocate points in the selected specialty (defense, offense, or support)

• Specializations have to be explicitly chosen in order to work by clicking on the box around the specialization talents. This can only be done while docked. There is one hidden skill (Sabotage) which INSTANTLY kills anything around you."You and your crew have got enough combat experience to sabotage enemy vessels..." one-shot only. Note that this skill will also destroy any enemy guard towers or lighthouses near you, allowing for them to be immediately captured, assuming no other enemy ships are within the vicinity.

Passive Talents

Name	Levels	Description
Captain's Toy	2	Improving the ship's steering wheel, rudder, and all the parts in-between grants 5-10% Mobility. Overall, extra flexibility when attacking enemies can be extremely useful, especially given the limited firing arcs of vessels. Later in the game, any sort of mobility becomes helpful when captaining larger vessels.
Gunner Training	3	Teach the gunner crew how to use cannons properly, increasing damage by 5-15%. Extra damage never goes amiss in combat, so this can prove useful regardless of what ship you're captaining.
Common Sense	3	Train the gunner crew to aim before shooting, increasing accuracy by 5-15%. Like extra damage, this talent is useful in all situations; no one ever complained about hitting your target more often.
Reinforced Sails	3	Reinforce the ship's sails with thicker material and extra rigging, increasing the amount of damage they can endure by 5-15%. This isn't too useful for new players since enemy vessels do not often use sail-damaging abilities, but in higher challenge level areas this skill becomes extremely important. Abilities such as chain shot and groglov cocktail can prevent a larger ship from gaining a proper firing angle on a more manoeuvrable opponent.
Reinforced Hull	3	Reinforce the ship's Hull by 5-15%, increasing the amount of damage the ship will be able to take before sinking. A must-have for all ship captains, as being able to take more damage is always a good thing.
The Good Stuff	2	Countless studies have proven without a sliver of doubt that a mug full of grog works wonders for improving the art of Diplomacy. Often overlooked, Diplomacy can affect market prices for your vessel. Making money quickly can help speed the game along.
Improved Volley	3	Increases damage done by Volley and Chain Shot by 15%/30%/45% These two skills are the bread and butter of naval warfare, and this talent is tied with Gunnery Training to improve your ship's raw damage output.
Exploit	3	Improve the Critical Strike chance by having the gunner crew aim for weak spots (5-15%). A high chance to land a critical hit is always good, though there are some skills out there that may prove more useful in a pinch.
SohCahToa	3	Teach the principles of basic mathematics to the less...expendable members of the crew, improving the Range of all weapons. Perhaps more useful than Exploit, SohCahToa can help players get the first shot on enemies. It also improves the range of Volley and Chain Shot.
Windward	2	Apparently improving Movement Speed is as simple as properly aligning the sails with the wind. Who knew! Your ship will travel considerably faster if you're catching the wind effectively. You can tell which way the wind is blowing by watching the clouds travel ahead of your ship. Moving in the direction of the wind, especially at an angle, can result in lightning-fast movement speed.
Shields Up!	5	Cover parts of the ship with metal armor padding, improving damage resistance by 5-25%. This can prove useful if you're taking fire from multiple enemies.
Lucky Charm	3	Improves your luck in finding valuable loot by 20-100%. Maxing out this talent will effectively double the rate at which you find rare items.

Active Talents

Name	Levels	Description
Repair	0	Stop the ship and perform emergency repairs. Repairs go faster when the ship is in shallow water. Repairs done at any dock are free, but repairs done at sea require wood. A starting skill, Repair is obviously invaluable. Repair yourself whenever you can, preferably in shallow water to expedite the repair process. The faster repairs are more apparent in larger ships than in smaller ones.
Aimed Volley	0	Take careful aim and fire a powerful broadside volley at the chosen target. Only Sojourn players have this skill. The bread and butter of naval warfare, you can always count on Aimed Volley to cause a considerable amount of damage to an opposing vessel.
Reckless Volley	0	Overload the cannons with extra black powder and fire a very powerful broadside volley at the chosen target. Only Valiant players have this skill. Much like the regular Volley, you can always count on this skill in a pinch to cause a ton of damage to a given target.
Volley	0	Fire a powerful broadside volley at the chosen target Only Exchange and Consulate have this skill. This skill is very similar to Aimed and Reckless volley, but it has the longest cooldown.
Chain Shot	0	Fire a volley of special ammunition designed to shred sails. Very effective at hindering hostile ships, but has a fairly short range. Most players opt to use Volley attacks since both abilities are on the same cooldown, but until you get skills like Grogolov Cocktail to really injure a target's sails, this can prove useful as well.
Noxious Fumes	3	A forgotten barrel full of fish was recently found in the depths of the cargo hold. The crew dared not open it, but perhaps it can be thrown at the enemy instead...Reduces Defence, Speed, Mobility, and Accuracy by 5. A debilitating ability that can be a big annoyance to enemy vessels, this talent can be fired into your blind spot to cover it...at least for a short time.
Grogolov Cocktail	3	Launch a barrel full of highly flammable Grog that will break apart and spread on impact, coating the area in fire. Not as effective against buildings. 15 damage per second for 3 seconds. Upgraded, Grogolov Cocktail can be a game-changer, especially if hurled into a large group of enemies. Conversely, along with Noxious Fumes, this talent can be used to attack enemies in your blind spot, giving larger, slower vessels a chance against smaller, faster ones. Despite the description saying otherwise, it can cause considerable damage against buildings, which cannot move out of the way.
Fog of War	3	Launch a barrel full of dry ice at the target, covering the area in a thick cloud of fog. Units within cannot see others, and are immediately removed from combat. Concealment lasting 6 seconds. This versatile talent can be used to temporarily silence a large enemy ship that's giving your team problems, forcing them to move out of the fog to engage a target. Alternatively, it can be used against your own position to create a smokescreen. Since you are immediately removed from combat, this gives you a short window to repair your ship while enemy vessels are nearby.
Hasty Repairs	3	There is no sense in heroically sinking with the ship when a bit of yelling at your crew can get them to quickly patch the holes in the hull and sails, is there? Repair 10% hull and 20% Sail damage over 10 seconds. An extremely useful skill to activate when you just can't seem to get out of battle for long.
Defiance	3	Increase Hull by 200% for 15 seconds. Particularly useful if taking fire from multiple opponents and need to disengage. Alternatively great for drawing fire from smaller, more vulnerable friendlies.
Improve Structure	3	Reinforce the targeted structure, significantly increasing its offensive and defensive capabilities as well as adding the ability to repair itself. Improve the targeted structure's offensive and defensive bonuses by 15%. One of the rare uses for stone and black powder on your vessel, Improve Structure isn't too useful until you get into the higher challenge level areas. Gun towers are particularly nasty on their own; their bigger cousin, the Siege tower, can cause even Ships of the Line to think before engaging them.
Sabotage	0	This is a hidden active talent. It will appear in your hotbar after you have been in active combat for 10 minutes(total, not consecutive). When activated, it will destroy every enemy in sight, but it can only be used once(at which point you need to be in active combat for 10 minutes again before it will re-appear).

Defense Specialization Talents

Defensive specialization is for "tanking", making the ship much more resistant to incoming damage. A fully Defensive-specialized player will be able to take damage from multiple sources and remain in the fight while dealing a greatly improved amount of damage while anchored.

Defensive specialization's abilities scale with the Hull stat, meaning the higher the ship's Hull, the more effective its Defensive specialization talents will be. As such, the ideal ship for a Defensive-specialized player is a Ship of the Line.

Name	Levels	Description
Usable Debris	5	Use debris to raise armor by up to 20-100% as the ship's Hull condition deteriorates. This passive ability makes you tougher to kill the more damage you actually take. In a Ship of the Line with 2000 Hull at 50% health this means up to 1000 extra Armor, which can greatly reduce incoming damage and improve resistance to Corrosive ammunition and Noxious Fumes.
Instil Confidence	5	Your exceptional experience improves durability of all allies near you by 4-20% of your hull. If you want to be a team player, grab this skill and support your allies with more health. Like other Auras it affects your ship as well, so there is really no reason to be without it. No friendly captain will ever complain about having even more health than before, especially considering that it scales with your ship's Hull stat. The 20% of your Ship of the Line can easily double the health of a nearby Corvette.
More Struts!	3	Install strategic struts throughout your ship, reducing ramming damage by 20-60% and cooldowns on defensive skills by 10-30%. The ramming reduction can help a lot, especially since this allows you to ram in turn and take less damage in the process. Defensive skills specifically include Hasty Repairs and Defiance.
Indomitable	3	Special crew training reduces damage from area of effect abilities, improves turning speed, and increases damage by 25-75% of your Hull stat while anchored This talent turns your ship into a powerful "turret" while stationary, greatly increasing your ship's damage output while also adding a strong resistance to AoE abilities. Just remember to drop anchor for this effect to work! (hold Space Bar, Right Mouse Button or the Left Bumper)

Offense Specialization Talents

For those that prefer to deal a lot of damage quickly, specializing in Offense is the obvious way to go.

Offensive specialization's talents scale with the ship's Damage stat. The higher the ship's damage, the more effective the Offensive abilities are going to be. As such, the best ship for an Offensive specialized player is a Corvette.

Name	Levels	Description
Bet that Hurt!	4	Special gunner training reduces enemy armor by 2-8% of your Damage on hit. This skill gives all your regular cannonballs the ability to apply an Armor Piercing debuff on your enemy. 8% may not seem like a lot at first, but in a ship with 2000 Damage this provides a 160 Armor debuff, often greatly increasing the overall damage. The best part is that this debuff isn't limited to just your ship: all allies attacking your target will benefit.
Viciousness	5	Your bloodthirstiness inspires your allies, raising their damage by 4-20% of your own. Along with its counterpart Instil Confidence in the defensive tree, boosting the damage of multiple allies is the true benefit of this skill. 20%, especially when multiplied across multiple ships, provides a very noticeable damage boost.
Drill Master	4	Repeated practice reduces cooldown of offensive skills by 8-32%. Very useful in enabling the rapid use of skills like Grogolov Cocktail - which is very useful at disabling an opponent's sails and reduces their effectiveness in bringing weapons to bear. Faster offensive skills mean more damage, and more damage means your opponents have less time to think about their next move before sinking.
Bullseye	3	Grogolov and Noxious Fumes will now cling to enemies and reduce their repair effectiveness by 0-80%. Absolutely invaluable if you use either of these skills (you should, as you're an offensive ship when you use these). This way an enemy will not be able to fully escape the effects of either skill, and its effects will linger even if they successfully leave its initial area of effectiveness.

Support Specialization Talents

Support is a perfect specialization for players that prefer to hang back from combat as one of the key features of going Support involves a decreased "aggro" range where enemy ships need to get much closer before they start firing on the player. Support specialization talents scale with the ship's Diplomacy stat, making them more suitable for players sailing the Royal Brigantine (250% multiplier), Galleon (350%) . In addition, Diplomacy also affects the damage of Area-of-Effect abilities such as Grogolov, so even those players that stack Diplomacy over Damage will not be left defenseless. Indeed, a highly Diplomacy specialized ship that also stacks Offensive timer-reducing Captain, Crew and Specialist can deal an obscene amount of damage with Grogolov that will also happen to have a mere 14 second cooldown timer.

In common fantasy RPG terms, a high Support-specialized ship can be both a priest as well as a mage.

Name	Levels	Description
Diplomatic Immunity	3	Your reputation reduces the desire for enemies to engage you in combat until you get closer by up to 3-10% of your Diplomacy. Useful if you want to avoid a fight, which you may want to do if you're choosing the Support specialization. This specialization enables you to lend your support to a pitched fight by throwing cleansing water barrels to your friends and fog to assist your teammates' repairing without having to engage enemies in combat yourself.
The Great Provider	5	Your mere presence reduces the cost of abilities, encourages nearby allies to repair themselves and raises their Diplomacy by 4-20% of your own. In addition to the boost to Diplomacy, this is basically a "regen aura" for you and your nearby allies. Much like the other auras (Instil Confidence and Viciousness) this skill is most useful in a pitched battle where multiple friendlies can be assisted by it. Better still, this aura provides additional stats for nearby AI-controlled ships, boosting their damage resistance and damage output.
Elite Training	4	With enough training, the cooldowns of all support skills and capture timers can be reduced by 8-32%, while damage output increased by the same amount. Improved damage, reduced cooldown timers on key skills and faster capture timers. What's not to like!
Crowd Control	4	Fog cloud will now cling to enemies and last longer. In addition, all Area Effect abilities will be up to 8-32% more effective. The bonus to Water Barrel ability greatly improves the "heal" effect, and throwing fog at a particularly strong enemy at the start of a fight can help divide multiple enemies.