Curse of Pirates items occupy dedicated ship inventory slots and grant active abilities, passive stat bonuses, or elemental damage triggers during a voyage. Developed by Funky Parrot and published by HeroCraft PC, this naval action roguelike blends arena-survival combat with modifier systems where items define your offensive power and survivability against sea monsters and enemy fleets.
How Item Slots and Inventory Work
During a run, pressing the character or inventory interface key (Tab or R depending on your control layout) displays your ship attributes and available item slots. Steam achievements confirm that ships have multiple item capacity points, culminating in the "Full stack" achievement when you fill every available item slot in a single run.
Gameplay tests and playtest footage reveal specific constraints regarding item management:
- Slot Placement: Items discovered during sailing are assigned directly into empty inventory slots.
- Duplicate Restrictions: In-game tooltips state that once an item is equipped in an active slot, you cannot find another copy of that exact same type during the same voyage.
- Irreversible Equipping: Once an item or passive boon is slotted, you cannot freely unequip or remove it at will. While higher-tier gear (such as replacing a starter weapon with a Legendary drop) can prompt a replacement choice, general slot assignments are permanent for the rest of that run.
- Single-Run Duration: Equipping items provides bonuses for the current voyage. When your ship sinks or you finish a map run, equipped battlefield items reset, leaving you with meta-currencies to spend back at the port hub.
Item Types and Equipment Observed in Gameplay
Items and augmentations in Curse of Pirates fall across distinct combat classifications, spanning basic weapon hardware, passive crew upgrades, and elemental marks.
Ship Cannons and Weapons
Your ship relies on primary artillery and auxiliary firepower. Starter cannons provide standard physical firing lines, but specialized combat drops dramatically alter performance:
- Lousy Cannon: The default starter deck cannon that fires basic physical cannonballs.
- Cannon of the Deep: A Legendary weapon reward dropped after defeating the Kraken sea beast. It significantly upgrades volley patterns and firepower.
- Weapon Modifiers: Weapon pickups or boons modify projectile behaviors, such as granting +1 piercing projectile, projectile splitting into two pieces, or ricochet effects bouncing across enemy hulls.
Crew Upgrades and Infusions
Players can acquire or purchase crew-themed enhancements at altars and shops encountered across the water:
- Ghost Crew: Infuses attacks with ghost damage, summoning spectral entities that poison or stun targets on hit.
- Void Crew / Void Tear: Enhances cooldown reduction and deals void-element damage.
- Fire Crew / Fire Infusion: Adds ignition chances, causing cannonballs or abilities to inflict burning damage over time with chances to violently explode burning targets.
Marks
Marks serve as specialized equippable run items, highlighted by the Steam achievements "Branded for success" (equip marks) and "The Sacred Mark" (merge mark to level 5). These items level up or stack duplicate effects to enhance your build's specific damage identity.
Item Rarities
Gear and skill drops appear in distinct color-coded rarity tiers:
| Rarity Tier | In-Game Visual Indicator | Observed Trait Differences |
|---|---|---|
| Legendary | Gold/Orange highlight | Specialized unique behaviors (e.g., Cannon of the Deep, screen-clearing effects) |
Field Drops and Temporary Consumables
Beyond permanent gear slotted into your ship's hull, cruising the ocean produces dropped items from sunken vessels, flying enemies, and floating debris:
- Magnets: Immediate pickup items that pull all floating resources and experience scales on screen directly to your ship.
- Speed Boosts: Floating power-ups that temporarily surge movement speed, aiding in dodging enemy ships that attempt to ram or grapple.
- Health Fountains and Grog: Healing pickups are intentionally scarce during voyages. Players restore hull integrity by touching mermaids, floating health bottles, or collecting grog pools.
- Harvested Resources: Wood, Rock, and Gold drop throughout runs. Gold and materials are stored to fund mid-run purchases at altars or unlock permanent progression between runs.
- Mission Cargo (Treasure Chests): Specific map nodes require hooking or towing floating treasure chests through enemy fire to deliver them to beacon zones.
Hub Meta-Progression vs. Voyage Items
Items found out on the water expire when you sink, but resources gathered during runs fuel permanent upgrades in the harbor hub. Players interact with NPCs Astrid, Darkbone, and Zar'kul to upgrade baseline ship statistics:
- Experience Scale: Increases the rate at which your ship gains levels during sea battles.
- Health and Armor: Boosts baseline hull durability and passive armor retention.
- Critical Chance and Attack Speed: Improves base DPS across all slotted weaponry.
- Pickup Range: Widens the magnetic collection radius for gold, materials, and health drops.
- Movement Speed: Increases baseline rudder speed to evade ramming ships and sea beasts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you unequip or discard items during a run?
No. Playtest mechanics show that once an item is assigned to a ship slot, it cannot be dropped or freely unequipped. New gear can only replace existing slots if a direct replacement prompt appears upon collecting a higher-tier weapon.
What happens when you fill all item slots?
Filling every item slot on your ship during a single run unlocks the Steam achievement "Full stack" and prevents you from equipping further distinct item types for the remainder of that voyage.
Where do you find the Cannon of the Deep?
The Cannon of the Deep is a Legendary drop obtained after defeating the Kraken sea boss encounter during demo and playtest campaigns.
How do you heal your ship if you do not find healing items?
Healing items and fountains are strictly limited in open water. Surviving difficult runs requires taking specific altar modifiers, utilizing health pickups near mermaid shrines, or selecting passives that restore armor or health on hit.
