How to use Heavy Shot in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced

Our guide to Heavy Shot in Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced shows you everything you need to know to start blowing enemy ships out of the water, from unlocking the weapon through to firing it properly out on the open sea. Get it right and you can do some serious damage to any ship that gets a little too close for comfort, giving you additional shots you can fire in a pinch.

Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is Ubisoft’s remake of the 2013 hit release, rebuilt on the latest version of the Anvil engine and released on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC in July 2026. It’s a from-the-ground-up rebuild of the entire game, so things look and feel a while lot more modern. You’re still sailing the Caribbean Sea as pirate-turned-assassin Edward Kenway, and the remake leans pretty hard into naval combat, giving the Jackdaw a directional arsenal, various officers to recruit, and a range of firing modes for its weapons. Heavy Shot is one of the biggest hitters of that offensive, so it’s well worth getting to grips with it early.

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What does Heavy Shot actually do?

Heavy Shot is a close-to-medium range attack that fires straight from your broadside cannons without needing you to hold down the aim button first. That makes it faster to unleash than a standard cannon volley, which is exactly why it’s so good at dishing out burst damage the moment an enemy ship gets close. Use it to open a fight before the enemy knows what’s hit them, or save it as a finishing blow once you’ve already worn a ship down with mortars or standard cannon fire.

How to unlock it

You won’t have Heavy Shot from the moment you first climb aboard the Jackdaw. It becomes available through the Harbourmaster once you’ve completed the “Prizes and Plunder” main quest, so push through the story to that point first if you’re wondering what to do. From there, you’ll be able to buy ammo for it and top it up at any Harbourmaster between fights, the same as your mortars.

However, you’ll also pick up ammo from defeated ships along the way, so you should be good for the most part without needing to think about it too much.

How to fire Heavy Shot

Out on the water, all you need to do to fire Heavy Shot rounds instead of standard shot is to fire your cannons without aiming. On the PS5 controller, you do this by pressing R2 and on the Xbox controller it’s RT. That’s really all there is to it, although knowing when to use it matters just as much as knowing how, so you might want to check out out tips for Heavy Shot in the section below.

As mentioned above, the Heavy Shot is a close-to-medium range weapon, so you really need an enemy ship to be drawn up alongside you to land the shot. If their too far away then it will just flatline the crashing waves around the Jackdaw without damaging anything apart from your ego. As a result, it’s really important to use it at the right moment, which you can read more about below. You can also see the Heavy Shot in action with this tutorial video:

Tips for using Heavy Shot well

Positioning is everything in Black Flag Resynced’s naval combat, and Heavy Shot is no exception. It only reaches its full damage potential up close, so don’t waste it taking pot-shots from a distance. A solid approach against tougher ships is to soften them up with mortars while they close in, slow them down with chain shot from the bow, and then bring the Jackdaw alongside for a Heavy Shot finish. Keep an eye on your ammo too, since Heavy Shot draws from its own limited reserve that only refills at port.

It’s also a good option when facing fast ships that are trying to ram you. Arc away from their ramming point to force them to hit side on and then you can unleash the Heavy Shot for some big damage. Combine it with standard cannon fire and you should be able to turn defense into offense pretty quickly.

Upgrading Heavy Shot

Heavy Shot’s damage can be boosted through the Heavy Shot Upgrade, while separate Heavy Shot Storage upgrades increase how much ammo you can carry. If you want to push it as far as it’ll go, you’ll eventually need the Heavy Shot Strength Ultimate Plan and the Heavy Shot Storage Ultimate Plan, alongside a fully upgraded Harbourmaster at Great Inagua. Get your hull armour and cannonball damage sorted first, then work Heavy Shot’s upgrades in as you go, and the Jackdaw will start feeling like the most feared ship in the Caribbean in no time.

Check out our computer games section for more news and features on Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, or visit the official website at https://www.ubisoft.com/en-gb/game/assassins-creed/black-flag-resynced.