Windrose Endgame Guide: What to Do After the Story Ends

Updated 2026-10-20: Rechecked against faction shop data and the item pages. The Frigate design sits at Brethren level 4 (not 2), Brethren level 3 sells no ship upgrades, 36-pounders only fit the Blackbeard Frigate, the reputation thresholds are 100, 400 and 1,000 in total, and Ashlands now has a window: this winter.

The endgame checklist

The thresholds are the same for every faction: level 2 at 100 total reputation, level 3 at 400, level 4 at 1,000. Every Bounty Agent on Tortuga pays the same rate for an insignia, so you choose where the credit goes.

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Reputation is the real grind

Insignias are the currency. A Newhand is worth 1 point, a Deckhand 4, a Veteran 20 and an Old Salt 80; a Letter of Favor from a faction quest adds 10. They drop whenever you sink or board a Blackbeard ship, and the Tortuga contract boards post sail-and-fight jobs on top. Our faction reputation guide has the fastest routes.

Where to spend it, faction by faction:

• Smugglers of Port Royal to level 3. Level 2 sells the Keelhold, Iron Resolve and Standfast hull bracings; level 3 adds all five naval tactics. Level 4 is furniture. Stop at 3.
• Brethren of the Coast to level 4. Level 2 is the Brig design; level 3 is drinks and style books; level 4 is Ship Design: Frigate for 3,000 Piastre. This is the long one, and it's the one we'd pour Old Salts into.
• Rogue Buccaneers as far as your cannons need. Effect variants of the 12-pounder at level 2, the 24-pounder at level 3, the 36-pounder at level 4. More on that catch below.
• People of Tortuga to level 2. It isn't just decorations: level 2 sells the Privateer and Marksman armor plans and two merchant contracts. Past that, it's mahogany furniture for your base.

The Frigate: Brethren level 4 and a long shopping list

Ship designs are paper items you learn; this one unlocks the Blackbeard's Ketch. The Frigate design works the same way. Screenshot: Windrose: Early Access Release Date Reveal Trailer (official, 0:23)

The Frigate is the largest hull you can build in Early Access, and the bill is steep. After the design, the Wharf wants:

Tarred Planks and Tarred Fabric use Tar from the Cursed Swamps, so the recipe really opens after the swamp boss. Shipwright's Tools are the easy part: the Brethren sell them from level 1, for a handful of Piastre.

Which Frigate? The three variants trade the same way the smaller hulls do:

Here's the catch most endgame lists skip: the Blackbeard Frigate is the only hull that mounts 36-pounders. If you're building the Stock or Brethren Frigate, the Buccaneers' level 4 cannon plans do nothing for you, and level 3 (the 24-pounder variants) is where you stop. We'd build the Brethren Frigate for its hull and cargo, and save the Buccaneers grind for a second ship. Our best ship build tier list runs through the loadouts.

Cannons, hull bracings, naval tactics and crew orders are crafted at the Shipwright's Workshop and fitted at the Wharf, under Manage Ship. The ship building guide covers the stations.

Tumbaga and Mire Metal: the gear loop

A Foothills ruin with an Undead guard: the kind of dungeon whose chests roll Tumbaga. Screenshot: Windrose: Early Access Release Date Reveal Trailer (official, 0:49)

Epic gear is the other endgame, and it runs on Tumbaga Ingots. Tumbaga ascends tier-2 and tier-3 weapons, tools and armor from Rare to Epic at the Weaponsmith Workshop, and it feeds ring and amulet upgrades at the Jewelery Table. There's no smelting recipe. You loot it:

• Foothills: chests in dungeons, fire-bowl ruins and big battle ruins. This is the densest source.
• Cursed Swamps: battle ruins, star-pool shrines and crypts.
• Quests: the swamp "Tumbaga Big Furnace" research quest and the side quest Eyes Wide with Fear.
• Disassembly Table: breaking down an Advanced-tier weapon returns three or four ingots.

Mire Metal Ingots are the swamp-tier metal: two Ancient Scraps and one Quagmire Powder at a Large Smelting Furnace, used at the armor, weapon and enchanting stations. Ancient Scraps come from chests deep inside the Senkamati ruins; Quagmire Powder comes from deposits you gather across the Cursed Swamps. Bring your best gear. In the official reveal trailer at 0:51, a player walks into a Plague Warrior at level 12 and a Plague Crusher at level 13 in the swamp, and the whole biome sits in the 11 to 15 encounter band.

Our best weapons tier list is where we'd look before choosing which weapon gets the first Epic.

What's still in the Journal

Beating the story doesn't empty the quest log. The quest list still holds:

• Blackbeard Treasure Maps: a 9-map chain that starts from pirate camp chests.
• Collections: Master Fisherman, the Ritual Daggers of the High Priestess and the Ancient Masks.
• 17 research quests that gate crafting tiers, and 6 hunting challenges.
• 13 local events, small scenarios at points of interest, including the Boarding Battle at sea.
• Swamp side quests: Fate of the Prophets, Jokes of the Gods and Mystery of the Expedition.
• Rumors from Tortuga's taverns, which point at hidden spots and spawn side quests. They don't expire.

None of this pays reputation the way insignias do, but treasure maps and side quests are where the stray Tumbaga stacks come from.

What's next: Ashlands this winter

The next biome is Ashlands. The official Ashlands Release Window Trailer, shown on October 8, closes on "This winter" with no day attached, and nothing official mentions a new level cap. Our Ashlands biome guide tracks what Kraken Express has shown, and the max level guide covers the XP side. One change hits the Frigate plan directly: the October 8 devblog says Ashlands moves away from predefined faction ship variants, so Brethren and Blackbeard versions give way to picking a ship class and customizing it, and resources from dismantled ships will be fully refunded. Build the Brethren Frigate now anyway; the studio says "you won't lose your progress."

Mistakes we'd avoid

• Buying 36-pounder plans for the wrong hull. Only the Blackbeard Frigate takes them.
• Pushing the Brethren to 3 and stopping. Level 3 sells nothing for your ship; the Frigate design is at 4.
• Treating Smugglers level 4 as a goal. It's furniture. Level 3 is the useful one.
• Hoarding Tumbaga for "later". Every ingot you hold is a weapon still stuck at Rare.

Our take

We'd run the endgame as one long Brethren push: every Old Salt goes to them until the Frigate design is yours, with a detour to Smugglers level 3 for naval tactics because those help every ship you'll ever sail. Build the Brethren Frigate, not the Blackbeard one, unless you love glass cannons. Then spend the swamp nights on Tumbaga. Skip Tortuga's furniture and Smugglers level 4 unless you build bases for fun, and don't stockpile for Ashlands: nobody knows yet what it'll ask for.

How we checked this

Shop stock and prices by faction level come from Windrose DB's faction pages (extracted from the game files) and PC Gamer's faction tables; recipes, ship stats and loot sources from game.wiki's Frigate, Ships, Wharf, Tumbaga Ingot, Mire Metal Ingot, Ancient Scraps, Quagmire Powder, Cursed Swamps and Quests pages; insignia values and thresholds from the Windrose Codex. On October 20 we watched the official reveal and release trailers and the Ashlands Release Window Trailer frame by frame; the timestamps above are from that pass, and the header image is a frame from the official Early Access Release Trailer at 0:16. We haven't played the endgame ourselves; the order above is a reading of the shop tables.

Correction (2026-10-20): An earlier version put the Frigate design at Brethren level 2, said Brethren level 3 unlocks Frigate hull and rigging upgrades, and made a Richards kill a Frigate requirement. It named a "Boarding Party Gear" slot (the fourth slot is crew orders), placed fitting at the Shipwright's Workshop (it's the Wharf), and listed reputation thresholds below the real ones (they're 400 and 1,000 in total). It called People of Tortuga cosmetics only, listed Undead Corsairs and Plague Thralls in the swamps, had Quagmire Powder dropping from enemies, gave play-time estimates and a Shipshape "speed" effect with no source, and closed with an unrelated promotion for another game. Those parts are fixed or removed, and the three images, whose captions described scenes they didn't show, are replaced.

Related Reading

• Windrose Faction Reputation Guide: insignia values, the four faction quests and the fastest reputation routes.
• Windrose Naval Tactics Guide: all five tactics ranked, and which one to buy first at Smugglers level 3.
• Windrose Best Ship Build Tier List: hulls, cannons and bracings compared.
• Windrose Ship Combat Guide: ammo, raking and fights against several ships.
• Windrose High Priestess Boss Guide: the last story boss before all this opens up.
• Windrose Max Level Guide: the level 15 cap and the XP table.

References

• Ship Design: Frigate and Brethren of the Coast shop (Windrose DB)
• Smugglers of Port Royal shop (Windrose DB)
• Rogue Buccaneers shop (Windrose DB)
• Windrose factions (PC Gamer)
• Frigate, Ships and Wharf (game.wiki)
• Tumbaga Ingot, Mire Metal Ingot, Ancient Scraps and Quagmire Powder (game.wiki)
• Cursed Swamps and Quests (game.wiki)
• Factions (Windrose Codex)
• Windrose: Early Access Release Date Reveal Trailer, Early Access Release Trailer and Ashlands Release Window Trailer (official, YouTube)
• Windrose on Steam

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the max level in Windrose Early Access? Level 15. The High Priestess in the Cursed Swamps is the last story boss, and Kraken Express hasn't announced a new cap for the Ashlands update.

How do you get the Frigate in Windrose? Buy Ship Design: Frigate from the Brethren of the Coast at reputation level 4 (1,000 total reputation) for 3,000 Piastre, then build it at the Wharf. The recipe needs Tarred Planks and Tarred Fabric, which use Tar from the Cursed Swamps.

Where do you get Tumbaga Ingots? From chests in Foothills dungeons, fire-bowl ruins and big battle ruins, from Cursed Swamps battle ruins, star-pool shrines and crypts, and from two quests. You can't smelt it; breaking down Advanced-tier weapons at the Disassembly Table also returns some.

When does Ashlands come out? The official Ashlands Release Window Trailer from October 8 says this winter. There's no exact date yet.