Windrose Ship Building Guide: Ketch, Brig and Frigate

Updated 2026-10-20: Rebuilt from the item and faction data. The wrecked ship you repair in the story is the Boat, not the Ketch; the Brig design sits at Brethren level 2 with no boss requirement; Wooden Planks come from the Sawhorse; the Brigantine is a future ship, not another name for the Brig. New images from the official trailers.

Wharf vs Shipwright's Workshop

The two stations split the work, and mixing them up is the classic early mistake.

Both plans come from the main quest How My Sea Adventure Began, so you don't buy either one. Craft a part at the Workshop, carry it down to the Wharf, and slot it under Manage Ship. Repairs at the Wharf cost materials only; save your Repair Kits for fights at sea.

Most players put a Wharf next to a Fast Travel Point at every island base, and we'd do the same: a second Wharf costs almost nothing. Idle hulls stay docked there when you switch ships.

A three-master tied up at a pier between voyages. Screenshot: Windrose: Early Access Release Trailer (official, 1:23)

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The ladder: Boat, Ketch, Brig, Frigate

The starter Boat comes before all of these. The Brethren thresholds are 100 total reputation for level 2 and 1,000 for level 4. The designs say what they are in-game: the Brig is "a reliable 14-gun ship", the Frigate "a vicious 36-gun ship", and each design unlocks all three variants of its hull. Separate Blackbeard's and Brethren's design papers also drop as loot.

The Ketch: your first real ship

The story hands you a Boat first. In I Need a Bigger Boat you find a wreck, patch it with 100 Wood, 20 Nails, 20 Coarse Fabric and 10 Rope, and hire a crew of seven. That's your ticket off the first island.

The Ketch comes next, in How My Sea Adventure Began, and it's the first hull you build from scratch:

All four come from the Coastal Jungle. Nails are crafted at the Workbench from Copper Ingots (or iron), and wrecks along the shore give some for free.

Don't spend much on the Ketch. It's a stepping stone to the Brig.

The Brig: Brethren level 2

Buy Ship Design: Brig from the Brethren of the Coast for 1,000 Piastre once you reach their level 2. There's no boss gate on it. Then the Wharf wants:

The Timber line is the one that catches people out: you need a trip to the Foothills before the Brig is buildable. The tools are cheap, three hundred Piastre for the lot, and the Brethren sell them from their first level.

We'd build the Brethren Brig. Two knots off the Stock hull is a fair price for a much tougher frame and a third more cargo. The Blackbeard Brig is the only Brig that takes 24-pounders, but it pays for them with the weakest hull and half the Brethren's hold.

The Frigate: Brethren level 4 and the swamp

Ship Design: Frigate costs 3,000 Piastre at Brethren level 4. It's the largest hull in Early Access, and the recipe is long:

Tarred Planks are a Wooden Plank plus Tar at a Workbench with Comfort 3, and Tar comes from the Cursed Swamps. So the Frigate is a third-biome project, whatever your reputation says.

Only the Blackbeard Frigate mounts 36-pounders, which matters before you grind the Rogue Buccaneers to level 4 for them. Our endgame guide covers that trap. For a Brethren or Stock Frigate, 24-pounders are as big as it gets.

Fitting the ship: four slots

Every hull has the same four slot types, all crafted at the Shipwright's Workshop:

The Workshop has three levels, and each part's recipe changes with it. A Keelhold bracing at level 1 is Wooden Planks, Copper Ingots and Nails; at level 3 it wants Tarred Planks, Mire Metal Ingots and Shipwright's Tools. Higher Workshop levels roll better stats.

Guns fire from three sides: left broadside, right broadside and the bow. Each side reloads on its own, so you can turn to bring a loaded side to bear while the other reloads. Perfectly Ordered is one of the Buccaneers' cannon variants, not a firing pattern. Our naval tactics guide ranks the tactics, and the ship combat guide covers ammo and positioning.

Alongside an enemy hull with the guns run out; crew orders kick in once you board. Screenshot: Windrose: Raging Seas Trailer (official, 1:26), from before Early Access

Mistakes we'd avoid

• Looking for ship construction at the Workshop. It only makes parts. Hulls come from the Wharf.
• Skipping the Foothills. The Brig and Frigate both need Timber, and Timber needs Foothills Hardwood.
• Buying 36-pounder plans for the wrong ship. Only the Blackbeard Frigate takes them.
• Waiting on the Brigantine. It isn't in the game yet; the Brig is the mid-size hull you can build today.
• Over-investing in the Ketch. Get to the Brig quickly; that's where reputation starts paying for ships.

What's coming

The bigger change is to variants. In its October 8 devblog, Kraken Express said Ashlands moves away from "predefined faction-specific ship variants": you'll pick a hull class and customize it, and the existing Brethren and Blackbeard versions will be removed. Its promise on what you already own: "Any resources from dismantled ships will be fully refunded." The migration details aren't out yet.

So don't agonize over the variant choice. Pick the one that suits you now; the materials come back when the system changes.

New hulls are on the way too. In July the studio said it is working on the Brigantine, the Fluyt and the Galleon and expects at least one of them in Ashlands, and in late August it showed a Galleon and warned that "the final lineup may change."

Our take

The Wharf is cheap, so build it early and build more than one. Go Ketch, then Brig as soon as the Brethren reach level 2, and start banking Timber and Copper Ingots before you buy the design, because the Brig's shopping list is where the grind starts. For the Frigate, push the Brethren to level 4 while you clear the swamp. We'd build the Brethren variant of every hull unless you want the Blackbeard Frigate's 36-pounders, and then only with Smugglers bracings to cover the thin hull. Our ship build tier list compares full loadouts.

How we checked this

Recipes, variant stats and station details come from game.wiki's Ketch, Brig, Frigate, Ships, Wharf, Shipwright's Workshop, Nails, Tarred Planks, Hull Bracings and Ship Parts pages, and from the I Need a Bigger Boat quest page. Faction prices and levels come from Windrose DB's Brethren shop (in-game item text) and PC Gamer's faction tables. Future ships and the variant rework come from the official Steam devblogs of July 1, August 28 and October 8. The three-sided firing comes from the official reveal trailer and Funjible's gameplay. The header image is the official Raging Seas Trailer at 0:06. We haven't built every variant ourselves; the picks are a reading of the stats.

Correction (2026-10-20): An earlier version said you get the Ketch by repairing a wreck (that's the starter Boat), listed a boss kill as a Brig requirement, set the Frigate design's reputation threshold too low (it's 1,000), placed Wooden Planks at the Workbench (the Sawhorse makes them) and the swamp as the second biome (it's the third). It called the Brig "Brigantine" (a different, future ship), named a "Boarding Party" slot (the slot is crew orders) and described "Perfectly Ordered Cannons" as a firing setup (it's a cannon variant). Two Brig variant cargo values were also wrong.

Related Reading

• Windrose Endgame Guide: the Brethren push, the Frigate and Tumbaga.
• Windrose Best Ship Build Tier List: hulls, cannons and bracings compared.
• Windrose Naval Tactics Guide: all five tactics ranked.
• Windrose Ship Combat Guide: ammo, raking and fights against several ships.
• Windrose Faction Reputation Guide: the fastest routes to Brethren level 4.
• Windrose Crafting Guide: stations and the recipes that feed the shipyard.
• Windrose Resources Guide: ore and timber farming.
• Windrose Thomas Richards Boss Guide: how to beat him.

References

• Ketch, Brig, Frigate and Ships (game.wiki)
• Wharf and Shipwright's Workshop (game.wiki)
• Ship Parts and Hull Bracings (game.wiki)
• Nails, Tarred Planks and I Need a Bigger Boat (game.wiki)
• Brethren of the Coast shop (Windrose DB)
• Windrose factions (PC Gamer)
• Windrose Devblog: Ashlands (WIP), July 1 (Steam)
• Ashlands Development Sneak Peek, August 28 (Steam)
• Voyage to Ashlands: Ship Customization, pt.1, October 8 (Steam)
• Windrose: Early Access Release Date Reveal Trailer (official, YouTube)
• Windrose ship combat gameplay (Funjible, YouTube)

Frequently asked questions

Where do you build ships in Windrose? At the Wharf, a shoreline structure that costs 10 Wood and 10 Coarse Fabric. The Shipwright's Workshop crafts cannons and other ship parts, but you fit them at the Wharf through the Manage Ship menu.

How do you unlock the Brig in Windrose? Buy Ship Design: Brig from the Brethren of the Coast at reputation level 2 (100 total reputation) for 1,000 Piastre, then build it at the Wharf.

What materials do you need to build a Brig in Windrose? 200 Nails, 200 Wooden Planks, 120 Coarse Fabric, 80 Copper Ingots, 40 Timber, 40 Linen Fabric, 40 Rope and 30 Shipwright's Tools. Timber needs Hardwood from the Foothills.

What is the best ship variant in Windrose? For most players the Brethren variant: it has the most hull and cargo on every ship, at a small speed cost. The Blackbeard variant is the glass cannon, and the only one that takes the heaviest guns.

Can you build a Frigate in the first biome in Windrose? No. The recipe needs Tarred Planks and Tarred Fabric, which use Tar from the Cursed Swamps, plus Timber from the Foothills and the design from Brethren level 4.

Is the Brigantine in Windrose? Not yet. The Brig is the mid-size hull in Early Access. Kraken Express is working on a Brigantine, a Fluyt and a Galleon, and expects at least one of them in the Ashlands update.