History Awesome / AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag

* The re-birth of Edward Kenway and The El Dorado into a full-fledged pirate captain and pirate ship, The Jackdaw, respectively. The whole sequence is something to watch, ''especially'' when he decides to ''outrun the hurricane'' that sinks the rest of the legendary ''Spanish Treasure Fleet.'' The music, the pounding rain, the roaring thunder, the waterspouts, the killer waves, hell the whole thing seems like the God of the Seas himself is testing the worth of this ragtag pirate crew. Makes it pretty clear who [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII Connor]] [[InTheBlood got his]] "do the impossible" mentality from.

* Taking down a [[BonusBoss Legendary ship]]. Even with a fully upgraded Jackdaw, you can't just trade broadside volleys with them; you ''have'' to outmaneuver them instead. In ascending order of badass, we have:

* It's very much possible to defeat El Tiburon with nothing more than a pistol (or four). This in turn crosses into FridgeBrilliance: El Tiburon is a heavily armored brute who fights more like someone from Ezio's time (though he also has a pistol of his own), but that means nothing when Edward can just [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome whittle him down him with bullets without ever crossing blades]]. In a way, it shows just how much the old forms of combat have given way to newer ones.

** The one most would say is the queen of them all, however, is ''El Impoluto''. This ship seems to [[AllYourPowersCombined aggressively combine the tactics used by the others]] to become [[ThatOneBoss an utter nightmare]]. Despite its massive size it's [[LightningBruiser capable of moving at incredible speed, easily outmatching that of the]] ''[[FragileSpeedster Jackdaw]]'' [[UpToEleven at its travel speed]], negating your usual advantage of maneuverability. On top of that, it's ''tough as a [[PrecisionFStrike motherfucker]]'', such that it can easily afford to simply batter past your fire barrels or broadsides and [[NoSell casually shrug off the damage]]. If all this wasn't enough, the ship seems to be crewed entirely by rum-crazed maniacs who have made it their mission in life to [[RammingAlwaysWorks park their ship on top of yours]]; its primary tactic is to charge straight at you, ram you hard enough to wipe out an entire life bar in one shot, then turn on its heel and repeat (possibly with a broadside to soften you up) until the ''Jackdaw'' is nothing but driftwood.

* Taking down a [[BonusBoss Legendary ship]]. Even with a fully upgraded Jackdaw, you can't just trade broadside volleys with them; you ''have'' to outmaneuver them instead. In rough ascending order of badass, we have:
** The ''HMS Prince'', generally considered the weakest of the four fights, is nonetheless a titan who will slaughter any mid-to-high level ship that gets too close. Getting within several dozen miles of it will trigger a thick, blinding fog in which it will hide. While you're struggling to figure out where it is, it will [[DeathFromAbove rain down powerful mortars on you]]; if you find it, it will not hesitate to open up with thunderous broadsides or its bow guns at what can easily turn out to be point-blank range, turning the battle into a deadly game of Hide-and-Seek. Capping it all off is the way it seems to active invoke the image of the ''FlyingDutchman'', with its ragged appearance and the mysterious fog [[MassOhCrap sending your crew into paroxysms of pants-wetting terror.]]
** ''[[MightyGlacier La Dama Negra]]'' is a ship you [[BattleInTheRain fight in a heavy rainstorm]]. It's got souped-up broadside volleys always lit aflame, and powerful mortars - not only do the latter not leave a targeting reticle to warn you, but ''The Black Lady'' will lead its shots, meaning you're toast if you're not ''very'' good at swerving and turning on a dime. The cherry on top? This ship's got [[ArmorOfInvincibility ultra-thick armor on its sides and front]]. Attempting to hit it in those locations will trigger a text straight-up telling the player that the sides of the ship are invulnerable, forcing you to AttackItsWeakPoint by striking the rear of the vessel lest you be blown out of the water, gradually chipping away at the floating fortress's hull until it finally sinks.
** One of two candidates for hardest fight is the Twins, properly called the [[DualBoss ''HMS Fearless'' and its sister ship ''The Royal Sovereign''.]] Individually, they've got thinner skin than the others, but that's because you fight them at the same time. The two are lightning fast, as they have to be since their tactic of choice is to flank you from either side and hit you with a double serving of their over-cranked broadside shots. Getting caught between them is certain death. Think you can make the fight easier by hammering one until it's down? The other one will respond by [[TurnsRed flipping its lid]], [[IncendiaryExponent lighting itself on fire]] and [[RammingAlwaysWorks attempting to run you down and ram into you]], all the while pelting you with heavy cannon shots (which are ''also'' on fire).
** The one most would say is the queen of them all, however, is ''El Impoluto''. This ship seems to [[AllYourPowersCombined aggressively combine the tactics used by the others]] to become [[ThatOneBoss an utter nightmare]]. Despite its massive size it's [[LightningBruiser capable of moving at incredible speed]] and can turn on par with the ''Jackdaw'', negating your usual advantage of maneuverability - something it will gleefully exploit to the fullest extent. Try to slow it down by dropping fire barrels in its path or firing broadsides at it? It's fast enough to move around the barrels and ''tough as a [[PrecisionFStrike motherfucker]]'' besides, such that it can afford to simply batter its way through while [[NoSell casually shrugging off the damage]]. If all this wasn't enough, the ship seems crewed entirely by rum-crazed lunatics who have made it their mission in life to [[RammingAlwaysWorks park their ship on top of yours]]; its primary tactic is to charge straight at you, ram you hard enough to wipe out an entire life bar in one shot, then turn on its heel and repeat until the ''Jackdaw'' is nothing but driftwood and kindling.
*** Appropriately enough, you're rewarded with its charged-up ram attack as a reward after sinking all four (five?) of the Legendary Ships, and it is every bit as nasty as you might expect.

* Taking down a Legendary ship. Even with a fully upgraded Jackdaw, you can't just trade broadside volleys with them; you ''have'' to outmaneuver them instead. In rough order of badassery, we have:
** The ''HMS Prince'', the weakest of the four fights, is nonetheless a titan who will slaughter any mid-to-high level ship that gets too close. Getting within several dozen miles of it will trigger a thick, blinding fog in which it will hide. While you're struggling to figure out where it is, it will rain down powerful mortars on you. The fog, combined with its ragged appearance, sends the superstitious crew into pants-wetting terror.
** ''La Dama Negra'' is a ship you fight in a heavy rainstorm. It's got heavy souped-up broadside volleys always lit aflame, and powerful mortars, which not only do not leave a targeting reticle to warn you, but ''The Black Lady'' will lead its shots, meaning you're toast if you're not ''very'' good at swerving and turning on a dime. The cherry on top? This ship's got ultra-thick armor on its sides and front. Attempting to hit it in those locations will trigger a text straight-up telling the player that the sides of the ship are invulnerable.
** One of two candidates for hardest fight is the Twins, properly called the ''HMS Fearless'' and its sister ship ''The Royal Sovereign''. Individually, they've got thinner skin than the others, but that's because you fight them at the same time. The two are lightning fast, as they have to be since their tactic of choice is to flank you from either side and hit you with a double serving of their over-cranked broadside shots. Getting caught between them is certain death. Think you can make the fight easier by hammering one until it's down? The other one will respond by going nuts, lighting itself on fire and attempting to run you down and ram into you, all the while pelting you with heavy cannon shots.
** The one most would say is the queen of them all, however, is ''El Impoluto''. This ship seems to aggressively combine the tactics used by the others to become an utter nightmare. It moves at impossible speeds, a fact it will use to chase you down and ram you into a broken mess. Once it hits, taking out an entire life bar if you can't swerve fast enough or brace in time, it will turn on its heel, run back across the sea, and then come in for another run, rinsing and repeating until you are dead. You can try to deter it from its chase with fire barrels, but it's fast enough to just go around them and get you anyway... or more often, hitting you with forward cannons while busting straight through the barrels and soaking up the damage. Which it can do because it is not only lightning fast, but ''tough as a [[PrecisionFStrike motherfucker]].'' Fighting this ship, crewed by rum-crazed lunatics determined to park their ship on top of yours, is an exercise in aggression and submission. Once you've beaten this ship, you're rewarded with its charged-up ram attack as a reward.

* Sometimes, when sailing, you may come across ships that are about to go down in flames, where you can loot the cargo, and the pockets of the dead men aboard. One common layout the bodies have is a British/Spanish captain absolutely swarmed by dead pirates. The implication that the captain ''killed them all'' in a DyingMomentOfAwesome.

* The mission "Devil's Advocate." [[spoiler:Getting to take the helm of the infamous Queen Anne's Revenge and all forty of her guns.]]
** Topped when you get to steal a Portuguese Man of War and get to put all its awesome firepower to use. The ship ultimately goes on to become Black Bart's ''Royal Fortune''. For added awesome value, [[spoiler: you get to defeat that ship in the final sequence of the game, no matter how easy or hard it is for the player.]]
* Props to Benjamin Hornigold who, in Kingston, has one glimpse of the Jackdaw and immediately knows that Edward is actively spying on him [[spoiler:and the other Templars]], then immediately calls him out.
* He may be [[spoiler: a HumanoidAbomination DevilInPlainSight]] but Bartholomew Roberts, or 'Black Bart' is [[EvilIsCool very cool]]. When he becomes a captain, he delivers a villainous NoMoreHoldingBackSpeech that, for added awesome value, is TruthInTelevision and borrows from Charles Johnson's ''A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates''.

* James Kidd or [[spoiler: Mary Read is awesomeness itself. When was the last time a woman got to be not only TheMentor to the hero but also to another woman, Anne Bonny, who she empowers from a waitress to a fellow BackToBackBadasses and who serves as her NumberTwo while she Captains Jack's operation more or less. And while she's pregnant. Alas TooCoolToLive.]]
* Adewale is pretty awesome. He's the OnlySaneMan, down and earthy, and a good friend. But he won't be Edward's enabler and tells him straight up, [[spoiler: that he'd rather be an Assassin than sail under a selfish asshole like him.]] It's great to see a character who blossoms from TheLancer into a HeroOfAnotherStory in the same game.

* Retroactively, [[spoiler:Woodes Roger's assassination is this, as at the end of the game it's revealed he survived.]] ''This makes him the second person to have survived a direct hidden blade assassination, in addition to [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRevelations Shakulu]]''. And more than that, Shakulu had heavy armor; [[spoiler:Rogers]] had '''none''' of that.

* It's very much possible to defeat [[spoiler:El Tiburon]] with nothing more than a pistol (or four). This in turn crosses into FridgeBrilliance: [[spoiler:El Tiburon]] is a heavily armored brute who fights more like someone from Ezio's time (though he also has a pistol of his own), but that means nothing when Edward can just [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome whittle him down him with bullets without ever crossing blades]]. In a way, it shows just how much the old forms of combat have given way to newer ones.

* It's very much possible to defeat [[spoiler:El Tiburon]] with nothing more than a pistol (or four). This in turn crosses into FridgeBrilliance: [[spoiler:El Tiburon]] is a heavily armored brute who fights more like someone from Ezio's time (though he also has a pistol of his own), but that means nothing when Edward can just [[RealityEnsues whittle him down him with bullets without ever crossing blades]]. In a way, it shows just how much the old forms of combat have given way to newer ones.

** Upgrading the ''Jackdaw'' and seeing its growth overtime is awesome, especially for those with an eye for detail, since most hull/weapon upgrades are visibly represented, with a focus on the ship every time and the crew sometimes cheering for the upgrades. You go from cowering in terror from a single brig, to using tactics, mortars and broadside cannons to take out five(-or-more) ships in a single battle.

* The fact that the Animus doesn't desynch if Edward dives off of the ''Jackdaw'', swims towards an enemy ship, boards and captures it single-handedly -- thereby foregoing the need for a naval combat against that ship -- means that it's entirely possible that he actually did this at ''least'' once!
** Really, the sheer amount of freedom you have in this game. Going purely by the Animus's mechanics, it elevates Edward's reputation ''far'' above what's stated. In his youth, he could dive deep in a diving bell, rob chests from under the shadows of sharks and live to tell the tale. And he's harpooned Great White Sharks and whales. And he's defeated several legendary ships, amongst many other lesser ones.
* Edward Kenway is a self-trained pirate able to completely bluff Templars as he uses hidden blades for the first time.

* Taking down a Legendary ship. Even with a fully upgraded Jackdaw, you can't just trade broadside volleys with them; you ''have'' to outmaneuver them instead. In rough order of badassery, we have:
** The ''HMS Prince'', the weakest of the four fights, is nonetheless a titan who will slaughter any mid-to-high level ship that gets too close. Getting within several dozen miles of it will trigger a thick, blinding fog in which it will hide. While you're struggling to figure out where it is, it will rain down powerful mortars on you. The fog, combined with its ragged appearance, sends the superstitious crew into pants-wetting terror.
** ''La Dama Negra'' is a ship you fight in a heavy rainstorm. It's got heavy souped-up broadside volleys always lit aflame, and powerful mortars, which not only do not leave a targeting reticle to warn you, but ''The Black Lady'' will lead its shots, meaning you're toast if you're not ''very'' good at swerving and turning on a dime. The cherry on top? This ship's got ultra thick armor on its sides and front. Attempting to hit it in those locations will trigger a text straight-up telling the player that the sides of the ship are invulnerable.
** One of two candidates for hardest fight is the Twins, properly called the ''HMS Fearless'' and its sister ship ''The Royal Sovereign''. Individually, they've got thinner skin than the others, but that's because you fight them at the same time. The two are lightning fast, as they have to be since their tactic of choice is to flank you from either side and hit you with a double serving of their over-cranked broadside shots. Getting caught between them is certain death. Think you can make the fight easier by hammering one until it's down? The other one will respond by going nuts, lighting itself on fire and attempting to run you down and ram into you, all the while pelting you with heavy cannon shots.
** The one most would say is the queen of them all, however, is ''El Impoluto''. This ship seems to aggressively combine the tactics used by the others to become an utter nightmare. It moves at impossible speeds, a fact it will use to chase you down and ram you into a broken mess. Once it hits, taking out an entire life bar if you can't swerve fast enough, it will turn on its heel, run back across the sea, and then come in for another run, rinsing and repeating until you are dead. You can try to deter it from its chase with fire barrels, but it's fast enough to just go around them and get you anyway. The likelier scenario however, is it hitting you with forward cannons while busting straight through the barrels and soaking up the damage. Which it can do because it is not only lightning fast, but ''tough as a [[PrecisionFStrike motherfucker]].'' Fighting this ship, crewed by rum-crazed lunatics determined to park their ship on top of yours, is an exercise in aggression and submission. Once you've beaten this ship, you're rewarded with its charged-up ram attack as reward.

* The whole randomness of the game world can cause some truly awesome fights, like attacking an island fort during a storm while a water spout circles it, messing up with your aim and forcing you to a distance where it's even harder to make your shots hit... unless you have the luck, timing, and/or bravado to get in close and attack from the opposite side as the deadly vortex. If you're lucky, the spout might attend to any enemy ships trying to interfere with your assault.

* The re-birth so to speak of Edward Kenway and The El Dorado into a full-fledged pirate captain and pirate ship, The Jackdaw, respectively. The whole sequence is something to watch, ''especially'' when he decides to ''outrun the hurricane'' that sinks the rest of the legendary ''Spanish Treasure Fleet.'' The music, the thunder, the waterspouts, the killer waves, hell the whole thing seems like the God of the Seas himself is testing the worth of this ragtag pirate crew. Makes it pretty clear who [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII Connor]] gets his "do the impossible" mentality from.
** Upgrading the ''Jackdaw'' and seeing its growth overtime is awesome, including for those with an eye for detail, since most hull/weapon upgrades are visibly represented. You go from cowering in terror from a single brig, to using tactics, mortars and broadside cannons to take out five(-or-more) ships in a single battle.
* Sure, Blackbeard dies - but he goes out in a blaze of glory, being chopped down on a burning ship...

* He may be [[spoiler: a HumanoidAbomination DevilInPlainSight]] but Bartholomew Roberts, or 'Black Bart' is [[EvilIsCool very cool]]. When he becomes a captain, he delivers a villainous WorldOfCardboardSpeech that, for added awesome value, is TruthInTelevision and borrows from Charles Johnson's ''A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates''.

* Sure, Blackbeard dies - but he goes out in a blaze of glory, being chopped down on a burning ship...

** The one most would say is the queen of them all, however, is ''El Impoluto''. This ship seems to aggressively combine the tactics used by the others to become an utter nightmare. It moves at impossible speeds, a fact it will use to chase you down and ram you into a broken mess. Once it hits, taking out an entire life bar if you can't swerve fast enough, it will turn on its heel, run back across the sea, and then come in for another run, rinsing and repeating until you are dead. You can try to deter it from its chase with fire barrels, but it's fast enough to just go around them and get you anyway. The likelier scenario however, is it hitting you with forward cannons while busting straight through the barrels and soaking up the damage. Which it can do because it is not only lightning fast, but ''tough as a [[PrecisionFStrike motherfucker]].'' Fighting this ship, parked by rum-crazed lunatics determined to park their ship on top of yours, is an exercise in aggression and submission. Once you've beaten this ship, you're rewarded with its charged-up ram attack as reward.

* Taking down a Legendary ship. Even with a fully upgraded Jackdaw, you can't just trade broadside volleys with them; you ''have'' to outmaneuver them instead.
** One such vessel is ''La Dama Negra'', a huge Man O'War with a black tough armour like a rhino hide. Its weak spots are on the rear and its broadsides are deadly and its mortars are not only longer in range but also don't leave any marking on the waters as a warning sign. Finally turning this ship into a wreck and watching it sinking makes you join in the cheers of your digital crew.
** There is a growing consensus that El Impoluto is the most badass of all the Legendary Ships and the most difficult to take down. While it lacks the impenetrable armor and mortars of La Dama Negra and its cannons aren't quite as powerful, it makes up for it by being ''stupidly'' fast and insanely maneuverable, effectively negating the one advantage the Jackdaw generally has over all other ships. It also seems to be crewed entirely by rum-crazed lunatics who have made it their mission in life to park their ship ''on top'' of yours, hence their fixation with chasing you down and ramming you into oblivion. With all the other Legendary Ships you have at least a decent chance of taking them down on the first try, especially if your ship is fully upgraded. But El Impoluto? No. El Impoluto laughs at your feeble mortars and cannons and fire barrels. You are all but guaranteed to die the first time you foolishly decide to challenge El Impoluto, and probably many more times after that. Which makes the day when you ''finally'' manage to send that rotten bastard down to Davy Jones' Locker all the sweeter.
** The legendary ships are so awesome, not only the Spanish ships but also the H.M.S. Prince and the DualBoss Royal Sovereign and H.M.S. Fearless that you can help but feel a bit of regret and WorthyOpponent sentiment when you sink them down, not unlike taking down bosses in ''VideoGames/ShadowOfTheColossus''. You wished you had the boarding option to make them part of your fleet at least, but no these proud ships are piloted by true servants of their respective empires and would never sail under the black flag, preferring death instead.

** Upgrading the ''Jackdaw'' and seeing its growth overtime is awesome, including for those with an eye for detail, since most hull/weapon upgrades are visibly represented. You go from cowering in terror from a single brig, to using tactics, mortars and broadside cannons to take out five(-or-more) ships in a single battle.

* The re-birth so to speak of Edward Kenway and The El Dorado into a full-fledged pirate captain and pirate ship, The Jackdaw, respectively. The whole sequence is something to watch, ''especially'' when he decides to ''outrun the hurricane'' that sinks the rest of the legendary Spanish Treasure Fleet.' The music, the thunder, the waterspouts, the killer waves, hell the whole thing seems like the God of the Seas himself is testing the worth of this ragtag pirate crew. Makes it pretty clear who [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII Connor]] gets his "do the impossible" mentality from.

* Upgrading the ''Jackdaw'' and seeing its growth is awesome. You go from cowering in terror from a single brig, to using tactics, mortars and broadside cannons to take out five ships in a single battle.

** Topped when you get to steal a Portuguese Man of War and get to put all its awesome firepower to use. The ship ultimately goes on to become Black Bart's ''Royal Fortune''. For added awesome value, [[spoiler: you get to defeat that ship in the final sequence of the game.]]
*** Though it's Pretty Easy, since you've probably upgraded the Jackdaw to Legendary Status by now.

* Adewale is pretty awesome. He's the OnlySaneMan, down and earthy, and a good friend. But he won't be Edward's enabler and tells him straight up, [[spoiler: that he'd rather by an Assassin than sail under a selfish asshole like him.]] It's great to see a character who blossoms from TheLancer into a HeroOfAnotherStory in the same game.

* Upgrading the ''Jackdaw'' and seeing is growth is awesome. You go from cowering in terror from a single brig, to using tactics, mortars and broadside cannons to take out five ships in a single battle.

* The re-birth so to speak of Edward Kenway and The El Dorado into a full-fledged pirate captain and pirate ship, The Jackdaw, respectively. The whole sequence is something to watch, ''especially'' when he decides to ''outrun the hurricane'' that sinks the rest of the legendary Spanish Treasure Fleet.' The music, the thunder, the waterspouts, the killer waves, hell the whole thing seems like the God of the Seas himself is testing the worth of this ragtag pirate crew. Makes it pretty clear who [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII Connor]] gets his "do the impossible" mentality from.

** His EstablishingCharacterMoment? Directly after he and Edward break out of their chains, despite having just met, he proceeds to fill the other half of BashBrothers with Edward. Edward whistles for one guard's attention, chokes him from the corner, then Adewale rushs straight in and deals with the other target, repeated for a total of three times - there's even one case where it's two men he takes down without raising the alarm, with little effort. [[note]] And due to the Animus's mechanics, this is very close to how they canonically escaped. [[/note]]

* The re-birth so to speak of Edward Kenway and The El Dorado into a full-fledged pirate captain and pirate ship, The Jackdaw, respectively. The whole sequence is something to watch, ''especially'' when he decides to ''outrun the hurricane'' that sinks the rest of the legendary Spanish Treasure Fleet.' The music, the the thunder, the waterspouts, the killer waves, hell the whole thing seems like the God of the Seas himself is testing the worth of this ragtag pirate crew. Makes it pretty clear who [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIII Connor]] gets his "do the impossible" mentality from.

* James Kidd or [[spoiler: Mary Read is awesomeness itself. When was the last time a woman/love interest got to be not only TheMentor to the hero but also to another woman, Anne Bonny, who she empowers from a waitress to a fellow BackToBackBadasses and who serves as her NumberTwo while she Captains Jack's operation more or less. And while she's pregnant. Alas TooCoolToLive.]]

* It's very much possible to defeat [[spoiler:El Tiburon]] with nothing more than a pistol (or four). This in turn crosses into FridgeBrilliance: [[spoiler:El Tiburon]] is a heavily armored brute who fights more like someone from Ezio's time (though he also has a pistol of his own), but that means nothing when Edward can just [[RealityEnsues whittle him down him with bullets without ever crossing blades]]. In a way, it shows just how much the old forms of combat have given way to newer ones.

* Edward Kenway is a self-trained pirate able to completely bluff Templars as he uses hidden blades for the first time, and is able to sneak into an Assassin hideout undetected by the dozens of fully trained Assassins already there.
** He isn't undetected: the dialogue we hear states that the Assassins know he's there and that he's been summoned, and that they think he's a jerk for stealing an outfit that didn't belong to him. And then he gets disarmed by [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking Ah Tabai]], who came up behind him. Which is a moment of awesome for the Assassins at Tulum. Of course, that also, one can argue make Edward more awesome. Despite being warned, he sneaks past them anyway and according to the sync details, knocked out quite a few of them before finally getting caught by their Mentor. Really, Edward makes a fool out of the entire order and later Ah Tabai admits that he has impressive skills.