Not only is the Blowpipe one of the more silent weapons, but it also allows you tons of flexibility during your adventures. Whether you want to lure a rival crew to an ambush or Poison an opponent in a fight, the Blowpipe, with its several different types of Darts, can help you prevail in various situations.
Blowpipe
The Blowpipe is a projectile loadout weapon that can fire different types of Darts one at a time. The three types of Darts it can shoot are Black Powder, Poison, and Lure Darts.
Although each type of Dart has unique characteristics and effects, they all fire the same way and have the same projectile behavior. The Darts you shoot from the Blowpipe will stick into almost any surface they hit, including pirates, Skeletons, Phantoms, Ocean Crawlers, and fauna. Depending on the Dart, they will persist for 10 seconds to five minutes until they eventually disappear, and you can have multiple Darts planted simultaneously.
However, you can remove Darts faster by damaging them. So, if your crewmate gets stuck with a Poison Dart, you can destroy it to stop it from poisoning them. You can also put out a Black Powder Dart with water or the Horn of Fair Winds.
And unlike Throwing Knives, pirates cannot block Blowing Darts with their Cutlass.
How do you get a Blowpipe?
Like the Blunderbuss, Cutlass, Eye of Reach, and Flintlock, you can equip it as one of your two loadout choices at the Armory on your ship. You don’t need to purchase or find it on the sea.
Like all other projectile loadout weapons, you can use any Ammo Crate, Armoury, and Ammo Pouch to restock your Darts.
You can carry up to four Darts for each type, for a total of 12 Darts.
If you run out of Darts, you can turn the Blowpipe into an instrument by dry firing the weapon, creating a sound that other players and enemies nearby can hear.
You can also equip the new Grapple Gun from the Armoury. To learn more about this traversal weapon, check out our guide here!
How to use the Blowpipe
To use the Blowpipe, hold down the Left Trigger on the Controller or the Right Mouse Button to bring the Blowpipe to your pirate’s mouth and charge your shot. The longer you hold the button, the more charge you’ll build, and the farther and more accurate your Dart will travel.
Fully charging your shot will result in the Dart traveling the furthest distance and having the most accuracy, while less charged shots will not go as far and be less accurate.
While charging the Blowpipe near your face, use the end of the Blowpipe as your sight to line up your target. When ready to fire, press the Right Trigger or Left Mouse Button to blow the Dart out and send it flying.
In a close-quarters situation, you can quickly hip-fire with the Blowpipe without aiming and charging your shot. However, the Dart will travel a short distance inaccurately as you didn’t charge the shot.
After you fire a Dart, you will automatically load another Dart. You will try to load the same type of Dart you fired previously. However, if you are out of that type of Dart, you will load the next available type.
You can easily see which type of Dart you have loaded by looking at the tip of the Dart sticking out of the Blowpipe or the Ammo indicator.
Blowpipe Darts
There are three different types of Darts that you can fire from the Blowpipe: Black Powder, Poison, and Lure Darts.
The Black Powder and Poison Darts are combat-focused and deal damage, while the Lure Dart is more trap-focused.
You can swap the Darts anytime by using the Blowpipe Darts Radial. While holding the Blowpipe, open up your Item Radial and then the Blowpipe Darts Radial to see what type of Darts you have and how many you have. The Blowpipe Darts Radial is similar to swapping your Cannonballs to other Cannonball types when using a cannon. Once you’ve decided which one you want, you can select it.
Black Powder Dart
The Black Powder Dart is a combat-focused dart with a fuse that can ignite an explosion. Upon hitting a surface, including pirates or other enemies, the Dart’s fuse will light and detonate shortly, resulting in a small explosion. The fuse sounds similar to a Gunpowder Barrel fuse, letting pirates nearby know that an explosion is imminent.
The Black Powder Dart has a blast radius that affects the damage it inflicts. The closer a pirate is to the Dart when it explodes, the more damage it will cause. However, you will catch fire if you are in any part of the explosion’s radius. It also causes a small amount of knockback.
Luckily, you don’t need to worry about hurting yourself or your crewmates if you are the one to shoot the Black Powder Dart. It only inflicts damage on enemies, not on your crew.
While the Black Powder Dart’s explosion can hurt enemies, it cannot damage ships or set them on fire. However, ships are not immune to the Dart’s knockback effects.
You can defuse Black Powder Darts with water or the Horn of Fair Winds. Whether you dump water on the Dart with a Bucket or jump in the sea, the Dart’s fuse will dampen, preventing the explosion.
Similar to Gunpowder Barrels, you can chain explosions of multiple Black Powder Darts.
The Black Powder Dart deals about 50 damage if it sticks directly into a pirate with additional damage from fire. However, Black Powder Darts inflict increased damage on enemies like Skeletons.
Poison Dart
The Poison Dart is another combat-focused dart that can poison an enemy with Snake Venom, dealing damage over time. Upon impact, the Dart will inflict a small amount of damage and then continue to Poison the target with Venom, similar to a bite from a Snake.
A bright purple cloud emanates from the end of the Poison Dart, making it easy to decipher from other Darts.
If someone hits you with the Poison Dart, a purple cloud of Venom will blur your vision. The Poison from the Poison Dart does not stack on each other, whether from another Poison Dart or Snake Venom. Instead, it will just refresh the effect.
You can use the Poison Dart on pirates, Skeletons, Phantoms, Ocean Crawlers, and fauna.
The Poison Dart deals about 80 damage over ten seconds. Luckily, a fellow crewmate can destroy the Dart by damaging it and ending its Poison effect immediately.
Lure Dart
The Lure Dart is a trap-focused Dart that glints like treasure, enticing pirates and even other enemies to its location. Upon impact, the Lure Dart will glint a random color, resembling the glint of treasure from a distance. It can be white to fool someone into thinking it is a washed-up Trinket or red to trick someone into thinking there is Ashen treasure for the taking.
As the Lure Dart can attract other enemies like Skeletons, Phantoms, and Ocean Crawlers, you can use it to lure several enemies into a single location for a well-timed explosion. If they are chasing you, you can shoot a Lure Dart between you and them, and they will prioritize it first.
You can even shoot the Lure Dart into the water to attract nearby Sharks and Sirens!
The Lure Dart will draw enemies to it no matter what it is attached to., including if it is in a pirate! That means you can stick another pirate with the Lure Dart, and enemies like Skeletons will follow that pirate until the Lure Dart expires or it gets destroyed.
If left alone, the Lure Dart can persist and glint for five minutes before vanishing. However, you can stop a Lure Dart by damaging it like Poison Darts. It doesn’t matter if the Lure Dart is in a pirate or on the ground. You’ll also need to watch out for Skeletons, Phantoms, and Ocean Crawlers damaging your Lure Dart. The Lure Dart might get destroyed before you can take advantage of it.
If you don’t have a crewmate nearby, you can always have an enemy damage you to remove the Lure Dart or make a quick trip to the Ferry if you don’t want to wait for the timer to run out.
