Read This First: Rank Is Progression, Silver Is Not
Nothing you can buy raises Infamy. Silver, Pieces of Eight and Gold all spend inside systems Infamy unlocks; the rank itself is earned only by playing. A “boosting” offer for this game is piloted play on your Ubisoft account — the risks, and Ubisoft’s terms, are in our buying guide. This guide assumes your own hands on your own ship.
The ladder, as Prima Games and the other rank references list it, has 10 Infamy ranks:
| # | Infamy rank |
|---|---|
| 1 | Outcast |
| 2 | Scoundrel |
| 3 | Rover |
| 4 | Freebooter |
| 5 | Buccaneer |
| 6 | Brigand |
| 7 | Marauder |
| 8 | Corsair |
| 9 | Cutthroat |
| 10 | Kingpin |
Each rank sends a reward chest to your mailbox and unlocks its slice of the catalogue — ship blueprints, equipment, cosmetics, Silver and vendors, per Prima’s unlocks account — and later content, including the second pirate den at Telok Penjarah and the Helm endgame, assumes the upper ranks. Your ship has its own separate rank, which does not substitute for yours.
Contracts: Main First, Board Last
GamingBolt’s Infamy guide draws the distinction beginners miss: not all contracts pay alike. Main story contracts are its first recommendation — significant Infamy, usually matched to your ship’s rank, and quick. The generic Contract Board in Sainte-Anne, by contrast, offers tasks at only 50 Infamy each in its account — fine for Silver (our farming guide uses them exactly that way), poor as a leveling route.
The middle source is the one worth hunting: vendors and NPCs — the Blacksmith, the commodities merchant and outpost NPCs in GamingBolt’s list — hand out contracts paying higher Infamy than the board’s. Talk to named NPCs at every new outpost before you sail on; their contracts are the leveling economy hiding in plain sight, and they stack with the main story’s march across the map from the Coast of Africa toward the East Indies.
Combat Infamy: Ships, Events and Heists
Barring contracts, GamingBolt’s fallback is the game’s premise: sinking enemy ships pays Infamy directly, and weaker ships on your route are free progress — with its caution to not bite off more than your ship can chew early. The paying end of combat scales with ambition: world events, Legendary Heists and Elite Captains give significantly more Infamy (and loot) in its account, and they are crewed content — the same co-op that multiplies Silver income multiplies your access to the fights that move the rank bar.
Ship power is the pacing item, and it is the one place Silver feeds leveling: keep your ship’s rank, weapons and armor at the tier your Infamy band assumes, bought with farmed Silver, or the contracts and events that pay best will out-damage you. Level the captain and the ship in step — the ladder assumes both.
Kingpin and Beyond: The Helm Endgame
Kingpin, the tenth rank, is a beginning as much as an end: it unlocks the full Helm operation — the smuggling empire of manufactories, contraband production and Pieces of Eight income that the Silver farming guide’s late game runs on — and progression continues past it in milestone form, with further reward chests as Infamy accumulates (the endgame accounts describe milestone leveling after the final named tier). The seasonal layer sits on top for current players: the Year 3 Season 1 update added a seasonal Mastery Tree advanced by earning Infamy, with points unlocking nodes and seasonal Perks at set levels, per IGGM’s season coverage — a second, resetting ladder that gives max-rank captains somewhere to climb each season.
That structure is the honest answer to “what is there to level at Kingpin”: the empire (manufactory count, operations upgrades, fleet assignments in the later systems), the seasonal tree, and the ship collection. Rank got you through the door; the endgame is an economy, and our Silver guide is its operating manual.
The Climb, Condensed
- Main story contracts first — the best Infamy per hour, at your ship’s rank.
- Take vendor and outpost NPC contracts at every stop; treat board contracts (50 Infamy) as Silver work, not leveling.
- Sink what you can beat on every route; graduate to world events, Legendary Heists and Elite Captains with a crew.
- Keep ship rank and gear matched to your Infamy band with farmed Silver, so the best-paying content stays beatable.
- At Kingpin, switch to the endgame: Helm operations, manufactory income and the seasonal Mastery Tree.
Buying Infamy & Silver
Infamy cannot be bought as a product — only played, by you or by someone on your login. Silver and items are sold (IGGM, IGVault) and are governed by Ubisoft’s Terms of Sale §3.4; the full record is in our buying guide. See the Skull and Bones page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Infamy ranks are in Skull and Bones?
Ten named ranks: Outcast, Scoundrel, Rover, Freebooter, Buccaneer, Brigand, Marauder, Corsair, Cutthroat and Kingpin. Each rank pays a reward chest and unlocks ships, blueprints, equipment and quests; progression continues in milestone form past Kingpin.
What is the fastest way to gain Infamy?
Main story contracts first (significant Infamy, at your ship’s rank), then high-value contracts from vendors and outpost NPCs — not the Sainte-Anne board’s 50-Infamy tasks, which are Silver work. Sinking beatable ships on route and, later, world events, Legendary Heists and Elite Captains fill the rest, per GamingBolt.
Does your ship level with you?
No — ship rank is separate from captain Infamy (Prima Games). Keep both in step: Infamy unlocks the blueprints, and Silver buys and builds the ship that can survive the content your rank opens.
What happens at Kingpin?
The endgame opens: the full Helm smuggling operation (manufactories, contraband, Pieces of Eight), milestone progression with further reward chests, and — for current seasons — the seasonal Mastery Tree, which is advanced by earning Infamy.
Sources
Checked October 20, 2026. Game systems change with patches, so confirm numbers in game.
- Prima Games: All Infamy ranks in Skull and Bones (10 ranks: Outcast, Scoundrel, Rover, Freebooter, Buccaneer, Brigand, Marauder, Corsair, Cutthroat, Kingpin; rank unlocks ships, blueprints, quests)
- GamingBolt: Skull and Bones — how to farm Infamy (main story contracts, high-value vendor contracts vs 50-Infamy board contracts, sinking ships, world events and Legendary Heists)
