How to get Cobalt in Skull and Bones

Cobalt isn’t anywhere near the rarest ore in Skull and Bones, but it likely will be the first one you actually have trouble finding.

While the earlier metals like Bog Iron, Copper, and even Nickel are fairly easy to get simply as a side effect of terrorizing the seven seas, you’ll need to make an active effort to get your hands on Cobalt. While it might not happen automatically, it’s fairly easy to get Cobalt once you’re looking in the right places. Read on to learn the easiest and fastest ways to find Cobalt in Skull and Bones.

Where to get Cobalt Ingots in Skull and Bones

If you need Cobalt, chances are what you really need is Cobalt Ingots, and you’re assuming you need Cobalt to refine into Ingots. While that’s technically correct, there’s a far easier and streamlined way to skip the middle man and go straight to Cobalt Ingots: attacking Trade Routes.

You might not have taken the leap into learning how to use Trade Routes yet, as they seem convoluted, but they’re actually quite simple. All trade routes highlight a a path through the ocean where Merchant Ships will be carrying certain goods. If you highlight any Trade Route on the map, it’ll tell you exactly which items ships along that route will be carrying.

Every Trade Route is different, so you need to find one that specifically has Cobalt Ingots. This can easily be done using the Active Item Filter: the filter doesn’t just show you where resources are on the map, it also highlights Trade Routes where ships will be carrying a given resource. From the menu, go to Knowledge > Codex > Refined Materials > Cobalt Ingot. Select track to add it to your Journal, and all Trade Routes that have ships carrying Cobalt Ingots will be highlighted on your map.

As the Active Item Filter will show you, Cobalt Ingots are found on ships in Trade Routes near Sultani Island, west of the Reef Sea on the southwest portion of the map. Not every ship on these Trade Routes are guaranteed to carry Cobalt Ingots, but most will. You can use your Spyglass to scan a ship’s resources before deciding whether a given Merchant is worth your time.

Even if you’re specifically seeking Cobalt, and not Cobalt Ingots, tracking Cobalt Ingots is still the better option: tracking the Ingots will show you the locations of Cobalt Ore nodes and Cobalt Ingot Trade Routes on the map, whereas tracking Cobalt Ore shows you only the nodes and not the Ingots.

Where to find Cobalt in Skull and Bones

If attacking a Trade Route for Cobalt Ingots isn’t an option because of your ship level, you can always go straight to the source. Go to Knowledge > Codex > Raw Materials to find and track Cobalt, or track Cobalt Ingots found under Refined Materials, which will display both Cobalt Ore nodes and Cobalt Ingot trade routes on the map.

After tracking either item, you’ll see Cobalt Ore nodes can be found all along the western portion of the map, starting near Ziwa Kubwa and spanning down to Lake Buri. You can harvest Cobalt from any Cobalt Ore with any Pickaxe, but higher tier versions will increase your yield.

How to locate Cobalt Ore deposits

This part is meant to be self explanatory, but we’re including a section on it because we’re fairly sure Cobalt Ore deposits are a little bit bugged in the beta. When you’re tracking Cobalt, we’ve found it’s very rare for any of the locations indicated on the map to actually have deposits. Your crew will even make little harvesting comments when you’re nearby these locations, but you won’t actually have the option to harvest any Cobalt.

You can clearly see actual Cobalt Deposits because they have big streaks of a blueish-green crystal. If you sail into the skinny strip of water near Ziwa Kubwa, you might not actually find any deposits where the map indicates they should be. If this is the case, continue north to the natural stone bridge at the end of the skinny strip that leads into Lake Bwawa. Underneath this archway, you should find plenty of Cobalt nodes, even though the map markers don’t say there are any here.