Part of the Sea of Conquest Tier List Series:

Tier List Hub: How every ranking here is built.

Hero Tier List: The crew that sails these hulls.

Ships Hub: Damage types, roles and upgrades.

Ship Builds: Turning a ranking into a working setup.

Quick Answer

The honest ranking, ordered by what a normal player can actually field:

Best free ships: Crimson Sentinel (Epic, from the 7-day Pirate King's Trail — there is a deadline, do not miss it) and Providence (Epic, from the Season 2 Sea Voyage event). Both are genuinely competitive and cost nothing.

Best damage ship overall: Warhammer — Legendary, Cutthroat burst, and the most-used damage hull in the game. The catch is acquisition (see below).

Best starting pair: Black Raven (offense) and Dragon Lance (defense), both handed to you free in the Season 1 story — see the Black Raven and Dragon Lance guide. For the buildable hulls, see Stormbringer and Sceptre.

And the correction most tier lists need: your flagship is not one of these ships. It is a separate "All Round" class hull, and it outranks everything on this list because if the flagship sinks, the fleet sinks.

How Ships Are Acquired

Three routes, and they explain most of the tier list.

Story and events (free). Black Raven, Dragon Lance, Crimson Sentinel and Providence all come free. These carry most players well into the mid-game.

Shipbuilding (gacha). From Season 2 onward you build ships with rolled rarity: 62% Rare, 28% Epic, 10% Legendary, with a luck counter that eventually guarantees a Legendary. Built ships also roll random skills, one of which can be Honed — so two copies of the same hull are not the same ship.

Premium packs. Warhammer and Stormbringer have appeared as roughly $100 packs, and the bought version comes with fixed skills rather than rolled ones — which is genuinely the better product, not just the faster one.

That 10% Legendary rate is the thing to internalise. Planning around building a specific Legendary hull is not a plan. Build toward the guarantee, and in the meantime run the free Epics.

The Ship List

Ship	Rarity	Season / how to get	Role & damage type	F2P-viable?
Black Raven	Rare	S1 story — free	Offense; all-type damage increase, very versatile	Yes
Dragon Lance	Rare	S1 story — free	Defense; damage reduction tank	Yes
Crimson Sentinel	Epic	S1 Pirate King's Trail, 7-day beginner event — free	Blaze + Drowning damage-over-time	Yes — best free ship
Fearless Princess	Epic	S1, ~$10 pack	Strategic DPS	Pay-gated but cheap
Warhammer	Legendary	S1 shipbuilding, or ~$100 pack with fixed skills	Cutthroat burst — the most-used damage hull	Only via the build guarantee
Stormbringer	Legendary	S2 shipbuilding, or a pack at S2 start	Sources split between Blaze/Drowning and Defense/Taunt — check its skills before you build around it	Only via the guarantee
Providence	Epic	S2 Sea Voyage, 30-day event — free	Tank + Taunt; a beefier Dragon Lance	Yes — best free tank
Primal Roar	Epic	S3	Support / healing	Partially
Goddess Satjit	Rolled	S3 shipbuilding	Artillery	Grindable
Orochi	Rolled	S4 shipbuilding	Strategic	Grindable
Sceptre	Rolled	S5 shipbuilding	Defense / damage reduction — a bait-ship staple	Grindable
Boreas	Rolled	Season X1 shipbuilding	Support — healing, bait, hybrid	Grindable
Tidal Rage	—	Later season	Drowning — currently the best-in-slot drowning hull	—
Celestial Tortoise	—	Later season	Defense, with its own talent tree	—

Two names you may have seen elsewhere that are not ships: Behemoth is the Kraken companion system, not a hull — see the Behemoth guide. Vantanos is an SP hero, covered in the SP heroes guide.

Ranked by What You Should Build

S — build these when available

Warhammer. The damage hull the whole game's builds are written around. If your build guarantee lands here, take it.
Crimson Sentinel. Free, Epic, dual damage-over-time. Punches far above its acquisition cost and it is on a 7-day timer for new accounts.
Tidal Rage. Best-in-slot drowning, if you have reached the season that offers it.

A — excellent and realistically obtainable

Providence. Free tank-and-taunt from a 30-day event. The bait ship that lets your damage survive.
Boreas. The support hull the current meta is built around — see the crew combinations guide.
Sceptre. The bait-ship staple from S5.
Stormbringer, if its rolled skills land well.

B — solid, and where most accounts actually live

Black Raven and Dragon Lance. Free, versatile, and no shame in running them for months. A well-crewed Rare hull beats a bare Legendary.
Goddess Satjit and Orochi. Fine buildable hulls covering Artillery and Strategic.
Fearless Princess. Cheap Strategic DPS.

Situational

Primal Roar and Celestial Tortoise. Both real and both good in the right composition, both narrower than the ships above.

Roles Beat Rarity

The mistake that costs the most materials: ranking hulls by rarity and building the shiniest one.

A ship's role is what matters. Since Season 3 a complete fleet needs a Support ship as well as damage and defence, and that role is filled by Boreas or Primal Roar — not by whichever hull has the most stars. A fleet with three damage ships and no support loses to a balanced one with worse individual hulls.

Random skills mean the roll matters as much as the hull. A built Legendary with three skills you cannot use is worse than an Epic with the right ones. Check what you actually rolled before committing upgrade materials — see the ship upgrade requirements guide.

Hull and captain are one decision. The damage type your hull deals determines which heroes belong on it. A Cutthroat hull with an artillery captain wastes both — see the best heroes for ships guide.

Free-to-Play Build Order

Flagship, exclusively. It is All Round class and it carries the fleet. See the flagship guide.
Claim Crimson Sentinel from the Pirate King's Trail before the 7 days expire.
Run Black Raven and Dragon Lance as your offense/defense pair while you build.
Claim Providence during the Season 2 Sea Voyage event.
Build toward the Legendary guarantee rather than hoping for a 10% roll.
Add a support hull — Boreas or Primal Roar — once you reach S3+.

A veteran rule worth repeating: a 6-star Epic or Rare outperforms a 2-star Legendary. Depth beats rarity, on ships exactly as on heroes.

FAQ

What is the best ship in Sea of Conquest?

Warhammer for damage, Providence for tanking, Boreas for support — and your flagship above all of them.

What is the best free ship?

Crimson Sentinel, from the 7-day Pirate King's Trail beginner event. Providence from the Season 2 Sea Voyage is a close second.

What are the odds of building a Legendary ship?

10%, against 28% Epic and 62% Rare, with a luck counter that eventually guarantees a Legendary. Build toward the guarantee rather than gambling on the roll.

Is Behemoth a ship?

No. Behemoth is the Kraken companion system — a separate progression track with its own grades, talents and daily material event. See the Behemoth guide.

Should I buy the Warhammer or Stormbringer pack?

The packs give fixed skills instead of rolled ones, which is a real advantage over building the same hull. Whether it is worth the price is a separate question — see the top up guide.

Do I need a support ship?

From Season 3 onward, yes. Support is a distinct fleet role and a fleet without it loses fights its stat totals say it should win.

Key Takeaways

Crimson Sentinel is the best free ship — and it expires with the 7-day beginner event.
Warhammer is the best damage hull, but 10% Legendary odds mean building toward the guarantee.
Built ships roll random skills. Check the roll before investing materials.
A 6-star Epic beats a 2-star Legendary. Depth over rarity.
Support is a required role from S3. Boreas or Primal Roar.

Sea of Conquest Ship Tier List: Every Ship Ranked and How to Get It