"The Bordées Line: The Great Broadside and the Recoil-Surf"
If you had to sum up Dovion's Bordées line in one image, it would be this: a ship turning broadside-on, both flanks bristling with cannons, unloading everything at once. From the Frégate to the Dreadnought, this line embodies classic naval artillery — with two quirks all its own that the best players squeeze for everything they're worth: the recoil-surf and the Coal Curtain.
Frégate, Navire de ligne, Dreadnought
The path is a crescendo of firepower: Frégate at level 15, Navire de ligne (Ship of the Line) at level 30, Dreadnought at level 45. Among the 9 lines in the tree, it's the most "gunship" of them all: no exotic gadget, no invisibility — just fire, in quantity.
This clear identity makes it a very readable line: you always know what you have to do (get broadside-on), and the enemy always knows what to fear. All the gameplay depth lives in the execution.
The Great Broadside: a wall of fire
The E-key active is called the Grande Bordée (Great Broadside): both flanks of the ship fire a simultaneous volley. One activation, two walls of cannonballs leaving each side of your hull.
The obvious use is dueling: engaged flank-to-flank against an opponent, the Great Broadside adds a massive salvo on top of your normal fire. But its real brilliance shows in melees — sandwiched between two enemies, a Bordées player doesn't panic: they line up both and blast in two directions at once. It's one of the few abilities in the game that turns being surrounded into an advantage.
The recoil-surf: when recoil becomes a dash
Here's the technique that separates Bordées players from Bordées artists: the recoil-surf. The Great Broadside's recoil pushes your hull — and that recoil can double as a dash.
In practice, that opens up options the line isn't supposed to have:
- Fleeing: a salvo fired from the right side propels you out of a rammer's reach.
- Surprising: using the recoil to suddenly change trajectory mid-duel.
- Repositioning: covering a critical distance faster than your normal speed would allow.
A Dreadnought "surfing" on its own broadsides is deeply unsettling to fight — the most predictable ship in the game suddenly becomes unpredictable. Practice away from combat first: aiming the recoil in the right direction takes a bit of skill.
The Coal Curtain: smoke in your wake
The line also carries a quiet but precious passive: the Rideau de charbon (Coal Curtain), a wall of smoke left in the ship's wake. As you move, you weave a screen behind you that blurs your pursuers' view.
Combined with the recoil-surf, it gives a surprising exit strategy for a line with a reputation for being frontal: salvo, recoil dash, smoke screen — and the hunter is left alone in the fog.
Strengths, weaknesses, and who to fight
The Bordées line loves fights where it can dictate the geometry: flank duels, melees, defending a fixed point. It struggles more against opponents who refuse the exchange — the lobbed fire of the Mortier line hits it without exposing itself, and a Ghost Ship under Dead Sails always picks its own moment. The full matchup breakdown is in Who Beats Who?.
If you like the idea of an honest, brutal ship with a much higher skill ceiling than it first appears, the Frégate is waiting at level 15. Play Dovion for free and let the powder do the talking.