With its dark, intimidating black paintwork, and its size which dwarfs other carracks, the São Gabriel-class carrack is a sample of state-of-the-art Western naval engineering at the beginning of the 16th century. Not only is it stronger than a normal carrack, but it also combines the terrifying speed and firepower of a lanternas with the rate of fire of a normal carrack, making it the best heavy naval unit in Rise of Kings. Additionally, its rigging, being the most advanced and tallest in all Western Europe, grants it a good line of sight of the battlefield - trumped only by the larger wooden hulks of the Asians, the South Sea Barque.