Pirates of Mischief: Everything you Need to Succeed

Do you want to know everything there is to know about stealth in Sea of Thieves? This guide will tell you plus so much more that will aide you in your adventures in espionage.

Introduction

Within Sea of Thieves, going in guns blazing is not always the best option. Stealth can play a huge part in combat situations and can even make the difference between winning or losing a battle. When done correctly, an experienced stealth player can run circles around an enemy crew and they will not even be aware of you

I have been sneaking around since I was young and practicing stealth in games for a decade plus. I am the self-proclaimed stealth master within the Sea of Thieves. I don’t claim this title lightly, I am constantly trying to outdo myself and learn new tricks/tactics to use against the populace that roams these seas. Every play session I manage to hide on someone’s ship regardless if they are on alert or not. As new content comes to the seas, I find new tricks to add to my arsenal against the unwary. I hope you all can make good use of the tactics/information found within this guide and that it opens your eyes to the world of stealth as a whole.

If you would like to watch a video in which I cover a lot of this with some in game footage here is a link to my Stealth video.

Finding Your Hide Emotes

Hide Emotes are the best way to tuck because they hide your name tag from enemy crews until you stop emoting. This makes it so the only thing that visually shows them where you are is your body itself so you can actually hide.

Most Useful Hide Emotes

Emote	Icon	Strength
Hide		This FREE emote is the best hiding emote in the game. It hides your name tag like all the others but also presents the least amount of your body to be seen while also remaining completely still.
Wall Hide		Wall Hide is incredibly useful in specific scenarios where you need to press up against something and attempt to remain undetected. It has the added benefit of jumping back away from your hitbox slightly so you can appear to phase through some walls while using this emote.
Barrel Disguise		Barrel Disguise is useful for blending in groups of barrels on islands and getting ambushes on players looking for supplies. However, it's drawback is it remains completely upright no matter if the ship is rocking in the waves or not, making you very obvious to players who see you.
Cannonball Hide		Cannonball Hide is another free emote, while not as good as the original Hide it still can present a very small amount of your body but it activates quicker than Hide does. This makes it useful for quick hides that must be preformed in a fraction of a second that are only meant to be short term.

Most of your emotes will be found within the Pirate Emporium, located above every Order of Souls tent as well as on the main menu screen when you open the game.

When you enter the Pirate Emporium select the "Pirate" Tab located at the top of the screen. Scroll through the pages until you find the "Hide and Sneak" or "Hide and Peek" emote bundles.

Hide and Sneak Emote Bundle

This is the original hide emotes bundle that introduced the hide mechanics to Sea of Thieves. The total cost for this bundle is 299.

Emote	Icon	Description
Hide 0		"Curl up small to stow away on a ship or hide from everyone - a great way to change the pace!"
Barrel Hide 149		"Squat down behind a barrel and you're basically invisible... right?"
Deck Hide 149		"Enemies coming? Hit the deck and hope for the best!"
Pillar Hide 149		"Stand up straight, don't move and maybe they won't see you behind their mast?"

Hide and Peek Emote Bundle

The second hide emote bundle to come to Sea of Thieves, this bundle has the extremely useful Wall Hide emote which allows for different hiding spots to be viable. The cost for this bundle is 299.

Emote	Icon	Description
Cannonball Hide 0		"Curl up small like a cannonball, stay still and hope you're on the enemy's eyepatch side!"
Playful Hide 149		"Either you want to get caught, or you just can't resist taunting your quarry."
Post Hide 149		"Stand straight, stay still - no, don't peek out! Come on now, hiding is not a game!"
Wall Hide 149		"Stick to that wall and suck in your gut! You're a master of the art of stealth, pirate."

Barrel Disguise

Found in Larissa's Black Market at the entrance of every island's Tavern. This emote costs you
50.

Emote	Icon	Description
Barrel Disguise 50		"When there's no suitable place to hide, why not create your own? Perfect for stealthy island visits."

Misc Emotes

Some Emotes, while not intended for stealth, have been adopted by the tucking community due to their unique utility they provide.

Emote	Icon	Description
Kneel Down 149		"For those taller pirates that still want to be in the portrait, but without getting their head lopped off."
Fatal Fall 149		"There's playing dead, and then there's this extravagant manoeuvre."

Basic Stealth Tips

• Wear more muted/dark colors.
  
• Only move when your sounds are muffled by other sounds.
  
• Only move near players if you can keep their line of sight blocked, or their focus is elsewhere.
  
• Only attack when necessary, loud noises such as gunfire draw attention.
  
• Take off your Peg-Leg, it makes more noise while walking.
  
• Provide the enemy with something to focus on. You can usually sail your ship right past them
  then board their ship from the opposite side as they cannon your ship down.
  
• Don’t use your Spyglass or Eye of Reach, it’s shine reveals your position.
  
• Don’t pick up items unless you’re prepared to jump overboard with them or something is muffling their sound, they create noise while you walk or when you set them down.
  
• Don’t switch between weapons/equipment unless necessary. Each item has its own distinguishable sounds and experienced players may hear them.
  
• Keep your in-game mic muted, it alerts them and can direct them to where you are, if you must communicate, type to them. It doesn’t reveal your location just that you’re nearby.
  
• Get aboard ships ASAP, once on a ship (friendly or enemy) your mermaid disappears.
  
• Hide Emoting or Crouching is the best way to hide your nameplate. Otherwise it appears regardless where you are on their screen.
  
• When swimming to board a ship, stay low until you reach the ladder, this hides your nameplate and blurs your character model within the water.
  
• When using Explosive Barrels as traps, bury them just until they are 1 dig shy from being completely buried. Then shoot them from a distance for maximum effectiveness.

Stealth/Tucking Cosmetic Recommendations

• Midnight Blades Cosmetics
  
• Shadow Tide Cosmetics
  
• Majestic Sovereign Shirt
  
• Ruffian Sea Dog Trousers
  
• Hunter Boots/Gloves

Weapon Choice

Weapon	Damage	Description
Cutlass	25 Damage per Swing (3 Swing Combo) 60 Damage for a Lunge	The Cutlass is the most complex while also user friendly weapon the game has. It can be used for PvE and PvP equally effectively as well as traversal around the environment.
Flintlock	55 Damage per Shot	The Flintlock has the quickest reload out of the guns within the game and the most accurate hip-fire allowing for quick draw shots that other weapons struggle to pull off.
Blunderbuss	9 Damage per pellet hit (x10 pellets per shot)	The Blunderbuss has been updated to be better at knocking players away and off the sides of ships at the cost of it's one tap potential it used to have.
Eye Of Reach	70 Damage per Shot	The Eye Of Reach fills the role of sniper rifle within the game and allows for precision long range attacks with decent bullet travel time and minimal bullet fall off.
Double Barrel Flintlock	45 Damage per Shot(x2 per reload)	The Double Barrel Flintlock fills a similar role to the normal Flintlock but is better if you are still learning to hit your shots or if paired with a weapon that can take advantage of it's numbers better. (Poison dart or firebomb to do 10 damage while hitting your 2 shots for example).
Throwing Knives	15 Damage per Light Attack 60 Damage per Throw 70 Damage per Heavy Attack	The Throwing Knives are an assassins best friend for their potential to sneak up on an enemy and hit them with 70 damage without any warning or sound, then a follow up throwing attack will finish them off often times with little counter play.
Blowpipe	80 Poison Dart Damage Over Time(Doesn't stack with extra poison darts) 50 Damage for a Black Powder Dart Explosion (+30 Fire Damage Over Time)	Blowpipes are best used for adding confusion to a situation and not for direct PvP encounters in most scenarios. However the Poison effect can obscure an enemy's vision and allow for more sneaky attacks and guerrilla tactics.

While every combination can be useful depending on your personal skill level there are some that simply work better than others especially for stealth related shenanigans. Some work better for stealth while others work better for traditional PvP encounters.

Loadouts

Weapon	Weapon	Reasoning
Cutlass	Grapple Gun	Anything with the Grapple Gun will increase your options for tucking on players because it will allow you to maneuver faster than your opponents. This can be used to grab kegs from the shoreline as well as help you get to locations unreachable by other players so you can hide better. Pairing the Grapple Gun with the Cutlass will enable the highest mobility loadout the game has ever seen.
Throwing Knives	Blowpipe	Throwing Knives are one of the quietest weapons in the game with it's Heavy Attack being used as a backstab will help fulfill the sneaky assassin fantasy. The Blowpipe can be used to compliment the throwing knives to both provide bait to separate the enemy crew and applying poison damage to both damage the enemy and impair their vision.
Blowpipe	Grapple Gun	This is the commendations loadout, since most of the new commendations require these two weapons using this can be used to level them up quickly. From a practical standpoint this combination is best against PvE or against crews who aren't aware of you being around.
Throwing Knives	Blunderbuss	One of the better ambush builds with a focus on extremely short range attacks with a quick follow up from the other weapon to finish off an enemy player.
Throwing Knives	Flintlock	One of the better mid range double tap loadouts with stealth potential and great against PvE and PvP alike.
Throwing Knives	Grapple Gun	The mobility of the Grapple Gun paired with the ambush tactics of the Throwing Knives. This is extremely good if you can land your Throwing Knives reliably and good for fighting on bigger ships if needed.
Cutlass	Throwing Knives	Master the blade and you'll master the sea. This loadout is both quiet while also being extremely effective in all scenarios except for fighting Gold Skeletons.
Eye of Reach	Grapple Gun	The true sniper loadout since you'll be able to get places others won't and if you have an ammo box that you find you could grapple it up to you as well for more shots.

Tools

Grapple Gun

The Grapple Gun has many traits and things it can be used for as well as some areas where it won't work within the game.

Uses

• Island Traversal
  
• Grabbing Loot/Items From Range
  
• Boarding Galleons From Captains Balcony
  
• Grabbing Side Ladders On All Ships

Exclusion Zones

• Ship Masts
  
• Sloop Canopy
  
• Tall Tale Parkour Areas

Harpoons

Harpoons are useful for a multitude of things. From trickshots of catching enemy pirates, to grabbing loot, to pulling ships backwards at a Sovereign tent. They are only limited by your imagination.

Speaking Trumpet

The speaking trumpet can be used to whisper should you find a fellow tuck player you wish to cooperate with, however, what really shines about the speaking trumpet is it doesn't give a direction when talking through it. This allows you to talk to people you may be hiding near without revealing your location so long as they can't see your character when you use the trumpet. Additionally this can be used to sew confusion between crews in order to get them to fight or to give them a false sense of security.

Traps

Spring/Beartraps have a multitude of uses depending on where they are placed and what you load them up with.

Loaded Item	Use
Empty	The basic trap, it breaks a pirates legs while also dealing a fair bit of damage.
Firebomb	Basic damage of the trap while also dealing fire damage. Additionally it can be used to start fires on opponents ships and be used for setting off a chain reaction of kegs since if used near the ladder it will set fire around it (above and below).
Green Cursed Cannonball	Basic trap Damage with the inclusion of the curse of the chosen cannonball.
Firework/Flare	Basic trap Damage while also giving a lovely firework show to either tease your enemy who stepped on it or to be used as a warning of someone who got on your ship.
Blunderbomb	Same as the Firebomb this can be used to add an extra punch to your trap while also can cause chain reactions of kegs when used nearby them.
Bone Caller	This combination will slow your enemy down with the trap's limp effect it applies while also giving them skeletons to fight while encumbered. Perfect for giving yourself more time to react.

Explosives

The culmination of most good tuck plays is always a big explosion before you rob the enemy blind. Gunpowder kegs are the best thing to finish most stealthy plays but also come with great risk if you are caught. Hide them on an enemy ship and using a Blunderbomb or Black Powder Dart to detonate them through the hull of the ship even if you don't have line of sight on them. Placing a Powder Keg over the stove with fruit on it also makes a nice randomized time bomb as well.

Merfruit

Merfruit heal the player when uncooked but after proper cooking they will lose the ability to heal but instead suppress the mermaids spawning on you for 2 minutes. Eating additional cooked Merfruit will only refresh the timer back to the full 2 minutes. You can carry up to 3 cooked Merfruit at a time for a total of 6 minutes unless you eat one before you leave your ship for an absolute max of 8 minutes without a mermaid if timed correctly.

Pirates of Mischief Commendations

Grapple Gun Commendations

Commendation	Description	Award(s)
Pressgang Grappler	Using the Grapple Gun, bring an enemy player from their ship to yours.	Admiral Grapple Gun
Boney Boarder	Using the Grapple Gun, board a skeleton ship.
Return to Sender	Using the Grapple Gun, board an enemy ship then return to your own vessel.
Isle Hopper	Travel a distance using the Grapple Gun. (10000)	Sea Dog Grapple Gun
Governor of the Grapple Gun	Complete all Grapple Gun Commendations.	Royal Sovereign Grapple Gun

Blowpipe Commendations

Commendation	Description	Award(s)
Rusty Bucket Bay	Using a Lure Dart, attract Gold Skeletons into water. (35)	Sea Master's Chest Disguise (Also Requires Grade III 'Gold Raider')
They Work for Me Now	Using a Lure Dart, persuade enemies to destroy their Captain. (25)
Pied Pirate Piper	With a Lure Dart attached to you, be pursued by 5 enemies while playing music for 10 seconds.
Enticing Explosion	Using a Lure Dart, hit a skeleton holding a Gunpowder Barrel. (25)	Shadow Tide Spyglass
Diabolical Deviousness	Complete the Commendations 'Rusty Bucket Bay', 'They Work for Me Now', 'Pied Pirate Piper', and 'Enticing Explosion'.	Royal Sovereign Blowpipe
Poisonous Pirate	Poison other Pirates or enemies with Poison Darts. (150)	Treasure Chest Disguise (Also Requires 'Repeat Offender')
Oceans of Venom	Kill Ocean Crawlers with Poison Darts. (100)
Revenge at Last	Kill a snake with Poison Darts. (25)	Shadow Tide Flag
Practically Poisonous in Every Way	Complete the Commendations 'Poisonous Pirate', 'Oceans of Venom', and 'Revenge at Last'.	Sea Dog Blowpipe
The Power of Three	Using a single Black Powder Dart, ignite a group of 3 or more Phantoms under the influence of a Lure Dart.
Bang-Bang-A-Boom	Detonate a Gunpowder Barrel using a Black Powder Dart. (25)	Shadow Tide Cannons
Fire on Fire	Using a Black Powder Dart, ignite another Black Powder Dart.
Wash Out	Using water, extinguish an enemy pirate's Black Powder Dart.
Black Powder Hot Shot	Complete the Commendations 'The Power of Three', 'Bang-Bang-A-Boom', 'Fire on Fire', and 'Wash Out'.	Admiral Blowpipe
Bewildering Blowpipes	Complete all Commendations for the Lure, Poison and Black Powder Darts.	Shadow Tide Hull Chest of Fortune Disguise (Also Requires Grade III 'Fortune's Favor')

Crouching Commendations

Commendation	Description	Award(s)
Sneak Thief	While crouching, sneak onto enemy pirate ships and steal supplies. (50 supplies for Grade 5)	Shadow Tide Wheel
Skeleton Skulduggery	While crouching, sneak onto Skeleton Ships and steal supplies. (100 supplies for Grade 5)
Comfortable Sneaker	While crouching, travel a distance on enemy pirate or Skeleton Ships. (1500)	Thieving Mask of Mischief
Behind You!	While crouching, hide nearby an enemy pirate for 10 seconds without being seen.
Creeping Commodore	Complete the Commendations for 'Sneak Thief', 'Skeleton Skulduggery', 'Comfortable Sneaker', and 'Behind You!'.	King's Chest Disguise (Also Requires Grade III 'Treasures Fit For A King')

Disguise Commendations

Commendation	Description	Award(s)
Hidden in Plain Sight	While disguised, sneak for a distance on an enemy player ship. (450)	Stronghold Chest Disguise (Also Requires 'Scourge of Skeleton Ships')
Found You	Interact with or attack disguised enemy pirates to force them from hiding. (25)	Shadow Tide Tattoo
Chest Buster	While in disguise as a chest, be forced from cover by an enemy pirate interaction.
Broken Barrel	While in disguise as a barrel, be forced from cover by an enemy pirate interaction.
Demon of Disguise	Complete the Commendations for 'Hidden in Plain Sight', 'Found You', 'Chest Buster', and 'Broken Barrel'.	Shadow Tide Figurehead

Hanging Point Commendations

Commendation	Description	Award(s)
Hangin' on the Skelly Bone	While hanging on a Skeleton Ship, travel a distance.
Keep Me Hanging On	While hanging on an enemy pirate ship, travel a distance.
Hanging with the Enemy	When boarding an enemy ship, hang off all the hanging points.	Shadow Tide Capstan
Hung Out to Dry	Hang from five shipwrecks at Galleon's Grave, Shipwreck Bay, Morrow's Peak Outpost, Discovery Ridge, and Thieves' Haven.
Covert Corsair	Complete the Commendations for 'Hangin' on the Skelly Bone', 'Keep Me Hanging On', 'Hanging with the Enemy', and 'Hung Out to Dry'.

Trap Commendations

Commendation	Description	Award(s)
Dance Off Danger	Set a trap with a Jigball loaded and make at least two other pirates dance.
Secret Snare Setter	Dispatch other pirates with buried traps.	Shadow Tide Sails
Red Alert Raider	Set a trap on your ship with a Red Flair loaded and have another pirate or enemy trigger it.
Trap Ease Artist	Disarm Enemy Traps.
Pitfall Practitioner	Complete all other trap Commendations.	Sai Throwing Knives Chest of Legends Disguise (Also Requires Grade V 'Hoarder of Athena's Fortune')

100% Commendations

Commendation	Description	Award(s)
Pirate of Magnificent Mischief	Complete all Commendations for the Lure, Poison and Black Powder Darts, as well as crouching, disguises, hanging points and traps.	Monstrous Mask of Mayhem
"Pirate of Magnificent Mischief" Title	Complete the 'Pirate of Magnificent Mischief' Commendation.

Hiding Spots

Hiding spots within the Sea of Thieves are as limited as your imagination. Every rock, bush, shadow, and piece of debris is a hiding spot if you use them right. It is entirely up to you how you want to get to where you need to go by using the world around you to your advantage. Block line of sight to yourself or camouflage in with the environment around you to avoid being seen by players.

Say you are under water with another pirate who you don't want to know you are there. You could kill him but he'll just alert his crew and your job will become significantly harder. Assuming he is swimming back to his ship or island, you can dive below him and hide in the seaweed or under a rock overhang and it will make you less likely to be found, just don't swim too much in case he pauses and hears you. Hopefully he moves along within the next 45 seconds before you start to make noises due to drowning.

Don't forget there are a number of crates and rocks in the world that allow you to hide within them if you angle yourself correctly. Use these to your advantage as well. Additionally there are many locations on the Sea of Thieves that don't behave naturally. For example, in the Pirate Legend's Hideout there is a spot under the dock where you can walk/breath underwater before it puts you into the swimming animation, there are other locations where rocks don't line up with their hitboxes which allows you to hide in them easier.


Within most fort of the Sea of Thieves there are outer towers that can be used to hide. There is a more advanced trick you can use to get up higher and be harder to be seen especially if players don't know how to pull it off. Here is a video by HitboTC where he explains it very well.

Sloop Tuck Spots

12 BEST Hiding Spots on a SLOOP YouTube Short

The Sloop doesn’t have many hiding spots onboard for stowaways. The trick to remaining undetected onboard is constantly moving around the enemy crew. It is recommended to start in the Crow’s Nest then if one of the other players begins to climb jump down to main deck and catch a side ladder or land with the mast in between you and the Helmsman. If the opportunity presents itself go below deck and try to hide but remember you are cornered down there. However, if you look out the window near the ammo crate or near the voyage table, there is a chance you will get the prompt to grab the side ladder, if you do you'll appear outside the ship on the ladder again. This can be used to avoid being seen or killed.

The heat map shows player activity based on my experience within the game. Higher amount of time in an area by players or increased player traffic makes areas hotter such as stairs since they represent a high traffic area. This can be used to help you estimate where the enemy might be if you don't have a visual on them but know they are on board.

Purple Points: Medium quality hiding spots that you will only be found if the enemy crew knows you are on board.
Red Points: Low quality hiding spots. These are best only if you use them as a temporary spot then move to a better spot.

Brigantine Tuck Spots

11 BEST Hiding spots on a BRIGANTINE YouTube Short

The Brigantine should be played similar to the sloop in regards to mobility however, with its higher crew size, being spotted is much easier. However, there are two spots that Cutthroat Ghosts rarely get spotted at. There are at the map table beside it, and at the head of the bed using the “Pillar Hide” emote.

The heat map shows player activity based on my experience within the game. Higher amount of time in an area by players or increased player traffic makes areas hotter such as stairs since they represent a high traffic area. This can be used to help you estimate where the enemy might be if you don't have a visual on them but know they are on board.

Blue Points: High quality hiding spots that you will rarely ever be found in.
Purple Points: Medium quality hiding spots that you will only be found if the enemy crew knows you are on board.
Red Points: Low quality hiding spots. These are best only if you use them as a temporary spot then move to a better spot.

Galleon Tuck Spots

13 BEST Hiding Spots on a GALLEON YouTube Short

The Galleon is by far the best ship for hiding on. However, it does have a large crew so in order to properly stow away, you must take great care in everything you do. The most important thing is identifying if the galleon has a full crew and where all the players are. If the ship is abandoned temporarily and the crew is on the island, you have free reign to get in a perfect hiding spot. Just make sure to be quick about it because one of the crew could be killed on the island and respawn beside you if you aren’t careful.

The heat map shows player activity based on my experience within the game. Higher amount of time in an area by players or increased player traffic makes areas hotter such as stairs since they represent a high traffic area. This can be used to help you estimate where the enemy might be if you don't have a visual on them but know they are on board.

Dark Blue Points: These Ghost quality hiding spots are very difficult to get to but you are very unlikely to ever be found in them.
Blue Points: High quality hiding spots that you will rarely ever be found in.
Purple Points: Medium quality hiding spots that you will only be found if the enemy crew knows you are on board.
Red Points: Low quality hiding spots. These are best only if you use them as a temporary spot then move to a better spot.

Reading Your Victims

Players are human, they are creatures of habit. We all do things without realizing them and this can be analyzed and exploited by people who know how to do this.

Reading an opponent is easier than you may think. Players usually have a favorite spot to store loot on the ship, and it's different per crew. While hiding on their ship you can determine where their favorite spot is then you now can predict what the crew will do. They will bring loot from the island on to the ship and follow the shortest path to their loot, drop off their loot, potentially grab food/ammo, then return to the island to continue the cycle. This creates a closed circuit that you can exploit by walking directly behind them while they follow their path then you can walk off to the side before they make their return trip.

Lets give another example. Say they are doing a fort of some kind. They are going to grab food, ammo, and jump overboard with potentially 1 lookout staying behind. That lookout is going to be looking for mermaids but mainly are going to be watching for enemy ships to come. If they are looking for ships you are considerably more likely to sneak past them because they will be looking to the horizon instead of directly in front of them.

Players follow a linear path of objectives because that is how this game is played. You have to raise anchor, drop sails, and get on the helm to sail. Observing the enemy and predicting what they are going to do next is simply figuring out "what would I do if I was in their situation?"

Manipulating The Enemy

Manipulation is one of the highest levels of stealth you can achieve. Think of a magician, they keep your attention in one place where the real trick is being preformed elsewhere. You have to learn how to force your opponent to do what you want them to without them realizing they are being played. This can be done in a multitude of ways and is entirely situational.

Here are a few examples to give you an idea:

• There is a ship you want to board, so you sail your ship nearby and swim to the opposite side of their ship. While they cannon your ship you climb the opposite ladder and hide. This works well against average players and players who forget to watch ladders. Make your ship look like a noob in both how you drive it and in it's cosmetics. Giving them a really easy target will often get the desired carefree attacking that you want.
  
• There is an alliance at an active fort. They are using in game microphones and seem to not know each other personally but simply are randoms in an alliance. Sneak over and get on board one of the ships undetected if possible. Then use one ship's cannons to hit the other ship's and start crying in open mic about how your ship is being attacked. If you have time switch ships and attack back so everyone is properly confused.
  
• You boarded and tucked on an open crew galleon. You can talk freely to the enemy crew just so long as they never see your name and realize you are not a part of their crew. Use them to attack other crews for you or even provide a distraction for you.

Pulling The Trigger

Pulling The Trigger is the culmination of all your efforts in one singular moment. This is you sneaking off with their Chest of Legends or blowing up the mega kegs in their crow's nest. Everything you accomplished is riding on this moment and you have to plan it out accordingly. If you start a fight and lose you completely wasted your time, so you have to know your limits as well as the threat level of the enemy should you be discovered.

Understand what you are capable of and constantly try to outdo yourself. If you have nothing to lose, take risks and see what happens. Take steps to properly prepare for what you are going to do, from moving their kegs around to knowing you can firebomb the crows nest if you don't have a ranged weapon that can shoot the kegs. Always plan for the optimum outcome, the potential outcome, and the worst case scenario and you'll always be able to be one step ahead of the enemy.

Aggro Dropping

Players are just like AI in many ways, they are predictable and can be manipulated. With AI breaking Line-of-Sight often does the trick and this works surprisingly well against people as well. If you kill a crew on a ship then hide before they can respawn, they often assume you stole resources and jumped overboard. If your hiding spot is exceptionally good, this is much more likely to work because players will always look around the ship after they respawn, but stop once a player gives an “all clear”. This idea of breaking LoS and hiding before they can see you again works well in chases as well, they assume you either got away and mermaided away or got killed, with only some rare occasions people predicting you hiding.

Other ways to drop player agro is to admit defeat. Either apologize or congratulate them for doing well in beating you. Wish them a good day and say you’re either headed back to your ship or getting off. On a galleon or in the crow’s nest this works especially well. Make your way to the helm on a galleon and when you wish them goodbye, jump off the side to the balcony below and hide again. Often, they will think you jumped into the water below and calm back down. In the crow’s nest jump off in the same manor and grab a side ladder before you hit the water, and hold on until you get another chance to board.

Understanding The Body

Player Vision:

Within the game the Field of View is 78° by default. However, experienced players will adjust this up to 90° enabling them to see a much larger area. If players have a lower FoV they are much more likely to overlook you when you are laying down due to their screen barely even showing your body. Additionally, the enemy player nameplate is visible up to 18 paces away. Any farther than that and it will disappear. It also vanishes if there is something blocking line of sight with that player, be it brush or a structure.

It is also important to mention, that the human eye tracks two different things at the same time, color differences and motion. The human eye has Rod Cells which track motion and make up the majority of peripheral vision and night vision. Cone Cells are used to differentiate color and are also responsible for more clear visual images. This is why it is important for stealth players to blend closely to the environment they are in as well as remain still because different portions of the eye will pick you up if you are in the player’s FoV. One last thing to be aware of, males have more rods than females do on average, which makes men more capable at motion detection. The opposite is true for females, they have more cones than males which helps with color differentiation.

With color differences; the more things the eye has to look at the more likely something subtle will remain unnoticed. It is always suggested to hide in shadows and darker areas because color differences are more subtle there. This is one of the reasons the Wilds region (or the dark, or fog) is the best for stealth due to the muted color pallet. However, it is better to mix your lighting than to simple be in a dark spot. If a player’s eyes adjust then it is irrelevant if you are in the dark if everything is dark. If you mix the lighting you are hiding in it doesn’t let a person’s eyes adjust and makes you even harder to be seen. This is why striped animals hide in brush and tall grass, the light is patchy and makes them more difficult to be seen.

One last thing to be aware of, is that people don’t look up very often. This is due to the fact that usually something really bright is up there discouraging you from looking at it, additionally the fact you have go to watch where you are stepping and find anything that may be in the ground. This isn’t as common in gaming however due to the brightness of the sun or lights not being unbearable like it is for real in real life. However, this is still common when people are looking for people who are hiding on their ship, because the tucked player is almost always laying down, people look down. This is useful if you are hiding above people and is one of the reasons higher hiding spots are desired.

Silhouetting:

Your shadow and silhouette can give you away more often than you realize. Keep track of where the sun is so you can predict which angle your shadow will be cast. However, unlike in real life, you only have 1 shadow at a time and it is only caused by the sun. No other light sources create a shadow.

Remember that while you may not be directly visible in the distance your silhouette could be. Take special care to never present yourself directly against the sky or ocean. If someone is below you, they will see your silhouette against the sky/ocean ceiling. To avoid this never stand directly atop of a hill and instead stay below the crest of the hill/mountain. To avoid being detected in water avoid being above someone who is swimming, they look up more often than down. Use rock crevices and seaweed to obscure their view of you and remain perfectly still, they will most often overlook you.

Player Hearing:

The human ear can commonly hear between 20Hz to 20kHz although the top end of this range decreases with age (I’m 27 and my range is 15Hz to 18kHz although I have fantastic hearing). The ear actually focuses on higher frequencies on its own and ignores lower frequencies more often. This is why in music the bass is considered the base, or foundation of a sound and everything else needs to be quieter in order to make a more balanced sound. Obviously, volume makes a huge difference as well.

Below is a tier table based on likelihood a sound will get you noticed by a player; this is based on volume, pitch, and recognizability. Each will have a score from 1-10. 1 is impossible to hear, while 10 is as obvious as a mermaid in the water.

	Barefoot	Boots	Peg-Leg
Swimming	9	9	9
Shallow Water	7	7	7
Sand	4	6	6
Grass	3	5	5
Brush	5	6	6
Wood	2	6	8
Stone	2	7	9

*Note: Transitioning from water to dry ground in boots will add an extra squish sound effect for ~2 seconds. I would argue this increases the score given above by 1 based on land type.

Understanding The Mind

Knowing what players are going to do before they do it or being able to mind game them into doing what you want is one of the most important skills to stealth. Knowing what path people are more likely to take based on pattern recognition and using logic can mean the difference between remaining undetected and ruining the entire operation. With people being lazy, they are not always on “high alert” and overlook simple things when they aren’t thinking about it. This is the core idea of stealth and is why it works so well. Someone looking for you will look for tuck spots and things out of the ordinary, whereas laid back people will not care about a dark blob near their cannon because they are looking at the shiny chest on the shoreline past it.

Choice is an Illusion:

Humans are a creature of habit, we like following a routine and taking the path of least resistance because its easier. These facts go into our gaming as well. In Sea of Thieves players almost always want to put their loot in the same spot once they choose it. Most players leave it in the captain’s quarters or below deck, however, it is almost always all put in one central location. Once you discover where a crew prefers to keep loot you know the spot, they will be taking anything they find. That is half of predicting what people will do. You also know they will be coming from off-ship with said loot, most commonly using the ladders or rowboat to get on board. With these facts in place, you simply need to know the path in which they will take, on ships there is often only one or two ways to most locations on a ship. To hide from them, you simply hide from the route they will take in itself. This works in most instances if they are not aware you are on board, however, nothing works 100% of the time.

The most complex thing about choice being an illusion, is that you can predict where people will look. People are always looking at one thing; whatever happens to catch their interest or requires them to look at in order to do properly. These things can be a threat, interesting scenery, where they are going (walking or sailing), something visually distracting, or a short-term tangible goal ahead. It is your job to either create these scenarios for them or figure them out before they happen so you can capitalize on them. For example, if you are solo sailing, sail your ship right past theirs but before you do, slide down the far ladder away from them out of sight. They will be watching your ship sail beside theirs and probably cannon it down, while you climb the ladder on the opposite side of their ship. In doing this you force players to look one way while the real trick is being done from another angle. In short, slight of hand is your friend.

If someone is actively running from you, you can force them to still do what you want in some situations. You know their goal is to escape or sell an item, so they will either be running away from you or towards a sell point. Many islands have shortcuts you can take to cut people off and all islands have a perimeter which can be run in the opposite direction to cut them off, obviously this only works with more than one person. But if you are chasing someone you can run slightly more to the left and they will in turn, turn to their right in an effort to create more distance between you. Using this, you can force them into dead ends if they don’t know the island, or into a trap or ally. If they are not paying attention this will not work but you are more likely to catch them by simply running them down, if you are better at pathing through the environment that is.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this guide, hopefully you learned something and have a few ideas you would like to accomplish using these tricks.

Reap the weak, cull mortality.

[Zherron Vorse]

@Unfinnished Business it might be just you cause they appear to be loading for me. There is a Youtube video I linked in the Introduction section which quickly goes over these spots as well.

[UnFinnished Business]

I cant see any of the tuck spots for any of the ships dunno if its just me tho

[WinterWolf]

Gotcha man, Appreciate the quick response btw!

[Zherron Vorse]

Sometimes they get moved around or disappear temporarily and I don't know why. I haven't been on for a few months I'm afraid. I did check this a while back for someone else and it was indeed gone for a week then it came back.

[WinterWolf]

Hey is it just me or can i not find the hide and sneak bundle?

[Zherron Vorse]

Not sure when that went missing but I'll fix it.

[genghisjayder]

hey the map for the brigantine tuck spots is missing

[Zherron Vorse]

I do mean alt f4. Your body will remain for roughly 2 seconds after you do it though so be warned. Also thanks, i commissioned a friend to draw it for me since she does art for a living.

[All Thriller No Philler]

For "Tactical Quitting," do you mean alt+F4 to drop out or does your body remain unless you quit via menu?

Also sick art for your toon, btw.

[Zherron Vorse]

Gooooooood