Becoming Better In Sea Of Thieves

Sea Of Thieves isn't an easy game, however you can make it easier for yourself and your crew, here is a guide with some helpful tips and tricks to use on the seas!

*PLEASE NOTE*

You must have a basic understanding of the game before reading this guide, know what a Gold Hoarder is? Know what the Devil’s Roar is? Know who Flameheart is? Go read right ahead.
If you're brand new to the game and don't know anything, then you might struggle to understand some stuff this guide goes over.

Also this guide WILL go over some controversial stuff in some sections which I can imagine will set some people off, please keep the comments calm, and any comments that go way too far will result in being deleted.

I hope you enjoy this guide!

Make Friends

Every ship needs a good crew, and a good crew you can often rely on are your friends, so make some friends ingame with open crews, Discord Groups, social media, or even see if some IRL friends might be up for sailing!
A ship can work solo or with randoms, but you're putting yourself at a major disadvantage by doing so as communication might be hard to do since some players might not have working or clear microphones or might not share your language, or they might be super new to the game where their mistakes cause the ship to sink or kill your crew!
As for Solo players, it's possible to beat 1v2s, 1v3s. and 1v4s, but it's not easy.

Learn to communicate quickly

In Sea Of Thieves, things can escalate quickly, from an enemy ship attacking you, a Megladon spawning and a lot more.
In this game, there are 3 ways to communicate with someone.

Text Chat

A classic ingame chat found in nearly any other game, if you’re experienced with PC gaming, you should have little issue typing quickly.

Pirate Chat

A system where you select what action your character says, it works similarly to your equipment wheel, get used to where everything is incase you spot danger in the distance.

Voice Chat

The best form of communication, you can instantly warn your crew of danger just by talking normally, however I would advice for you to activate "push to talk" in the options, as your crew constantly hearing you can annoy them, and plus if you want to sneak onto an enemy ship, they will be able to hear you too.

Set yourself and your crew multiple goals for each session

A lot of players make this fatal mistake, and that's to do one goal at a time, so when they sink or need to go early for some reason, they will rage and you can often see them on forums complaining they lost tons of progress because X happened.

Sea Of Thieves is a lot more then just getting gold from sales, it's about the adventure, the challenges and becoming better, here's a small list of what you can also do in Sea Of Thieves!

Beat Commendations
Become a better cook
Defeat a world event
Finish a Tall Tale
Learn to aim better with cannons
Learn how to do Sword Lunges
Catch some fish
Gain some levels in the Plunder Pass

So if you do sink or have to leave for whatever reason, you can always look on the bright side and see if you finished your other goals!

For an example, me and my friend are Commendation Hunters, and we always try to make progress on them regardless on what were doing.
One time I helped a Reaper Alliance beat Flameheart, they did end up backstabbing me, but on the bright side I got commendation progress on "United Against the Damned" and I used the Wraith Cannonballs on one their ships, thus also gaining progress on "Unleash the Damned", and making sure they didn't get them.

Another time was me and my friend made friends with another Sloop and Brig, we were Reapers and did numerous World Events together, after we sold all our stuff to the Reapers, we did a Fort and sadly got demolished by a 4 Man Galleon who were super aggressive and heavily stocked up before they came to us while we were heading to an Ashen Lord, while we did lose that Fort's treasure, we got commendation progress on finishing the fort, finishing the Fort Of Fortune we did earlier, the Ford Of The Dammed and more, plus we sold all of our previous loot so we didn't mind as much... well except for me who got glitched and couldn't respawn to save our ship, but that's not the point, the point is that we did multiple goals, we beat those goals, so the loss of our Fort Loot meant very little to us.

One final example was with the "Sailor Of The Golden Horizon" Commendation me and my friend were doing, where we needed to Sail for 1000 Nautical Miles while on a Gold Hoarder Voyage, so when we were Reaping, World Event Farming, Fishing or whatever, we slapped that down, so regardless of what we did, we gained progress and eventually finished it! Trust me, it takes a long long time to finish this one!

Don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things

On any Ship, everyone has a role, this can be Repairs, Cannons, Spotter, Helmsmen, Explorer, Boarder, Fisherman, Cook and a bunch more.

There's nothing wrong to sticking what you're good at, but you will never become a better player if you don't tryout something new, ask yourself or your crew to try something out, if you suck at it, no problem just practice, you'll get good at it eventually!

Also don't be afraid to swap out weapons, the Sword, Pistol, Blunderbuss and Eye of Reach all have their moments, so swap them once and a while and try a weapon you don't use often!

Learn to multitask and create a list in your head

There will be times where you need to do multiple jobs at once, from cooking, to firing the cannons, putting out fires, dealing with boarders, repairing and a lot more.

Always talk to your crew on what jobs you're doing for the session, and prioritise what needs to be done.

Let's say I'm on a Brigantine as a 3 man crew, and my main jobs are repair, revive, 2nd cannon, mast guy and boarder clearer, let's say we're in a fight all of a sudden, here's my list I have made in my head.

1. Kill any boarders on sight, they can lower the anchor, cause fires and kill other crew mates etc.
2. Fix the Mast and be on standby when it's been chainshotted, unless we're sinking.
3. Repair any holes whenever possible and bail as quick as possible.
4. Cannon ONLY if there's another person on Cannons OR someone on our crew is on the enemy ship.
5. Adjust the masts.

Always keep a mini list in your head and go down it whenever you do a job, you might need to change the order depending on the situation, so for an example, we're fighting another Brigantine crew.

The enemy ship fires 2 shots, a player and a cannonball, the player lands nearby our ship, and the cannonball hits us
I see the player boarding the ship from the left ladders
I run over and kill the Boarder
I go under to fix the hole, a teammate tells me we have another boarder while they're dead
I go back up to top and kill the boarder
I quickly make sure we're safe
Another boarder comes on, I kill him
I'm too late to save my friend, but he tells me all 3 are in the Ferry Of The Dammed
I repair the ship
I get on the cannons and fire away
They come back, and one boards, I kill him
I continue to cannon until the enemy ship is sunk, they hit us with 1 more cannon before they sink
I stay on top to make sure there's no boarders
The 2 last players are picked of by my crew
I go and fix, my crew tells me they sunk and their Mermaid is gone so there's no chance of back spawners.
We have won the fight!
I adjust the sails so we slowly drfit to the loot and stop to collect them.

So as you see, I keep my list in nearly the same order listed above, but forced to change it when a higher danger arrives, a situation like this can happen instaintly out of nowhere, multitasking can save your whole session from disaster, get used to it!

The Ship’s map is your best friend, use it often!

From showing you where Reaper Chests/Bounties are, ideas of where World Events or Quests are taking you to, and most importantly the location of Reaper Ships, Death Match Ships, and Emissary Ships (When you're a Level 5 Reaper) the map is an amazing tool that shouldn't be ignored.

If your crew is planning to go onto an island either to fight a boss or do a challenge, unless you know you're 100% safe, keep someone on the Ship to keep an eye on the map and around the area, to better prepare yourself for uninvited guests.

Learn the strengths and weaknesses of your ship

This bit isn't going to go into much detail on this as there are better guides, but remember what your Ship can and can't do easily.

Sloop

Pros
Fastest Ship when sailing into wind
Best Ship for Duo players
Very easy to bail and repair including the mast
Very easy to raise anchor
Very good handling and turning

Cons
Slowest ship when sailing with the wind
Lacks Firepower
Can be sunk very easily by a ton of fire power and due to size, be knocked of from
Max 2 players per sloop on 1 crew


Brigantine

Pros
2nd Fastest Ship when sailing into and with the wind
Best Ship for Trio players
Has 4 cannons instead of 2
Easy to bail
Have a max of 3 players on 1 crew

Cons
Slow to turn compared to Sloop
Despite it's appearance and what you can do with a Duo, it's always best to sail as a Trio
Crippled when a Mast is down and hard to get one back up
Anchor is hard to Raise on your own
Hard to control with just 1 or 2 players


Gallons

Pros
Fastest of all the Ships when sailing with the wind
Best Firepower of all ships, can sink any ship within seconds
Harder to sink due to 2 floors needing to fill up
Has the most amount of players for 1 crew which is 4

Cons
Slowest Ship when it comes to sailing into the wind
Anchor is hard to Raise even as a duo or trio
Requires a full crew to be used effectively
Crippled hard when a mast is down and very hard to get one back up
Huge target
Hard to bail
Terrible turning
Very hard to control with just 1 or 2 players

All have their pros and cons, remember what they are and you will be able to use your ship effectively while rendering enemy ships into sitting ducks for you to sink.

Anchor Turning can make or break games

Anchor turning is when you hard steer your ship left/right to it's max and then drop the anchor, allowing your ship to turn extremely hard and extremely fast, then raise the anchor to move again, it's best used to avoid rocks and more importantly dodge player ships, surprise them so they miss shots, or get them into your broadside.

Sloops

You can do it solo, however having both players ready to go is a must in heated situations, when done, have one player jump onto the wheel, while the other goes and does any other jobs, like cannoning, repairing or lowering/raising the masts.

Brigantine

Solo is very slow, even with 2 players it's slow. so have all 3 players ready to raise the anchor when turned.

Galleon

NEVER do it solo or even just with 2 or 3 people, always have all 4 players ready to go with dropping and raising the anchor, the Galleon's Anchor is the heaviest and even with 4 players, can take a while to do.

Always remember to raise the anchor and straighten out the ship's wheel when finished!

Always have an escape plan for your ship

In Sea Of Thieves, anyone can be anywhere, so treat everyone is everywhere, always park your ship somewhere it's safe from cannon fire from enemy ships and inland cannons, and try to hide your ship as best as you can.
And when you do that, plan your best way to escape, like is going straight ahead the best option? Or is spinning the ship around before you leave it for an island to point in a different way a better idea? Where do you think the most likely place for an enemy ship to appear is?

Also NEVER block your exits, there are islands that have huge beaches that incircles large parts of water with 1 entrance/exit, while on the surface it looks like a good defence, this is a horrible idea, for an example, here's Smuggler's Bay.


Look at this bay, looks a great place to hide right? 1 Entrance/exit, lots of land, and being a huge island means that it's hard to get into the middle by foot.

WRONG

Any ship can block the entrance/exit, and the large amount of land also having lots of high and low areas, allow players to sneak into the middle or snipe players in the middle with ease, plus your ship will stand out making it easier to spot, I would recommend that you either park at the side on the small beaches at the left or right of the bay's entrance, or hide behind the island.

There are other islands like this, like Crescent Isle and Kraken's Fall, never go into an area with one entrance/exit, you're asking to be bombed to death.

Sword Lunge is an amazing weapon and tool, use it!

The Sword Lunge is an amazing ability, here's how to use it effectively.

1. NEVER use the primary fire to charge it up straight away.
2. ALWAYS use the block FIRST, then charge it with the primary fire
3. This will cancel the block, BUT allow you to move with more speed, jump better and also turn better during mid dash, and even recover easier then the Lunge is done.

Do this everytime you want to Sword Dash attack or to dive into the water back to your ship or onto an island, as this is a lot more quiet then using the cannons to go to an island.

Practice whenever you can, advanced Pirates Sword Lunge all the time, it's an amazing tool to get around the area.
If you don't understand how it works even after practice, look online, it's very easy once you get the hang of it.

Harpoons and you

Many people see Harpoons as something that does one thing “it grabs a thing, it brings said thing to the ship” and while that is their main job, Harpoons offer more uses! Here are some tricks and what you shouldn't do with Harpoons.

TURNING

While at a stand still with sails up and anchor up, along with the wheel turned left or right, you can use the harpoons to spin yourself round a bit faster!

For more professional sailors you can use this same trick on large rocks while moving, allowing any ship to do a hard turn, allowing to catch enemies of guard, this takes practice however and isn’t easy.

APPROACHING SHORES/PIERS

Sometimes you’re unable to get that sweet spot where you can jump on and off the ship without using the ladders, no problem, use a harpoon to pull your ship a tiny bit closer; this can save your crew quite a bit of time since they no longer have to swim and climb all over the place to get rid of loot.

NEVER USE THEM TO COLLECT GUNPOWDER BARRELS

If you drop them, they will explode instantly, and even if you don't drop it, one shot can cause them to explode, and the once place you don't want a barrel to explode is on the front of the ship, since it can cause more holes to appear, and it's further to travel to then the back in most cases.

UNLESS YOU'RE READY TO KILL, DON'T USE THEM TO SNATCH OTHER PLAYERS

The one place you never want an enemy pirate to be is your ship, they can kill you, anchor you, set fire to the ship, blunder bomb it, destroy your masts with your own cannons, set of kegs and steal your stuff, unless you're ready to get them, NEVER do this.
I had a full gallon do this to me, TWICE! First time I killed 3 pirates, the other was killed by my friend, and they sunk, the second time they came, the exact same thing happened... why would they do this not just once, but twice?

Try using Harpoons more often, they're very underrated!

Look at Emissary Tables whenever possible

At the table where your crew can vote to be an Emissary, sometimes there are small ship models on the table like in the picture above, each model is a real ship on the same server as you with that Emissary flag, this is helpful as low level Reapers so you know what you're up against and who to hunt.

Just remember not all ships vote to become an Emissary, so take it as a rough estimate on how many ships there are ingame.

Powder Kegs aren't usually worth the hassle

Kegs aren't worth much money even as a Grade 5 Merchant/Reaper, and as weapons, while powerful, they're not worth carrying as they can be set of early by being shot at.

Whenever most players see a Keg in the wild or as an award for doing a fort, they often shoot at the Kegs to explode them, so no other players can use them against their ship.

If you want to carry a Keg for whatever reason, hide them in the Crow's nest, this protects them from being shot by anyone on your ship, and being set of by Megladons who might attack you, however Kegs in a crows nest can be easily spotted and shot down by Eye of Reach users.

The best time to carry a Keg is near the end of your session, so you can quickly sell them to the Merchants or Reapers for Commendations.

Not all ships are hostile, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t let down your guard

Most crews like to go do their own thing, whether it be tall tales, quests, or whatever, with most conflicts often happening due to paths crossing or one looking like a quick easy target, so if you see another ship at an area you want to go to, and you don't want to fight, hang back for a while until they leave, most might see your ship and just leave, some might try to approach you, so be on your guard.

Sometimes a ship will approach you while you're doing something, again they might just be passing, but never lower your guard, they might send someone over to scout out your ship for supplies, treasures, or even to steal your rowboat, so always have your sword and guns ready and keep an eye out for Mermaids.

Alliances are always a bit iffy, some go great, while others can be trolls doing a bait and switch, always keep on eye on your ally, I had situations where allies started attacking us for no reason and even attempting to Keg our ship.

Not all Reapers are blood thirsty... well most are, but not all!

What do you think when I say the word Reaper?

A Galleon of 4 Pirate Legends chasing for your loot you just obtained from a Shrine?

A Sloop destroying 2 other ships with ease while you watch in the distance with a horrified look?

Double Gunning Gunslingers shredding your crew apart?

A Galleon running away from a Sloop into the shroud over 1 chest?

A child screaming racial slurs when you kill him?

Regardless of what you think, not all Reapers want blood, some like to do their own thing, and some are even happy to make a friend or 2 on the seas, let's talk about the Reapers, there are 3 main types.

Pure Reapers

These guys are everything the Reapers want them to be, hyper aggressive ships that will attack anything on sight, even if they're out matched, these guys will dive in and try to sink their enemies, they will often ignore World Events and Skeleton Ships if one spawns near them or is nearby.
The best way to tell these guys from others is to watch the map, if they're going to random areas, and appear to be following ships, it's a high chance it's a Pure Reaper, they don't have set objectives, and want to kill ASAP, stay away from these guys, their skill levels vary from crew to crew, but most of the time, it's on the lower end.

World Event Hunters

These guys while no where as aggressive as their Pure cousins, prefer to earn their money with World Events, these guys are the ones you want to look for, as most will accept an extra ally to help them with their cause, however some will attack, if they think you're an easy target or a threat.
The best way to tell these guys from others is to watch the map, if they go straight towards where a world event is, and if it finishes and they start heading towards the next one, it's definitely one of these guys, these are also often the guys who would rather run away then fight since some world event rewards are hard to come by sometimes, the skill levels are often better then Pure Reapers due to fighting more NPCs giving them more practice, but they're still easy to kill, I'll tell you how to appear friendly to these guys, along with the next group.

Masters Of Both

These guys are just as bloody thirsty as the Pure Reapers, but also do World Events, they attack most ships on sight and are excellent at it, NPCs and players should watch out for these guys since they're a deadly force on the seas.
These guys will accept alliances at times, but keep an eye on them because they often don't ask first, and with that they earn a bit of infomation from you, as it tells them that you think you can't take them, so they might use that and attack you, so be very cautious.
Telling these guys apart from the other Reapers isn't easy, as they mix both types of playstyle, with heading to world events, but also heading to nearby islands for supplies, but also chasing player and skeleton ships when they can.

How To Appear Friendly To A World Event Hunter or Masters Of Both Crews

REMINDER: This isn't guaranteed to work as all players are different, some may attack you regardless, so be ready incase things go sour.

1. Approach slowly and at a distance

If you slow down and are quite away, one of the crew members might cannon themselves to you and talk to you, allowing you to ask them for an alliance or ask them (depending on the event) if you can help or fish for Battlegills or whatever.
If they decline, you're still a decent enough distance to get away if things get hot.

If you just charge in, most ships see that as an aggressive entrance, and will be ready to attack, imagine if someone charged into your room while you're doing your own thing like listening to music or whatever, you wouldn't be happy in that situation, it's pretty much the same as that, but more... you know... killing.

2. Appear useful

Even if you want to fish for Battlegills or help kill a certain boss, keep an eye out for other ships and help your possible friends whenever you can, if you appear to be helpful, there's a much higher chance they will allow you to tag along and get more treasure.

3. Communication is king

Always keep your new possible friends up to date with ships or when a boss is about to go down.
Also if you can't see any ships, ask if someone on their boat can look on their map to see if any Emissary Ships nearby or appear to be approaching, just so both crews can be ready.

4. Help secure loot onto their ship or in their harpoon range

Don't care for gold?
Don't care for certain items?
Staying true to your word about killing bosses and fishing?
Let them know and help them load up! This is a good sign on their part since you rather have the alliance and then treasure, so chances are they will keep you onboard!

Also ALWAYS ask about Stronghold and Black Powder Kegs, if they want them, let them collect them since they can see you bringing it as an attempt to sink them.
If they want them gone or saved incase another ship comes along, either hide them to use, or blow them up ASAP, just remember the range on Stronghold and Black Powder kegs are huge and some cover entire sections of Forts and the waters around them.

Can't fight or don't want to fight? Waste time!

Running low on supplies?
Is the ship coming a Reaper 5 Galleon?

Start sailing and don't look back, one of the most major things players hate doing in this game is wasting time, from loading into the game, loading back into the ship after respawning, waiting for bosses to come back after hiding underground, and the biggest of all, chasing ships.

Keep an eye on the wind and use it to your advantage.
In a Sloop? Always sail against the wind whenever possible, no ship will catch up to you!
In a Galleon? Always sail with the wind whenever possible.

After a while, if the enemy ship see's you not stopping, they might leave you alone after a while, it's not guranteed, but players hate wasting time and often go do something else if they feel like they can't catch you.

Also if you're doing commendations that require you to do nautical miles while on a quest, at least you're gaining progress towards that while sailing away.

Always have someone on guard while you're at a Siren Shrine/Treasury

Shrines and Treasuries require you to leave your boat and go underwater to finish them, however leaving your ship, in the middle of the sea, easy to see and no one to guard it is just asking to be robbed, sunk or moved somewhere else by a parking officer.

Always leave at least 1 person on the boat, unless you don't care about treasure and want to read journals or finsh commendations to unlock Coral themed stuff.

Also Treasuries are a lot easier then people think, compared to a fort, they're super easy due to tridents, and having a lack of ranged enemies, compared to normal forts where they like to spam pistol skeletons, most people can solo it with no issue at all, so 3 or more players is overkill.

Not safe? Don't touch the Breath Of The Sea!

Found a Coral Bottle and got a quest to get a Breath Of The Sea? If someone is already at the Shrine or Treasury you need to be, don't worry and don't touch it.

Unlike any other treasure in the game, the Breath Of The Sea is only visable and interactable to crews who have the quest when it spawns, however when you or your crewmates touch it, it's fair game and anyone can take it then.

Also if you have 2 Coral quests, and both take you to the same Shrine or Treasury, both bottles will spawn there ontop of each other, so you don't need to refresh ot restart the Shrine or Treasury, this has happened to me and a friend of mine at the Shrine of Ocean's fortune.

The Shores Of Gold Tall Tale

If all else fails, there is one place a player can hide from enemy ships, and that's the Shores Of Gold, the island is protected by the Shroud, any ship that attempts to enter the Shroud without the Shroudbreaker will be destroyed.

Where to find the Tall Tale

Find this book next to Gracie on Morrow's Peak Outpost, she will tell you a story, you can either listen to her or head to the Shores Of Gold.


Play through the Tall Tale until you obtain this Coin, this will give you a checkpoint, and until you finish or discard the Tall Tale, it will remain in your inventory, so next time you want to use the Shores Of Gold to escape a ship. vote for it on the Captain's Table, and you will be able to head to it.


WARNING!

The ship chasing you might also have the Tall Tale checkpoint ready to deploy for this exact situation, just incase they do, always be prepared, here are some tips.
The Island has no island cannons, so the only way to damage enemy ships is with your cannons or crashing onto the island or into rocks.
There's a lot of High Ground areas, so larger crews can send someone up to dive onto a ship.
There's barrels all over the island, full of supplies incase you run low.

Also if you're chasing a ship, you will be also be able to chase them to the Shores Of Gold too if they are trying to do this trick as well.

Know your cannonballs

Cannonballs

Found in barrels, on your ship when you first spawn, in Rowboats, in crates and can be bought from Merchants, these are the most common type of Cannonball in the game and the ones you and the enemies will use the most, there isn't much to say other than practice aiming with them, as most cannonballs share the same speed and arc as them.


Chainshots

Found in barrels, on your ship when you first spawn, in Rowboats and crates, these cannonballs are rarer and are very dangerous, because if one hits your mast, it's going down.
Chainshots don't do much damage on their own, but knocking down your mast will make you a very easy target for more cannonballs to hit you.
Chainshots have a much lower arc and speed then cannonballs, so you need to compensate by aiming higher then normal.


Blunderbombs

Found in barrels, on your ship when you first spawn, in Rowboats and crates, Blunderbombs are commonly used as a throwable, however you can load them into cannons! While they do no damage to ships, they have a large radius and high knockback, meaning a well placed shot can knock enemy pirates of their boat!
Blunderbombs have the same arc as normal Cannonballs.


Firebombs

Found in barrels, on your ship when you first spawn, in Rowboats and crates, Firebombs are commonly used as a throwable, however you can load them into cannons! While they do no damage to ships directly, the fire they leave behind can destory the mast and leave entire areas in flames, causing panic against enemy crews to put out the fire, plus fire can blind them due to the extra light and smoke, allowing more cannonball shots and even boarders to get on unoticed.
Blunderbombs have the same arc as normal Cannonballs.


Cursed Cannonballs

Found in barrels, in Rowboats and crates, these cannonballs are rarer and can be dangerous depending on the curse, so make sure you read what it does before you fire!
Green is a player curse
Purple is a ship curse
Cursed Cannonballs have the same arc as a normal cannonball.


Phantom Cannonball

Found only in Cannonball Crates of the Damned which can be obtained by finding them in the water after beating Flameheart's Ghost Fleet, these cannonballs are the exact same as normal cannonballs, but just more ghostly and easier to spot, they look cool though.


Flame Phantom Cannonball

Found only in Cannonball Crates of the Damned which can be obtained by finding them in the water after beating Flameheart's Ghost Fleet, these cannonballs are the same as Firebombs but they cause more fire to appear then a normal firebomb, they also have the same arc as a normal cannonball.


Wraith Cannonball

Found only in Cannonball Crates of the Damned which can be obtained by finding them in the water after beating Flameheart's Ghost Fleet, and the rarest of the 3 Ghost Cannonballs, these cannonballs while moving at the same speed and arc as a normal Cannonball, they deal a monsterous amount of damage similar to a Gunpowder Keg causing many holes to appear on the ship and giving large knockback to players like a Blunderbomb and the ship, be prepared when you see one coming, speaking of which, Wraith Cannonballs turn into a giant ghostly face screaming when fired.

Don't blunder in the water!

One thing many people don't realise how important this is until it's happening, and that's underwater combat is a thing and happens more often then you think in some sessions.

This includes attacking Boarders, Sharks and Sirens, here are some tips on how to deal with them.

Sword and Blunderbuss are nearly useless in the water against Pirates

Most underwater fights happen at a range as neither you or your opponent wants to be close, and you can't dash so your sword is out of the question.
As for the Blunderbuss, the range is often too far to be good, and with both players unable to sprint/swim faster while holding a gun, it's very hard to close distance.
What you want to do is grab a pistol, an Eye of Reach or even both and snipe them.

Try your hardest to avoid shark attacks, and focus them first in a fight if they're the closest

Sharks deal half your health as damage, meaning if a duo comes along, 2 bites and you're gone, so deal with them ASAP if they're the closest enemy to you, however Sharks can be used against enemy pirates, so watch where it swims and try to bait it or an enemy towards it.

Before spawning to attack, Sirens will start singing

Hear some random singing while doing your own thing? Ready yourself because Sirens are coming, the Blue Sirens attack with Screeches and their claws, while Leaders use Tridents to snipe you with while slashing you with them up close, take care in dealing with them.

If you have a Trident, use it now

Tridents are powerful weapons and best used against NPCs or Pirates in an underwater fight, charging up the staff can do some heavy damage and even has a splash radius too, so even if you miss, hitting the wall next to the opponent can deal some damage!

Just because someone is wearing rare cosmetics doesn’t mean they’re good at the game

Look, anybody can earn nearly any cosmetic with time and patience, just because someone has a full Dark Adventurer’s Set or Soulflame Set or whatever doesn’t mean they’re amazing, for all we know he could have grinded Gold Hoarder Vaults or Glitched the Gold.

I use the Gold Hoarder Curse, a curse that’s often affiliated with edgy tryhards who wipe out world events with ease, can destroy a full gallon as a solo sloop, and are very toxic when you talk to them.
I however am an idiot who sucks at firing cannonballs at Megladons, miss my blunderbuss and pistol shots at close range regularly, and often troll my friends in sessions, I am not a player you should be worried about if you see me.

I had an encounter with a Duo Reaper Sloop in Season 1 near Gallon’s Grave Outpost with one of players who had the “Master Of Arms” Title, a title which requires you to obtain 200 kills in Arena, only the truest of tryhards get and use this, these guys you gotta watch out for, according to the community.
Me and my friend clapped both of their cheeks and sank their ship TWICE, stole all of their loot on board their ship, sold it all at Ancient Spire Outpost (they chased us for a bit before we sank them) lowered our emissary, and when they came back for round 3 we sailed our ship into the middle of the ocean with nobody or anything on board and voted to scuttle it, and they raged quit shortly after and I haven’t seen them since.

Don’t worry about cosmetics sending you a warning message in your head, some of the best players wear nothing but black pants, or wear the full Gold Hoarder’s costume, or whatever, while the worst wears the rare Soulflame outfit, my point is that everybody wears whatever they want and will grind to get them whenever possible for hours on end regardless of being bad or good, so stereotyping someone with clothing is pointless half the time... though I can’t lie, it’s still fun to do sometimes.

The Grind2Win Sails (Outdated)

THIS SECTION ABOUT THE DARK ADVENTURER SAILS IS OUTDATED!

Due to changes Rare has made to these sails and some others, they're now more inline with other sails, however I will not be deleting this part due to preservation, and to give newer players to look back to see what these sails were originally like, they're purely cosmetic now offering 0 gameplay advantages when being used.


While not their official name, the Dark Adventurers Sails offer a unique advantage compared to any other sails, and thats they're V Shaped rather then Square.


As you can see the helmsman... well can see whats coming more easier then normal, allowing any other players to do other tasks more easier.


The Dark Adventurer Sails are an excellent tool for any tryhard ships, they're a must have on any Brigantine or Galleon, however there are 2 massive issues when it comes to using them.

1. You need to be Pirate Legend to go to the special shipwright to buy them.
2. You need 8,268,750 gold to buy it

Also when you use them, switching back to any other sail is hard due to the amount of visability you lose, seriously it's a small difference, but that difference has helped so many times with my crews,

Want these sails? Get to work then and get saving! While not gaming breaking, these sails will help.

Tucking yourself in

Tucking is a dangerous tool pirates can use to hide on islands and on ships, allowing pirates to scout out the place to make sure it's safe for their crew or have an attempt to do an ambush.

Now how do players do tucking so well?

Step 1: The Emote

In the Pirate Emporium (accessible on the main menu and above any Order Of Souls Trading Post) you can find the Hide & Sneak Emote Bundle in the Pirate Section.


Select it, and you should see the Hide emote for 0 coins, get it, and you can equip it to your emote slots in any vanity chest

Step 2 (Optional): The clothing

A lot of pirates like to dress up in dark clothing without or with not very noticeable curses (Order of Soul Curse or Legend Curse), this makes them harder to spot on some parts of ships and islands due to the lighting, however I usually use Green/Brown clothing as a Gold Hoarder and have had success tucking, so it's up to you really.

Step 3: How to tuck and **** any tuckers up!

Use your own ship as practice while sailing or waiting for you’re crew to do jobs on islands!

Find a spot that’s one of the following, that's out of the way, is in a corner, is really dark, (Like the Captain's Quarters, a corner, next to the cannons etc) or even the Crow’s Nest.
Use the emote
And lastly wait until you're spotted or ready to strike!

Also keep an eye out for the exact same spots on your ship too, someone on another crew might have a similar idea, get your Blunderbuss ready and eyes peeled.

The Barrels have eyes

There are 2 ways to obtain this emote, the first way to obtain this emote was in Plunder Pass 2 when you reach Level 13, this method is now impossible to do.
The second and much easier method is buying this emote from Larinna with your spare doubloons.

However while you don't have this emote or have it equipped, it doesn't mean other players won't have it equip either, memorise your ship layout and island layouts whenever possible, because on barrel might hide a player inside!


How to tell if a barrel is fake

1. There's an extra barrel in a spot, most of the time there's a max of 3 being next to each other on most islands and outposts.

2. When attacking and hitting a barrel, you will hear a different sound compared to a normal barrel.

3. You can't interact with a fake barrel.

4. The fake barrel might appear floating of the ground in certain spots.

5. You hear a loud THUD sound out of nowhere, this means they activated the emote.

6. The lighting/textures of 1 Barrel doesn't match the others

Always be ready for fake barrels, especially if you think a ship you spotted has experienced players on it, and if you come across players with rare/time limited items.

The Devil’s Roar are a Gold Hoarders and Order Of Soul Member's best friend

The Devil's Roar is a very hostile area in the Sea Of Thieves due to it's Volcanic activity, frequent earthquakes and geysers, this often scare players from exploring this dangerous reigon.
And that's why you should go here more often.

The Devil's Roar quests at Morrow's Peak Outpost are all Ashen quests, which give more expensive loot, more Emissary Rank and EXP allowing you to power through some Emissaries very easily, with the exception of Merchants, as Sunken Voyages don't spawn in the region, so if you're a Merchant, you're forced to do Cargo Runs which I don't recommend unless you want Commendations.

The only World Events that spawn in this region are Skeleton Fleets, one very rare fort and Reaper Chests/Bounties.
Meanwhile Flameheart and Ashen Lords and the majority of all forts hang out everywhere but in the Devil's Roar, so other ships who want to farm them, will often not be close to the Devil's Roar.

Volcanoes are a blessing and a curse when it comes to ship battles, besides giant rocks that can sink your ship, they can sink enemy ships too, and the water near volcanoes boil too, dealing damage to anyone in the water.

Gold Hoarders have 2 Amazing Vaults to clear out in the Devil's Roar that all have Ashen Versions of their Normal Chests which give more Money and EXP when sold.

Fetcher's Rest which has a small area a Sloop or Brigantine can sail into, not too far from the Vault's entrance, allowing for quick and easy transport, plus near some Rocks to help cover them incase the Volcano erupts. If a larger ship like a Gallon or an inexperienced Brigantine crew spots you, they will have an awkward time getting to your ship due to the rocks blocking water access to your ship, and only a small area to use cannon fire. However land access to your ship is easy, so watch out for boarders.

Ashen Reaches is hidden at the very bottom right corner of the map, with the South side (or west if you're looking at a Player Map instead of the Ship Map) having an excellent place for a ship to be, with crews able to carry loot quickly from the Vault to the ship, and with the ship being completely out of view of other players, Ashen Reaches is incredibly isolated, allowing crews to be more then prepared if they notice a Reaper or another ship heading their way, however be careful as there's little Cover from the Volcano, other then hiding by the rocks on the opposite side of the Island from the Volcano, but then you're easier to spot, pick your poison, be spotted easier but take less chance to be hit by the Volcano, or be harder to find, but more vulnerable to the Volcano.

As for Order Of Soul Members, all the quests have stronger enemies like Ashen Skeletons, Shadow Skeletons and Gold Skeletons, which are rarer to find in other quests in other regions, not only that but geysers can instantly kill any skeleton that touch them.
Not only that, but most skulls are Ashen Skulls, meaning you get more EXP and Money.

So don't be afraid of the Devil's Roar, it's dangerous, but the rewards are well worth it.

The powerful information the Reaper's Chest/Bounty hides

The Reaper's Chest/Bounty is unlike any other loot in Sea Of Thieves, as they can give crucial information not only about it, but the server as a whole.

Their spawning conditions

Reaper's Chest/Bounty will only spawn if there's 3 Ships or more per server, so if you're in a session and see a lack of Reaper's Chest/Bounty in the distance or map, it's possible you're in an empty session, be cautious though since 1 ship could still be around who might want to mess with you.

If you're someone who wants to go Reapers or do PvP, leave because it can take a long time for the server to get full.

Is the Map Icon and Lights moving? Someone has it

A Reaper's Chest/Bounty while not buried will make lights appear into the sky Green and Red for Chests, and pure yellow/gold for Bounties, these lights are used for luring players towards them, the lights look like this.

Meanwhile the icon on the map would look like this, Red for Reaper Chests, Yellow for Bounties.

If you want to avoid fights or track down enemy players to fight, Reaper Chests are an amazing tool to assist you, always pay attention to them, it can seriously help you in your adventures.

The secret of the Sea Dogs Tavern

Ever notice when you sail by the Sea Dogs Tavern, once and a while, lighting hits the mountain's peak?

There's a reason for that! It means a new ship has joined your session! So be cautious when you hear this sound, they could have spawned at an Outpost you're heading to!

Portal Hopping

Portal Hopping is a controversial trick introduced in Season 3, using a checkpoint from 2 Tall Tales, a ship is able to hop from server to server to hunt players and stock up each time they hop.

How to Portal Hop

Pick your tall tale, however I highly recommended you pick Pirates Life Part 3: Captains of the Damned, and choose the 3rd checkpoint, you know it's the 3rd checkpoint after you defeat the boss Black Dog Briar during The Raid on Isla Tesoro. You now have the checkpoint in your inventory, disable it to return back to the world.

Now anytime you're in the world of Sea Of Thieves, you activate the Tall Tale by voting for it, go to the portal that's activated, you sail through the Sea Of The Damned (it's a loading screen sorta) and you will end up at Isla Tesoro, you can now jump off and search ALL the barrels in th area, to fill your pockets and your ship.
When you're done, vote to disable the Tall Tale, you will go back to the Sea Of The Damned, and then back into a brand new server!

REMEMBER THE FOLLOWING!

• Any treasure you have on board WON'T go through with you
  
• Any Storage, Wood, Cannonball, Fruit and Ammo Crates WILL go through with you
  
• Anything you're holding including Crates WILL be deleted
  
• Anything in your inventory WILL go through with you
  
• Anything in your ship's inventory WILL go through with you
  
• Any Active Emissary Flag you have WILL go through with you, meaning Reaper 5 Ships can appear out of no where in some servers
  
• A dupelicate of your flag WILL spawn at the portal you went through
  
• Anything else that doesn't go through will be at the portal you went through

Remember it's up to you to use Portal Hopping, some people don't because some see it's cheating, while others including myself see it as a part of the game, you're not forced to use it, but yet don't be discouraged from trying it out, it's up to you to use it.

Don't ignore Sea Forts, they're broken!

Sea Forts to many people, are just a place you can drop by to get some quick gold and treasure, but to those who need supplies, Sea Forts compared to any other island or area, are broken.

From cannonballs ALONE, if you find a freshly restocked Sea Fort, they can have up to 150 Cannonballs from the 3 Cannonball Barrels, and that isn't even including all the other barrels on the fort! You can find fresh meat and fish to cook, fruit, wood and more, with some forts having more of certain items depending which one you're on, for an example the 2 Forts that have pulleys for barrels in the south part of the map have extra meat and food inside them!

Seriously if you need supplies or plan to go onto a killing spree, ignoring Forts is a dumb idea, grab a crate and go crazy, it's broken how much stuff you can get.

Don’t worry about becoming Pirate Legend ASAP, there's no reason to rush it!

According to the game, becoming Pirate Legend is a top priority, but don’t worry about it, here’s all you get becoming a pirate legend.

A new song to play on your instruments
New commendations
An Exclusive cosmetic shop for your pirate, equipment, weapons and ship
Pirate Legend clothing set and title for free
The ability to do Athena voyages (they’re terrible and extremely grindy, Veils are ok but get very grindy really fast)
The ability to buy certain pet cosmetics in the Pirate Emporium
Exclusive content in Plunder Passes

That’s it, that’s all you get, don’t worry about rushing to be a Pirate Legend, focus on what you want to do!
Wanna max out Gold Hoarders? Go crazy!
Wanna 100% all Tall Tales, the game isn’t gonna stop you!
Wanna grind Hunters Call? It’s up to you! but you should seek medical help too

It’s up to you what you want to do, but Pirate Legend isn’t as amazing as one would think it would be, plus its SUPER easy to level your emissaries now... well Hunter's Call is still bad, but the other main 4 are way easier due to Vaults, Ghost Fleets, Sunken Ship Voyages and newer world events, you'll get there in no time!

Don’t worry about messing up, everyone has done something dumb in the past

With today’s gaming world full of forums complaining about players, YouTubers making videos on games and Twitch Streamers showing of gameplay, many players are worried they’re going to look stupid to thousands of people across the world.

Don’t worry about it.

Everybody makes mistakes, everybody does something stupid, everybody is human and not a perfect A.I, even you do make a mistake, you might make someone laugh, and to me and many others, that’s a lot better then making them angry or cry.

I’ve done silly things as a new player that were caught on Streams and Videos
My friends have done silly things as new players that were caught on Streams and Videos
Others have done the same
Streamers have done the same before they were well known
Developers have done the same
Some of the best pro players have done the same

Do we all care? I don’t, my friends don’t, and I can assume nearly everyone else doesn’t either, so don’t worry, you’re not the first or last to do something silly.

Try not to get mad when another crew gets you

Look I know, it sucks when you lose your loot, everyone new and old has been there, however you need to remember this.

Sea Of Thieves, regardless of your, my or anyone's opinion, is a PvPvE open world survival pirate simulator, it was designed like that by Rare, it's balanced like that in mind, and no matter what you say or think, will change that, this is how the game was designed, this how the game was advertised, this is the game.

I know, sometimes you want to be alone on a server with yourself and crew to grind Vaults or whatever without players attacking you, but that doesn't mean Rare should redesign their entire game's structure because of your and a loud minorities opinion, without the PvP, this game the game would have died ages ago.

What to do when you're feeling angry about loosing loot or getting killed

1. Do something that will relax yourself, count to 10, have a cold drink of water, whatever helps you calm yourself.

2. Look on the bright side, did you do any commendations? Did you sell any loot before you sank?

3. Leave the game and comeback later, maybe play another game or go relax until you feel better.

What you shouldn't do when you're feeling angry about loosing your loot

1. Unless you feel like you can get revenge and get your loot back, don't waste your time, it's often easier just to leave to a new session or go do something else, most revenge attempts fail due to the lack of resources compared to the ship that sunk you, and most of the time, players are often too mad/unfocused to get their revenge, it's happened to players I sunk multiple times thinking they could sink me.

2. Don't go onto the forums and complain about no real PvE servers in the game, you're just going to give yourself a huge target on your head, there's nothing wrong with venting, tons of people do it, I did it on forums that had special threads for venting bad sessions, but you're just asking for trouble with PvE servers since the arguments for them are the exact same and goes against nearly everything Sea Of Thieves and piracy as a whole was built on, Safer Seas only got into the game by the thinnest or margins, and is the closest you're gonna get.

3. Don't annoy the developers on social media, there's nothing wrong with feedback, talking about ideas you have, or asking questions, but actively harassing and bullying them on social media just because a Reaper sunk you is unacceptable, and you will be punished for it, either by being blocked or even reported.

4. Don't report every single player you fight for "Toxic Behaviour" or "Racism" or whatever UNLESS you have evidence that they were being offensive, all it will do is annoy the people who have to sit through your report and look into it, there's a reason Rare stopped looking at reports in Arena mode.

5. Speaking of Arena, just because it existed, Rare shouldn't revive it and force all PvP players to play it just because you want them to, and here's a multiple reasons why.

A. Arena was nothing like a normal PvP gamemode in other games and isn't fun to many players because of that.

B. The gamemode didn't support Brigantine Ships, so it was just Galleons and Sloops only, meaning certain groups of friends can't play it without ditching 1 or getting another friend to join.

C. The gamemode could take ages to finish, there's no "Pop in and pop out for a quick game"

D. You still needed to dig up special treasure that's exclusive to the mode and hand it in for points

E. The Gold reward sucks at the end of games, you only got 6000 coming in first, 5000 for 2nd, 4000 for 3rd, 3000, 4th, and 2000th for 5th.

F. You barely get any points for Player kills but tons for sinking ships

G. The small playerbase the Arena had before being closed means you will be fighting with and against the same crews over and over

H. Even if Arena remained open, Rare announced that Arena would never have a major gameplay update ever again

I. You couldn't get every PvP Commendations in Arena which same goes for Adventure mode, you can't get Reaper, Event or many other Commendations in Arena, while Sea Dog Commendations can't be obtained in the Adventure mode, so in many situations for Commendation hunters like myself, PvP in Adventure mode is a must do.

J. How do think how people feel you complained that they should be forced to play a gamemode they don't like or don't want to because they're "Too good" or "toxic", long story very short, they don't care, don't waste your time.
Good TF2 players get it playing in Public Games with people saying they should play competitive mode, do they go straight to competitive? No they do what they want!
Good Overwatch players get it for playing in Public Games with people saying they should play Ranked, do they go straight to Ranked? No they do what they want!
Did/do PvP players go straight into Arena/Hourglass when they kill you because you told them to? Of course not!
Same goes for nearly any game, don't waste your time typing to other players that they should be forced to play X, you're asking for trouble and are just being toxic.

6. Don't doxx the Sea Of Thieves website and no I am not joking, some people do this because of no PvE servers... seriously don't ruin the servers or website for others because you're mad and not having fun, it's literally just kicking and screaming like a baby because you didn't get your way.

Do you think Real Life Cargo Merchants and travellers kick and screamed at their Leaders that they lost their stuff from Pirate when shipping from the New World to the Old World?
No, they got more gear, more protection, and got ready for next time.

Do you think REAL Pirates kicked and screamed that more British Navy ships appeared to attack them? No, they adapted to fight them or moved on.

Do you think other a majority of other players kick and scream and want to doxx your computer because you sank them? Of course not, they react whatever way they want and either move on or come back for round 2.

Should you attack a game's servers because of your attitude? Hell no, you're better then this, you're stronger then this, look it's understandable that you're not having fun sometimes, but that doesn't mean you should ruin the fun for everyone else, if you really hate the idea of this game being PvPvE, then just leave, it would be better for everyone, not only for other players suffering less due to one less doxxer and one less thread on about PvE servers, but for your mental health too, I can't imagine hating a game for not having a feature it will probably never have for so long and yet still play it can be healthy for one's mental state, seriously it would sound like you would be angry or depressed all the time, which from experience I can tell you isn't healthy.

Thanks for reading!

This guide is going to be continuously updated for a while with new tips, spellchecks and punctuation fixes! Update announcements of what I've changed will be in the comments.

I honestly do hope this guide helps you in some way, Sea Of Thieves is a hard game that treats you hard, but after a while, the game becomes an amazing experience, regardless of your skill level, regardless of your playtime, and regardless of who you are, this game is very special, let's hope it stays around for a very long time.

This guide is now part of a series of guides called "In Sea Of Thieves!"

Other "In Sea Of Thieves" Guides

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2634856148
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2626074704
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2683786705
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2796687468
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2810294399
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2847522185
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2853352836
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2851036598
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2675719064

If you enjoyed this one please remember to give it a thumbs up and favourite it! More guides are on the way! Stay tuned!

[Bubingi]

Updated 22

A new guide has been released! "Dealing With Cheaters In Sea Of Thieves" it can be found in the "thanks for reading section!"

[Jackaboi]

always great to see their are other commendation hunters out there

[large_cheeseburger]

actually amazing and i love the fact that you pointed out that crying about it wont change anything and that its sea of THIEVES

[Bubingi]

Update 21

Two new mini guides have been released! "Managing Your Loot In Sea Of Thieves" and "Some Annoying Commendations Made Easier In Sea Of Thieves" both have been added to the "Thanks for reading" section

[Bubingi]

Update 20

A new guide has been released "A guide to Captaincy in Sea Of Thieves", it's been added in the "Thanks for reading!" section

[Dolphers]

yo this guide is spectacular nice work

[Bubingi]

Update 19

A new guide has been released "How To Form And Keep Alliances In Sea Of Thieves", it's been added in the "Thanks for reading!" section

[Bubingi]

Update 18

Updated the "Try not to get mad when another crew gets you" section's text about the Arena gamemode.

[Bubingi]

Update 17

A new guide has been released! "A New Player's Basic Guide To All Event And Voyage Bosses In Sea Of Thieves", it's been added in the "Thanks For Reading!" section!

[Bubingi]

Update 16

Added a new section about Sea Forts