Dealing With Cheaters In Sea Of Thieves

Ever since Season 7, there has been a steady increase in cheaters in Sea Of Thieves, with Season 8 seeing a massive boom in the amount the game has ever endured, this is how to deal with them.

What's a cheater? And how do I spot them?

This sounds like a dumb question to ask doesn't it?

Shockingly a lot of players misunderstand who's cheating and not cheating, I've been called a cheater quite a few times in my time on the Sea Of Thieves and other games, while others literally cannot escape being called a cheater.

A Cheater is someone who uses third party software to give themselves an advantage, they also go by the name of Modders or Hackers by some other players, there are many types of cheats in Sea Of Thieves, but can be separated into 2 main groups.

The two main groups of Cheaters in Sea Of Thieves

Aimbotters

Aimbotters use a program that aims for them, for an example I could sneak behind a cheater with 0 clue of them knowing I was there, only for them to spin round and instantly kill me with a Blunderbuss, as the program saw me coming and acted.

How to spot aimbotters

• Very jittery aim but is able to land neary every shot
  
• Shots coming out of impossible angles (Like if the cheater is aiming infront but you see the bullet shoot towards the side.
  
• Spasms when multiple enemies approach the cheater and struggles to focus on a single target (the program starts to struggle since many aimbots prioritise the closest target.
  
• Hitting shots way too far away consistently, some players can do this no problem legit, however it's always something to consider.
  
• If they're on cannons, you will see them hit the same spot over and over, like hitting the masts with cannonballs or shooting the cannoner/helm with cannonballs, again some players can do this legit, however again it's always something to consider
  
• Often not on a Captained Ship

How to deal with Aimbotters

Most AImbotters have little game sense and are weak to teamwork, they also struggle against swords since most Aimbotters double gun, so if you're inrange, you can stunlock them with a sword and kill them.
It is hard to fight against AImbotters, but not impossible, I've beaten them in a Sloop, and there's plenty of videos online of people doing the same.

Sometimes Aimbotters can have other cheats too, however this isn't super common, since most third party software includes only Aimbot as part of the free trail version, and most Cheaters don't have a full version unless they're a developer, a friend of one, or really have nothing else to spend money on, if you do come across one, I have more advice in the later sections.

Dummy Accounts

Dummy Accounts are Cheaters who often have multiple cheats active, including Aimbot, Instant Ladder Climbing, Flying Cheats, Instant Ship Repair, Despawning and Spawning Items, and even God Mode.

How to spot Dummy Accounts

• They often dress up in the default Sailor outfit, sometimes naked like the picture above.
  
• Their name/gamertag is something offensive or makes fun of Sea Of Thieves's Anti-Cheat.
  
• The account's age is literally a few days old.
  
• They do impossible stuff such as flying around and cause ships to fly miles away.
  
• They micspam to hit Content Creators with Copyright Strikes,, or they just micspam racist, homophobic or just edgy content to trigger someone.
  
• If they don't micspam, they won't shut up and crave attention like a child.
  
• You can't kill them.
  
• Often not on a Captained Ship, but if they are, it's named in poor taste (aka racist, homophobic, etc)

How to deal with Dummy Accounts

There isn't much you can do unfortunately to counter them directly unlike some other cheaters, all you can really do is report them with evidence and send it to Rare, and while a ban won't stop this guy from Cheating on another Dummy Account, it's more of the action telling Rare there is a major problem with cheaters that needs to be solved, so no matter what this guy or anyone says, report the cheater to Rare, a way to report a cheater will be shown later in the guide.

Here is a list of all the documented cheats I could find online and ingame against cheaters.

• FOV increase
  
• Aimbot
  
• Godmode
  
• Flight/Noclip
  
• Spawning Loot and Supplies
  
• Despawning Loot and Supplies
  
• Instant Boat Launch
  
• Server Crashing

If there's any I missed, please let me know with evidence and I'll add it to the list.

How not to spot a cheater

Just because someone has killed you quickly, doesn't mean they're a cheater instantly, some players have had thousands of hours in not only the main adventure mode, but in the old defunct Arena Gamemode or Hourglass Gamemode, meaning they have had more hours of PvP against more tougher opponents than you.

How to Spot a Legitimate Player

• They're on an account with several months/years since it was created.
  
• Wears several cosmetics with some being time limited or are linked to promotions (Like Plunder Pass Items, Arena Sea Dog Stuff or Unobtainable Event TItles).
  
• On a Captained Ship with a logbook showcasing the stuff they have done.
  
• If they're a streamer or content creator, you're able to watch their PoV.
  
• They're consistent with their aim and they're not jittery when aiming

Not all players are cheaters, and these are often signs that they're not cheating, why would someone risk their main account from being banned? All the years wiped with a ban all because they used Third Party Software, very and I mean VERY few people are this dumb, it can happen, but it's super rare.

How to Report Them

So now we know how to spot a Cheater, if you suspect someone of cheating, it's time to report them to Rare, but before we start, we need some ammo before we start firing.

Gather Evidence

Screenshots from Steam, recording software such as Shadow Play or even Unregistered Hypercam, you need evidence to prove to Rare and others that the person you're reporting is a cheater, this includes such as.

• What they're doing ingame to you like aimbotting, godmode or whatever
  
• Their gamertag
  
• The age of their account (helps identify them as a Dummy Account)

When you feel like you have enough evidence, it's time to report them to Rare.

Reporting

Here is a step-by-step guide by Rare on how to Report someone in Sea Of Thieves on your respective platform.[support.seaofthieves.com]

Not all reports will ask for evidence, however it's always good to have them on hand incase you need them for whatever reason, whether to spark discussion on the forums, on Twitter, on Reddit or even on YouTube, always keep them on hand to show how bad it can get sometimes.
On a quicknote, do not directly name and shame cheaters online, just mention you encountered one and show what evidence you have, yes I would love to name and shame them as much as you do, but all you're going to do is break some rules on the website you're posting on.

Don't Interact With A Cheater

Cheaters want attention, they want you to be angry, they want to feel good about themselves and make fun of you on a YouTube video or on their private Discord Servers (yes I'm serious about this)

1. Don't talk to them
   
   
2. Don't Acknowledge them
   
   
3. Don't get angry, remain calm
   
   
4. If you're speaking ingame, just focus on literally anything else, like if you and a friend sink to a cheater, just talk about finding a random worm or something on an island or whatever, literally just pretend the cheater isn't even there
   
   
5. Continue what you were doing if they're just observing you
   
   
6. If they don't leave you alone or if you just wanna restart, just leave

Cheaters like many other players get bored without reactions, and will eventually go away, they're like attention craving dogs you would see on The Dog Whisperer, don't look, don't interact, don't give them any attention, and they will eventually go away, and if all else fails, just leave and go do something else if they refuse to leave you alone.

So What's Next?

You reported them or gathered evidence to report them later, so what do you now?

Well it's all on you now, if you want to keep playing the game, you need to make some changes to the way you play.

Change The Way You Play The Game

A lot of people play Sea Of Thieves for the Gold and nothing else.

THIS IS THE WRONG WAY TO PLAY THE GAME!

I cannot stress this enough, Sea Of Thieves is way more than just earning gold, it's about....

• The Story
  
• The World
  
• The Music
  
• The People you meet
  
• The Achievements you conquer
  
• The Milestones you accomplish
  
• The Commendations you obtain
  
• The Fun you will have
  
• And most importantly, the adventure you have

A lot of people have forgotten that games are more than just one thing, especially in the world of Modern Live Service games, people forget... just to have fun and go for other objectives.

One of my first things I put down in my first guide "Becoming Better In Sea Of Thieves" is all about setting up multiple goals for each session, don't tunnel vision yourself in gold and only gold, I cannot stress this enough, if you just focus on one thing, you're not going to have a lot of fun in this game.

What I did against a Cheater

From everything I have listed, I'm going to tell you about a situation I got myself into with a Cheater.

A little while ago, I joined a random Fort Of The Damned Brigantine on the Sea Of Thieves Discord Server, we got the flames and we had enough Ritual Skulls for 4 Fort Of The Damneds

On our 4th one, a Cheater (Dummy Account Variant) came in and despawned everything, all the treasure including the Vault's treasure, all our supplies, ammo crates and Tridents, everything was all gone.
He than sent out ship 20 miles away, while constantly saying "**** you" and "you're wasting your time there's no loot!" while just watching us.

He eventually left, while my Crew were upset and even angry that his happened, I wasn't upset on the same extent because of numerous reasons.

1. Loot was a lower priority to me, yes gold is nice, but doing 4 Fort Of The Damneds was rare for me to do, so getting those Milestones for finishing it, killing skeletons and Graymarrow were a lot more important to me.
   
   
2. Before the Fort, I had fun with the crew just sailing around gathering the Flames
   
   
3. We sank a number of ships while the Fort was active which was fun.
   
   
4. I didn't interact with the cheater myself, my crewmates did ingame and just got annoyed by the cheater more
   
   
5. I continued with what I was doing since I wanted to finish the FOTD due to Milestones, I never said this to the Cheater so he thought I was just being dumb and ignoring/not believing him
   
   
6. When then next wave was coming, I quickly reported him and told my crewmates in the private Discord Chat to do the same
   
   
7. The Cheater eventually left us alone
   
   
8. We managed to secure some Reaper Chests/Bountys due to burying them and made friends with some other ships that saw us getting hit by the cheater and some even donated their loot in an Alliance to help us recover some of our lost gold.

At the end of the day, yes we lost a lot of gold, but we had a lot of fun, we got some progress to some Milestones and I made some friends at the end of the day, one cheater isn't going to ruin my fun and love of the game so easily.

Don't Stoop To Their Level!

Just because they're cheating, doesn't mean it's ok to cheat yourself! You don't know about the software they're using!

Not only your account will be eventually be banned by Rare, you can also risk have the following happen to you!

• Download a Virus
  
• Have programs that you never downloaded appear on your PC, like Chrome Addons you never downloaded, happened to me when I downloaded something, (can't remember what this happened like 10 years ago) of a website and had an annoying popup Ebay like shop appear everytime i loaded a page on one of my old computers.
  
• Have your files and information stolen
  
• Give access to your PC to the Software's creator, allowing them to do whatever they want to your PC.

DO NOT download any Software like this of any site, you have no idea what kind of content is hidden in the files! Your security programs might say the files are safe, but you have no idea if the actual content is able to bypass your security no problem or not, I repeat DO NOT DOWNLOAD CHEATS! The risk is not worth it!

IF YOU SEE ANYBODY ADVERTISE CHEATS AT ALL, INGAME, ON THE FORUMS, ON REDDIT, ON YOUTUBE, OR EVEN ON THIS GUIDE, IGNORE AND REPORT THEM AS NORMAL, DO NOT CLICK ANY LINKS OR ADD THEM AS A FRIEND, JUST IGNORE AND REPORT!

Thanks For Reading!

United we stand against the cheating menace, don't let them get to you, gather evidence, report them, educate others on how to do this by either sharing this or other people's guides on this matter.

They won't stop our enjoyment of the game! We will win in the end!

UNITED WE STAND!

Like this guide? Check out my other guides! If you did enjoy this guide, please don't forget to rate it!

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2517518271
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=3256143964

[Fallyandor]

LMAO. Literally called out a guy for cheating the other night, he froze, and his duo told him not to worry about it because he won't get banned with the shit he told him to use. What a fking joke. No, I wasn't recording, yes is is my fault for not treating my troll as time as a criminal report in the making (for those out there blaming the "victim"). This isn't a Rare alone issue, it's a giant societal issue with people being friends with cheaters.10s of good games (to my knowledge) have died from cheating ALONE. There's no anticheat that can detect half the shit out there now, and cheating is more profitable than creating a new game. Make good friends, quit following shit streamers (who cheat), and get good. When the cheaters lose their money, friends and social media, it'll be a good day for gamers.

[Surtr Bubingi]

Update 1

A new guide has been released "What Your Title Says About You And Others In Sea Of Thieves 2024 Edition!"
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3256143964

It's been added to the "Thanks For Reading!" Section

[Snoogabean]

I encountered my first hacker last night in my 3 years of playing (I probably would see more if I did more pvp). Me and some friends were all playing together for the first time and we had just finished our voyage and needed to turn in. A single guy showed up on our ship with no other ship in sight. We kill him, but he kept quickly coming back. After killing him 3 or 4 times he turned on his invincibility and made himself invisible. Anytime we tried to do anything he'd just 1 shot us. He kept asking us to get on VC but we didn't. We mostly just ignored him after saying he gets no maidens in text chat (a term he didn't understand) until he finally let us move the ship. Only then he loaded a kraken into the map on us and killed us any time we tried to do anything. We all just left and reported his dummy account.

[KONSTAN-RUS-ESP]

I was trying hard in pvp reached level 60 but then I realized why I was loosing so many times. Even after 5.000 hours its impossible that 7/8 of 10 canon balls join perfectly to gunner or to driver from such distance. No sense when you got fkerd like in 45 sec with teammate level 245

[alan.whaley]

Thank you SO SO MUCH. I read this about a week or 2 ago and I realized that my friend was aimbotting.

[Hibosmo sin riñon bandit.gg]

Qriphz a hacker, i didn't gather evidence but dude in stais shoot him 4 times with y team not eating and drop our anchor and we died, i saw the same ship weeks ago warning us that a cheater has already stolen the FoF we where doing and they spoke english, in a brazilian server, they teamed up with another small ship and destroyed our galleon and when i hid in the fort.
they hid very well their cheats but one of my crewmates hit him 8 times without food and didn't die.
also trash talk us.

[PurePokédex]

HG is full of hackers. Hitting the same spot. Appearing on your boat then going through the wall back into the water. Kegs spawning on your boat. Shit is out of control right now.

[Citizen #839X]

PS Rare need to open a solo/friendly coop dedicated server. End of story. In a solo mode even the lag stuttering is solved. Keep in mind that in the world, not all the users can get a shiny internet providers with optic cables. The digital divide...is a fu**ing thing.

[Citizen #839X]

And what about the Frenchtards that I constantly found on outpost that assault you for no reason, destroying your ship independently of the loot or not? How do we call them? Or the toxic players that love to sabotage your activity in the middle of a quest? They're not cheaters...

[MineKnights]

Your a legend with these guides man wow I would award you if I had steam points (gotta get the animated stickers XD)