Sea of Thieves — Hints & Tips

Cheat Codes:
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Submitted by: David K.

Tips & Tricks

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Don’t sail solo. This game wasn’t intended to sail solo. You are already at a 
disadvantage as soon as you disembark the outpost. The game can still be fun, 
but the risk is greater to lose your plunder.

To sail you will need to raise the anchor by way of turning a capstan (large 
turning drum factor) – easier with extra of you helping – then unfurl the 
sails the usage of close by rope cleats (rope tie/hook matters) at the gunwale 
(side of the boat). Press "W" or "S" to unfurl or furl the sail. 
You also can alter the route of the sails the usage of close by a winch.

In ship to ship combat, aim to land your cannonballs just below the waterline 
on the other ship. Landing shots above the waterline will poke holes in the 
other ship’s middle deck (not lower deck). Since it’s above the waterline the 
other ship will not take on any water from the hole.

The compass can be raised by pressing and holding the right (trigger/mouse 
button).While held up, your character will walk slower and you should hear 
(feel if using a controller with vibration) your character taking steps 
(paces). This is handy for counting out your paces for riddle maps.

Eating one banana restores 25% of your HP.

Get unlucky enough to have a troll in your crew? Use the "Vote To Brig" 
feature to let him sit in time out for a bit. You and your crew can either 
choose to vote him back out after you think the nasty troll has learned 
their lesson, or you can just leave them there until they quit out of the 
game.
 
Nervous about crewing up with other players? The Sloop allows you to play 
solo if you wish to dip your toes into the water first. Be aware though that 
it’s still a shared world so you will still be able to run into other, 
potentially hostile, players in the world. Personal advice, there’s safety 
in numbers so crew up on a Galleon! (Plus this game is just way more fun 
when you play with a team of mates).

Not all items in the game are given to you straight away (like the very 
powerful Blunderbuss, must be purchased for 930 gold). Some items must be 
purchased from a merchant. Merchants can be found on Outpost islands.

Supplies. Are you in an extended fight that is going on for 30 minutes and 
you’re out of supplies? You have a few options. Disengage would be the 
safest bet. But where is the fun in that? If you are out of supplies and 
you still want to chase, send your crew mate flying to the closest island 
to pick up supplies. Make sure they have an empty inventory before you send 
them. This can backfire if the enemy ship realized this and comes about to 
broadside you.

To get a project, visit the Gold Hoarders’ tent on Sanctuary Outpost, the 
place in which you start. He’s fairly slap-bang inside the center of it. 
You will need to buy missions and you have a time wherein to finish them. 
There is an unfastened project to be had to get you going – The Stash of 
Captain Bones.

Advanced Strategies. While you are chasing, tell your crew mate to stay on 
the sails to give you the wind advantage. This is huge when you need to 
close the gap. When you are fighting a ship, lower your sails slightly for 
extra mobility after you have made your pass to fire. It will put you in a 
better position to fire again. If you need to 180 your ship, steer completely 
port or starboard and drop anchor. When you do this, call your crew mate to 
help you raise the anchor. This is a very advanced strategy that can either 
get you killed or maintain the chase. Save this one during critical times.

You cannot share a treasure map with another crew. They won’t be able to 
spawn chests on your maps. However, once the chest has been spawned (you’ve 
hit it with a shovel), they can totally shoot you, and finish digging it 
up… or vice versa.

Your ship will occasionally take hull damage when sailing through a storm. 
This can pile up pretty quickly too so be mindful of it. You should be able 
to hear audio cues of wood breaking to indicate you’ve sprung a new leak.

Finding and defeating the Kraken

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There is currently no known guaranteed way to make the Kraken appear, but 
it seems the chances increase for the Kraken to spawn when there are more 
players grouped together in a certain area. Thus, trying getting multiple 
groups together and stock items, then travel into the sea to try to get it 
to appear. If you see the sea turn black instead of blue, you can actually 
escape the black sea before you are locked in it and unable to escape from 
the Kraken. If you choose to fight the Kraken, use the following techniques 
to defeat it. When you see the tentacles of the Kraken rise, target them one 
by one. Use cannons and pistols to shoot it. You will defeat the Kraken once 
you have caused all of its tentacles to retreat back into the sea. One of 
the most important things to remember when fighting the Kraken is that your 
ship will probably take a lot of damage. Thus, you need to repair your ship 
during the middle of the battle. Failing to do this will cause your ship to 
fall victim to the undertow and you will eventually die. If you see a Kraken 
that has tentacles with a mouth attached to them, be extra careful. They can 
grab a hold of you or another player and deal damage. If this happens, an 
ally needs to damage that tentacle as much as possible until you are free. 
Make sure to prioritize the tentacles that are near your ship, as those are 
the ones that are most threatening to you. Once you defeat the Kraken, you 
will unlock the "Kraken Good Job" achievement. Additionally, there will be 
improvements made to the Kraken as the game is updated and chances are that 
it will unlock other rewards.

Becoming a Pirate Legend

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Written by CheatCC

To become a Pirate Legend, you must reach Level 50 in all three factions 
(Merchants Alliance, Goldhoarders, and Order Of Souls). This requires a 
ton of time to grind quests and voyages to reach Level 50 in all three 
factions. After reaching Level 50 in all three factions, you will get a new 
quest with a riddle. The quest is called "Shanty Of Legends", and the riddle 
reads: "Through many voyages upon the sea, you searched to find the legends
key. Now one last step to pass the tests, to find where Athena's Fortune 
rests. Take this tune and make a sound, the secret lies near the ground."
You get a new sea shanty and legend outfit with this clue. Play the shanty
in the tavern to open a secret path underground. The hatch leads to a new 
faction hideout -- the Legendary Pirate faction. Instead of normal quests,
the Legendary Pirate faction (who is also a spooky ghost) sends you on 
Legendary voyages. Legendary voyages, so far, are simply eight basic quests
strung together instead of three. The Legendary voyage essentially mashes 
the three current voyages together into one single voyage. At the end, you
will find a Legendary chest that contains approximately 4,000 gold. 
Completing Legendary voyages will earn you reputation in the Legendary Pirate 
faction. The Legendary Pirate faction vendor currently only sells a ghost 
costume. At the Ghost Shipwright, there is an option to purchase special 
equipment, but that just gives you a message that states the legendary 
content for ships is not yet complete, and no announcement has been made 
when the faction will be updated.

How to Sword Lunge

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Written by Banana Puree

-=Introduction=-
As a preface, this guide is not going to instantly make you a god among men in 
PVP situations. The power of the Sword Lunge in Sea of Thieves lies in its mobility 
it can provide against unsuspecting players, rather than the pure damage it can do. 
As a reminder, using this in direct combat is not a very good idea, it should be 
used to close gaps across when boarding ships, and jumping over gaps in style. 99% 
of the time it is easier and faster to sprint than to waste time performing a 
flashy dash that wastes time. Please learn to judge the usefulness of gimmicks 
compared to the standard core mechanics. That being said, its time to learn a 
thing or two about Sea of Thieves.

-=Section 1: What Is a Cutlass?=-
The Cutlass, more commonly called the sword by players is one of the 4 weapons 
available to be used. It can be equipped on ships and outposts where a weapon 
locker can be found, and is open to customization from the numerous skins available 
in the game. Due to the nature of the Cutlass being a sword it does not require ammo, 
and is the most common weapon to be used by players because of its reliability in 
close quarters engagements, and the ineffectiveness of "double-gun" in general play.

-=Section 2: What Should I Be Using the Sword Lunge for?=-
In general play, you won't be using the Sword Lunge much. Let's be real, how often 
are you really going to try to board a ship that is too far out to just hop onto? 
Well that was a joke. Because the real answer is very, very often. Sea of Thieves 
is a pirate game! You're going to get chased by ships trying to steal your loot, 
or maybe you're bold enough to try to board one yourself. So as a rule of thumb, 
use it when you are trying to enter close quarters combat, but you are at a distance 
and need to close the gap. Its also very useful to make it back to your ship from 
an island and don't feel like swimming for a minute or two. Landing in water after 
Sword Dashing will give you a serious speed boost that is vital to learn how to take 
advantage of if you want to make it in this game. Some might say that its a useless
 tool for saving those "few precious seconds that you could live without", but those 
arguments fail to recognize that this is a game of speed. Every second you spend 
without thought is one you should be cherishing. The Sword Lunge is going to save 
you the time needed to make split second decisions with less collateral to your 
crew. Picture this: your sloop is being chased by a galleon. You could try to swim 
out at a sluggish pace to anchor the galleon, or you could speed through the water 
allowing your teammate at the helm to be vulnerable for less time. So basically, 
use the Sword Lunge for saving those precious moments that are the difference 
between Pirate Legend and being another oblivious Xbox player.

-=Section 3: So How Do I Sword Lunge?=-
Ok, so you read through all of my mad ramblings (or just skipped to this section) 
because you wanted the meat of the article, I get it. So I may as well teach you 
the secrets of Sword Lunging:

Look at where you want to go.
Hold right click.
Click left click while still holding right click.
Press spacebar after you start moving forward.

Yeah, a bit anticlimactic I know. You expected more- some crazy combination of 
keys and mouse flicks that took years of practice and testing to perfect? Yeah 
well it took me about 5 minutes to learn to do consistently. But, if you do feel 
like styling on a solo sloop guarding his 2 Castaway Chests with everything he 
holds dear and near, yeah it looks cool. Make sure to take some time to practice 
this and where you can jump from.

-=Section 4: General Notes=-
* You cannot Sword Lunge while carrying an item.
* Sword lunges can be very predictable. If you are fighting someone worth their salt, 
  play smart.
* Once you start a Sword Lunge, you have commit to it. There is no canceling your 
  action.
* The Sword Lunge isn't great for escapes, as it takes a moment before the action 
  starts.
* When boarding from the front of your ship after it has rammed the other ship, 
  jump off onto the other ship instead of Sword Lunging. You will fly off into 
  the water and look like an idiot.
* Your mermaid will give you away if you want the element of surprise. The enemy 
  ship will know you are there if they spot your mermaid.
* If you can, try to board the enemy ship on the opposite side of where you 
  launched from relative to your position compared to the enemy ship. They will
  expect you to board on their side from where you launched from, and will 
  likely be waiting for you.

-=Section 5: Closing Statements=-
It may sound cheezy, but practice really does make perfect. This game balances itself 
by allowing personal skill to overcome the skill and cooperation of a team. This trick 
can give you the edge needed to sink that pesky brig, or anchor that sloop that you 
can't catch. You need to spend time learning how to Sword Dash effectively and 
consistently. Just reading this guide wont make you the unstoppable flying swashbuckling, 
wifecuckling pirate that we all fear will set their eyes on our ship. But, hopefully, 
with enough time and practice, it will help you overcome the challenges posed by the 
game and its players. That being said, have fun with your new trick.

Guide to Defeat Flameheart's Ghost Fleet

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Written by snipingsolo

-=Preparation=-
So to start of you will need to prepare as the ghost ships seem easy at first can get 
hard. As the round progress i recommend you get supply's 77 cannonballs 45 planks and 
a lot of food depending. If your doing this alone or with a crew i also recommend you 
do this on a sloop since it has more room to move around in and can steer better 
compared to a galleon or a brigantine. Its also better if the island the ghost fleet 
is at has cannon towers as you can use those towers to defeat the ghost fleet.

-=Waves=-
I'm going to talk about waves now there are in total of 4 waves and get harder as you 
progress.

Round 1: this round starts of easy the first round will have normal ghost ships that 
take 3 cannonballs to defeat the only tip i have here is to avoid collision because if 
you collide with a ghost ship it will make 4 holes in your ship.

Round 2: this round starts of with 2 normal ships and a captain ship the captain ship 
takes 10 cannonballs to defeat i recommend you shoot the normal ships first then the 
captain ship the reason is captain ships drop a good amount of loot.

Round 3: this round is the same as round 1 do the same thing you did last round and 
use the tips i gave you to defeat them also i recommend you look out for resource 
creates in the water as they have more planks food and cannonballs if your running 
low.

Final round: this is the last round your facing this round will have 4 normal ships 
and flameheart's ship all you have to do is destroy falemheart's ship and the others 
will vanish but doing so will result in less loot you receive so if you want better 
loot you should destroy the normal ones first then flameheart's the tips i should 
give is from round 2 destroy the normal ones first then flameheart's ship.

Also destroying the burning blade will give you a significant amount of loot a captain 
skull of the damned and a cannonball create of the damned that has wrath cannonballs 
phantom cannonballs and flaming phantom cannonballs you can also get a chest of the 
damned

-=Rewards=-
The money you get from the event can depend on how much loot you can carry and 
destroyed the captain ships last and destroyed the burning blade ship.

* Collecting treasure from only the burning blade no emissary will get you: 30,000 gold.
* Having a level 5 order of souls emissary and collected all of the treasure will get  
  you: 100,000 gold.
* Having a level 5 reaper will get you even more.

-=Other Tips=-
* Don't stand still move around to avoid be damaged by ghost ships.
* Avoid gunpowder barrels that the ghost ships drop as they do a lot of damage to your 
  ship.
* Have a emissary to get more money out of the event.

How to Protect Your Sloop Solo

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Written by Iufe

A brief guide explaining how to protect your sloop from boarders while solo.

-=Detecting Boarders=-
There is a very distinct sound when someone climbs up your ladder, simply turn 
down your music volume and listen out for it.

-=Ladder Guarding=-
To prevent people from climbing up your ladders, you should do one of three things. 
1. (the easiest) Prepare you blunderbuss, and shoot just before they hop up onto your 
deck. This prevents them from being able to sword hop out of they way. 2. (relatively 
easy) stand on the railing that prevents you from falling off of your ship and use your 
eye of reach to shoot the enemy off the ladder. 3. (somewhat difficult) Stand between 
the opposite ladder to the one the boarder is climbing and your steering wheel, sword 
dash at just the right time and you can hit them just before they climb up, sending 
they flying. If you mess the timing up, grab the wheel before the dash ends, this 
allows you to cancel the dash and not be stunned.

-=Tuckers: General=-
If you suspect that there is a tucker on your ship and are unsure of their whereabouts,
 swing your cutlass around everywhere you can and check both ladders. If you do know 
where they are, approach them unsuspectingly and then pull out your blunderbuss and 
one shot them, if they are not one shot, follow up with another gun if you are confident 
or a sword if you are not.

-=Tuckers: Crow’s Nest=-
When solo slooping, tuckers in your crows nest can be particularly problematic, as if 
you climb up to check if they are there, they have plenty of time to attack while you 
are vulnerable. Luckily, blunder bombs have you covered! You can throw a blunder bomb 
at the crows nest, which will knock the ticker out of their emote, allowing you to see 
their name tag and thus track them. Most often they will jump down, but if they do not, 
continue to throw blunder bombs for 15% splash or 50% direct hit damage. You can also 
attempt to hit them with your pistol or eye of reach.

Advanced Fishing Guide

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Written by Exodus

This is my personal guide to fish in sot, I made it cause I had nothing better to do. 
It contains the all you need to get the legendary tittle for every fish on this game, 
and get the most tittles needed to get one of the most difficult tittle in the game, 
the "Legendary Hunter of the Sea of Thieves"

-=SplashTails=-
* Splashtails -> anywhere -> no bait

You need:
* 50 ruby
* 50 sunny
* 50 indigo
* 50 seafoam 
  (nighttime only)
* 10 umber

-=Plantifins=-
* Plantifins -> shores of plenty -> earthworms

You need:
* 50 olive
* 50 amber
* 50 cloudy
* 50 watery 
  (nighttime only)
* 10 bonedust

-=Ancient Scales=-
* Ancient scales -> ancient isles -> leeches

You need:
* 50 almond
* 50 sapphire
* 50 smoke
* 50 starshine 
  (nighttime only)
* 10 bone

-=Wild Spasles=-
* Wild spasles -> wilds -> earth worms

You need:
* 50 russet
* 50 sandy
* 50 ocean
* 50 coral 
  (nighttime only)
* 10 muddy

-=Devilfish=-
* Devilfish -> devils roar -> grubs

You need:
* 50 ashen
* 50 seashell
* 50 lava
* 50 firelight 
  (nighttime only)
* 10 forsaken

-=Islehopers=-
* Islehopers -> "close to some islands- > no bait

You need:
* 50 stone 
  (sailors bounty, cannon cove, shark bait cove, crooks hollow, shipwreck bay)
* 50 moss 
  (wander’s refuge, lone cove, thieves haven, marauder’s arch, ashen reaches)
* 50 honey 
  (crescent isle, discovery ridge, plunder valley, kraken’s fall, sunken grove)
* 50 amethyst 
  (nighttime only on smugglers bay, mermaids hideaway, snake island, devil’s 
  ridge, crocked masts, old faithful)
* 10 raven 
  (guaranteed to catch at daytime on the islands where spawns the amethyst)

-=Pondies=-
* Pondies -> ponds -> no bait 
  (my personal favorite islands are mermaid’s hideaway and Devil’s Ridge)

You need:
* 50 charcoal
* 50 orchild
* 50 bronze
* 50 moonsky 
  (nighttime only)
* 10 bright

-=Battlegils=-
* Battlegils- > active forts, close to skelly fleets -> grubs

You need:
* 50 jade
* 50 sky
* 50 rum,
* 50 bitthersweet 
  (nighttime only)
* 10 sand

-=Stormfish=-
* Stormfish -> storms -> leeches

You need:
* 50 ancient
* 50 shored
* 50 wild
* 50 twilight 
  (*nighttime only)
* 10 shadow 
  (guaranteed to get on the glorious seadog tavern during the storm)

-=Wreckers=-
* Wreckers -> shiprecks -> earth worms

You need:
* 50 rose
* 50 sun
* 50 blackcloud 
  (can only be cached during storms "good luck with that")
* 50 moon 
  (nighttime only)
* 10 snow

-=Bonus=-
* Treachrous plunders (trash)

These ones can be found anywhere, but the best spot to get them is on 
an small spot on a pond located at the shores of gold.

Optimal Quickswap/Doublegun Guide

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Written by farteater22

-=Learn the Combo/Timing=-
* Attack -> Swap -> Sprint -> Ads -> Attack
Practice the basic movements without attacking, just swap between weapons and 
ads/block until you get it down, then try attacking with both. Don’t be 
discouraged if it doesn’t feel smooth or clean yet, just get the simple combo 
down.

-=Optimize Your Sprint=-
* Attack -> Swap -> Sprint for 1 Second or more -> Ads -> Attack
You need to keep one second in between attacking with each weapon regardless of 
how quick your swap is, meaning the safest way to get the quickest kill time 
you should be sprinting for about a second before scoping in with your second
weapon (you can use a sword to finish an enemy off but is riskier due to the 
range commitment).

The best way to get this timing down is to listen to a 60 bpm metronome and 
timing your shots to the beats. You can also use a 120 bpm metronome and shoot 
on alternating beats. I used http://sortyourmusic.playlistmachinery.com/ to 
find a 120 bpm song in my playlist and ran around shooting my guns for 5 minutes 
or so and got it down.

-=Final Tips=-
When sprinting, use W + A or W + D with proper strafing to move more elusively 
without canceling your sprint (You can make 180 turns without losing your sprint 
if strafing correctly). This is a good general movement tip as well.

The tip of spamming ads twice to quickscope faster doesn’t apply here, as the 
delay gained from that tip serves the same purpose as a second long sprint, so 
it delays your shot even more (plus double taps look cleaner).

Learning the damage combos of all weapons is important for using any loadout. 
For instance, 1 sniper shot and 3 blunder pellets, 2 sword slashes and 1 sniper/
flintlock shot, etc.

Starter Tips

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Start by playing safe. Visit guilds and play travels. Then I suggest you 
practice ship maneuvers and do some pvp sessions if you don’t have loot on 
board.

* Never leave the ship anchored. When doing voyages, take turns to be the 
  crownest guy and don’t only lookt at the horizon but check for swimmers 
  and rowboats.
* During night or fog keep the ship away from islands just in case you get 
  someone using the environment to sneak a keg play.
* If you don’t feel confident to take a fight while carrying a lot loot, you 
  can drive by different outposts and one of you drops in swimmming to sell 
  the most expensive things you have before engaging.
* If you being attacked by another ship and your teammate dies, don’t rush 
  to resurrect them, you gotta first set your ship to move away from them 
  to make it harder for them to snipe or hit a cannon ball while you resurrect 
  them.

Raid the sea forts! theyre your friend. You can do most of it from the top and 
have a non-stop 360 view.

I have 100’s of hours of grinding them. You can learn to find the store room 
key first try every time. It has lots of defensive supplies. You can use the 
base cannons in a pinch. You can run away with the keys if you see a ship on 
your last walkaround, no loot for no one.

If you learn to park really good, you can kill all the waves with your cannons 
from the boat, and even setup a galleon to harpoon loot right outside of the 
vault door.).

Guide to Defeat Skelly Ships

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The skeleton ships that jump out of water tends to chase for quite a bit, 
unless you fight them at least a little. The skelly ship will match the player 
ship’s speed.

So, as soon as I hear a skeleton ship about to surface, first thing I do is 
fill up my pockets with cannonballs. As soon as the ship jumps out, I spam 10 
of them, aimed at their ship’s hull or cannoneer. Kill the cannoneer to avoid 
hull damage. Make holes on their ship’s hull to fill the ship with water and 
kill the skeletons repairing the holes. For aim guidance, the top of my cannon’s 
rim is usually aligned with the skelly ship’s cannon, taking into account the 
high/low waves and the relative speed/direction of the ships (For skeleton 
galleons, aim for bottom deck / below water line. Otherwise, no water enters 
the ship).

If there was enough damage on the skelly ship, the skelly ship would slow 
down or turn away for a bit. At this point, I either continue full sails down 
to escape this ship, or I raise sails to finish it off. If I solo brigantine 
or solo galleon, I just escape. If I solo sloop, I usually finish them off, 
unless another ship or megaladon is chasing me.

To finish them off, I raise sails and let the ship rotate, so I don’t have 
to worry about rocks and islands and have some cannon angle intermittently. 
I keep killing their cannoneer (firebombs when their ship is too near), and 
spamming cannonballs when their ship’s hull is in cannon range. When out of 
cannon range, I repair and bail.

If there is a large rock nearby, it is a good idea to stay near it. The 
skelly ship can only attack you on the ocean-side. You’re free to focus on 
water and repairs when they’re on rock-side. The rocks definitely helped 
me when I solo-sloop/duo-brigantine/trio-galleon skelly fleets.

Enjoy skelly ship hunting!