At some point, everyone has wondered what it’d be like to roam the high seas, drinking, singing shanties, and hoarding treasure. Sea of Thieves allows players to experience that dream in a stunningly picturesque world filled with lore, monsters, and tons to discover. The studio behind the game, Rare, is known for creating worlds full of depth, unique stories, and incredible visuals. They’re the studio behind hit games such as Banjo-Kazooie and Starfox Adventures.
The game, first announced at E3 way back in 2015, garnered a lot of hype before release. Unfortunately, upon release in 2018, the game was criticized for lacking content. It has been more than 1,000 days since then, and Rare has made fantastic use of that time by pumping out new features for Sea of Thieves players to enjoy at a consistent rate.
The content updates have paid off; Sea of Thieves continues to grow and last year hit over 15 million players. But before rushing into the game and sinking against the first enemy encountered, here’s everything new users need to know before playing Sea of Thieves.
Sea of Thieves: Price and Platforms
Sea of Thieves is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, Windows PCs and laptops, iMacs, and Macbooks. For players using Windows, the game is available through Steam and the Windows Store, and for those on Apple products, the game can be found on Steam. Unfortunately, it’s not available on PlayStation or Nintendo consoles. Wherever platform chosen to play on, the game costs £34.99/$39.99 to purchase fully. For Xbox players, or those using Windows, Sea of Thieves can be played as part of the Xbox Games Pass, a monthly subscription-based service similar to Netflix for video games, which costs as little as £7.99/$9.99 per month.
Sea of Thieves: Game Modes
There are 2 game modes available within Sea of Thieves; Arena and Adventure. Adventure mode is the mode prospective players are most likely familiar with, which allows people to sail the Seas while collecting treasure, doing quests, and battling other players and monsters. Arena mode is a battle-royal-type PvP-focused mode which unfortunately never really took off, with over 95% of all in-game activity being on Adventure Mode. That recently led Sea of Thieves developers to announce they’d no longer be updating the Arena mode, although it will remain in the game as-is for the small number of players that do enjoy it. Because of that, this article will focus almost entirely on the Adventure mode, but information about working the ship, which ship to choose, etc. applies to both modes.
Sea of Thieves: Choosing a Ship
Sea of Thieves is, first and foremost, a multiplayer game, and because of that the smallest ship available is a 2-player ship called the Sloop. Above that there’s a 3-player ship called a Brigantine, and then there’s a 4-player ship called a Galleon. As the ships grow in size, so too does the level of teamwork required in order to properly sail them. That means it’s always best to be playing with at least 1 other player, and the maximum size a group can be is 4 players. Players should always choose the ship that is closest to the number of players they have in their group.
The Sloop is manageable as a solo player, and although PvP may be a struggle at first, the PvE elements are all doable alone. So if no one’s around to play or players are just looking to sail the seas solo for a while, a Sloop is definitely the ship to go for. The game offers an open crew option for players looking to find crewmates, although this can often result in being paired with inexperienced or trolling players. The best place to find other players to join your crew is the official Sea of Thieves Discord, which has channels set up specifically for gamers of all levels to play together.
Sea of Thieves Tips: Working the Ship
Regardless of the size of the ship, all 3 ships available in Sea of Thieves have the same general setup in terms of sailing, stopping, and PvPing. Each crew should have a helmsman in charge of steering the ship’s wheel and instructing other crewmates what, and when, to do certain tasks like raising a sail or dropping the anchor. The wheel guides the ship left, right, or straight ahead.
In order to maintain optimum speed or to slow down, players have to work the sails. Wind direction, which can be seen by simply watching the wind, will determine their ability to go quickly or slowly. If a ship is sailing with the wind and the sails are angled to catch it, the ship will go full speed ahead. If a ship is sailing against the wind or the sails aren’t angled to catch the wind, the ship will move at a slower rate. Maintaining the ship’s speed is a vital part of winning a battle, so don’t get distracted by any cute Sea of Thieves pets on board.
The anchor is simple – players are able to drop it to come to a full stop quickly and to not move or turn. Having an anchor lowered will keep the ship stable even in a storm or if sails are down. When a ship’s anchor is down it makes them an easy target for enemy ships to attack because the anchored ship is unable to maneuver until they have raised it, which on larger ships can take a significant amount of time. The only time players should drop their ship’s anchor is to stay steady in a storm or come to a quick stop to avoid crashing. The best way for players to stop their ship is by raising the sails of the ship fully, which will eventually slow the ship to a full stop. The anchor can also be raised more quickly by multiple players raising it together.
Sea of Thieves: Companies, Quests, and Emissaries
Every time players load into a new Sea of Thieves session they spawn at a type of island called an Outpost. Outposts are great places for players to start because they’re packed full of resources to stock up the ship with, allow players to purchase and switch between cosmetics for their ship and character, and, most importantly, allow new players to interact with representatives for three of the six Sea of Thieves adventure mode companies. Companies are how players earn gold in the game, and with the rare odd exception, company representatives are to whom players will sell any treasure they find. Each company represents a different treasure type, from skulls to explosive kegs, and each company will only purchase their respective treasure types from players. The exception is the Reaper’s Bones company, which will purchase all types of treasure from players at the Reaper’s Hideout island.
The 3 companies available to new players at Outposts are the Gold Hoarders, the Order of Souls, and the Merchant Alliance. Once a player becomes a Pirate Legend, a 4th company – Athena’s Fortune – becomes available. These four companies offer players a variety of quests, with each company having unique quests exclusive to them. Quests are missions that players can choose to do in order to earn treasure and vary from ‘x marks the spot’ treasure hunts to finding and fighting skeleton captains. The more treasure a player sells to a particular company, the higher their level with that company becomes, and the more profitable the quests available from those companies become. Save up that gold and buy some brand-new Sea of Thieves ship cosmetics.
After earning 3 promotions with a company, players can choose to play as an emissary by voting to represent that company on a small table, typically next to the company representatives, at Outposts or Reaper’s Hideout. Voting to become a company emissary will raise that company’s flag on the central mast and at the rear of the crew’s ship, and makes the whole crew an emissary regardless of individual promotion levels for the duration of that session. As crews find treasure for the company of which they’re emissaries, their emissary grade becomes higher, up to grade 5. The higher a crew’s emissary grade becomes, the more gold and reputation that particular company will reward the crew with when the crew sells them treasure, so it pays to hold onto treasure until hitting grade 5. Companies will also offer crews special, valuable quests upon hitting grade 5.
Sea of Thieves: World Events and Fort of the Damned
Sea of Thieves is a visually stunning game that looks even better in 4k, but in-between doing some quests and enjoying the view, players may notice a variety of markers in the sky that really stand out. These markers each signify a unique world event or a Fort of the Damned event. Aside from Fort of the Damned, there are 4 world events: Skeleton Fort, Skeleton Fleet, Ghost Fleet, and Ashen Winds. World events and Fort of the Damned offer players the opportunity to earn lots of treasure, including some rare and unique items. The world events are, however, visible to everyone on the server, and only one world event can be active at a time, meaning they can often be a hotspot for PvP encounters. World events are not company-specific, meaning they offer a variety of treasure types.
The Skeleton Fort world event is represented by a grey skull cloud above the island location the event has spawned at, which can be any of the ‘Fort’ islands dotted around the Sea of Thieves map. As players pull up at the Skeleton Fort they’re greeted by skeleton NPCs shooting cannon shots at their ship from a number of locations on the island. Once those cannons are cleared, the goal of the event is to clear 12 waves of skeletons before a skeleton captain spawns with another wave. Clearing that wave will then spawn the final boss, a skeleton lord that has a ton of health and does lots of damage to players. Sea of Thieves skeleton lords can be tough to beat, but after killing them players are rewarded with a key that will open a vault located on the fort island filled with lots of treasure.
The Skeleton Fleet world event is represented by a grey cloud shaped like a Galleon, the largest ship. The event typically spawns near the center of the map, although it can also happen near the edge. As a crew approaches the location of the Skeleton Fleet a title card will appear letting the players know they’ve entered the fleet. Shortly after, the first of 3 waves will begin, and 1-2 skeleton ships (yes, ships manned by skeletons) will appear out of the water and start to attack the player’s ship. The goal is to sink all 3 waves of the Skeleton Fleet, but unlike the Skeleton Fort, looting is not reserved for the end. Each skeleton ship a crew sinks will drop some treasure, with the final ship dropping the largest haul, so it’s important for crews to pay attention to where they sink ships and to try collecting the loot as they go.
The Ghost Fleet event is represented by a red cloud in the shape of a pirate skull. The red skull is Captain Flameheart, a character in Sea of Thieves lore that has had a massive impact. Captain Flameheart is in charge of the Ashen Lords, the bosses players fight at the next world event, the Ashen Winds. The Ghost Fleet is not dissimilar to the Skeleton Fleet event: the goal is to defeat waves of ships. However, these ships are ghost ships, meaning they’re able to drive through player ship’s if they aren’t careful, doing a heap of damage as they do so. There are a lot more ghost ships than there are skeleton ships, however, most ghost ships only take 3 cannon shots to kill. After players kill enough of the low-level ghost ships they’ll be faced with the final wave and Captain Flameheart’s own ship, the Burning Blade, as well as two captain ships. These ships are all protected by a number of ghost ships, and each of the boss ships drops treasure. If players want to end the event without killing all 3 boss ships, they can kill the Burning Blade itself, which drops the most treasure and ends the event.
The Ashen Winds event is represented by a massive red tornado and can spawn at a number of islands around the map. Upon arriving at the location players will be able to see skeletons summoning one of the aforementioned Ashen Lords. There are four Ashen Lords players may encounter, all of whom have the same abilities and health. The goal is to kill whichever Ashen Lord spawns, but the Ashen Lords have 3 stages of health, between which they kneel down and look as if they’re harmed. Don’t be fooled by that, continue doing damage to them as they kneel. Ashen Lords are the only world event with unexpected ranged damage, as many of their attacks are able to hit a crew’s ship if they’re parked too closely, so it’s good to leave the ship a little ways out to sea. Players shouldn’t leave their ship too far away, though, in case they need to rush back in order to defend it from other players. Once the Ashen Lord is dead lots of treasure will drop around the island, including a fire-breathing skull that players are able to use like a flamethrower.
The Fort of the Damned is the only event visible by a marker in the sky that isn’t started naturally. Represented by a grey skull with glowing red eyes, the fort can only be located at an island also named Fort of the Damned. This event has to be started by players and is the most valuable event available in Sea of Thieves. In order to start the event, a crew must collect six different lantern colors from the Ferry of the Damned, the ship players are sent to after dying in order to wait for their respawn to be available. Each lantern color relates to a specific way of death: poison, PvP, lightning, fire, skeleton, and shark. Players also need a Ritual Skull, which can be obtained by killing skeleton ships or completing world events. Once they have all of that they can head to Fort of the Damned and get it started by placing the lights and skull in the appropriate spots. The fort operates much in the same way as a regular fort event, the big difference being that the key for this vault is visible to all players on the map, and the loot is much better. That loot, which includes a very rare Chest of Legends, makes the event very attractive to all players on the server and often results in many of them trying to steal it.
Sea of Thieves: PvE and PvP
Sea of Thieves really wants players to feel immersed in the game, and to aid with that there is plenty of PvE experiences for players to watch out for, including some very scary mega-monsters in the Megalodon and Kraken. Skeleton ships are also able to randomly spawn, launching themselves from deep underwater up next to a crew’s ship with cannons at the ready. But it’s not just the ocean players should worry about, as natural weather events like fog, the storm, and event active volcanoes all plague the Sea of Thieves world. There are not many things players can do about the weather events, and they offer no reward, so are just best avoided. The ocean-spawns, however, can be very valuable.
The Kraken, which can only spawn between active world events around a ship, is a massive squid that wraps itself around a crew’s ship, stopping it from moving almost entirely. The Kraken offers very little reward, so it’s best if players angle their ship’s sails for full wind and cannon at some of the tentacles in order to escape rather than trying to get the kill. The Megalodon can be worth killing, particularly if players are in the mood and have yet to kill that color of megalodon, as the loot is okay and the fight is easy. Skeleton ships are almost always worth killing; the loot is good and always includes a ritual skull, and if players are able to board the skeleton ship in order to stop them repairing holes, they sink quickly.
PvP in Sea of Thieves can be tough, particularly for new players, so it’s important to always check the horizon for other ships to avoid being snuck up on. Deciding whether to stay and fight or to flee is tough, particularly if there is treasure on board which players would like to keep, but it’s important to remember that players won’t get better if they aren’t engaging in PvP. Importantly, the crew that best manages their ship and repairs is most likely to win, so players should remain calm and focused to ensured holes are patched and sails are angled. If players aren’t in the mood for PvP, they can always try allying any ships they come across.
Sea of Thieves: Tall Tales
Tall Tales are story-driven quests available in Sea of Thieves. The quests offer very little reward in terms of treasure, but are very fun to do and are a nice break from the typical quests offered by companies. There are so far twelve Tall Tales in total; the Maiden Voyage (an introductory Tall Tale), 9 Shores of Gold story arc Tall Tales, and 2 Ashen Age story arc Tall Tales. There are more Ashen Age tall tales being added as time goes on, as the story arc is not yet complete. Each Tall Tale has to be activated as a specific location on the Sea of Thieves map, and certain Tall Tales can’t be played until players have finished particular other Tall Tales. Players are able to see which Tall Tales are available and where they can access them by looking at the map available on their ship. Each of the twelve Tall Tales is represented by a unique logo on the map that will float just above the island at which the Tall Tale can be activated.
