Sea of Thieves – 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 want to finish all Gold Hoarder Commendations, and one major challenge is to sail 1000 Miles with a Gold Hoarder Quest active, my friend finished his recently, while I still got a long way to go, and we can do this in the background of another adventure, like Reaping or doing Tall Tales, so no matter what happens, if we sink or not, we got closer to beating the challenge. 
 
 

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. 
 
 

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. 
 
 

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 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. 
 
 

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) 
The ability to buy certain pet cosmetics in the Pirate Emporium 
Exclusive content in Plunder Passes, but they will be re-released for free later so don’t worry if you miss something. 
 
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 onto the forums and complain about no 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. 
 
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. 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. 
 

Hope you enjoy the Guide about Sea of Thieves – Tips and Tricks to Use on the Seas, if you think we should add extra information or forget something, please let us know via comment below, and we will do our best to fix or update as soon as possible!