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Getting Started in Sea of Thieves

Tactical Quick Answer

Sea of Thieves has no gear progression. Every pirate on the sea has identical health, identical weapons, and identical cannons, so everything you earn is cosmetic and every fight is decided by skill. Run the Maiden Voyage first, take a Sloop if you are sailing solo or as a duo, and remember that treasure is worth zero gold until you physically carry it to an outpost and sell it. Sink with a full hold and you lose all of it.

Sea of Thieves drops you into a shared world with a ship, a compass, and no instructions. What throws most new players is not the sailing. It is that the game refuses to reward you with power.

Why does nothing you earn make you stronger?​

Because there is no gear progression at all. A pirate on hour 3,000 has exactly the same health pool, sword, flintlock, and cannon damage as a pirate on hour one. Gold and reputation buy cosmetics, ship liveries, and titles, and nothing else.

That single design choice explains most of what feels strange early on:

  • Losing a fight costs you loot, never levels.
  • A veteran crew beats you through positioning and cannon accuracy, not stats.
  • Grinding does not close a skill gap. Practice does.

Once that clicks, the game reads very differently. You are not building a character. You are getting better at sailing a boat.

Which sea mode should you start in?​

Three modes exist, and picking wrong will either bore you or bury you.

High SeasSafer SeasCustom Seas
Other crews on your serverYes, up to five other shipsNo, you sail aloneInvite only
PvPYesNoneWhatever the host sets
Gold and reputation100%100%Host-configured
Trading Company cap100Rank 25Host-configured
Reaper's Bones and Athena's FortuneYesLockedHost-configured
Emissary flagsYesNoHost-configured
Tall TalesYesYes, all of themYes
Pirate Legend reachableYesNoHost-configured

Safer Seas pays full gold and reputation. This changed in patch 3.2.2 and most guides still repeat the old 30 percent figure. The tradeoff moved to a hard rank 25 cap on every Trading Company, which is what stops Safer Seas being a risk-free grind to Pirate Legend.

Start in Safer Seas if you want to learn the ropes without a Galleon appearing on the horizon. Move to High Seas once you can sail, patch holes, and read the sky, because rank 25 arrives faster than you expect and everything past it lives in High Seas.

tip

Do the Maiden Voyage before anything else. It is the built-in tutorial, it takes about 15 minutes, and it is a hard requirement for unlocking Hourglass PvP later. You can replay it any time from the main menu.

Which ship should you pick?​

Crew size decides this more than anything else.

ShipCrewMastsCannonsTake it when
Sloop212Solo or duo. Best upwind speed and the tightest turns
Brigantine324Trio. Fast downwind and quick to crew
Galleon438Full four. Most firepower, slowest to turn

A Sloop sailing into the wind will outrun a Galleon doing the same. A Galleon with the wind behind it will run down anything. Sailing away from a bigger ship means sailing upwind, and that one rule saves more new crews than any other.

Do not take a Galleon with two people. You will spend the whole session running between three masts and eight cannons, and any crew you meet will be doing it with four.

How do you actually make money?​

You carry it. Physically. Every piece of treasure is an object you pick up, walk across the deck with, and hand to an NPC at an outpost. Nothing auto-collects, and nothing banks itself.

The loop is:

  1. Take a voyage from a Trading Company, the quest board, or your captain's table.
  2. Sail to the island and dig, fight, or deliver whatever the voyage asks for.
  3. Load the loot onto your ship.
  4. Sail back to an outpost and sell it to the right company.

Step 4 is where new players lose everything. Loot on your deck is worth nothing and is fully lootable by anyone who sinks or boards you. Sell in batches instead of hoarding for a big final run.

warning

Sinking does not scatter your treasure safely. It drops to the seabed where anyone can dive for it, and another crew can sell your entire haul under their own name.

The Trading Companies at a glance​

Six companies take reputation, and each wants a different kind of loot.

CompanyBuysReputation cap
Gold HoardersLocked chests and artifacts100
Order of SoulsCursed skulls from skeleton captains100
Merchant AllianceCargo, livestock, trade goods100
The Hunter's CallCooked fish and meat100
Reaper's BonesEverything, at the Reaper's Hideout100
Athena's FortuneAthena's treasure, Pirate Legends only100

Two more factions work differently. Bilge Rats pay in Doubloons and commendations rather than reputation, and the Smugglers' League deals in contraband out of six hidden, booby-trapped hideouts with no reputation track at all.

Selling a Gold Hoarders chest to Reaper's Bones works, and the gold is the same. The reputation goes to Reaper's instead. That is the whole trick behind Reaper's being the "sell anything" company.

New player traps that cost you hours​

Flying an Emissary flag too early. Flags need rank 15 with a company and multiply your rewards up to 150 percent at Grade 5. They also put a visible marker on the map that every Reaper's crew is actively hunting. Fly one when you can defend it.

Hoarding for one giant sell. Four hours of loot on deck is four hours you can lose in one bad fight. Cash out every hour or so.

Fighting the Kraken or a Megalodon on purpose. Neither drops loot worth the damage early on. Sail away. They do not chase forever.

Assuming the rank 25 cap is far away. In Safer Seas it is not, and the last 75 levels of every company live in High Seas.

Ignoring the wind. Sails have three positions and an angle. A crew that trims sails properly moves noticeably faster than one that leaves them dropped and straight.

Your first session, step by step​

  1. Run the Maiden Voyage from the main menu.
  2. Load into Safer Seas on a Sloop.
  3. Take a Gold Hoarders voyage from the outpost. Riddle maps teach navigation better than X-marks maps.
  4. Dig up the chest, load it, and sail straight back. Sell it.
  5. Repeat until you can raise and lower sails, angle them to the wind, drop and raise anchor, and read your map table without stopping the ship.
  6. Switch to High Seas and expect to be sunk. It is not personal, and you lose nothing but cargo.

Frequently Asked Questions​

Does gear or leveling make you stronger in Sea of Thieves?

No. Every player has identical health, weapons, and cannon damage regardless of hours played. Gold and reputation buy cosmetics, ship liveries, and titles only, so fights are decided by skill rather than progression.

Can you become a Pirate Legend in Safer Seas?

No. Safer Seas caps every Trading Company at rank 25, and Pirate Legend needs level 50 in three companies. Athena's Fortune and Reaper's Bones are locked out of Safer Seas entirely, so the Legend path only exists in High Seas.

How much gold does Safer Seas actually pay?

The full 100 percent, the same as High Seas. It was raised from 30 percent in patch 3.2.2, and the rank 25 Trading Company cap was added as the balancing tradeoff. Most older guides still quote the outdated 30 percent figure.

Which ship is best for solo players?

The Sloop. It takes two crew, has one mast and two cannons, turns tightest, and has the best speed sailing into the wind. Escaping a larger ship means sailing upwind, which is exactly where the Sloop wins.

What happens to your treasure when your ship sinks?

It falls to the seabed and stays there, fully lootable. Any crew can dive down, recover it, and sell your entire haul under their own name. Selling in small batches rather than hoarding is the only real protection.