Sea of Thieves Seasons and Events
Sea of Thieves runs roughly three-month seasons, and Season 20 began on June 18, 2026 with a 13-week run. Season 20 restructured the pass to 50 levels, paying Doubloon Pouches, playable Voyages, and a cosmetic choice every five levels, with the Greed's Reach Cutlass as the Star Prize at level 50. Progress is measured in Renown, which now comes from completing Voyages, Tall Tales, and World Events and from selling treasure. The Plunder Pass has been renamed the Premium Tier, and completing the season on it returns 1000 Ancient Coins.
This is the one guide on the site that is openly a snapshot. Everything else about Sea of Thieves holds for years. Seasons do not.
The current season
| Detail | |
|---|---|
| Season | Season 20 |
| Started | June 18, 2026 |
| Length | 13 weeks |
| Headline feature | Custom Seas |
| Latest game version | 3.8.2, published August 20, 2026 |
Season 20 shipped Custom Seas, rebalanced Bone Callers so their effect scales with ship size, and added the ability to trigger an emote while in Free Camera. Patch 3.8.2 followed on August 20, 2026 and went almost entirely into Custom Seas, adding the Seas of Sailor's Grave as a Legendary Location plus seven commands, four switches, and a much deeper spawn menu.
How does the season pass work now?
Season 20 changed the structure, so older explanations no longer match what you see in game.
| Old format | Season 20 onward | |
|---|---|---|
| Levels | 100 | 50 |
| Reward cadence | Varied | Every five levels |
| What each block pays | Varied | Doubloon Pouches, playable Voyages, and a choice of cosmetic previously sold in the Pirate Emporium |
| Star Prize | None | Greed's Reach Cutlass at level 50 |
You can also buy your way up, to a limit. Each season allows 10 purchased levels at 150 Ancient Coins each, bought directly from the Season Pass and granted to every Pirate Profile on the account. Rewards from a purchased level can be claimed immediately.
Renown is the progression currency, and Season 20 changed where it comes from. It now pays out for deliberate actions at sea instead of for wandering around:
| Source | Renown |
|---|---|
| Completing Voyages, Tall Tales, and World Events | Yes, the main source |
| Selling any treasure you found | Yes |
| Exploration and fishing | Small amounts |
| Bilge Rats Weekender activities | Yes |
| Sinking Emissary Ships or rivals in Faction Battles and Last Ship Standing | Yes |
That last row is the one most players miss. PvP now feeds the season pass directly, so a crew that only fights is no longer locked out of pass progress.
Finish the voyage instead of abandoning it once the treasure is aboard. Completion pays Renown on top of the sale, so the last leg back to the outpost is worth more than the same time spent starting something new.
The Premium Tier
The free track is available to everyone. The Premium Tier is the new name for the Plunder Pass, and it adds Ancient Coins plus an exclusive ship set on top of the free track.
What it pays back:
- 1000 Ancient Coins for completing the season, spendable in the Pirate Emporium or on the next season's Premium Tier.
- The full Sirens' Splendour ship set, including the Collector's Figurehead and Sails, for fully completing the pass.
- A boosted rate of Renown progression for the season, which speeds up both tracks.
Ancient Coins come from real money purchases and from Ancient Skeletons, which spawn randomly in the world and run away from you. Chasing one down is worth it, and shooting it works better than trying to outrun it.
Season 20 has no Acts
Previous seasons split into Acts, each with its own Deeds and time-limited content. Season 20 does not.
Its Deeds live exclusively inside Custom Seas, and completing them awards a Renown boost that lands when you return to the High Seas. Clearing every available Deed in Season 20 pays the Custom Crafter Sails.
Season history
Seasons have run since January 2021 at roughly three-month intervals, with some stretching longer.
| Season | Started | Season | Started |
|---|---|---|---|
| One | Jan 28, 2021 | 11 | Jan 23, 2024 |
| Two | Apr 15, 2021 | 12 | Apr 30, 2024 |
| Three | Jun 22, 2021 | 13 | Jul 25, 2024 |
| Four | Sep 23, 2021 | 14 | Oct 17, 2024 |
| Five | Dec 2, 2021 | 15 | Feb 20, 2025 |
| Six | Mar 10, 2022 | 16 | May 22, 2025 |
| Seven | Aug 4, 2022 | 17 | Aug 14, 2025 |
| Eight | Nov 22, 2022 | 18 | Dec 11, 2025 |
| Nine | Mar 16, 2023 | 19 | Mar 19, 2026 |
| Ten | Oct 19, 2023 | 20 | Jun 18, 2026 |
Season 17 is worth noting because it introduced the Smugglers' League, which is now a permanent faction and no longer seasonal content.
What runs between the big updates?
Rare now runs events on a repeating weekly and monthly clock instead of dropping them at random, which makes them worth planning a session around.
| Event | When | What it gives |
|---|---|---|
| Emissaries of Fortune | 24 hours every Wednesday from 10:00 UTC, since August 5, 2026 | An additional reward multiplier per Emissary Grade, stacking on top of existing bonuses |
| Fight Nights | 24 hours every Tuesday from 10:00 UTC, since July 14, 2026, when Last Ship Standing is not running | Double Allegiance and gold for every Faction Battle |
| Bilge Rats Weekender | A long weekend roughly monthly | Limited Voyages, Challenges, and Black Market stock, all paying Doubloons |
Gold and Glory style events raise gold and reputation across the board for a limited window. These do not run in Safer Seas.
What is dated right now
Three events carry announced dates as of patch 3.8.2, and the calendar runs to the end of Season 20.
| Event | Dates | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Big Ship, Little Ship | August 20 to 24, 2026 | Solo and duo Sloop crews matchmake onto servers holding only Sloops. Brigantine and Galleon crews arrive on servers together |
| Season 20 Renown Rally | September 4 to 7, 2026 | Doubles all Renown earnings |
| Bilge Rats Weekender | September 11 to 14, 2026 | Ashen Expeditions return, plus a Challenge that requires working with other crews |
Big Ship, Little Ship is a trial event, so treat the four-day window as the whole of it until Rare says otherwise. A Sloop-only server changes the calculation on every fight you pick, since the Galleon that would normally end a chase is not on the map to do it.
The Renown Rally is the season's late catch-up window, aimed at players still short of the level 50 Star Prize. Double Renown on everything means a weekend of ordinary voyages counts as two.
The September Weekender brings Ashen Message in a Bottle Voyages back to islands in The Devil's Roar on the High Seas, and volcanic activity falls quiet while it runs. Ashen loot sells for increased gold and reputation, Event Goals pay Doubloons, and the Black Market takes new stock:
- Spider's Venom Jacket
- Shadow Tide Shirt
- Boots and Lower Mask of Boneward Blade
- Master of the High Seas Hook
- Bloodstone Dragon Belt
- Hungering One Hunter's Dress
- Famous Pirate Headliner Hair
- Snapping Shark Emote
- Ghastly Graymarrow Beard, which needs Pirate Legend status
The Smugglers' Market restocks too, and its contents stay hidden until players find Duke in his new location.
Outside the event calendar, patch 3.8.2 also put the Community Collaboration Hull, Sails, and Flag into shipwright stock, designed alongside players during SoTFest 2026.
The quiet volcanoes are the part to plan around, not the cosmetics. Eruptions in The Devil's Roar damage your ship while you are ashore digging, and a window where they fall silent removes the one cost that makes Ashen runs in that region awkward.
The Bilge Rats Weekender
The Weekender debuted from April 16 to 20, 2026 and became the main delivery mechanism for event content. Larinna moves inside the tavern for the duration and opens the Bilge Rats Black Market, and each evening at 9pm in-game time a chosen Outpost hosts a firework display with the viewing spot marked out. Larinna posts the schedule, so you can plan around it.
Three things pay Doubloons during a Weekender:
- Limited Voyages. The debut ran the Smugglers' Doubloon Run and Recovery of a Secret Shipment. Since the June Weekender every player is issued five of these Voyages, up from one.
- Challenges. Lighthearted objectives available on High Seas, completable in any order, solo or crewed, each paying Doubloons.
- A returning Live Event. Each Weekender brings back one event from the game's history, such as the Festival of Fishing or the Raid on a Dark Fortress.
Hand in more than three of your own Doubloon Crates or Secret Shipment Crates during a Weekender and every crate after that pays gold instead of Doubloons. Crates taken off a rival crew keep paying Doubloons with no cap, which is exactly the behavior the design is pushing you toward.
What has been vaulted
Content does get removed permanently, and this is the part players are most often wrong about.
The Arena and the Sea Dogs company were removed in patch 2.5.0. The Arena was the dedicated competitive PvP mode with 15-minute organized matches, and Sea Dogs was its 50-rank Trading Company. Neither has returned, and the Sea Dogs reputation track no longer exists. Anyone who ranked it before removal keeps the cosmetics, and nobody new can earn them.
Ghost Fleet was disabled after patch 2.4.2 and later reinstated in Season 9 with a thin green tornado replacing its old sky signal. It is a returned event, not a vaulted one.
Tall Tales have never been vaulted. All four campaigns plus the Maiden Voyage remain playable, including both licensed crossovers.
Seasonal cosmetic rewards are generally time-limited. A cosmetic tied to a season pass or a limited event is usually gone when that window closes, which is the one genuine reason to care about finishing a pass before it ends.
Frequently Asked Questions
What season is Sea of Thieves on right now?
Season 20, which began on June 18, 2026 and runs for 13 weeks. It shipped Custom Seas and restructured the season pass to 50 levels paying rewards every five levels, with the Greed's Reach Cutlass as the Star Prize at level 50.
What happened to the Plunder Pass in Sea of Thieves?
It was renamed the Premium Tier in patch 3.8.0. Completing the season on it returns 1000 Ancient Coins, fully completing the pass awards the Sirens' Splendour ship set, and buying it also boosts your Renown progression rate for that season.
What is Renown in Sea of Thieves?
The season progression currency. Since Season 20 it comes from completing Voyages, Tall Tales, and World Events, from selling treasure, and from sinking Emissary Ships or rivals in Faction Battles and Last Ship Standing. Exploration and fishing still pay small amounts.
Was the Arena removed from Sea of Thieves?
Yes, permanently. The Arena and its Sea Dogs Trading Company were removed in patch 2.5.0. Sea Dogs had a 50-rank reputation track that no longer exists, and its cosmetics can no longer be earned by anyone who did not rank it before removal.
How long does a Sea of Thieves season last?
Roughly three months, though the range has varied from about 10 to 20 weeks across the twenty seasons run since January 2021. Season 20 is a 13-week season starting June 18, 2026.
What events are running in Sea of Thieves right now?
Three are dated as of patch 3.8.2. Big Ship, Little Ship runs August 20 to 24, 2026 and puts solo and duo Sloops on Sloop-only servers while Brigantines and Galleons share servers. A Season 20 Renown Rally runs September 4 to 7, 2026 and doubles all Renown earnings. A Bilge Rats Weekender runs September 11 to 14, 2026 with Ashen Expeditions returning, quiet volcanoes in The Devil's Roar, and increased gold and reputation on Ashen loot.
What to Read Next
- Custom Seas. The headline Season 20 feature, in full, and where every Season 20 Deed lives.
- Trading Companies and Reputation. Emissary grades, which the Wednesday event multiplies, and the Doubloon economy behind the Weekender.
- Last Ship Standing. The battle mode that Fight Nights schedule around.
- Voyages and Treasure. The voyages worth steering toward when a Deed asks for them.
- Safer Seas and High Seas. Which live events do not run in Safer Seas.
- Achievements Overview. Where seasonal and retired achievements sit in the Steam list.