Sea of Thieves Ship Combat and Damage Control
Ship fights are won by the crew that repairs faster, not the crew that shoots more. Patch holes before you bail, lowest holes first, unless the bilge is already deep, in which case you alternate bucket loads with one or two patches so the ship never sinks mid-repair. Chain shot breaks masts and kills enemy speed, and a single boarder with a gunpowder keg can end a fight that cannons could not.
The first ship fight you lose will be one where you outshot the other crew and sank anyway. Damage control decides more engagements than aim does.
What is the correct damage control order?
Patch before you bail, lowest hole first, unless the water is already deep. Those two rules cover almost every fight.
- Grab planks from the resource barrel below deck. You want a full stack before a fight, not during one.
- Patch the lowest holes. Water enters through holes below the waterline. A hole above the waterline leaks nothing until the ship sits lower in the water.
- Patch upward as the ship rises and the next holes drop below the line.
- Bail once the hull is sealed.
- Return to the cannons the moment the bilge is dry.
The exception is a hull that is already heavily flooded. Water past your knees will sink you before you can seal every hole, so buy time with the bucket first. Bail a few loads, patch one or two holes, then bail again, and repeat that rhythm until the level drops enough that you can patch freely between loads. A crew makes the same balance simpler: one person bails without stopping while another patches.
Bailing a barely flooded hull with holes still open is the opposite mistake, and the more common one for new crews. With one or two low holes, water comes in faster than a bucket removes it, so seal first and then scoop.
Patch 3.8.2 fixed a bailing bug that had been costing crews water they thought they had removed. Bailing from a bucket and then quickly interacting with part of the ship used to let that water return, and the bail now holds.
Repairing a plank onto a hole takes a moment and locks you in place. If a boarder is aboard, deal with the boarder first, because a player with a blunderbuss standing over your repairs will out-damage your planks indefinitely.
How do the crew split roles in a fight?
On a Sloop, one person helms and one repairs and shoots, swapping constantly. On a Brigantine and Galleon it is worth being deliberate:
| Role | Job |
|---|---|
| Helm | Keeps the broadside pointed at the enemy and the wind favorable |
| Gunner | Stays on cannons and does not leave them to bail |
| Repair | Owns planks and the bucket, below deck by default |
| Boarder | Rides a cannon onto the enemy ship |
The crew that pulls everyone off cannons to repair stops dealing damage and loses. The crew that pulls nobody off cannons sinks. Balance is one dedicated repairer per two cannoneers.
Call your cannon out loud on a Brigantine or Galleon. Two pirates can no longer occupy the same cannon at once since patch 3.8.2, so a gunner who runs to a station a crewmate already took is a gunner not shooting.
Which cannonballs matter?
Regular cannonballs punch holes. Everything else changes the shape of the fight.
| Shot | Effect | Best use |
|---|---|---|
| Regular | One hull hole | Default damage |
| Chain shot | Breaks masts, wheels, and capstans. Hull hits open a smaller hole | Kill enemy speed before they escape or close |
| Blunder bomb | Knockback and damage to players | Clear boarders and disrupt repairs |
| Firebomb | Sets the deck alight | Force a crew off cannons to fight fire |
Chain shot is the most underrated item in the game. A direct hit breaks a mast, wheel, or capstan instantly, with one exception: a Sloop's mast has three damage points against chain shot's two, so it takes a second hit. Cannonballs chip those same parts a wheel spoke or capstan peg at a time, where chain strips them outright. A chain shot that hits the hull instead still opens a hole, just a smaller one than a cannonball punches, so a miss on the mast is never wasted. Open with chain shot on the masts, then switch to regular shot on the hull once they are stationary. A ship with a broken mast cannot run and cannot maneuver, and the repair takes real time.
Cursed cannonballs
Cursed cannonballs come from skeleton ships, Ashen Chests, and barrels at world events. They do no hull damage and instead sabotage the enemy directly. The two worth hunting for are the anchor ball, which slams the enemy anchor down and stops them dead, and the ballast ball, which weighs the ship low in the water so existing holes flood faster.
Others in the family mess with the helm, the sails, the crew's vision, and their ability to use items. Save them for a fight you actually want to win instead of firing them at a passing Sloop.
The Hunting Spear is cannon ammunition too
The Hunting Spear, added in patch 3.3.1, is a hunting weapon you carry in hand, and it doubles as the nastiest thing a cannon can fire. A spear that hits an enemy hull buries itself there and opens a small hole that cannot be patched until someone pulls the spear out by hand. Pulling it out upgrades the wound to a large hole, so one spear costs the target two separate repairs with flooding in between. A cannon-fired spear also kills a player outright on a direct hit.
Spears never store in barrels or your inventory, so each one is carried like treasure and racked on deck. You find them on beaches and shipwrecks, scuttled skeleton ships drop them reliably, and Hunter's Call representatives at seaposts sell them for 250 gold each.
Patch 3.8.2 closed the duplication route. Throwing a spear and loading it into a cannon at the same time used to leave you holding two, and it no longer does.
Bone Callers scale with the target now
A Bone Caller thrown at another crew's ship summons skeletons on their deck, and patch 3.8.1 tied how many to the hull you throw it at:
| Target ship | Skeletons summoned |
|---|---|
| Sloop | 1 |
| Brigantine | 2 |
| Galleon | 3 |
Defensive use did not change. A Bone Caller thrown on your own ship, or used on land, still summons three skeletons regardless of ship size.
That flips the old habit. Throwing your stock at a Sloop used to be the same value as throwing it at a Galleon, and now it is a third of the value. Save them for the big hulls, and keep some back for your own deck where the count never dropped.
Fighting on deck
Everyone has the same damage numbers, so loadout is about range, not power. The roster is wider than the classic five:
- Cutlass for close quarters and for the lunge.
- Blunderbuss for boarding and for anyone who gets within a few meters.
- Flintlock for reliable mid-range chip damage.
- Eye of Reach for picking helmsmen off a deck at distance.
- Throwing knives for sustained ranged pressure without a reload animation per shot.
- Double Barrel Pistol for two shots before a reload, at the cost of a longer one.
- Blowpipe for darts that apply an effect instead of raw damage.
The Heavy Swords and Rapiers in weaponsmith stock are cutlass cosmetics with identical stats and the identical moveset, so buying one changes your silhouette and nothing else.
Outpost weaponsmiths took delivery of the Silver Coin weapons in patch 3.8.2, sold for gold across all eight weapon types: Cutlass, Pistol, Blunderbuss, Eye of Reach, Double Barrel Pistol, Blowpipe, Grapple Gun, and Throwing Knives. Same stats as everything else in the shop, so this is a matched set for anyone who wants one, not an upgrade.
The Double Barrel Pistol rewards knowing when to reload
Fire one barrel and the second stays ready. Patch 3.8.0 made stashing and re-wielding the weapon, or restocking ammo from a crate, keep it in that ready-to-fire state instead of forcing a full reload of both barrels.
The trade is that you may now have to reload manually, and the upside is that you choose when. Reloading in cover beats being locked into an animation the moment you swap weapons mid-fight. Patch 3.6.2 also shortened its reload slightly to match the animation.
Blowpipe darts land even if you swap off
A dart applies its effect once it hits, whether or not you are still holding the blowpipe. Patch 3.8.1 fixed the case where switching weapons in flight cancelled the effect, so darting a helmsman and immediately swapping to the blunderbuss for the boarding is now a real sequence instead of a wasted dart.
Patch 3.8.2 cleaned up fast dart-type switching, which had been the weapon's least trustworthy behavior. Reload animations now play correctly when you switch types quickly, the ammo indicator updates in real time instead of lagging behind the swap, and fired darts now disappear as they should.
Hold the cutlass attack to charge a sword lunge, then jump the moment the blade starts moving forward, or release at a ledge and dash off the edge. The lunge closes several meters and damages on contact, the fastest way to cross an enemy deck, and it doubles as a movement tool for reaching a ladder or escaping a blunderbuss at point-blank range. Most players never learn the timing.
Ammo comes from ammo chests and crates on your own ship and on islands. Restock before a fight starts, because running dry mid-boarding is how you lose your own deck.
Boarding and gunpowder kegs
Loading yourself into a cannon and firing at an enemy ship is a legitimate opening move, not a stunt. A single boarder who reaches the enemy capstan can drop their anchor and end the chase instantly.
A boarder carrying a gunpowder keg is the highest-damage play in the game. A keg detonated below deck blows multiple holes at once and can sink a Galleon outright.
Defending against boarders comes down to three habits:
- Watch your own deck. A crew fixated on cannons never notices the pirate who landed behind them.
- Shoot kegs on approach. A keg explodes when shot, and a keg carrier hit at range dies with it.
- Check below deck. Galleons have multiple levels and a boarder can chop holes unnoticed for a long time.
Never shoot a gunpowder keg that is already on your own deck. Throw it overboard instead. Shooting it does exactly what the boarder wanted.
Deck grates stop thrown items
A firebomb, blunderbomb, or Bone Caller thrown at a deck grate now explodes on the grate instead of dropping through to the deck below. Patch 3.7.2 closed that route, so the crew below is shielded from anything thrown down at them.
What still passes through: gunfire and bucketed water. You can shoot a boarder through the grate and you can bail up through it, which makes the space under a grate a genuinely defensible spot to repair from. Patch 3.8.0.1 also stopped players below deck on a Sloop jumping up through the grate to grab the cannons above.
Patch 3.8.2 closed the last route through a grate. Grapple Guns can no longer pull items through ship grates or into the brig, so treasure sitting under one is out of reach to a boarder with a grapple.
Fire
Firebombs, lanterns, and explosions set your ship alight. Fire spreads across decks, damages anyone standing in it, and will not stop on its own.
Left burning, fire starts breaking the ship itself. It can wreck the wheel and capstan, bring down a mast, and once it spreads below decks it burns holes in the hull that flood exactly like cannon damage, at a pace of roughly one piece of ship damage per minute or two of burning. Fire confined to the top deck cannot hole the hull, but unattended flames creep through the wood into the decks below on their own, and an ignored fire will sink a ship in minutes.
Put it out with a bucket of water, which you can fill from the sea or from your own flooded bilge. Flooding a burning deck deliberately is a real tactic and often the fastest way to kill a large fire, at the cost of water you then have to bail. A layer of standing water on a lower deck also stops fire spreading across that floor at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should you patch holes or bail water first in Sea of Thieves?
Patch first in most fights, lowest holes first, and bail once the hull is sealed. The exception is a heavily flooded hull. When the water is already deep, alternate bucket loads with one or two patches, since sealing every hole with that much water aboard sinks you mid-repair. A crew splits it instead, with one person bailing nonstop while another patches.
What does chain shot do?
Chain shot instantly breaks masts, wheels, and capstans on a direct hit, with a Sloop's mast specifically taking two hits, since it has three damage points against chain shot's two. Against the hull it still opens a hole, just a smaller one than a regular cannonball makes. A ship with a downed mast cannot run or maneuver properly, so opening with chain shot on the masts before switching to regular shot on the hull is the standard strong opening.
What weapons are in Sea of Thieves?
The cutlass, flintlock pistol, blunderbuss, Eye of Reach, throwing knives, Double Barrel Pistol, and blowpipe. The Heavy Swords and Rapiers at weaponsmiths are cutlass cosmetics with identical stats, and all players deal identical damage with the same weapon, so the choice is about engagement range, not power.
How many skeletons does a Bone Caller summon?
It depends on what you throw it at. Since patch 3.8.1 a Bone Caller thrown at a rival ship summons one skeleton on a Sloop, two on a Brigantine, and three on a Galleon. Used defensively on your own ship or on land it still summons three regardless of hull size.
Can you throw a firebomb through a ship's deck grate?
No, not since patch 3.7.2. Throwables now hit the grate and explode on impact instead of passing through to the deck below. You can still shoot and bail water through the grates, so the grate is cover against thrown items only.
What should you do if a gunpowder keg lands on your ship?
Pick it up and throw it overboard. Never shoot it, because shooting detonates it and does exactly what the boarder intended. Shooting kegs is only correct while the carrier is still approaching at range.
How do you put out a fire on your ship?
Throw a bucket of water on it, filled from the sea or from your own flooded bilge. Deliberately flooding a burning deck is a valid way to kill a large fire quickly, though you then have to bail the water back out. Move fast, because a fire left burning wrecks the wheel, capstan, and masts, and once it spreads below decks it burns holes in the hull and will eventually sink you.
What does a Hunting Spear do to a ship?
Fired from a cannon, it buries itself in the hull and opens a small hole that cannot be patched until someone pulls the spear out by hand, and the removal upgrades it to a large hole. That is two separate repairs and a stretch of flooding from a single shot. Spears never store in barrels, so collect them from beaches, shipwrecks, and scuttled skeleton ships, or buy them from Hunter's Call representatives at seaposts for 250 gold.
What to Read Next
- Ships and Sailing. Sail trim, wind angles, and the anchor turn that lines up a broadside.
- PvP and the Hourglass of Fate. Opt-in ship duels, faction choice, and how streaks pay out.
- World Events and Raids. Where cursed cannonballs come from and which events turn into three-way fights.
- Getting Started. Ship choice, sea modes, and why nothing you earn makes you stronger.
- Voyages and Treasure. What you are actually fighting over and what it sells for.
- Tips and Tricks. The lunge, chain shot targeting, and what to do with a keg on your deck.