Sea of Thieves Tips and Tricks
Each entry below is one mechanic, what it costs you, and the season it was last checked against. Filter by category or difficulty to narrow the list, and use the anchor beside any heading to link straight to a single tip.
Boarding Defense
#Shooting a keg on your deck does the boarder's job
Pick it up and throw it overboard instead. Detonating it yourself is exactly the outcome whoever dropped it wanted, and it costs you a hull they were never going to breach on their own. Shooting a keg is only correct while the carrier is still approaching at range.
Verified on Season 20
Hourglass
#Pick Servants of the Flame until you are a Legend
Guardians of Fortune progress is fed by Athena's Fortune loot, and Athena's does not open until you already hold Pirate Legend. Switching sides also resets progress on the side you leave, so commit to one faction and finish it before you change.
Verified on Season 20
Ship Combat
#Chain shot takes masts down and never holes a hull
A ship with a downed mast cannot run or maneuver properly and has to stop and repair it, which is why opening with chain on the masts and then switching to regular shot on the hull is the standard strong opening rather than a gimmick.
Verified on Season 20
Sword Fundamentals
#Hold the cutlass attack for a forward lunge dash
Charging it produces a dash that closes several meters and damages on contact, which is the fastest way across an enemy deck. It doubles as a movement tool for reaching a ladder or escaping a blunderbuss at point-blank range, and most players never charge it at all.
Verified on Season 20
World Events
#The Kraken favors ships that just finished an event
It frequently spawns on a crew already carrying a full hold and a damaged hull, which is how four hours of work goes to an enemy nobody had to fight. Bank a haul before you go looking for the next event rather than stacking loot across two of them.
Verified on Season 20
Sailing
#An anchor turn with full sails eats your speed
The wind drags you forward through the swing and costs far more momentum than crews expect. Raise sails first when you are turning to fight, and leave them full only when the turn is part of running away and the drag is working for you.
Verified on Season 20
Treasure Handling
#A Chest of Sorrow below deck will sink a Sloop
It floods far faster than most crews expect and there is no hull damage anywhere to warn you, so the first sign is water at your knees. Keep it on the top deck where you can watch it, or bail beside it, and never walk away from one on a Sloop.
Verified on Season 20
#Sinking does not put your treasure anywhere safe
It falls to the seabed and stays there fully lootable, so any crew can dive down, recover the lot, and sell your entire haul under their own name. Selling in small batches rather than hoarding for one big turn-in is the only real protection you have.
Verified on Season 20
Emissaries
#An Emissary Flag needs rank 15 and pays five grades
Once raised it climbs as you sell that company's treasure, paying plus 33 percent at Grade 2, plus 67 at Grade 3, plus 100 at Grade 4, and plus 150 at Grade 5. The flag is also a visible marker on the map, so raise one when you can defend it.
Verified on Season 20
Events
#Emissary rewards spike every Wednesday at 10:00 UTC
Rare runs a recurring event between seasons that boosts rewards for crews flying Trading Company flags, with an additional multiplier per Grade, and it runs for a full 24 hours. Planning a Grade 5 session around that window is gold you would otherwise leave behind.
Verified on Season 20
Fishing
#The rare fish in each family cannot be cooked at all
Every one of the ten families has a treasured variant that sells as a treasure item rather than as food, and putting one on a stove wastes the catch along with your time. Sell those exactly as caught and cook only the ordinary variants.
Verified on Season 20
Safer Seas
#Safer Seas pays 100 percent gold, not 30
Patch 3.2.2 raised it to match High Seas exactly, and most guides still repeat the old figure. The tradeoff moved instead to a hard rank 25 cap on every Trading Company, which is what stops the mode being a risk-free run at Pirate Legend.
Verified on Season 20
Selling
#Reaper's Bones buys treasure from every company
Sell it at the Reaper's Hideout rather than an outpost and the gold is identical, but the reputation goes to Reaper's instead of the company the loot came from. That makes it a lever for steering reputation rather than a discount you are taking.
Verified on Season 20
Pirate Legend
#Hitting level 50 alone will not make you a Pirate Legend
You have to buy the level 50 Promotion from each of your three companies afterwards, because the Mysterious Stranger checks for the purchased promotions rather than the reputation level. Reach 50 in three, buy all three, then speak to him in any outpost tavern.
Verified on Season 20
#Athena's Fortune cannot count toward Pirate Legend
It only becomes available once you already hold the title, so it can never be one of the three companies you take to 50. Gold Hoarders, Order of Souls, and Merchant Alliance are the usual picks because all three have outpost representatives and stackable voyages.
Verified on Season 20
Reputation
#Every reputation company runs to level 100 now
Gold Hoarders, Order of Souls, Merchant Alliance, Athena's Fortune, and Reaper's Bones all moved in patch 2.10.0, and The Hunter's Call followed in 3.3.0. The old level 50 ceiling is long gone, so a guide planning around it is planning half a grind.
Verified on Season 20
Tall Tales
#Tall Tales have been playable in any order since 2024
Patch 2.10.1 in February 2024 unlocked every chapter of every tale, so guides describing a locked chapter-by-chapter march through Shores of Gold are describing a game that no longer exists. Pick the tale you want and start at whichever chapter you like.
Verified on Season 20
Fishing
#A moving ship will not let you land a fish
Anchor or drift before you cast, and get off the ship entirely if you want the calmest line. Fishing off the back of a Galleon under sail burns bait for nothing at all, which is the usual reason a first session at the Hunter's Call goes badly.
Verified on Season 20
Safer Seas
#Your captained ship does not come into Safer Seas
The mode uses Chartered Ships only, so the name, the persistent cosmetics, and the milestones attached to your own vessel all stay behind while you sail a standard chartered one. Everything on your pirate is account-wide, but the ship itself is not.
Verified on Season 20
World Events
#The Kraken is the one event with no cloud or beacon
It announces itself through a sound cue and the water going black with ink around your hull, and it targets ships directly rather than spawning at a location you can choose to sail toward. There is no way at all to see it coming on the map.
Verified on Season 20
What to Read Next
- Ship Combat and Damage Control. Cannons, boarding, sword work, and repair order in full.
- Ships and Sailing. Anchor turns, sail trim, and how each hull actually handles.
- Voyages and Treasure. Every treasure type, what it sells for, and which ones fight back.
- Trading Companies and Reputation. Emissaries, reputation caps, and where to sell.
- Safer Seas and High Seas. What each mode pays and what it quietly takes away.
- World Events and Raids. Forts, Fleets, and the sea monsters that find you first.
- Getting Started. Your first sessions on the Sea of Thieves.