Sea Of Thieves Guide: 9 Useful Tips To Know Before Starting

Sea of Thieves is renowned developer Rare's pirate-themed multiplayer action game that gives you a taste of what it's like to pillage treasure and explore remote islands while sailing across dangerous waters. While the main loop of the game is pretty straightforward, it offers minimal insight and guidance into its most noteworthy mechanics. To help you become a confident and successful pirate, we've gathered nine useful tips that we wished we'd known before starting the game. Though, if you're more of a visual learner, you can also watch our Sea of Thieves guide video highlighting other essential beginners tips.

Are there any essential tips that you don't see listed here? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to check back often for more Sea of Thieves guides. Otherwise, you can read our Sea of Thieves review for our full thoughts on how it shapes up.

Sea of Thieves is the latest game from Rare, a studio best known for its work on classic games, like Donkey Kong Country, Banjo Kazooie, and Perfect Dark. It's a console exclusive on Xbox One, though digital copies enjoy Play Anywhere support, meaning you can play it on both Xbox One and PC. More notably, it's the first game to launch day and date through Xbox Game Pass. In other words, you don't actually have to purchase the game to play it--for as long as you're a Game Pass member, you'll be able to play.

When you first enter a session, your ship-of-choice is automatically stocked with a pre-set number of bananas, cannonballs, and planks. However, you won't have a lot. Before you leave the outpost you spawn in, you should check nearby barrels for more supplies, so you don't need to worry about running out as quickly. When you're cornered by an aggressive crew of pirates, you'll be glad to have the extra supplies.

It can be tricky maneuvering your ship at first; it requires some finesse and quick management of its various parts. If you ever need to turn your boat around, raise the anchor with the sails up and you can turn your ship without it moving forward. You can even do a 180 degree turn if you drop anchor. However, if you want to keep moving after performing a 180 degree turn, then raise the anchor immediately while the wheel is turned to one side.

On Galleons, if you have two people adjusting the sail length and direction, you can move around much quicker. You can also lower and turn sails much faster if you have two people adjusting the sails on each side of the boat at the same time.

When manning the wheel of your sloop (the smaller ship in Sea of Thieves), you won't be able to simultaneously keep an eye on the map below deck. But rather than head downstairs when you need to judge your trajectory, you can let go of the wheel, turn around, and look over the rear side of the balcony for a glimpse of the map; this especially useful when sailing solo.

You wouldn't think it, but there's actually a dodge maneuver in the game. If you jump while blocking, you'll dodge in the direction you're holding. This is a handy way to swiftly get out of the way of an incoming enemy attack.

Be careful when engaging with other crews during a Raid, as it can be difficult to manage the fight with both skeletons and other pirates. As a rule of thumb, it’s good to park the boat with cannons facing the island you're raiding on, just so someone can rain cannon fire upon any unsuspecting foes.

One of the coolest things you can do in Sea of Thieves is launch yourself out of cannon; it can be a handy way to reach far off locations or even an enemy's boat. If you're raring to do the latter, aim for the mast. If you hit it properly, you should drop straight down to the deck.

Explosive barrels are useful tools found throughout the world, and knowing how to use them can give you an advantage during an otherwise overwhelming fight. You can place them on the ground and blow up groups of skeletons by kiting them near the barrel and firing a well-aimed shot. You can drop them in the water and strike them with a cannon blast as an enemy ship passes by. They are powerful, so be careful; it's easy to hurt yourself if you handle them carelessly.

If you climb onto the top of your ship and do a charged attack (by holding down the attack button), the momentum of the ensuing lunge will launch you straight into the water and give you a boost that covers a large distance. It's a simple technique, but it can help you get to dry land quicker than simply diving into the water and swimming normally.