Welcome to this guide on how to play Sea of Thieves solo. Going forward I'm assuming you know the basic mechanics of the game and are a competent enough pirate to sail your own ship. I will teach you several tips and tricks I have learned throughout my time on the Sea of Thieves so that you can make the most of your time on the waves.


For those who are wondering. I am pirate legend and have maxed out every faction (to 100<). I have done so using the following methods that I am about to share with you.

I will be adding to this guide over the next several weeks so this is NOT COMPLETE YET.

1. DO NOT ENGAGE WITH OTHER SHIPS

The number one most important rule of solo play. I know this may seem weird in a pirate game but trust me on this one. If you want to be productive, engaging in PVP is the worst thing you can do.

PVP sessions are often very long. The battle doesn't end when one player sinks. More times than not I have had the players return to "get revenge" so to speak multiple times before I give up and leave the server because it's now hour 2. When you're trying to be productive, PVP is the worst thing you can do.

If at any moment you see a player ship that has snuk up on you are you are not prepared at all just leave the session. Unless you have something like a chest of legends on board. This is all to common with the new "dive to location" feature.

2. CHANGE SERVERS IF YOU SEE ANY REAPERS ON THE MAP

It is more than likely that you are playing as an emissary if you are trying to make the most of your time. Level 5 Reapers can see emissaries on the map and will target you. It's better to save yourself the hassle than seeing if you can try to get that one mission in before they can make it to you.

3. DO NOT LEAVE SHIP UNATTENDED FOR LONG - PLAY SMART

This goes without saying. In and out as quick as you can. If there is a big island such as Thieves Haven PARK BEHIND IT. This way if a player spawns at Plunder Valley they wont be able to see you clearly from the dock. Try to avoid Mermaid Shrines. If you must go after Breath of the Sea's, use Treasuries. They are much faster to complete and, more times than not, they will reward you more treasure. Also skeleton bounties can be long and positioned in a way where you may not be able to hide your ship. Do not use cannons but beat it as fast as you can and get out of there.

4. SELL OFTEN

Do not wait until you are a level 5 emissary to sell. Yes you will not make the big payout but when doing emissary work its way better to bet partial credit then none. If you have more than 10 items on your ship you have waited too long to sell.

LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION

The first thing you want to do is check where you are located. The wilds is the worst place to be if you're solo. Bad visibility, bad waves, a very central part of the map for ships passing by. I would honestly change servers.

The Shores of Plenty is the best place to be as a solo player. It offers a great view and even at night there is very clear visibility. It's also good because it's in the upper left corner of the map which allows you to hide behind almost every island there. There are also 2 outposts that are very close to each other if you are being chased with that Chest of Legends and have to change course to sell in a hurry.

My only issue with Ancient Aisles is Plunder Valley and Thieves Haven. Very difficult islands. They offer no ship cover, and are massive. Good luck completing a riddle or X X X map there in under 5 minutes.

Ancient Aisles is alright but if you have a choice always go Shores.

CHECK YOUR MAP FOR REAPERS

^Self explanatory^

SET YOUR GOAL FOR THE SESSION

The next section will cover goals and what not to do while pursuing them.

This is perhaps the single most important phrase I can say and one you should remember. BE GOAL ORIENTED!!! Nothing else matters. Your time is valuable and what you do or don't do can mean a productive night or a wasted night.

Being goal oriented means focus on one thing and one thing only. Have an end objective in mind. Some examples of objectives include

- Get to level 50 in order of souls
- Place in the top tier emissary rewards for Athena's Fortune
- Complete all the commendations for the Fort of the Damned

Below I have made a list of the best solo missions to do for each faction

Gold Hoarders - Treasure Vault
Merchant Alliance - Lost Shipment
Order of Souls - Skeleton Bounties, GHOST FLEET - ATTRACTS TOO MUCH ATTENTION
Hunters Call - A Hunters Fishing Map
Athena's Fortune - Legend of the Veil

Treasure Map Missions

Gold Hoarders is one of the first factions that every player seems to 50 on their way to pirate legend. It is a good early game way to get money and introduce new players to the treasure map missions. Some of these are quite simple but some of these can get a bit more challenging on bigger islands such as Plunder Valley and Thieves Haven. I highly recommend you enable this setting to easier find the 'X' on more challenging maps.

Settings>Graphics Settings>High Contrast X Marks The Spot

I also recommend that you stay away from these missions as a solo player trying to make the most of your time. The only time I recommend doing a treasure hunt mission is when doing emissary quests (special missions granted by faction representatives upon reaching level 5 emissary value).

Treasure Vault Missions

These are what you want to be doing as a gold hoarder! I believe they unlock once you reach a certain level in Gold Hoarders and they have different values if you will. Each mission follows the same premise where you are granted a directional compass which leads you to various map pieces on neighboring islands, one of which will have an 'X' to dig up. This chest will hold a key to a treasure vault. There are 3 variants which you can get each of which will yield different vault contents.

Stone - Worst variant, little to no gold chests
Silver - Good variant, some gold captain chests
Gold - Best variant, gold captain chests and the best trinkets

Now some people may tell you to simply sell the stone key if you get it because the loot isn't worth your time but I wouldn't advise this. Especially if you have spent time collecting map pieces. There are several guides online on completing these vaults so I wont go into detail here but I will post a list of the best and worst vault locations for solo players.

The best locations for vaults are hands down Crescent Isle, Devils Ridge, and Mermaids Hideaway. These are all out of the way of main ship routes and the vault itself is located on the backside of the island so your ship can be hidden the entire time you are away from your ship.

Crooks Hollow is a decent location but it is very central on the map and sees a lot of traffic. This is the only place that I have been ambushed while off my ship doing a vault and I have over 1000 hours in this game.

I have never done a vault in the Devils Roar so I can't say anything about them.

The WORST vault location in my opinion is Krakens Fall. The vault is located in the middle of the island with no ship access so each piece of loot requires a long walk back to the ship. It is also in a very central location which often has poor visibility. I would honestly not attempt to start a vault from The Wilds because it has a very high chance (if not 100% chance) of ending at Krakens Fall.

Now each vault contains a puzzle which unveils a 'Chest of Ancient Tributes' which I believe is the best gold hoarder chest in the game.

Vault Puzzle Solo

Typically each puzzle requires 3 medallions you have to find around the vault in order to complete the puzzle and open the secret door. You can do this with 2 by using the process of elimination. Let me attempt to explain this below.

The first medallion is inserted an reveals 2 vertical chains. You turn the first pillar to that image.

The second medallion is inserted and reveals a goblet and crown. You turn the second pillar to that.

Now move to the fourth pillar and select the image that contains two vertical chains and a goblet and crown. There will also be a random 3rd image there such as a wave. That random image is your 3rd pillar image.

Your puzzle is now complete in 2 medallions instead of wasting time gathering a 3rd.

Do not forget about the treasure in the vault. Do not focus mainly on finding the medallions. Start gathering chests from the vault and placing them just on the other side of the door. Once you find 2 medallions along the way then think about starting the vault puzzle based on how much loot is left. As a solo player don't be worried if you can't gather all of the loot. Absolutely DO NOT GATHER GOLD PILES lol.

Merchant Alliance is one faction that everybody seems to overlook mainly because the payout does not seem to match the workload that comes with it. Some delivery voyages require you to collect certain species of animals and deliver them to a location by a certain date. The problem with this is that you could visit several islands before finding that one Pink and Black Spotted Pig. Other contracts require you to care for certain items like not getting cloth waterlogged etc. Animals can die and cargo can easily be destroyed making these missions not worth it in my opinion (unless they are part of your emissary quest).

Lost Shipment

The best mission to do for the Merchant Alliance is the Lost Shipment Voyage. This will take you on a trade route that spans across a large part of the map and allows you to collect lost cargo and a ships manifest along the way. This mission, along with the Legend of the Veil for Athena's Fortune, are the only ones I know that can get the player to level 5 emissary.

The Ashen Lost Shipment is a great variant to dive to as it will either start you at Morrows Peak and lead you to Galleons Grave or start you at Plunder and lead you to Morrows Peak. Morrows Peak is an outpost that seems to be way less busy than the others. Despite The Devils Roar being seen as a PVE setting, a lot of PVE players will choose to stay away from it mainly because the volcanoes can really pose a formidable threat if you don't know how to deal with them properly. However just know that if there are Reapers on the map they will assume that you are a PVE player and no good at PVP if you are hanging out in The Roar so they may choose to target you.

Order of Souls is a faction where your reputation seems to increase way more than you expect it to. Even when you're not really trying to do Order of Souls missions, you gain one level here and there until somehow its your highest level.

As a solo player I find the best missions to do are the Skeleton Bounties mainly due to the fact that most of them are fast and they don't include a massive ship battle which could attract much unwanted attention.

Skeleton Bounties

The number one rule to Skeleton Bounties is to stay away from tall islands. Why you ask? Because there is nothing worse than having several waves of Gold Skeletons appear atop Shipwreck Bay where the only way to get up is a fallen ships mast. Very wasteful in regards to time. Always keep an eye out for a Trident of Dark Tides as these will come in very handy when beating the Captains quickly.

When starting a Skeleton Bounty make sure you have a full inventory of fire/blunder bombs, some decent food, a sword, and a gun of your choice (I like pistol for skeletons).

The sword is the best weapon hands down for fighting skeletons. If you can find an empty Chest it will help you in collecting the three Captain Skulls but if you don't have one you could always lure the Captains down to your ship before you kill them.

Please DO NOT USE CANONS TO BEAT SKELETONS. Other players can hear canon fire from several islands away and will not hesitate to come see what the noise is all about.

There is speculation that Skeleton Bounties in the Devils Roar are the best way to level Order of Souls but I am not 100% sure about this.

Ghost Fleets

An awesome way to level Order of Souls is Ghost Fleets but they will attract a lot of attention. They reward players with a Captain Skull of the Damned which, when 50 are sold, will reward players with the Ghost Captain Sails (not to be confused with the Ghost Sails). Please stock up at an outpost before starting this mission as not every ship will drop a storage crate when defeated. If you are lucky you can also get the Burning Blade Ghost Ship as a boss in this mission although it is not a guarantee.

A Hunters Fishing Map

Even with all the Raid Voyages being added, the single best way to level up Hunters Call remains to be fishing. More specifically, the 'Hunters Fishing Map.' This map will give you two fishing locations at one island usually neighboring the island that you are currently at. By the end of this mission you should be at level 3 minimum.

There is currently no point in doing 'A Pirates Fishing Map' in my opinion because it only gives you one shoal of fish to catch instead of two. If you will be sailing to an island anyway you may as well collect more treasure no?

Hunting Megalodon

Two new variants of Meg have been added to Sea of Thieves and are a great way to earn reputation and gold for the Hunters Call. That being said they are difficult. The Barnacled Dread is far easier in my own opinion to tackle solo than the Feared Redmaw. As a solo player fighting the Barnacled Dread you will only have to deal with one electric ocean crawler being spawned on your ship; however, the Feared Redmaw will cover your ship with fire which is much more of a pain to deal with than one ocean crawler.

I am also an advocate of killing every megalodon that comes your way even if its not convenient. There are commendations that you can get throughout the game relating to killing x amount of megalodons that are worth going for. Moreover, if you just sail on past when you hear the Meg soundtrack kick in you'll never know if you got the Shrouded Ghost or not! Sure you can watch its head breach the water and double check but if its dark or foggy it's sort of hard to determine.

Now first of all let me say that I would never recommend doing Reapers solo as it puts a bullseye on your back for all players to see. Secondly there is only one sell point in the direct center of the map which can be a prime battleground for skeleton fleets, storms, and player ships passing by. Reapers is a faction dedicated to "true piracy" as Rare states on their website. You may hand in nearly every treasure in the game there but the faction is based mainly around PVP.

The Burning Blade

The single best way to earn reputation and gold for the Reapers Bones is to take control of the Burning Blade. This can seem very outlandish to attempt solo but it is actually not all that hard. The hardest aspect of taking the burning blade is that it is usually so highly contested. If there are other players lurking around it just sail away. However if it is close to you and not under player control, go for it. Once you take control of the BB you have a full skeleton crew at your defense. This can earn you upwards of $350,000+ and 3-4 full Reaper levels in just a few hours if done properly.

Passive Reaping

Passive reaping is my go to solo but be prepared to be attacked. What I believe is the best strategy for this is voting for Reapers at your outpost, collecting a storage crate from the Merchant representative, and grinding Ghost Forts. First thing is first, check your map for other Reapers and if you see any, change servers. When you find a map clear of any Reapers set sail to the closest Ghost Fort. I will cover all of the strategies for completing 'Raid Voyages' in the dedicated section of this guide. Please make sure to keep your ship stocked at all times. This is why before you complete a Ghost Fort it is a very good idea to have a storage crate so you can collect all the supplies before you depart.

Aggressive Reaping

I strongly advise against this solo however this is the main purpose of the Reaper faction so I feel like I would be a fool to not cover it. I find the best way to target other ships is to start off by targeting other Reapers because they will all be visible on the map. I wish I could say something about the level of Reaper mattering but it really does not. A level 5 Reaper could just be just as good or bad as a level 1. I always recommend targeting other emissaries before other Reapers however you will not know where other emissaries ar until you reach Reaper level 5. I will cover all of my tips for PVP in the 'Hourglass/PVP' section of this guide.

General Tips

If you want to quickly make it to Reapers Hideout (and you have no loot on board) you can dive to a Raid on a Skeleton Fleet. This will always be located at the old Arena which is just North of Reapers Hideout.

Once you become pirate legend you will unlock a brand new faction, Athena's Fortune. This is my favorite faction hands down because I love the cosmetics, love the missions, and love the gold that can be made with them. There are several ways to make rep with Athena's Fortune (some of which before you're even pirate legend) but I will be covering the two best ways as a solo player. I would even go one step further and say Athena's Fortune is the best faction to grind with in the game.

Legend of the Veil

The legend of the veil is the best way to make gold and rep for Athena's Fortune. When you get used to it the mission should take you no more than 45 minutes as a solo player and get you a level 5 emissary value plus grant you a emissary quest.

I recommend only starting a veil mission from Sanctuary Outpost and no other location for various reasons. This may just be my comfort zone but there are zero big islands around (minus smugglers bay). This will make the time you spend at each a lot shorter and minimize your risk of being attacked. There are several guides on the legend of the veil online so I wont go over the entire mission step by step but I will give tips on every aspect of them.

Haunted Island

This is the best first mission you can get and, if you start from Sanctuary, it will almost always be on Crescent Isle. The best weapon loadout you can use for the ghost battle is blunderbuss and sword because the blunderbuss is usually a 1 hit kill per phantom and a sword can block. Once the Soulflame Captain arrives direct all your fire to him. Ignore the other phantoms until he is dead and they will disappear. There is almost always a ammo crate around the battle start location and several food barrels.

Sudds

If Sudds is the first mission you receive in your quest book, start the mission again as it is the worst variant. It can be done but can sometimes be time consuming looking at these maps.

Shipwreck Hunt

The shipwreck hunt will consist of several submerged ships. The Magpies Glory ship (that needs to be unlocked with the key), three colored ships, and a half ship. The best method here is to check each and every ship starting at the lowest. There will usually be some pieces of Athena loot scattered about and can range anywhere from just a basic goblet to a villainous skull. If you do find the key take it and unlock the Magpies Glory right away and put your stone inside the veil. I would recommend heading back to the ship after 2 ships have been searched just to do one more horizon check.

Fort From Beyond

The best method for defeating these forts is to full sail, preferably with wind, towards them and at the last second raise sails almost completely. You will be able to take out the forts very easy. I would advise against gathering the Storage Crates from each ruined fort as they just waste time.

Once the main fort has been unlocked sail to it as fast as possible and get VERY CLOSE TO IT. Also raise your sails to around 1/4 or less. This will ensure that the circling galleons don't stay with your rotation too long and overwhelm you. Once you know what you are doing you should be able to complete this in one rotation.

Voyage of Legends

A Voyage of Legends is very good if you want a more casual play experience. 3 tasks on 3 nearby islands and you're done. 1 skele battle, 1 riddle, and 1 x marks the spot. Typically this alone will only get you to a grade 4 emissary value but it is still very good for gaining reputation and gold. Once these are done you will receive a simple map with 1 dig that will award you your Chest of Legends.

The Best Way To Get To Emissary Grade 5

Legend of the Veil - Almost always this will guarantee you a grade 5 flag
3 Ghost Forts - May take 4 but you can get to grade 5 just by completing 3 usually
1.5 Voyage of Legends - You will be at grade 5 before you finish your second run.

Emissary Voyage

This mission can be obtained once you reach grade 5 by talking with the mysterious stranger in the tavern at any outpost. It is very worth your time and is laid out in a very similar way to a voyage of legends but gives you all top tier loot. This mission will also grant you a Chest of Legends and an Keg of Ancient Black Powder. This is the only mission in the game that will give you an Athena keg. The only other place that these spawn is at a Fort of Fortune which I would never recommend doing solo.

Once you reach a guild level of 15 you can set sail as a Guild Emissary. This is not the best faction in the game for making gold (as it only gives you a 1.75x multiplier at Grade 5) but it is quite nice in certain aspects. If I had to explain this faction I would do so by comparing it to the Reapers Bones.

Reapers are shown on the map at all times for all players on the server to see.
Guild Emissaries are shown on the map only upon reaching Grade 5.

You can hand in ALL treasure to the Reapers Bones (including flags).
You can hand in MOST treasure to the Guild Emissary (including flags).

Reapers gives a 2.5x multiplier at Grade 5
Guild Emissary gives a 1.75x multiplier at Grade 5

Reapers allow you to see all other emissaries on the map upon reaching Grade 5.
Guild Emissary does not.

In this section I will cover the best Raid Voyages to do for each faction and when to do them to get the most out of your emissary value.


Every Raid Voyage has a certain time required to complete and it seems like Rare has really balanced the payout for each mission. The two shortest missions are a Raid on a Ghost Fort and a Raid on a Skeleton Camp. These two missions also give a somewhat large payout for very little work in my opinion. Each Ghost Fort will give you faction specific loot based on which faction you voted to dive for and so will the Skeleton Camp. There are usually two quite good pieces of loot in the treasure room but all the other loot is quite low quality. That being said you will receive more company rep for completing the Ghost Fort as compared to the Skeleton Camp. The Skeleton Camp has way better loot usually rewarding the player several high tier items as well as one item worth upwards of $10,000. For this reason alone I would wait to do Skeleton Camp voyages until you are a level 5 emissary because your 1.5x multiplier will add a lot of rep and gold in the end.

Typically my method for reaching level 5 emissary for the three main factions (Gold Hoarder, Merchant Alliance, and Order of Souls) is to complete the best quest for each faction...

Gold Hoarders - Treasure Vault
Merchant Alliance - Lost Shipment
Order of Souls - Skeleton Bounties, GHOST FLEET - ATTRACTS TOO MUCH ATTENTION

... and then dive to a Ghost fort. This will get you very close to level 5 emissary. Sell. Then dive one final time to a Skeleton Camp. Upon completing this you should be at level 5.

Once you reach level 5 you can choose to complete the emissary quest (which can be picked up from your faction representative) or lower/raise your flag and start the cycle once more. Please note that YOU CANNOT KEEP AN EMISSARY QUEST AFTER LOWERING YOUR FLAG. Rare changed this in a recent update.

The other Raid Voyages I would strongly recommend are a Battle With A Skeleton Fleet, as it gets you progress towards your PL Canons and always grants an amazing piece of loot at the end, and a Battle With The Burning Blades Armada. These can be more challenging to complete solo however they can be done and the payout is amazing.

Keep in mind the Battle With A Skeleton Fleet and the Battle With The Burning Blades Armada will reward you the same piece of loot in some cases. For example the reward for Athena's Fortune for both of these missions is a Talisman of Magnificent Fortunes (base value of $15,000). Each mission has their own pros and cons but the Skeleton Fleet takes way less time to complete.

Raid on a Skeleton Fleet

This mission consists of battling 2 skeleton sloops and 1 skeleton galleon to receive a Talisman of Magnificent Fortunes which sells for a base value of 15,000 gold (which is more than a chest of legends). Almost always the order of the ships will be

Sloop on your right
Sloop on your left
Galleon on your right

This mission may seem daunting to do solo but don't worry, it's easier than it sounds. The two sloops take 2 reloads of cannons each to sink (around 20 cannon hits). More times than not you can sink them without taking any damage to your ship.

The strategy to sinking skeleton sloops is to constantly hit the cannon on their ship. This will kill any skeleton that may attempt to shoot at you plus it will keep dealing below deck damage to the sloop. You're essentially preventing them from shooting you while sinking them.

When you dive to the battle make sure you have a full stock of coconuts, wood, and cannons. Upon emerging from the water raise your sails to 1/4 mast. This will ensure the sloop doesn't do that annoying turn around that forces you to reposition.

When you do sink the sloop it will usually drop 2 storage crates and a crappy piece of Athena loot like a goblet or a basic skull. Why not grab everything.

The galleon is where the real problem for solo players arises. The issue is that you can no longer just shoot the cannons because you wont deal any below deck damage. Therefore you must try to deal as much below deck damage as possible while you're getting shot at. This isn't a problem really it just takes extra time to resolve. Start the battle by setting your sails to 1/2 to 3/4 because if they're any less the gally will circle you.

I would recommend unloading 2 or 3 reloads of cannons into it and assessing your damage situation. Try to avoid repairing as much as possible, sometimes a bucket is all you need to get several more rounds of cannons into the galleon. Usually as a single player a time will come in the battle where you must sail away and repair all your level 3 holes and return. What I would recommend is when you hear the ship groan go bucket, put full sails, and turn the wheel into a slight rotation. Start by repairing holes on the side of the ship furthest from the galleon so they don't just get reopened. Eventually you'll get to the point where you're out of range and can repair everything, take a breather, and return.

Once you have completed the mission the galleon will drop 1-2 storage crates, your talisman, and a couple crappy pieces of Athena loot.

WARNING

This mission is positioned in a very central location on the map located right beside reapers hideout. This area is frequented by real players and storms so be cautious. If at any point another player ship arrives, grab your talisman and sell it. I have done quite a few of these and I would say the chances of encountering other players is like 30%. If you are in a storm it's both a positive and a negative. Skeletons cannot bail water from their ships so in a storm they will constantly fill up and sink. Where this poses a problem is when you must retrieve your talisman which is very small and VERY hard to see in a storm. The best bet is to anchor near where the gally sank and hope it hasn't despawned by the time the storm clears.

This mission also gets you closer towards obtaining the Pirate Legend Cannons for your ship. I have met veteran players who don't have these cannons so they're definitely not the easiest to come by. You can unlock the for purchase after "Sinking 500 skeleton ships as Pirate Legend"


I would recommend not doing any of the other Raid Voyages solo mainly because they require you to leave your ship unattended for extended periods of time.

I would strongly advise against doing hourglass solo but, that being said, it can be done. Most people out there will tell you to set sails to half upon emerging from the water and immediately turn right. Then once you understand the movement of the other ship slowly turn left and start cannon shots. I honestly cant think of a better strategy so lets go with this.

The only way I find to win a battle solo is to get as many cannon hits as possible, board the other ship, and firebomb the hell out of it. The order of battle can quickly take a turn for various reasons which honestly can not be avoided. Sometimes you get a rock spawn, sometimes the other player one balls you, etc. Be prepared to win a fight, lose a fight, win a fight, lose a fight. My friend almost exclusively does hourglass and he is not getting streaks often. Yes it has happened but more times than not it's the classic win 1 loose 1 scenario.

I see far to many people get mad because they loose hourglass and straight up unfriend people. That's sadly that mindset of competitive games a lot of the time but don't get discouraged. Keep it up.

Settings To Change For Better PVP

First of all you always want to make sure that you are playing this game at 60fps minimum as anything less will put you at a disadvantage. This is a fact. Please change your graphics settings accordingly so that you can obtain a consistent 60fps. I can't really say specific graphic settings to change as everyone's setup is different.

Make sure your FOV (Field of View) is maxed out so you can see the most possible area around you. It is also a good idea to turn your water quality down slightly so that you can easier see players in the water.