Ultimate Guide Collection: Every Adventure & Event
Let’s earn some Doubloons
Sea of Thieves updates frequently with new adventures, meaning if you’re new to Sea of Thieves, you have months of challenges to catch up on. As daunting as that is, I’m here to help. This guide will provide links to every walkthrough I’ve published on previous big adventures, and fill you in on all the context you’ll need to earn every Bilge Rat Commendation. I’ll also be updating it with every future update, making this your one stop shop for Sea of Thieves adventure walkthroughs.
What are Bilge Rat Commendations?
Every time Rare adds new gameplay features, they create challenges around this content called “Bilge Rat Commendations”. You can find out what current “adventure” is going on by talking to the Bilge Rat, an NPC that can be found in any Tavern in the game (the place where you spawn in). Sometimes the Bilge Rat is Duke, sometimes it is Stitcher Jim.
You can read the list of Commendations and check your progress by pressing Menu, navigating to Reputation, and clicking on the Bilge Rat tab. Each “Adventure” has its own page under this tab.
Why complete Bilge Rat Commendations?
Most Bilge Rat Commendations will reward you when you complete them. Some reward you with special titles, and some of those titles are required before you’re allowed to purchase certain cosmetic items in the shops in the game.
The primary reward however are Doubloons. Doubloons are a separate currency from your regular gold (noted by blue coins in your inventory) and can only be spent by talking to the Tavern Bilge Rat.
You can spend Doubloons in Duke’s Shop on bags of regular gold, levels up in any of the five trading company factions, and time-limited cosmetics for your ship and pirate.
Bilge Rat Guides
The titles below link to the guides I published for every Adventure so far, and I’ve provided notes on what rewards can still be earned and any relevant info that’s changed since the guide was written. Everything from Cursed Crews onward will still earn you Bilge Rat Doubloons.
Skeleton Thrones/Gun Powder Skeletons
Rewards: No Doubloons/Cosmetics. Four Titles to Earn.
Notes: Because Golden Sands Blogpost didn’t start until mid July of last year, I don’t have a written guide for the Skeleton Thrones/Gun Powder Skeletons events. Nothing has changed in the challenge of doing these commendations but they no longer yield any compelling reward aside from Titles. If you insist on doing them, you can find the locations of the 10 thrones online, though 5 of them require another crew to join you. For Gun Powder Skeletons, make it a habit when doing Order of Souls bounties or Skull Forts to blow up gun powder skeletons with your Eye of Reach or Flintlock Pistol, especially by corralling the skeletons together, and you’ll eventually complete all of those commendations.
Sunken Curse Guide
Rewards: No Doubloons/Cosmetics. Three Titles to earn.
Notes: Statues are less common now, but when destroyed they drop a Mermaid Gem loot item, which can be sold to any faction for gold and reputation. Selling Mermaid Gems also earns Shrouded Spoils Commendations (see below). Best Strategy is to play the game as normal/focus on other goals while keeping an eye out for statues, rather than seeking statues out one after another.
Cursed Sails Guide
Rewards: No Doubloons/Some Cosmetics. Title still available.
Notes:
MOST OF THE ORIGINAL CAMPAIGN IS NO LONGER IN GAME. Only 3 commendations remain: Scourge of Skeleton Ships (sink 50 Skeleton Ships), United Scourge of Skeleton Ships (sink 25 Skeleton Ships in an Alliance), and Seeker of Accursed Plans (find Wanda’s 3 Journals).
Skeleton Ships inside a Ship Cloud battle OR singular roaming Skeleton Ships will count towards these commendations. Earning the Scourge of Skeleton Ships Title allows you to purchase Bone Crusher Set items in the outpost shops, but the Bone Crusher Hull, Sails, Figurehead, Flag, Weapons, Hat, Jacket, and Dress are no longer available. The Bone Crusher Wheel, Capstan, and Cannons can be bought at Morrow’s Peak Outpost but require Shrouded Spoils commendations (see below).
My original Cursed Sails guide still contains tips on taking on Skeleton Ship Cloud Battles, but much of the specifics are no longer accurate after the event ended. The outpost banners with battle schedules are no longer relevant, as Ship battles now occur at random. Many of the commendations are no longer available, and each battle no longer is against a particular crew that specializes in a particular cursed cannonball. The Wanda’s Story campaign no longer exists besides her three journals, which can still be found at their original locations.
Some further tips that have changed since I published the original guide:
- Rowboats exist now and make gathering treasure in the heat of a multi-wave ship battle somewhat easier
- Each ship battle no longer specializes in a single cursed cannonball, and will use a variety
- Players can fire their own cursed cannonballs, and they do have effects against skeleton ships
- Skeleton Ships in Ship Battles can be Galleons or Sloops. Sloops are more nimble and speedy but have much less fire power and are much quicker to sink, overall making battles easier.
Cursed Crews Guide
Rewards: 150 Doubloons, 3 Titles
Notes: Nothing has changed for this adventure from when the guide was published.
Some things not mentioned in the guide:
- Voyages picked up from barrels or messages in a bottle DO NOT count towards Reaper’s Mark Voyager commendations
- For the Reaper’s Mark Alliance commendation, you must unequip the Reaper’s Mark in order to raise an Alliance pennant, and after an Alliance is formed, you can re-equip the Reaper’s Mark. If you were in the middle of a voyage when doing this, that voyage will no longer count towards Reaper’s Mark Voyager commendations.
Forsaken Shores Guide
Rewards: 300 Doubloons, 4 Titles
Notes: The difficulty of Volcanoes has been dialed down and balanced. The Forsaken Ashes Weapon skins and Ship skins are no longer available, but the rest of the Forsaken Ashes Set can still be purchased at Morrow’s Peak Outpost after earning the “Devil’s Cartographer” Title.
Festival of the Damned
Rewards: 160 Doubloons, Title
Notes: The Festival of the Damned Sails/Lantern and the Ghostlight/ Skullface/Fatefire facepaints are no longer available.
Shrouded Spoils
Rewards: 355 Doubloons, 11 Titles
Notes: Contrary to what’s mentioned in the guide, The Shrouded Ghost does NOT only attack in the fog. It can appear anywhere but just happens to be extremely rare. The Wailing Barnacle ship cosmetics are no longer available. Some ship cosmetics at Morrow’s Peak Outpost can only be purchased after earning Titles from this event.
Anniversary Update Guides
The Anniversary Update (Patch 2.0 released on April 30th) added a ton of features to the game, but there was no limited time content or Bilge Rat Doubloons to earn. I did publish a guide on each of the new trading companies, Fishing/Cooking with The Hunter’s Call and The Arena Mode with the Sea Dogs company. This update also began Tall Tales, a new system for delivering story focused quests. I published a guide on the first set of those quests, The Shores of Gold, which told an overall story across nine quests.
Fort of the Damned
Rewards: 335 Doubloons, 1 Title
A chilling new Fort has been brought into the sea of thieves by way of dark rituals. Unlike other forts, this one is activated manually by players, has unique enemy challenges that make it more difficult, and has much greater rewards.
Ashen Treasures
Rewards: 650 Doubloons, 2 Titles
Skeletons are guarding sets of mysterious Tomes, and each one you collect unlocks an exclusive cosmetic item. It’s not that easy though, as the Tomes are locked in Ashen Chests which require Ashen Keys to open, each of which are guarded by skeleton captains or even Skeleton Lords.
This event is running over several months, with new tomes and commendations being added monthly.
Mercenary Voyages
Notes: Mercenary Voyages are only available during a limited time window, and as a result, many of the rewards, commendations, and ability to participate in them at all are removed after that window ends.
Current: Festival of Giving
December 11th-Mid January
Rewards: 285 Doubloons, 1 Title
The currently running Festival of Giving event includes “Gift Seeker Voyages” as well as a host of commendations for delivering and sharing gifts found in the game. All of the commendations from the event are time limited
Past: Smuggler’s Fortune
September 11-October 16th
Rewards: 250 Doubloons, 3 Titles
Smuggler’s Fortune’s Voyages are no longer available, though a handful of the commendations still are. The Guide above makes it clear which commendations were time limited, and which are still accessible now that the event has ended.
Past: Dark Relics
August 14-September 11
Rewards: 80 Doubloons, 1 Title
From the Dark Relics event, only the Reaper’s Chest commendations are still available.
Recurring Ways to Earn Doubloons
Although Doubloons used to be limited and only earned by completing one-time commendations, there are now recurrent ways to earn them:
Reaper’s Chests
Reaper’s Chests are found occasionally in shipwrecks. They are marked by a beam of red and green light twirling into the sky which can be seen from far across the map. They are also marked on every player’s map tables by a small Reaper’s Mark symbol.
Once you pick up a Reaper’s Chest, the beam of light will disappear, but the Reaper’s Mark will follow you where ever you go- every player on the server can see you on their map table until you offload the chest!
They sell to the tavern Bilge Rat for 25 Doubloons.
Rag and Bone Crates
These crates can be found washed up on shore and delivered to the tavern Bilge Rat for 5 Doubloons. They no longer require a time limit on their delivery
Ritual Skulls
These can be dug from an X-Marks the spot “Stash Voyage” sold in the Bilge Rat Black Market. They also can appear on maps dropped by emergent Skeleton Island Captains, loot from defeating a Skeleton Ship Cloud Battle, and can be found inside opened Ashen Chests. They sell to the tavern Bilge Rat for 10 Doubloons. One is also needed whenever you wish to activate the Fort of the Damned.
Ashen Keys & Chests
Ashen Keys are dropped when defeating an emergent “Key Master” Skeleton and sell to the tavern Bilge Rat for 5 Doubloons.
Ashen Chests can be found by “Stash Voyages” sold in the Bilge Rat Black Market, dropped by Skeleton Ships or Ship Cloud Battles, inside Ashen Skull Fort vaults, or from a map dropped by an emergent “Ashen Guardian” skeleton. Opened or unopened, they can be sold to the tavern Bilge Rat for 5 Doubloons. However, if you use an Ashen Key to open one, inside you will find at least one “Tome” (which can be sold to the Bilge Rat for 5 Doubloons), and have a chance of finding Ritual Skulls or even “Doubloon Pouches”, which immediately reward 5 Doubloons when picked up.
