Ultimate Guide to Cursed Sails
300 Doubloons and so much more
Editor’s Note: This guide has been updated with new information as it became available.
Editor’s Note 8/22/2018: Week 4 of the Event has extended the opportunity to participate by repeating Week 3 content on Week 2’s IRL timetable, read through for details.
Editor’s Note 8/15/2018: Week 3 of the Event adds New Content, and this Guide has been updated to reflect it.
Editor’s Note 8/8/2018: Week 2 of the Event adds New Content, and this Guide has been updated to reflect it.
The Cursed Sails campaign event consists of 24 Bilge Rat Commendations which award a total of 300 Doubloons, 5 Titles, and access to the exclusive time limited rewards. It runs from July 31st to August 21st (EDIT: Confirmed the event will actually last one week longer, with Week 4 repeating Week 3’s content). This Guide walks you through what the Commendations are, and tips on earning them.
Before you engage in the meat of the campaign, you may want to start with an appetizer in the form of the story side quest- this is not necessary for doing the other facets of the campaign, but will earn its own rewards, and is necessary for some of the final commendations. I recommend starting with this, but I’ve saved writing it for the bottom of this guide to sequester its spoilers. Skip to the bottom if that’s where you want to start!
Regional Battles
The outposts in the game are all host to new Banners in the town square, pointing you to an in-game date and location when a battle will take place in that region of the world map. Those in game times and places are:
The Battle for The Shores of Plenty
The 1st through the 10th, North West of Smuggler’s Bay
The Great War of The Ancient Isles
The 11th through the 20th, West of Sharkbait Cove
The Final Stand of The Wilds
The 21st through the 30th, East of Marauder’s Arch
Being at each of these locations during these in-game dates will prompt the battles to begin, and winning those battles will require you to defeat multiple waves of AI ships, which I’ll give tips on down below in the “Battle Tips” section. No matter which outpost you spawn on, somewhere on the map there is a potential Battle to engage in- don’t be discouraged if you read a banner that says to defend the Wilds when that battle is still ten days away, simply sail to the region that corresponds with what date it is in game.
Updated: The in game dates correspond to consistent windows of real world time day to day. Those times are posted below
Winning any one of these battles for the first time will earn you 10 Doubloons and a Title (Protector of The Wilds/Shores of Plenty/Ancient Isles). Once you’ve gotten all three Protector Titles, you earn Conqueror of the Skeleton Fleets. This nets another 20 doubloons, a Title, access to the four exclusive Bone Crusher ship livery items in Duke’s shop (at a cost of 40 Doubloons each), and the exclusive Bone Crusher tattoo set and scar.
Nickels
Alongside the major tracks of commendations, there are a bunch of smaller 5 Doubloon rewards.
You’ll earn 5 Doubloons each for winning a Battle in the Sloop, Brigantine, and Galleon, encouraging you to play with different crew sizes throughout the event.
There are also 5 Doubloons at stake for defeating each skeleton “Crew” you’ll encounter throughout the campaign. These are the only commendations that change week to week during the 3 week event. What makes battles interesting is, each regional battle in the game is being waged by a specific crew of skeleton ships, which specialize in a single type of Cursed Cannonball, and these will cycle out each of the three weeks. You’ll also notice that the type of crew you’ll be facing is labeled with an icon on the banners at every outpost.
UPDATE: Week 1 ended 08/08/2018 and its 15 doubloons are no longer available.
In week 1 (July 31st-August 7th), the Shores of Plenty is plagued by the Crew of the Cursed Helm, utilizing cursed cannonballs which impact how far you can turn the steering wheel, The Ancient Isles is under siege by the Crew of the Foul Grog, using Grog Balls that make afflicted pirates instantly drunk, and The Wilds have to contend with the Crew of the Dancing Demon, whose cannonballs make pirates dance uncontrollably for a short time. Defeating one of each crew nets 5 doubloons for a total of 15 doubloons exclusive to this first week.
UPDATE: Week 2 ended 08/15/18 and its 15 doubloons are no longer available.
Week 2 (August 8th-August 14th) replaces these crews with the Crew of the Fools Stride (Shores of Plenty), the Crew of the Treacherous Bounty (Ancient Isles), and The Crew of the Enslaving Chain (The Wilds).
The Fool’s Stride Cannonball simulates the feeling of walking with a broken leg, like when your pirate falls from a large height. This will impede the ability to bail water quickly.
The Treacherous Bounty Cannonball locks a crew out of accessing the supply barrels on their ship. It will be necessary to plan for this, and refill personal stock in between volleys of enemy cannon fire.
The Enslaving Chain Cannonball drops a ship’s anchor. This will require crews to remain coordinated and quickly rally together to raise the anchor, especially on the Galleon, which will limit a crew’s ability to dedicate members to boarding the enemy ships.
UPDATE WEEK 3/4:
Week 3 (August 15th-August 21st) and Week 4 (August 22nd-29th) havethe Crew of the Sandman’s Revenge (Shores of Plenty), Crew of the Black Viper (Ancient Isles), and Crew of the Siren’s Gale (The Wilds).
The Sandman’s Revenge Cannonball will make your pirate lay down and take a nap, lasting about 7 seconds, but during that time you’re liable to getting struck again and repeating your slumber.
The Black Viper Cannonball acts as if a snake has spit venom in your face, blinding you with a dark purple obstruction on your screen. This will impede you but not completely immobilize you- just try not to walk the plank by mistake.
The Siren’s Gale Cannonball will cause your ship’s sails to raise, slowing down your momentum- pretty tame compared to last week’s Anchor-dropping ball. Like the anchor ball, this will be a bigger hassle the larger your ship is.
A total of 45 doubloons (15 per week) will be available for defeating these 9 specific crews, meaning that even after you’ve won a battle in each region, you’ll want to repeat that feat weekly.
Longer Term Challenges and Alliances
Once the main circuit of completing one battle per region is finished, of course you’ll want to repeat this at least once per week to earn the other 45 doubloons I mentioned- but even if you can’t get all 9 of those battles done, you’ll want to do more than the bare minimum of 3 to earn these last commendations.
Firstly, there are 50 Doubloons awarded once you’ve sunk 50 total Skeleton ships. This should take between 5–7 total battles to complete.
Second, there are 50 Doubloons available for defeating 25 Skeleton Ships while in an Alliance. This should be very doable in just three or four battles if you follow my advice below in the “Battle Tips” section.
Finally, there are three region specific commendations that are a bit trickier. Like the previous Protector titles, there are three “Fleet Protector” commendations which ask you to win a battle in each region while in an alliance, and that all members of the Alliance are flying that region’s sails. The regional sails are earned by completing Wanda’s story campaign, which means you may need to shepherd some other crews around to help them complete it if you want to sail with others that also have the sails. If you struggle with this, you may need to wait later into the second or third week of the events for other crews that have already gotten the sails on their own time. Alternatively, one way to get around this is, if you find a friendly ally that does not have the sails, offer to have a member of your crew join their crew and equip the sails for them. They can then stay on the crew or switch back, and the sails will stay.
NOTE: Even after you’ve completed the Fleet Protector commendation, equip the proper regional sails in every battle to assist other ships in earning this commendation.
One last tip on the Fleet Protector sails requirement: Once you’ve found allies with the proper sails, take down the pennants that are offering to expand the alliance. If you don’t and another ship sails in mid-fight, they could join your alliance without the proper sails to earn the commendation.
Battle Tips
When arriving at the rendezvous point for an epic skeleton fight, there’s a few things you need to know first.
- Stock Up On Supplies- during the course of the fight, you will engage with multiple AI ships even at the same time. You’ll take a lot of cannon fire, and you’ll need a lot of your own to take them down. If you’re running low, watch out for supply barrels floating in the water, and also raid the skeleton ships’ barrels for more.
- Other Players will Be There- this is a server wide confrontation. Everyone else in the game will know where to go just as you do, and they’ll meet you there. To most efficiently be able to earn the commendations, fighting them off is not recommended- instead get on the speaking trumpet and utilize the new “LET’S FORM AN ALLIANCE” command to attempt to work together. If two ships are within one map-square’s distance apart, they can hoist Offer Alliance and Join Alliance pennants respectively to ally up before heading into battle.
This will allow a crew that cashes in treasure to retain a full reward PLUS share 50% of that value with their allies. But keep in mind, while in an Alliance you can still cause damage to your allies and vice versa, so watch that friendly fire. As mentioned above, some commendations require you to be in an Alliance. - Boarding is Helpful but Risky- in typical PVP, boarding to disrupt repairs is often vital to winning a fight. On AI ships, it’s pretty useful too. The Skeletons on the ships WILL repair damage holes, but will not bail water, meaning that every gallon they leak makes them permanently closer to sinking. If you don’t need to stop them from bailing but you do want to stop repairs, sustained cannon fire will accomplish this- but you’ll run out of cannonballs quickly. Getting on board and delaying their repairs takes minutes off the lifespan of every ship. Detonating Gun powder works great as well if you can safely get it on board without damaging your own ship trying, and here’s one last pro tip: bail a bucket of water from your ship and dump it onto theirs every time you’re close enough to board.
But be warned- boarding the enemy means one less crew member keeping yours afloat, and that’s playing with fire when you’re being barraged with cursed cannonballs. - Watch their shots and where you’re sailing- When a cannon on the AI ship is loaded with a cursed cannonball, you’ll see the glow of it. You can shoot skeletons off the cannons if you want to prevent them from peppering you with yet another Dancing Demon ball. There’s also a nest above the bow with an Eye of Reach trying to do the same to you, and you may want to take him out if you have the shot.
All skeletons on the ship will respawn, and rather quickly, but thinning their numbers or just keeping them stunned off of their attempted task will help slow down their barrage of fire or their hull repairs.
If you have the unenviable task of manning the helm, it’s vital that you keep your ship maneuvered to avoid prolonged cannon fire. This means avoid their broad side, and stay close to the enemy ships- the closer you sail, the less likely they are able to position for cannon volleys.
You also have to be careful not to sail out of range of the fight. If you hear the fight music fading away or ceasing, you need to turn around and get back into the battle zone, or else the wave will despawn and you may lose progress. - Get ready for waves- Once you defeat an AI Ship, it will sink and you may be able to recover some treasure (every AI ship drops a small handful of random loot items, and the final wave gives a nice reward), but get it on board quickly because more ships will rise from the water almost immediately after a wave is beaten. There should be a total of around seven to ten ships, and you’ll hear the musical cues just as in a Skull Fort battle. You didn’t think that measly ship was the whole battle did you?
If your armada of allies is large enough, you may even want to designate somebody to sail treasure away periodically so it’s not lost when inevitably half of your ships get sunk in the course of the fight.
The final wave will spawn a number of special new items (3–4 each), called the Skeleton Captain’s Chest and Skeleton Captain’s Skull, which seem to be valued at around 1000–1500 gold each.
The Story of Wanda (SPOILERS)
I saved this section for last because it contains SPOILERS. If you don’t like SPOILERS, don’t read this part! Just go talk to Duke in the Tavern and figure it out yourself!
There are three commendations and a title earned by discovering the origin of these AI Attackers.
To start, talking to Duke in any Tavern will inform you that the Shipwright on Golden Sands Outpost knows something. Talking to her will begin the Cursed Sails quest, and she’ll tell you that Wanda the Blacksmith has gone missing, and ask you to look for any clues.
Visiting the blacksmith shop on Golden Sands (Wanda’s workshop), you’ll find that the shop is now in the care of Wanda’s sister Wonda. There is a note to read and a necklace to investigate in here, while footprints lead to the waters edge which can also be investigated. Once these three observations are made by your pirate, you’ll earn “Seeker of Wanda’s Treachery”, worth 10 doubloons.
Talk to the Golden Sands Shipwright again and she’ll tell you that Wanda and Salty used to meet on Crescent Isle. Sail there, and you’ll find our unfortunate friend Salty, Wanda’s betrayed business partner who now exists as a cursed skeletal parrot, hanging out on a barrel around the bay. Talk to Salty to learn more about his business relationship with Wanda, and to be given three clues to locations where he and Wanda met.
The clues point to Mermaid’s Hideaway, Thieves Haven, and Sunken Grove, and on each of these islands, you’ll find a journal furthering the story of what Salty found and how Wanda used it… nefariously. Once all three Journals are found you’ll earn Seeker of Accursed Plans and 10 more doubloons.
Finally, speaking to Salty again will point you towards Wanda’s top secret alchemy workshop, located on Wanderer’s Refuge. If you search in the tunnel where a small stream runs, you’ll find the workshop, containing five more clues to observe, which will earn you the Seeker of the Warsmith commendation and title, for the final 10 Doubloons. Return to the Golden Sands Shipwright, who will gift you the Shores of Plenty sails, and tell you to try the Shipwrights at Plunder Outpost and Daggertooth Outpost to get the other region’s sails. These are event exclusive items, and also required to get the three “Fleet Protector” commendations, worth 20 doubloons each.
It’s unknown yet if more to this story will be added next week or the week after, but if anything changes, I’ll update this page to reflect the new content. Once you’ve learned the full story of Wanda, you can head out to fight her armies and defend the Sea of Thieves!
