Sea of Thieves Release Notes - 3.6.2

Take on the Eternal Guard, raid Sanctuaries of the Banished and generally risk life and limb returning to The Devil's Roar! To learn more about this Season’s headline features, head over to our dedicated Season 18 page.

Ashen Garrisons

• Flameheart’s forces have constructed two new Ashen Garrisons deep within The Devil’s Roar. Crews are tasked with assaulting these heavily fortified skeleton strongholds to crack open the Treasuries and reap the rewards within.

• Crews must navigate perilous waters and scale the outer walls to begin their assault, then battle across the ramparts, unlocking access to the Guardhouse before they can enter the central Garrison structure.

• With the main door unlocked from within the Guardhouse, crews must then battle through waves of Flameheart’s forces defending the inner Garrison before dispatching the Custodian of the Treasury to unlock access to the Treasury and the riches held within.

• Servant’s Oath Garrison and King’s Chalice Garrison have unique layouts, and crews can find new Lighthouse Logs held within lockboxes in each Garrison.

• Crews can sail directly into The Devil’s Roar to assault these new Ashen Garrisons, or begin a Raid Voyage for their chosen Trading Company from the Quest Table and dive on demand to earn Company-specific rewards.

Chest of Bones Mega Stash

• For the duration of Act 3, Ashen Garrisons will have a chance for their Vaults to be boosted by a Chest of Bones Mega Stash, replacing the contents of the Treasury with an immense treasure pile of significantly higher value including a stash of Ashen Chests of Bones.

• Both emergent Ashen Garrisons and on-demand Raid Voyages can result in a Mega Stash. However, the chance of this boost is much higher when encountering an emergent Ashen Garrison in the world.

• Ashen Garrisons taken on in Safer Seas always provide the same treasure and will not be boosted by a Mega Stash.

Act 3 Commendations and Rewards

• Act 3 introduces new Adventures at Sea Commendations, challenging crews to take on the fearsome Ashen Garrisons. Completing these Commendations unlocks access to the Dark Skies ship set and weapons, Forsaken Ashes Makeup, ‘The Ghostly Writer’ Painting and Garrison Gatecrasher Title.

• Crews completing Act 3’s Deeds can also earn the Ashen Garrison Sails to commemorate their feats.

Chest of Fortune

• During Act 3, the Chest of Fortune will return to the Fort of Fortune Vault.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsRqAWBiTpI

Increasing Player Sightings on the Seas

• Crews diving to an experience from the Quest Table will now find they can emerge within sight of other ships on their new server. This allows servers more space to bring in crews and maintain the target of six ships on a server.

• Servers that experience a low population for prolonged periods of time will now be more reactive in moving crews onto busier servers. Servers that recognise their low population can now migrate crews who are travelling across the seas at faster speeds and no longer have to wait for ships to become stationary, ensuring they can safely migrate all crews when required.

• As part of this update, these changes to the experience will be monitored and tweaked where necessary in the live game. Players may therefore experience changes to these systems outside the usual game updates.

Message in a Bottle Balancing

• Crews discovering a washed-up Message in a Bottle should now more commonly locate green bottles containing Quest Maps for the various Trading Companies. Coral and Smuggler’s variants are now a much rarer find.

Self-Righting Ship Buoyancy

• Ships that capsize due to reckless behaviour by their Captain or through discovery of a rogue Black Powder Barrel will now right themselves at sea and consistently return to an upright position in order to continue sailing.

Chest of Bones Map Visibility

• The Chest of Bones is no longer made visible to others on the ship’s Map Table, providing opportunities for sneakier tactics.

Gold Hoarders Voyages

• The Gold Hoarders’ Raid on a Sea Fort Voyage is now available at Company rank 15 (previously 25).

Show off your personal style with purchases from the Pirate Emporium! Pick up exclusive cosmetics such as ship liveries, costumes, weapons, pets and emotes using your Ancient Coins, purchasable with real money. Head to the Pirate Emporium to browse and buy the latest additions!

New Items – Now in Stock!

• Reaper’s Heart Ship Collection

• Reaper’s Heart Costume (with Fit of Passion Emote)

• Additional Reaper’s Heart Weapons: Double Barrel Pistol, Grapple Gun, Blowpipe and Throwing Knives

• Additional Night Wulf Weapons: Double Barrel Pistol, Grapple Gun, Blowpipe and Throwing Knives

• Torch Trouper Emote

• Bursting with Joy Emote – Free!

New Outpost Stock!

• The Outpost stores now offer the Good Boy equipment, instruments and weapons; however, they are only purchasable by pirates who have found favour with the eponymous good boy. Some detective work will be required to unlock access to these items!

• The shipwrights have also restocked this month with the Teal Resolute Sails, Hull and Flag.

Performance Improvements

• Performance improvements have been made to the final chapter of the Legend of the Veil Voyage. The appearance of the Ghost Garrison should no longer cause client framerate issues for nearby players across a range of devices.

• Improvements have been made when opening Outpost shops and the Pirate Emporium to provide a smoother framerate when stores load in a large number of items.

• Optimisations have been made to several of the existing Cannon Flares to improve game performance when they are fired.

Gameplay

• Players who are harpooned while using a ship’s cannon should no longer lose the ability to use weapons, items or their radial menu, and should once again regain full control once untethered from the harpoon.

• Players knocked back by nearby splash damage while using a cannon should no longer find they are unable to move if attempting to quickly grab on to the cannon again.

• Further improvements have been made to how players attach to, release and climb ladders to address rare issues of unintentionally slow movement after getting onto a ladder.

• After losing their ship, crew members who disconnect and rejoin their session will now consistently be placed at the location of their new ship and should no longer be returned to the location where the ship was lost.

• Players grabbing the ship’s wheel from a crouched position while travelling beneath the waves should now be standing once the ship begins to surface, no longer resulting in players becoming stuck in an invalid state.

• Treasure left floating near the Glorious Sea Dog Tavern, either intentionally or from the spoils of destroyed Skeleton Ships, will now remain on the surface for a short time before sinking.

• Crews engaging with a player-controlled Burning Blade and losing repeatedly in quick succession should no longer find they are migrated away to a new server.

• Ocean Crawlers can once again be encountered on larger islands.

• Attacking a Shadow Skeleton while it is invulnerable no longer shows visual hit effects, making it clear that the skeleton cannot currently be damaged.

• Players can now sprint while holding the Grim Fortune’s Key during a Legend of the Veil Voyage.

• Crews choosing a Captain’s Treasure Vault Voyage, Ashen Captain's Treasure Vault Voyage or Gold Hoarder Voyage Medley from the Quest Table should now find they are consistently required to travel a short distance to their selected destination and islands too close are not selected.

• During natural server migration, ships are now brought to a stop while player movement is temporarily unavailable, reducing the chance of drifting into rocks or hazards out of the player’s control.

• Players releasing held treasure items within or around shipwrecks should no longer find the items become unrecoverable if they bump into the wreck itself.

• Players releasing held treasure items within Siren Shrines should no longer find that treasure can float upwards into the surrounding environment and become unrecoverable.

• Joining a crew who recently lost their ship at Molten Sands Fortress should no longer result in players entering the game session floating in the air.

• Players firing multiple blowpipe darts in quick succession should no longer find the final dart has a different trajectory, and now fires consistently at the intended target.

• The Double Barrel Pistol’s reload time has been reduced slightly to more closely match the existing reload animation, helping to smooth out firing after a reload.

• Skeleton Orders dropped by Captains at Reaper Fortresses now consistently lead to the appropriate Fort.

• Reaper’s Bones Emissary Grade progression has now been reduced to the intended amount when digging up treasure from Skeleton Orders.

• Delivering Cargo Crates to Hunter’s Call representatives now consistently awards Merchant Alliance reputation and Emissary rewards.

• ‘Shores of Gold’ – Crews completing the Shark Vault puzzle should now consistently find the medallion is in its intended location once uncovered.

• Players should no longer be able to fish for Pondies on the shoreline of Old Salts Atoll.

Visual and Audio

• Equipping the Obsidian Captain’s Curtains now shows the intended visual design when on board the ship and within the Customisation Chest.

• After blocking with a sword, players moving quickly into a sprint should now appear to move at the correct speed when viewed by others.

• Pirates of all body sizes can now wear the Tavern Chef’s Uniform without visual issues.

• Pirates of all body sizes can now correctly hold and use all types of spyglass without visual issues.

• Background music now plays as expected during the Pirate Lord’s opening dialogue for Order of Souls and Merchant Alliance Tutorials.

• Visual effects from firebombs and blunderbombs held by players will now display correctly at higher field-of-view settings.

• Seared Forsaken Ashes clothing now better matches the glow of Seared Forsaken Ashes weapons and equipment at night.

• The Orb of the Banished Lantern now shines with a purple glow to better match its design.

• ‘Lords of the Sea’ – Striking the Flying Dutchman with firebombs during this Tall Tale now results in the correct explosive visual effects.

Environment

• Players are now prevented from using a Grapple Gun to reach inaccessible areas within the Sloop.

• Placing treasure in certain locations near the Vault door of the Fort of the Damned should no longer cause the item to disappear.

• Improvements have been made to areas of the environment at Boulder Cay, Smugglers’ Bay, Ruby’s Fall, Ashen Reaches and Old Brinestone Fortress to prevent players from becoming stuck while traversing.

• Mysterious Journals at Shark Bait Cove and Morrow’s Peak Outpost have been repositioned to ensure they can be interacted with.

• The Rowboat docking prompt at Port Merrick now appears in the correct position.

• The Skeleton Lord at Lost Gold Fort should no longer appear inside rocks in the surrounding environment.

• ‘Heart of Fire’ – The Chest of Rage remains recoverable if dropped while swimming through the underwater exit during this Tall Tale.

User Interface

• The Provisions Sold to The Hunter’s Call Milestone now correctly increases when selling banished items to a Hunter’s Call representative.

• After purchasing the Immerse Gamepack, players should continue to be able to navigate the Enhanced Headphone Mode settings menu with a controller.

• Guild menus can now be fully navigated using analogue sticks and directional arrows when playing with a controller.

• Navigating through settings with a controller now results in smoother animation when moving a slider all the way to the top.

• The Random Voyage option at the Quest Table is now always available to select.

• The Dark Constellation Cat is now available in both the Pets and Browse All sections of the Pirate Emporium.

• Progressing from level 100 to Distinction 1 for a Trading Company now shows the correct animations within the menu.

Communication and Accessibility

• Players on PlayStation®5 who have set up communication restrictions are now consistently prevented from sending and receiving messages to and from cross-platform players.

• Players on PC using a DualSense™ controller should now find that the Touchpad and Options button actions are now consistently shown and narrated correctly.

Text and Localisation

• Selling Crates of Ungraded Tea and of Unclassified Gemstones now shows the correct notifications from the Merchant Alliance.

Performance and Stability

• ‘The Lair of LeChuck’ – Players should no longer experience an unexpected game closure after speaking to Herman during this Tall Tale.

• ‘Stars of a Thief’ – Diving directly into Chapter 2 of the Tall Tale now places the crew at the correct location and no longer returns players to an Outpost.

• Improvements have been made to game stability to reduce scenarios where players unexpectedly exit the game or become disconnected from their session.

To learn more about known issues in Sea of Thieves currently being tracked and their status, head over to our Known Issues support site article.