Terrors from the Tides Bellow
*This is assuming the game has had a frozen region update prior to it. Either way, not having one won’t affect much of the new gameplay, only a single aspect, the Frosted Skulker and Frozen Matriarch.
What is it?:
Set sail on the venturesome Sea of Thieves, embarking on a whole new set of voyages while avoiding brand new encounters! Navigate the tides while serving under the newly improved Hunter’s Call. Face brand new terrors never seen before, explore brand new quest lines and structures, all while spending the time with your mateys!
What is new?:
- This update brings aboard tons of new content, ships, and voyages, focussing on the hunting aspect of the seas. What you can expect from this update is:
- Encounters with 4 new brand new nautical foes along your journey:
- The Vicious Fin: A sleek, large, and rapid whale which will keep pirates pursuing it for days
- The Blubberhead Behemoth: Known for its flintlock sized teeth and notorious case, it’ll make sure your ship doesn’t come out in one piece
- The Iron Hull: Amongst the toughest-skinned and stealthiest whales of the seas, they’ll have no issue taking more than an ordinary number of harpoon hits
- The Frosted Skulker: Found only in the most coldest regions of the Sea of Thieves, these blasted whales use sheets of ice to avoid any incoming fire
- Two brand new, and very pricey, resources: Whale Blubber and Oil, highly valued by the Hunter’s Call
- Two new ambient events: Beached Whales and Floating Whale Carcasses. Both provide a good amount of blubber and oil
- A brand new type of ship: the Whaleboat
- 10 new Hunter’s Call voyages and 1 Merchant’s Alliance Voyage
- A new competitive world event
- Loads of new weapons, tools, and ammo
- A revamped fishing system
- 3 New sets of ship and player cosmetics
- 2 new marine creatures: The friendly dolphins and vicious piranhas
- 2 new land creatures: The tameable horses and kleptomaniac Frigate Birds
- 2 new types of enemies: Dolphin Backriders and Hunter Skeletons
- A new structure: Lighthouses
- A new food type: Carrots
Whaling
Take advantage of the brand new hunting system added to the Sea of Thieves: Whaling! Hunt down varieties of brand new whales for their precious blubber. Blubber can be rendered with the use of intense heat. However, whaling should not be taken for granted, as it is troublesome to commit to
Types of Whales
In the vast seas, there are bound to be different types of whales, each with their unique property:
- The Vicious Fin is known for its slim body and extensive size compared to the other whales. While many inexperienced sailors would assume such a size would bring down weight, leading to an easy target, they'd be mistaken. The Vicious Fin is recognized for their rapid speeds, often leading caravans of whaleboats for days. Because of this, many sailors avoid actively hunting these creatures, even if they have a better payout.
- The Blubberhead Behemoth is by far the most vicious of the common whales, using its soft head to ram ships off course. Furthermore, their large and sharp teeth can easily tear up several holes, leading to a quick sink. Only the most experienced of sailors and crews are properly equipped to deal with this sea monster, and are well rewarded for it.
- The Iron Hull is often regarded as the most heavily armored of the whales, being able to deflect the toughest of pirate harpoons. However, their thick skin is also their weakness; it drastically slows them down compared to other whales. Because of this, whalers often take advantage of their slow speed to launch several explosive spears, leaving them in an endangered and elusive state.
- The Frost Skulker is among the most annoying of whales to catch, but also a high-paying one. Its limitation to the arctic seas turns off several sailors from searching for them, as the cold conditions and dangerous icebergs make it hard to navigate. However, those persistent enough will not be easily rewarded, as this whale uses the sheets of ice as protection from all hunting tools. Whale nets are beneficial when hunting this species down.
Rare alpha whale variants also exist. Alpha variants would dial the specific traits of their species substantially, turning the hunt into a full-on boss battle.
- The Alpha Fin can only naturally spawn in during thunderstorms. When chasing this even more rapid whale through the waves, it can be a hassle, as it tightly passes islands and rocks, can turn around and bump into your ship, and even briefly go underwater and out of view. Crews must be vigilant in order to successfully defeat it.
- The Behemoth Overlord’s teeth are cutlass-sized rather than flintlock-sized. When ramming a ship, not only does it poke holes, but can actually knock players off the cannons and temporarily disable ship functions (like dropping the anchor or dropping the sails).
- The Iron Emperor’s skin is so thick that standard harpoons bounce off it. Crews must use Explosive-Tipped or Venom-Tipped Spears to crack its armor before they can deal any real damage.
- The Frozen Matriarch creates a blizzard around itself. As you fight it, your ship's deck freezes over time, making players slip and slide while trying to reload the spear launchers or tend the try-work.
Furthermore, Sanguine Oil is collected from these bosses, in substitution of normal whale oil.
- Sanguine Oil takes twice as long to render in a try-work (16 minutes) and produces a thick, deep-red smoke from the smokestack.
- That crimson smoke acts as a beacon on the horizon. Every Reaper and player on the server will know exactly who is rendering Alpha blubber, creating an incredibly tense defense situation for the hunting crew as they wait for the blubber to cook.
- Sanguine Oil is worth triple of regular Whale Oil
All the whales also have the unique ability to shoot water out of their blowholes. If a player is on top when it occurs, they’ll be launched into the sky, like with the geysers in the Devil’s Roar. Furthermore, ships over the blowhole when it happens will be tilted and heavily shook. Pirates must be mindful of this to ensure their hunting isn’t disrupted.
Also, all 8 whale variants will adjust to crew size rather than ship size, differing from how Krakens and Megalodons work.
Whaling Traps, Tools, and Weapons
Within the economy of whaling in Sea of Thieves, sailors and hunters alike have created several tools and contraptions for the use in whaling, for example:
- Whale Nets: Tossed from ships to entangle whales and swiftly strike them down
- Reinforced Spears: Launchable spears specifically designed to pierce through thick surfaces
- Explosive-Tipped Spears: Sturdy metal spears tipped with gunpowder for a nasty detonation when tossed
- Venom-Tipped Spears: Extremely sharp spears built to inject whales and enemies with snake venom
- Tethered Keg: A new kind of keg that can be tossed out of a cannon, but only at a short range
- Killing Lance: A long-ranged melee weapon which strike foes from afar, but cannot lunge or block, instead sacrificing it for high-damage sweeps and jabs
- Crossbow: A new form of long-distance shooting which can have stackable ammo, but cannot be refilled at ammo boxes. Instead, the ammo is bought or collected from barrels. It’ll reset every session.
The Whaleboat
A brand new type of ship within the Sea of Thieves, specifically designed for commercial whaling. These vessels are lined up with a whole artillery of useful functions, including:
- Liftable platforms to collect oil and meat from whale bodies
- Droppable nets hanging off the left and right sides of the boat
- A built-in try-work, used to render whale blubber rapidly and on seas
- Spear launchers for precise and constant pressure from spears
- Barrel storage to keep whale oil preserved
- Six docked whaler chaseboats to catch up to whales in pace
- A droppable ramp to bring aboard horses
- Two customizable fishing pole mounts, separate from the player fishing pole
This new ship comes with a down side, but also a good side. On negative terms, it is incredibly slow, but is luckily equipped with chaseboats for added speed. On positive terms, this ship is super tanky, stopping plundering crews from easily sinking it
Luckily, Whaleboats aren’t the only means of rendering whale blubber, as crews with sloops, brigantines, galleons, and even the Burning Blade can render their blubber at lighthouses.
Whaler Chaseboats can rarely be found stranded on islands, somewhat like rowboats can.
Skeleton and Phantom variants would also exist for the Whaleboat.
Lighthouses
These new structures can be found across several outposts and islands in the Sea of Thieves. They are intended to guide lost sailors, turning on only during the night. They will track nearby boats, possibly revealing locations to enemies nearby.
Furthermore, the sight of one of these structures signals a try-work. Community try-works are always located at these lighthouse islands, allowing the rendering of whale blubber to non-Whaleboat crews.
Hunter’s Call and Merchant’s Alliance
Discover a whole new set of voyages across the Hunter’s Call faction. These consist of:
- A Hunt for a Common Whale
- A Hunt for an Alpha Whale
- Search for a Beached Whale
- Search for a Floating Carcass
- Taming of a Wild Horse
- Taming of a Wild Frigatebird
- Underwater Stash Search with a Dolphin
- A Hunt for Rare Resources
- Exotic Fishing Quest (Piranhas and rare fish)
- Hunter’s Collection of Snake Venom
- A Siege on a Seapost
- Tracking of a Whaleboat Shipwreck (MERCHANT’S ALLIANCE)
Not only that, certain shipments of whaling materials and oil pertain to the Merchant’s Alliance faction.
Taming
Two new creatures can be found and tamed on islands: Horses and Frigatebirds. Each creature carries a unique trait:
- Horses require the player to feed them with carrots, found in barrels or bought.The process is done by quickly mounting the horse, feeding it, allowing it to escape for a brief distance, and repeating until done. The horse will go slower and at a lower distance every attempt (Around 3-4 total), showing domesticality. Upon taming, players can traverse islands with it, use a ramp to bring it aboard whaleboats, and escape from dangerous scenarios. Furthermore, horses can be attached with two heavy loot items, rapidly transporting it to wherever you please. Keep in mind they can only spawn on large islands.
- Frigatebirds can be tamed with the use of light loot items (Skulls, gems, tomes, etc.) or raw fish. This can be done by spotting one in the wild, or using a bird whistle (Obtained from Whaleboat Shipwrecks or Resource voyages) to call it over, and then simply feeding it. After 5-6 items have been provided, they will follow you. Frigatebirds will naturally mount nearby enemy ships within a close distance, steal from barrels, and even pick up light loot. They will only return to your ship once collecting an item. Luckily, frigatebirds can be killed to prevent any mischief from being caused. Bird whistles also work in recalling them when off ship. Among stealing enemy loot, they can also move the wheel if left unattended or steal cannonballs from the cannons. They will fully heal after a brief period of the enemy ship being out of range.
Stash quests
Stash quests are a brand new quest type present within the Sea of Thieves. They can either be initiated via the map table on your ship, or by naturally encountering a pack of dolphins. The group of dolphins will circle your ship for 4 map squares before disappearing. If interacted with by the player before going out of bounds, the dolphins will dive underwater, prompting the player to follow them. They will continue to do this until the party has reached the Underwater Stash. Along the journey underwater, the player will be met with aggressive Dolphin Backriders, forcing them to defeat the enemies before they manage to kill the friendly dolphins. Oxygen is provided by air bubbles formed by the friendly dolphins after every Backrider wave.
Once arriving at the hidden stash, players can collect a variety of Hunter’s Call loot, such as Megalodon meat, bait crates, and fish. However, new loot, such as Ancient Meat, Jars of Oil or other biomaterials, Giant Shells, and Fishing Cages could also be obtained there. This loot can be given to the dolphins, who will provide the player with oxygen and transportation of the rewards, enough to reach the harpoon range of their ship. Upon remounting their ship with 0 loot available to collect, the dolphins will swim off. There are a total of 9 Underwater Stashes.
Snake Venom
Venom can now be collected from alive snakes using Empty Flasks, purchasable via the Hunter’s Call shop or collected randomly. They can be turned in for Resource quests or sold for a small gold payout. Players can also drink the flasks to gain the poison effect.
Beached Whales and Carcasses
Both new forms of dead animal waste can be found across the world now. While beached whales simply provide a short amount of blubber, carcasses can provide way more. The risk though is that floating carcasses can explode any second, instantly killing the player and, if nearby, creating holes in their ship. Carcasses can be shot to make the process quicker. Also no blood, it'd ruin the feel of the game.
Seapost Siege World Event
Embark on a brand new world event, the Seapost Siege! This event is marked in the skies by a skull cloud with a hunter hat, scar across the right eye, and purple illuminated eyes. Seapost Sieges can also be initiated via a map table voyage. Upon arriving at the Seapost, the player can instantly locate several skeleton Whaleboats, Galleons, brigantines, and sloops surrounding the outpost. This event will begin upon getting in range. Seaposts Sieges are split into different waves:
- Wave 1: After all the surrounding ships have quickly hid underwater, three sloops emerge from the waves. Pirates must sink all three ships in order to progress. Moreover, they must kill all nearby Dolphin Backriders (Usually 2-3) and Hunter Skeletons manning Cannons of Rage at the Seapost, too. Cannons of Rage can’t be interacted with until the end of the event. Event loot and resources can be collected from the sunken sloops.
- Wave 2: Here is where the difficulty of the event begins ramping up, as now two brigantines have risen from the water. While Dolphin Backrider quantities have remained the same, Flame Phantom Cannonballs can now be shot by skeletons manning the Cannons of Rage at the Seapost.
- Wave 3: The situation begins to truly escalate by this wave, as a skeleton galleon has emerged from tides. Furthermore, the numbers of Dolphin Backriders have doubled, meanwhile Seapost cannon numbers have halved. However, this is for a good cause, as they can now shoot Anchor Cannonballs too.
- Wave 4: Coming close to the final wave, two Whaleboats have now shown up. By this point in the event, Cannon of Rage skeletons no longer exist, while the quantity of Dolphin Backriders is the same as the previous wave. Among the Whaleboats being able to shoot both Cursed Cannonballs, they can also shoot Tethered Kegs.
- Wave 5: In this final wave, players must face the ferocious Flensing Knife! This mega-Whaleboat is led by a powerful Hunter Skeleton Captain. While Dolphin Backrider numbers have returned to normal, this final ship can shoot out both Cursed Cannonballs, Tethered Kegs, and Explosive-Tipped Spears. Upon defeating The Flensing Knife, the world event cloud will fade away, allowing players to collect all their loot from the nine ships they sunk.
While Hunter’s Call loot makes up most of the rewards, especially with the three Whaleboats, there is also a moderate collection of Merchant’s Alliance, Order of Souls, and Gold Hoarders loot. Moreover, players can collect a 10,000 gold payment from the Hunter’s Call merchant after defeating the event. During the event, the merchant can be found nowhere, most likely hiding from the siege.
Dolphin Backriders and Hunter Skeletons
Encounter two brand new types of enemies within the Sea of Thieves: The aggressive Dolphin Backriders and Hunter Skeleton variants. Each enemy type has its own unique properties.
- Dolphin Backriders are a brand new type of nautical enemy, spawning during Underwater Stash quests and the new Seapost Siege world event. These enemies are composed of a Coral Skeleton riding a skeleton Dolphin. These undead monsters attack by charging at players with either a Killing Lance or Cutlass. Defeating them works the same as defeating a common skeleton, but does not release ammo pouches. They can also jump over player ships with their dolphins, dismounting it, and becoming a regular Coral Skeleton.
- Hunter Skeletons, like most skeletons, are a brand new variant of the base variant. They wear hunter clothes and hats, either carry a crossbow, killing lance, or are bare-handed, and usually have missing chunks of bone and several scars across their body. Hunter Skeletons also usually have a green tint and pieces of coral and seaweed attached to them. They spawn normally during the Seapost Siege world event, Skeleton, Fortune, Reaper, and Damned Forts, and during certain Order of Souls voyages. They are also prominent on Lighthouse Islands, replacing any regular skeleton spawns. Hunter Captains also do exist, dropping Villainous Coral Skulls and at times, a Hunter’s Call island quest. This can be either for taming a creature, collecting Hunter’s Call resources, or catching a certain fish.
Whaleboat Shipwreck
Across the world, Whaleboat shipwrecks can now spawn. These abandoned wrecks are specially designed, holding a ton of Hunter’s Call and Merchant’s Alliance loot. These ambient events can be found via three ways:
- Spotting the new yellow-brown marker on the map, depicting a drop of oil
- Locating the actual oil spill while sailing, witnessing the mass amount of leakage
- Starting a Merchant’s Alliance voyage to track down one of these shipwrecks
From this, players can gain emissary value, collect lost crates, and any leftover oil barrels. These wrecks often offer more gold compared to the basic ones, but are much more specified, are rare, and do not contain a Reaper’s Chest.
Piranhas
Players can find a new type of marine predator within the waters now, piranhas. Inhabiting cave water, big ponds, and shipwrecks, piranhas will violently rush the player in packs. Due to their incredibly hostile nature, they can easily shred a player's health. Luckily, a single sword slash or Blunderbuss bullet can rapidly kill several. Because of where they are found, traversing island waters is now much more dangerous, along with exploring shipwrecks. Because of this, Shipwrecks will now have 2-3 extra loot items.
Fishing Upgrade Addition
Along with the added world event, ambient events, mini-bosses, and bosses, the fishing system will also be heavily upgraded. Pirates can now purchase different types of lures, pole upgrades, and cosmetics for fishing.
- Standard Lures (Hunter’s Call Reputation Level One)
- Wooden Popper (Topwater Lure - 12,900 Gold): A roughly carved block of driftwood which plops onto the water. Using one increases Trophy Fish catch percentages by 10%.
- Painted Minnow (Crankbait Lure - 12,700 Gold): A little, vibrantly painted minnow lure. Its attractive colors reduce the time it takes to bite by 15%.
- Lead Head (Jig Lure - 13,100 Gold): A heavy piece of scrap metal wrapped in cloth. It’ll sink swiftly into the water, attracting more rare fish by 10%.
- Exotic Lures (Hunter’s Call Reputation Level Thirty)
- Bone Splasher (Topwater Lure - 25,800 Gold): Hollowed-out shark bone designed to catch air as it falls, creating a large splash. This lure increases Trophy Fish catch rates by 20%.
- Deep-Diving Shad (Crankbait Lure - 25,300 Gold): A more polished and realistic bone lure, it is designed to dive deeper and mimic a prey fish. Its realism decreases the time it takes to bite by 30%.
- Baleen Bristle-Jig (Jig Lure - 26,400 Gold): Refined metal covered by a collection of whale baleen, this lure is a master-class in its category. Baleen Bristle-Jigs increase rare fish percentages by 20%.
- Legendary Lures (Hunter’s Call Reputation Level 50)
- Megalodon Popper (Topwater Lure - 59,400 Gold): Carved from a baby Megalodon tooth, this lure is designed perfectly to cause great commotion on the currents’ surface. Its great splash boosts the odds of trophy fish by 40%.
- Golden Plentifin Crank (Crankbait Lure - 58,700 Gold): Covered with plates of gold and being an exact replica of the Plentifin shape, this lure is the most powerful of crankbaits. It’ll reduce catch time by a total of 50%.
- Phantom Bucktail (Jig Lure - 60,000 Gold): Coated in a layer of deep-sea, bioluminescent algae, the ghostly lure shines brightly at the depths of the sea. Rare fish rates are increased by 40% with this lure.
- Other Fishing Upgrades (Dependent Hunter’s Call Reputation Level)
- Spool Extension (Hunter’s Call Reputation Level 15 - 24,100 Gold): A direct upgrade to the amount of line on a pole, fishers with this are able to catch with less strain. The downside of it is that it takes 14% longer to reel in fish.
- Metal Leader (Hunter’s Call Reputation Level 35 - 47,230 Gold): Transforming the delicate line into a strong, metal variant, players can now fish up piranhas, as well as a total of 4 regular fish and 2 trophy ones (Or 2 regular fish and 1 Trophy fish).
All of these upgrades are permanent additions, being accessible forever once bought through the new Fishing Gear Box on every ship and outpost. Here will also be located all rod and lure cosmetics, including splash effect, line color, and bobbers (Bobbers are purely cosmetic rather than serving a purpose.
Moreover, fishing rods now have the ability to hook on a player, dealing ⅙ of their health and pulling them a tiny bit. Poles with metal leaders will deal ⅓ of a player’s health.
Cosmetics
- Three news sets of ship and player cosmetics can be purchased with the release of the update:
- The Whaler’s Set, ranging from clothes, tools, and weapons
- The Sunken Hunter’s Set, only ranging clothes
- The Whaleboat Set, ranging from all decoration options for every type of ship
- Pets can also be decorated with hunting hats and scars for added extras. Skeleton curses now also have a new Whaler hat and clothes!
These would only be a few examples of noticeable cosmetics. More would most likely be created.
Fun Fact: The four regular whale variants are based on the species most commonly hunted for whale oil in the 1700s.
