Limbic’s Cannon Ammo Guide

  • Ever since SoT’s steam debut, I’ve seen many new pirates out on the seas. These players tend to be overwhelmed by the variety of different cannonballs available to them and default to standard cannonballs during ship combat. Although my crew and I love winning ship fights, I want to take the time to educate more crews on what the different cannonballs do and the times it makes the most tactical sense to use them; this should make combat more exciting for everyone involved. This is a long guide, so pour yourself a grog and make yourselves comfortable.

    Cannon ammunition can be broadly divided into 5 different categories:

    1) STANDARD CANNON AMMO - Can only be fired out of cannons. Crewmates won't take damage from friendly fire, but they will experience knockback.

    Cannonball (Roles: Punch holes in enemy ships, fight off PVE threats)
    Cannonballs kill players with a direct hit, inflict 1 unit of damage on the wheel/capstan/mast, and open a level 2 hole in the hull. Cannonballs are the most common ammo type and are quite versatile. You should primarily use cannonballs to break holes in the hull of enemy ships and fight off PVE threats (such as the Kraken or Megalodon), although you can also use them to cripple enemy ships or disrupt the crew (keep in mind that the more specialized ammo types are better suited for this). Cannonballs are also useful for taking down tough skeletons (such as skeleton lords).

    When fighting enemy ships, you should aim for the lowest deck of a Galleon, the center of a Brig, or the front of a Sloop; hits to these areas will immediately let water in, whereas holes opened up in other areas won’t admit water until the ship has partially flooded.

    Chainshot (Role: Cripple enemy ships)
    Chainshot will instantly destroy a mast, wheel, or capstan if it hits them, but will only open a level 1 hole if it hits the hull. Chainshots are rarer than cannonballs, but more common than cursed cannonballs. Chainshots inflict reduced damage against players and PVE threats, so save them for fights against player ships. Chainshots have a shorter range than other ammo types so you’ll need to aim higher than normal.

    Chainshots are incredibly useful in crippling an enemy ship, yet they’re criminally underused by the current player base. Use them at your first opportunity! Too often, my crew will board an enemy ship in the middle of a fight and find a large stash of chainshot sitting unused in the supply barrel. With few exceptions, you should open a fight by shooting chainshots at your enemy’s masts; ships can’t sail if all their masts are downed and they take a long time to repair, giving you a major tactical advantage.

    2) GRENADES - Can be thrown in addition to being fired out of a cannon. Crewmates caught in the blast experience the same effects as enemies, so be careful with friendly fire!

    Blunderbomb (Role: Cause knockback)
    Blunderbombs deal 15% damage (50% on a direct hit) and apply a strong knockback to any players caught in the blast. If shot out of a cannon, blunderbombs can knock a ship off course (like a megalodon bite, or gunpowder keg explosion), although they don’t cause any damage to ship itself. Like firebombs, blunderbombs appear to do increased damage to skeletons, although they are less suited to killing them compared to firebombs. They’re quite useful at detonating gunpowder from a safe distance if you’re not carrying a pistol or eye-of-reach.

    Blunderbombs are more situational than other cannon ammo types, but they do have uses during ship battles. Aim for the top deck to try and knock enemy players overboard. If an enemy ship is trying to ram you, several direct blunderbomb hits (fired from a cannon, not thrown) will knock them off course. You can also use them to knock players off your ladders.

    Firebomb (Roles: Kill skeletons, area denial)
    Firebombs set all creatures in the impact radius on fire, dealing up to 33% damage to players and killing most skeletons unless the fire is extinguished early. If it hits a ship, firebombs also start a persistent fire that will spread unless put out with a bucket of water. Thrown firebombs will start a small fire on impact, whereas firebombs shot from a cannon cause a medium-sized fire on impact (thanks @IDNeon for clarifying). Players can extinguish themselves by pouring a bucket of water on themselves (alt-fire with a full bucket), jumping into the sea, or exposing themselves to rain. If you extinguish a fire by dumping water on it, the water will evaporate. This means you can speed up your bailing if there’s a fire between you and the top deck; simply dump your water on the fire and go back for more.

    Firebombs have multiple roles: use them to wipe out squads of skeletons (even those pesky metal skeletons), flush out players that have barricaded themselves in a chokepoint, or keep players from going where you don’t want them. If you’re shooting firebombs at an enemy ship, you should aim for the captain’s cabin/wheel of a Galleon, the anchor of a Brig, or the wheel/capstan of a Sloop; these areas are more difficult to extinguish and deny enemy players the ability to interact with those ship components (without taking damage).

    3) GREEN CURSED CANNONBALLS – These cursed cannonballs affect players (even crewmembers) but can only be fired out of cannons.

    Grogball (Role: Prevent repairs, Hinder bailing)
    Grogballs make all players/skeletons caught in the blast radius extremely drunk (stumbling around, vomiting) for roughly 8 seconds. Unlike the wearyball/jigball, these effects persist even if you take damage. Grogballs are curious in that they tend to be more effective when used against larger crews. Here’s why: affected players will vomit once or twice on their own, but if their vomit hits another player, that player will vomit shortly after (and have they screen covered with green bile), potentially causing a chain-reaction of constant back-and-forth vomiting among the crew unless they space themselves out.

    Affected players will find it nearly impossible to repair holes (they’re stumbling around too much) or bail water (vomit fills an empty bucket, takes longer to stumble topside). Shoot a grogball at the enemy ship once they’ve sent players to start repairs (you can estimate this to be approximately 10 seconds after you inflict damage, or if your cannon shots to the hull are giving you a hit marker). Grogballs are less useful against players on the top deck, as those tasks (using cannons, steering, adjusting sails, etc) can still be accomplished while severely drunk.

    Jigball/Wearyball (Role: Halt enemy activity)
    Although they have different visual effects (wearyballs put players to sleep, jigballs force all affected to dance), wearyballs/jigballs are practically identical; they fully paralyze all players/skeletons in the blast radius for 5 seconds (technically, wearyballs are considered slightly worse than jigballs because affected players move close to the ground where they are less exposed). This effect is broken if the victim takes damage.

    Many players consider these cannonballs to be the most devastating green cursed cannonballs, although they’ve become less effective from their introduction following several nerfs. These cursed cannonballs can cause plenty of consternation among the enemy crew regardless of when you use them, but they are most effective when used immediately after the enemy crew experiences a catastrophe (such as getting hit by a ballastball or powder keg) since it prevents them from taking action to reverse the damage.

    Limpball (Role: Take up storage space)
    These cannonballs cause affected players to move slower and be unable to run/jump for 15 seconds, as though they dropped from a large height.

    These are among the least effective cursed cannonballs. They have some utility in preventing players from jumping off their ship (although they can still use the ladders/cannons to leave) and can slow a Galleon crew’s ability to bail. If the enemy ship is coming in to ram you, hit them with a limpball to prevent enemies from boarding you. They’re otherwise less useful than most other cursed cannonballs.

    Venomballs (Role: Damage/Blind enemy players)
    These cannonballs slowly inflict 30 points of damage to affected players over 15 seconds. They also reduce visibility. These effects mimic what happens when you get bitten by a snake.

    Players typically don’t bother to heal when they go below to make repairs, so shoot one of these over if you suspect the enemy crew to be busy bailing. These cannonballs pair very well with firebombs, as the effects of fire and venom stack. Venomballs become much more useful at night, as the reduced visibility coupled with darkness makes affected players practically blind.

    4) PURPLE CURSED CANNONBALLS – These cannonballs affect ships, not players, although they don’t inflict any actual damage upon impact.

    Anchorball (Role: Halt enemy ship)
    As their name implies, these cannonballs will drop a ship’s anchor. Well, it would be more accurate to say it “activates” the anchor; anchorballs won’t prevent players with quick reactions from catching the anchor before it fully drops. Additionally, an anchorball will raise a ship’s anchor if it’s fully dropped (and no players are trying to raise it).

    Anchorballs can prevent an enemy from fleeing or give you time to catch your breath, but they’re very hit or miss. If the ship’s anchor is successfully dropped, the crew must raise it before the ship can move again. However, if a player grabs the anchor, then nothing will happen. You can increase your chance of success if you wait until most of the enemy crew is occupied with something else (such as managing sails or repairing damage) so they don’t have time to grab the anchor before it drops.

    Ballastball (Role: Killing blow)
    These cannonballs force the affected ship to sink low in the water for 7 seconds, causing all holes to admit water, regardless of their location. Although the effects wear off after 7 seconds, the ship may not rise back up if too much water has poured in.

    These are without a doubt the most devastating out of anything in this list (especially against Galleons) and you should base your strategy around them if you have any. They are most affective if used after you’ve peppered the enemy ship with cannonballs. The reason for their effectiveness is that most crews don’t repair holes that aren’t currently leaking water (such as the mid-deck of a Galleon) during the heat of battle. A popular strategy employed by sloops to kill larger ships is to cause a lot of harmless damage that doesn’t admit water (which most crews will ignore), before hitting the ship with a ballastball; all those “harmless” holes suddenly begin flooding the ship at an alarming rate.

    Barrelball (Role: Take up storage space, kill skeleton galleons?)
    These cannonballs prevent players from accessing their food, plank, and cannonball supply barrels for 15 seconds. I’ve heard that these cannonballs also prevent the crew of skeleton ships from repairing anything for the duration, but I haven’t tested this myself.

    These cannonballs are not very effective against players; they don’t prevent you from using supplies you already have in your pockets, nor do they prevent players from accessing mobile storage chests (or rowboat chests). If it’s true that these prevent skeletons from repairing their ship, then save them for fights against skeleton ships and don’t bother using them against players.

    Helmball (Role: Take up storage space)
    These cannonballs prevent players from being able to manipulate the ship’s wheel for 15 seconds.

    These cannonballs only have niche uses. Use them near islands/rocks to possibly cause the enemy ship to crash. They can also force a ship in a turn to continue along the turn, giving your ship the opportunity to reposition (or flee). Ultimately, though, they will most likely remain in storage, as most other cannonballs are more effective.

    Peaceball (Role: Prevent return fire)
    These cannonballs force all cannons on the affected ship to point fully upward for 5 seconds. Crews must then manually move them back into position (taking 1-2 seconds) before they can resume fire.

    Peaceballs are primarily used reactively; if you find your ship entering the enemy’s line of fire, you can prevent multiple broadsides if you can hit them with a peaceball first. This will give you several seconds to get out of the way or continue pelting the enemy with impunity.

    Riggingball (Role: Slow/stop enemy ship)
    These cannonballs forcibly raise all the sails of affected ships for 8 seconds, causing the ship to slow to a stop. If the sails are already up, then riggingballs will instead drop all sails. Players can easily lower the sails again once the effect ends. Many players consider the riggingball to be an inferior version of the anchorball, since dropping the anchor immediately brings a ship to a halt (preventing it from rotating) and forces the enemy crew to stop what they’re doing to raise the anchor, whereas it’s easy for a crew to drop the sails again. However, rigginballs are guaranteed to slow the enemy ship, whereas anchorballs can be countered by grabbing the anchor.

    I consider riggingballs to be a safer, yet less effective anchorball. Like an anchorball, use riggingballs when you need to slow the enemy ship (either to make them an easier target, stop them from fleeing, or make your own escape). Be aware that ships with all sails raised (and raised anchor) can still rotate in place, so a competent crew will keep your ship in their firing zone while their sails are up.

    5) GHOSTLY CANNONBALLS – These cannonballs can (currently) only be acquired by completing a ghost ship fleet and collecting the ghostly cannonball crate from the loot.

    Phantom cannonballs and phantom flame cannonballs are merely re-skins of standard cannonballs and firebombs, respectively (although you can’t throw phantom flame cannonballs), so consult those sections for information and advice.

    Wraith cannonball (Role: Shock and awe)
    These cannonballs break multiple holes upon impact with a hull (one level 2 hole and several adjacent level 1 holes), knock the ship off course (like a blunderbomb), and make a loud scream as they fly through the air (no effect to the player characters, but it probably startles the person holding the controller).

    Wraithballs are essentially superior versions of standard cannonballs, so you should use them anytime you have a clear shot and it's not optimal to use a more specialized cannonball (like a chainshot).

    Closing comments and credits
    Most of the tactical tips presented here are my own, but I consulted the Sea of Thieves wiki and ToejahM's video on the subject matter to fill in any gaps in my knowledge. I plan on reposting an updated version in a few months, so if you have something you want to add, let me know.

    -Limbic

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  • Thanks! This really hepled clear some specifics up, and I did not know wraithballs were a thing!

  • Awesome Guide! I read it the other day and tried to incorporate it and it paid off! I was able to win a 1v3 (solo sloop vs 3 man brigantine) the other day by leveraging the different types. I lead of with the jig ball and got them dancing so they couldn't move/return fire. Then proceeded to knock 2 off the ship with a well placed cannon ball (got lucky) and a blunderball. Few holes in the side then threw some firebombs while ramming them. Then a Grog ball to delay recovery, repaired my ship from the ram, came back up and they were sinking.

    Now I failed like 8+ times practicing knowing what to use when but that's the natural learning curve so I wanted to encourage others that it takes practice! Those decisions in the moment are what make or break the victory but that's why I enjoy the game.

    Now I'm starting to win as much as a lose. I have come to find my favorite "routine" playing as a solo sloop after it was used on me oddly enough. I have had more success opening with a JigBall/Wearyball to prevent that initial "barrage" of being outgunned you will receive when fighting larger ships as a solo sloop and tends to pull 1-2 of them off cannons or interrupt boarding efforts to repair as people tend to want to make immediate repairs. Especially if you can get 3+ cannon ball hits in for the duration of it (I mean, all they are doing is sitting there listening to their ship getting shot... the level of "I should probably fix that" increases with every successful hit), levels the playing field right off the bat even if 1 stays on a cannon or tries to board and can make for an escape or further carnage to give you the upper hand.

    Definitely agree the benefit of leveraging the diverse balls, especially those that provide CC (Crowd Control) will put you above your competition to those who just want to poke some holes and try to board or don't have a strategy at all. People who are go-go-go/kill-kill-kill tend to get frazzled if deviate from the standard poke a bunch of holes in their ship and board. Frazzled pirate make mistakes, their mistakes are your opportunities for success. Not many pirates have a defensive routine for curse cannonballs, most have a response for normal cannonballs (board, bail water, attack). Can't board my ship (or fix yours) while your sitting there dancing, sleeping, or drunk :P Definitely need to work more of these into the rotation though as I don't always have my go to favorites.

    Thanks again for providing this! As a returning player it really helped get up to speed and obtain a competitive edge.

  • @last-dragonborn

    Thanks for the feedback; it's always encouraging to find out that your guides are benefiting other people!

    I tried to make all the advice in my guide focus on itself (e.g. "what could you do if you have nothing but regular cannonballs and a few XXXballs?"), so having your feedback take a holistic approach compliments what I've written nicely.

    @last-dragonborn said in Limbic’s Cannon Ammo Guide:

    (I mean, all they are doing is sitting there listening to their ship getting shot... the level of "I should probably fix that" increases with every successful hit), levels the playing field right off the bat even if 1 stays on a cannon or tries to board and can make for an escape or further carnage to give you the upper hand.

    People who are go-go-go/kill-kill-kill tend to get frazzled if deviate from the standard poke a bunch of holes in their ship and board. Frazzled pirate make mistakes, their mistakes are your opportunities for success. Not many pirates have a defensive routine for curse cannonballs, most have a response for normal cannonballs (board, bail water, attack).

    I hadn't considered the psychological impact of the order you deploy your weaponry; I'll need to consider this for future engagements!

  • Do the green cannon balls effect all pirates on the ship when the ball hits the ship, or all pirates within the cannons blast radius? I'm having some weird results during testing and reading the wiki.

  • @gravnos1 said in Limbic’s Cannon Ammo Guide:

    Do the green cannon balls effect all pirates on the ship when the ball hits the ship, or all pirates within the cannons blast radius? I'm having some weird results during testing and reading the wiki.

    Just pirates within the blast radius

  • There's one important question I haven't proven yet.

    Does hitting the SIDE of a ship with a firebomb shot from a cannon set fire to lower decks? (not talking about thrown bombs)

    Also, blunderbombs seem to do more damage from a cannon, what is the damage it does?

  • @idneon said in Limbic’s Cannon Ammo Guide:

    There's one important question I haven't proven yet.

    Does hitting the SIDE of a ship with a firebomb shot from a cannon set fire to lower decks? (not talking about thrown bombs)

    Also, blunderbombs seem to do more damage from a cannon, what is the damage it does?

    As far as I'm aware, cannons allow you to deliver firebombs from a much greater distance (compared to throwing them) but provide no other additional changes, meaning you CAN start fires below decks if you hit the side of a ship (provided that area is dry). EDIT: firebombs fired out of cannons cause a larger fire compared to a thrown firebomb.

    Blunderbombs gain the ability to rock the ship when shot out of a cannon (and increased range as in the firebombs), but I don't think they gain anything else, which means their explosion radius and damage are unchanged.

    I'm pretty confident in those answers but have not directly tested them, so if anyone posts evidence to the contrary, I'll update the guide and credit you.

  • @limbicfanatic

    I definitely know by experience that the firebomb will ignite more tiles if shot from a cannon.

    If thrown then it will always ignite 1 tile.

    From a cannon it ignites many...I'd estimate 9 at least.

    If you are unlucky and hit a mast it will ONLY ignite the mast....1 tile.

    I still don't know if it starts fires below decks by experience..but it seems so...and you say so..so probably does? 😋

    As for blunderbomb damage. I'd want to test but am lazy..can be tested from skeleton fort cannon....

    Hit near player will determine effectiveness quite easily.

  • @idneon said in Limbic’s Cannon Ammo Guide:

    @limbicfanatic

    I definitely know by experience that the firebomb will ignite more tiles if shot from a cannon.

    If thrown then it will always ignite 1 tile.

    From a cannon it ignites many...I'd estimate 9 at least.

    If you are unlucky and hit a mast it will ONLY ignite the mast....1 tile.

    I still don't know if it starts fires below decks by experience..but it seems so...and you say so..so probably does? 😋

    As for blunderbomb damage. I'd want to test but am lazy..can be tested from skeleton fort cannon....

    Hit near player will determine effectiveness quite easily.

    Okay, I did some reading, and found sources to support things that both of us are saying. ToajahM's video on the subject mentions that firebombs shot from cannons can start fires below the main deck, provided it hits the side of the ship and water has not reached the floor at the point of impact. Additionally, this written guide claims that a thrown firebomb will start a small fire whereas one shot from a cannon will start a medium fire, which supports what you wrote.

    I haven't found anything to clarify blunderbomb damage thrown vs fired; let me know if you can directly test it.

    Since you helped me correct inaccuracies in my guide, I'll update it and credit you accordingly!

  • @limbicfanatic nice....well the blunderbomb should be easy to test at a skelly fort. I'm kinda lazy today. And wanted to play but my IRL friend is AWOL

  • @idneon

    Good news; my buddies and I were able to test blunder bomb damage thrown vs fired from cannons. The damage was identical, regardless of the delivery method.

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