He defeated 500 Skeleton Ships Solo. And he did it Pro Bono! The Legend of Straw Hat Blake

@straw-hat-blake You're a legend and an inspiration. Bravo!

@jetorchidee97 cheers!

@capt-lachuck finally off work! Thanks again for all of the kind words. Alright so here’s some quick tips that helped me against the Skeleton Ships.

This is for Solo Slooping.

                   Small tips 

1. A lot of people don’t realize that the cannonballs actually target you. Not always the ship. So
   •repair one hole at a time. you don’t want to take damage in the holes you are trying to repair.
   • limit your time on top deck. Especially if the enemy cannons are aimed at you. If you’re up on top deck then it’s for a purpose.
   •most important part about the top deck for me is the skeleton eye of reaches. If you’re not touching anything when you get shot (the wheel/sails/cannons) then chances are you’ll be knocked off into the water. The eye of reach shoots every 6 or so seconds so time out your movements and you won’t end up in the water.

2. Get used to being on the verge of sinking! The skalleons can’t bucket out the water you bucket in so some holes in your ship are bittersweet.
   •I recommend not fixing some holes spread out. The skelly ships end up hitting the same holes a lot so you can save yourself some planks. Every person probably has a different comfort lvl of how many holes is manageable for them.
   •For me sometimes I stop repairing the front hole in particular because I ram as much as possible and I end up wasting planks on that same hole.
   •I also keep my water level just below the top of the banana barrels. Any more water and I’m about to hit the second deck. Any less water and you’re not getting deep buckets of water.
   •it can make all the difference if you keep your bucket full and ready to go. Instead of always emptying it.
   •be aware that if the ship you’re bucketing water onto is “above” your own ship. Then the water will go right back into your hull. (Learned this the hard way a few times)

3. Don’t spend too much time on any task. Solo slooping is a balancing act.
   •like i said earlier repairing one hole at a time helps.
   •don’t worry about keeping the sails in the wind. But raise them slightly so that you can make sharper turns.
   •try not to put the ship at a full turn unless you have to. That way it takes less time to change direction.
   •take shots when you have them! Be an opportunist. Don’t try to get your ship in the perfect position so you can unload. Take your shots when they’re available.

4. the meg is a great asset.
   •if the meg spawns on you close to the fleet. Try to bring her with you. Not only will she attack the skeleton ships around her. But the skeleton ships will also target the meg so you aren’t their only target.

5. Know your curses
   •if you get jigged or snoozed on the top deck, then chances are you’ll be knocked into the water before the curse is over. So spend even less time on deck with these.
   •I don’t even attempt to repair if I get Grogg balled. But I can manage to bucket water out by getting right against the ammo box and bucketing out of the small window.
   •Your ram will be short lived if they have the anchor or sail ball. So try to sneak up behind the ship instead of ramming it’s side.
   •Most importantly don’t bother trying to raise the anchor if you’re cursed. Unless you have the opportunity. Just repair while you can and wait to get cursed again so it will bring your anchor back up.

6. Don’t hold back! I can’t tell you how many times I’ve got knocked off my own ship or cursed into oblivion when I was trying to save supplies for the captains round. You’ve gotta be in the “zone” to go toe to toe with these fleets and you can’t have any hesitation.

7. Don’t be naive! Set terms.
   Other player ships are very likely to betray you if there isn’t any discourse.
   •I found that everything goes smoother if we came to an agreement on the loot b4 defeating the captain. For me I’m from the Original crew days where getting 50% of the loot was how any alliance worked. So Giving all of the loot to my allianced ship circumvented this problem for me. It’s a win win.

8. Defend your castle.
   •even the friendliest crew will probably try to board your ship at some point. I can’t stress enough how important it is to not let people board your ship. A lot of betrayals start out as nothing more than an opportunity to betray. Don’t give them this opportunity!
   •it helps to keep a safe distance from other ships. If they’re going to board they’ll have to swim for it.

           Now for the strategy
   

It’s very simple really. It just all comes down to timing.

1. the skelly ships almost always turn away from you.
   •So if the ships to your left. Turn left. If you miss and the ship gets on your right side. Turn the wheel to starboard and keep repeating until you can ram or come up behind them to ride side by side.

2. If you ram their broadside then you have a choice.
   •To turn towards their bow and change course to try to ride side by side.
   •Or turn slightly towards their captains wheel and try to “pinch” your bowsprit up against their stairs. (This works really well with the skelly sloops) if done correctly you’ll be stuck for 10-20 seconds and you’ll be probably be able to bucket enough water to sink the ship.

3. Keep everything balanced. Things are going to get crazy. You’ll probably find yourself stuck in some pretty hairy positions.
   •if you ever find yourself getting settled in on and deeper in a hole. Start bucketing non stop. Get the water down to the lowest you can. And start fixing holes. If you can make sure you’ve got at least half sail and keep your ship at a turn. Then you’ll get a few windows to climb yourself out.

Lastly I just have to say that you need to have Tenacity. Things are going to go wrong. But if you view every failure as a lesson then you’ll end up being “Legend of the Sea of Thieves” in no time. Good luck out there!

I also forgot to mention that there is a glitch that makes it so your bucket isn’t in your gear radial! https://imgur.com/a/iYnm5x0
Special tip: if this ever happens to you just go to the customizations chest and change the color of your bucket. Problem Solved!

Hey @Kat-Truewalkerr what do you think? This is by far the hardest accomplishment I’ve ever done in Sea of Thieves. And I did it as one giant thank you to Rare for giving us this opportunity to create shared memories!

@iceman-0007 thanks! Some of the players that I gifted the loot to said the same thing. Sea of Thieves is the perfect place to start a “pay it forward.”

@katttruewalker Thank you so much!! They call me Rambo of the Seas haha. Solo slooping is alive more than ever

People apparently can’t believe that I did these all solo and are accusing me of boosting skeleton ships on a pve server.. this is extremely frustrating because I did the exact opposite and did them completely solo. And didn’t turn in any loot for a month. Not even with one crewmate let alone and entire server full of crewmates.. I give you guys my word that I didn’t boost for them. If you really think that it’s not possible to solo this many fleets then that just shows how truly legendary my accomplishment was

@straw-hat-blake nice your a nice pirate mate

@katttruewalker so it would seem lol and he is

@straw-hat-blake Congratulations! What a feat. I salute you good sir. As a Solo-Slooper myself I really understand the pain of constantly running risk assessments while in the thick of things. There are a LOT of things to keep track of and knowing what your ship can really do helps make a true Sailor. Here's to seeing you Sloopin' on the horizon.

@slayer-of-cats thanks! I completely agree. I feel like you have to find out what your ship can’t do a lot before you can get comfortable with what it can do haha. Cheers!

@je0rgie-p0rgie thank you! It means a lot. This game can either bring out the best or the worst of ppl haha. In my opinion everything changes once you hit PL. for me the game became laid back and I could truly just play for th experience and Not care about the loot as much. Others decide to keep stocking up loot or start doing more pvp. It just depends on what being a Pirate Legend means to you.

Thank you! @xcalypt0x I felt so spoiled by this last update haha. Giving back to the community was the least thing I could do

@je0rgie-p0rgie I feel you pain!! I was days away from being able to get the founders sails.. was just a little too late. I Even want the loot and lore sails and the banana quest sails haha. I also hear the pioneer program might get their own sails and customizations.. this will be a low blow since I’ve been begging to be in the pioneer program for a while now. Good luck on getting all the Athena stuff!

I completely agree. I get zero satisfaction out of sinking new players. When someone in my crew is toxic. Ill explain how they are just being a tool. And I’ll just leave if they won’t stop. Who needs all that bad karma.. But when another ship is toxic I definitely love sending their ship to the bottom of the ocean.

@goedecke-michel thank you!! This means more than you know. The ppl on Reddit have been surprisingly hostile.. I’ll never give up on my dream of being a real pirate legend. I don’t care what people say!