Release Notes

Hot on the heels of February’s Crews of Rage update, our content drop for March is now ready to set sail! Heart of Fire introduces a new Tall Tale to continue the mysteries and intrigue that began with The Seabound Soul, and a call to arms from the Pirate Lord himself, rallying Pirate Legends across the Sea of Thieves...

There’s a good amount to dig into, so if the Content Update Trailer piqued your interest then we’ve got this shiny new set of release notes for you to check out!

As we continue to offer improvements to accessibility within Sea of Thieves, head to our support site to find our other accessibility guides!

• Colour Saturation Slider – The Accessibility Settings now contain a ‘Saturation Scale’ slider, allowing players to reduce the colour saturation of their in-game experience. Please note that setting a low saturation may make it difficult to distinguish between colours.

• Improved Controller UI Accessibility – To improve accessibility when using a controller, controller face buttons shown within the UI now have revised iconography for better colour contrast.

• Chainshot – A new cannonball type is now available in both Adventure and Arena! Chainshot will be available in ship barrels when players spawn, and can also be found in barrels throughout the world. When chainshot strikes a mast, wheel or capstan it does maximum damage, instantly destroying that ship part. When hitting the hull, however, it does very limited damage, so make sure to aim high. Chainshot has a shorter range than standard cannonballs, so get in close before unleashing it!

• Blunderbomb – A new type of throwable weapon like the firebomb, the Blunderbomb is a glass sphere that explodes on impact, sending pellets in all directions. These pellets deal damage based on the distance from the explosion and cause knockback to any player on the receiving end of the blast, with a direct hit causing the most knockback damage. When fired from a cannon, these provide a larger player knockback and explosion radius. Watch out though, Blunderbombs may knock ships back but don’t damage them.

• Cannonball Stocking – Across both Arena and Adventure, all ships will now begin a game session with two firebombs, Blunderbombs and chainshots in each cannonball barrel.

• Merchant Alliance Now Accepts Ammo Crates! – Players can now cash in Portable Ammo Crates with Merchant Alliance representatives at all Outposts.

• Tall Tales Gold Reward – Completing any Tall Tale will now reward players with increased gold amounts! Players will now earn 8000 gold instead of the previous reward of 3000 gold.

• New Player Fishing Onboarding – When first bringing out your fishing rod as a new player, you are provided with pop-ups teaching you how to fish.

• New Player Rowboat Onboarding – When first encountering a Rowboat out in the world as a new player, you are now provided with pop-ups teaching you how to use the Rowboat and return it to your ship.

• Mermaid Statues in Trap Gauntlets – Mermaid Statues found inside trap gauntlets such as within the ‘Shores of Gold’ and ‘Heart of Fire’ Tall Tales now require longer interactions to avoid accidental use.

• Returning to The Arena – When leaving the boundaries of an Arena map, you will now be returned to your ship after travelling a much shorter distance into the Shroud.

General

• Players previously affected by cosmetics not persisting between sessions should now find with this build that their loadout has been repaired. After equipping cosmetics on this new build, these should now save correctly between sessions.

• Ashen Chests are now blocked from being sold until all items inside are removed.

• When sailing, the Chest of Rage will now enrage and eventually explode when struck by a player repeatedly.

• The ‘Set Sail’ button on the main menu no longer flickers during selection.

• Firing yourself out of the Ocean Crawler or Deep Ocean Crawler Cannons will no longer cause you to glitch and land back on your ship.

• Shadow Skeletons now have an audio trigger to indicate vulnerability.

• Mermaids can no longer be harpooned.

• Particle effects such as candle and explosion effects should no longer appear static in the air.

• The Duchess and Two-Faced Scoundrel Skeleton Lords now have the correct nameplates during the Raging Bounty Voyages.

• Harpooning a Reaper's Chest will now correctly remove the pillar of light.

• Explosions caused by Gunpowder Barrels and Chests of Rage will now display hit notifications in the same manner as explosions from cannonballs.

• The Raging Firestarter Title now has an icon in the Vanity Chest. 

• The Fortress Inferno Commendations will now correctly progress should a member of the crew die and return from the Ferry of the Damned while close to an active Skeleton Fort.

• ‘Shores of Gold’ Tall Tale – After the Quest Book is voted on, Grace will no longer appear to duplicate during the intro cutscene.

The Arena

• Players should no longer gain silver during a contest when ‘accidentally’ killing a crewmate with an explosive.

New Player Onboarding 

• After triggering the Mermaid tutorial prompts in The Arena, ending the contest will no longer cause the prompts to persist when inside the Sea Dogs Tavern.

Pirate Emporium

• After purchasing a Pirate Appearance Potion, signing out via the on-screen prompt will now dismiss the message.

• The brush no longer clips through the paper when performing the Pirate Painting emote on a range of body types.

Environment

• On Morrow's Peak Outpost, players should no longer be able to hear ‘We Shall Sail Together’ to the east of the tavern.

• Players can no longer become stuck in geometry within the Pirate Legend Hideout.

• Joining a Session – Players Receiving Groomedbeard – An issue has been identified that can affect players attempting to join a session via an invite or rejoin a session in progress. Some players may receive a Groomedbeard error and be unable to join the session. The team are aware of this issue and working on a resolution for a future update.
• Tall Tales – Gold Hoarder Curse Not Showing As Unlocked – An issue has been identified affecting players completing the Seeker of Grand Adventure Commendation at the end of the Shores of Gold Tall Tales. Some players may find that after having completed the Commendation, they are awarded the correct rewards but the item still shows as locked within the Reputation tab. The team are aware of this issue and working on a resolution.

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.

Download size:

Xbox One: 5.34 GB
Xbox One X: 9.12 GB
Windows 10: 9.12 GB

XBOX INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS CAN BE FOUND HERE.

PC INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS CAN BE FOUND HERE.

You can discuss these release notes in the Forums here.

You can leave your feedback on the game in general here.

Looking for new crewmates? We've got a bunch of places you can visit to seek out like-minded pirates, so sail on over to these official Sea of Thieves hangouts:

• Forums
• Xbox Club
• Verified Discord