You can now encounter powerful ghost ships in the Sea of Thieves “Haunted Shores Update. You may have gotten tangled up with some skeleton ships that have plunged from the depths of the sea, but these spectral ghost ships are a new challenge to overcome and come in numbers. There are two methods of finding these ships, and each encounter pits you against multiple enemies.
How to find ghost ships
There are two methods of finding Ghost Ships in Sea of Thieves: An Order of Souls Voyage and the Ghost Fleet World Event. The Ghost Fleet World event is also called the Battle with Burning Blade, where you have the chance to face off against Captain Flameheart, who commands a fleet of ghost ships. The Ghost Fleet World event is the more difficult of the two, but you'll fight multiple ghost ships in either choice.
You can get Order of Souls travel from Order of Souls representatives at one of the Thieves Sea outposts. These representatives have a panel with a purple skull and an eye in the middle to facilitate their location. They also always have the title "Madame" in front of them.
For the Ghost Fleet World event, you have to search for a red skull in the sky with a hat and a beard. The world event features four waves of Ghost Ship Battles, and the final wave will see you face off against Flameheart's ship, the Burning Blade.
How to beat ghost ships
There are four types of ghost ships that you can expect to face against this undead fleet.
- Grunt Ships: These are the base ships that you will encounter while fighting the Ghost Fleet. You can remove them by hitting them with three cannonballs. They will drop damned storage crates, which have wooden planks and cannonballs.
- Ghost Captain Ships: These ships are much stronger and feature Ghost Captain sails. The number of cannonballs it takes to defeat them varies, but it ranges between eight and 13 rounds. These ships will drop Skulls of the Damned or Captain Skulls of the Damned.
- Ashen Dragon Ships: You will normally meet them during the last wave of the Ghost Fleet World event and accompany Captain Flameheart. You will have to hit them with 10 cannonballs. They can potentially drop Skulls of the Damned, Ashes of the Damned, Chests of the Damned, and Storage Crates of the Damned.
- The Burning Blade: Captain Flameheart's ship requires you to hit with 24 cannonballs and is the toughest ghost ship to fight. He will drop about 14 skulls, ash chests, damned chests, a damned skull captain, a crate of damned cannonballs that have ghostly cannonballs.
You have to be careful when following behind them as ghost ships drop barrels of mine behind them, trying to damage your ship as you hunt them down. If you try to cross them, they will pass through and cause holes in your ship. When you defeat a ghost ship, it explodes with a small shock wave, and if you get close to it, the shock wave pushes your ship backwards.
