Kraken Sea Of Thieves
Brie Hoffler
After Sea of Thieves' closed beta, I was left impressed by the emergent potential of its world but also wondering what I'd be doing in the game after a couple of weeks. Last Monday I visited Rare, and the developer explained its vision of how it will all come together at launch. With a clear endgame, difficult skeleton fort raids and the ever-present threat of a kraken that can attack multiple ships at once, I'm convinced that I'll be playing it for at least a couple of months.
"The tentacle can pick you up and throw you, it can dunk you into the water and drown you. It can slam you against the water's surface with these tentacles that can wrap multiple ships at the same time. What it does is a reflection of what type of ship it is, how many ships are around at that time. This thing is designed to be replayable. You could be the one that saves a bunch of ships from the kraken by getting it to flee, or you could be the one who comes along afterwards, and pick up the chests from the wreckage after it's sunk two ships. Point is, it's going to play differently each time."
Rare only teased the kraken with some dramatic footage instead of letting us fight it, so I have no idea if battling it will actually be fun or not. I hope it is. The spectacle of an encounter like this is extremely appealing, and I can definitely see these different opportunistic scenarios playing out in its wake.
Executive producer Joe Neate tells me what he sees as the step beyond pirate legend status post-launch, building on the idea of the hideout and bespoke voyages. "The first update we want to deliver to pirate legends, the most engaged of our player base, is the ability to be able to captain ships. Become a pirate legend, and you'll get the ability to captain and own ships from that hideout. So when you're out in the world, people will see you and know that you are a pirate legend. Players will start becoming the Blackbeards and Black Pearls of our pirate world. We always want to have new things our pirate legends can aspire to, but also new things for everyone to have and do." Instead of beginning the game in taverns, legends will start the game in the hideout, and take charge of the legendary ship there.
"You sail out through the waterfall, and you explode out into the world like Davy Jones or how Batman leaves the Batcave," explains Chapman. "And when people see your legendary ship, they know that's the ship of a pirate legend, and they know what that means. You've got that whole grey area of, should I take down the pirate legend? What an amazing story it would be: we took down a pirate legend ship. We stole an ancient chest from a pirate legend, what a great story. So [we'll have] new ways to progress for pirate legends [for post-launch], but new ways to enrich the journey for people who aren't yet legends."
Sea of Thieves is filled with a frightening medley of emergent deep-sea threats, including ferocious megalodon and haunting skeletal armadas. Still, nothing is quite as elusive or terrifying as a mighty Kraken. Unfortunately, due to the randomized nature of encounters in the game, it can be somewhat tricky to track down this crushing collection of tentacles. Here are some helpful steps brave pirates can take to increase their chances of finding and killing the Kraken in Sea of Thieves.
There's no sure-fire method for finding a Kraken in Sea of Thieves, but following these steps will give you the best chance of tracking one down. If you're working on completing commendations focused on hunting these titans of the deep, it'll be well worth your time to find and complete as many Skull Forts or Skeletal Fleets as you can. In my experience, I've often encountered these creatures immediately after completing a Fort and loading up my ship with loot.
Engaging with the Kraken is meant to be one of the toughest and most memorable challenges currently available in Sea of Thieves. The difficulty of this fight will ultimately depend on your ship type and crew size. This will likely be a quick and somewhat easy undertaking for solo sloops, while a 4-person galleon will be tasked with overcoming a drastically fiercer foe. Thankfully, with the right resources and a steady shot, any pirate can successfully take down a kraken in Sea of Thieves.
Miles Dompier is a Freelance Video Producer for Windows Central, focusing on video content for Windows Central Gaming. In addition to writing or producing news, reviews, and gaming guides, Miles delivers fun, community-focused videos for the Windows Central Gaming YouTube channel. Miles also hosts Xbox Chaturdays every Saturday, which serves as the Windows Central Gaming weekly podcast. "}), " -0-10/js/authorBio.js"); } else console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); Miles DompierSocial Links NavigationMiles Dompier is a Freelance Video Producer for Windows Central, focusing on video content for Windows Central Gaming. In addition to writing or producing news, reviews, and gaming guides, Miles delivers fun, community-focused videos for the Windows Central Gaming YouTube channel. Miles also hosts Xbox Chaturdays every Saturday, which serves as the Windows Central Gaming weekly podcast.
Fortunately, how to find the Kraken is a little easier said than done, but once it does appear, you'll want to know how to kill the Kraken so you can live to tell the tale.
Like the Megalodon and Skeleton Ships, the kraken is what Rare classes an "emergent threat", and will randomly spawn to attack a ship while it sails across deep water. The kraken can spawn on any boat type, be it sloop, brigantine, or galleon - although the encounter is considerably less difficult while on a sloop - and you'll immediately know of its arrival when the water around your ship turns an inky black.
Although the kraken will pick a random crew to attack when it spawns, there's a nifty trick you can use to tell when it will appear, if not who it will spawn on. This can be useful if you're trying to increase the odds of encountering it to complete related Commendations, or even if you're actively trying to avoid encountering it for what ever reason.
Here's how it works: the kraken will only spawn when there is no cloud event active on the map. If you're trying to increase the odds of an encounter, make sure that you're sailing in deep water when there is no Skeleton Fort skull cloud or Skeleton Fleet ship cloud visible in the sky. Conversely, if you're trying to avoid it, only head out into the water when either cloud is visible.
Don't stress if you're playing solo or on a sloop, though; while the kraken battle is mechanically identical for all vessels, it's trivially easy to complete on a sloop if you understand the basics, - tentacles have much lower health and do considerably less damage - and can be wrapped up in a matter of minutes.
It's worth noting upfront that the kraken's inky water will dramatically reduce the speed of your ship (and will inflict damage on pirates that fall into it). However, your vessel WILL continue to move forward during the encounter. As such, if you're actively trying to defeat the creature, you might want to lower your anchor at the first sign of the beast so that you don't accidentally drift out of its area of attack while the battle rages on. Of course, if this does happen, you can simply about-face and sail back into the water to resume the attack.
It's also worth noting that it's possible for multiple emergent creatures to spawn simultaneously; if you're very unlucky, you could find yourself facing a kraken, skeleton ship, and megalodon all at the same time. If this happens, though, don't panic and remember that both the megalodon and kraken will attempt to attack skeleton ships and vice versa, meaning NPCs will take some of the heat off you during the battle, assuming you don't antagonise them with gunfire.
How you choose to divvy up duties during the kraken fight will depend on the number of crew mates you have available. In general though, you want at least one person manning the cannons and another below deck focussing on repairs at all times. On the bigger ships, repairers should prioritise patching up holes first and bailing out water second - bailing water is also a good way to stall for time if you run out of wooden planks and need someone else to come and deposit a few in the store. On a sloop, water accumulates slowly enough below deck that it's entirely possible to simply keep bailing water out of a window and then patch up once the fight is over.
Larger crews should remain flexible against the kraken, shifting between tasks - attacking, repairing, and steering - as required. As always on the Sea of Thieves, good communication and crew coordination is key, so it helps to have one player designating tasks. That player should also keep an eye on the horizon for enemy vessels, as the last thing you'll want during a kraken attack is to find yourself amidst a PvP encounter unprepared.
Once the kraken encounter begins, its tentacles will rise out of the water, and you can immediately start attacking with cannons and ranged weapons. You can attack any tentacle poking vertically out of the water, although you'll obviously find it easier to aim for those closer to your ship. Concentrate on the open "mouths" at the tip of each tentacle to do more damage.
The sound of rushing wind means one tentacle is trying to suck a crew member off the ship and into its maw. All crew mates should IMMEDIATELY stop what they're doing and head below deck until the sound has subsided. If a crew member is hoovered off the ship, they should begin attacking the tentacle with their sword until they're dropped into the inky water. Alternatively those still on the ship can use cannon fire to librate them, or even hoist them back onboard with a well-aimed shot of the harpoon at the front of the vessel. Be aware that this suction attack can also target crew mates on a rowboat.
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