In a game all about plundering gold, you will most likely want to know how exactly you are supposed to do that. This guide will walk you through the best ways to get the most bang for your buck (or the most buck for your bang) without relying on experience, and especially without server hopping.
1. Form An Alliance
With so many differences in play style and skill level, sometimes for newer players the game can feel overwhelming and simply too toxic and difficult, and they wouldn’t necessarily be wrong. More advanced players know the best ways to make gold, and what better way to earn easy money than to let them earn it for you? The best way to do this is to play nice and avoid attacking other players.
It may be smart to fly a white flag just in case somebody catches on. If there are Reapers on the map then avoiding raising an emissary would be safe as they would have no benefits in sinking you. This method is a bit tricky to pull off and will not go your way every game, however if it does work, you will make profit off of everything they sell, and they will get the same for your loot.
How it works
- Lower your sails and set off to sea
- Find other players, preferably not bigger ships as they may just attack you
- Climb your mast and find the flag customizer in the crows nest
- There you can raise your alliance flags, and other players can accept it
- Avoid leaving your flag up the whole time, as I have found people are less likely to join the alliance
2. Hunt Emissary Flags as a Reaper
There are a lot of things you can do when flying the Reaper’s Bones emissary flag. You can sell just about everything to the Reapers, as well as hunting for Bounty Chests and Reaper’s Chests. However, with all its versatility, the Reaper’s base function can be its best. You can earn tons of gold by taking out other ships and selling their flags at the Reaper’s Hideout. This method will be more difficult the less players you have, but if you are a highly skilled player, you can easily do this solo.
Another way to do this would be to fly Reaper’s and just go about your business and just take out the players that pass by you, as that may be easier than hunting them down specifically. While the flags sell for anywhere from 1,600-10,500 gold depending on your level, selling them will grant a huge bonus to your level in the faction, killing two seagulls with one blunderbomb.
How it works
- Locate the Reaper stand on an outpost (the one with the skeleton in the cage)
- Set sail and find players with emissary flags (once you reach grade 5 you can see them on the map)
- After sinking the ship, take the broken emissary flag to the Reaper’s Hideout and hand it in to the Servant of the Flame in order to receive your riches
- Make sure to hand Reaper flags in to the Mysterious Stranger in the tavern at any outpost for Athena’s Fortune
3. Search For Lost Shipments
While it may seem like a no brainer to represent the Gold Hoarders when… well, looking for gold… do not let the name fool you. While, yes, Gold Hoarder voyages are great for getting gold, as will be mentioned later, it doesn’t even come close to searching for lost shipments under the Merchant Alliance. The voyage can be selected right from your quest table under the voyage tab for Merchants, and then all you have to do is follow the map and pick up the clues.
The more you complete this voyage the easier and easier it will get, to the point where you could even skip most of the clues all together and sail to the shipwreck. This voyage will reward the player with probably the second most gold for a single quest in the game, but comes out on top because of speed and efficiency. Each run can be dwindled down to about 20 minutes and will reward you with over 50,000 gold with a grade V emissary.
How it works
- Vote to represent the Merchant Alliance on any outpost
- Navigate to the quest table on your ship and select the Lost Shipment voyage
- Follow the map to the mark destinations
- Find the captain’s cabin key along the way
- Unlock the cabin, unload the cargo, and take it to an outpost to profit
- Skip the Merchant emissary quest, then lower your emissary flag and raise it again, then start a new Lost Shipment voyage for maximum efficiency
4. Raid Sea Forts
If you are a newer Sea of Thieves player you have probably sailed past a ghostly sea fort while being pelted with cannonballs and just fled out of fear. Well, don’t worry, they never hit anything, plus, you just missed out on some extremely easy loot. The best way to maximize your income off of sea forts is by representing the Reaper’s Bones and hitting a few sea forts to raise your emissary. Just one of these will give about 15,000-25,000 gold without an emissary, so with a grade V Reaper’s emissary, these forts are sure to provide plenty of very easy gold, and are probably the most straightforward method out there.
How it works
- Vote to represent the Reaper’s Bones on any outpost
- Check your map for any nearby sea forts
- Sail to the fort, defeat the waves of phantoms and the captain
- Unlock the vault and unload the treasure
- Don’t forget to find the key for the room on the roof somewhere inside the sea fort for some extra gold before moving on to the next one
5. Complete An Ashen Gold Hoarder’s Vault
What’s better than a bunch of valuable treasure from a Gold Hoarder’s vault voyage? Far more valuable treasure from an ashen Gold Hoarder’s vault voyage. The ashen versions of voyages can be selected from the quest table next to the normal versions. Be warned though, these must be completed in the Devil’s Roar where you will have to avoid volcanoes spewing giant rocks at you. I would also recommend only doing these if you are already near the Devil’s Roar.
Once you make it to the required island, you must find a vault key, and then search for the vault to open with it. Once in the vault, ignore all the loot everywhere, as tempting as it may seem. Focus instead on the puzzle at hand. If you find the puzzle too difficult, keys and guides can be found everywhere, as the vault will be slightly different each time. This voyage is easily the best way to pile up for Gold and Glory events, or other gold multipliers. The only downside is that doing this in the Devil’s Roar on solo can be difficult to manage.
How it works
- Vote to represent the Gold Hoarders or Reaper’s Bones on any outpost (both will reward the same amount of gold, choose which one you want to level up)
- Select the Ashen Ancient Vault voyage on your quest table
- Follow the steps that lead to the required island and find the vault key
- Find the vault on the island and complete the puzzle (if you do not complete it, the vault will flood with water and you will drown, losing all the treasure)
- Take the loot back to an outpost or the Reaper’s Hideout and sell
6. Fort of the Damned
Before I get started on this one, I would like to mention that this challenge is going to be tough as a sloop, and would recommend doing this one with friends. This is because starting the fort puts a massive skeleton cloud in the sky and all players on the map can see you. Just like the Fort of Fortune, it is likely other players will attempt to come and steal your loot, so be very careful going into this solo as it will be hard to juggle defending the fort and your ship at the same time.
Now, some players may remember when you had to collect all of the flame colors and a ritual skull to do this, and it was extremely difficult and time consuming. Well, now it is as easy as selecting the Skull of Destiny voyage under the Athena’s Fortune voyage tab at your quest table. You will be sent to find the skull and it can be used to light all the lanterns and stand in as the ritual skull to start the fort. Completing the fort will reward the player with a huge batch of Reaper's loot and various stronghold loot.
How it works
- Vote to represent the Reaper’s Bones emissary at any outpost
- Navigate to the quest table on your ship and vote for the Legendary Search for the Skull of Destiny voyage
- Follow the compass in your quest radial to find the skull
- Take it to the Fort of the Damned and light all of the torches
- Place the skull on the skeleton in the cage
- Fight the waves of skellies and Graymarrow to receive the vault key
7. Defeat A Boss At The Ashen Winds
One of the main gameplay mechanics in Sea of Thieves is the world events system. There are a few different events you can complete to get exclusive rewards, and the easiest of them is most definitely the Ashen Winds event. That is, if you are on solo. On co-op, any of the events will be easier, but the fact that this one can be done solo makes it all the more useful.
Completing the quest will give you an Ashen Winds skull, which, while not very useful in combat, will net you thousands of gold, and even more with an emissary. This event is also the most straightforward, requiring you to simply show up, defeat the boss, and take the loot.
How it works
- Look for the giant red tornado in the sky
- Sail to the tornado and make sure there are no other players waiting to take the loot
- Defeat the ashen lord and grab all the loot that rains from the sky and sell it at an outpost
- Use Order of Souls or Reaper’s Bones to get the most out of your Ashen Winds skull
8. Take Out The Skeleton Fleet
In contrast to the rather easy Ashen Winds event, the Skeleton Fleet event is quite a bit more difficult solo, as it will require you to take out 3 waves of both sloops and galleons. It costs a whole lot of cannonballs and wood, and can be very hard to manage cannons, steering, and repairing alone. The upside though is that if you can get a crew together, this event will be very easy.
Harpooning the galleons to stay alongside them and taking one out at a time will speed things up and make it more manageable and the result is a whole lot of gold. The downside is that collecting any loot from ships before the last wave is very difficult, and can result in losing most of the gold. However, taking this event slowly will give a much better outcome, and you are guaranteed an ashen chest for those of you wanting to up your dubloons.
How it works
- Look for the green (or red in season 11) pirate ship-shaped cloud in the sky
- Sail to the cloud and the event will start
- Take out all 3 waves of skeleton ships, and take the loot back to an outpost
- Again, use Reaper’s Bones for maximum value
9. Complete The Legend Of The Veil
Before I go into detail on this voyage, there are some requirements to take note of. This voyage can only be selected if you have the Athena’s Fortune emissary, which will require level 50 in at least 3 other emissaries. Once you have that, the Legend of the Veil can be selected from the Athena’s Fortune voyage tab on your quest table. This voyage acts as a mini tall tale, and can be completed over and over if you would like. This quest can even be whittled down to about 45 minutes if you are quick and efficient.
Just like with some of the other methods on this list, this voyage is much easier with a crew, but it is not too bad on solo if you don’t mind multitasking a bit for the last phase of the voyage. Other than that, this is a pretty straight forward voyage that will get you to grade V in your Athena’s Emissary, giving you lots of very valuable loot to sell and raise your Athena’s Fortune level.
How it works
- Vote to represent Athena’s Fortune at any outpost
- Navigate to your quest table and select the Legend of the Veil under the Athena’s Fortune voyages
- Follow the steps in your quest book. These steps will change each time you do it, but the steps themselves are pretty easy to follow
- After taking out the fort at the center of the tornado, climb on top and pile the loot onto your ship to sell at an outpost
10. Defeat The Fort Of Fortune
Out of all of the side quests, voyages, and world events in Sea of Thieves, the Fort of Fortune has to be the hardest. Not because the steps are difficult, as it is basically just a combination of the Skeleton Fort and Ashen Winds events, but everybody will try to go for this. It rewards tons of loot, half Athenas, half anything else, but the chances of completing this solo without getting sunk or having your loot stolen are slim to none. That being said, completing this with a crew is much easier, and you will walk away with 120,000-140,000 gold, and that’s without an emissary flag. This gets you probably the most gold, especially with a grade V emissary, but the difficulty bumps it below some of the other methods.
How it works
- Look for the skull shaped cloud in the sky (the one with red cracks, as pictured above)
- A Fort of Fortune spawning will also be indicated by a music queue
- Sail to the skeleton fort the cloud is over, and get on the island to start the waves
- Defeat the ashen lord at the end for the vault key and collect all the loot to sell
- Bonus tip: When the Chest of Fortune is here, it may be best to grab just that and go, as the chest is required for commendations, and is the single most valuable piece of treasure at the fort
