Skull Fort Sea Of Thieves

Sea of Thieves Skeleton Forts: Skull Clouds, Stronghold Keys and how to defeat the raids

How to take down one of Sea of Thieves' toughest challenges.

Skeleton Forts, marked by those big, rather ominous-looking skull clouds in the heaven, are Body of water of Thieves' take on the late-game raid.

They're tricky, publicly-open up events - anyone in your instance can canvass upwards and bring together in - and require a nifty deal of coordination and planning to accept downwards effectively.

When y'all practise notwithstanding, you'll likely observe a Stronghold Key which unlocks a special store full of ridiculously valuable treasure.

Here in this guide so, we'll take you lot through an explaination of what Skeleton Forts and those big skull clouds are, how to get the Stronghold Cardinal and, of class, our stride-by-step advice on how to assault and defeat Skeleton Forts themselves.

On this page:

Skull clouds and Skeleton Forts in Sea of Thieves explained
How to prepare for Skeleton Forts in Sea of Thieves
How to defeat Skeleton Forts and get a Skeleton Stronghold Key

Skull clouds and Skeleton Forts in Ocean of Thieves explained

Those menacing, green-eyed skulls you might have seen hovering upwardly in the clouds already serve on purpose: they tell you that a Skeleton Fort raid is under way.

The Skeleton Forts themselves are essentially publicly-open raids - call back Guild Wars, or Destiny's Public Events - and they play out in the following mode:

A big skull cloud appears to indicate one has gone live.
Cannons, manned by skeletons, attack equally you lot approach.
Several waves of various enemies attack after you lot clear out the cannons and state.
A final boss, in the form of a particularly tough Skeleton Captain, appears with the last wave.
The Helm drops a Stronghold Fundamental on defeat, which opens a vault to some outrageously valuable treasure.
You pick up all the treasure, ferry it to your ship equally fast every bit you can, and cheese it!

That'southward how it unofolds in basic terms, anyway, but if yous're seriously thinking of taking one on (and really want to succeed!) nosotros recommend you read on below for a step-by-step guide.

How to prepare for Skeleton Forts in Sea of Thieves

Hither's how to starting time preparing:

Stock up - Before you head over to the Skeleton Fort yous need to seriously manage your supplies. Max yourselves and your ship out on Cannonballs, Bananas, and Wooden Planks and make sure all your weapons are fully loaded from the transport's shop.
Gather a coiffure - We did it with a crew of iii on a galleon, but 4 would certainly go far easier. If you're on a one- or ii-person sloop, you'll admittedly demand help from another crew in the earth.But good luck tracking other crews down without getting killed or betrayed!
Set sail - Y'all need to actually become there before you tin can start it, of course, just in Bounding main of Thieve's that's frequently half the battle. The skull deject is visible from anywhere on the map, so beware it could take you quite some fourth dimension to reach information technology.

Clear out the defenses - As soon as y'all go far at the raid you'll be peppered with cannon burn. Equally you get closer they'll become significantly more accurate, so divide upward roles between y'all - some firing your own cannons to take out the skeletons' ones, and some repairing the inevitable holes in your send.
Park somewhere smart - You need easy admission on and off the island, and so preferably aim for a beach with a path leading in-land. Be smart most your ship'southward positioning - take it turned facing abroad for a rapid escape, with sails extended and wheel direction fix (and obviously don't forget to actually drop anchor amidst all the chaos).
Split into two groups - After the enemy cannons are cleared out, get fix to dive in. Ane raiding party needs to head out on state, and the other needs to defend the transport, ideally with two people in each party. The send crew need to keep firing cannons, sniping, and patching up holes, and the raiders need to be ready for gainsay.

The kickoff season has arrived! Learn about all Flavor ane Boxing Pass rewards and everything else added in the Sea of Thieves patch notes. New to the game? Learn what to do in Sea of Thieves and take accept part in the Maiden Voyage tutorial, which teaches you the essentials of sailing and ship battles. It's also useful for beginners to know how to survive fights with skeletons and the kraken. Elsewhere we take advice on how to get easy golden and doubloons, consummate skeleton forts and The Shroudbreaker, take part in fishing in Bounding main of Thieves and Sea of Thieves island maps.

How to defeat Skeleton Forts and become a Skeleton Stronghold Cardinal

Once you have finished preparing, here'southward how to get consummate the Skeleton Fort encounter and come away with a Skeleton Stronghold Key:

Keep the ship afloat at all times - We know this is basically a duplicate stride but it is really important that you go on the transport afloat, because information technology'southward the identify where pirates respawn, and every bit a raider y'all're going to be doing a lot of it. As long as the ship stands, y'all tin take a steady stream of pirates charging onto land to keep the assault alive. As the attack progresses y'all tin can probably merely go along one person back to practice defend the ship, mind.
Defeat the waves of skeletons - The actual assault comes in the forms of several waves of enemies. Ideally, you desire the ship to take line of sight to the battle and so cannons tin can be used for some crucial support. On land, you demand to deal with v types of enemy.

Basic Skeletons - substantially the same as any others y'all'll find around the world, these appear en masse.
Metal Skeletons - made out of solid treasure themselves, these accept enormous amounts of damage but are heavily slowed by water. Throw buckets of water over them or ameliorate yet lead them to clustering up in a pool of water and so detonate an explosive gunpowder barrel on them to take them down fast!
Seaweed Skeletons - recall of these as the fast type of zombie, bet specifically when in water. They're erratic and rapid, and best defeated past kiting them to the embankment for some cannon fire from the ship (although keeping them out of the water helps).
Blackness-boned Skeletons - these tin can be catchy, as they're merely vulnerable in the lite. Have one of your team smoothen a lantern at all times, or drag the boxing out until daybreak if you lot want to defeat them!
Stronghold Captain - a much tougher version of the regular Skeleton Captains you'll find around the world, these are identified by the crimson name above them, but beingness just one enemy you can easily focus your fire - both from the ship and your crew - to gradually have them downwards.

Catch the Stronghold Key - On the Stronghold Helm'southward remains will be the Stronghold Cardinal. Pick it upwards and caput to the main belfry's central go on.
Open the vault and make off with the loot! - When you find a glowing door, open up it with the cardinal to reveal a mound of highly valuable treasure (some items sell for well-nigh 3,000 coin a pop, for instance). It'll take several trips to take information technology back to the ship, and you may get attacked by skeletons or, worse yet, other crews that joined in the battle along the manner, so we recommend some of y'all stick to guard duty and some do the carrying. Exist certain to proceed an centre out for other crews, continue your lanterns off if travelling at dark, and book it to the nearest Outpost island to sell your stuff before you're looted by some crafty foe.