Sea of Thieves Closes Season 16 with One Last Set of Patch Notes

As Season 16 of Sea of Thieves draws to a close, fans are being treated to one final update. This gives fans new content to look forward to as they anticipate the big changes coming in 2026. This is a substantial update, bringing much-needed improvements and bug fixes to the multiplayer game. Rare has also addressed known issues it intends to resolve in future updates within the patch notes.

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Sea of Thieves‘ 3.4.2 update brings a new voyage to Season 16, Followers of the Flame. This sees the player undertaking a voyage for The Reaper’s Bones and provides new rewards to earn. The Reaper’s Bones Voyages have also extended into The Devil’s Roar, adding new searches and secrets to uncover.

Gameplay improvements have been added to make the UI more responsive and better, as well as to balance the Kraken encounter. These also extend to the performance, providing a system-level optimization across the entirety of Sea of Thieves. This will reduce frame drops and provide a smoother framerate.

Sea of Thieves Season 16 3.4.2 Update Patch Notes

Reapers Rising

Set sail on Voyages for The Reaper’s Bones, roll out the Cannon of Rage and enlist Captain Flameheart’s Order of Bone and Blade! To learn more about this Season’s headline features, head over to our dedicated Season 16 page.

Followers of the Flame Voyage

The Reaper’s Bones offer a new on-demand Voyage: Followers of the Flame.
This Voyage tasks crews with using the Follower’s Flame Lantern to find and resurrect the Order of Bone and Blade and perform a dark ritual to create the new Chest of Bones.
Embarking on all Voyages for The Reaper’s Bones will automatically raise a Reaper’s Mark Flag on the ship, announcing your location to other crews via their Map Table.

Chest of Bones

Once recovered from the ritual, the Chest of Bones can also be unsealed to release waves of Order of Bone and Blade Skeletons to aid the crew.
The Chest of Bones will release fewer skeletons than its more powerful Reaper’s Chest counterpart, and does not contain Skeleton Captains.

Ashen Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage

The Reaper’s Bones Voyages have now expanded into The Devil’s Roar, introducing an Ashen Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage that offers higher-value rewards for venturing into the flames.
The Order of Bone and Blade are now helpfully immune to damage from geysers.

Reaper’s Chest Balancing

The skeleton waves released when unsealing a Reaper’s Chest on a rival ship now dynamically scale to the size of the ship. A Sloop will be limited to two skeletons, three on a Brigantine and four on a Galleon.
A Reaper’s Chest unsealed in any other location or when used defensively on a player’s own ship will use the existing limit of six.
The appearance of Skeleton Captains has also been limited, with a total of four now able to be released from a single Reaper’s Chest. When a Skeleton Captain has appeared, no further Captains can be summoned until it has been dispatched.

Stealing the Search for Ancient Secrets

It is now possible for rival crews to steal the Skull of the Banished during the Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage.
Once the sarcophagus has been discovered by the crew on the Voyage, rival crews can now continue digging, open the sarcophagus and take the skull for themselves. This promptly ends the Voyage for the starting crew and grants their rivals progress towards the Reaper Rivals Commendation.

Skeleton Mercenary Improvements

Order of Bone and Blade Skeleton Mercenaries now show a status tag next to their name, visually showing what they are doing when viewed at a distance. Players can now also see clearly when a Skeleton Mercenary has been downed and needs reviving.
When a buried Skeleton Mercenary is uncovered by a pirate, the other members of the crew will now be notified of the discovery.

Reapers Rising Commendations and Rewards

New Reapers Rising Commendations have been added within the Reputation tab, tasking players with taking on the Followers of the Flame Voyage. Crews who brave this challenge can unlock access to a set of Reaper’s Bones Masks.

Gameplay Improvements

The Devil’s Roar Rebalancing

The Devil’s Roar has been rebalanced to reduce frustration while adventuring in this region, but still retains the atmosphere and risk that comes from sailing in such a dangerous part of the seas.
Geysers that appear on islands should no longer directly target players, and the number of them that surface is now scaled to the size of the crew exploring the island.
Volcanoes now signal their eruption for a longer time, allowing players more time to react.
A live volcano now erupts for a shorter time before subsiding, and while erupting the chance that nearby ships will be hit with volcanic rocks has been reduced.

Responsive Health Bar Improvements

The UI health bar has been improved to be more responsive during combat. Players taking damage and healing will now see the health bar move to the new health value much more quickly.
Players with critically low health will now consistently see their health bar switch to green when they gain enough health to move out of the critical zone.
After healing fully, a player’s health bar now remains visible for a longer period before being hidden.

Kraken Encounter Balancing

Kraken encounters can now occur on a server alongside some other World Events such as Skeleton Forts. While the frequency of Kraken encounters will remain the same following this change, it allows other World Events to cycle more frequently.

Performance Improvements

This update includes a system-level optimisation to CPU performance across the broad experience, to reduce the frequency of framerate drops and provide a smoother framerate during gameplay.

Pirate Emporium

Show off your personal style with purchases from the Pirate Emporium! Pick up exclusive cosmetics such as ship liveries, costumes, weapons, pets and emotes using your Ancient Coins, purchasable with real money. Head to the Pirate Emporium page to browse and buy the latest additions!

New Items – Now in Stock

Bosun Brewmaster Ship Collection and Ship’s Crest
Bosun Brewmaster Weapon Bundle
Bosun Brewmaster Costume
Bosun Brewmaster Tankard
Touring Tavern Emote Bundle
Ashen Curse Toucan Collector’s Pet
Sting Tide Weapon Bundle

Outpost Cosmetics

New Outpost Stock

The Outpost shops now stock the Golden Chaser equipment and instruments.
The shipwrights have also restocked with the new Green Resolute Hull, Sails and Flag.

Events

Legends Unleashed (July 17th–31st)

This lengthy Event sees the Pirate Lord rally his Pirate Legends against the growing Reaper threat, with a comeback by The Reaper’s Bones in the second week. Increased loot payouts, special Event Goals and unlockable rewards are all available. Visit the dedicated Legends Unleashed page to find out more.
In addition to the time-limited aspects of this Event, Athena’s Fortune now offer three new Legendary searches which will remain as permanent additions to the Quest Table. These are A Legendary Treasure Map Search, A Legendary Riddle Quest Search and A Legendary Skeleton Bounty Search.
These Voyages provide a shorter experience and therefore have less risk than the existing Athena’s Fortune Voyages, providing reduced rewards in comparison to their more perilous counterparts.
Athena’s Fortune Letters of Recommendation can now be purchased from Larinna, providing a boost to reputation each month. These will remain a permanent addition after this Event.

Fixed Issues

Gameplay

Storage Crates found through Skeleton’s Orders can now be sold to the Merchant Alliance as intended.
Players stowing a throwing knife while charging a stab attack will find the stab is now cancelled.
Treasure harpooned from the water can now be consistently picked up from the deck.
Improvements have been made to the Ashen Executive’s Lost Shipment Voyage, addressing issues where the location of the shipwreck, Captain’s Key and Manifest were appearing inconsistently during the Voyage, halting progress.
A Grapple Gun can no longer be used to drag the Key or Chest of Siren Song into The Reaper’s Hideout.
Restoring a ship at the shipwright should no longer cause the ship’s wheel to spin rapidly.
Players attempting to grab on to a ladder while using a spyglass should no longer find the vignette effect lingers.
Players are now prevented from selling a hunting spear while attempting to throw it.
Attempting to throw a hunting spear and crouching should no longer cause controller vibration effects to persist.
Attempting to grapple the Key or Chest of Siren Song while standing inside an Outpost tavern no longer causes the Grapple Gun to become stuck while firing.
‘The Revenge of the Morningstar’ – Items dropped on Graymarrow’s altar during this Tall Tale will no longer vanish unexpectedly.

Search for Ancient Secrets Voyage

Ancient Phantoms no longer flicker into view when moving through other enemies.
Order of Bone and Blade Skeletons should now move correctly when digging out the Ancient Pillars.
Players should consistently be provided with the Skull of the Banished when retrieving it from the sarcophagus.
The fog effects visible on this Voyage now appear correctly for other crews observing at a distance.

Cannon of Rage

A player loaded into a Cannon of Rage will now be removed if it is retracted by another player.
Players will now be prevented from climbing into a Cannon of Rage while it is being deployed.
A retracted Cannon of Rage will no longer block cannonball damage when fired upon.
The Cannon of Rage no longer consumes loaded cannonballs when being retracted.
Cannons of Rage now consistently display the fuse after being buried and dug up.
The overheating effect on Cannons of Rage now transitions more smoothly between stages.
A damaged Cannon of Rage will now visibly swell while overheating, even after being retracted.

Reaper’s Chests Unsealed

Skeletons released from a Reaper’s Chest at an Outpost now move consistently to keep up with their crew.
Skeletons emerging from Reaper’s Chests will now consistently show their nameplates.
Reaper’s Chests now emit a bone-rattling sound when sealed.
Leaving the area of an unsealed Reaper’s Chest and returning no longer causes the lid to reappear.
The red glow inside the enhanced Reaper’s Chest now displays properly when other players are holding it.
Order of Bone and Blade Skeletons released at The Reaper’s Hideout will now be able to descend into the lower areas if the chest is taken down on the lift.

Skeleton Mercenaries

Order of Bone and Blade Skeleton Mercenaries now thank players when revived from their bone piles.
Skeleton Mercenaries engaging in combat should no longer drop items into areas they cannot reach themselves.
Skeleton Mercenaries now appear closer to their bone piles when revived.
Skeletons now appear to move correctly after dropping an item.
Long grass should no longer cover bone piles, hiding Skeleton Mercenaries.

Environment

Improvements have been made to the environment at Port Merrick, Dagger Tooth Outpost and Shark Bait Cove to address crews using these locations to hide their ship and shelter from attacks during Faction battles.
Improvements have been made to the environment during the ‘The Lair of LeChuck’, ‘Shores of Gold’ and ‘A Pirate’s Life’ Tall Tales to prevent players from using a Grapple Gun to leave the designated areas.
Players can no longer use the Cannon of Rage to bypass the doors to Skeleton Forts, the Fort of the Damned or Glitterbeard’s Cave.
Players should no longer be able to retrieve items from the Fort of the Damned using a Grapple Gun without first unlocking the Vault.
Players can no longer fall out of the environment by using the Grapple Gun to navigate within Ancient Vaults.
Players can no longer pass through Royal Crest Fortress’ ceiling by interacting with the Map Table on a different floor.

Visual and Audio

Several shovels that were missing dig visual effects now show the correct effects.
Players carrying Mermaid Gems in various lighting conditions will now find their glare has been reduced.
Players wearing the Spinal Costume should no longer find it intersects with various disguises.
The Gilded Phoenix Hurdy-Gurdy now has the instrument’s keys in the correct location.
Using a disguise while wearing the Regal Fortune Boots should now correctly show the player’s feet.
Female pirates equipping the Skeleton Curse and Reaper’s Bones Skull will now retain their skull shape.
Players wearing the Veil of the Ancients Costume should no longer find the gems react too brightly to sunlight.
Performing a stab with a throwing knife should now consistently show the knife at the correct orientation.
The Dashing Duellist Banjo and Blowpipe now fit correctly in a pirate’s hands when wielded.
The Lamplighter Pistol now fits correctly in a pirate’s hands when wielded.
‘A Pirate’s Life’ – Ghost pirates now appear as intended at key parts of the Tall Tale.

User Interface

The front-end intro video now appears correctly when playing without visible black borders.
Event times shown on the Quest Table are now shown in players’ local time instead of UTC.
Players using a Trident of Dark Tides for the first time will no longer see a ‘Refill Ammo’ notification after firing.
Maps shown in the Quest Radial will now consistently show their icon in the even if the map owner dies and returns from the Ferry of the Damned.
Attempting to sell a Bounty Skull to Flameheart now correctly guides players to the right hand-in location.
Players navigating between the title screen and front-end menu should now hear music at a consistent volume.

Performance and Stability

Further improvements have been made to game stability to reduce scenarios where players unexpectedly exit the game or become disconnected from their session.