The Kraken is one of the most formidable foes players come across in Sea Of Thieves – here’s how to find and slay the beast. When Rare’s Sea Of Thieves was first released in 2018, the game got pretty middling reviews from critics who praised its visual style but found issues with its repetitive gameplay. Since then, a series of updates – in particular, its extensive anniversary update released in April 2019 – has seen the game’s reputation improve considerably.
Players come across plenty of creatures and bosses as they and their crewmates sail the high seas in the game – snakes, skeletons and megalodon sharks included. But of all the bosses players face in Sea Of Thieves, one of the most daunting is the almighty Kraken – an eight-tentacled behemoth hellbent on destroying any pirate ships that cross its path. Players say the Kraken has become harder to fight since the updates, but the beast can be defeated.
The first thing to know about Sea Of Thieves' Kraken is this: you don’t find the Kraken, it finds you. Encounters with the Kraken are random but the monster tends to favor wide-open ocean rather than shallow waters, so players can increase the likelihood of crossing paths with the creature by sticking to the high seas. It’s easy to recognize the arrival of the Kraken too as the surrounding sea turns inky black and its telltale tentacles rise up from the water.
Sea Of Thieves Kraken has eight tentacles that move independently and they’re a problem for a couple of reasons. Not only can they cause serious damage to ships, but they can also grab crewmates and throw them in the ocean – which can be dangerous as the inky waters are poisonous. The Kraken also wraps its tentacles around ships so in crews of more than one it’s a good idea to have somebody on repair duty while other players concentrate on attacking the tentacles.
Players can use guns and cutlasses to fight the tentacles but one of the best ways to attack them is with a cannonball. A cannonball shot to the base of the tentacle is the easiest target, but players can cause more damage by aiming for the mouth-like hole on the tip of the tentacle – it’s harder to hit, but causes more damage. The best bet for crewmates grabbed by a tentacle is to hack at them with a cutlass until it releases them.
To kill Sea Of Thieves’ Kraken, crewmates need to cause enough damage to its tentacles – usually between six and ten cannonball hits – to make them retreat. This varies depending on what type of vessel players are sailing, with sloops having to defeat two to three tentacles but galleons having to defeat up to all eight tentacles. When its tentacles retreat into the sea and the inky murk leaves the waters, players have successfully killed the Kraken.