Captain Flameheart’s presence is burning brighter than ever before! Not only has he taken a seat on his throne at The Reaper’s Hideout, but his flagship, the Burning Blade, now patrols the Sea of Thieves. Crewed by his devout Obsidian Skeletons, the Burning Blade sails from Skeleton Camp to Skeleton Camp to collect Ancient Knowledge by performing dark Rituals.
Depending on where your loyalties lie, you can pledge your crew to the Burning Blade and help Flameheart complete his Rituals or sink the Burning Blade to prevent Flameheart from gaining more power!
What is the Burning Blade Event?
The Burning Blade is a multi-phase, roaming World Event available to all pirates in the High Seas.
You can spot the location of the World Event from anywhere in the Sea of Thieves by looking for a giant beacon of swirling red flames that radiate from Flameheart’s flagship, the Burning Blade. You can also locate the World Event on your Map Table, as the Burning Blade will be visible to all pirates on the map.
During the first phase of the World Event, you can engage in naval-based combat with the Burning Blade, the most powerful ship in the Sea of Thieves, and its Obsidian Skeleton crew.
If you defeat the Burning Blade, it will enter a defeated state, drifting in the water. Once defeated, you can either sink the Burning Blade or pledge your crew to the Burning Blade in service of Flameheart, taking command of the ship.
Sinking the Burning Blade will end the World Event and reward you with the Blade of Souls.
However, if you decide to take control of the Burning Blade, you will pledge your crew to Flameheart and start the second phase of the World Event: completing Rituals at Skeleton Camps to raise the Burning Blade’s value. The more Rituals you complete with the Burning Blade, the bigger the reward you will receive when you finally deliver it back to Flameheart at the Reaper’s Hideout.
A crew can only take over the Burning Blade once per World Event. Once a crew has taken command of the Burning Blade, other crews can only sink it in hopes of claiming the Blade of Souls.
Skeleton-Controlled Burning Blade
The World Event starts in its first phase, the Skeleton-Controlled Burning Blade phase.
During the first phase, a crew of Obsidian Skeleton controls the Burning Blade and will sail it between Skeleton Camps in each region until a crew engages with the ship. During this phase of the World Event, you must track down the Burning Blade and defeat it.
The Burning Blade will not engage with you until you shoot it with your ship’s cannons or sail close enough to it, similar to emergent Skeleton Ships.
To defeat the Burning Blade, you must damage the ship with enough Cannonballs until it takes on enough water. Once the ship is defeated, it will drift in the water for ten minutes before it sinks and the World Event ends.
You’ll know you’ve defeated the Burning Blade as you’ll be notified that you defeated the Burning Blade and a fiery ring will pulse through the water.
While the Burning Blade drifts in the water waiting to sink, you can continue to damage the ship to sink it quicker or board the vessel and pledge your crew to Flameheart.
Pledging your crew to the ship will progress the World Event to the second phase, the Player-Controlled Burning Blade Phase.
How can you tell if the World Event is Skeleton-Controlled or Player-Controlled
You can quickly tell if a crew has already taken command of the Burning Blade by looking at the ship’s marker on the Map Table. If you see an icon of a Skeleton Camp below it with the number of Rituals the ship’s completed, another crew has already taken over the Burning Blade. If the marker is just the Burning Blade without the Skeleton Camp icon, then the ship is yours to take!
How to pledge your crew to the Burning Blade
To pledge your crew to the Burning Blade, board the ship after you’ve defeated it and enter the Captain’s Cabin. Interact with the Captain’s Table in front of the statue of Flameheart to pledge your crew.
As soon as you pledge your crew, you will scuttle your current ship, and the Burning Blade will become your new ship for the session. As the Burning Blade is now your ship, returning from the Ferry of the Damned or taking a Mermaid will teleport you back to the Burning Blade.
Pledging to the Burning Blade will also fully repair and bail the ship, making it ready for you to sail. You will also receive friendly Obsidian Skeletons to help you crew the Burning Blade. These skeletons can shoot cannons, repair holes, and attack foes who board your ship.
Once the Burning Blade sinks or you return the ship to Flameheart at the Reaper’s Hideout, the Burning Blade will no longer be your ship, and you will return to your previous vessel on a nearby island.
Player-Controlled Burning Blade
After a crew pledges to Flameheart on the Burning Blade, the World Event will progress to the second phase: the Player-Controlled Burning Blade phase.
During the second phase, you can immediately return the Burning Blade to Flameheart for a quick reward or complete Rituals at Skeleton Camps to increase the value of the ship. It’s up to you and other crews looking to take you out how long the World Event lasts.
Returning your ship with zero Rituals completed will reward you with the base value of the vessel, 14,000 Gold, and Reputation towards the Reaper’s Bones. If you choose to complete Rituals to build the value of the Burning Blade, you will add 26,000 Gold per Ritual completed to your reward when you turn in the ship to Flameheart.
So, the longer you sail the Burning Blade and complete Rituals, the more Gold and Reputation you will earn from the World Event when you finally deliver it back to Flameheart at the Reaper’s Hideout. There is no limit to the number of Rituals you can complete. It’s up to you and other crews looking to take you out how long the World Event lasts. However, you put yourself in danger the longer you sail and could lose it all!
There is no hiding from other crews as you sail the Burning Blade. Not only do you have a giant swirling beacon of fire above you at all times, but other ships can see how many Rituals you’ve completed. The higher the number, the more the Burning Blade is worth, which means a high-value Blade of Souls is up for grabs.
As other crews can see how many Rituals you’ve completed, you can quickly become a high-value target. With great risk comes great reward!
Skeleton Camps
There are six Skeleton Camps in the Sea of Thieves, two in each of the original regions. They are marked on your Map Table, but you can also spot them from the large tower on each billowing fire and smoke.
More friendly Obsidian Skeletons will greet you once you sail up to a Skeleton Camp. Head to the large tower, lower the gate by lighting both Torches with your Lantern and take the lift down into the Ancient Temple below to complete the Ritual.
How to complete Rituals
Once you are in the Ancient Temple, you’ll need to solve a Constellation Puzzle before entering the Temple Crypt and completing the Ritual.
After you solve the puzzle, you’ll open the Temple Crypt door, revealing an Orb of Secrets. Before you can take the Orb of Secrets and add it to the Burning Blade, you must light all four braziers around the altar that the Orb of Secrets is sitting on.
After you light all four braziers, you can interact with the Orb of Secrets. You will directly add Ancient Knowledge from the Orb of Secrets to the Burning Blade, increasing its value. Ancient Knowledge is not a physical treasure, so a crew cannot steal it. While you don’t need to worry about anyone taking the Ancient Knowledge, you do need to worry about sinking!
You’ll need to ensure the Burning Blade is nearby, similar to lowering an Emissary. Otherwise, you won’t be able to collect the Orb of Secrets.
To start the Constellation Puzzle, light the Stargazer in the middle of the room with your Lantern.
Constellation Puzzle
Once you’ve activated the puzzle, you must use the Stargazer, Wheel, and Star Chart to find and draw the pattern of three specific Constellations. The Constellations you must draw are on the row of three Spinning Stones above the Temple Crypt door.
To find Constellation patterns, shine the Stargazer on groups of stars on the Star Chart. You’ll reveal different Constellations.
Once you find the Constellation you need for the puzzle, switch the Stargazer into Focus mode by holding the Right Trigger or the Left Mouse Button and shine the Stargazer only on the stars that make up the pattern. Each one you shine will light up and activate. Stay in Focus mode while you shine all the stars in the pattern. You’ll need to start over if you accidentally shine a star that isn’t part of the pattern.
Don’t worry if you have to retry. There isn’t a time limit to the Constellation Puzzle, and you can make as many attempts as you need.
If you come across a partially covered Constellation, you can rotate the Star Chart with the Wheel behind the Stargazer to move it into a clear view.
How to return the Burning Blade to Flameheart
To return the Burning Blade to Flameheart, sail to the Reaper’s Hideout. Enter the main structure and interact with the orb next to Flameheart to deliver him the Burning Blade. Flameheart will extract the Ancient Knowledge when you hand the ship in and reward you with Gold and Reputation.
Ensure the Burning Blade is close enough to the island, similar to lowering an Emissary. You’ll also need to ensure you are not in combat and rival crews are not nearby.
Burning Blade World Event Balancing
Like most other World Events, the Burning Blade World Event is balanced for all crew sizes.
During the Skeleton-Controlled phase, the Obsidian Skeletons that use the cannons of the Burning Blade will adjust their accuracy and choice of ammunition based on the size of the attacking crew.
So, when facing the Skeleton Controlled Burning Blade as a Sloop, you will find that the Skeletons will fire less often at you than if you were on a Galleon. They will also shoot you with fewer Bone Callers than if you were on a Galleon.
During the Player-Controlled phase, the amount of friendly skeletons you receive is based on your crew size. The more pirates you have in your crew, the less skeletons you’ll have to aid you.
Can other World Events during the Burning Blade World Event?
Other World Events, including Skeleton Forts, Forts of Fortune, Ashen Lords, Skeleton Fleets, and Ghost Fleets, cannot occur while the Burning Blade World Event is active.
However, Megalodons and emergent Skeleton Ships can still spawn, although they will not target the Burning Blade.
The Ship
The Burning Blade is the largest ship to sail the Sea of Thieves. It is taller and wider than the Galleon and has ten cannons! Two of the ten cannons are near the Ship’s Wheel, making it easy for the pirate at the Helm to jump into the action.
Firing Bone Callers from the Burning Blade’s cannons will summon Obsidian Skeletons. As the Obsidian Skeletons are tougher than regular Skeletons and resistant to fire damage, you will summon fewer Skeletons than normal.
The Burning Blade is also immune to fire and can launch massive fireballs with its unique weapon, the Ashen Roar!
The Crew
Depending on the crew size of the ship you set sail with, you’ll have a crew of Obsidian Skeletons to sail the sea with you.
On a Sloop, you will have eight to ten Obsidian Skeletons alongside you on the Burning Blade. If you are on a Brigantine, you’ll have seven to eight. And if you are on a Galleon, you’ll have seven.
Your Obsidian Skeleton crew has limited lives, meaning they won’t keep respawning if other crews kill them repeatedly. The smaller your crew size, the more lives the Obsidian Skeletons will have.
However, you can replenish your Obsidian Skeleton Crew by completing Rituals at Skeleton Camps. So, if your crew feels a little light, head to the nearest Skeleton Camp and complete a Ritual to regain your Obsidian Skeleton crew’s numbers.
The Ashen Roar
The Ashen Roar is a forward-facing flamethrower that allows the Burning Blade to damage ships directly in front of it.
To fire the Ashen Roar, you can interact with a lever next to the Ship’s Wheel at the helm. Once pulled, the Ashen Roar will fire two giant fireballs that set everything it hits on fire, including pirates and ships. Direct hits from the Ashen Roar will cause significant damage and knockback to players and ships.
The cooldown for the Ashen Roar is about two minutes. You can watch the Ashen Roar’s cooldown by watching the position of the lever. The lever will slowly return to its original position until it is fully reset and ready to use.
The Ashen Roar does not consume ammo so you can use it as many times as you want.
Ship Limitations
While the Burning Blade is the most powerful ship on the sea, it still has some limitations.
While you can’t take down the masts of the Burning Blade during the Skeleton-Controlled Phase, it is possible to take them down during the Player-Controlled Phase. It takes two Chainshots to disable a mast.
While sailing the Burning Blade, you can’t start Voyages from a Quest Table, dive to other servers, dive to Hourglass Faction Battles, be in an Alliance, or raise an Emissary.
However, you won’t need to raise an Emissary as you will automatically be a Reaper’s Bones Emissary as soon as you take over the Burning Blade.
Reaper's Bones Emissary
As soon as you pledge your crew to the Burning Blade, you will raise a Reaper’s Bones Emissary. You can’t lower it, but you don’t need to worry about it giving your position away, as you are already on the map for all players and have a swirling beacon of red flames on your ship at all times.
You can raise your Emissary Grade as usual, but completing Rituals will also increase your Emissary Grade. Completing four Rituals will raise your Emissary Grade to Grade 5.
While the Emissary Grade will apply to any treasure you sell to the Reaper’s Bones, it will also apply to the reward you receive when handing in the Burning Blade to Flameheart.
Like a regular Grade 5 Reaper’s Bones Emissary Grade, you can see all other Emissary ships on your Map Table.
Rewards
The rewards you earn from the Burning Blade World Event will vary depending on whether you pledge your crew to it or sink it.
Pledging the Burning Blade will reward you Gold and Reaper’s Bones Reputation based on how much the Burning Blade is worth, which depends on the number of Rituals you complete.
The Burning Blade with zero Rituals complete is worth 14,000 Gold. You’ll add 26,000 Gold to the Burning Blade’s value for every Ritual you complete. So, if you complete four rituals, you will receive 104,000 Gold. And that’s without the Reaper’s Bones Emissary Grade multiplier!
Sinking the Burning Blade will reward you with the Blade of Souls. The Blade of Souls is worth half of whatever the Burning Blade is worth. So if the Burning Blade completed zero Rituals, making it worth 14,000 Gold, the Blade of Souls would be worth 7,000 Gold. You can sell the Blade of Souls to the Gold Hoarders, Order of Souls, Merchant Alliance, and Reaper’s Bones. If you are a Pirate Legend, you can even sell it to the Mysterious Stranger.
5 thoughts on “Sea of Thieves: Burning Blade World Event Guide”
Can confirm that megalodon can target the burning blade, so it’s probably the same with skeleton ship, to verify
Oh really? Interesting! We haven’t run into that. The Megalodons were attacking everyone but us on the Burning Blade. Perhaps it was just luck. Good to know!
Yeah it’s probably rare, but when the meg attacked the burning blade, we clearly saw it, it made the burning blade jump on us x)
What happens with the orbs? We completed 2 rituals yesterday and the orbs shattered. Are we supposed to be able to have them as a physical object?
When you are pledged to the crew of the Burning Blade, the orbs automatically get added to the ship increasing its value. Its when you are a regular crew that you get to keep the orbs and sell them.