Your pirate has a range of athletic abilities, such as running, jumping, and flying through the air. While you might find these capabilities helpful in a bombastic brawl, you’ll want to use this more subtle ability to exceed during more sneaky situations: Crouching!
What is Crouching
Crouching is an ability that allows you to lower your stance while moving, making it harder for enemies to see you. When Crouched, you will reduce your height by half. Crouching also enables you to access stealth mechanics, such as hiding your Nameplate, quieting your footsteps, and wearing Disguises.
While Crouched, you can’t access any of your weapons or items. You also cannot use objects you pick up, like treasure, Tridents, or Storage Crates. Just like using ladders, if you are holding something when you Crouch, you will automatically put it away or stow it on your back.
Even though you can’t hold anything while you are Crouched, you can still pick up treasure. Again, you will store the item on your back when you pick it up. If you have a Collector’s Chest, you can pick up to three items if there is room in the chest!
You will automatically stand up when you use an item, jump, sprint, or an interaction point. However, you can stay Crouched while pilfering another crew’s resources from their ship.
You can also take damage while you are Crouched and stay in the Crouched stance.
While Crouched, your world collision will remain the same as if you were standing, but your weapon collision will shrink. So, while you can’t access tight areas you couldn’t already access, projectiles and sword swings can fly right over your head.
How to Crouch
You can toggle Crouch by simply pressing the Right Stick on the Controller or the Control Key on the Keyboard. In the Settings, you can set the Crouch ability to another button, similar to other actions.
Effects of Crouching
Crouching allows you to use stealth mechanics ranging from hiding the Nameplate above your head from other crews to dawning Disguises!
Hidden Nameplate
While you are Crouched, pirates from other crews cannot see the Nameplate above your head, similar to any of the Hide Emotes. It doesn’t matter if you move while Crouched or stand still. Without a Nameplate, you can easily blend into your surroundings without being noticed.
Quiet Footsteps
Crouching will make the sound of your footsteps much quieter. With almost silent footsteps, you can sneak up on unsuspecting enemies, including Skeletons, Phantoms, and Ocean Crawlers.
Skeletons, Phantoms, and Ocean Crawlers will not hear you while you sneak behind them, so you’ll only gain their attention when you are in their line of sight.
However, Skeleton Captains, Phantom Captains, and Skeleton Lords have heightened perceptions. You’ll have to be extra sneaky when Crouching behind them, as they are likelier to hear or see you than other enemies.
Disarm Traps
While Crouched, you can Disarm Traps. You can trigger Traps while Crouched, so you’ll still need to be careful around them. However, the only way to Disarm one is while you are Crouched.
Disarming Traps rather than damaging them can be advantageous. If you have space in your inventory for a Trap, you will pick it up when you Disarm it, allowing you to use it as you see fit. You can also pick up any item loaded into it if you have room.
Disguises
While you are Crouched, you can access your Disguise Radial, which has all your unlocked Disguises. Disguises allow you to take the shape and size of various Chests and a Resource Barrel. Looking identical to everyday items in the Sea of Thieves will help you blend into your surroundings and let unsuspecting pirates pass right by you.
Like Hide Emotes, your Nameplate will remain hidden while in a Disguise. However, unlike Hide Emotes, you can move while in Disguise. If you don’t quite like the position you are hiding, you can slowly move without giving up your Nameplate or Disguise.
Less Knockback
While Crouched, you will feel less of any Knockback effect. You can expect the Knockback to have a 75% lower impact than if you were standing.