Captain Flameheart has ordered his devout Obsidian Skeletons to excavate Ancient Temples buried deep beneath the sands in hopes of finding Ancient Knowledge. To protect themselves while they perform dark Rituals to extract the Ancient Knowledge they seek, the Obsidian Skeletons have fortified the islands above the temples with Skeleton Camps.
Crews pledged to the Burning Blade can help acquire the Ancient Knowledge by completing the Ritual. However, crews who oppose Flameheart can also stop the Ritual and take the secrets for themselves.
What are Skeleton Camps?
Skeleton Camps are small strongholds built above Ancient Temples on small islands across the Sea of Thieves. They provide a light combat and puzzle-oriented raid experience that requires you to complete or stop a dark Ritual. You can take on Skeleton Camps on the High Seas and Safer Seas.
Every Skeleton Camp has a large tower with various lookout spots, cannon emplacements, jetties, and a guard of Obsidian Skeletons. Most importantly, each Skeleton Camp has a lift inside its large tower to an excavated Ancient Temple below the island.
Inside the temple is a locked Temple Crypt protecting its treasure. If you sail to a Skeleton Camp, the crypt will contain an Orb of Secrets. And if you dive to a Skeleton Camp via the Quest Table, the crypt will have Trading Company treasure.
To open the Temple Crypt, you must solve a Constellation Puzzle. This puzzle is a crucial part of the raid experience, as solving it will open the crypt, reveal the treasure, and complete the Skeleton Camp. Once you open the crypt, you can complete the Ritual as the crew of the Burning Blade or stop the Ritual by taking the treasure.
Active vs. Inactive
Skeleton Camps can be active or inactive. When the Skeleton Camp is active, you can attempt the puzzle and obtain the Orb of Secrets.
Unlike Skeleton Forts, Skeleton Camps do not have a giant cloud above them when active. However, you can tell if the Skeleton Camp is active by looking for the brazier at the top of the Skeleton Camp’s large tower. If the brazier is billowing fire and smoke, then the Skeleton Camp is active.
After clearing a Skeleton Camp, it will become inactive for a short time, similar to Sea Forts.
Burning Blade Crew Experience
The experience within Skeleton Camps will vary depending on whether you participate in them as part of the Burning Blade crew.
While all crews will need to solve the Constellation Puzzle, only crews not pledged to Flameheart will need to defeat waves of Obsidian Skeletons before the Temple Crypt doors open. The Obsidian Skeletons surrounding the Skeleton Camp’s tower will also be friendly towards the crew of the Burning Blade.
Once the Temple Crypt doors open, crews not pledged to the Burning Blade can immediately stop the Ritual by interacting with the Orb of Secrets. Stopping the Ritual will damage the Orb of Secrets and allow you to pick it up and sell it to a Trading Company other than the Hunter’s Call.
However, Burning Blade crews must light the four braziers around the Orb of Secrets to complete the Ritual before they can interact with it. Once they light the four braziers, they can interact with the Orb of Secrets and add its Ancient Knowledge directly to the Burning Blade.
Where are Skeleton Camps located?
There are six Skeleton Camps across the Sea of Thieves, two in each region. You can find Skeleton Camps on the following small islands:
- Lookout Point
- Barnacle Cay
- Picaroon Palms
- Lagoon of Whispers
- Blind Man’s Lagoon
- Shiver Retreat
How to enter the Ancient Temple
The entrance to the Ancient Temple is in the Skeleton Camp’s large tower. Light the two Torches on either side of the entrance with your Lantern to lower the gate blocking your path. If you can’t light the two Torches, the Skeleton Camp isn’t active.
Ancient Temples
After you’ve taken the lift below the surface, you’ll find an excavated pathway to an Ancient Temple. Inside the temple are a Wheel, a Stargazer, and a Star Chart. Lighting the Stargazer will start the Constellation Puzzle.
How to solve the Constellation Puzzle
To solve the Constellation Puzzle, you must use the Stargazer to find and draw three specific Constellations. The Constellations you are looking for are on the row of three Spinning Stones above the Temple Crypt door. These Constellations will be random, and you are not guaranteed to find the same three at each Ancient Temple you visit.
There are other Constellations around the temple that you can also look for. However, those other Constellations are optional and lead to Gold Piles in Ancient stone coffers.
To use Stargazer, you must use its Search and Focus modes. By default, the Stargazer is in Search mode. Shining the Stargazer over a group of stars on the Star Chart will reveal a pattern of stars that form a Constellation.
Once you’ve found the Constellation you need for the puzzle, you must shine the specific stars in the pattern while in Focus mode. You can switch the Stargazer to Focus mode by holding the Right Trigger or Left Mouse Button.
While in Focus mode, only shine the Stargazer over the stars that belong to the Constellation’s pattern. When you shine a correct star, it will activate and light up. You’ll also hear a queue telling you you’ve shined the correct star.
Stay in Focus mode and continue to shine the rest of the stars in the pattern.
Once you complete a pattern, the corresponding Constellation will glow on the Spinning Stone, marking it solved. If you accidentally shine a star not part of the Constellation’s pattern, you’ll have to restart and try again.
Constellation Example
So, if the Constellation you are looking for is the Butterfly Constellation, you’ll first use the Stargazer’s Search mode to find the group of stars in the Star Chart that includes the Butterfly Constellation.
After you reveal the seven stars that make the pattern of the Butterfly Constellation, you’ll use the Focus mode to shine the Stargazer lens only on those stars.
As soon as you shine and activate all seven stars that make up the Butterfly Constellation, you will have solved that Spinning Stone.
Skeleton Camp Rewards
The rewards for completing a Skeleton Camp vary depending on if you are part of the Burning Blade crew or dove to a Skeleton Camp.
Completing a Skeleton Camp as the crew of the Burning Blade will reward you with an Orb of Secrets that will automatically add value to the Burning Blade.
Completing a Skeleton Camp as a crew not pledged to the Burning Blade will reward you with an Orb of Secrets. You can pick up the Orb of Secrets and sell it to any Trading Company other than Athena’s Fortune. The Orb of Secrets is worth 20,000 Gold.
Completing a Skeleton Camp that you dove to from the Quest Table will reward you with three to four Trading Company treasures.
There are also Gold Piles in the Temple Crypt and the optional Ancient stone coffers around the Ancient Temple that you can take. While most of the Gold Piles are worth less than 1,000 Gold, some can give you up to 10,000 Gold.
Skeleton Camp Raid Voyage
The Skeleton Camp Raid Voyage works like the other Trading Company Raid Voyages. Voting for one will have you diving below the waves and resurfacing on a new server next to an active Skeleton Camp.
Once at the Skeleton Camp, you’ll venture down to the Ancient Temple, solve the Constellation Puzzle, and fight against Obsidian Skeletons as you had just sailed to one.
However, instead of receiving the Orb of Secrets and preventing the Ritual, you will be rewarded with loot for the Trading Company you selected to raid on behalf of.
You can unlock the Skeleton Camp Raid Voyage at Reputation Level 20 for the Gold Hoarders, Order of Souls, and Merchant Alliance. You’ll unlock it for the Athena’s Fortune at Reputation Level 10.
Gold Hoarder
The treasure you’ll receive for the Gold Hoarder Skeleton Camp Raid Voyages are as follows:
- Ancient Chest
- Prosperous Hoarder’s Reliquary
- Vestige of Power
- Peculiar Coral Relic
Order of Souls
The treasure you’ll receive for the Order of Souls Skeleton Camp Raid Voyages are as follows:
- Ancient Chest
- Veiled Eye of Souls
- Vile Bounty Skull
- Villainous Coral Skull
Merchant Alliance
The treasure you’ll receive for the Merchant Alliance Skeleton Camp Raid Voyages are as follows:
- Ancient Chest
- Scroll of Shrouded Waters
- Two Coffers of Forgotten Jewels
Athena’s Fortune
The treasure you’ll receive for the Athena’s Fortune Skeleton Camp Raid Voyages are as follows:
- Two Ancient Chests
- Talisman of Fortunes
- Legendary Fortune Keeper
- Jar of Incense
- Villainous Skull of Ancient Fortune
- Two Gilded Relics of Ancient Fortunes