In Sea of Thieves, galleons are the undisputed kings of the sea. With eight cannons, a high health pool, and three sets of sails, they outclass the smaller sloops in every way other than maneuverability. That means a two-man sloop crew will almost surely get obliterated should they dare challenge one of these mighty vessels.
However, with some favorable wind conditions, some explosive power, and a fearless heart, a sloop is capable of being used to sink a galleon. Here's how to do just that.
Obtain an explosive barrel
Since your sloop lacks enough cannons on-board to give you a chance in a direct naval battle with a galleon, you'll need to employ a different tactic: using gunpowder barrels. Colored bright red with an image of crossed bones on the side, gunpowder barrels can be found anywhere in the game world.
The most common locations they spawn at are skeleton forts (inactive and active), though you can often find them on normal islands. Once I even found one underwater inside a shipwreck.
Find and pursue a galleon
Thanks to their large size, spotting a galleon should be easy. Have one player sail the sloop while the other goes up to the crow's nest and goes on lookout duty. You're bound to find one eventually, and when you do, immediately begin sailing towards it.
Catching up to a galleon is tricky, though. Due to it having three sails, a galleon will be able to outpace a sloop if the wind is blowing in its favor. However, when the sails are not catching wind, the bulky hull of the ship significantly reduces its speed of movement. The smaller, lighter sloop avoids this problem, and is capable of still moving at a decent speed even without wind assistance. This window of opportunity is your chance to close the distance.
Show them what you're made of
Once you are able to catch up to the galleon, whoever is sailing your sloop must directly ram the ship. Not only does this do some solid damage (albeit to both boats), it distracts the enemy crew and gives you a chance to hop from your vessel to theirs, gunpowder barrel in hand.
If you see any members of the other crew on the deck, immediately take the barrel to them, set it down, back up several feet and blast it with a firearm. The explosion will not only instantly kill any foe near it, but it will also put four holes into the enemy ship hull, causing water to flow in incredibly quickly. While this is happening, you should try and kill any remaining players alive and keep them from making repairs. The ship will sink before you know it.
If you're playing as the sloop helmsman, you should make repairs to the damage your own ship sustained in the ramming. Once that's taken care of, sail near the galleon and take potshots at enemy crew members who survived the gunpowder bombing. You might even be able to hit them with a few cannon rounds to reduce their repair efficiency and increase the chance that they'll meet a watery grave.
Your thoughts
Have you sunken a galleon with a sloop before? If so, how? Let me know in the comments.
Sea of Thieves is available now for $59.99 on Xbox One and Windows 10. You can also obtain it for $9.99 a month through Xbox Game Pass.
