Keeping your ship afloat is something every pirate should know. After all, you don’t want to your ship to be sinking into waters, filled with god knows what’s under there (sharks, krakens, killer mermaids etc.). You and your ship must be ready at all times. You can’t jump into a boat and expect it to do all the work. You and your ship must work together, and sometimes build something. Like an actual build. In this guide, we will show you how to Bilge, which is a build you can use to fight off enemies and keep your ship afloat.
Sea of Thieves – How to Bilge
Preparations
Preparing yourself with the best gear available should be something you need to do before you set sail. For this preparation, it will be easy. You need to have a cutlass as your main melee weapon. The reason for this is because the cutlass allows you to move fast. You need the speed to move around your ship if you want to patch up holes or throw water out of the ship when under attack.
Sound
When in a fight, you will expectedly take some hits to your ship. These hits won’t immediately sink your ship, but the holes they leave will make sure that happens. Here is where the important part kicks in: sound. Sea of Thieves has great sound design, and you can pretty much hear everything from the cannon shots to the water around you.
This also extends to the water leaking into your ship through the hole. You will need to keep an ear out when playing, because the sound of your ship getting water will save your life more than once.
Bailing
If you can’t patch up the holes in your ship and the water has started seeping in to the point where your lower deck is half flooded, then it’s time to bring out the bucket. Bailing (no, not bailing out of the ship) allows you to get water into the bucket and throw it out of the ship and back into the ocean.
There is a way to do this easily, especially for Galleons. Most people would get a bucket of water and go all the way up to the deck and throw the water off the side of the ship. You don’t really need to do that. If you aim your bucket correctly right through the grate, you can throw your water out through the grate and off the side of the ship without having to leave the interior. This is a good way to save time.
Repairing
When the water levels are down, you can safely repair the holes in your ship. There are three different tiers to holes. Each tier has a different repair time that you need to take note of:
Tier 1 – 2 seconds to repair (3 slaps)
Tier 2 – 3 seconds to repair (4 slaps)
Tier 3 – 6 seconds to repair (6 slaps)
There’s no way to shorten the time to repair for each tier, but you can make sure that you are safe when you do so. When repairing holes, if a cannonball hits the area where you are, you can get knocked back, causing the repair to be interrupted. A good way to avoid this is get as far away as you can from the hole, while also within distance to repair the hull. That way, when another cannonball hits, you won’t get knocked back from the blast, allowing you to continue repairing.
Huge thanks to Liger for the information on how to Bilge in Sea of Thieves. With this guide, you can be prepared to fight against enemy combatants, whether it’s NPC’s or enemy players. If you want to learn more, you can check out his video that talks about how to Bilge in great detail: How to Bilge in Sea of Thieves Season 8 PvP Guide | Swabbies
ALSO READ: Sea Of Thieves: Season 8 Complete Guide
