From the day they first stowed away on a sloop behind the wood barrel, every pirate’s dream is to one day own their own ship and walk about as a true captain. From Blackbeard’s ship The Queen Anne’s Revenge to Flameheart’s Burning Blade; what makes a ship stick out on the waters is the effect it has on other pirates and the fear it spreads throughout their crews. Whereas on the other hand, should you be out on the open ocean in nothing but a basic wooden sloop and cotton white sails, not only will you be lacking serious style points, but you may actually be making yourself into a bigger target than you realize! Experienced thieves might just see your basic ship with patchy sails and start licking their lips at a seemingly very easy target. 

Fortunately Sea of Thieves has a vast array of ship customization skins and sets, the possibilities of creating your own feared vessel are endless! Now of course, every pirate is unique and should be given the maximum amount of choices, which Sea of Thieves does brilliantly. With a full customization menu, players are able to equip multiple items from different ship sets, allowing a fully personalized and one of a kind look. However, some of the ship sets are just too pretty to mess with! As many pirates will save their rewards in order to cash in for the full look. But with some ship sets hidden behind achievements, quests and higher prices, which ones should you dedicate your hard earned gold to? Well it’s your lucky day! As fortune would have it, right here is a list of the top 10 Sea of Thieves ship skin sets that look awesome:

10. Nightshine Parrot

Stalk the seas in style with this black and blue beauty!

Coming in at number 10 on our list is the Nightshine Parrot set. Not locked behind any achievements needed, this array of cool colors can be adorned by any pirate, but they better have a large stack of gold to spare! Altogether, this cosmetic set will cost players just over 1 million in-game gold pieces, for sure not the most budget friendly set of sails and paint. However this is easily one of my personal favorite sets, as the dark parrot figurehead and black and blue alternating sails bring not only an ominous presence when this ship cuts the waters, but an artistic one as well! Don these cool colors and blend in with the dark seas behind you!

9. Forsaken Ashes

Pay tribute to the great Captain Grace Morrow with this Shroudbreaker set!

Once locked in the clutches of the Bilge Rats, the Forsakes Ashes ship set is now available for you to adorn your ship with! Modeled after the Shroudbreaker from the in-game quests, pirates can show off their fearlessness and bravery under the ashen sails of this rare cosmetic. Should you want to sail in the ashen-grey, you’ll first need to acquire 310 dubloons in order to buy all of the items in the ship skin. Originally, you would have needed the “Master Devil’s Voyager” commendation, luckily for pirates with aversions to flaming water and volcanoes this is no longer the case!

With the ashen flaming figurehead on the bow, sail steadfast into the Devil’s Roar and be the smouldering envy of all the wannabe shroud-breakers!

8. Ruffian Sea Dog

You know what it is…. Black and Yellow Black and Yellow Black and Yellow

While being one of the cheaper skins on this list, the Ruffian Sea Dog set just has a deadly and experienced look to it that you just can’t paint over! The spades-and-skulls sail is one of the coolest designs in the game, and when you compliment it with the spaded hull and skull figurehead the look is just right on point. The only catch to unlocking this beast is that you have to be a level 50 in the Order of Souls to purchase the figurehead, no doubt the most important part of the look! So be sure to retrieve plenty of skulls on your journeys and save up! Be ready to cut through the seas with a perfectly designed vessel that says you have both vast experience in the Order of Souls and that you have great taste as well!

7. Inky Kraken

A reskin of the Kraken, this dark cephalopod encompasses your ship and protects it!

Truth be told, I do love the original Kraken skin. It’s been in the game for years and it is certainly a pretty sight, however this darker and slightly more menacing version of it just pops with a little more malice and a slightly better color. With a blood-soaked purple that is seemingly stained on the hull, red and black kraken covered sails and simply one of the best figureheads in the game; the Inky Kraken skin has that deep-depth style you need for your next hunt! With a total of just over one million gold needed to equip the whole ship set and no reputation requirements needed, this is one cosmetic that all pirates need to look for. Oh and my personal favorite part of the skin? Hands down has got to be the ship’s steering wheel, turn in style knowing you’ve got someone watching over you! Literally!

6. Wailing Barnacle 

A little louder than its counterpart, the Silent Barnacle, make some noise with this skin!

With the new addition of fearsome sirens, ocean crawlers and underwater shrines and temples players can now swim down to an explore; open water gameplay surely has been given a buff. Now you can pay tribute to the seas with the powder blue ocean-inspired Wailing Barnacle ship set! Coming in at a total cost of 280 dubloons, As far as skins go, certainly not the most expensive buy! Pirates who have that kind of dubloon coinage can sail in style with this blue-green stained beauty! You won't want to fire any cannons at that hull, just look how the colors mimic the blue and turquoise from the ocean and sky! The almost rusty sails are a favorite of mine, the brown and blue pairing so well together, just think of how much praise other crews will give your ship as you sink them to the bottom! Well... between them cursing you out of course!

5. Dark Adventurer

Not for the faint of heart… or the light of wallet for that matter

Not the most accessible skin, the Dark Adventurer set is exclusive to pirate legends only! Show off your rank and reputation by sailing under the sword and skull sails and let other pirates know you are not the one to be trifled with! This set might take a while to unlock however, as it comes at two steep prices: Pirate Legend rank and over 37 million in game gold altogether! While some may see this as a negative, I prefer to think of this specific set as an exclusive that only the most feared (and richest) pirates can unlock. The classic skull-and-swords sail look really does pop against the black sails, giving your crew a cut-throat aura that can’t be beat!  With the skulled figurehead on your bow, cut through the waters to your next prey and make the title “Pirate Legend” feared throughout all servers!

4. Reaper’s Bones

Known to all as feared pirate hunters, show off your bloodlust with this blood-and-bone-like ship set!

In order to be able to unlock this exclusive set, you must first need to achieve level 75 in the Reaper’s Bones trading company to be able to purchase all the items needed. Now that’s quite a lot of plundering and fighting to get through, even as pirates are concerned, so should you see these sails on your waters you may want to tuck tail and run! While not the most expensive set, altogether costing players under half a million gold pieces, this skin makes it into the top 5 for not only the rank it takes to unlock it, but the look as well. Adorned with a bone-white that pops out among the red and black set, this is a skin that might even have old Flameheart himself fearing your arrival! Plus the figurehead on the bow is just too cool to pass up, I would recommend buying that if you can, even if you cannot get the other pieces to the skin (it unlocks at level 50 of the Reaper’s Bones).

3. Silver Blade

Flameheart pays special attention to the ship formerly sailed by his adopted son, JR.

Easily the most elegant skin on this list, the SIlver Blade skin should be familiar to pirates who have completed “The Sunken Pearl” tall tale, you might even have the sword to match! Beautiful silver, black and greys beautifully cut through the waves as you are joined by the eagle figurehead and the spirit of Flameheart’s adopted son, Junior! This skin is actually only available to be unlocked through the Sea of Thieves Insider Programme, where players who want to dive deeper into the seas can get developer updates, early looks and also a few exclusive items like this! Not the scariest set, this skin makes its mark by looking graceful and elegant in a fight, not something you want to wildly rush against! Oh and did I mention the eagle figurehead? I did, but here it is anyway in its feathery glory!

2. Ghost

Make your return from the ship of the damned in this spooky set!

Let’s face it, even the best pirates can make mistakes from time to time. And yes, those can land you on the ship of the damned, but if you’re sailing with the Ghost ship set already equipped, then it won’t make much difference! When on the seas, this beauty glows green and black, seemingly blending in with other skeleton and ghost ships, only with a very lively secret! The green and black Ghost set is only available to pirate legends who have unlocked the ship’s items from going on Athena quests. Costing a little over 3 million in-game gold pieces, the spooky spirits of this ship set will guide any pirate legends safely on their journey. The all-seeing ghost on the bow lights your way on the bow, making sure you steer clear of any rocks or floating kegs! Trust me, it’s not a good look for a ghost ship to be sinking beneath the waves. And speaking of ships that have famously sunk to the depths down below…

1. Eternal Freedom

It’s not just a keel, a hull, a deck and sails that’s what a ship needs, but what a ship is... is freedom!

Is it a cop out to put the Black Pearl (Officially called the Eternal Freedom skin) at the number one spot on the list? Not at all, nope. This ship's skin is the envy of every pirate seeing you sail the famous tattered black sails of the Pirates of the Caribbean vessel past them. But this fan favorite does not come to you easy, as you can only purchase the items from the Pirate Emporium for a total of just under 5000 ancient coins altogether. And anyone who has played the game for enough time should know just how hard these are to come by! But the reward is more than worth it as you can take up the legacy of Jack Sparrow himself! Command the Pearl as you see fit and make your own stories become as legendary as the man who escaped Davy Jones’ locker! With the Pirates of the Caribbean update, players can also emote and dress just like Jack (you can even have the prison dog as a pet too!)  giving you the full experience of living a pirate’s life, drink up me hearties yo-ho!

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