Megalodon

The Megalodon is a dangerous species of giant shark that roams the open waters of the Sea of Thieves, preying on player ships. There are five types of Megalodon species with varying colours and rarity.

They were first introduced as a time-limited encounter for The Hungering Deep, returning as a permanent encounter, with additional species, in the Shrouded Spoils update.

The Encounter
Megalodons are vicious predators that appear around Player Ships on open seas. A Megalodon encounter begins when the tense Megalodon music starts playing, after which, the Megalodon appears out of the deep sea behind the Ship and starts swimming closely until the Ship sails out of its hunting grounds or the Megalodon is defeated. Each Megalodon spawns with a unique personality, with ranging aggression, sometimes passive until provoked.

A Megalodon will attack the Ship by charging at, and biting the ship, which is accompanied by a tense chorus of violins. This bite attack can cause 1-5 holes in the ship's hull depending on ship size. Defeating a Megalodon takes around 12-15 cannonball hits on a Sloop, around 15-18 cannonball hits on a Brigantine and around 30-32 cannonball hits on a Galleon. Sloops and Brigantines also take less damage from the Megalodon's bites.

Players wishing to get rid of a Megalodon may sail close to Outposts, Islands, Seaposts or Shipwrecks, the Megalodon will turn away and patrol the area where it first appeared.

Megalodon Species
There are five different species of Megalodons, listed in order of increasing rarity.

While each variant have distinguishing colours, their markings (scars, stripes, etc) may vary per encounter.



Rewards
Upon defeat, a Megalodon will leave behind a generous pile of Treasure where they died. Defeating a Megalodon will also give a notable Emissary Grade Reputation boost to crews sailing as Trading Company Emissaries (with the exception of Reaper's Bones)

All Megalodon variants have the same reward pool:
 * 4-6 pieces of Megalodon Meat
 * 5-12 random Treasure items
 * Regular, Ashen and Cursed Treasure Chests
 * Skeleton Captain’s Chests
 * Stronghold Chests
 * Regular and Ashen Trinkets
 * Regular and Ashen Trade Good Crates
 * Regular and Ashen Bounty Skulls
 * Skeleton Captain’s Skulls
 * Stronghold Skulls
 * Mermaid Gems
 * Collector's Chests with Gold and other small Treasure

Previous Events

 * During The Hungering Deep campaign, players could defeat the Hungering One to earn the Hungering Tattoo Set, Shark Bitemark Scars, and Hungering One Figurehead.
 * During The Hungering Deep Anniversary Event, players could kill 3 Megalodons to earn the Drum of the Deep.
 * During the Hunters of the Deep event, players had to earn Shark Teeth as points via completing Megalodon or Shark related challenges to unlock Shrouded Ghost Hunter Set Ship Cosmetics.

Shrouded Spoils
| |  |  |  |

Trivia

 * The The Hungering Deep official summary was: "Something old, fast and hungry is surfacing. Follow the trail of riddles and rumours. We hope you live to tell the tale."
 * The Deckhand Guess for Gold Competition from August 22nd, 2019 stated that 11 Shrouded Ghosts were killed between the 21st and 22nd of August, 2019.
 * The Deckhand Guess for Gold Competition from January 28, 2019 stated that 7,857 Megalodons were killed between January 22nd - January 23rd, 2020.

Patch History
Megalodón Mégalodon