Kraken

Kraken
Details
Type	World Event
Behaviour	Hostile
Location	Ocean

“Hear me, my daughter, and come forth! Come forth and FEAST!”

— Siren Queen, The Sunken Pearl

The Kraken is a World Event Encounter in Sea of Thieves. A massive, many tentacled cephalopod-like monster that can focus on and attack any player Ship in open water when no other World Event is active. It also appears in full body during The Sunken Pearl Tall Tale.

Summary

The Kraken spawns under a ship, darkening the water into an inky-black pool and slowing the ship to a crawl as up to eight tentacles rise from the waves. The tentacles may attack by sucking players up into their mouths, wrapping around the hull, or slapping the ship. The Kraken appears to be a timed encounter where the amount of loot spawned depends on the number of limbs defeated during the fight. A Kraken will despawn shortly after all ships in the ink are sunk.

Encounter

There is a musical cue and the water around the ship darkens when the Kraken attacks. Ship movement in the dark water is minimal, but not halted. Drowning speed is dramatically increased in the inky waters.

Kraken arms will spawn in the area, the crew must kill enough arms to defeat the Kraken, or survive long enough.

There are 4 "types" of arms to the Kraken:

• "Inhaler" arms make a wind graphic on the deck and suck a player up into the arm. To avoid getting sucked in, go below deck or do damage to the open, inhaling "mouth" on a nearby tentacle. Once sucked, the player is rooted in the arm and it will occasionally slap them on the water's surface, dealing a large amount of damage. Eventually, the arm will throw the player into the water a little ways from the ship. A trapped player can be freed early by damaging the arm or harpooning out of its mouth.
  • Trapped players can still use a Cutlass to deal damaging by slashing at the sides of the tentacle's "mouth", which can help free themselves faster.
• "Tangling" arms wrap around the body of the ship, with the head of the wrapped tentacle popping out of the water close to either side of the ship or laying onto the deck of the ship. The wrap immobilizes the ship and causes holes in the hull over time and pulls the ship lower, causing some holes to take in water faster. Damaging the head of the wrapping tentacle is the quickest way of releasing the wrap. Gun and sword damage will cause it to splash poisonous Kraken blood on nearby attackers. Damaging the main body wrap on the deck can also release the wrap, but takes longer and may inflict poison damage.
  • The poison damage counts for poison death in the Ferry of the Damned.
• "Slapping" arms quickly spawn and slap hard against the side of the ship, causing movement and damage similar to a Gunpowder Barrel.
• "Target" arms just float around sticking straight up for players to shoot, rewarding loot upon being slain.

When the encounter is resolved, the inky water rapidly retreats away toward a horizon.

The Kraken has special durability scaling if it is summoned under a Sloop, tentacles spawn with lower health and higher damage reduction.

Tips and Tricks

• The Kraken is a unique World Event that has a chance of spawning in between other World Events, not including Fort of the Damned. As such, if any are visible then the Kraken will not attack. Furthermore as a World Event itself, only one Kraken can be active at any one time. Keeping track of when World Events start and how long they will likely last for can be a good way to tell when the Kraken will attack.
• Like the Megalodon, the Kraken can't spawn close to islands. Keeping your ship within one during any world event transitions will make it impossible to be attacked.
• If no world event is active and you aren't being attacked by the Kraken, this means another ship is under attack by one. You can easily use this opportunity to track down nearby players that may be under attack and easily destroy them, or assist them.
• The chosen player for each attack is picked at random, and can even choose the same ship twice in a row. As such, the more ships that are possible targets, the better chances you have of not being selected. This results in a 1 in 5 chance if the server is filled and all ships are in the open sea. If multiple ships are docked or sunk on the server, beware that you are very likely to be targeted by a Kraken.
• If clearing a world event, always be ready for a Kraken followup attack. If clearing a skull fort your crew can simply wait until another world event spawns to leave the fort, however this can be very problematic with Ghost Fleets or Skeleton Fleets, as both generally require you to be in open waters to finish them and gather the loot. A solution is upon clearing, immediately head to a nearby island and use a rowboat to gather the loot dropped by the ghost or skeleton ships.

• The easiest way to avoid a Kraken fight is to try not to panic, turn your ship a 180° and try to sail out of the inky area as quick as possible. This still requires some luck and supplies as the Kraken may tighten its grip around you and the larger ships like the Galleon and the Brigantine slow down to a crawl in the ink, making it much harder to get out of the ink and not get pushed around by the tentacle lashes.

• When too low on supplies to swim out of the inky area, having a rowboat is the next best thing as the rowboat's speed isn't as inhibited as the speed of the ships in ink. Swimming above the inky water will not damage you, giving you a chance to collect your supplies onto the rowboat and paddle into safety. The only danger here is either the sharks that cannot be seen in the inky water or when the tentacles try to suck a player in. Apart from dragging the player down in the water, being sucked in by the tentacle does not damage the player too much, when fought free from.
• The Kraken will not attack individual players who are off the ship or are on a Rowboat, but can still target players in the ink with the sucking attack even without a ship.
• Tentacles can be damaged by both Cannonballs and Weapons. However, guns deal only a fraction of the DPS a cannon can deal. Only use them if there are no cannonball angles or simply no ammunition. Generally swords deal the most DPS to a tentacle wrapped around the ship while the Eye of Reach is usually the best option for other tentacles.
• Firebombs and Blunderbombs do the same damage as cannonballs if shot out of a cannon. Don't be afraid to use them if cannonballs are in low supply.
• The Kraken will take longer to defeat based upon which ship it attacks. A Sloop only needs to kill around 2 to 3 tentacles, the Brigantine 5 to 6 tentacles, and the Galleon 7 to 8 tentacles to make the Kraken leave you alone.
• Shooting the open "mouths" on the tentacles seems to be the fastest way to defeat them, either getting more chances at loot, or dealing quickly with the more dangerous limbs.
• If a Kraken tentacle grabs you and you have a Cutlass equipped, you can lunge out of its mouth.
• Players can be saved from a Kraken's clutches with the Harpoon.
• The Kraken leaves a ship very vulnerable as it is very easy to be sabotaged and sunk by other ships. Not only can they stay out of the ink and shoot you with cannonballs from afar, sneaky pirates can also swim a bit below the surface to board your ship and even blow it up with a Gunpowder Barrel. Be very mindful of your surroundings when attacked by a Kraken. If possible, try to take over the controls of the enemy ship and steer them into the Kraken's range, as it will start to attack them as well.
• Skeleton Ships can target a Kraken if nearby, and can also spawn in randomly at any point during the attack. In this situation, the Kraken will wrap itself around the Skeleton Ship and attack it, trying to sink it. This can be very beneficial as a result, as the Skeleton Ship will keep the Kraken distracted, within cannon range and deal damage to it.
• Megalodons can also spawn anytime during a Kraken encounter and can make a bad situation much worse as both will ignore each other and the Megalodon can be a massive problem with potentially knocking crewmembers into the water. However a very good idea in this scenario is to Harpoon the mega, which can easily drag the ship out of the Kraken's clutches.
• As with other open world Encounters, the Kraken must be hit with at least one Cannonball from your ship to count towards defeat commendations.

Rewards

Like Skeleton Ships and Megalodons, Kraken tentacles can drop virtually anything (e.g Treasure Chests, Trinkets, Bounty Skulls, Mermaid Gems, Trade Good Crates or a Message in a Bottle) with the exception of Chest of Legends or a Box of Wondrous Secrets. Each tentacle drops 1 piece of Kraken Meat and 1-2 pieces of loot, marked by circling Seagulls over the water. The loot will drop at the exact location where the tentacles were slain and can usually already be spotted during the fight. Starting with the Seabound Soul Update, Krakens also have the chance to drop an Ashen Chest.

Commendations

• Kraken Hunter → Defeat 1 Kraken | +10  | Unlocks Kraken Capstan for purchase

• Master Kraken Hunter → Defeat 5 Krakens | +20  + Title | Unlocks Kraken Wheel for purchase

• Legendary Kraken Hunter → Defeat 10 Krakens | +50  + Title | Unlocks Kraken Cannons for purchase

Cooking and the Hunter's Call

Each defeated Kraken tentacle drops a piece of Kraken Meat. This meat can be cooked and eaten or sold to The Hunter's Call. Like Megalodon Meat, cooked Kraken meat can be eaten twice, replenishes 100% health and gives half a circle of health regeneration. Under-cooked Kraken meat replenishes 90% health without giving regeneration and Burnt Kraken meat only restores 11% of the pirate's health. Kraken meat takes about 2 minutes to fully cook. The easiest way to tell when it's fully cooked is to look at the outer skin with the suckers. Selling 50 pieces of Kraken meat at Seaposts earns the player The The Hunter of the Monstrous Beast Commendation for The Hunter's Call, which unlocks a Kraken Themed Facepaint Makeup for purchase at any Clothing Shop.

Raw	Under-cooked	Cooked	Burnt
N/A	405	450	45

The Sunken Pearl

During The Sunken Pearl Tall Tale, the Kraken can be seen and heard outside windows, swimming around the Siren Spire and Siren Citadel. This was the first time in which the Kraken had been encountered in full body form. The Siren Queen calls in the Kraken near the end of the tale to destroy the intruders before her chamber is reached. Pirates must use Cannons on the wreck of The Silver Blade to fight the Kraken as it bursts through the structure of the Citadel into The Silver Blade's chamber. Here, the Kraken's beaked face is fully exposed and visible.

Trivia

• The Kraken was available in the original launch of Sea of Thieves, was disabled for a time and has received a minor overhaul in the Shrouded Spoils update.
• Many players in the community call the Kraken "Karen." This is also an internal nickname at Rare.
• Art found in the Art of Sea of Thieves promotional book implies inspiration for multiple types of Kraken, at least during the planning phase of game development.
  • Krakens were shown in Sea of Thieves promotional images to be similar to the Krakens of sea folklore, being giant octopus-like creatures that attack ships from under water with their enormous tentacles. While the material released concerning the Kraken have been short and largely obscure, it appeared to be greater than the size of some of the larger ships in the game, possibly as large as the Galleon, or even larger.
• Originally, the Kraken would only attack Galleons, did not drop loot and did not have the "slap attack."
• Krakens did not spawn in any of the pre-release versions, including the Final Beta, but were shown in teaser trailers for the full release.
• Kraken skulls and skeletons can be found throughout the Sea of Thieves, but more frequently in The Wilds.
• At 3:00 a.m. a roar can be heard throughout the Sea of Thieves. The sound is believed to be produced from the Kraken.
• There was once a massive Kraken known only as the Old Mother that plagued the Merfolk. The Mer sought the help of the indigenous humans of the Sea of Thieves, and using the magic these Ancients possessed, they created chains of unbendable iron to seal her away. The Old Mother thrashed for a century in these binds before dying. When she died, her children fled to all corners of the sea to hide.
• There is only one Kraken that we fight. It always runs before it dies, hence the absence of a body when defeated. This Kraken was blinded by The Pirate Lord and his crew, along with Briggsy and Eli Slate during his time on the seas. Due to this encounter, it now uses its ink to hide itself and only fights using its tentacles in World Event encounters.
• The Kraken only has rendered body during The Sunken Pearl Tall Tale, and not during random encounters.
• The Kraken's model may have been inspired by the mythical Caribbean sea monster known as the Lusca.

Gallery

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Patch history

• 2.5.0.1 (March 24, 2022)
  • Crews will now find a steady rotation of World Events taking place across the seas.

• 2.4.0 (December 2, 2021)
  • Groups of Seagulls now mark the locations of unretrieved tentacle loot for World Event encounter.
  • Treasure dropped by defeated tentacles will no longer begin sinking, until the Kraken is dispatched.

• 2.2.1 (August 17, 2021)
  • Krakens now take reduced damage from the Trident of Dark Tides.

• 2.2.0 (June 22, 2021)
  • Full body render and encounter introduced for The Sunken Pearl.

• 2.1.0 (April 15, 2021)
  • World Event Rebalancing – The likelihood of being targeted by the Kraken immediately after a previous world event has been reduced.

• 2.0.15 (May 27, 2020)
  • Sloop Kraken Encounters – When encountering a Kraken on a Sloop, tentacles are now weaker and take less damage. Kraken tentacles wrapping your ship also take less damage before they let go.
  • Brigantine and Galleon Kraken Encounters – When encountering a Kraken on a Brigantine or Galleon, tentacles no longer try to cover the lower deck to prevent access. When a tentacle releases your ship, the damage dealt has been made more consistent.

• 2.0.3 (May 29, 2019)
  • Defeating a Kraken tentacle will now cause it to correctly drop Kraken meat in addition to other rewards.

• 2.0 (April 30, 2019)
  • When fighting the Kraken, moving into a safe space while it attempts to snatch you up from the ship will no longer cause you to be pulled through the environment.

• 1.4.3 (February 6, 2019)
  • Calming the Kraken - The Kraken has learnt to pick on someone her own size and will now take it easier on Sloops and Brigantines. Tentacle wraps that block access to lower levels have been significantly reduced.
  • After being drowned by a Kraken, Players returning from the Ferry of the Damned should no longer have their camera locked in position.

• 1.4.2 (January 3, 2019)
  • Players on the Ferry of the Damned will now be credited for Krakens killed by their crew.

• 1.4.0 (November 28, 2018)
  • Kraken Updates - The difficulty of Kraken encounters has been increased and balanced for different crew sizes, meaning it can now assault any ship, even your Sloop! Watch out for its new slap attack too.
  • Kraken Rewards - Loot can now be found bobbing on the surface after defeating a Kraken.
  • Player camera angles can no longer become incorrectly clamped after being grabbed by a Kraken tentacle.
  • Players can no longer potentially be sucked through the ship by the Kraken when targeted.
  • Fixed several issues which caused player camera chaos after being thrown by the Kraken.
  • If drowned by a Kraken tentacle, players will no longer be locked in a 180 degree camera rotation when spawning on the Ferry of the Damned.

• 1.3.1 (October 10, 2018)
  • The ocean will appear completely black when a Kraken encounter begins.

• 1.2.4 (August 30, 2018)
  • The Kraken has been unleashed upon the seas once again.

• 1.1.7 (July 19, 2018)
  • It is no longer possible to clip through the Kraken tentacle when it is wrapped around a ship.

• 1.0.7 (May 15, 2018)
  • Frame rates will now be more consistent during Kraken encounters due to visual effect optimisations.

• 1.0.5 (April 24, 2018)
  • Kraken is no longer able to spawn around rocks.
  • Kraken tentacle should always be visible when holding a player.
  • Players just outside the inky murk will now hear Kraken fight audio when it attacks other ships.

• 1.0.1 (March 27, 2018)
  • Players can no longer be held by a seemingly invisible Kraken tentacle.

• First Release (March 20, 2018)
  • Introduced.