| Megalodon | |
|---|---|
| |
| Details | |
| Type | Creature |
| Behaviour | Hostile |
| Location | Open Sea |
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.
Contents
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
The various species of Megalodon. Illustrated by Shillianth.
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.
| Icon | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
The Hungering One | Blue variant with green eyes, and sometimes light-blue fin. |
|
The Crested Queen | Dark purple variant with purple fins and eyes. |
|
The Shadowmaw | Dark grey variant with red fins, and orange eyes. |
|
The Ancient Terror | Mossy-yellow variant with yellow fins and eyes. |
|
The Shrouded Ghost | Pale white-gray variant with peach-coloured fin and eyes. Extremely rare. Nighttime light makes its body appears much darker, and can be confused for the Crested Queen or Shadowmaw. Its peach-coloured fins are the safest way to identify it. It has a chance to spawn in any of the same locations as all other Megalodon species. |
The Shrouded Ghost's body becomes a dark purple at night.
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.
Notes
- A Megalodon's difficulty is scaled to the size of the ship it spawns to.
- A Megalodon will remain near the area where it appeared and not leave its range.
- The Megalodon's bite attack is the main threat of the encounter. Landing consecutive cannonball shots (2 on a Sloop, 4 on a Brigantine, 6 on a Galleon) on a charging Megalodon's mouth will disrupt its charge, cancelling the bite attack entirely, or lessen its damage to the hull/negate knock-back effects.
- A Megalodon's bite does as much damage as a shark bite, and knocks the player back.
- Dying to a Megalodon's bite gives the Blue Flame of Fate, same as other sharks.
- Sharks will appear near the body of a defeated Megalodon.
- Cursed Cannonballs have no effect on Megalodons.
- Megalodons can be harpooned in order to position the ship into a more fitting position to attack it or it can be used to travel more quickly as the Megalodon will drag ships around at astonishing speeds when harpooned.
- Skeleton Ships and Skeleton-operated land cannons will shoot at Megalodons. The Megalodon may then focus on the skeletons rather than the player. A Megalodon has no way of attacking skeletons that shoot at it from Island cannons, leaving them swimming and charging close to the island until the skeleton gets lucky enough to kill the Megalodon.
Commendations
Shrouded Spoils
- Hunter of The Hungering One → Defeat The Hungering One | +5
- Hunter of The Crested Queen → Defeat The Crested Queen | +10
- Hunter of The Shadowmaw → Defeat The Shadowmaw | +15
- Hunter of The Ancient Terror → Defeat The Ancient Terror | +25
- Hunter of The Shrouded Ghost → Defeat The Shrouded Ghost | +50
Athena's Fortune
- Legendary Hunter of The Hungering One → Defeat The Hungering One 50 times as a Pirate Legend
- Legendary Hunter of The Crested Queen → Defeat The Crested Queen 50 times as a Pirate Legend
- Legendary Hunter of The Shadowmaw → Defeat The Shadowmaw 50 times as a Pirate Legend
- Legendary Hunter of The Ancient Terror → Defeat The Ancient Terror 50 times as a Pirate Legend
- Legendary Hunter of the Shrouded Ghost → Defeat The Shrouded Ghost 5 times as a Pirate Legend
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
- Defeating emergent threats such as Megalodon will now result in higher-value loot drops and increase Emissary Reputation gains for Gold Hoarders, Order of Souls, Merchant Alliance, and Athena's Fortune.
- Added Megalodon varieties: the Hungering One, the Crested Queen, Shadowmaw, Ancient Terror, and the Shrouded Ghost.
- Added rewards for defeating Megalodons.
- Readded the megalodon along with making it spawn randomly and having different personalities as well.
- Removed The Hungering One.
- Introduced The Hungering One as a special event raid encounter.
