Storm
The Storm is one of the different weather effects in Sea of Thieves. Sailing through Storms is a challenge for even the most experienced crews and should not be taken lightly.
A Storm is an always-present dark cloud roaming the seas that can be easily spotted from afar. It contains heavy rain and wind, wild waves, and dangerous lightning which produces thunder that can be heard from afar. The edge of a storm is a light storm, and the centre of a storm is a heavy storm, where Stormfish can be caught.
Mechanics
Movement
The Storm always moves on a path independent from the direction of the Wind, and travels only within The Wilds, The Ancient Isles and The Shores of Plenty. It does not travel or spawn within The Devil's Roar. Its movement follows a set, looping path around the map, taking approximately 250 in-game days (4 days, 4 hours real time) to complete a cycle and is synchronised across all servers.
Intensity
A storm's weather intensity varies from a Light Storm at its edges, to a Heavy Storm at its centre.
The Light Storm at its outer edges is indicated by light rainfall that will slowly start filling up your ship with rainwater. The storm cloud will also darken the surroundings.
The Heavy Storm inside is where the weather is the most intense, indicated by a pitch-black cloud above the player. The ship's bell will start ringing uncontrollably in the wind, and any Compass will start spinning around wildly. The Wheel of the ship will start pulling towards one side or another, requiring someone to keep it steady while sailing. Due to the spin of the wheel, an un-anchored ship in a Storm will spin around. Rainwater will start filling the Ship at a faster rate at this point.
Stormfish can only be caught in a Heavy Storm, the ringing bell as an indicator for this can be helpful.
Sailing in Heavy Storms can be dangerous as the strong waves will cause holes in the hull of the ship. Strong waves also deal damage to any Rowboats in the water. The shorelines of islands, and the vicinity of Shipwrecks and Seaposts in storms have calmer waters and do not cause damage to a ship's hull, making islands within storms ideal for fishing up Stormfish.
Lightning
Lightning can be found inside a storm, striking down from the sky dealing around 20 damage to any player hit, or 70 damage if a Cutlass is equipped. A player is also much more likely to be struck when holding a Cutlass.
Lightning can strike through the hull of a ship, meaning that a player swimming under a ship or standing inside a ship can still be hit. Additionally, lightning will blow up any Gunpowder Barrels it comes in contact with. Therefore, a crew must be very careful of sailing through a storm with these on-board.
Lightning can kill Skeletons and any Animals.
The White Flame of Fate is obtained by dying from a lightning strike.
Lightning can also start Fires, however, the rain from a Storm will usually extinguish the fires before they can spread.
Trivia
- The location of the Storm is the same across all game servers.
- Lightning bolts have an in-game model, meaning that they can be harpooned.
- All Admiral Belts have a description suggesting that they increase the chance of being struck by lightning, however, there is no evidence of this being true in-game.
- Lightning can be seen a short time before thunder is heard, varying depending on the distance from the strike. This is due to the speed of light being significantly faster than the speed of sound.
Patch history
- 2.4.2 (February 10, 2022)
- 1.3.2 (October 31, 2018)
- Lightning Strikes - Prepare for (even more) treacherous weather conditions! Players who brave a storm will be able to tempt fate with an increased chance of lightning strikes being reported across the world.
- First Release (March 20, 2018)
- Introduced.
External links
Storm Tracker and Weather Forecast from Merfolk's Lullaby