Best Keybinds and Settings

Sea of Thieves offers a variety of settings on PC and Xbox for you to optimize your gameplay experience. See more details on the best keybinds, graphics, video, and controller settings for PC and Xbox, here!

Best Keybind Settings

Platform
PC	Xbox

PC Keybinds

Items such as Food, Bucket, Cannonball, Spyglass, Throwables, and Wooden Planks are all essential in PvP, therefore you'll want to have them bound near each other for easy access.

Buckets and Wooden Planks both prevent flooding and sinking. Cannonballs and Throwables inflict damage onto players and ships. The Spyglass lets you spot enemies from afar, letting you jump and surprise them.

Communication with your crew is important so having Push to Talk on your mouse thumb button should make it convenient for you to talk to them while in the middle of the battle.

Item Shortcuts
Food	3
Bucket	4
Cannonball	5 (Cycles through different types of Cannonballs)
Spyglass	6
Throwables	C
Wooden Plank	B
Movement
Auto Run	CAPS Lock
Interaction
Push to Talk	Thumb Mouse Button 2

Controller Keybinds

The Xbox Controller has limited buttons on it, therefore you'll want to make the most out of it by binding Throwables, Bucket, Wooden Planks, and Food on the D-Pad shortcuts.

All four of these are important in PvP, since Throwables are bombs that dish out damage to players and ships. Buckets and Wooden Planks both prevent sinking. Food on the other hand, heals you up whenever you take damage.

Item Shortcuts
Throwables
Bucket
Wooden Planks
Food
Movement
Auto-Run	(Press Right Stick)

Best PC Settings

PC Settings
Graphics	Video	Gameplay	Audio
Input	HUD	Language	Miscellaneous

Graphics

Best PC Graphics Settings
Shadow Detail	Rare
Model Detail	Legendary
Texture Detail	Rare
Water Detail	Rare
Lighting Detail	Rare
Particle Effects Quality	Rare
Particle Resolution	Legendary
Animation Quality	Common
Unique Mesh Buffer	Mythical
Field of View	80
Disable Blur	On
Disable Screen Shake	On
Disable Rats on Your Ship	On
Color Blindness Filter Mode	Personal Preference
Saturation Level	1.0
High-Contrast Kill Markers	Personal Preference
High-Contrast X Marks the Spot	Personal Preference

To enjoy the beauty of Sea of Thieves while still having a good FPS performance in-game, the main Graphics settings that you will want to turn down are Shadow Detail, Texture Detail, and Water Detail, as these three are the major factors that greatly affect your GPU and CPU.

You will see a significant boost in FPS with these set to Medium (Rare) settings.

Video

Best PC Video Settings
Direct3D Version	12
Multi-Core Rendering	On
Fullscreen Resolution	Native
Display Mode	Fullscreen
V-Sync	Off
Frame Rate Lock	60, 144, or 240 (Depending on Monitor Refresh Rate)
Buffering	Double
Resolution Scaling	100
Auto-Skip intro animatic	On

We recommend playing the game on Fullscreen and on Native screen resolution to ensure that images appear sharp in the game. V-Sync should be turned off to avoid input lag, but be sure to set an FPS limit to avoid your rig from overheating. The cap should be set to whatever refresh rate your monitor is using: 60hz = 60fps, 144hz = 144fps, and 240hz = 240fps.

Gameplay

Best PC Gameplay Settings
Reduce Hold to Interact	Off
Reduce Hold to Use Item	Off
Disable Ship Sitting Interactions	Off
Disable Ship Trinket Interactions	Off
Auto Centre Camera	Off
Auto Centre Delay	3.0
Auto Centre Speed	90
Automatically Float in Water	Off
Show Tall Tales on Map Table	On
Auto-Vote on Voyage Proposal	On
Unread Tutorial Prompt Animations	On
Disable Camera Sway on Ziplines	Off
Server Authoritative Hit Markers	Off

In terms of Gameplay, the game's default settings are already convenient to use. As an example, holding to interact with objects and items can be useful so that you can cancel it out anytime by simply letting go of the Interact Button.

Audio

Best PC Audio Settings
Master Volume	100
Music Volume	40
Shanty Volume	40
SFX Volume	50
Audio Output Mode	Headphones / Stereo
Enable Spatial Sound	Off
Crew Chat Volume	100
Proximity Chat Volume	100
Push to Talk	Personal Preference
Player Chat Indicator	On
Mute Copyrighted Audio	Off
Set Audio Output to Mono	Off
Enable Additional Wheel Turning Sounds	Off
Additional Wheel Sound Volume	80
Enable Aim Assist Audio	Off
Musical Hit Notification Volume	80
Extend Audio Range of Sea Rocks When Sailing	Off

For Audio, the Master Volume should always be set to 100 to hear sound cues in the game, such as the slight thud on the steering wheel that indicates that the direction of the ship is straight.

To properly tune the quality of sound, set the Audio Output Mode to Headphones when using a headset, or Stereo when using speakers.

Choose Between Open Microphone or Push to Talk

Setting Push to Talk Off will automatically use Open Microphone. For Push to Talk, you have two options: Hold, meaning you can only talk while holding the keybind, and Toggle, which means you only need to press the keybind once to speak in-game, and then press it again to mute.

How to Enable and Use Voice Chat

Input

Mouse Sensitivity

When it comes to Mouse Sensitivity, it all boils down to personal preference. If you want precision aiming when using a gun, turn the sensitivity all the way down.

However, for those less focused on combat and more on the exploring aspect, you can set it to high so that you can look around your environment quicker.

HUD

Best PC HUD Settings
Toggle Radial Menus	Off
Sticky Radial Menus	On
Fixed Position for Interact Prompts	Off
Recenter Mouse in Menus	On
Circular Navigation	Off
Island Banners	Cinematic
Outpost Location Banners	On
Hide Gamertags From Me	Off
Hide Ship Names From Me	Off
Hide Guild Names From Me	Off
Hide My Gamertag on Banners	Off
Hide My Ship Name From Others	Off
Disable Seasons Notifications	Off
Disable Pirate Milestone Notifications	Off
Disable Ship Milestone Notifications	Off

The default settings for HUD is already clean enough for you to see things without too much clutter on your screen.

However, if you want to further clear up the game's UI, the least you can do is hide Gamertags of those not part of your crew, since you won't be needing it anyway unless you are looking for random players to crew up with.

Crew Nameplates Should Always Be Visible

Always have your Crew's nameplates above their heads visible to you. This should properly distinguish your crew from other players and correctly identify those that are hostile when it comes to PvP.

Language

Set to Native Language

Make sure to set the game's Language to native or whichever language you are comfortable in understanding. There will be a lot of reading involved in Sea of Thieves, like Riddles, Tutorials, and Quest Objectives.

Miscellaneous

Captain's Permission

Set this to No, unless you're playing with friends or people you know personally, since this allows all crew members to customize your ship.

Crew Management

Set to Yes, so that friends can freely hop into your game anytime they wish to do so.

Guild Management

Always have Guild Invites and Notifications enabled if you're looking for a guild or actively participating in one. Otherwise, you can disable this.

Best Xbox Settings

Xbox Settings
Graphics	Video	Gameplay	Audio
Input	HUD	Language	Miscellaneous

Graphics

Best Xbox Graphics Settings
Field of View	80
Disable Blur	On
Disable Screen Shake	On
Disable Rats on Your Ship	On
Color Blindness Filter Mode	Personal Preference
Saturation Level	1.0
High-Contrast Kill Markers	Personal Preference
High-Contrast X Marks the Spot	Personal Preference

Xbox players do not have the option to fine-tune their graphics like PC players, but the graphics itself for console are already optimized for Sea of Thieves.

With this, the only change we recommend is disabling Blur, Screen Shake, and Rats on Your Ship, since those are visual effects that can sometimes cause motion sickness and provide no advantages in terms of gameplay.

Video Settings

Brightness and Colour Contrast

Brightness and Colour Contrast are two settings that may output differently on each player's TV Screen. If you find the game a bit too dark, you can always set both of these settings slightly higher to see objects clearly while exploring.

Gameplay

Best Xbox Gameplay Settings
Reduce Hold to Interact	Off
Reduce Hold to Use Item	Off
Disable Ship Sitting Interactions	Off
Disable Ship Trinket Interactions	Off
Auto Centre Camera	Off
Auto Centre Delay	3.0
Auto Centre Speed	90
Controller Vibration Intensity	100
Automatically Float in Water	Off
Show Tall Tales on Map Table	On
Auto-Vote on Voyage Proposal	On
Unread Tutorial Prompt Animations	On
Disable Camera Sway on Ziplines	Off
Server Authoritative Hit Markers	Off

For Gameplay Settings on Xbox, the Controller Vibration Intensity should be set to 100, so that you'll know if someone is attacking you or if your ship is taking damage, since it may be hard to hear sound cues when relying on a TV's speakers.

Audio

Best Xbox Audio Settings
Master Volume	100
Music Volume	40
Shanty Volume	40
SFX Volume	50
Audio Output Mode	Headphones / Stereo
Enable Spatial Sound	Off
Crew Chat Volume	100
Proximity Chat Volume	100
Push to Talk	Off
Player Chat Indicator	On
Mute Copyrighted Audio	Off
Set Audio Output to Mono	Off
Enable Additional Wheel Turning Sounds	Off
Additional Wheel Sound Volume	80
Enable Aim Assist Audio	Off
Musical Hit Notification Volume	80
Extend Audio Range of Sea Rocks When Sailing	Off

An important Audio Setting for Xbox is turning Off Push to Talk, since this automatically uses Open Microphone. Using a Push to Talk button bind on a Controller is difficult, so having an Open Mic should be convenient for you.

Input

Turn On Aim Assist

Turning On Aim Assist when using a Controller should auto-lock your camera onto enemies when aiming during combat. Aiming with Controllers are not as precise as when using a Mouse, so having this option turned On should ease up the difficulty in combat.

Controller Sensitivity

The sliders for Controller Sensitivity should be slightly higher than the default one for faster camera movement. Since you already have Aim Assist On, you don't really need to worry about having to precisely aim at a target in order to hit them during combat.

HUD

Best Xbox HUD Settings
Toggle Radial Menus	Off
Sticky Radial Menus	On
Fixed Position for Interact Prompts	Off
Recenter Mouse in Menus	On
Circular Navigation	Off
Island Banners	Cinematic
Outpost Location Banners	On
Hide Gamertags From Me	Off
Hide Ship Names From Me	Off
Hide Guild Names From Me	Off
Hide My Gamertag on Banners	Off
Hide My Ship Name From Others	Off
Disable Seasons Notifications	Off
Disable Pirate Milestone Notifications	Off
Disable Ship Milestone Notifications	Off

Crew Nameplates Should Always Be Visible

The nameplates of your crew members should always be visible to you to identify those that are friendly or those that are hostile during PvP.

Language

Set to Native Language

On Xbox, set the game's Language to native or a language that you are comfortable in understanding. A lot of reading is involved in the game, ranging from Riddles, Tutorials, and Quest Objectives.

Miscellaneous

Matchmaking Preferences

Matchmaking Preferences is a setting available only for Xbox. You can set this to Yes if you prefer to only play with Xbox players.

Captain's Permission

Set this to No, since this allows all crew members to customize your ship, unless you're playing with Xbox friends or people you know in real life.

Crew Management

Set to Yes, so that your Xbox friends can join your game anytime they wish to do so.

Guild Management

Always have Guild Invites and Notifications enabled if you're looking for a guild or actively participating in one. Otherwise, you can disable this.

Sea of Thieves Related Guides

Beginner's Guide to Sea of Thieves

All Tips and Tricks Guides

Getting Started in Sea of Thieves
High Seas vs. Safer Seas	Best Keybinds & Settings
How to Sail Your Ship and All Ship Types	How to Return to Your Ship
How to Repair Your Ship	How to Get Quests
How to Unlock Tall Tales	How to Create and Customize Character
How to Join a Random Crew	How to Save Your Game
General Tips and Tricks
How to Sword Lunge	How to Become a Pirate Legend
Best Ways to Farm Gold	How to Buy a Ship
How to Get Ashen Keys	How to Get Ashen Chests
How to Raise Trading Company Reputation	How to Catch Fish
How to Use Instruments and Play Shanties	How to Get Ancient Coins
Can You Play in 3rd Person?	How to Get the Dark Warsmith Set
Season 12 Content
Horn of Fair Winds	Bone Caller
Double Barrel Pistol	Throwing Knife
Multiplayer Guides
How to Join a Party and Invite Friends	How to Enable and Use Voice Chat
How to Kick Players and Use the Brig	How to Start a Player Alliance