Banished Vaults are a new addition to the 18th season of Sea of Thieves, expanding the game’s ever-evolving world of high-seas adventure. As part of the open-world pirate experience, these vaults offer players fresh challenges, powerful enemies and valuable rewards.
Defeat the Eternal Guard and Get the Key
The Eternal Guard is a new emergent enemy, large in their appearance and with ancient magic abilities. Defeating an eternal Guard will grant you with a key to a banished vault.
How to find an Eternal Guard
Eternal Guards can be found randomly on large islands in every region while sailing High Seas or Safer Seas. However, it is more likely to appear on the Devil’s Roar, on a large island.
The Devil’s Roar is located on the Eastern Edge, known for its volcanic activity, which has had a dramatic effect on the terrain. Its volcanoes erupt immense quantities of flaming rocks into the air with little warning. Capable of damaging both ships and pirates, starting fires and piercing the hull.
To find the eternal guard sarcophagus follow the purple glowing smoke. Ethereal music will start to play and will grow laughter as the player approaches the sarcophagus.
❗I can’t find the Sarcophagus!
There is a limited number of sarcophagi that can spawn per server and can be active at the same time. So you’ll have to search for it in large islands or in the Devil’s Roar.
Once the sarcophagus is found, it is time to summon the Eternal Guard. The summoning ritual requires to light three groups of candles on its sarcophagus. Equip the lantern, raise it, and approach the three groups of candles to light them. This will wake the Guard and summon it to battle.
💡Tip for the players. Take some distance from the sarcophagus once the last candles are lit. The eternal Guard’s “awakening” will be this enemy’s first attack, as a damaging blast.
How to defeat an Eternal Guard
The eternal Gard is a new enemy in the 18th season of sea of thieves. It has unique abilities that make it especially challenging for the player to defeat. Wielding ancient magic, these towering warriors wear heavy armour and attack with both a spear and a deadly blowpipe.
The blowpipe shoots Black Powder Darts and Poison Darts during the fight. The black Powder dart will trigger an explosion that can manage multiple targets at once and set them on fire. The poison darts will affect a single target, reducing their health over time.
The guard can throw the spear at a great distance,dealing significant damage. The Eternal Guard will charge the spear over its head before throwing it.
Furthermore, it has some interesting abilities:
- Cloak: the eternal guard can temporarily cloak itself, making it barely visible, but if you look carefully you can still see its glowing eyes. While cloaked, the eternal guard also leaves a purple smoke trail when it moves. The guard moves quicker when it is cloaked and it is invulnerable to all attacks. However, it cannot attack while cloaked.
- Poison bombs: these create a cloud of poison that damages anyone standing in it. This cloud will slowly dissipate over time. To throw it, the eternal Guard raises its right arm above its head.
- Summoning Skeletons: the eternal guard can also summon waves of Banished Ancient Skeletons. These are the skeletons covered in gold. These skeletons are immune to the dangers of the Devil’s Roar and can walk though dangerous terrain without taking any damage.
- Dying Breath: upon death, the eternal guard releases a final damaging blow, their dying breath. Meaning, the closer the players are to the Guard the more damage they’ll take.
Knowing this, the player must fight while the guard is visible, repositioning themselves when the guard cloaks. Focus the damage when it stops to summon skeletons, as it is vulnerable while it is not cloaked. Using long-range weapons to keep the distance, and avoid getting caught in a poison explosion.
Once the Eternal Guard is defeated, it will drop a Sanctuary of the Banished Key. The players can use this key to open any of the banished vaults.
Where to find the Banished Vaults
There are three sanctuaries of the banished. Each entrance will appear as an excavated staircase near the water’s edge on each island.
These islands can be easily identified. They will appear with a dark triangle marked under each island on the player’s map. All these sanctuaries are located in both High Seas and Safer Seas when selecting an experience.
- The Sanctuary of the Dark Widow, in Cinder Islet, is located on the southern side of the islet.
- The Sanctuary of the Veil, in Brimstone Rock, the sanctuary is on the northern side of Brimstone Rock.
- The Sanctuary of the Unending Flame, in Flame’s End, is located on the northern side of Flame’s End.
❗All sanctuaries are locked and require a sanctuary of the banished key to open. Any key can open any of the three Banished Vaults.
Loot and Rewards inside the Banished Vaults
In the main vault of the Banished Vault, the players can find:
- A banished ancient Rune tablet, a small semicircle with illegible text. It can be sold to any trading company.
- Eight chests of Banishe Tribute that can be sold to the Gold Hoarders on Outposts or to The Servant of the Flame at The Reapper’s Hideout.
- Eight ancient charts containing: one skull of dark Banishment, one banished Merchant Log and one Hunting Tribute of the banished.
- Two tridents of the banished
- A selection of mermaid gems that can be sold to most trading companies for gold and reputation.
Inside the locked compartments of the vaults, the players can find:
- A banished ancient Rune tablet
- One Chest of Banished tribute
- One Ancient Chest containing: one skull of dark Banishment, one banished merchant log and one hunting tribute of the banished.
- A selection of mermaid gems.
To open these locked compartments it is necessary an ashen key. The player can receive one of these keys as a reward for defeating Ashen Key Masters, special skeleton captains that spawn randomly in islands. Purchasing it from Bilge Rats outside any tavern is another way. However, the most rare method is fishing, as it rarely appears while fishing.
Take What You Can, Give Nothing Back
Sail into adventure with your crew lads and explore far seas filled with magic and legend. Find treasures that will fill your pockets with treasure and raise your reputation. Multiplayer worlds like Sea of Thieves encourage camaraderie, teamwork and keep loneliness away. An adventure not far from those childhood play-pretend days.
Find your new crew and sail to the horizon, and remember: dead men guard no vaults!
Game on!🏴☠️