Your Sea of Thieves items explained: Tools, weapons, consumables and more

Sea of Thieves offers a true pirate experience on Xbox One, with each player given all the tools to conquer the seas with your crew. You'll be ready to take on any challenge that lies ahead, with items to help with treasure hunting, combat, and having fun along the way.

If you're just getting started with Sea of Thieves, new pirates may be overwhelmed by their pre-stocked inventory. Here's everything you should know about your starting gadgets and when to use them.

Note: This guide is currently for pre-release beta builds of the game.

Tools

These tools will never leave your side and help in completing quests in Sea of Thieves. While some may be used more than others, each has a distinct role somewhere throughout your pirate journey.

Bucket

Your trusty bucket is easy to grab, helping you out when times get tough. If your ship is taking on water, the bucket can be used to scoop it up and throw it overboard. If your boat takes on too much water you'll eventually sink, so be swift in getting it out. If you're so inclined, the bucket can also be used to catch vomit and temporary obscure enemy vision. Real nice.

Spade

The spade is used for digging up treasure hidden throughout across seas. After finding the location of buried treasure via a quest, you'll need to dig away to take it back to an outpost. When treasure is found using a spade, an audible cue is sounded, indicating your spade has hit a chest. To speed up the digging process, have multiple players dig away at your findings too.

Compass

Your compass is used to help orient yourself in relation to the game world. Paired with a map, the compass will help you find islands and hunt down precisely where to find treasure. A fixed compass is also found at the helm of every ship, keeping the captain's hands free at the wheel. Just don't rely on this gadget while venturing into a storm.

Spyglass

The spyglass is used for a better view of your surroundings, providing a strong zoom to catch objects at a distance. This tool is best used for spotting ships in the distance, identifying landmarks and finding nearby points of interests. For the best sights, take to the ship's crow's nest when scouting.

Lantern

This lantern will guide you through the dark, whether exploring the deepest caves or treasure hunting in the moonlight. Producing a portable light source, your lantern helps in finding your way, however, can alert nearby passers-by with its radiating glow. Some puzzles require a lantern to be raised, activated by pressing "LT" on an Xbox One controller or right-click on a mouse.

Pocket watch

When you're busy searching for treasure, your pocket watch will keep track of the day for you. Aside from its ability to provide an estimate of time until sundown, the watch also helps solve time-based riddles.

Consumable items

These items help you survive the seas, with supplies to keep your crew safe on your journeys. Be careful though – when they're gone, you'll need to forage nearby islands for more.

Banana

Bananas are a consumable item, used to regain 25 percent of player health. When equipped, players can eat bananas by pressing "RT" on their Xbox One controller or left-click on their mouse. Bananas can be found in barrels on islands and shipwrecks and stored in a dedicated barrel on your ship. Five bananas can be stored on a player at one time.

Cannonball

To use your ship's cannons, you need cannonballs – and with only a limited supply, you should be on the lookout for more. Players can carry up to 10 cannonballs at one time, while spares are stored in your ship's dedicated barrels. To use cannons, you'll need to load cannonballs individually by following on-screen prompts.

Wooden planks

Once your ship inevitably takes damage, wooden planks will keep it afloat. If water is filling up your ship, these planks should be used to plug holes while on the move. After sealing up any hull breaches, don't forget to scoop out collected water with the bucket. You'll find wooden planks across the world of Sea of Thieves, inside randomly placed barrels.

Tankard

Drink to your heart's content with this handy tankard. While drinking grog all day may not be productive, stumbling around drunk passes the time during those longer journeys. Grog refills can be found on the lower deck of your ship.

Weapons

Get armed and ready for action with these weapons currently available in Sea of Thieves. With only two weapon slots free, you'll need to consider the challenges that lay ahead.

Cutlass

When combat gets up close and personal, nothing beats the classic cutlass. While heavy firearms might outperform this classic blade, this is the only weapon ideal for longer journeys, without the need for ammunition.

Pistol

The pistol is a pirate's classic sidearm, best serving in gunfights from close to medium range. Although accurate, you'll need to fire sparingly.

Blunderbuss

With similarities to a shotgun, the blunderbuss fires a high-damage spread over short ranges. When up close, a single shot of the blunderbuss can kill pirates effortlessly.

Eye of Reach

The "Eye of Reach" is an ideal companion for a sharp marksman, as the best weapon currently available at longer ranges. Equipped with a high-zoom scope, the Eye of Reach is perfect for picking off targets at a distance. This is also the only viable player-held weapon for killing hostiles between ships.

Matt Brown was formerly a Windows Central's Senior Editor, Xbox & PC, at Future. Following over seven years of professional consumer technology and gaming coverage, he’s focused on the world of Microsoft's gaming efforts. You can follow him on Twitter @mattjbrown.