Sea of Thieves Pirate Legend and Mysterious Stranger explained - riddle solution, rewards, and how to become Pirate Legend

Sea of Thieves' Mysterious Stranger and the much-touted status of Pirate Legend are closely linked, with the stranger forming the gateway to the game's interesting-sounding late game.

Here on this page we'll let you know just who the Mysterious Stranger is, as well as the Pirate Legend riddle solution, what you can expect from when you become Pirate Legend, how to become Pirate Legend and what we know about Pirate Legend rewards, of course, too.

A word of warning though: there will of course be spoilers for just about everything to do with Pirate Legend, below.

Sea of Thieves' Mysterious Stranger explained - riddle solution and how to become Pirate Legend

The Mysterious Stranger is the person lurking in the corner of the Outpost island taverns. Talk to them at various levels and they'll give you a little bit of dialogue, always to the effect of "great, now come back when you're a higher level".

How to become Pirate Legend

Level 50 - in all three factions: the Gold Hoarders, Order of Souls and Merchant Alliance - is what you will eventually need to reach. It's an almighty grind, but get there and the Mysterious Stranger will have something else to say to you at last.

Talk to them when you've reached max level in all three factions and they'll grant you a new title, outfit, and most importantly a new shanty - a song you can play with your instruments.

Along with that you'll get a riddle:

Through many voyages upon the sea, you searched to find the legends key. Now one last step to pass the tests, to find where Athena's Fortune rests. Take this tune and make a sound, the secret lies near in the ground.

The riddle solution, if you hadn't guessed already, is to play the new shanty with your instrument whilst inside that same tavern with the Mysterious Stranger.

Do it right and you'll hear the ground open up nearby - a staircase will form out of the floorboards and, following it, you'll be lead into a tunnel until you reach a waterfall.

Head through the waterfall and, on the other side, you'll find your Legendary Hideout, including a new tavern, several NPCs, a shipwright vendor and a new vendor of Legendary Voyages.

The first season has arrived! Learn about all Season 1 Battle Pass rewards and everything else added in the Sea of Thieves patch notes. New to the game? Learn what to do in Sea of Thieves and take take part in the Maiden Voyage tutorial, which teaches you the essentials of sailing and ship battles. It's also useful for beginners to know how to survive fights with skeletons and the kraken. Elsewhere we have advice on how to get easy gold and doubloons, complete skeleton forts and The Shroudbreaker, take part in fishing in Sea of Thieves and Sea of Thieves island maps.

Pirate Legend explained - what is Pirate Legend and what are the Pirate Legend rewards?

The initial rewards for Pirate Legend are what we've already noted above: namely a new title, outfit and shanty to play with your instruments.

The broader reward is your access to the Legendary Hideout. From there, you'll be able to undertake special, longer versions of voyages - although they operate in largely the same manner - and receive special Ancient Chests as rewards, which we understand to contain new items that allow further customisation of your character and ship.

We'll update this page when we know some more precise details, but the main takeaway is this: becoming Pirate Legend is mostly a case of doing it for the pride.