Every pirate in Sea of Thieves eventually asks the same question: which faction should I actually work for? The game hands out voyages from several trading companies, each with its own rhythm, risk level, and reward pace, and picking the right one for your mood or your goals makes a real difference in how quickly gold and reputation pile up. This guide walks through the main trading companies, the voyage types they offer, and practical tips for maximizing what you earn on each run.
Understanding Trading Companies and Reputation
Sea of Thieves organizes its progression system around trading companies rather than a single experience bar. Turning in voyages for a specific company raises your reputation with that company specifically, and reputation with each company caps at level 100, which unlocks a Distinction — a cosmetic title and marker tied to that faction. Reaching high reputation across the core companies is also one of the requirements for becoming a Pirate Legend, the game’s most recognized rank.
Because reputation is tracked separately per company, most experienced crews rotate between factions rather than grinding one exclusively, both to keep runs varied and to make steady progress toward Pirate Legend across the board.
Gold Hoarders: Treasure Hunting and Riddles
The Gold Hoarders are the faction most new players gravitate toward, since their voyages revolve around the classic pirate fantasy of digging up buried treasure. Their voyage types include X Marks the Spot maps, which show a rough sketch of an island and a treasure location to dig up, and Riddle Voyages, which replace the map with a written riddle describing landmarks you need to identify and follow across the map.
Gold Hoarders also distribute Treasure Vault voyages that involve tracking down keys to unlock vaults filled with multiple chests at once, making them one of the more lucrative voyage types once you are comfortable reading maps and riddles quickly. For players who enjoy exploration and puzzle-solving over combat, Gold Hoarders voyages are consistently the most approachable entry point.
Order of Souls: Skeleton Bounty Hunting
The Order of Souls positions itself as the bounty office of the Sea of Thieves, paying pirates to hunt down named skeleton captains and their crews. These Skeleton Bounty Voyages point you toward an island where a specific captain and a horde of skeletons are waiting, and defeating the captain rewards a skull that must be delivered back to an Order of Souls representative to cash in.
This faction rewards crews comfortable with combat, since bounty voyages are essentially structured fights rather than exploration puzzles. They pair well with Gold Hoarders voyages on the same trip, since skeleton camps and treasure locations often overlap on the same islands.
Merchant Alliance: Cargo and Delivery Runs
The Merchant Alliance is the trading company for players who prefer logistics over combat. Their voyages include Cargo Runs, which task you with transporting crates of goods between locations without damaging them, and Animal Delivery Voyages, which involve capturing and safely transporting chickens, pigs, or snakes to a destination.
These voyages tend to be the calmest of the bunch, since they are more about careful sailing and timing than fighting. They are a solid choice when you want steady, predictable rewards without the risk of a drawn-out skeleton fight or a surprise attack from another crew.
Hunter’s Call: Fishing and Selling Catches
The Hunter’s Call rewards pirates for fishing and hunting rather than digging or fighting. Catching fish, sharks, or megalodons and selling them (fresh or cooked over a campfire) builds reputation with this company, and it is one of the more relaxed ways to earn gold on the side while sailing between other voyages. It is a good faction to lean on during downtime, such as a long sail between islands, since fishing does not require detouring from your main route.
Reaper’s Bones: High-Risk, High-Reward Play
Reaper’s Bones is different from the other companies in that it does not hand out its own voyages. Instead, it accepts treasure from any other company at a bonus rate once you raise its Emissary Flag, and it also rewards sinking other emissary ships. This faction is built around the game’s PvP-focused Reaper’s Mark system, where your ship’s location becomes visible to every other crew on the server in exchange for faster reputation and gold gains. It is a high-risk path best suited to crews confident in ship combat rather than those looking for a quiet grind.
Emissary Flags: Multiplying Your Rewards
Any of the core trading companies can be turned into an Emissary voyage by raising that company’s flag at an outpost before setting sail. Doing so puts a percentage bonus on top of everything you turn in for that company during the session, with the bonus increasing as your Emissary Grade climbs from selling more loot without dying. The tradeoff is visibility — a raised flag can be seen by other ships from a distance, and higher grades make your ship a more obvious target. Emissary voyages are the standard method serious players use to accelerate gold and reputation gains, but they come with added exposure to other crews looking for a fight.
Combining Voyages for Efficient Sessions
Most efficient sessions do not stick to a single faction. A common approach is to pick up an X Marks the Spot from Gold Hoarders, a Skeleton Bounty from Order of Souls, and a Cargo Run from Merchant Alliance all before leaving an outpost, then plan a route that touches all three along the way. This “voyage stacking” approach means every stop on your route contributes to more than one reputation bar and more than one payout, rather than sailing back and forth for single voyages one at a time.
For a full breakdown of everything else the game offers beyond faction progression, check out our complete Sea of Thieves guide.
Choosing the Right Faction for Your Playstyle
There is no single “best” faction — the right choice depends on what kind of session you want. Gold Hoarders and Order of Souls suit players who enjoy exploration and combat in roughly equal measure. Merchant Alliance suits players who want a calmer, more methodical session. Hunter’s Call works well as a side activity on any trip. And Reaper’s Bones is reserved for crews who actively want confrontation with other players. Rotating between them not only keeps the grind from feeling repetitive, it steadily builds the well-rounded reputation profile needed to reach Pirate Legend.