Heart of Fire Tall Tale - Sea of Thieves Guide - IGN (2024)

Welcome to the Heart of Fire Tall Tale page of the official IGN Wiki Guide and Walkthrough for Sea of Thieves. Here, we'll break down everything you need to know about the Heart of Fire, including where to find Captain Flameheart's Lair, how to get through Captain Flameheart's Lair in the Heart of Fire, and everything else you'll come across in this Tall Tale.

Please click or tap the links below to jump to different sections:

• How to Start the Heart of Fire
• Where to Find the Mysterious Key
• Where to Find Captain Flameheart's Lair
• How to Get Through Captain Flameheart's Lair in the Heart of Fire
• What to Do With the Chest of Rage

How to Start the Heart of Fire

Make sure you have some firebombs on you before beginning this Tall Tale — you'll need the inside a certain lair we'll be exploring during this tale.

To actually start the Heart of Fire, sail to Morrow's Peak Outpost in the Devil's Roar area of the map. Head into the tavern on the island and to the right of the person behind the bar, you'll see the Heart of Fire Tall Tale journal. Vote on it and then listen to what the tavern keeper here, Tallulah, has to say.

Your goal: find Captain Flameheart and take him down once and for all. You've recently followed his ghost in The Seabound Soul as he's the captain of the Ashen Dragon that wreaks havoc in that tall tale.

When you're ready, take the Tall Tale journal to Grace, who is just outside the tavern, and give it to her, just as Tallulah instructed you to do.

Upon doing so, Captain Pendragon (who you met in The Seabound Soul) will appear and the two will break down everything that's set to happen.

It's time to find Stitcher Jim, someone Grace is quite familiar with. Look int the journal and read the story of "The Price of Greed." You'll find that it tells of what is likely Stitcher Jim's last known location: Liar's Backbone.

Let's head there. We're looking for something called the Mysterious Key.

Where to Find the Mysterious Key

To find Stitcher Jim's Mysterious Key, read your Tall Tale journal to learn that he's probably on the Liar's Backbone island.

Once you arrive to Liar's Backbone, head up the lone hill (it's a small island) and look for a rock formation on your right. It's a cave...except, wait a minute! The entrance is blocked! Or is it?

To the left of the entrance on the wall is a lever. Pull it to open the entrance to the cave. Inside are strange symbols on the wall and if you're interested in what those mean, get close to each. This isn't necessarily important to find Stitcher Jim. Head to the back of the cave's main area and you'll find some scaffolding.

Climb up and you'll see what we see below:

Do those symbols look familiar? If you read everything there is to read in the room, you'll know that it all relates back to Captain Flameheart, otherwise known as the scourge of the seas that some called their king: The solution is King Flameheart. Rotate the blocks so that the symbols spell out King Flameheart. Here's what that looks like below:

After this, pull the lever on the left and the contraption on the wall will open up to reveal a Mysterious Key.

Grab this and bring it to your ship. Now, pull up your Tall Tall journal and you'll find that some new pages have been added. It will speak of Captain Flameheart's lair: the Heart of Fire, which can be found deep within the Devil's Thirst. Let's head there.

Where to Find Captain Flameheart's Lair

After grabbing the Mysterious Key hidden by Stitcher Jim, read your Tall Tale journal and head to the Devil's Thirst.

When you arrive, you'll want to head to the North of the island and climb up the cliff pictured below:

Up here is a Chalice — light it with your lantern.

Doing so will reveal a path of fire that leads to Captain Flameheart's Lair.

Follow it down (it will lead into the water — dive down and follow the orange crystals) to reach the entrance to the lair.

Put the Mysterious Key on the altar in front of the entrance and the Heart of Fire will open.

How to Get Through Captain Flameheart's Lair in the Heart of Fire

With the entrance to the lair opened, swim inside: follow the orange crystals — they are your way forward.

At the end, you'll see an opening at the top — swim up and grab a breath here. Climb up onto "shore," as it were, and climb onto the wooden plank. At the end of it, dive down into the water.

Down here, swim forward until you see a pathway to the left. Take that path and grab some air when you can up ahead.

Head back in and continue swimming until you reach an opening that leads to a cave. Head inside. In here, you'll find a pit of lava and some stones sticking up out of it. Jump from stone to stone to avoid falling into the lava.

When you reach the other side, head forward and jump into the water here.

Swim forward until you see an opening above. Swim up and make your way through the tunnel up ahead. This brings you to the main chamber of the lair. You'll see what we see below:

The three doors in this chamber represent three different paths to reach the ending. We're going to take the easiest path — the only reason you'd take the other paths is to earn the commendations associated with doing so, but if you're just here to complete the Tall Tale, we've got you covered.

The Path of the Burning Heart

If you want the hardest experience, we recommend going through the door on the left. It's the Path of the Eternal King. If you want an experience almost as challenging, head through the middle door for the Path of the Forsaken Flame. If you want the path of least resistance (and there's no shame in wanting that), head through the door on the right: it's time for the Path of the Burning Heart.

To the right of the door to the Path of the Burning Heart, you'll see a waterfall of lava. On the left side of the waterfall is a large skull. You can see it below:

Throw a firebomb into the skull's mouth to destroy it. This will open the door.

Head through it. In the first tunnel of this pathway, you'll see two circular blades going back and forth across the room.

Walk up close to them and look to the left — you'll see a skull. Quickly, throw a firebomb at it and then look at the blades.

Sprint through them, making sure not to get sliced, and pay attention to the gap in the middle as you don't wall to fall down.

On the other side, turn around and look to the left corner of the room and you'll see a large skull — throw a firebomb at its mouth to blow it up.

After doing so, the door ahead will open (It will only open if you blew up both skulls). If it doesn't open, it's probably because the first skull's flame went out. If that's the case, throw another firebomb at it.

On the other side of the door, you'll find yourself in a room with a ceiling lined with ship wheels. No problem, right? Wrong — the handles on the wheels shoot flames out. Sit and watch the pattern of flames. They all shoot out at once so it's important to pay attention to the timing of the wheel.

When the time is right, sprint through the tunnel.

Through the door at the end of this tunnel, you'll be in a large room with some water below you. If you were lit on fire by the flames in the previous tunnel and don't have the food to heal yourself, jump down into the water to extinguish the flames. Look around and restock on food and firebombs in the barrels scattered about this room and when you're ready to proceed, look for the tunnel with ship wheels on the ground.

Don't try and run forward through the tunnel — you'll die.

• Instead, look to the right of the tunnel and you'll see a lever on a piece of wood. Pull it. This stops one of the blades in the tunnel.

Now to find the other three levers:

• Another lever is on a piece of wood leaning on a cavern spike by the water.

• Another can be found by jumping into the water and swimming left to an orange crystal.

• The fourth and final lever can be found by swimming past this orange crystal, back to land, and beside one of the food barrels just before the bench with the food barrel behind it in the corner.

After pulling all four levers, the tunnel will be clear — head through it.

Up ahead is another tunnel. Stand in front of it and observe what happens. Watch the fire shoot out of the wheels on the ceiling and learn its timing.

When you're ready, run through the tunnel, making sure to avoid the fire coming from above and the spikes on the ground.

On the other side, proceed forward until you reach the room pictured below:

Observe the anchor going back and forth over the lava and observe the gap. You need to sprint at the right time to jump off the ledge to the other side, while dodging the anchor going back and forth. On the other side, use the pulley here (you literally have to pull the pulley down by pressing down on the left stick until the door is all the way open, at which point, you can sprint through before it falls back down) to reach what's next:

In the next room, you'll need to fight an onslaught of skeletons. Take them out as you would any skeleton enemy and, if you so wish, use the fire traps in the room to extinguish the life from their bones.

With all the skeletons taken out, use the pulley on the other side to reach the next room.

Here, you'll need to be extra careful as the room is littered with wooden pallets that set off traps in the room when stepped on. Before making your way forward, pull the pulley just to the left of the corridor's entrance.

If you're doing this alone like we are (it's ok, we totally aren't sad we don't have a crew to sail with...), you'll need to pull the pulley and quickly make your way to the other side before the door closes. The best way to do that is by sprinting forward and catching fire — there's water in the next room over to jump into and doing so extinguishes the flames. If you have a crew you're with, have one of them pull the pulley while the rest sprints through the door and then only the person pulling the pulley needs to take damage.

We're almost to the end – head forward through the tunnel and pay close attention to the walls as spikes will come in and out of them.

Don't try and sprint to the other side in one go — there's an area on the right that you can stop and rest in.

When the timing is right, sprint ahead through the rest of the tunnel until you reach another rest area. Now you can sprint to the other end.

At the other end of the hallway, you'll find a stone door. Pull the lever on the right to open the door.

Continue forward along the pathway until you see the Ashen Dragon in all its glory. It's a giant ghost ship you recognize from The Seabound Soul.

Sit back and watch what happens next — we won't spoil it here — and then head down the path where Stitcher Jim was spotted. This requires jumping across the rocks over the lava, climbing two ladders, and walking across a slim, wooden bridge.

You'll eventually run into a Chest of Rage. Grab it and prepare for a daring escape.

What to Do With the Chest of Rage

With the chest in tow, head to the right and you'll find a door blocking your way forward. Put the chest down and throw a firebomb at the large skull's mouth (the skull is on the left). This will open the door.

If you don't have firebombs at this point, place the Chest of Rage near the skull's mouth, step back, and shoot the Chest of Rage with your gun. This will cause an explosion that works just as well as a Firebomb.

Grab the chest again and head through the now-open door and you'll find yourself in a new room. Follow the path forward until you see fire shoot down from wheels on the ceiling.

Like before, wait until the timing is right and head through — you'll need to be extra careful as you can't sprint because the chest will be in your hands.

Once you reach the room with the waterfall, you'll see another skull on to the right of the waterfall. Blow it up with a firebomb or the chest and the door to the left of the waterfall will open.

Continue forward along the path, making sure to dodge all of the fire attempting to slow your roll and you'll eventually reach another waterfall. There's a gap to look for before this waterfall — jump over it and make your way forward.

In the next room, you'll see balls with skeletons on them swinging left and right. Dodge these as you make your way to the other side of the room. To do so, you'll need to hop from platform to platform, dodging both the skeletons and the fire shooting up.

If you fall, you'll need to restart this entire tunnel with the skeletons. Once you make it to the other side, you'll be in a large arena-like room. Skeletons will attack — take all of them out and then once all are dead, rotate the wheel by the door to lift the door.

Continue forward along the path until you reach some wooden beams. Don't start over them just yet — blades will swing by and fire will ignite across the pathway. Sit here and learn their timing before slowly making your way across the wooden beams.

On the other side, you'll see a waterfall on the right. Head through it and you'll fall into some water below.

Swim forward until you reach some land and then climb up. On the other side of the land is some more water to swim through. Do that and swim up when you see some light above — it's your exit.

Swim up and get back onto land. You'll find Captain Pendragon here.

Give him the Chest of Rage and he'll reverse the soul-capturing ritual. Finally, Captain Pendragon and his crew are reunited in the afterlife.

Congrats! You've completed the Heart of Fire, which means you've completed all Tall Tales in the game.

If this was your first time completing The Ashen Hull, you'll receive the Ashen Hull for your ship. If you run the Tall Tale enough times to satisfy every commendation associated with the Tall Tale, you'll receive the Ashen Curse customization option for your pirate.