Sker Ritual Tides of Terror

Tides of Terror is Sker Ritual’s coastal episode, added October 2024 alongside the Maelstrom minigun and More Gun perk. Your squad explores Sker Beach, where wrecked ships—the Providence and Hunter—frame a cave system filled with crab swarms, hive tunnels, and Elisabeth Williams’ old experiments. Tides is optional for the God Killer chain, which remains locked to Hardcore clears on Lavernock, Ashes, Sewers, and Fortress. Tides instead rewards the Pirate Crown mask for completing the main quest, music Easter egg, and hidden objective on Nightmare difficulty, plus map-specific achievements. Use this walkthrough from cannon startup through Y Cracen.

Sker Beach spawn and the old cannon

You spawn on Sker Beach beside an old cannon. Examine it to start Fire in the Hole: locate a cannonball and fuse marked on the twin shipwrecks. The cannonball sits on the lower deck of the East Shipwreck (Providence side) and the fuse hides in the hold of the West Shipwreck (Hunter side)—exact rooms rotate but nav markers always point to the interactables.

Return to the beach cannon, load the shot, and light the fuse. Kill Quiet Ones inside the marked circle to power the weapon, then fire. The blast opens the cave entrance behind the beach—the gateway to sword quests and the main boss door. Log fuse and cannonball pickup in the objective checklist so co-op teams do not double-buy doors unnecessarily.

Tides of Terror Easy Guide + Full Hidden Quest

Cave hives and the bronze sword

Inside the caves, interact with the large door to begin the Triple Edged Sword chain. You can tackle bronze, silver, and gold swords in any order; bronze is closest.

At the kraken-symbol door, interact to fill the caves with poisonous gas. Shoot red glowing vents to ventilate each section before searching hive tunnels. Each tunnel hides orbs blocking a hanging key—destroy all orbs in a tunnel to spawn a crab wave, then grab the key from chains if you picked the correct tunnel (check ceilings if you miss interactables). Insert the key, claim the Bronze Sword, and keep moving before gas returns.

Silver sword: cranks and crab escort

Start the silver quest at the cage in the caves. Search red boxes marked with X on the Hunter wreck for three cranks—you can collect all cranks before inserting the first. Known crank clusters span Hunter decks: jukebox floor, Super Charger corner, stair landings, Movement Stallion area, crab cage top deck, and broken mast.

Insert cranks one at a time and defend kill circles. After the third defense, free the crab and escort it back to the starting cage—crabs add pressure but the route is marked. Retrieve the Silver Sword once the escort completes.

Gold sword: lightning rods and breakers

Interact with the sword pedestal atop the Providence. Shoot lightning rod coils at each rod base until they turn blue and chain lightning to the next rod. Then flip breakers on the Providence in the order shown beside the Gold Sword pedestal—locations span second floor past Fast Hands, third floor near the Maelstrom spawn, opposite Elixir of Life, second floor opposite the Life Token, first floor opposite stairs, and top floor outside Captain’s Quarters. The final switch starts a kill challenge at the gold pedestal; finish it to claim the Gold Sword.

Timed levers, golden cannonball, and Lord of the Squids

Place all three swords in the cave door to trigger a timed lever sprint. Levers are nav-marked—many squads start at the boss-door lever, run up Providence, then down Hunter. Success grants the Golden Cannonball.

Load it into the small golden cannon on the plank bridge between ships and fire. An X burns into the beach sand with a symbol code for the boss airlock. Interact with the X to spawn Lord of the Squids, a stronger Squid Lord variant with Abraham’s pull ability. Defeat it, then re-read the X code facing the caves (symbols may look rotated compared to the door panel). Enter the correct code to open the chamber for Y Cracen.

Y Cracen boss fight

Y Cracen (the Kraken) is Tides’ main boss and among the toughest encounters in Sker Ritual. It summons water bubbles, tentacle slams, and side Squid Lords—stay off the waterline and watch flanking tentacles. Pack-a-Punched primaries help, but the map wonder weapon makes add phases manageable.

Maelstrom and Auto Blunder

After the cave door quest begins, unlock the Maelstrom minigun: destroy locks flanking the Super Charger room, dig up the key from the marked dirt mound (crabs spawn on dig), and purchase Maelstrom on Providence second floor near Elixir of Life. The Auto Blunder automatic shotgun also appears on Tides; at Super Charger tier 3 it upgrades into the Tidebreaker for close-range burst. See weapons tier list for crab-wave loadouts.

Pirate Crown mask requirements

The Pirate Crown cosmetic requires all three Tides completions on Nightmare: finish the main quest (Y Cracen), complete the music Easter egg (voice-line treble clefs across beach and ships—details on easter eggs hub), and finish the hidden objective after the green spawn portal. Hidden steps include finding three goats, lightning-flash deity symbols for the compass puzzle, buoy-order inputs, optional blue-orb sequences, a multi-boss gauntlet (Canwyll Corph, Squid King, Abominations), blue-crab escort, and a second Kraken phase. Plan a dedicated Nightmare session with nightmare guide prep.

Tides Hardcore prestige is separate from God Killer—no seal carries to the permanent wonder weapon. Cross-check launch-map routing on how to get God Killer.

Crabs, squids, and squad tips

Crab enemies swarm hive tunnels and escort steps; Maelstrom or Tidebreaker clears them faster than precision rifles. Squid Lords patrol beach flood zones—kite toward Pack-a-Punch lanes on Providence upper decks. Co-op teams should assign one player to cannon defense, one to lever sprint, and one to hold crab escort rear guard.

Recommended progression

1. Clear launch maps and House of the Damned on Hard.
2. Run Tides Normal: cannon → cave door → three swords → golden cannon → Lord of the Squids → Y Cracen.
3. Unlock Maelstrom mid-quest for crab-heavy steps.
4. Push Nightmare for Pirate Crown once main quest is muscle memory.

Return to the walkthrough hub or review Hardcore overview if you still need God Killer seals from base maps only.