Where to find Sea of Thieves Ashen Keys: Locations & how to use

Sea of Thieves wants swashbuckling players to collect Ashen Keys, so we’ll help you to locate them and if you’re able to accumulate them, show you how to use them on Ashen Chests.
The unifying nature of Sea of Thieves is why people keep getting together in groups, boarding a ship, and sailing out on new adventures. New expansions dropping lots of content into the game such as exciting quests are one of the many reasons that taking to the treacherous waters of Sea of Thieves is endlessly enticing.
Another obvious reason is the allure of loot and wealth that can be found through the pillaging of Islands and finding of treasure — of the Ashen Chests variety.
Contents
- How to get Ashen Keys in Sea of Thieves
- Where to find and kill Ashen Key Masters in Sea of Thieves
- How to use Ashen Keys in Sea of Thieves
- What are Ashen Chests in Sea of Thieves?
- Where are Ashen Chests in Sea of Thieves?

How to get Ashen Keys in Sea of Thieves
There are two key ways (no pun intended) to obtain Asken Keys in Sea of Thieves, either kill an Ashen Key Master or get extremely lucky when fishing.
The more likely of these two methods is going to be killing Ashen Key Masters, unmistakable skeletons surrounded by an intimidating red aura.
Where to find and kill Ashen Key Masters in Sea of Thieves
If you do intend to go after Ashen Key Masters, you’ll need to know where they are exactly. There are several different ways you can go about doing this, and it’s up to you to find the most efficient/easiest way.
The first way is to raid Skeleton Forts as they can randomly appear during battle. If you find this isn’t as effective as you’d like, then you can always check the coastland of the various islands as they can just be wandering around.
If you’re lucky enough to trigger an encounter with one, get ready for a battle as they won’t be easy to kill. They can take a lot of damage and can regain health. Don’t get greedy, just be patient and chip away at their health, and keep your blunderbuss ready for crucial moments to inflict massive damage.
If you do defeat one, it will drop an Ashen Key.
How to use Ashen Keys in Sea of Thieves
A pretty easy one this, with an Ashen Key in your possession, you simply need to approach an Ashen Chest with the key, use the interact button, and the chest will pop open revealing your goodies inside.

What are Ashen Chests in Sea of Thieves?
Ashen Chests are rare containers that contain valuable resources and can only be obtained through the use of an Ashen Key.
- Read More: Sea of Thieves: A Pirate’s Life review
Each chest will have three items of loot for you to snatch up and these will consist of:
- An Ashen Tome
- Any two of the following:
- Brimstone Casket
- Devil’s Remnant
- Doubloon Pouch
- Extra Ashen Tome
- Gold
- Magma’s Grail
- Ritual Skull
- Roaring Goblet
There doesn’t appear to be any way to guarantee what loot you get, so if you are after something, in particular, then you’ll just need to keep farming Ashen Chests.
Where are Ashen Chests in Sea of Thieves?
With a key available and knowledge of Ashen Chests in hand, you now need to find yourself an Ashen Chest. There are a few well-known ways to find a chest, and we’ve listed them below.
Take your pick from this list:
- Guaranteed: Beating a Skeleton Fort
- Guaranteed: Defeating a Captain’s Ship in a fleet
- Guaranteed: Solving an Ashen Guardian’s Notes Quest
- Guaranteed: Completing an Ashen Chest Stash Voyage
- Not Guaranteed: Killing a Kraken
- Not Guaranteed: Killing a Megalodon
- Not Guaranteed: Killing an Ashen Lord
- Not Guaranteed: Finding aboard a Skeleton Ship
A guaranteed chest is always preferable of course, but not necessarily the easiest task. It’s up to you which you prefer, but as long as it results in you bringing home the pirate equivalent of bacon then that’s all that matters!