How to Fish: Strategies for beating the Pufferfish

You've boiled the Spider Crab and turned the Giant Piranha into fish sticks, but How to Fish amps up the difficulty with the Pufferfish boss battle. The bloated, buoy-like fish took me quite a few tries in both solo and co-op saves, but I finally skewered it with a few SMG upgrades and plenty of patience. Lots of patience.

Find endangered fish to exchange for Pufferfish bait

The third How to Fish island gives you a few quest options, but start by speaking to the swimmer in yellow floaties to begin the quest for Pufferfish bait. The swimmer asks for help slaying a scary fish and has spare snacks you can use as bait, though he won't hand them over until you promise something in return.

Details

Why do we need to pay him back for tools to complete a task he asked us to do? Who knows, but you'll have to find an endangered creature before he'll agree to hand over the snacks.

1. Buy the new Fishing Rod ($3) and Standard Lure ($15)
2. Use the Standard Lure to fish for endangered creatures
3. Do not sell your fish before examining them with the F key
4. Feed the fish labeled 'endangered creature' to the swimmer
5. He'll give you the Carrot Bait. Use it to reel in the Pufferfish

Pufferfish boss

The Pufferfish is tough, and it took me quite a few runs before I was finally able to fillet this guy. I never managed to kill it with the shotgun, and had to splurge on the SMG (with a few upgrades) to get the job done.

Tips for beating the Pufferfish

• Eat enough seafood to top off your health and hunger
• Buy the SMG ($650) and as many bullet upgrades as you can afford
• Don't stop moving, and keep putting as many trees between yourself and the boss as possible
• Be careful not to run into its purple poison; the damage tick turns lethal fast
• The Pufferfish grows in size as you hit it, but I found it easier to watch and dodge when it lost a little under half its HP
• Try luring the Pufferfish around the merchant's shop; it sometimes gets stuck cutting corners when it's bigger

Because I can't stress it enough: Do not stop to shoot the Pufferfish. I only managed to stand still a few times when the boss got stuck on trees while trying to chase me around the shop, but you'll want to keep running and gunning until it's dead. Lucky players can skirt by the previous two boss fights, but if you haven't learned to make the most of the terrain in How to Fish, you will now.