In Dazed Games’ Steam game How to Fish, buy the shotgun as your first weapon. Use cheap melee upgrades until you can afford it, and buy dynamite for utility rather than combat.
How to Fish, the physics-based co-op fishing game from Dazed Games on Steam, is also a shooter: you kill sea creatures for money, upgrade a boat, and fight a boss on each of its five islands. Money is shared and tight during the opening hours, so spend as little as possible on melee, save for the shotgun, and skip every purchase that delays it.
The early buy order, ranked
| Buy | Use |
|---|---|
| Brass knuckles or knife (cheap melee) | Kill your first catches and clear the opening island and its boss |
| Shotgun ($150) | Your first real gun — easy kills and score multipliers across several islands |
| Shotgun bullet upgrades | Cheaper, faster kills as tougher creatures show up |
| Dynamite ($25) | Utility only — fish up food and quest materials, never a combat weapon |
| Pistol | Skip it on a normal playthrough |
| Assault rifle ($20,000) | The long-term goal once the shotgun stops keeping up |
Key Use melee to clear the first island, prioritize the shotgun next, and save everything else for utility or later upgrades. Don’t pour money into anything else before you reach island 2.
Before you can afford the shotgun
You start with nothing. Reel in the first creature, drop it, and punch it to death. That opening kill requires no gear, so sell your early catches on island 1 and put your first money into cheap melee. Brass knuckles (around $24) or a knife kill creatures much faster than your fists.
Cheap melee also handles the opening boss. The first island’s spider crab charges you, so upgrade your brass knuckles to max sharpness — the first sharpen costs only a few dollars — then dodge behind the crab and attack during its stun window. You can also buy a knife, use it to carve through the early creatures, and sell it before moving on. It is a disposable tool, not a weapon to keep. Spend as little as possible here, because anything beyond cheap melee delays the island 2 shotgun.
Why the shotgun is your first real gun
| Trick shot | Multiplier |
|---|---|
| 360 | 1.5x |
| Headshot | 1.25x |
| Last bullet | 1.25x |
| No scope | 1.2x |
| Point blank | 1.1x |
| Upgrade | Price |
|---|---|
| First bullet upgrade | $20 |
| Second bullet upgrade | $30 |
| Third bullet upgrade | $40 |
At $150, the shotgun is cheap, powerful, and immediately makes every farming run faster. It kills creatures quickly and lets you exploit the game’s killscore multiplier system. Trick shots multiply a creature’s value before you sell it, making a skillful kill far more profitable than a plain one:
These modifiers stack, so even an easy jumpshot-plus-no-scope increases a fish’s sale value. The shotgun becomes an income engine as well as a killing tool, and it remains useful across several islands. Once you own it, upgrade its bullets in small steps:
The later bullet tiers become much more expensive as you advance through the islands, but the opening upgrades cost pocket change and deliver a noticeable increase in kill speed. These listed prices apply to multiplayer runs; weapon upgrades cost less in solo play.
Cook a fish (or even a weapon) to 1.5x value before you sell it. The cooking multiplier applies to more than food, and combined with a good trick-shot multiplier it roughly doubles the money you make from the same kill.
When to skip the pistol
Skip the pistol on a normal playthrough. The shotgun costs about the same, hits harder, and carries you through multiple islands, so splitting your money between both weapons only slows your progress. Buy the shotgun and keep upgrading it.
A dedicated co-op speedrun uses a different route: two players share money while one continuously upgrades a pistol with a compensator and higher per-shot damage, and the other farms fish with lures. In that gear-optimized run, the upgraded pistol acts as a stepping stone before being handed off, allowing the player to move up to an assault rifle. For a normal run, skip it.
Dynamite is a tool, not a gun
Dynamite is the cheapest problem-solver in the game at $25, and it unlocks on island 2. Throw a stick into the water and collect everything that floats up. This quickly gathers several fish at once for food, sales, and the quest materials requested by bosses and NPCs. It is useful, disposable, and cheap to replace.
Dynamite is not a combat weapon. Its self-damage will kill you when used against creatures at close range, and no fight justifies that risk. Buy dynamite to gather fish or initiate a boss fight, then use the shotgun for the actual killing.
Moving up to the Uzi, sniper, and assault rifle
The shotgun carries the early and middle game, but it does not need to last forever. Around islands 3 and 4, a maxed Uzi handles most encounters. If its recoil becomes a problem during the island 4 bird fight, upgrade the sniper rifle instead for cleaner shots. Both weapons are bridges to your final loadout.
The endgame purchase is the assault rifle at $20,000, fully kitted for the final boss. Every weapon has four attachment slots — extended mag, laser sight, a red dot or sniper scope, and a compensator or suppressor — and a maxed AR with the right attachments carries you through the volcano island’s lava whale. Reaching that loadout requires a long farming grind, so use the shotgun to make your early money efficiently.
Spending tips that save you money
Cook fish before selling whenever you have access to a grill or lava. The free 1.5x cooking multiplier increases every sale, and cooked fish in your pockets heals you during boss fights, so carry a stack into every fight. As you progress, buy extra inventory and hotbar slots; the amount of cooked fish you can keep ready directly decides the later fights. Never leave loot on the ground because any items left on the ground will despawn. Pick up or sell every catch instead of stockpiling it in the dirt.
Related How to Fish guides
Frequently Asked Questions
Is dynamite worth buying early even though it’s dangerous in fights?
Yes — buy it as a fishing tool, not a weapon. It is cheap, pays for itself quickly when you blow up a cluster of fish, and provides the fastest way to collect fish requested by quest-givers. Dynamite fishing stops being efficient after the early islands, when you should switch back to a proper fishing rod and lures. Throw it only into the water, never at creatures you’re fighting.
Should co-op players change the first weapon priority?
No — everyone in a normal co-op run still wants the shotgun first. A min-maxed speedrun is the sole exception: one player pools money into a single upgraded pistol while the other farms fish with high-tier lures, then the armed player moves straight to an assault rifle and passes the earlier gear along. Use that route only when racing the clock; otherwise, stick with the shotgun.
When should you stop upgrading the shotgun and save for the assault rifle?
Keep upgrading the shotgun while it clears fights efficiently. It carries most encounters through islands 2 and 3. After the mid-islands, when bullet upgrades begin costing thousands, redirect your farming money toward the assault rifle. The $20,000 rifle and roughly $54,250 full attachment set require a large investment, so start banking when the shotgun begins falling behind rather than as soon as a fancier gun becomes affordable.
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