In How to Fish, Dazed Games’ Steam co-op shooter-fishing game, buy the $150 shotgun after filling your inventory slots, then purchase its bullet upgrades in order as better lures increase your farming income.
How to Fish, from Dazed Games on Steam, starts you with no gear, so every part of the build must be earned. The shotgun is the weapon to build around, and upgrading it means buying its bullet upgrades in sequence. Advance through the upgrade path alongside your lure tiers and income rather than saving for a single one-time purchase.
The shotgun and its upgrade path
The shotgun costs $150. Buy it immediately after filling your inventory slots in the early game, before your money loop shifts from dynamite fishing to proper rod-and-lure farming.
Once you have the gun, increase its damage through the bullet upgrades. Each tier costs more and makes creatures and bosses far easier to drop, so buy the next upgrade as your fishing income climbs.
Shotgun bullet upgrade costs
| Stage | Bullet upgrade costs |
|---|---|
| Early | $20, $30, $40 |
| Mid | $200, $250, $300 |
| Late | $1,500, $2,500, $3,000 |
| Endgame | $4,240, $6,120, $8,340 |
Key The Stage labels are editorial groupings for one continuous price sequence, not official in-game tiers. The prices run in this order across your progression rather than assigning each stage to one specific shop or island. Buy the next set of bullet upgrades whenever your current lure tier can fund them so your damage keeps pace with the creatures you’re shooting.
Order to buy your upgrades
Build starting cash
Use Dynamite ($25) on Beginner fish, cook them, and sell them for the higher cooked value until you can afford every inventory slot.
Buy the shotgun
With every inventory slot filled, buy the $150 shotgun. This weapon carries you across the islands.
Grab the first bullet upgrades
While using cheap Beginner Lures (Brown, $3), buy the earliest bullet upgrades to make kills easier.
Switch to Standard lures
Move to Standard Lures (Pink, $15), farm fish with them, and use the income to buy the next bullet upgrade tier.
Step up to Professional lures
Farm with Professional Lures (Orange, $50) as your income grows, then buy the mid bullet upgrades.
Finish on Scientific lures
Once you can afford Scientific Lures (Shrimp, $500), farm with them and buy the final bullet upgrades.
Buy the next bullet upgrade tier the moment your current lure tier can pay for it so your damage keeps pace with tougher creatures instead of falling behind.
Why the shotgun carries your run
| Multiplier | Value |
|---|---|
| 360 | 1.5x |
| Headshot | 1.25x |
| Last bullet | 1.25x |
| No scope | 1.2x |
| Point blank | 1.1x |
An upgraded shotgun handles two jobs at once. It quickly kills ordinary creatures and bosses while letting you stack kill-score multipliers. Stylish kills raise a fish’s value before you sell it, so accurate shooting increases both your income and your body count.
Target the higher multipliers: landing a 360 or a no-scope on a creature is worth the extra effort, while the shotgun’s spread makes point-blank shots reliable when a boss closes in.
Attachments and the Fully equipped achievement
Bullet upgrades are separate from the attachment slots used by weapons in How to Fish. The Fully equipped achievement requires you to apply all attachments to one weapon. Every weapon has four slots: extended mag, laser sight, red dot or sniper scope, and compensator or suppressor.
You can earn the achievement with any gun, so complete it as its own goal rather than treating it as part of the shotgun-damage build. It requires four compatible attachments on one weapon, not one specific fully kitted shotgun loadout.
Mistakes that waste your money
The biggest early trap is relying on dynamite for too long. It provides cheap food, but once proper lure fishing pays more, dynamite fishing stops being feasible and it is time to switch to your rod.
Two other mistakes quietly drain a run. Any items left on the ground despawn, so pick up and cook your catch instead of stockpiling it in the sand. Skip the weaker early weapons and save for the shotgun; every dollar spent elsewhere delays the upgrades that scale your damage.
Related How to Fish guides
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the pistol worth buying before the shotgun?
No. Skip the pistol and save for the $150 shotgun. The pistol isn’t worth the money, while the shotgun carries you through several islands.
Is dynamite still useful after you buy the shotgun?
Only as a cheap food source. Cooked fish in your pockets keeps you alive in boss fights, but dynamite is slower than proper fishing for farming cash and stops being feasible once your lure tiers take over.
Are shotgun upgrades required for an achievement?
No. The bullet upgrades aren’t tied to an achievement. Fully equipped requires all four attachments on one weapon, which can be the shotgun but doesn’t have to be, while Getting an upgrade requires you to upgrade the boat’s engine and is unrelated to your gun.
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