How to Fish Dynamite & Combat Mechanics
Explosives, placement strategy, and the physics of finishing blows
Dynamite is a shop item on Island 2 for about $25. It is not the primary weapon in How to Fish but it is the foundation of several community-favorite stunts and one Steam achievement. Understanding how the explosion behaves — placement, blast radius, slope interactions, and velocity caps from Patch 1.0.10 — separates a useful tool from a wasted $25.
Dynamite Basics
Dynamite explodes on a timed fuse after placement. The blast deals area-of-effect damage to any creature or player within radius. The explosion also launches nearby objects, including fish corpses, weapons, and the player themselves. This launch behavior is the basis for the flying boat stunt and cook pile herding.
Placement Strategy
The explosion is more effective when dynamite is placed against a solid surface. A free-floating dynamite blast disperses energy in all directions. A blast against a wall or cliff face concentrates force in the opposite direction, producing a stronger launch on the other side.
For the flying boat stunt: bundle multiple dynamite sticks under the hull, place the bundle against the boat’s aft bulkhead, and detonate. The confined space between the bundle and the bulkhead channels blast energy into lifting the boat rather than dissipating sideways.
For cook pile herding: place dynamite near a fish pile, detonate from a distance, and watch the blast push the fish toward the lava or grill. This works best on flat ground with a clear line to the cooking surface.
Slope Mechanics
Dynamite on a slope produces directional launch. A stick placed higher on a slope will blast downward and forward, while a stick at the bottom of a slope will blast upward. This matters for the flying boat because the Volcano island has steeper terrain than the starting islands — players who replicated the Island 2 boat stunt on Volcano often found the boat launched sideways instead of upward.
The fix is to position the boat on a flatter section of water before detonating, or to use fewer dynamite sticks to produce a smaller, more controlled blast.
Explosive Damage vs Weapon Damage
Dynamite damage and weapon damage are separate systems. Weapons deal their listed damage per hit. Dynamite deals its blast damage once at detonation. Creatures killed by dynamite explosion count as kills and drop items. Creatures killed by weapons count as kills and drop items. The Killscore multiplier applies to the killing blow regardless of source.
What dynamite cannot do is stun. Melee and firearms produce stun windows on boss creatures; dynamite does not. A dynamited boss continues its attack pattern without interruption.
Patch 1.0.10 Velocity Cap
Patch 1.0.10 capped explosion velocity. Before this patch, dynamite explosions could launch items — including loot from killed creatures — out of the world boundary, effectively destroying them. The velocity cap reduces how far items fly from an explosion.
This change affected the flying boat stunt slightly: boats launched by dynamite do not travel as far horizontally as they did pre-1.0.10. The stunt still works but the landing zone is closer to the launch point.
Cook pile explosions also travel shorter distances, which some players consider an improvement — it makes fish easier to retrieve after herding.
Co-op Blast Sharing
In co-op, dynamite damage affects all players and creatures in radius. Friendly fire is possible. If a co-op partner is near the blast, they take damage and are launched. The party-wide friendly fire setting in Patch 1.0.11 does not disable dynamite self-damage — your own TNT is still lethal to you.
Co-op players can coordinate dynamite stunts by staggering detonations. One player places and detonates, then the second player follows with their own dynamite to extend a launch or push items further.
Dynamite vs Other Explosives
How to Fish has one documented explosive: dynamite. There are no grenades, missiles, or vehicle-mounted weapons. The Rocket Launcher referenced in some community tier lists does not exist in the game as of Patch 1.0.12. Dazed Games has not announced additional explosive types.
Achievements Involving Dynamite
I’m the bird now — launch a boat into the air using dynamite. This is the primary achievement tied to dynamite use. The boat must be in water and the dynamite must be placed under the hull before detonation.
Everyone’s dream — kill a seagull with dynamite. Place dynamite near a seagull pickup or wait for a seagull to approach a fish pile, then detonate.
Related Pages
- Flying Boat — I’m the bird now guide
- Killscore — multiplier mechanics
- Weapons — weapon vs explosive comparison
- Co-op Guide — friendly fire in multiplayer