How to Fish — Weapons Tier List
SMG tops S tier, Assault Rifle for the whale, and why Brass Knuckles are a money tool, not a weapon
How to Fish weapons tier list ranks every purchasable weapon from essential to skip. The rankings factor in damage output, multiplier quality, upgrade cost, and how many islands each weapon stays relevant. This list is for Patch 1.0.10 and the post-1.0.9 difficulty slider. The SMG is the most cost-efficient gun in the game. The Assault Rifle is mandatory for the Mutated Bowhead Whale only.
Tier rankings explained
- S Tier: Weapons worth upgrading fully because they stay relevant across multiple islands.
- A Tier: Strong on their home island and useful at the start of the next, then fall off.
- B Tier: Situationally good for specific boss encounters.
- C Tier: Skip. The money is better spent elsewhere.
S Tier — buy these on the route
SMG — The best all-round gun in the game. Covers three consecutive islands: Forest, Desert, and Rocks. Fast fire rate, solid damage, and ranged multipliers (headshots, last-bullet bonuses) make it the most cost-efficient weapon. The recoil is the one real drawback. The Compensator attachment (bought on Desert island) resolves it cleanly. Upgrade priority: magazine first, then Compensator.
Pistol — S tier for different reasons. On Lighthouse it costs far less than the Shotgun, carries more bullets between reloads, and lands ranged multipliers. It also doubles as a bird-hunting tool — shooting Seagulls for food is a legitimate early-game strategy.
Assault Rifle + attachments — The most expensive weapon in the game (roughly ten times the Sniper once fully upgraded). Justified exactly once: the Bowhead Whale and its Mutated second stage on Volcano. The Mutated Bowhead Whale demands the fastest sustained damage output in the game. Save the upgrade budget for that fight.
A Tier — island-timed
Knife — 16 base damage, upgrades to 22 on Lighthouse. Excellent value for Island 1 and useful for the opening stretch of Island 2. Melee multipliers are weaker than ranged ones after that point. The Knife stops pulling its weight past mid-Forest.
Shotgun — The default Island 2 ranged weapon. Good for Giant Piranha and the Forest mini-bosses (Sunfish, Old Pike). Solid mid-game option until the SMG replaces it on Desert.
Sniper Rifle — Correct tool for the Albatross. The aerial targeting and headshot multipliers make it the right pick for the Terrorizing bird achievement. Fight from a casino or boathouse doorway: step out, shoot the red hit, step in.
B Tier — useful, not the bottleneck
Dynamite (~$25) — Its real moment is the Giant Piranha fight. That encounter floods the arena with small piranhas that will kill you repeatedly without an area-of-effect option. Dynamite solves that directly. On Volcano it also clears fish swarms and cooks free healing food. Worth carrying from Island 2 onward.
Brass Knuckles — The community-discovered skip involves buying Brass Knuckles and a Beer specifically to farm easy fish faster for cash, not to use the Knuckles as a primary weapon. The 5 damage increase over bare fists does not justify the cost as a combat tool. This is a money tool.
C Tier — stop using these
Bare fists on Spider Crab — Common solo wipe. The game defaults to fists when you drop a catch. Switch to your weapon directly instead of dropping the fish first — it drops the catch automatically and puts your weapon in hand instantly.
Knuckles on Handyman last hit — The achievement requires bare fists only for the final tick. Unequip everything before the last hit.
Per-island loadout recommendations
| Island | Primary weapon | Secondary | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lighthouse (1) | Knife | Pistol | Buy knife, sharpen once. Skip Brass Knuckles combat use. |
| Forest (2) | Shotgun | Dynamite | Piranha swarms need area damage. SMG if you can afford it. |
| Desert (3) | SMG + Compensator | — | Compensator resolves recoil. First true endgame weapon. |
| Rocks (4) | Sniper Rifle | SMG | Albatross needs headshots. SMG for everything else. |
| Volcano (5) | Assault Rifle (full) | SMG | Save full kit for the whale. SMG handles regular pool. |
Boss-specific weapon recommendations
- Spider Crab (Lighthouse): Knife or Pistol. SIDESTEP, do not backpedal.
- Giant Piranha (Forest): Dynamite for the swarm, Pistol or Shotgun for sustained damage.
- Pufferfish (Desert): SMG. The poison trail means you need fast strafing damage.
- Albatross (Rocks): Sniper Rifle from a doorway. No other weapon handles the aerial targeting as cleanly.
- Mutated Bowhead Whale (Volcano): Assault Rifle with full upgrades. No substitute for this fight.
Upgrade priorities
Do not over-upgrade a weapon you are about to replace. Putting money into Knife upgrades past Lighthouse or Pistol upgrades past mid-Forest is a direct loss. Move on when the next island’s weapon becomes available. One weapon fully upgraded outperforms three weapons at default stats on every island.
What Patch 1.0.10 changed
Patch 1.0.10 did not change weapon damage values. It added the ability to dip weapons in water to clean cooking residue (useful after using guns near the grill). The Anglerfish health reduction is a creature balance change, not a weapon change.
Related pages
- Gear Hub — full buy order and engine comparisons
- Boss Fights — bait plus weapon pairing per fight
- Money-Making — how to afford S-tier weapons and lures
- Ground Stashes — where to leave spare weapons between sessions