Volcanic Whale Phase 2 Guide (Mutated Bowhead Whale)

The health bar says Mutated Bowhead Whale — black volcanic plating over glowing magma lines. The community says Magma Whale, and one Steam thread says “genuinely insufferable.” This page is only about phase 2; the full fight guide covers gear and phase 1.

Triggering Phase 2

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Prerequisite: a dead Bowhead Whale. Its body is the key that opens phase 2.

Three rules govern the trigger:

• The body goes into the crater at the summit — it doesn’t fit the small lava streams on the slopes.
• Run immediately after the throw. The eruption comes up where you’re standing.
• If phase 2 despawns or the window runs out, re-summoning means catching a whole new Bowhead Whale — this is why the full guide tells you to buy spare whale bait.

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The trigger moment: the body in the summit crater's lava. What comes out next is angrier.

What’s New in Phase 2

• Magma on the ground. The whale’s magma persists where it lands, stacking burn zones on top of the island’s own lava streams. Your dodge routes shrink as the fight goes on.
• The landing slam one-shots. A full-health player was killed by a single landing in the reference run. Treat every airborne moment as lethal.
• Inherited moveset: the dive-bomb (straight-line sprint away) and the ground death-roll (give it distance immediately) both carry over from phase 1.
• There’s a time limit. The exact duration is unknown, but the reference runner repeatedly felt pressed for time — budget your attempt accordingly.

The Despawn Rule

Confirmed the hard way in the reference run: speed away by boat and the whale despawns, sending you back to catch a new whale. Whether the leash is distance or leaving the volcano region isn’t established — but a slow boat lure kept aggro the whole way to another island. That asymmetry is what makes the cheese below possible.

The Casino Pillar Trap

The most reliable route in the reference run, and the one a Steam single-player thread independently recommends:

1. At spawn, get on your boat and head for Island 4’s casino — slowly. Fast enough to stay alive, slow enough that the whale keeps chasing instead of despawning.
2. Kite it into the casino entrance so it wedges between the door pillars.
3. Stand inside the casino and unload the Assault Rifle. Wedged, it cannot reach you at all.
4. Going for the bare-hands achievement? Shoot it to critical, then punch the last hit — a developer confirmed in chat that only the final blow counts.

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The trap in action: shot from inside the casino, with the whale stuck overhead and its health bar draining — it cannot reach you here.

The trade-off is the timer: the lure eats into the fight window, and the reference run’s first attempt timed out at the very end. Start the lure immediately, not after losing half the timer on the volcano.

What Does NOT Work

• The boat as cover. It lands on the boat. You die.
• Hiding under the expedition boat. Tried on request: “No, that does not work.”
• The phase-1 house cheese. Not available for phase 2.
• Shotgun or dynamite. Inadequate damage — the maxed Assault Rifle is the benchmark (see the full guide).

Watch It Done

I'm Playing 100% of How to Fish — phase 2 trigger at 3:03:33

Jump to:3:03:33 Body into the crater — phase 2 spawns3:51:25 Slow boat lure to the casino begins3:56:53 Whale wedged in the pillars4:01:18 Bare-hands final blow, achievement pops

What Happens Next

Phase 2 dead → Scientist’s mission complete → expedition boat to the mainland unlocks, and boarding it ends the game. If you’re playing alone, the solo guide packages this fight into a single-player survival route.