How to Beat the Volcanic Whale in How to Fish

Names first: phase 1 shows the kill text Bowhead Whale; the phase-2 health bar reads Mutated Bowhead Whale; the community calls the whole thing the Volcanic or Magma Whale. It’s the game’s final boss and its biggest difficulty wall — Steam threads range from “how are you supposed to beat this” to less printable phrasings.

This page is the full fight. Where the boss is and how the quest chain works is covered in the location guide.

Gear First: The Fight Is a DPS Check

There’s no armor or shield in the game — food is your only defense — so the preparation is entirely about damage and money:

• Assault Rifle from the camp vendor, about $20,000 in the reference run.
• Upgrade path that worked: suppressor (roughly doubled damage in that run), extended magazine, laser sight, then repeated damage upgrades to the 100-damage cap. The suppressor and compensator are mutually exclusive — take the suppressor.
• Funding: buy Scientific Boss Lures ($5,000), summon and kill Goblin Sharks ($10,000 each, more with kill-style bonuses). A few laps of this pays for everything.
• Rejected options: the shotgun “just doesn’t do enough damage,” and dynamite is weak and can’t be upgraded. Don’t try to save money here.

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Bait economy: Scientific Lure catches and the Foot Snails near the lava streams both count toward the Scientist's whale bait.

Buy at least two whale baits before you start. Failed attempts happen, and the bait is what stands between a retry and a full re-farm.

Phase 1: The Bowhead Whale

The whale has two attacks, and both punish standing still:

• Dive-bomb. It launches into the air and lands where you were standing. The dodge that worked: sprint in a straight line away from it — cute sidesteps put you back in the landing zone.
• Death roll. After landing it thrashes across the ground like a crocodile. This is the worse attack: it starts immediately and close. Give it room the moment the whale touches down.

Damage is extreme even in phase 1 — the reference runner died once at full health — and hits scatter your dropped items across the ground. Eat pre-emptively in every gap, not after you’re hit. Ducking inside a camp building blocks most attacks (the whale clipped inside once, so treat it as semi-reliable), which is covered more on the solo page.

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Phase 1 down — the +13,200 figure is a display value only. The body is a quest item and cannot be sold.

Phase 2: The Mutated Bowhead Whale

Carry the body to the summit crater (the slope lava streams won’t accept it), throw it in, and run — the Mutated Bowhead Whale erupts out where you’re standing.

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Phase 2 keeps the phase-1 moveset and adds magma — plus a landing slam that has one-shot full-health players.

Everything from phase 1 still applies, plus three new problems: magma that persists on the ground, a landing slam that can one-shot you from full health, and a despawn rule — speed away by boat and the boss vanishes, costing you an entire new whale. The full phase-2 breakdown, including the casino pillar-trap route, is on the Phase 2 page.

Step by Step

1. Farm Goblin Sharks until the Assault Rifle is bought and its damage upgrades are maxed.
2. Hand the Scientist scientific fish and Foot Snails until she makes whale bait — buy at least two.
3. Stock healing food. It’s your entire defense.
4. Cast the bait and fight the Bowhead Whale on land: straight-line sprints from dive-bombs, distance from the rolls, AR fire between attacks.
5. Pick up the body — it’s a quest item; the price it displays is a known display bug, it can’t be sold.
6. Carry it to the summit crater, throw it in, and immediately run.
7. Fight the Mutated Bowhead Whale around the volcano — or commit to the pillar-trap route. Don’t speed off by boat either way.
8. Kill it before the fight window ends, then board the expedition boat for the ending.

Common Mistakes

• Attempting the fight with pre-Island-5 weapons. The shotgun and dynamite are dead ends; the timer beats under-geared attempts.
• Trying to sell the whale body — the displayed price is a bug.
• Throwing the body into a slope lava stream. Summit crater only.
• Fighting from the boat. The whale lands on it. “Not a good strat,” per the person who tried.
• Healing reactively. Eating after a hit leaves you inside the next landing zone; the reference runner died at full health twice learning this.
• Speeding away when overwhelmed — phase 2 despawns and the whole summon starts over.

Watch It Done

I'm Playing 100% of How to Fish — the whale fight at 2:58:13

Jump to:2:26:56 Buying the $20,000 Assault Rifle2:35:01 Goblin Shark money farm2:58:13 Phase 1: Bowhead Whale fight3:03:33 Phase 2 trigger: body into the crater4:01:18 Final blow and ending

What Happens Next

Killing phase 2 completes the Scientist’s mission and unlocks the expedition boat to the mainland — boarding it ends the game. Two chase achievements live in this fight: Handyman (bare-hands final blow — only the last hit counts, dev-confirmed) and Bean (finish the game within an hour). Solo players: the dedicated solo guide covers the safest route.