The pufferfish is the Island 2 boss in How to Fish, Dazed Games' physics-based co-op shooter on Steam. It sells for $12,000 on catch, but getting there requires finishing the island's tourist quest first, grabbing the carrot bait it hands you, then fishing the boss up deliberately. Once hooked, the pufferfish rolls straight at you, grows larger as the fight drags on, and hits a second phase at half health that adds a purple poison cloud trailing behind it. The whole fight is a rhythm of dodge, shoot, and heal, but that second phase is where most runs fall apart.
How do you unlock the pufferfish boss fight?
You cannot just show up and start swinging. The carrot bait that summons the pufferfish comes from completing the Vacation quest, which means catching an endangered fish (needlefish, bowl fish, or sea horse all count) using the pink standard lure, then handing it to the island tourist. He gives you the carrot as a reward. Fish that carrot up and the fight begins.
The Grillmaster quest runs parallel and matters just as much. Completing it unlocks grill access, which is how you turn raw fish into cooked fish. Cooked fish is your only healing source in this fight, so finishing both quests before you attempt the boss is the actual prerequisite.
How to Fish Boss Guide: How to Beat the Pufferfish
What should you bring to the pufferfish fight?
The pufferfish is beatable with standard Island 2 gear, but the margin for error shrinks fast if your healing supply is thin. Stock more cooked fish than you think you need. Pull each fish off the grill at its peak so it heals properly instead of burning into a worthless lump.
For weapons, a maxed Uzi covers the damage side well. The fight rewards consistent pressure during recovery windows, not burst damage, so steady fire beats anything flashier.
How to fight the pufferfish
How to Fish Boss Guide: How to Beat the Pufferfish
Dodge, shoot, heal
The pufferfish charges by rolling straight at you. Moving sideways and away from its line works better than backpedaling, which tends to keep you in the path longer. After each dodge, while the boss is recovering, pour damage in. That recovery window is your entire offense.
The island terrain is a real factor here. Coconut trees and other props can block your dodge and let a roll connect, so fight in open space where possible. That said, trees and solid cover can also disrupt the pufferfish's charge path, which creates extra firing windows. The trick is building a repeatable circle around cover rather than improvising new directions every pass.
Heal steadily. Every time the boss clips you, eat a cooked fish immediately. Waiting until you're nearly dead means one more hit finishes the run before the heal lands.
The purple poison cloud
At half health, the pufferfish starts trailing a purple poison cloud directly behind it. The boss's movement pattern does not change, but your movement has to. The cloud follows the boss's path, so cutting across behind it to reach a shot window will clip you.
Circle around the boss rather than through its trail. The damage windows still exist, but you reach them by going around the cloud, not through it. This is the part of the fight where players who were managing fine suddenly die, almost always because they chased a shot through the poison.
The boss also grows larger as the fight continues. Distance that felt safe in phase 1 stops being safe in phase 2. Widen your spacing gradually as it grows.
How to Fish Boss Guide: How to Beat the Pufferfish
What mistakes end most pufferfish attempts?
The list is short but consistent across runs:
- Running through the poison cloud. Usually happens while chasing a shot or escaping a roll. Plan movement to go around it, not across it.
- Getting boxed in by trees or terrain. Open space is safer unless you're using terrain deliberately to disrupt the boss's route.
- Entering without enough cooked fish. No healing supply means no recovery after the first few hits.
- Panic-healing too late. Waiting until health is critical means a second hit lands before the heal takes effect. Eat early.
Solo vs. co-op: what actually changes?
How to Fish supports 1 to 4 players, and the pufferfish fight works the same mechanically either way. Co-op does not add special mechanics, but it changes the margin significantly.
With multiple players, the boss takes more damage per second and goes down faster. Teammates can also revive each other, so a single mistake does not end the run. In co-op, the player the boss is targeting should run the kite route while others fire from separate angles. Stacking everyone behind the same tree means the boss passes through the whole group on one charge.
Solo is entirely doable. The dodge-shoot-heal loop is the same, you just carry all of it yourself. Your cooked fish stack and your spacing matter more when there is no one to pick you up.
What do you get for beating the pufferfish?
The pufferfish sells for $12,000, making it a meaningful cash injection for Island 2 progression. Beyond the money, the fight produces a distinct fin or trophy item with a visible bone-like shape. This is the progression item for the next quest hand-in. Do not sell it or mix it up with regular pufferfish meat chunks. Keep it in the relevant player's inventory and return it to the correct quest giver before offloading anything else.
How to Fish Boss Guide: How to Beat the Pufferfish
For a full breakdown of every achievement connected to this fight and the rest of the game, the How to Fish trophy list guide covers unlock order and efficient completion strategies. The pufferfish kill ties into at least one Steam achievement, so knowing the list before you attempt it saves a second run.
Check the full How to Fish strategy guides for coverage of the other island bosses, including the whale and the final lava whale encounter, both of which build on the movement habits you develop here. The pufferfish is the game's first real test of spacing and resource management, and the same principles carry forward through every boss after it.