How to Fish is a physics-based co-op game for up to 4 players where fishing and fighting are equally important. Every island demands a different weapon, a different lure, and a tighter budget than the last. Get the loadout wrong and you will bleed money on upgrades that do not carry forward. Get it right and you clear bosses before most players have even found the shop.
How to Fish weapons tier list
Weapons in How to Fish are not universally useful. Some carry you across three islands, some are one-island wonders, and at least one is a trap that looks useful on paper. The rankings below factor in damage output, multiplier quality, upgrade cost, and how many islands each weapon stays relevant.
- S Tier: Weapons worth upgrading fully because they stay relevant across multiple islands without draining your wallet.
- A Tier: Strong on their home island and useful at the start of the next, but they fall off fast after that.
- B Tier: Situationally good, mainly for specific boss encounters.
- C Tier: Skip entirely. The money is better spent elsewhere.
What makes the SMG the best gun in How to Fish?
The SMG earns its S-tier spot by covering three consecutive islands: Grillmaster, Casino, and Volcano. Fast fire rate, solid damage, and ranged multipliers like headshots and last-bullet bonuses make it the most cost-efficient weapon in the game. The recoil is the one real drawback, but picking up the Compensator upgrade on Grillmaster Island handles that cleanly.
The Pistol sits alongside it in S tier for different reasons. On Leech Island it costs far less than the Shotgun, carries more bullets between reloads, and still hits ranged multipliers. It also doubles as a bird-hunting tool since shooting Seagulls for food is a legitimate resource play.
How to Fish Weapons Tier List: Best Loadouts You Should Use
Why the Assault Rifle is the endgame weapon
The Assault Rifle is the most expensive weapon in the game by a significant margin, coming in at roughly ten times the cost of the Sniper Rifle once you include all upgrades. That price is justified exactly once: the Bowheaded Whale boss fight on Volcano Island, especially its Mutated second stage. Outside of that boss context, the SMG and Sniper Rifle hold their own on Volcano Island at the start. Save the Assault Rifle budget for when you actually need it.
What about the Knife and melee weapons?
Melee weapons have a hard ceiling in How to Fish. The Knife deals 16 damage base and upgrades to 22 on Lighthouse Island, which is excellent value for the first island and useful for the opening stretch of Leech Island. After that, melee multipliers are weaker than ranged ones like headshots and last-bullet bonuses, so the Knife stops pulling its weight fast.
Brass Knuckles are the one weapon worth skipping outright. The 5 damage increase over bare fists does not justify the cost, and the sharpening requirements are steep relative to the payoff. The community-discovered skip involves buying Brass Knuckles and a Beer ($12) early specifically to farm easy fish faster for cash, not to use the Knuckles as a primary weapon. It is a money tool, not a damage tool.
How to Fish Weapons Tier List: Best Loadouts You Should Use
Where does Dynamite fit?
Dynamite is cheap enough to grab whenever, but its real moment is the Big Piranha boss fight on Leech Island. That encounter floods the arena with small Piranhas that will kill you repeatedly if you have no area-of-effect option. Dynamite solves that problem directly. On Volcano Island it also works for clearing fish swarms and can be used to cook free healing food, so keeping a stock in the late game has genuine utility.
For a full breakdown of every boss encounter and which weapons to bring, check the complete boss guide covering Spider Crab through Magma Whale.
What is the best gear loadout for each island?
Every island in How to Fish has its own fish pool, lure tier, and weapon shop. Carrying gear from two islands ago wastes inventory space and money on upgrades that will not matter. Here is the optimal setup for each zone.
How should you spend money early?
The catch-and-sell loop is the foundation of everything. Sell every catch, then use the 360 trick-shot on creatures for the double bonus. The proven early-game skip goes: buy Brass Knuckles, upgrade once, grab a Beer, and farm easy fish for the fastest cash accumulation. The goal is not to use the Brass Knuckles as your main weapon but to build toward the Shotgun faster than the default path allows.
A balanced loadout beats owning every weapon at base level. One weapon you have fully upgraded will outperform three weapons at default stats on every island. Budget discipline is the actual skill being tested here.
Once you hit mid-game, the Boat Engine is a high-value quality-of-life purchase that cuts travel time between islands and the shop significantly. The Radar and map upgrade are optional but useful after the engine is in place.
Boss-specific weapon recommendations
Some bosses hard-require specific weapons or loadouts. Testing every weapon against the major bosses makes the pattern clear: general-purpose setups fail at the extremes.
- Big Piranha (Leech Island): Dynamite for the piranha swarms, Pistol for sustained damage.
- Albatross: Sniper Rifle is the correct tool here. The aerial targeting and headshot multipliers make it the right pick. See the dedicated Albatross boss guide for positioning and attack pattern details.
- Bowheaded Whale (Volcano Island): Assault Rifle with full upgrades. The Mutated second stage demands the fastest damage output in the game.
Where to go from here
Mastering the weapon tier list and island loadouts gets you through the main progression cleanly, but there is more to optimize. The How to Fish strategy guides collection covers everything from trophy unlocks to mod recommendations that change how the game plays entirely. Start with the loadouts above, keep your upgrades focused on one weapon at a time, and the islands stop feeling like walls and start feeling like checkpoints.