How to Fish WikiFor How to Fish 1.1.3
Giant Piranha

Giant Piranha Boss: Leech Bait, Fight and Skeleton

The second boss is decided in its second half: fight from dry ground with a Shotgun, then clear the small piranhas it summons before they surround you.

BossForest (Island 2)
Checked against How to Fish 1.1.3
Summon itemLeech Bait (from the Swamp Daughter for 3 Leeches)
Health2500 (Normal; Easy 75%, Hard 125%)
Recommended weaponsShotgun ($150) with bullet upgrades; dynamite for the small piranhas
Next stepHand the skeleton to the Swamp Daughter for the flash drive with Island 3.

Leech Bait: how to summon the Giant Piranha

Only the Leech Bait brings the Giant Piranha up, and the woman by the Forest lake trades it for three leeches.

  1. Talk to the woman in the straw hat; her counter starts at 0/3.
  2. Find three pale leeches lying on the grass in the middle of the island and throw each one to her with Q.
  3. Take the Leech Bait and fit it on the long Fishing Rod, not the Crab-Fishing Rod.
  4. Reload, put dead fish in your inventory for food, then cast from the shore and keep reeling.

How to beat the piranha boss

Phase one is about footing, phase two is about the swarm.

  1. Fling the boss away as it lands and back off onto the grass; it can leap again every time it drops into water.
  2. Circle the trees instead of running straight, so its leaps hit trunks, and fire the Shotgun up close between leaps.
  3. At about half health it summons small piranhas: 5 health each, 15 damage per bite.
  4. Kill them with Pistol shots, punches or one Dynamite stick thrown in front of a line of them.
  5. Eat dead small piranhas to heal and go back to the big fish whenever the swarm is thin.

Second boss solo and in co-op

Solo, keep moving around the same few trees and never stand in the shallows.

In co-op the boss has more health per extra player, so split the work: one player keeps the small piranhas down while the others stay on the boss.

Shotgun, Pistol and Dynamite for the piranha

The Shotgun ($150) is the boss weapon: 25 pellets per shot at close range, with its first bullet upgrades sold on the Forest island.

A $50 Pistol or a few $25 Dynamite sticks handle the swarm. One Dynamite stick clears a whole line of small piranhas; speedrunners take about half the boss's health with a single pile set off under it.

Giant Piranha health

The Giant Piranha has 2,500 health on Normal (75% on Easy, 125% on Hard).

Patch 1.0.12 rebalanced the fight, so older videos may show it dying faster.

Giant Piranha skeleton and Island 3

Clear the leftover small piranhas, then look among the meat chunks ($25 each, one per player plus two) for the Giant Piranha Skeleton.

Throw the skeleton to the woman and take the flash drive; a new dot to the north appears on the Radar.