Upgrades & Purchase Priorities

01Choose the next purchase from your current task

For a first island departure, finish Spider Crab’s hand-in and obtain boat access before buying navigation equipment. For a difficult fight, improve the weapon already in your hands before dividing dollars across several new guns. For Hobin Rood, reserve euros for the Bow itself before its optional upgrades. For a long Fishipedia session, consider Wishbone before committing the same euros elsewhere.

This is a goal-based spending order rather than a claim that every save needs the same build. Keep enough currency for the bait and recovery items needed on your next trip. A travel upgrade does not finish a quest hand-in, and a higher Drip chance does not select a creature outside your equipped bait’s pool.

• Next island missing → finish the hand-in and check Radar before buying an engine.
• Fight taking too long → inspect the next bullet step on your active firearm.
• Hobin Rood missing → buy and equip the Bow, then attempt an arrow finishing hit.
• Many Drip entries missing → collect euros, visit Wishbone and organize your hunt by bait.

02Find Wishbone on the rock-pillar jumping islet

While sailing between main islands, inspect nearby radar dots for a group of tall rock pillars with shorter stepping stones around them. Follow the jumpable route toward the highest pillar and approach the Wishbone purchase prompt. Germany328’s 1.1.1 route and two later Steam guides agree on this landmark and the euro requirement.

Collect your euro budget before making the climb: bottle money and Crab Carcass catches are the documented supply routes. Read the current upgrade offer at the top, buy the tier you can afford, then reopen your in-game Fishipedia to inspect its Drip chance display. Patch 1.1.2 changed Wishbone pricing, so an early launch price is not a reliable shopping total.

• Landmark: tall rock pillars and a stepping-stone jumping route.
• Purchase point: the Wishbone prompt on the highest pillar.
• Currency: euros; compare the € balance with the displayed tier price.
• Result check: inspect the in-game Fishipedia’s chance for Drip creatures.

03Check the Wishbone result before repeating purchases

The community guides describe Wishbone as increasing Drip chance, which makes it useful when you will repeat a known bait pool. It does not supply a missing lure, guarantee a particular named creature or record a kill for you. Confirm the base creature’s bait first, then use Wishbone as support for the repeated search.

Snake’s 1.1.3 screenshots show a Fishipedia chance display and a Wishbone prompt reading “Maxed for this island”. If your prompt shows that message, stop repeating the same purchase and check the chance already shown on your save. That wording describes the visible stop at that island; it is not a reason to assume a universal upgrade count or reuse an old price list.

04Buy the Bow before arrow or quiver upgrades

The Bow shop is the rocky islet with archery targets around a circular castle-like wall and a robed NPC. It offers the Bow plus separate arrow and quiver purchases in the dated community route. Start at the weapon’s own prompt, buy and equip it, then inspect the labels on the upgrades you actually want.

For Hobin Rood, Steam asks for a creature killed with an arrow; it does not name a mandatory upgrade tier. Choose an ordinary non-quest target and make an arrow supply the finishing hit before deciding more upgrades are necessary. If the weapon will not ready, inspect your assigned Reload input, which became rebindable in 1.1.2.

05Use the current attachment options on your firearm

Bullet tiers and attachments are separate purchases. Dated community records list the first Shotgun bullet steps as $20, $30 and $40 after the $150 gun. Use those figures as an opening budget estimate, then check the tier shown on your actual weapon before spending.

Patch 1.0.11 removed the purchasable Iron Sight upgrade and changed attachment downgrades. Patch 1.1.2 later restored the option to downgrade to ironsight. Read that as a restored action, not proof that every removed item returned to the shop; inspect the current compatible prompt before planning a Fully Equipped loadout.

06Budget navigation and utility in dollars

The documented $10 Radar belongs after boat access because it supplies the navigation cue for the next leg. An engine is a later convenience when your route is open and travel itself is slowing the run. If a destination has not appeared, check the last dialogue and return item before spending on the boat.

The dated $25 Dynamite purchase supports gathering fish from water. Keep room around the blast because official 1.0.11 notes allow self-inflicted explosive deaths even when friendly fire is disabled. The planner totals the listed dollar items; budget Wishbone, the Bow and its upgrades separately through their euro prompts.