Abyss Anglers: A quick guide to the fun and perhaps profitable feature in WoW patch 12.0.5

Abyss Anglers is a new fishing activity coming to World of Warcraft in patch 12.0.5 that some have been comparing to indie game Dave the Diver (it was us; the whole thing seems suspiciously legally distinct). We finally had a little time to literally get our feet wet, and we weren’t shocked at all by what we found.

To begin your Angling journey, you’ll find Depthdiver Jeju off the coast of Zul’Aman to the east of the Temple of Jan’Alai with the purple triangle quest “Joining the Abyss Anglers.” Ignore the hulking landmass shrouded in mist looming directly behind you. If you feel a pricking between your shoulderblades like you’re being watched, you can just ignore that. It’s fine. Everything’s fine.

Jeju pops a diving helmet on your noggin and sends you on your first dive, with the quest to capture at least three fish and find one artifact on the bottom. The artifacts have glowing purple outlines — if you don’t see one, it’s probably because of the other players around you.

When you’re first sent to the Abyss, you have three buttons: a speed boost, the harpoon, and a button to surface and end the run. Note that when you press this you don’t surface instantly — you have to also hit Accept, so don’t wait til the literal last second. In the Abyss, you swim around and use the harpoon to shoot at fish, which is actually a little tricky to get the hang of. There’s a very short cast, and that’s the only time the aiming reticle shows up. You have to use that window to try to aim just ahead of where the fish will be when the harpoon lands, like a projectile weapon in an FPS. Don’t worry if it takes you a bit to get the hang of it — you’ll get a lot of chances to try, and there are plenty of fish in the sea.

Even if you do it perfectly, you won’t catch most fish until you hit them multiple times to “remove their scales,” with some of them in the later game to requiring dozens of hits, but you can upgrade your equipment to increase your time underwater and your swim speed to give you more time to land those hits. And if you just cannot even with the harpoon stuff, there are also shiny white schools of fish to run through, bubbles to fish in, and artifacts scattered on the ocean floor to right click for a lot of points — and you can purchase upgrades for most of those activities too.

There technically is no limit to the number of fish you can catch or other stuff you can do in one run, though you have an oxygen meter as a de facto timer. If your oxygen runs out you return to the surface, in the same spot as when you end your run manually, but without the small points boost from being safe — it’s a fail state, but a forgiving one. However, you do have to post some points to get that bonus. If all you do is swim around and knock the scales off other fish, you get no pearls for the run even if you return safely. If it does turn out that all you did was knock scales off, on your next run, that work will be maintained, so you can (sort of) slow-motion zerg it if there’s nobody else around to steal the kill while you swim back. You can also do Anglers in a party.

There’s no limit to the number of times you can dive. Good luck pacing yourself.

The tricky part is the reward structure.

What can I buy with Angler Pearls?

There is only one reward for your fish harpooning: Angler Pearls. This currency will get you the fun cosmetics, decor, and capybara pet — and Fused Vitality — sold by Depthdiver Tu’nakit.

• Windmark Tribal Charm – Decor. 750 Angler Pearls.
• Amani Dreamer’s Charm – Decor. 750 Angler Pearls.
• Barebone Rope Charm – Decor. 750 Angler Pearls.
• Simple Bone-Tied Charm – Decor. 750 Angler Pearls.
• Depthdiver’s Cooking Spit – Decor. 1000 Angler Pearls.
• Zul’Aman Forest Hammock – Decor. 1000 Angler Pearls.
• Fused Vitality (Limited to 3, likely per week) – Crafting Reagent. 750 Angler Pearls each.
• Fangrin Flailer (Limited to 1) – Cosmetic, 1-handed mace. 2250 Angler Pearls.
• Ensemble: Depthdiver Vestments (Limited to 1) – Cosmetic. 3000 Angler Pearls.
• Ensemble: Abyss Angler (Limited to 1) – Cosmetic. 4500 Angler Pearls.
• Idol of the Depths – Quest initiation item. Requires Idols of the Depths achievement. 1500 Angler Pearls.
• Ka’bubb – Companion Pet. Requires All Blue Angler achievement. 2500 Angler Pearls.

However, Angler Pearls also used to upgrade the equipment you use to go Abyss Angling, sold by Depthdiver Jeju. Everything sold by Jeju is locked to an achievement.

• Reinforced Joints – Dive Suit upgrade. 100 Angler Pearls.
• Depth Grease – Dive Suit upgrade. 400 Angler Pearls.
• Pahk Trench Fins – Dive Suit upgrade. 600 Angler Pearls.
• Depthdiver’s Used Tank – Oxygen upgrade. 200 Angler Pearls
• Fathom Tested Tank – Oxygen upgrade. 400 Angler Pearls.
• Nalorakk’s Breath Tank – Oxygen upgrade. 600 Angler Pearls.
• Shallows Net – Allows you to capture small critters. 400 Angler Pearls.
• Triple-Thread Net – Allows you to capture slightly larger critters. 600 Angler Pearls.
• Finnow Charm – Lets you catch Uncommons when fishing from bubbles. 200 Angler Pearls.
• Plecofin Bait – Lets you catch Rares when fishing from bubbles. 400 Angler Pearls.
• Murkskimmer Meat – Lets you catch Epics when fishing from bubbles. 600 Angler Pearls.
• Pressurized Eyeglass – Lets you ID and collect Ancient Treasures. 600 Angler Pearls.

The balance comes in deciding when you want to buy upgrades, versus when you want to buy the things offered by Tu’nakit. Crafters will likely want to rush to get those Fused Vitalities, but also there’s a tradeoff when you could also upgrade your equipment, to gather more Angler Pearls for future runs more quickly. Conversely, if you do really want those Vitalities, you may actually have slightly more fun, as other players will likely be stressing over ticking the boxes for those achievements.

Either way, yeah, it plays a lot like Dave the Diver, but with a 3D element making it more challenging (or frustrating, depending on who you ask). Also, Dave has several gameplay loops that just kinda show up out of nowhere, so you won’t have that brain candy novelty keeping you engaged. Still, not a bad way to bulk out your transmog collection.