Destiny 2 How to Catch Exotic Fish

Fishing in Destiny 2 is a chill way to farm new Seasonal gear. Many players have even begun using it as their sole method for farming Exotic gear.

To get Exotic gear from fishing, you will need to catch an Exotic fish. We will go over some of the best ways to get Exotic fish.

Recommended Read: Where to Buy Shaders in Destiny 2

To catch an Exotic fish in Destiny 2, fill your Focused Fishing meter and perform Perfect Catches.

Table of Contents

Why Catch Exotic Fish

Fishing is a great way to farm gear and materials without putting in much effort. It is a new-player-friendly activity that can net you some great gear improvements.

The main reason many players are taking to fishing is the chance of catching an Exotic fish.

Once released into your aquarium, these fish will reward you with either an Exotic armor piece or an Ascendant Shard.

Players who don’t have a team to farm Nightfalls for Exotics or haven’t yet reached the max Power Level will find comfort in knowing that fishing can reward them with the materials and gear they need.

Max Level players have taken to fishing as a way to output minimum effort while still receiving rewards, usually in the form of high-stat Exotic armor or much-needed infusion materials.

How to Catch Exotic Fish in Destiny 2

If you haven’t already, you will first need to unlock fishing by completing the Gone Fishin quest. More on that in our How to Unlock Fishing guide.

Once that is done, we can begin our search for an Exotic fish. It is important to note that there is no guaranteed way to catch an Exotic fish.

Instead, we will be doing everything we can to increase our chances of catching one.

Frenzied Fishing

When you reach a fishing spot, you will see a Focused Fishing meter appear on the bottom left of your screen. This will determine the rarity of loot that you can catch.

For the best chance of getting an Exotic fish, you will want to fill up this meter. The quickest way of doing this is by finding a fishing spot that has a lot of players around it, at least three, though the more the merrier.

The Focused Fishing meter goes up every time a player in the area picks up a Legendary or Exotic fish, so having more players around gives you more chances of increasing the meter.

The meter is split into four bars. You will see a message appear beside the meter when a bar is filled.

Once this meter is at least two bars full, you will then have a chance to catch an Exotic fish. Completely filling the meter will give you the best chances.

Once a Public Event spawns in the same Zone as your fishing spot, it will make your fishing spot disappear until the Public Event is over. To combat this, we have come up with a pro-level fishing strategy.

Efficient Fishing

Let’s go over the steps it takes to maximize your chances of catching an Exotic fish. After finding a fishing spot with plenty of players, continue fishing as normal. Leave all of the fish you catch on the ground.

Once a Public Event spawns, stand still and wait for it to end. To speed things up, it helps to be in a Fireteam with others so you can send one of them to handle the Public Event.

Once the Public Event is over, your fishing spot will respawn somewhere nearby.

Once a member of your Fireteam or any player in the area is at that fishing spot, you can then pick up all of your fish on the ground.

This will massively increase your Focused Fishing meter and give you plenty of time to fish with a full meter before the next Public Event rolls around.

It usually takes around 15-20 minutes for the Public Event to come back around, so after completing one cycle, you will have a fair bit of time with a full meter to try and catch Exotic fish.

Fishing Tips

There are a few tips you should know before you begin fishing.

First, you will want to complete the Efficient Angler Seasonal Challenge.

Once you complete this Challenge, every time you use Bait to fish, you will have a chance of getting your Bait back, This means more time fishing and less time scrounging activities for Bait.

The second is the timing you use when reeling in. Whenever you catch a fish, you will see a message pop up that tells you if your catch was too early, too late, or perfect.

You should aim for a Perfect Catch every time if Exotic fish is what you are after.

Thirdly, since you will be standing still and not picking up your catches, you will want to occasionally open up your menu and swap around your gear.

This will let the game know that you are not AFK. It wouldn’t be fun to have a mountain of fish sitting in front of you just to get kicked to Orbit before you could pick it all up!

The final tip involves the fishing hole itself. As your Focused Fishing meter fills, you will begin to notice schools of fishing circling the pool, as well as spots where fish are jumping out of the water.

While these changes seem aesthetic, some players have mentioned receiving higher Exotic fish chances when casting their rods into these spots.

There are no confirmed numbers as to whether or not this will help you catch an Exotic fish, though it can’t hurt to try!

That’s all the ways we currently know of to increase your chances of catching an Exotic fish.

How many Exotic fish have you caught? Are there any good fishing methods you think I’ve missed? Let me know in the comments!

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