Fishing Guide – Archeage Unchained

As with almost every MMO game, being able to fish is a part of Archeage. However, fishing in Archeage is separated into basic fishing and sport fishing with this guide dealing with both aspects. However, since basic fishing is the way you should go to level your fishing proficiency let’s start with that one.

How to Start Basic Fishing.

First of all, you will need a fishing rod. The first fishing rod you will get is the basic fishing rod. You might have gotten one from a quest, but if not, you can make your own by following these instructions. Once you have a fishing rod you will need to get your hands on some bait worms.

Bait worms

There are three ways to get bait worms. The two you have available at the beginning are buying them from the auction house or growing your own in a Worm Compost, which you can get from a Vocation Badge Merchant for 80 vocation badges. You need to plant the worm compost like a seed or sapling and after three hours the worms will be ready. Unfortunately, you can only harvest worms once from each worm compost. You get about 25 worms from each compost if it is fresh, but only about 15 if the worm compost is starting to decompose, so don’t place down a compost unless you can tend to it when it is fresh.

Later, when you have your farming proficiency at 15.000 you will have the option of making seed bundles. These items will allow you to harvest plants from the seeds at a slower rate, but you also get a few worms with them.

Finding a Fishing Spot and Starting to Fish.

For basic fishing, you can fish wherever you find open water. There are no limits on that in Archeage. Once you have found a location you need to equip your fishing rod and have bait worms in your inventory. When equipped a screen with options shows up, where you will have a single option lit for basic fishing being “R”. Your character will do a single throw by left-clicking or pressing R, but if you right-click the basic fishing symbol your character will start fishing automatically until he or she is either out of labor or worms. For each throw, after a few seconds, you will then either get a fish or have a wasted throw.

Each fishing throw will cost you 5 labor and give you 5 points in your fishing proficiency. Note that at the moment worms are silly expensive (but getting cheaper) in the auction house and you will likely not get close to recouping your costs while doing basic fishing.

How to Sport Fish in Archeage

For sport fishing, you will need a fishing pole, a lure and either some chum (for freshwater fish) or chum bucket ( for saltwater fish). You will also need a boat.

This Fishing Rod

The fishing rod matters when you are sport fishing. The better rods are able to deal more damage to the fish you catch. Better rods require proficiency in Handimaking to make and also proficiency in Fishing to use. You can see those numbers on the list here below.

Fishing Rods, Their Damage, and Cast Frequency

• Basic Fishing Rod – Success Rate: 83%
  • Fish Damage 85
  • Fishing Proficiency Requirement 0
  • Cast Frequency 220 sec

• Ultimate Fishing Rod – Success Chance 99%
  • Fish Damage 680
  • Fishing Proficiency Requirement 150.000
  • Cast Frequency 55 sec

The Lure

Getting a lure for sport fishing is easy enough. You only need 15 iron ingots to make one at a handicraft kiln. There is only one type of lure as the only thing it does is allow you to sport fish for 2 hours.

Chum and Chumbucket

These items are used on a school of fish to send them into a feeding frenzy. For freshwater fish, you need to use Chum which you can buy from a general merchant and for saltwater fishing you need to use a Chum Bucket. You need to have the fish in a feeding frenzy to be able to do sport fishing.

You can make a Chum Bucket by using the cooking tools. You will need 60 worms and 40 ground grain to make a single chum bucket.

How to Get a Boat.

The easiest way to get a boat is to complete a quest that gives you a rowboat. There are a few such quests and they are usually located close to some story quest point. One example is at Sandrock in Dewstone Plains.

However, it seems that these quests go away after you hit a certain level. In that case, you will need to make your own rowboat which is easy. You just need to get 10 lumber and find a carpentry workbench to make one. You can then spawn the boat as you do with your mounts when you are at a lake or at the sea.

Where to Do Sport Fishing.

Sport fishing is only possible where you find schools of fish. These are indicated by jumping fish and a flock of seagulls in the air above. You are most likely to find them at sea, but they can also be found in specific lakes, which are next to a sport fishing stand. A school of fish is never located next to the shore, which is the reason you need to have a boat.

When you enter a location with a school of fish a large notification pops up on your screen telling you about it. You can also hover your mouse over the water to see the message “School of Fish”. Move your boat so you’re located close to the area where the fish are jumping and the seagulls are circling.

When you are happy about your position, you need to throw your chum or chum bucket into the school to start a feeding frenzy. Once you have a school of fish in a feeding frenzy you should attach your lure to the fishing rod, after which you will be able to sport fish for 2 hours using that rod. You can see if the fish are in a feeding frenzy by hovering your mouse over them.

You now only need to throw the lure into the water (not a bait). When you hook a fish you will see the other fishing rod icons light up and a mini-game will start. The mini-game is rather simple really. You just need to click on the icons when they blink. After a couple of tries it should be clear how this works. It will take some time to win the mini-game with the lowest tier rods but with patience, you will get your first fish.

When you win the mini-game, which kills the fish, you need to retrieve it from the sea or lake. Sometimes you need to dive a bit or swim from the boat you are using. The fish is considered a trade pack and will fasten itself onto your back once you pick it up.

Selling the Sport Fish

You need to turn in a caught sport fishing fish at a fishing stand to get your gold. Because of this, you might want to fish close to a fishing stand or if at sea, go to a port with a sport fishing stand close by the sea.

For sea fishing, you should look into getting a fishing boat. There is one design available on Mirage Isle for 500 Gilda Stars and if you are really into fishing it is a must to have. The fishing boat has six slots to store trade items so you can go and get yourself a total of 7 sport fish in a single trip.

Fishing Quests in Archeage Unchained – [Being Worked On]

There is a series of fishing quests you can do in Archeage which reward you with some useful items for fishing and (supposedly) an increase in fishing proficiency. You can start these quests in Cinderstone Moor by talking to Fisherman Santiago at the pier in Seachild Wharf and in Villanelle by talking to Fisherman Riko.

Some Useful Tips on These Quests

• You can buy the fish Fisherman Santiago/Riko wants you to catch if they are available in the auction house.
• Rainbow Trout can only be caught in Arid terrain, which means that if you are playing for the west you need to go to Haranya (e.g. Windscour Savanna) to catch it.

List of Known Items From the Fishing Quests.

• 50 bait worm
• Treaded Wellingtons (+500 to fishing proficiency when worn)
• Lure (for sport fishing)
• Title: Discriminating Taste (+1000 Fishing Proficiency)

So that’s about all I know about basic fishing and sport fishing. I will later add more details on the fishing boat when I get one, but with a cost of 500 Gilda stars that may take some time. Anyway, until then have fun fishing and good luck. Oh, and I have a few other guides on Archeage Unchained if you are interested.