Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Fantastic Fishes and Where to Find Them

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla brings many classic aspects of how the vikings may have lived their lives into our own virtual reality, even with a nod to our own world through Fantastic Fishes and Where to Find Them.

Whether it’s landing your viking longship to execute a masterful raid, engaging in a classic flyting contest, challenging someone to a drinking match, or simply taking your fishing line out to the river, there are many aspects of the viking life in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.

The last, going fishing, is unlocked fairly early in the game but brings with it a longstanding challenge. Once you’re in England and have upgraded Ravensthorpe to Settlement Rank 2, you’ll need to spend 600 supplies and 45 raw materials to build the fishing hut.

With that, you’ll unlock the fishing line and gain access to rewarding challenges to seek out very specific fish. After doing this, you might notice the item “Fantastic Fishes and Where to find Them, Part I” as a miscellaneous item with a merchant.

Rather than dropping the 90 silver on the item, we’ve got all the details on what this item, and Parts II and III later in the game, will tell you about fishing locations. Altogether, the three items would cost 430 silver, but don’t waste your in-game money when we’ve got all the details they’ll give you.

What can you do with the fish you catch?

Before we get to Fantastic Fishes and Where to Find Them, there’s a simple question of why you’d bother fishing when there’s so much to do in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. What are the benefits?

Most simply, it’s a different kind of challenge in a game largely focused on combat. You can also sell the fish you catch for a good amount of silver.

However, the biggest benefit can come through the fishing hut, where specific challenges to find certain fish and deliver them come with all kinds of special rewards.

The game boasts many different kinds of fish located in as many different places, but fortunately the not-so-subtly Harry Potter inspired Fantastic Fishes and Where to Find Them can help you locate these aquatic animals.

Fantastic Fishes and Where to Find Them, Part I

“Fantastic Fishes and Where to Find Them, Part I” will be the first of these items available to purchase. It also identifies eight different species you can find throughout the game.

As a general rule, coasts are going to be areas that lead out to the greater sea and rivers will be running between different regions of land. The exact text of “Fantastic Fishes and Where to Find Them, Part I” is as follows:

• Halibut, found off the coasts of Grantebridgescire, East Anglia, Lincolnscire, Eurvicscire
• Shad, found off the coasts of Grantebridgescire, East Anglia, Lincolnscire, Eurvicscire
• Haddock, found off the coasts of East Anglia, Lincolnscire, Eurvicscire
• Cod, found off the coasts of East Anglia, Cent, Essexe
• Perch, found in the rivers of Ledecestrescire, Grantebridgescire, East Anglia, Oxenefordscire, Sciropescire, Lincolnscire, Eurvicscire, Snotinghamscire
• Eel, found in rivers of Ledecestrescire, Grantebridgescire, East Anglia, Oxenefordscire, Sciropescire
• Bullhead, found in rivers of Ledecestrescire, Grantebridgescire, East Anglia, Oxenefordscire, Sciropescire, Essexe, Lincolnscire, Eurvicscire, Glowecestrescire, Snotinghamscire
• Brown Trout, found in rivers of Ledecestrescire, Sciropescire, Lincolnscire, Eurvicscire, Glowecestrescire, Snotinghamscire

Fantastic Fishes and Where to Find Them, Part II

“Fantastic Fishes and Where to Find Them, Part II” won’t be available from merchants until later in the game, but we’ve got the details of it for you now. This item reveals the locations of seven more species of fish.

As a general rule, coasts are going to be areas that lead out to the greater sea, rivers will be running between different regions of land, and fishing in seas will be mean you’ll need to be a decent distance out to sea and away from the coast. The exact text of “Fantastic Fishes and Where to Find Them, Part II” is as follows:

• Flatfish, found off the coasts of Cent, Essexe, Suthsexe, Hamtunscire
• Bream, found off the coasts of Cent, Essexe, Suthsexe, Hamtunscire
• Bollock, found in the rivers of Cent, Essexe, Suthsexe, Hamtunscire
• Burbot, found in rivers of Oxenefordscire, Cent, Sciropescire, Suthsexe, Glowecestrescire, Hamtunscire
• Salmon, found in rivers of Lincolnscire, Eurvicscire, Snotinghamscire
• Grey Trout, found in rivers of Cent, Essexe, Suthsexe, Hamtunscire
• Sturgeon, found in rivers and seas of Cent, Suthsexe, Hamtunscire

Fantastic Fishes and Where to Find Them, Part III

“Fantastic Fishes and Where to Find Them, Part III” is the final of these three documents, and won’t be available to purchase from merchants until much later in the game. It didn’t appear for me until after I’d completed the main story.

This final one only specifies four fish, each of which are found in larger seas in Norway. The exact text of “Fantastic Fishes and Where to Find Them, Part III” is as follows:

• Redfish, found in the seas of Rygafylke and Hordafylke
• Mackerel, found in the seas of Rygafylke and Hordafylke
• Hake, found in the seas of Rygafylke and Hordafylke
• Arctic Char, found in seas of Rygafylke and Hordafylke

Fishing tips for all species and locations

In general, fishing is going to be about the same no matter where you’re looking. You need to be standing somewhere you can open your quick menu, pull out your fishing line, and toss it out to try and get a bite.

If you take a moment to watch the water, you can often see the fish moving around and know where to toss your fishing line to get a catch quicker. At times, you may need some patience, and if you’ve already caught quite a few fish you may actually want to leave a location and come back later when they’ve respawned.

Try to position yourself somewhere that you can see your fishing line so you’ll know when it’s turning red and becoming harder to control. While mashing as quickly as possible to reel the fish in can work at times, it can be better to do it in spurts, letting pressure off every few seconds to keep strain from building up in the line.

The same goes for pulling the line in a specific direction. Let off the pressure and let the fish go where it wants every few moments to make sure the tension doesn’t get too high.

Try some spear fishing for easy silver

The final tactic is a bit unorthodox, and it will only work in certain locations. As explained in our guide to easy methods for silver, you can use a combo of skills and spears to quickly fish in some areas.

The catch is that the water has to be shallow enough for you to walk around and stay standing so you can utilize your weapons. If your character starts swimming, those weapons won’t be available, and the method no longer helps.

However, in the locations this is possible, it’s a great way to get a large amount of fish with minimal effort. Once you’ve caught them, you can cash them in for fishing hut challenges or head to a merchant and sell them for easy silver.