DREDGE – Aberrations Guide

This is a guide on how to collect any aberration.

Guide to Aberrations

Introduction

Catching most aberrations has the same strategy but I will have a more in depth strategy for the unique aberrations.

Basic Strategy

For most aberrations finding them is just a matter of locating their spawn location and waiting for them to appear. However there are ways to speed this process up. Occasionally a shimmer effect will appear above a school of fish, this means a guaranteed aberration will spawn in that school( I have noticed that this happens more often at night but I can not confirm this). Also the spell Atrophy almost always grants an aberration and is much faster then fishing normally.

  1. Review the Encyclopedia for location and water depth/type of base fish.
  2. Wait for shimmer effect or use the Atrophy spell.
  3. Collect aberration.

Mixed Bait Strategy

If you are having trouble locating a certain fish try using the “mixed bait” item(this can be bought after the twisted strand quest line). This will randomly fish up any fish local to a given area. This is very useful for all the open ocean aberrations where finding a specific spawn location can be tedious. This also works with the atrophy spell.

  1. Locate aberrations location and use mixed bait.
  2. Atrophy spell.
  3. Collect aberrations.

A good spot for farming open ocean aberrations is next to the Gale Cliffs merchant dock (see image below).

The mixed bait item will only give fish that you can catch so make sure you have the right gear to catch the fish you want. This can be used in your favor as well. If you want a specific fish just unequip all fishing gear that does not apply to the certain fish and use the mixed bait. For example, if you want the Skeletal Moonfish aberration, equip only the hydraulic rod and go to the open ocean. From there use the mixed bait+atrophy spell until you have found it.

Atrophy Mechanics

The Atrophy spell will automatically fish up all the fish in a given school of fish. The fish pulled up will have a random status(fresh, stale, rotting, or infected). While I can’t confirm the exact percentages there seems to be an increased chance of pulling up an aberration. The range is quite large and is very useful for difficult to reach areas, like the Devil’s Spine. The spell has a cooldown of about 12 in game hours.

A very important aspect of the Atrophy spell to note is that any fish pulled up will not respawn naturally (As of writing this guide quitting and then reloading the save file from the menu will bring back all fish pools). This effect does not apply to mixed bait created fish pools.

Collector Quote

“This phrase instantly culls the closest shoal of fish, readying them for swift reaping. It can be heard from a great distance, so you need not be close to your victims. But the population is unlikely to recover from such vile trauma. Use it sparingly”.

Some Hard to Obtain Aberrations

Sharks (and sailfish)

  • Two of the sharks can be found right next to the Greater Marrow dock (which shark is available is based on the time of day).
  • Hammerheads are found next to the Stellar Basin area merchant.
  • Frilled Sharks can be found on the west side of the Devil’s Spine ruins.
  • Sailfish can found north of the Greater Marrow dock (west of the northern set of small islands).

Anchovy King

  • Anchovy/Anchovy Kings can only be found by trawling open ocean.
  • To do this you will need the Heavy Duty Trawl Net (last net research unlock).
  • Once you have the Heavy Duty Trawl Net equipped sail around the open ocean until you get the Anchovy King.(this may take awhile).

Aurora/Parhelion Jellyfish

  • Aurora/Parhelion Jellyfish can only be caught by trawling coastal waters in the Stellar Basin at night.
  • Any trawl net will do except for the silt filtering trawl net. I recommend the tempered mesh net(fastest catch speed, lowest bycatch chance).
  • Once you have the trawl net is equipped sail around the outside of the Stellar Basin ring of islands until you get the Jellyfish.(this may take awhile)
  • Photo attached of where I found a Parhelion Jellyfish.

Decrepit/Collapsed Viperfish

  • This can be found with the mixed bait strategy.
  • An exact location can be found here(use atrophy spell).
  • Make sure to get both Aberrations.

Charred Sunfish

  • This can be found with the mixed bait strategy.
  • An exact location can be found here(use atrophy spell).

Aberration-less Fish

Not all fish have an aberration version. All crabs (any thing caught in a pot) don’t have an aberration and neither do the exotic fish.

Egor Opleuha
About Egor Opleuha 4457 Articles
Egor Opleuha, also known as Juzzzie, is the Editor-in-Chief of Gameplay Tips. He is a writer with more than 12 years of experience in writing and editing online content. His favorite game was and still is the third part of the legendary Heroes of Might and Magic saga. He prefers to spend all his free time playing retro games and new indie games.

12 Comments

  1. Atrophy mechanic: I think it does permanently remove that fishing spot. It also gurantees at least one abberation unless you haven’t discovered the fish before

  2. Is there any advice on catching the jellyfish aberration? It can only be trawled and seems to be insanely rare or maybe even in some small specific spots.

    • I far as I know the jellyfish aberration is only caught with coastal trawls in the stellar basin.

  3. there does seem to be a depth factor in hunting anchovies, from my testing near starlight pontoon, i caught more noticeably more anchovies at 20ish m than i did at 10ish m. I didn’t keep exact notes but aiming for like 20m might be helpful

  4. This was probably just random luck, but I went out into the Stellar Basin at night, because I wanted to see what would happen with the beast down there. I immediately caught an Anchovy King.

    Also, I think Grimscribe might be right about the number of Anchovies near the Starlight Pontoon. I seemed to catch more of them there than anywhere else.

  5. Just an FYI:
    I’m not sure if this is seed based, but I had a much higher chance of catching Anchovies right along the edge of where the coastal water drops off into the deep ocean west of the Starlight Pontoon in Stellar Basin (E2 & D2). I was chugging along the open ocean for quite some time and maybe every 7th or 8th fish I got was an Anchovy. When I stayed at E2 & D2 ~40-50% of all my catches were Anchovies and that is also where I caught the Anchovy King after only a few runs I did there. So, if you’re lost trying to catch the sucker, this might help you out.

    Also, if someone else has tested this area, might be good to know if this is actually an Anchovy Area or it was just the case for me in my safegame.

  6. Was hoping for some specifics about how Atrophy works. The Collector describes it, “the population is unlikely to recover from such trauma. Use it sparingly.” Does this mean schools of fish will permanently disappear and never respawn?

    • According to the wiki it takes at least 3 weeks to respawn. That’s a pretty long time but you won’t even notice since you won’t need to revisit the spot after getting your aberration.

  7. Extremely important detail to Mixed Bait fishing: Mixed Bait pools will ONLY give you fish you can catch, meaning, if you’re hunting one specific fish in a zone, make sure you have ONLY (or close to only) that type of Rod installed on your boat, it’ll increase your chances for finding the Right Fish far higher.

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