I came ill prepared to the fight against the Great White Shark Klaus, and suffered for it. I had a tranq rifle and O2 max of 315. It was a bloodbath. Took me 15 or so tries because I refused to give up all the loot I’d collected prior to the fight. Maybe more. I wasn’t really keeping count. Here is how to beat Klaus, in my experience with my many attempts. NOTE: there are technically some spoilers, I guess? so read at your own risk.
When Does Klaus Appear?
You get the quest when, at the start of the stormy day, a woman on a raft comes by to ask if you’ve seen Klaus. She explains that he is a great white shark who killed her husband, and she is searching for his lair.
If you go fishing that night, find the vortex (you can tell when you’re close by the sound) and go inside, then the boss fight with “Great White Shark Klaus” will start right away.
If you die in the fight, you can retry it. If you cannot beat him, you can return to the boat, and the night fishing is over.
Preparation
1. You definitely need a sniper rifle; anything else is too short range. Upgrade the sniper with a focus on maximum damage output. (Don’t bring one with elemental side effects, most of those don’t work on bosses anyway, and don’t worry about harpoon or knife damage, you won’t be using that)
2. Upgrade your O2 storage as much as you can before fighting him, he is a very heavy hitter. Each hit does maybe 60 damage.
3. Charms. The pink dolphin charm is a must-have. It increases the dash speed by 30%. For the other, pick either something that reduces damage, or another movement one, like the octopus bracelet.
3. Go into your phone, then settings, and manually save on the bottom slot once you’ve got all your preparation done, right before you enter the water. So if you were unprepared and really can’t beat Klaus, you can exit to the home screen, then load your save.
It’d be good to prepare as much as you can before entering the vortex and starting the fight with Klaus, so try to do what you can with whatever the RNG gods give you.
1. Loot the yellow crates
- O2 canisters would be the most beneficial to have on you during the fight, as there’s only one O2 refill.
- Sensor and trigger bombs are next, as you get three, which will do a total of 120 damage if all hit right.
- The little engines that help you move through the water. They don’t last long. Only go for these if you have a super high damage weapon, where the fight won’t be drawn out.
2. Loot the weapon crates
You’re only really looking for weapon enhancements, as they will add a lot to your damage on the weapon you have.
3. When you go in, make sure your O2 is up, and your weapon ammo is full.
Klaus’s Moveset
Klaus has two attack patterns. The first one is his lunge attack. The second is his whirlwind attack. He’s also technically got two phases, but nothing really differs between them. Once the second phase starts, you just know you are 2/3rds of the way done. The attacks he uses are the same. The only difference (maybe,? someone fact check me) is that he adds one extra whirlwind to his whirlwind attack, so it lasts slightly longer.
This pattern starts off the fight.
If you are too far away, he will launch towards you in a straight line. He stops right at you / next to you, unlike the sharks in the regular fishing section, which normally continue their lunge for a fixed distance.
Then, once he is within range, which is a little bit farther than the shooting range for the rifle, he lunges. It is a wide sweep of the head, chomping up first, then down. If you try to go directly above or below him, you will be hit. He usually has maybe 2-3 seconds of cooldown between lunge chomps if you are still in front of him and he doesn’t have to turn.
If you are directly below him, and he is facing down (or above vice versa), it is easier to avoid the lunge, as he becomes almost 2D for this bit, so he can’t really do the huge AOE chomp, like if you’re on his left or right. So you can move to the left or right sides of him to avoid it much easier.
This is easier to dodge than the other pattern, and provides a bit of a breather / time to grab ammo refills or O2.
You can tell when this pattern starts because Klaus will turn towards either the left or the right, ignoring you (make sure you get out of his way so you don’t get hit) and move in a straight line until he reaches the side. The camera will also zoom out to show both him and Dave. Then he turns around, and launches whirlwinds.
They are each launched in one of three places: top, middle, or bottom. They’re launched where you’re at. There are four whirlwinds sent by Klaus each time.
While he is moving towards his position and turning around, you can still hit him. But when he is launching whirlwinds, he is in an invulnerable state. Don’t waste your bullets.
The attack is over when the camera zooms back in to center on Dave.
How to Win
2. Try to stay closer to the bottom than the top. This is where you get ammo refills. You have to get Klaus to destroy the random crates and wood on the bottom, which will spawn ammo refills. Bait in front of the crates, then dodge once he starts the lunge attack.
3. The best way to avoid the whirlwind attacks is to sit near the top/middle, and weave between the ones that come there. That way, the last whirlwind is not at the bottom. Once the attack is over, you can rush to the bottom and collect ammo refills / O2.
4. If you get below 100 oxygen, absolutely go for the O2 refill. Two more hits and you’re dead. The best time to do this is when Klaus is moving to the right to start the whirlwind attacks. Go as far left as you can, dodge all the whirlwinds, and right as it ends, go for the O2. You will have enough time to grab it before Klaus winds up and reaches you.
When the fight starts, don’t try to go for the weapon upgrade right away. It’s way too close to Klaus, and it’s difficult to get without sacrificing a lot of oxygen. It’s better to hold out until it’s safe to get during one of his whirlwind attacks.
- Don’t try to do melee attacks or close up damage, he turns around really fast, and it’s easy to mess up.
- As always, tranq stuff doesn’t work on bosses, neither does paralysis / the shock stuff.
And that wraps up our share on DAVE THE DIVER: GUIDE to “Great White Shark Klaus” Boss Fight. If you have any additional insights or tips to contribute, don’t hesitate to drop a comment below. For a more in-depth read, you can refer to the original article here by muffinCat007, who deserves all the credit. Happy gaming!