Neo Tokyo isn’t for the faint of heart, and if you’ve made it to the Shark Boss in Tribe Nine, you already know the city’s dangers run deep—literally. The Shark Boss fight can feel pretty overwhelming at first. But don’t worry—this guide will break down its patterns, weaknesses, and the best strategies to take it down.
The Shark Boss in Tribe Nine is a nightmare for many players, not just because of its relentless attacks but also due to frustrating AI behavior—characters randomly targeting empty spaces instead of the boss itself. Even if you’re over-leveled, this fight can feel unfair, since the boss has a massive health pool, unpredictable movement, and brutal AOE attacks.
Tribe Nine Shark Boss: How to beat it
The Shark Boss fight is the first major difficult battle in Tribe Nine, testing both your skill and patience. This boss has a mix of devastating melee attacks, status-inflicting abilities, and tricky mechanics that force you to stay on your toes. Below is a breakdown of the best strategies to defeat it.
Pre-Fight Preparation
- Optimize Your Tension Cards: Ferocity is crucial—it revives one character upon death but drains your entire Tension Bar. Since this fight has a lot of learning curves, having a survival card like this can prevent unnecessary resets. Other survival-based Tension Cards can help keep your team alive through the boss’s devastating attacks.
- Best Team Composition: A healer is highly recommended to keep your party stable. Saigo is a must-have because his abilities help mitigate some of the Shark Boss’s most dangerous moves. If you have him, bring him. Use your strongest characters, prioritizing those with high mobility and strong counterattacks.
- Equip Compatible Monsters: Make sure your team is equipped with up-to-date Compatible Monsters to boost defense and health. Even if they don’t have the best skills, the additional stats can make a huge difference in your survivability.
Shark Boss Move Set & Counters
- Burrow Attack (Boss starts the fight with this move): The Shark Boss dives into the ground and emerges, inflicting a status that slows your movement if you’re hit. What to do? Simple: Parry this move! The Parry hitbox is huge, so whether you’re using a melee or ranged character, throwing out a Parry as soon as the boss submerges will help shut this attack down.
- Melee Attacks (Tail Sweep & Triple Chomp): Tail Sweep is a frontal swipe that the boss uses to deal damage to the front. Dodge to the side or backward to avoid it. Triple Chomp is a three-hit bite attack. The first two bites are quick, but the third one is delayed and does more damage. Wait and dodge sideways after the third bite before resuming your attack.
- Laser Beam (Ranged Attack): The boss steps back and fires a distress-inflicting laser at you. Sprint behind the boss to dodge the beam. If you can’t get behind it in time, dodge forward underneath the laser as it approaches.
- Mine Field Mechanic: The Shark Boss submerges and reappears in the center, dropping mines all around the arena. To counter, bait the boss into eating a mine by standing on top of one. Once the boss locks onto you and starts charging, dodge at the last second—the shark will eat the mine and get stunned. Be careful of other mines exploding around the arena while you reposition.
- Cascading Water Waves: Three rows of water waves crash around the outer perimeter of the arena. These waves always appear in the same order, so learning the pattern helps. If dodging is too difficult, stay near the center of the arena where the waves are weaker.
- Jump & Splash Attack: The shark disappears completely, the music fades, and a warning sign appears before it jumps and crashes down, creating a massive splash. Aim your camera downward. Sprint in one direction when you see the warning. When a puddle spawns under your character, spam dodge to avoid both the jump and the splash damage. This is the Shark’s most devastating attack, so learning the dodge timing is key.
- EX Attack (Whirlpool Dash): The arena lighting dims, and a giant whirlpool appears in the center. The shark boss will dash at your character repeatedly from the whirlpool. You will have to walk in a clockwise circle around the arena and keep dodging. Focus on dodging since the boss is untargetable during this phase.
General Fight Strategy
To easily defeat the Shark Boss in Tribe Nine, use Saigo for his damage-reducing skills, a healer for sustain, and high DPS characters like Ioha and Gotanda to speed up the fight. Equip Ferocity for survival and High Tension Cards for damage boosts when the boss is stunned. Prioritize monsters that enhance Defense and Health for extra durability. The key to victory lies in parrying the Burrow Attack, baiting the mines to stun the boss, and perfecting the Jump & Splash dodge. That said, here is the general strategy that you can follow in order to defeat the boss.
- Open the fight with a parry to counter the Burrow Attack.
- Be patient with melee attacks—wait out the Tail Sweep and Triple Chomp before counterattacking.
- Stick close to the boss to avoid the laser, and be ready to dodge it if needed.
- Bait the boss into mines whenever it drops them—this is a free stun and damage window.
- Stay near the center of the arena to make dodging the cascading waves easier.
- Dodge the Jump & Splash by sprinting away and reacting to puddles—this is the deadliest attack.
- When the EX Whirlpool phase starts, focus on dodging rather than attacking.
If you are still struggling, adjusting your team comp and using Saigo’s Strategy Skill can make the fight much easier. Stay patient, practice the mechanics, and you’ll take down the Shark Boss in no time!
And that is all we have to share regarding the tough Shark Boss in Tribe Nine. We hope now you have an idea as to how to deal with it. That said, for more such interesting guides on all things gaming, make sure to visit DigiStatement daily. Also, you can click here to find out how to fix the character selection menu bug in Path of Exile 2.
