What To Buy First in Abyss

From Richard at his stall in the Forgotten Dome. Beebom confirms price and function.

The Fish Radar shows the name and mutation status of every fish near you. Mutations sell for 2x–8.5x their base price — missing a mutation fish because you cannot tell it apart from a common catch is a real income loss. Game8 recommends buying the radar before doing Marcus quests in Ancient Sands. Buying it in the first hour is strictly better.

Do Not Buy Yet — Trap Purchases in the Starting Shop

Normal Tube — Earn It, Do Not Buy It

Game8: Normal Tube is a quest reward from Kraken's Quest 1–5. It is automatically given to you. Do not spend money on any tube before Pufferfish Tube.

This is the single purchase that most changes what you can do in Abyss.

Game8: “Save up enough money to purchase it, since it can bring you to the next area, Ancient Sands.” Destructoid: the Boat Tube from David's Tube Shop is the follow-up purchase that “can get you through majority of the fish available in Ancient Sands.”

Why Tube First, Not Gun?

The most common beginner mistake is spending $1,050 on Advanced Gun before Pufferfish Tube. Here is the logic:

• →Oxygen capacity determines how long you can stay underwater. A longer oxygen window means more fish per trip, which means more income per session.
• →More income per session means faster return on the Pufferfish investment — the tube pays for itself through extra catches.
• →Advanced Gun is useful only if you can stay down long enough to reach the fish worth shooting.
• →Game8 sample setup at end of Forgotten Deep: Pufferfish Tube + Advanced Gun. Tube comes first in the description.

What About Advanced Gun Before Pufferfish Tube?

Game8 lists Advanced Gun ($1,050) as the Forgotten Dome gun endpoint, and Pufferfish Tube as the tube endpoint. IGN confirms Advanced Gun stats: 40 damage, 2.2s cooldown. If you have enough cash where buying both is feasible, Game8 recommends completing Kraken's Quest 1–5 to get Normal Tube for free, then buying Pufferfish Tube and Advanced Gun together as your final Forgotten Dome setup.

Advanced Gun is Kraken Quest 5 reward in some progression versions. Check whether your game version grants it automatically before purchasing.

Activate the Teleporter (Scientist Quest)

Game8: “Complete the Scientist's Quest to unlock the Teleporter. This makes it much easier to travel between areas, at the cost of a small fee.” Beebom confirms: the teleporter requires finding three materials scattered across the starter island.

This is not a purchase, but it is the most important pre-departure action. Without the teleporter, every return to sell fish means a long swim back. Game8: “For players without the Sell Anywhere Gamepass, this is especially important.”

The $10,000 milestone — not $2,850, not $4,750, but $10,000.

Game8: "Save up a total of $10,000 to purchase both the Crossbow Gun and Boat Tube — Crossbow Gun from Henry's Harpoon Shop and Boat Tube from David's Tube Shop, both in Forgotten Deep." Destructoid: farm Diver delivery quests until you hit $5,250 for the Boat Tube, then continue to $4,750 for the Crossbow Gun. Buy both before spending on anything else in this zone.

Why Not Wasted Gun ($17,500) Right Away?

IGN: Wasted Gun is $17,500, 140 damage, 2.2s cooldown. It is a large jump from Crossbow Gun (90 damage). Game8 lists it as the “save up for” goal after Boat Tube + Crossbow Gun, not the immediate buy. The Boat Tube enables the fishing locations where you earn the money to afford Wasted Gun in the first place — buying Wasted Gun before Boat Tube means you cannot stay down long enough to use it effectively.

This is the most common either/or question. The answer is stage-dependent:

Race rerolling costs Star Shards — a limited resource earned from bestiary completions and quests. The Best Race Guide covers which races to use; this section covers when to start spending shards on rerolls.

First 1–2 hoursDo not reroll. You do not have a large shard income yet. Your first race (Monkey is the standard starter) is sufficient for Forgotten Deep and early Ancient Sands. Shards earned from bestiary and Diver quests are better spent on understanding the game before optimizing.
Ancient Sands — after Boat Tube + Crossbow GunConsider rerolling to Spirit (cash bonus). Destructoid and TechWiser both confirm Spirit race gives +10% cash bonus when selling fish. At this stage you are selling large volumes of Ancient Sands fish (Blackfin Tuna, Scorpion Fish, Groupers) — the bonus applies to every sale. The math becomes worth it.
Spirit Roots entryConsider rerolling to Shark or Anglerfish. TechWiser: Shark and Anglerfish both give +10% cash bonus in addition to other traits. Game8 Best Race Guide confirms Anglerfish: +8% Cash, -0.2s Cooldown, 12% Damage, 20% double drops. Anglerfish is the more complete late-game bonus.

Note: exact shard costs for rerolling are not consistently documented across sources. Check the bestiary screen in-game for your current shard count before committing.

Strongly confirmed — 2+ sources agree

• ✓Pufferfish Tube ($2,850) as first major tube purchase — Game8 + Beebom
• ✓Air Rifle Gun ($2,150) skip in favor of Crossbow Gun — Game8 + Destructoid
• ✓Fire Tube skip in favor of Boat Tube — Game8
• ✓Crossbow Gun ($4,750) + Boat Tube ($5,250) as $10,000 Ancient Sands joint goal — Game8 + Destructoid
• ✓Fish Radar ($450) from Richard — Beebom + TechWiser (implied by bestiary context)
• ✓Advanced Gun ($1,050) as last Forgotten Dome gun — IGN + Game8
• ✓Crossbow Gun from Henry's Harpoon Shop (Forgotten Deep) — Game8 + IGN
• ✓Boat Tube from David's Tube Shop (Forgotten Deep) — Game8 + Destructoid
• ✓Teleporter (Scientist quest) before leaving Forgotten Deep — Game8 + Beebom
• ✓Spirit race +10% cash bonus — Destructoid + TechWiser + Game8 Best Race Guide

Community consensus — single source or qualitative

• ⚠Starter Gun ($75) as skippable — IGN price table only; Game8 never lists it in progression
• ⚠Beginner's Gun ($350) as often-skipped — IGN only; not contradicted but not explicitly recommended elsewhere
• ⚠Wasted Gun ($17,500) as Spirit Roots transition purchase — Game8 + IGN, but IGN gives exact price while Game8 does not
• ⚠Rukiry Tube exact price — not documented in available sources
• ⚠Exact race reroll shard costs — not documented in available sources
• ⚠Boat Tube exact price — Beebom gives ~$5,250 but Game8 does not specify; treated as approximate

Source conflict note

IGN lists exact prices for every gun. Game8 describes the buying sequence without always giving exact prices. Beebom gives tube prices. We used IGN prices for guns and Beebom for tubes. Where Game8 and IGN conflict on whether a purchase is recommended (e.g., whether to buy Beginner Gun), we follow Game8 because Game8's source is specifically a progression guide, while IGN is a gun reference table.