The Fisherman near Tar Lake in Death Stranding 2 has a secret mission for Sam. There’s a giant BT monster that lives in the lake but getting it to appear isn’t easy — you’ll need to perform some very specific actions and level up the Fisherman settlement before you can face off against one of the biggest bosses in the game. There’s a secret boss under the Tar Lake, and this is what you need to do to fight it.
For defeating this boss, you’ll unlock the “Showdown at the Tar Lake” trophy.
Where To Find the Fisherman
The Fisherman is located at the Tar Lake — literally a large, black crater-shaped lake — in the southwest area of Australia. This is the area you’ll explore before going to the mountains further east.
- To unlock the Fisherman, progress the story until you unlock the F5 East Distribution Center. This is part of a main order.
- Once unlocked, open the Orders menu and select “Sub Order 116: Deliver All Stranded Ship’s Cargo to the Fisherman” — this will take you directly to the Fisherman’s location.
How To Unlock the Lord of the Tar Lake
Now that you have the Fisherman, you must unlock at least four stars by completing orders. You’ll periodically unlock new Sub Orders for the Fisherman, so check often and use the Order Search Function to find orders for the Fisherman to rank him up.
- How To Rank Up Faster: On the Order menu, tab over to the Search menu. This allows you to choose locations you want to deliver TO or FROM. Select “The Fisherman” under locations you want to deliver to and search. You’ll find all locations with open Standard Orders for the Fisherman. Make sure to select the biggest orders to get the most points for ranking up.
Using the search function makes ranking up faster, but the stars will stop increasing until you finish the Sub Orders that unlock as you progress. You’ll also need to complete more of the story — by Episode 13 you should be able to complete every step of this side-quest.
- Reach 4 Stars with the Fisherman by completing all Sub Orders until “Sub Order 117: Defeat the Lord of the Tar Lake” appears at the Fisherman’s Bunker.
Take this order — following these steps will unlock the optional boss fight.
How To Summon the Lord of Tar Lake
Begin Sub Order 117: Defeat the Lord of the Tar Lake — given by The Fisherman — to unlock the ability to summon the Lord of the Tar Lake.
- The Sub Order sends Sam to the Weapons Factory in the far north in the desert near the Motherhood. Go to the location marked on your map — it is a BT Area.
- This is the tricky part. Get caught by a BT and then dragged under by the black human-shaped BT swarm. Once you’re pulled under, Sam will be dragged around and a giant BT will spawn.
The giant BT is Delphis — a dolphin-like BT with squid-tentacles for a face. It is the smallest type of giant BT. Fight it until its health bar is red or until Dollman tells you it is weak. Once its weak, equip an EX Capture Grenade and throw it into its mouth when it roars / prepares a special attack. You’ll see a white glow from its mouth when it is about to attack. That’s your chance to capture it.
- Capture the BT Delphis with an EX Capture Grenade, then go to the Tar Lake marker on your map.
- At the Tar Lake, hold [D-Pad: Right] and select the Special section of the menu. This is where you can summon BTs by spending Chiral Crystals.
- Summon BT Delphis in the Tar Lake area after the floating buildings have appeared in the tar. Stay away from BT Delphis after summoning it!
After summoning, the Lord of the Lake will appear and eat Delphis, killing it instantly and initiating a very long fight.
How To Beat Lord of the Tar Lake
The Lord of the Tar Lake is an enormous whale-type BT that launches deadly attacks from the sky — it is extremely tough and requires an array of heavy weapons to defeat.
- Bring Rocket Launchers, Rocket Pods, and other explosive weapons that deal extreme damage to BTs. Only long-range weapons will work here, as the Lord flies too fast and too far to reliably hit with a shotgun.
- Rockets and other powerful weapons will appear from the tar if you have many likes — prioritize rockets to deal maximum damage.
- The best giant BT to summon for this battle is BT Raia — the manta ray BT. They can be captured at the F3 Crater BT Nexus in the north.
The most dangerous attack this boss uses is its gold gazer summon. It launches a swarm of gazer BTs that chase Sam and try to pull him down. If they catch him, they’ll kill him instantly — watch for a spiral projectile attack. Destroy the summons quickly. If you die twice in this battle, you’ll reset outside and be forced to try again from the beginning.
Defeating this optional boss unlocks the “Showdown at the Tar Lake” trophy and will give you 5 Stars at the Fisherman bunker for turning in the sub order.
