Complete All Star Fishing NPC Guide

The fastest way to clear every NPC quest chain in All Star Fishing is a single loop rather than a checklist: finish the tutorial quest giver, hand in to the bait vendor on the same pier, then run the gear-upgrade NPC, and only afterwards branch out to the trophy and collection NPCs that gate on rare catches. Doing it in that order removes most of the backtracking, because the first three NPCs share one dock and one bait supply. This guide maps each NPC role to its location, unlock gate, requirements and rewards, then gives the order that finishes the set in the fewest sessions.

What an NPC quest chain actually is

An NPC quest chain is a sequence of catch-and-deliver tasks attached to one character, gated by your level, your zone access, or a specific fish you have already caught, and paying out coins, XP, bait, or gear. The individual NPC names and quest IDs change between patches — the game’s official patch notes regularly rename or relocate them — but the roles stay stable, which is why the map below is organised by role rather than by name.

Three rules govern almost every chain:

• Gates are cumulative. A quest rarely asks for something you cannot already reach; if an NPC won’t talk to you, you are missing a level, a zone unlock, or a prior catch.
• Rewards are front-loaded. The first two or three steps of any chain pay the best coin-per-minute; the final step usually pays a unique item instead of currency.
• Consumables are the real cost. Bait and lures are spent whether or not you catch the target, so a quest’s true price is bait cost × expected casts, not the reward number.

NPC map: location, gate, requirements, reward

Locations and level gates above reflect the ranges the in-game quest log shows across recent updates; treat any exact number as patch-specific and confirm it in your quest log before committing a session.

What each requirement type costs you in time and bait

This is the part a quest listing never tells you. Requirement text says “catch 3 rare fish”; it does not say that at a typical 1-in-12 rare rate you will burn 36 casts’ worth of bait getting there.

The most efficient completion order

Follow the phases in sequence. Each step explains why it comes where it does, because the ordering matters more than the individual quests.

Phase 1 — clear the starting dock completely

1. Finish the tutorial NPC first. Its reward is the rod you need for everything else, and every other chain on the dock checks that flag before it will talk to you.
2. Hand in to the bait vendor immediately. It stands on the same pier, so there is no travel cost, and unlocking bait stock is what makes every later quest affordable.
3. Log the daily NPC before you leave the dock. Dailies reset on a fixed clock; picking them up early means a long session can complete them without a second trip.

Phase 2 — gear, then distance

4. Run the gear-upgrade NPC before the trophy NPC. The upgrade raises your catch rate on rare fish, which directly lowers the bait cost of every rare-gated quest you do afterwards.
5. Keep the collection NPC running in the background. It asks for species you will catch incidentally while doing other chains, so it should never get its own trip.

Phase 3 — unlock travel, then chase trophies

6. Do the boat / charter NPC before the trophy NPC. Travel time is the largest hidden cost in the game; unlocking the boat cuts the round trip to deep water roughly in half, and every trophy attempt is a round trip.
7. Save the trophy and legendary chains for last. They pay unique gear rather than coins, so doing them earlier starves you of the currency you need for bait.
8. Never start an event chain mid-trophy-chain. Event windows close on a timer regardless of your progress, so take events first when they overlap.

Worked example: are dailies or trophy grinding worth more per hour?

Using the bait economy most players see in the mid-game — 25 bait for 250 coins, so 10 coins per cast — and a 1-in-12 rare rate:

• A mid-tier quest asking for 3 rares takes about 36 casts. Bait cost: 36 × 10 = 360 coins.
• At roughly 50 seconds per cast including travel, that is about 30 minutes.
• The quest pays around 1,800 coins, so the net is 1,800 − 360 = 1,440 coins, or about 2,880 coins per hour.
• The daily NPC’s three tasks take about 12 minutes, pay roughly 900 coins plus 10 bait (worth about 100 coins) — that is 1,000 coins per 12 minutes, or about 5,000 coins per hour.

The conclusion is not close: the daily rotation earns roughly 1.7× the hourly rate of rare-grinding, and it also feeds your bait stock. Run dailies every session, then spend the remainder of the session on whichever NPC chain is currently gated by your level. Swap in your own catch rate and bait price — the arithmetic is the same, and it will tell you quickly whether a chain is worth starting tonight.

Matching the route to your situation

What actually wears out: ownership realities

The permanent things in All Star Fishing are rods, boats and unlocks. The consumable things are bait, lures, storage slots and quest-log slots — and those are where your coins disappear.

• Bait is the number one sink. Every cast spends it whether or not the target bites, so a quest with a 1-in-30 target costs three times as much as one with a 1-in-10 target at the same reward.
• Storage fills before your coin purse does. Once slots are full you start discarding, and discarding a species you still owe the collection NPC means re-catching it later.
• Quest-log slots are finite. Accepting every chain you walk past is the most common mistake; it blocks you from picking up the daily rotation later in the session.
• Gear tiers do not upgrade themselves. The upgrade NPC charges a coin fee on top of materials, so keep a reserve instead of spending down to zero on bait.

Common mistakes that cost a full session

• Grinding a rare-gated quest with the starting rod instead of upgrading first.
• Skipping the bait vendor hand-in, then running out of bait mid-quest with no way to restock nearby.
• Doing the trophy chain before the boat unlock, doubling travel time on every attempt.
• Letting a daily streak lapse — streak rewards scale, so a missed day costs more than the day itself.
• Assuming last patch’s NPC location is still correct; check the patch notes and your quest log at the start of each session.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I have to complete every NPC quest chain?

No. The tutorial NPC, bait vendor and daily NPC are effectively mandatory because they unlock systems you use constantly. The trophy, collection and event chains are optional, and the collection NPC in particular is designed to be finished passively over weeks rather than in one push.

Which NPC should I do first?

Always the tutorial quest giver on the starting dock. Its reward is the rod that every other chain assumes you own, and most other NPCs check that completion flag before they will offer dialogue. Only after that should you hand in to the bait vendor on the same pier.

Can I do NPC quests out of order?

You can accept them in any order you can reach, but you cannot complete gated ones early. If an NPC ignores you, you are missing a level, a zone unlock, or a prerequisite catch — those three gates cover almost every case, and your quest log will show which one is blocking.

Why did an NPC’s requirements change after an update?

Because quest requirements are tuned per patch. The developer’s patch notes frequently adjust bait costs, level gates and reward payouts to rebalance the economy, and NPCs occasionally move zones entirely. Re-read the quest log after each update rather than relying on memory.

Is the trophy NPC worth doing before the boat NPC?

Usually not. Trophy attempts are round trips to deep water, so unlocking the boat first roughly halves the travel time on every attempt. The exception is an event window, where the timed reward is worth taking out of order because it disappears when the window closes.

How much bait should I keep in reserve?

Budget for the worst case in your current chain, not the average. For a rare-gated step that means roughly 30–40 casts’ worth, which at mid-game prices is 300–400 coins. Keeping that reserve means one bad streak does not force you to abandon a half-finished quest chain.