Changelog/2026/May 6/Alpha

Hello all!

Today we are very excited to bring the Lotus Atoll to the Alpha Network as part of a prolonged testing session! The Atoll is a brand-new fishing island that comes after the Backwater Bayou within fishing progression, and brings with it several new systems. Read on for more!

The Lotus Atoll is a brand-new fishing island that is home to Trophy Frogs, Lotus Sea Creatures, new Critters, and more! It comes after the Backwater Bayou within Fishing progression and offers some meaningful upgrades that make future Trophy Fishing content, such as the Crimson Isle, easier.

You will need to recruit Researcher Gilbert to your Ship Crew in order to unlock the Lotus Atoll in your Ship Navigator. He can be found within the waterfall cave in the Backwater Bayou - coordinates are 27, 59, -26. The Fishing Speed Cap of this island is 250.

Talk to Researcher Ribery on the left-side of the entrance of the Atoll to learn all about Trophy Frogs. There are 12 species of frog that each come in 4 different rarities, for a total of 48 varieties of frog for you to catch. Trade-in frogs with Ribery in exchange for Lotuses, which will help you progress through the Lotus Collection.

Talk to Researcher Betty on the right-side of the entrance to the Atoll to view the Lotus Atoll Chapters. We want players to go into this test relatively blind, using Chapters to orient themselves throughout their first playthrough, so please ensure you speak to Betty if you're stuck at any point!

All feedback is useful, but here are a few specific questions we'd like to get answers on from as many testers as possible. Please play through the content in some capacity before answering:

1. How do you feel about the Ship Crew mechanic? Please note that crew capacity will be uncapped in the future.
2. Do you like how all of the Lotus Sea Creatures are unlocked by default? Why or why not?
3. How do you feel about the Exploding Lily Pads mechanic?
4. Do you feel that hunting the new Critters is intuitive enough? Will new players struggle to understand that they need to go to Galatea to get a Fishing Net, or are Chapters + Error messages enough signposting?
5. Do you believe that Trophy Frog pity sufficient? If some feel too high, list them, but please note that the Fishing Speed Cap for this island is 250 (Bayou is 200, Crimson is 350, all other islands are 300).
6. How do you feel about the new Carly NPC in the Backwater Bayou? Does she still have a purpose with the newly-revamped Sea Creature Guide, or is she ultimately unnecessary?
7. How do you feel about the Sea Guardian and Night Squid being converted into new Sea Creatures instead of making new ones from scratch so that Bestiary carries over and those old mobs are given a new purpose? Should we look to do this more in the future?
8. Do you feel any major parts of progression are missing from either Bayou or Atoll Chapters?

As part of this update, some other islands have also got a little bit of love.

• Updated the Backwater Bayou with a latest-version build
• Reworked the Spinosaurus Pet to make it better for Trophy Fishing
• Added Chapters to the Backwater Bayou
• Added the "Snake Eyes" to Titanoboa, a new Pet Item that gives +1.1 Treasure Chance
• Added five new Sea Creatures:
  • Jumpin' Jack (COMMON Spooky Sea Creature)
  • Inkling (UNCOMMON Water Hotspot Sea Creature)
  • Manta Ray (EPIC Water Hotspot Sea Creature)
  • Volcanic Snail (UNCOMMON Lava Hotspot Sea Creature)
  • Magma Pillar (EPIC Lava Hotspot Sea Creature)
    • Designer Note: Jumpin' Jack is actually the Sea Guardian rebranded, and the Inkling was previously the Night Squid. Bestiary progress etc will carry over. This change seeks both to give those mobs more purpose and also prevent veterans from having to grind out a new Bestiary with no particularly rare drops in an area of the game they've already completed.
• Added the "Hotspot Tonic", which can be crafted using several items obtained from Hotspot Sea Creatures
• Added the new "Magmarizer" enchantment, which deals more damage to ♆ Magmatic mobs
  • I-V: Enchantment Table
  • VI: Magma Pillar Sea Creature
• Added Carly to the Backwater Bayou. Talk to her to see a list of every Sea Creature that can be caught there

As part of this update we also have a large number of quality-of-life changes targeted towards fishing.

• Added rain to the Backwater Bayou. 50% chance to rain on any given day and, if it doesn't rain for two days, rain is guaranteed on the third.
• Reduced the Fishing Speed Cap on the Backwater Bayou from 300 -> 200
• Excluding Hotspot Sea Creatures, you may now only fish up Bayou Sea Creatures while in the Backwater Bayou
• Added the ability to place Huntraps in the Backwater Bayou
  • Alligator (500 Weight)
  • Titanoboa Shard (100 Weight)
• Removed the ability to catch Titanoboa with the Pocket Black Hole - Salts can still be used
• Added the ability to get Alligator Shards by killing Alligators with Salts active
• Added Luck of the Sea VI to Junker Joel's Shop for 16x Rusty Coi
• Increased the stats given by the Overflowing Trash Can and added an "Overflowing" bonus of +1 Treasure Chance while in the Backwater Bayou
• Adjusted weights of each Bayou Sea Creature:
  • 5,000 Weight (50% base catch chance) -> Trash Gobbler
  • 2,875 Weight (28.75% base catch chance) -> Dumpster Diver
  • 1,500 Weight (15% base catch chance) -> Banshee
  • 500 Weight (5% base catch chance) -> Bayou Sludge
  • 100 Weight (1% base catch chance) -> Alligator
  • 25 Weight (0.25% base catch chance) -> Titanoboa
• Reduced the Fishing Speed given by the Calcified Reforge
• Adjusted all Bayou Sea Creature stats and drop chances as a result of Bayou SC exclusivity making them more common to catch (e.g Bayou Sludge goes from 1.51% -> 5% base catch chance)
• Added a recipe for Condensed Lily Pads to Lily Pad Collection X
• Adjusted Bayou Water Orb Recipe, replacing 1x Enchanted Clay Block -> 1x Condensed Lily Pad

• Adjusted how Hotspot Sea Creatures and Event Sea Creatures (Sharks, Spooky) function:
• Hotspot Sea Creatures now have a base 15% chance to replace regular SC catches. This can be increased by:
  • +5% from Carnival Shop Perk
  • +10% from Hotspot Tonic
  • +20% from Hotspot Hook
  • +20% from Hotspot Bait
  • +20% from MYTHIC Hermit Crab Pet's "Hotspot Hazard" perk
    • Total: Hotspot Sea Creatures have a 90% chance to replace a regular Sea Creature when fishing inside a Fishing Hotspot
• Sharks now have a base 15% chance to replace regular SC catches. This can be increased by:
  • +5% from Carnival Shop Perk
  • +20% from Shark Bait
  • +20% from Shark Scale Armor's Full Set Bonus
  • +20% from LEGENDARY Megalodon Pet's "Feeding Frenzy" perk
  • Total: Sharks have an 80% chance to replace a regular Sea Creature during Fishing Festivals
• Spooky Sea Creatures now have a base 15% chance to replace regular SC catches. This can be increased by:
  • +5% from Carnival Shop Perk
  • +20% from Spooky Bait
  • +20% from Spooky Hook
  • +20% from MYTHIC Bat Pet's "Sonar" perk
    • Total: Spooky Sea Creatures have an 80% chance to replace a regular Sea Creature during Spooky Fishing Hours
• Adjusted the drop tables, bestiaries, and stats of all Hotspot and Event Sea Creatures in accordance with the changes to catching them that are listed above
  • Designer Note: We will monitor these changes closely - our rationale behind making them was deal with conditional sea creatures before they became a roadblock in future fishing content and to give players more choice in where they choose to fish during events as opposed to trying to seek out the place with the lowest total weight in its pool (which is unintuitive).
• Adjusted the crafting recipes of Hotspot Water Orb, Hotspot Hook, and Hotspot Sinker
• Renamed Phantom Hook to Spooky Hook
• Adjusted weights of several Hotspot/Event Sea Creatures:
  • 5,000 Weight -> Jumpin' Jack
  • 2,875 Weight -> Nurse Shark, Scarecrow, Inkling, Volcanic Snail
  • 1,500 Weight -> Blue Shark, Nightmare, Snapping Turtle, Fireproof Witch
  • 500 Weight -> Tiger Shark, Werewolf, Manta Ray, Magma Pillar
  • 100 Weight -> Great White Shark, Phantom Fisher, Blue-ringed Octopus, Fiery Scuttler
  • 25 Weight -> Grim Reaper, Wiki Tiki, Ragnarok
• Increased rarity of Scarecrow from COMMON -> UNCOMMON
• Increased rarity of Grim Reaper from LEGENDARY -> MYTHIC
• Added +40 Fishing Speed to the MYTHIC Bat Pet's base stats

• Revamped the Sea Creature Guide and added several new functionalities, such as weights and search
• Renamed Trophy Fish Chance -> Trophy Chance
• Removed Luck of the Sea VI from Water Hydra loot table
• Removed RARE Fishing EXP Boost from Sea Leech
• Removed EPIC Fishing EXP Boost from Sea Leech, Deep Sea Protector, Water Hydra
• Adjusted Lord Jawbus' Silver Magmafish drop from 25x -> 16-32x
• Adjusted Thunder's Silver Magmafish drop from 10x -> 8-16x
• Added Bobbin' Scriptures as a 1% drop to all MYTHIC Sea Creatures
• Reduced Thunder rarity from MYTHIC -> LEGENDARY
• Added Squid Boots as a 1% drop to regular Squids
• Adjusted how Carrot King and Agarimoo interact with the Sea Creature Pool:
  • Carrot King: Instead of having weight, now has a flat 5% to replace any SC catch when conditions are met.
  • Agarimoo: Instead of having weight, now has a flat 15% to replace any SC catch when conditions are met.
• Reduced the total kills needed to max the Agarimoo bestiary from 4,000 -> 1,000

And that's all we have for you today! We hope you thoroughly enjoy this update - please remember to report any bugs you encounter while testing HERE, being sure to select "alpha.hypixel.net". Have fun!