| “ | (Hold W to inflate- become spiky, and dangerous to touch!) |
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The Pufferfish is a tier 9 Ocean animal in Mope.io, and is equivalent to the Gorilla, Snow Leopard, Toucan, Rattlesnake, and Cheetah.
The common Pufferfish was added on December 7, 2016. It has two species, the Yellow Puffer and Demon Fish, both of which were added on March 3, 2020
Technical[]
Common Pufferfish[]
The common Pufferfish has an 550/800 chance of being the option that appears on the upgrade menu. Its stats are as follows:
- Upgrades from the Cobra, Giraffe, Walrus, Snowy Owl, Stingray, or Camel at 40K XP.
- Upon reaching 60K XP, it evolves into the Bear, Tiger, Wolf, Swordfish, Pelican, Gobi Bear, or Hyena.
- The Pufferfish can eat almost all food in Mope.io, except for the following: clams, conches, coconuts, aloevera plants, cacti, large meat, berries, dates, and cactus pears.
- Prey of the Pufferfish includes all animals below it within the range of tier 8 to tier 3 (Cobra to Chicken).
- Predators of the Pufferfish includes all animals above it from tier 10 to tier 17 (Swordfish to Black Dragon).
- The Pufferfish's special ability is "Inflate": by holding
W, it becomes much larger, puffing up its spikes; any animal that touches the Pufferfish while inflated will experience stun and be damaged slightly. Prey are stunned for two seconds, while predators are stunned for shorter. The Pufferfish takes reduced damage while inflated. When releasingW, the Pufferfish will exhale and shoot many water droplets while being pushed backwards. It can be inflated for a maximum of 8 seconds before it automatically deflates. Its ability has a cooldown of 6 seconds.- Stunning the Pufferfish while it's inflated will immediately cancel its ability.
- The common Pufferfish has no passive ability.
- With the exception of small hiding holes, the Pufferfish can freely hide all other hiding spots.
Yellow Puffer[]
The Yellow Puffer, sometimes erroneously called the "Golden Puffer", has a rarity of 240/800. It has the same stats as the common Pufferfish, with its only differences being as follows:
- The Yellow Puffer has a higher health capacity.
- Its "Inflate" ability, in addition to inflicting damage and stun to affected animals, will cause the affected animal to bleed; preventing them from using any special abilities and prolonging the damage.
Demon Fish[]
The Demon Fish has a rarity of 10/800. Aside from its health and abilities, it has the same traits as the common Pufferfish. The Demon Fish's differences are as follows:
- Has an even larger health bar capacity than the Yellow Puffer.
- The Demon Puffer's "Inflate" ability does a lot more damage, being capable of taking around half of an animal's health in one go.
- When the Demon Fish inflates, the ability won't stop if it is injured by a predator unlike the other Pufferfishes. However, though, it will still stop when stunned.
- It has a passive ability where it will stun all animals that touch it, and this also damages them. This works on every animal, even equivalents.
- If it gets eaten by a predator, the predator which eats it will bleed and lose a lot of health.
Appearance[]
The Season 1 skin of each respective Pufferfish species is the default in-game skin used.
- The common Pufferfish's Season 1 skin is brown and oval-ish in shape. It has small eyes looking to its right, and has two paddle-like fins on each side with two lines on each. Its tail is a thin fin with a v-shaped indent in the middle. It is fairly small compared to other animals its tier.
- The Yellow Puffer is the same as the common Pufferfish, except its body is a golden-yellow color. Its underside is paler.
- The Demon Fish is purple, notably striped down its body, with an angry expression, and has much longer, larger spikes, grown even larger when it inflates. Its flippers and tail are lighter and more pointed.
When the Pufferfish uses its its special ability "Inflate", it puffs up its body and becomes extremely large, with its spikes in particular becoming more prominent, and tucks in its fins. Its eyes point outwards and it puffs its cheeks. This phenomenon applies to all Pufferfish skins. Notably, the Omniball Puffer skin's spikes cannot be seen until it activates the special ability.
Purchasable skins[]
- The skins listed below are or have been accessible to buy in the Shop. Older versions or non-purchasable skins may be seen in the article's infobox and/or asset gallery.
| Gold Trim Pufferfish | From the Ocean Skin Gold-Trim Theme Pack; no longer purchasable | 
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| Puffermace | 3500  alone; no longer purchasable alone
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| Classic Pufferfish | From the Mope.io Classic Skin Pack [5000  ]
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| Omniball Puffer | 4000 ; no longer purchasable
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| Balloon Pufferfish | 2000
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| Icicle Pufferfish | 250 alone; no longer purchasable (standalone cost) Also From the Christmas 2025 Pack; no longer purchasable |
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Strategy[]
Revamp required
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Notes: Change Strategy to be in 3rd person (you -> the player). Partially done.
As a Pufferfish[]
- The Pufferfish and Yellow Puffer are similar enough mechanically that they can be used nearly identically.
- Leveling up as a Pufferfish is a quick process. Mowing down Ocean food like kelp and starfish and eating a few Snails will do the trick.
- When killing Snails, inflate to inflict damage when first approaching them. This will stun them and prevent them from hiding in their shells for a few seconds, thus making eating them faster.
- Honeybees are also an alternative to snails, though caution must be exercised to ensure that they don't sting the player and kill themselves from self-inflicted damage. They give a lot less XP than Snails do however, but can be killed faster.
- Never attack more than a couple Bees at once. The player risks losing a substantial amount of health from their stinging and tailbiting (it's very easy to be tailbit on accident), most Bees will kill themselves, and they are highly vulnerable to predators in the process. Only pick off stragglers.
- The Pufferfish is rare in that its ability is great both defensively and offensively, but is better defensively.
- Only inflate for as long as needed to maximize the Pufferfish's increased size. Holding it to maximum duration is rarely necessary.
- If the player does want to hunt, target Stingrays and Turtles.
- Stingrays are constrained by water, so they are the easier targets. If they dive, try to dive with them because their ability goes off after a dive, and by diving later, the player guarantees that they'll avoid the shockwave and can inflict damage on the Stingray.
- Turtles are harder because they can go on dry land and remain there for a long time. Try to prevent them from doing so.
- Hunting strategies include:
- One hunting strategy is to corner prey against terrain or a map border using the "Inflate" ability to do so, forcing them to take damage repeatedly.
- If prey is just out of range, inflating can increase the player's hitbox enough to stun them, letting the player get a few free bites.
- The Yellow Puffer's added stun time and bleeding damage makes it better at hunting than the normal Pufferfish.
- Note that the Pufferfish's inflation is immediately stopped if it's stunned. This makes the Swordfish, Shark, Killer Whale, and beyond very dangerous, since their abilities will immediately disable the user's.
- To dive to avoid abilities quickly, tap the ability key and immediately hold it. This will cause the Pufferfish to very quickly inflate, deflate, and dive.
- Against predators, the player will take more damage than the predator does, so don't rely on the ability to tank more than a few bites. Repeated uses though can deal enough damage to make the predator change their mind, which is what the player should opt for.
- The player can rapidly inflate if a predator is nearby to quickly stun them and propel themselves away by aiming the cursor back. This is also useful for if a predator is chasing that predator, leaving them vulnerable.
- Run from Krakens and Sea Monsters, since besides canceling the player's ability, they will kill the player if caught in it.
- While not reliable, Snails and other animals caught in the same whirlpool can reduce the amount of times the player is bit and save their life.
- Don't try to out-dive Killer Whales, Krakens, or Sea Monsters. All of these animals have a longer dive time than the Pufferfish.
- Pufferfish is one of the best trolling animals because of their ability. If you see a high-tiered animal that is low on health, go near it and inflate. It will kill them if they are on very low health.
- If it did not kill them, try to finish them with a tail-bite or you can just let something else take the kill, or you can wait for your ability recharge to try again. One benefit of its ability is, you will be propelled backwards upon releasing the
Wkey, and will exhale multiple water droplets. This way, you can stay out of a predator's reach. - Beware of Krakens and Eagles as both of their abilities are VERY fatal, and also stop your own ability once they use theirs. Swordfishes are an additional hazard. Their charge causes high damage, and even though your ability will still damage them, theirs will inflict a lot more. If you see one, quickly press your ability and dive; the ability will activate before the diving mechanism so you will need to be quick.
- The Golden/Yellow Puffer is the same as regular, except contact with it causes mild bleeding that will disconnect usage of a predator/prey's ability, and stuns a little longer. It's a little more accustomed to damaging prey. They aren't too rare, so if you get one, try following a predator around (ideally with low health). If you play safe and smart, you may be able to kill them. Yellow Puffers are safer to troll with since the ability delay for predators when stunned is a lot longer. You'll have approximately 4 seconds to dive.
- The Demon Pufferfish is a lot more dangerous than the regular Puffer. If a predator merely bites you, it will be stunned for a little. The ability deals even more damage, taking near half of a predator's life in a single brief contact. Use this to your advantage. Try to find a predator, and ram into them. You might take some damage, but so will the predator.
- You can also do some chip damage by spitting Water at them, since your Water is poisonous. In addition, if the Demon Pufferfish is damaged, its ability will not cease. Due to this, predators might try to leave you alone, so try to treat them like prey. Note that if you DO die, you will cause bleeding to them for 7 seconds, giving less of a reason to be attacked. This can sometimes kill the predator that kills it since the predator is low in health after dealing with it.
- If you want to play safe or there are no big animals on low health, use your ability and easily eat Stingray and other prey. Try to dodge their abilities.
- However, arguably the best way to level up is by snails as they cannot run away and their ability cannot fight back in any way. Only 2-3 is needed to level up to the next animal. Clams and kelp are also great ways to level up. You can also eat Honeybees. Multiple bees can often be found on the sea-shore. You can use your ability to stun and damage them, then quickly bite and eat them.
Against[]
- Pufferfishes are tricky to combat, since they're well adapted to defensive and offensive play. Regular Pufferfishes are mostly just a nuisance - they can be a threat at times but normally don't come close to it. The Demon and Yellow Puffers are different stories, though. However, if you're on extremely low health, avoid all Puffer species at all costs. They will try killing you if they see you on low health, and have a good chance of doing so.
- Animals such as the Pelican or Eagle can carry all variants of Pufferfish away and out of the water. The mentioned animals can use their abilities not only to kill Puffers, but also make them their next meal. So, just grab them!
- Try to anticipate when a Pufferfish is about to use their ability - dive just before they do so, and stun them when the timing is opportune. A benefit of being against the Pufferfish is they have less health than other tier 9 related animals (regular only).
- Yellow Puffers teamed up are a lot harder to deal with, as the bleeding will cause you not to be able to dive/use abilities while theirs can reload fast. If you're diving and they puff up, you can use stunning abilities to de-activate theirs. Simply biting them will still damage you, and isn't the best strategy.
- Treat Demon Puffers as a predator. Their puffing is extremely harmful, and can take almost half of your health at once. Worse still, when hurt by a predator, the Demon Pufferfish's ability doesn't deactivate (this trait used to be shared by the common Pufferfish, but it was removed). All you can do to fight it is use abilities to keep them at bay. However, the Sea Monster can kill all Puffer types. If its whirlpool ability is activated, any Pufferfish's ability won't harm it, and the Sea Monster can thus kill any Puffer variant. If a Sea Monster kills a Demon Puffer, watch out for the residual bleeding that occurs.
Gallery[]
Assets[]
The Season 1 common Pufferfish (in-game from December 23, 2019 – February 1, 2022; November 15, 2024 – present)
The Season 1 common Pufferfish inflating
The Season 1 Yellow Puffer (in-game from December 23, 2019 – February 1, 2022; November 15, 2024 – present)
The Season 1 Yellow Puffer, inflating
The Season 1 Demon Fish (in-game from December 23, 2019 – February 1, 2022; November 15, 2024 – present)
The Season 1 Demon Fish inflating
The Icicle Pufferfish (in-Store from December 25, 2025 – January 31, 2026)
The Icicle Pufferfish inflating
The Balloon Pufferfish (in-Store from July 12, 2022 – present)
The Balloon Pufferfish inflating
The Omniball Puffer (in-Store from July 30, 2021 – March 29, 2025)
The Omniball Puffer inflating
The Gold Trim Pufferfish (in-Store from October 19, 2020 – March 29, 2025)
The Gold Trim Pufferfish inflating
The Puffermace (in-Store from November 4, 2020 – May 27, 2021)
The Puffermace's body
The Puffermace's body inflating
The Puffermace's tail
The Season 2 common Pufferfish (in-game from February 1, 2022 – November 15, 2024)
The Season 2 common Pufferfish inflating
The Season 2 Yellow Puffer (in-game from February 1, 2022 – November 15, 2024)
The Season 2 Yellow Puffer, inflating
The Season 2 Demon Fish (in-game from February 1, 2022 – November 15, 2024)
The Season 2 Demon Fish, inflating
The Winter Season 2 Pufferfish
The Winter Season 2 Pufferfish, inflating
The Classic Pufferfish (in-game from December 7, 2016 – December 23, 2019; in-Store from May 22, 2021 – present)
The Classic Pufferfish inflating
The Zombie Pufferfish (Zombie Infection exclusive: in-game from October 27, 2018 – November 23, 2018)
The winter skin of the Pufferfish (in-game from December 21, 2016 – March 14, 2017, December 25, 2017 – January 26, 2018)
The winter skin of the Pufferfish, inflating
The old icon for the "Inflate" ability (in-game from October 14, 2021 – November 15, 2024)
The Beta-exclusive design of the Balloon Pufferfish
Beta-exclusive Ballon Pufferfish, inflating
In-game[]
An old pufferfish next to a hill
A freshly upgraded Pufferfish stuck in a rainstorm
A rare Yellow Puffer!
The Yellow Puffer's ability activated
A Yellow Puffer exhaling water
.png "Screenshot (2079).png (404 KB)")
A Golden Pufferfish using it's ability on a Snail
.png "Screenshot (35).png (315 KB)")
A rare, freshly upgraded Demon Pufferfish!
A Demon Puffer in-game
The even rarer Demon Puffer's ability
Demon Fish near a mushroom bush
Demon Fish far out in the Desert, in a water spot and about to die
Another freshly upgraded Demon Fish
Another freshly upgraded Demon Fish near a rock
Freshly upgraded Demon Fish near the island
A demon fish
.png "Screenshot (2033).png (429 KB)")
A Demon Fish getting ready to evolve after attacking a Dino Monster
An inflated Omniball Puffer. Note the fiery "spikes".
History[]
- This section lists the update history of the Pufferfish as it is recorded in the changelog, as well as leaks or reveals from social media. Certain changes that were not explicitly added to the changelog might be missing.
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Trivia[]
- The Pufferfish and Hedgehog are the only animals to have non-flying size-increasing abilities.
- The Pufferfish is considered to be one of the best Ocean-based trolling animals, being one of the few animals that can damage all animals.
- It is also one of the few non-apex animals whose ability is not stopped by taking damage.
- It is currently the only Ocean animal to have a rare counterpart.
- The Demon Fish may be based loosely on the porcupinefish, a family of fish similar to the pufferfishes with much longer spines.
- Depending on one's screen contrast, the Demon Fish can look more purple or more of a magenta.
