Dave the Diver Guide: 9 Tips to Dive and Serve
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Dave the Diver Guide: 9 Tips to Dive and Serve
Your oxygen is ticking, a moray is guarding the good fish, and tonight the sushi bar needs a full menu. This loop is the whole game.
1. Learn the Loop: Two Dives, Then Service
Tip 1: in Dave the Diver every day has the same friendly rhythm. Dive in the morning, dive again in the afternoon, then run Bancho Sushi at night with what you caught. Nothing you catch is wasted — it becomes menu, money, and better gear.
Tip 2: give every dive one job. One dive for menu fish near the shallows, one dive for a quest item, a weapon chest, or a deeper species. Wandering without a job is how oxygen runs out with a half-full box and nothing the restaurant really needs.
The Blue Hole changes as you go deeper, with new fish, tougher predators, and story areas opening below the shallows. Treat early days as training: learn the map, the escape routes, and where the oxygen stations and ammo sit before you chase anything rare.
2. Upgrade in the Right Order With iDiver
Gold is tight early, so spend it where it buys you more time and more fish per dive. Open the iDiver app on your phone between dives and work this order:
| Upgrade | What It Does | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Air Tank | More oxygen, so longer and deeper dives | Upgrade first — oxygen limits everything |
| Cargo Box | More carrying weight before you slow down | More fish per dive means more menu per night |
| Diving Suit | Lets you survive greater depths | Required as the story pushes you deeper |
| Harpoon Gun | Stronger harpoon damage and tips | Cleaner catches on bigger, tougher fish |
Tip 3: do not chase a fancy gun before your tank and box are solid. A powerful weapon means little if you surface early with three fish. Time underwater is the real currency in this Dave the Diver guide.
3. Oxygen Is Your Health Bar — Respect It
Tip 4: oxygen and health are the same meter. A bite, a sting, or a bump does not just hurt — it steals the air you needed to get home. Check the gauge before every fight, and start heading up while you still have a comfortable reserve, not when the warning is already flashing.
Tip 5: if you run out, you get rescued — but you keep only one item from the whole dive. That sting is the game's main lesson, and it is cheaper to learn it here than on a dive full of rare fish. Grab oxygen from stations and dropped tanks, and learn where they sit on your regular routes.
That calm, leave-early discipline is the same habit that carries our Subnautica guide — in both games, greed is the predator that actually gets you.
4. Catch Better Fish, Not Just More Fish
Tip 6: weaken fish before you harpoon them. A healthy big fish will drag and break free; a tired one comes quietly and in better condition. For high-value catches, tranquilizer harpoon tips can put a fish to sleep for a live, cleaner capture — the kind of quality the sushi bar rewards.
Tip 7: watch your weight. A full cargo box slows Dave down, and a slow diver near a shark is a bad plan. Prioritise menu fish, quest fish, and cooking ingredients over filling the last space with a common catch you swim past every day.
Exploration here rewards the same one-question-at-a-time curiosity as our Outer Wilds guide, and the cosy nightly routine will feel familiar if you loved our Stray guide and its gentle, explore-first cities.
5. Run Bancho Sushi Like You Mean It
Tip 8: set the menu before you open, and put your best enhanced dishes where customers will order them. Research new recipes, enhance proven sellers instead of spreading ingredients thin, keep wasabi stocked, and watch which dishes actually sell — your Cooksta following grows when the food and service both land.
Tip 9: hire and train staff as soon as the nights get busy. Dave cannot cook, serve drinks, clean, and restock wasabi alone at a full bar. Good staff, a short focused menu, and saving rare fish for special customers and events will beat a huge menu you cannot serve well.
Playing on a Nintendo Switch or with an Xbox Wireless Controller on PC, settle into short sessions — one in-game day is a perfect sitting. For another brilliant loop of runs and upgrades, see our Hades II guide next.
Your First-Week Checklist
- Give every dive one clear job before you splash in.
- Upgrade Air Tank first, Cargo Box second, suit for depth.
- Head up early — a rescued dive keeps only one item.
- Weaken or tranquilize big fish for cleaner catches.
- Leave common fish behind when your box is nearly full.
- Enhance best sellers, hire staff, and save rare fish for events.
What hooked you first in Dave the Diver — the peaceful daytime dives or the rush of a packed sushi night?
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