King Salmonid Cohozuna is a new boss in Splatoon 3’s Salmon Run co-op game mode. Cohozuna appears as an extra wave after clearing the 3 waves as you’d normally do. This extra wave must be cleared within 100 seconds and it isn’t that easy to beat, especially when playing with random players. This guide will teach you everything you need to know to defeat Cohozuna.
How To Beat Cohozuna in Splatoon 3
Defeating Cohozuna requires that you reduce its health bar to 0. Shooting golden eggs is the key to damaging it; therefore, you must defeat the normal Salmon Run bosses during the wave, pick up the golden eggs, and shoot them at Cohozuna (aim and press the A button to shoot a golden egg). Weapons and special attacks also deal damage to Cohozuna, but they aren’t as effective as shooting golden eggs.
General Tips
- Try to make sure most of the stage is covered in your ink at the end of the 3rd wave or the beginning of the Cohozuna wave.
- Weapons are changed and you get 1 special attack regardless of using it previously.
- Use specials on normal bosses except for the Crab Tank.
- The Wave Breaker special isn’t entirely useless. It can be used to revive teammates and it can deal decent AOE (Area of Effect) damage when surrounded.
Cohozuna’s primary attack is its splashdown. The splashdown covers a large area and is easy to avoid, but trying to reduce all Cohozuna’s HP while fighting the normal bosses is the troubling part.
Weapons That Hit Cohozuna Hard
When you’re unable to fight the regular bosses to get their golden eggs, you should try to deal as much damage as you can to Cohozuna using your weapon. Heavy DPS (Damage Per Second) weapons deal the most damage, such as the Dapple Dualies, Hydra Splatling, Sploosh-o-matic, and Grizz Slosher. The Dynamo Roller also does massive damage if you’re able to press it up against Cohozuna.
Specials That Hit Cohozuna Hard
Ideally, you should be using your specials on the normal bosses to obtain more golden eggs to shoot at Cohozuna. Only the Crab Tank special should be prioritized to hit Cohozuna because it deals massive damage; activate the special immediately and hold ZR to launch a rapid attack. Other specials should be more effective at defeating normal bosses quickly or claiming more ink turf in the process for better mobility.
Use Golden Eggs To Defeat Normal Bosses
It’s not always recommended to fire all of your golden eggs directly at Cohozuna. You can use the last of the three golden eggs to defeat more normal bosses to acquire even more golden eggs.
Regular Salmon Run Bosses That Can Be KO’d By Golden Eggs
- Steel Eel – easy if you can get a clear shot.
- Steelheads – aim for the green head.
- Flyfish – aim for the center of the opened lids.
- Scrapper – get them from behind.
- Flipper-Flopper – might be tricky to land a shot.
- Slammin’ Lid – could also be difficult to land a shot.
Unlike the regular waves where you may launch golden eggs at the basket, launching golden eggs at enemies does not consume ink during the Cohozuna wave, so it’s a great way to damage bosses even when in a pinch.