Yes, you can kill the void shark in Voidtrain. While the creature frequently harasses you as you travel between depots, it is not an invincible obstacle. Depleting its entire health bar eliminates the creature for the remainder of that void run and yields valuable crafting materials.
Taking the shark down requires patience or upgraded firepower, as well as an understanding of how its behavior and mutations work.
How to Fight and Kill the Void Shark
Killing the shark depends heavily on your current weapon tier and engagement distance:
- Stop the Train: When you decide to hunt the shark, bring your train to a complete stop using the handbrake. Letting the train roll while fighting makes tracking the creature harder and risks leaving dropped loot behind in the void.
- Engage at Close Range: The shark circles at a distance before charging directly toward the train or the player. Wait until it commits to a charge to land concentrated shots on its body.
- Upgrade Beyond the Starter Weapon: The starter handgun features infinite ammunition, but its low damage means chipping down the shark's health bar takes dozens of rounds. Crafting rifles or assembling automatic weapons at the armory dramatically cuts kill times down to seconds.
- Deploy Turrets: As you progress through technology tiers, train-mounted turrets become available. These automated defenses actively deal damage to the shark and repel its attack runs.
Health and Regeneration Mechanics
Older game versions allowed the shark to regenerate health mid-cycle by eating schools of void fish. However, developer updates altered how the creature behaves:
- Health Regeneration: In official Patch 1.04, the developers removed the shark's ability to regenerate health after taking player damage. Once you wound the shark, that damage remains permanent for the rest of that sector.
- Attack Frequency: Patch 1.04 also rebalanced the shark to attack the train less frequently, giving engineers more breathing room to manage stations and gather floating debris.
- Cycle Resets: Killing the shark removes it for that specific leg of the journey. Once you pass through the gate into a depot and depart into the next void stretch, a new shark encounters your train.
Void Shark Mutations
Sharks in the Void can consume mutagens, granting them distinct physical traits and combat abilities:
| Mutation Name | Physical Change | Ability / Combat Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Resilience / Spine | Bony dorsal protrusions and armored side plates | Grants extra armor that can be shot off. The shark attempts to restore armor by gnawing on void rocks. |
| Strength / Nose | Indestructible protrusion on the nose | Protects the head from frontal fire and grants the active "Ram" attack against the train. |
| Tail Mutation | Reinforced rear fin | Grants the "Thrower" ability, allowing the shark to launch ranged projectiles at targets. |
| Tongue Mutation | Extended tongue appendage | Can grab and pull an exposed player directly off the train if there are no walls or protective barriers. |
Destroying floating mutagens before the shark consumes them prevents it from developing these combat buffs.
Loot and Material Drops
Once killed, the shark's body floats in the void and drops several essential survival and crafting items:
- Fat: Used as an alternate fuel source for workbenches and a core ingredient in refining grease and chemicals.
- Leather: Crucial for tailoring consumables like medical bandages at the workbench.
- Research Samples: Added as an additional drop in Patch 1.04, these samples provide research points at the research table or can be broken down into materials via the Recycler.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the shark permanently die across the whole game?
No. Killing a shark eliminates that specific creature for the current sector. When you depart from your next depot stop, a new shark spawns for that section of the void.
What happens if you only shoot the shark a few times?
Dealing a burst of damage frightens the shark away temporarily, causing it to retreat into the fog before circling back for another attack run later.
Can the shark destroy train stations or machinery?
The shark attacks train carriages, causing damage to the flooring and creating dirt deposits. Excessive dirt inflicts an efficiency debuff on Rofleemo crew members until cleaned with a mop or managed by an automated Cleaner Station.
