All Bosses & Salmonids in Splatoon Raiders
15 Boss Salmonids, 9 Seasoned variants, 5 Mythics: how each one attacks and how to beat it.
By the SplatAtlas editorial team · Last updated: 2026-08-26
Enemies in Splatoon Raiders
All enemies in Splatoon Raiders are Salmonids, the fish-like creatures from Salmon Run, adapted to the Spirhalite Islands with new designs and sludge-based ink attacks. The game's own bestiary (the Salmonid Research log at The Hoard) documents each one with field notes and battle tips; this page condenses all of it. The roster: 15 Boss Salmonids, 9 Seasoned super-variants, and 5 Mythic Salmonids topped by the final boss.
Salmonid Categories
Salmonids come in four tiers. The further you progress, the more Boss and Seasoned variants you encounter.
| Category | Description | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Lesser Salmonids | Small fry that are weak individually but attack in large groups. They swarm around Boss Salmonids. | Chum, Smallfry, Cohock and variants |
| Boss Salmonids | Tough enemies with unique attack patterns and weak points. Each type requires a specific strategy. | 15 (full list below) |
| Seasoned Salmonids | Salt-crusted, gray-bodied super-versions of Boss Salmonids, powered up by Spirhalite. Much more HP, upgraded attacks. | 9 (table below) |
| Mythic Salmonids | The rarest and most powerful encounters, each named after a course of a meal. Includes the final boss. | 5 (detailed below) |
Official Art: the Salmonids New to Raiders
Nintendo published research-file art for three of the Salmonids that debut in Raiders, plus a panel on the Seasoned variants. The labels on the cards are the Japanese names; the English name is given in each caption.
Images © Nintendo.
All 15 Boss Salmonids: Attack Patterns and Weak Points
Everything below is paraphrased from the in-game Salmonid Research entries, the game's own field notes and battle tips, not from community guesswork. Twelve bosses return from Salmon Run (some with reworked mechanics), and three are new to Raiders.
Naming: Traditional Chinese names are given only where Nintendo published them (Splatoon 3 localization of returning bosses). Raiders-new enemies have no official Chinese names yet, so we keep the Japanese/English ones rather than inventing translations.
Spawn locations and drop materials come from Game8's EN and JP databases. Reconciled 2026-08-13: this list is now the union of both editions rather than the English one alone, translated through our own EN↔JA dungeon mapping (machine-verified across all 61 stages). That fixed a real gap: every large Salmonid here previously had a shorter English list than Japanese, 34 spawn locations in total. The two editions also disagree in the other direction, so we add rather than adjudicate: Game8 EN attests Salty Tongue at Pantree Beach and Stinger at Carbanyara Wetlands, and the Japanese lists for both omit them. Sampler dungeon names stay in Japanese in every language, because the English release's 24 sampler names cannot yet be paired to the Japanese rows.
Salty TongueJP: タンシオ · new to Raiders
How it attacks: A large Salmonid that moves with its tongue hanging out, flaps its fins wildly as it closes in, then stretches its neck out and bites.
How to beat it: It has a lot of health, so this is a patience fight: the bite comes immediately after the neck extends, so watch the neck and dodge sideways, then keep up the pressure.
Spawn locations: Pantree Beach, Piel Coast, Blansh Seaway, Scayl Buried Ruins, Chowda Buried Ruins, Pipyoni Cliffs, 駆け抜ける磯の風味, 押し寄せる旨味, Vanilo Mountain, Sahlse Vents, Temprah Den, Unnyarang Buried Ruins, Myunyere Hidden Ruins
Drops: Salty Tongue's Bucket
SalivatorJP: ハネツキ · new to Raiders
How it attacks: Airborne. It hurls bags full of drool that burst into whirlwinds where they land.
How to beat it: Hard to hit from the ground, so take the height advantage. Attacking a bag turns its whirlwind into an updraft you can ride to reach it.
Spawn locations: Blansh Seaway, Scayl Buried Ruins, Chowda Buried Ruins, Yaksubi Volcano, Taytur Rocks, Choclet Iceberg, Rinboh Lake, Draggen Den
Drops: Salivator's Plastic Bag
SmokerJP: スモーカー · new to Raiders
How it attacks: A slender Salmonid with a smoke device on its back, blowing smoke over its allies from a distance. The smoke makes other Salmonids tougher.
How to beat it: Low health and easily splatted, which is exactly why you kill it first. Every second a Smoker lives, everything else on the field is harder to kill.
Spawn locations: Sweeshrim Peak, Seaza Mountains, Taytur Rocks, Sylkin Den, Gjoza Buried Ruins, Quekub Buried Ruins, Frewtert Buried Ruins, Upper Tier of Great Salmon Mess Hall
Drops: Smoker's Tank
ScrapperJP: テッパン / 鐵板魚 · Salmon Run veteran
How it attacks: Drives a nimble vehicle with a front-mounted shield and charges straight at you behind it.
How to beat it: Repeated hits break the shield and stall the vehicle; circle behind and splat the pilot. Attacks that pierce shields skip the whole dance.
Spawn locations: Tumetto Rocks, Lintle Inlet, Carbanyara Wetlands, Alphreydo Buried Ruins, Sheeyz Den, 押し寄せる旨味, Yillatay Icicles, Choclet Iceberg, Baygull Beach, Myunyere Hidden Ruins
Drops: Scrapper's Glass Window
StingerJP: タワー / 高塔魚 · Salmon Run veteran
How it attacks: Sits atop a stack of seven pots and snipes from long range with ink that pierces through obstacles.
How to beat it: Destroy all the pots and the body falls into the stove at the bottom, and one big burst from a weapon or gadget can clear the whole stack. It will keep sniping you from afar, so deal with it early.
Spawn locations: Tumetto Rocks, Carbanyara Wetlands, Spigetty Den, Fridda Trail, 押し寄せる旨味, Kurmuh Lava Flows, Sweeshrim Peak, Awlmun Den, Gjoza Buried Ruins, Minchup Buried Ruins
Drops: Stinger's Colander
SteelheadJP: バクダン / 炸彈魚 · Salmon Run veteran
How it attacks: Covered in hard scales; inflates a bomb above its head and lobs it at you.
How to beat it: Shoot the bomb while it is being inflated. When a Steelhead dies it explodes, heavily damaging nearby Salmonids, so detonate it in a crowd.
Spawn locations: Lintle Inlet, Alphreydo Buried Ruins, Soyu Cliffs, Toonya Glacier, Krimpuf Cave, Cheeli Den, Upper Tier of Great Salmon Mess Hall
Drops: Steelhead's Tire
Big ShotJP: テッキュウ / 鐵球魚 · Salmon Run veteran
How it attacks: Hops around on the bouncy materials strapped under its body and slams a cannonball into the ground, sending out shock waves.
How to beat it: Jump over the shock waves. The windup before each slam is your attack window, and its death blast damages the Salmonids around it.
Spawn locations: Lintle Inlet, Yaksubi Volcano, Sahlse Vents, Toonya Glacier, Seaza Mountains, Taytur Rocks, Stroborro Den
Drops: Big Shot's Spring
Fish StickJP: ハシラ / 柱魚 · Salmon Run veteran
How it attacks: A Smallfry squad flying a giant stake around; the stake plants itself and the Smallfry ink everything from above.
How to beat it: Defeat all the Smallfry. Paint the stake and climb it to fight them at close range, or shoot the propellers at the base, which lowers the stake (new to Raiders).
Spawn locations: Carbanyara Wetlands, Uven Crater, Baygull Beach, Cyuuk Den, Minchup Buried Ruins
Drops: Fish Stick's Drill Bit
Steel EelJP: ヘビ / 蛇魚 · Salmon Run veteran
How it attacks: Pilots a very long chain of ink-spraying machines that endlessly snakes after its target.
How to beat it: The metal head takes no damage; the operator at the very back is the weak point. Lead it around, then cut behind to the tail.
Spawn locations: Carbanyara Wetlands, Pipyoni Cliffs, Uven Crater, Kurmuh Lava Flows, Yillatay Icicles, Krimpuf Cave, Kreyp Lava Lake, Raisbul Den, Unnyarang Buried Ruins
Drops: Steel Eel's Jaw
Slammin' LidJP: ナベブタ / 鍋蓋魚 · Salmon Run veteran
How it attacks: Hovers in a saucer-shaped craft with a force field below it, summoning Salmonids from the opening underneath.
How to beat it: Shoot the pilot to end the summons fast. When the craft slams down, dodge it and climb on top, and you can even use the slam to crush other Salmonids.
Spawn locations: Pipyoni Cliffs, Pankak Den
Drops: Slammin' Lid's Lid
FlyfishJP: カタパッド / 墊肩飛魚 · Salmon Run veteran
How it attacks: Hovers at long range with a missile launcher on each shoulder, firing three missiles per launcher.
How to beat it: The launchers are immune to damage; in Raiders you splat the pilot in the cockpit directly, from the front or the back. (Veterans: no bombs-in-baskets this time.) Kill it fast or eat missiles all fight.
Spawn locations: Fridda Trail, Sahlse Vents, Sweeshrim Peak, Yillatay Icicles, Kohslah Den
Drops: Flyfish's Bin
MawsJP: モグラ / 鼴鼠魚 · Salmon Run veteran
How it attacks: Hides beneath the ink and breaches under your feet. The red bobber floating in the ink telegraphs where the next bite lands.
How to beat it: Hit it while it breaches: the belly is armored but the back is bare. Check which way the bobber faces before a breach and you know where its back will be.
Spawn locations: Yaksubi Volcano, Seaza Mountains, Krosont Den
Drops: Maw's Bobbler
DrizzlerJP: コウモリ / 蝙蝠魚 · Salmon Run veteran
How it attacks: Flies in umbrella-like armor and fires shells that burst into ink rain.
How to beat it: Hit it directly in the moment right after it fires. Better: shoot the shell back at it; a returned shot splats it in one hit, armor and all.
Spawn locations: Soyu Cliffs, Kreyp Lava Lake, Baygull Beach, Meesu Den
Drops: Drizzler's Mask
Flipper-FlopperJP: ダイバー / 潛水魚 · Salmon Run veteran
How it attacks: Leaps high out of the ink, emits a ring of ink beneath itself, then dives into the ring with a splash.
How to beat it: Repaint the inside of its ring with your ink and the dive crashes, and a crashed Flipper-Flopper can't move for a while. That window is the kill.
Spawn locations: Choclet Iceberg
Drops: Flipper-Flopper's Eye Light
GoldieJP: キンシャケ / 金鮭魚 · rare spawn
How it attacks: Extremely rare, and it never attacks; it strolls around, then runs away.
How to beat it: A chase, not a fight: it has a lot of health, so keep hitting it as you pursue. It pays out a pile of Spirhalite Shards. Prioritize it, but don't get surrounded by everything else while you chase.
Spawn locations: No fixed spawn; JP data points to rare appearances during anomaly events in big-crystal dungeons
Drops: No material; it pays out a pile of Spirhalite Shards instead
All 9 Seasoned Salmonids
Seasoned Salmonids (JP: キワモノシャケ) are gray, salt-crusted super-variants that have "reached peak power through Spirhalite"; the in-game notes use that phrasing for every one. Eight upgrade a Boss Salmonid; the ninth, Strong-Arms, is an original with no base form.
Six of these nine do not have to be killed at all. Deep in the Bottomless Buffet the usual answer is to push them into the water instead, and two of the nine cannot be moved that way at any depth. Which Salmonids you can remove without killing
| Seasoned | Base | What changed | Counter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thick-Cut Salty Tongue | Salty Tongue | No longer bites; retracts its neck and fires a thick sonic laser in a straight line. | Very high HP; fight it patiently. Its neck has a limited arc, so quick lateral movement keeps you safe. |
| Minced Scrapper | Scrapper | Adds a giant high-speed roller; the shield repairs itself faster. | Sustained fire on the roller or shield stalls it, but the stall is short, so get behind it immediately. Shield-piercing attacks still cheat. |
| Big-Stack Stinger | Stinger | Far taller pot stack; fires three lasers at once. | Knock all the pots away to drop the pilot into the flame. Destroy the ink-spraying pots first to make room to work. |
| Refill Steelhead | Steelhead | Inflates three chained bombs that explode three times in sequence; longer charge time. | Attack the bomb during the (longer) charge. The bomb inflates as the head moves: it dips first, then rises. Time your shots to that rhythm. |
| Jumbo Big Shot | Big Shot | Each slam sends out three shock waves; jumps higher despite five times the weight. | Attack while the cannonball is slammed down. The waves come with short gaps between them, so time your jumps. |
| Long-Line Steel Eel | Steel Eel | Longer, faster, tougher. (zh: 長龍蛇魚) | Same weak point: the pilot at the rear. Don't zigzag so hard that the metal body hides the pilot from view. |
| Extra-Crispy Flyfish | Flyfish | Trades direct missiles for two large tornados per launcher that blanket an area in ink. | Still the cockpit pilot. The tornado ink shrinks your escape routes, so take it down before you run out of ground. |
| Big-Haul Maws | Maws | Breaches across such a wide area that dodging it outright is difficult. | Its back is still defenseless. Read the bobber's facing before the breach and position yourself behind where it will surface. |
| Strong-Arms | None (original) | Four huge fins, each holding a different weapon: Hyper Pressure, a Spinner, giant Tongs and Splash Bombs, switched by your distance. | The body is armored; the four fins are not. Damage a fin enough and it shrinks permanently, taking that attack with it. Take them in order: the bottom-left fin (the Tongs) first, not for its damage but because the sweep flings you far enough to knock you off the edge. Then the top-right Spinner for its sustained damage. It drops five Mega Power Eggs, the biggest haul of any Seasoned. |
The 5 Mythic Salmonids
Mythic Salmonids are the rarest tier: scarred bodies crusted in red Spirhalite, each named (in English) after a course of a meal. Three guard the wild islands, and two you already know from the endgame: the final boss and the Bottomless Buffet's floor-100 keeper. The shared mechanic: the Exploration Bot's drill attack is the stagger button for all of them.
FlappetizerJP: ハバタキノヌシ
A Salivator that fed on Spirhalite until it became this. Almost always airborne: it whips up tornadoes with its fins, scatters bombs in gliding passes, and shields itself with a wind barrier. Use high ground and updrafts to reach it; a drill attack knocks it out of the sky, and that's when you unload.
PaincourseJP: スギサリノヌシ
A blazing, train-like body that erupts from a furnace and charges at high speed, releasing mine carts from its flanks; some explode on stopping, some don't. Predict its route instead of chasing it. Knock an unexploded cart back into it to stun it, or stop it cold with a drill attack.
DesshurtJP: カチワリノヌシ
A small Salmonid bulked up in thick ice armor, swinging a giant ice hammer and firing a freezing ink beam. You can barely hurt it through the armor: break the cracked hammer to expose its defenseless fin, or break the whole shell off with a drill attack and dump damage into the opening. (Name note: Japanese databases write カチワリノヌシ; Inkipedia renders it カモワリノヌシ; we follow the Japanese sources.)
SalmonarchJP: サルモン王 · final boss
The three-headed, pure-white Salmonid born from the giant golden Power Egg, canonically the cause of Splatoon 3's Big Runs. It attacks from ranges your weapons can't answer: dodge or shoot down what it sends, collect Power Eggs between waves, and counter with drill attacks when the window opens.
Endgame guideLord SaltimatumJP: シオヅケノオオミカミ · Bottomless Buffet floor 100
A decayed, upside-down leviathan guarding the golden relic, cycling laser attacks that multiply each phase. It lowers its head to the ground when attacking, and that's your window. Deal damage, then back off; staying close is death, and bot hops keep you safer in the air.
Bottomless Buffet guideBoss Fight Mechanics
- At 25% HP, most bosses speed up and leave trails of damaging sludge, so save your special for this phase.
- You can call a Deep Cut mech strike during boss fights for burst damage.
- Each Boss Salmonid has a glowing weak point that appears during specific attack windows.
- In co-op, difficulty scales with player count: more players means tougher bosses but better loot.
General Tips
- Kill Smokers first, always: their smoke makes every other Salmonid on the field tougher.
- Ink the ground around the boss arena first; mobility wins boss fights.
- Bring a long-range weapon, a Stringer or Charger, for bosses with elevated or hard-to-reach weak points.
- Chase Goldies when they appear: no danger, big Spirhalite Shard payout.
- Use the SOS system early rather than wiping on a tough boss.
- Seasoned Salmonids hit much harder than their base versions, so don't underestimate the upgrade.
Related guides
Sources
- Splatoon Raiders, Inkipedia (Splatoon wiki)
- All Boss Salmonids List, Game8
- オオモノシャケ一覧と出現ダンジョン, Game8
- All Dungeons List and Story Guide, Game8
- Lord Saltimatum Boss: How to Beat, Nintendo Life
- ウデジマンの倒し方と出現場所, Game8 (Japan)
Attack patterns and counters: paraphrased from the in-game Salmonid Research entries (Field Notes / Battle Tips) as transcribed on Inkipedia, verified against the live pages 2026-08-03 and cross-checked with Game8 JP's boss lists (15/9/5 rosters match on both). zh-Hant names: official Splatoon 3 localization, returning bosses only. 25% HP mechanic and Deep Cut strike: hands-on reviews. Spawn locations and drop materials: Game8 EN boss list and items pages plus Game8 JP オオモノシャケ一覧, fetched 2026-08-03.