GONE Fishing Totems — Full List & Are They Permanent

Are totems permanent in GONE Fishing?

Totems are permanent purchases, not nightly buffs. You buy one from the trader, it spawns into your cabin, and it stays with the save — the game reloads your totem list along with your day count. They do not expire, they do not reset when you miss a quota, and they can be upgraded later in the run rather than replaced. Hardcore mode changes a lot about a run, but it does not take your totems away.

The one exception worth knowing: totems are saved per run. Start a new run and you start with an empty totem shelf, because the totem economy is part of what you are rebuilding.

What totems do

Every totem is a passive global buff. They are not equipment you hold — once bought, they sit in the cabin and apply to anyone in the lobby. The confirmed effects across the game’s patch history are:

• Fish size and point value — the Leviathan’s totem line multiplies both.
• Bait score — the same Leviathan line lifts what you can reach.
• Bite speed — Fish Frenzy shortens the wait between bites.
• Quota — Slowing Metabolism reduces how much the lake demands.
• Gold — Midas Touch generates passive income on a timer.
• Night safety — the Timeless Light totem keeps a light burning so you are not fishing blind.
• Quota progress — a display totem that shows how close your altar offering is, unlocked by default.

Leviathan’s totem: the numbers

This is the one totem with published, patch-confirmed multipliers, and it is the backbone of any Legendary attempt. It applies a single multiplier to bait score, weight and point value at once:

A level 4 Leviathan turns a 70 bait into an effective 87.5 for every species check, and lifts the resulting fish’s weight and value by a quarter on top. That is why it appears in every serious deep-water build.

Totem price and upgrading

Totems are sold by the trader, and the price scales with lobby size — a four-player group pays more in total than a solo run. Upgrading happens at the late-game trader, who appears in an elevated cabin on each map. Both the treehouse trader and the late-game trader have had purchase bugs across Early Access, so if a totem does not appear after buying it, reload the save before assuming the gold is gone.

Upgrades are what make the totem slot worth the gold: a level 0 Fish Frenzy is a small bite-speed nudge, while the max level version is a 75% faster bite, which is the difference between a full bait stack lasting one night or three.

Do totems work in multiplayer?

Yes, and this is where they are strongest. A totem bought by one player applies its buff in the shared space, so eight players do not need eight Leviathan totems — they need one, plus a plan for who upgrades it. Gold is shared between players, while line, rod and sinker upgrades are personal. That makes totems the one purchase a group should always make together.

Which totems to buy first

1. Leviathan’s totem — the multiplier that everything else stacks on.
2. Fish Frenzy — bite speed converts directly into catches per night.
3. Slowing Metabolism — buys you the days you need to afford the first two.
4. Timeless Light — quality of life, and safety on the Arctic map where night arrives early.
5. Midas Touch — a long-run purchase, worth it once a session passes twenty days.

Related guides

• Bait guide — the score the Leviathan multiplier is applied to
• Fish list — which fish the multiplier is aiming at
• Beginner guide — how to survive long enough to afford a totem