Fisch: How to Get the Ancient Idol Rod on Skycrest

The Ancient Idol Rod is one of the rods tied to Skycrest, the floating island added to Fisch as part of the Fischfest expansion. It is not sold at a shop and it does not drop from a crate. You unlock it by starting Forge Master Torin’s questline and clearing his opening demand, which asks for a specific set of catches and collectibles before he will hand anything over.

Quick answer: Speak to Forge Master Torin on Skycrest, accept his questline, and complete the first requirement — five giants and every Idol’s Charm. No steps can be skipped.

What Forge Master Torin asks for

Torin’s opening line is blunt about the terms. His first quest step reads “Five Giants, and every Idol’s Charm. No shortcuts.” That phrasing matters, because both halves are hard gates. You need the giant catches and you need the complete Charm set from the Ancient Idols scattered around Skycrest — a partial collection will not advance the quest.

Travel to Skycrest and find Forge Master Torin. He stands out in the open on the island, so no puzzle or hidden door is involved in reaching him.

Player standing next to a bearded NPC in a stone courtyard on Skycrest with the fishing HUD visible — Forge Master Torin waits out in the open on Skycrest, and talking to him opens the questline. Image: Fisch

Interact with him and accept the questline. The first objective appears immediately and tracks both halves of the requirement separately.

Collect every Idol’s Charm. Charms come from completing trials at the seven stone-carved Ancient Idols on Skycrest — Hayate, Ebisu, Fudo, Nagomi, Goriki, Shunsoku, and Amanojaku. Each idol has its own trial set and its own Charm reward.

Land the five giants. This is the catching half of the requirement, and it is where most of your fishing time goes.

Fisch reel-in bar reading A VIBRANIUM FAIRY WRASSE with the bottom arrow control held down — Reeling in a catch on Skycrest while working through the quest requirement. Image: Fisch

Return to Torin once both counters are full. Completing that first phase is what puts the Ancient Idol Rod in your hands.

Ancient Idol Rod stats

The headline number here is the weight cap. There is no weight limit at all, which removes the usual reason to swap rods before chasing something enormous. Luck is high, resilience is respectable, and the control value is where the rod gives ground.

Stat	Value
Lure Speed	80%
Luck	165%
Control	0.3
Resilience	60%
Max Kg	Infinite

An infinite weight cap means the rod never fails a catch purely because the fish is too heavy for it. Combined with 165% luck, it works as a general-purpose Skycrest rod rather than something you only bring out for one species.

Reel-in control bar showing Click and Hold Anywhere while landing a Deep Mesophotic Gem — The standard reel-in bar during a catch, before any judgment prompt appears. Image: Fisch

How the Idol’s Judgment mechanic works

The rod carries a passive called Idol’s Judgment. During a catch, a separate judgment bar can appear on top of the normal reeling minigame. It does not fire on every cast — it triggers at random, so you cannot force it by fishing in a particular spot or with a particular bait.

Playing out that extra bar produces either a Good Judgment or a Bad Judgment, and both outcomes pay Idol Favor. The amounts swing widely. A strong result can hand over a chunk in the region of +175 or +150 Idol Favor, while a poor one lands closer to +16. Since Idol Favor is the progression currency for everything on Skycrest, from Crest Amulet Charm slots to placing Sky Crystals, the rod effectively converts routine fishing into level progress.

Idol Favor Up notification appearing during a catch alongside a Cragged Hawaiian Ventralis Anthias — An “Idol Favor Up!” prompt firing mid-catch, the visible result of an Idol’s Judgment roll. Image: Fisch

Note: a Bad Judgment still awards favor. It is a smaller payout, not a penalty, so there is no reason to cancel a cast when the bar shows up.

How to confirm you unlocked it

Two signals tell you the first phase went through. Torin’s dialogue moves past the “five giants and every Idol’s Charm” line, and the Ancient Idol Rod appears in your inventory ready to equip. After that, the clearest in-game proof the rod is behaving correctly is the “Idol Favor Up!” banner appearing during a catch, followed by your Idol Level ticking upward.

If Torin will not advance, the cause is almost always an incomplete Charm set rather than the giants. Charms are earned per idol, and every one of the seven has to be cleared before the requirement counts as met.

Fisch gameplay view on Skycrest with the rod equipped and the fishing interface on screen — Fishing on Skycrest with the questline underway. Image: Fisch

Skycrest mixes permanent and limited content, and parts of the Fischfest material will not stay in the game once the event ends. If the Ancient Idol Rod is on your list, the Charm grind is the long pole — start the idol trials early, because the giants can be chased at any point after that.