How To Swim Underwater - GTA: San Andreas Wiki Guide - IGN

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Rockstar offers a wealth of traversal methods to help you carve your way through Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas' giant world, whether that's riding bikes, driving cars, flying planes or simply running from A to B. Certain sections of the game will even require CJ to swim underwater to complete objectives, diving into the depths of Los Santos, San Fierro and Las Venturas to hide from enemies or seek out sunken treasures and collectibles such as Oysters. For those wanting to master the diving mechanic, here's a quick breakdown of how to swim underwater. This guide includes an update for the GTA: The Trilogy - Definitive Edition release for Xbox, PC, and PS5.

How to Swim Underwater

Unlike CJ's standard swimming controls, heading underwater requires the use of two buttons. Once in a body of water deep enough to dive in, press the Circle / B / Left Mouse Button to go beneath the surface and then hold X / A / Space to propel CJ forwards. Move the protagonist in whichever direction you want to go and continue holding X / A / Space to swim.

CJ can't stay underwater forever, so you'll eventually have to come up for air. You can monitor how much air you have left via the breath meter that appears above the health bar while diving. When it gets low, redirect CJ upwards and quickly swim to the surface. If the bar completely empties, CJ's health will begin to deplete, eventually killing him. You can increase the size of the breath meter by upgrading the Lung Capacity stat.

It's worth noting that CJ's air meter won't refill instantly when returning to the surface, so you'll need to give the protagonist a few seconds to regain his breath. If you're using water to stay hidden from enemies, you should take this into account before emerging for air.

How to Find Oysters and Increase Lung Capacity

Although diving won't be too handy in the early hours of the game, it will become more useful as you progress through CJ's adventure. Not only will you boost your Lung Capacity stat while swimming beneath the surface (which will be crucial when tackling the Wu Zi Mu mission Amphibious Assault while in San Fierro), but you'll also find Oysters submerged in bodies of water around the map.

These collectibles will net you a bit of pocket change and eventually some useful perks, so they're definitely worth seeking out. For a detailed breakdown of how to find all 50 of the submerged creatures, check out IGN's Oysters Collectables Guide.

For more helpful San Andreas tips and tricks, check out the How-To Guides page, or get some help tracking down those final missing trinkets using IGN's range of handy Collectables Guides.

Up Next: How to Increase Lung Capacity

PreviousHow to Lose Weight, Gain Muscle and Enhance StaminaNextHow to Increase Lung Capacity

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Grand Theft Auto: San AndreasRockstar NorthOct 21, 2004+6Learn moreGo to comments