Tentacle

• Tentacle
• Big Tentacle
• Baby Tentacle

Tentacle
Stats
	500
Effects
	-40/min
Combat
Damage	34 (25.5 )
Attack Period	2
Attack Range	4
Traits
Special Ability	Retreats underground when not attacking
Loot	×2 50% 20%
Spawns from	(Only available when playing as )
Code
"tentacle"

Tentacle
Stats
	500
Traits
Special Ability	Spawns when attacked
Loot	80% 50% 40% 25% 10% 10% 10%
Code
"tentacle_pillar"

Baby Tentacle
Stats
	20
Effects
	-40/min
Combat
Damage	5 (3.75 )
Attack Period	3
Attack Range	3
Traits
Spawns from
Code
None

“BIOLOGY IS DISGUSTING.”

–WX-78

Tentacles are hostile Monsters that specifically spawn in Marshes or Caves, though they will not spawn on world-generated roads. Wickerbottom can summon Tentacles using On Tentacles, one of her self-published books.

When you get close enough, black bubbles will pop out of the spawn point of tentacles. Then they will appear as purple spotted tentacles spiked at the tips, which will emit growls and come out of the ground to attack anything that comes close enough.

Tentacles take three blasts from the Ice Staff to be frozen and cannot be put to sleep or set on fire. When killed, they will drop 2 Monster Meat and can drop a Tentacle Spike or Tentacle Spots.

Big Tentacle

A Big Tentacle, also known as a Tentapillar, is a large section of Tentacle that appears underground, going up into the surface. Attacking it will cause several smaller Tentacles to spawn around it, which will focus their attack on the player but are weak and will die from one hit from a Spear. When defeated, the Big Tentacle will retreat into its hole, causing an Earthquake and dropping a variety of items, some of which are limited to a number per day across all Big Tentacles.

Baby Tentacle

Whenever a Big Tentacle is attacked, it will spawn several "Baby" Tentacles, with every hit on the Big Tentacle spawning groups of them at a time. These tentacles are smaller than regular Tentacles and only take one hit from a Spear to be killed. They do not drop anything, as they are there only to protect the Big Tentacle. They also lack the spikes that the regular Tentacles have, though they still sport the telltale bumps in the ground when they're about to come out.

If the Big Tentacle and the Baby Tentacles aren't attacked for a while, the small ones eventually retreat back into the ground. Baby Tentacles are found only in caves.

When using characters with a normal damage modifier, they can be killed in 1 hit with most weapons excluding the Fishing Rod, Bug Net, Lucy, Shovel, Pitchfork, Hammer, Torch, Walking Cane and Willow's Lighter.

Behavior

Tentacles are very dangerous because of their high damage and health. A careless player might walk straight into an area with many Tentacles and get trapped. They can only be seen once a creature or character gets relatively close.

At first, there will be a barely noticeable bubbling patch on the ground, followed by a piece of tentacle that looks like a purple bubble, which appears just before the Tentacle appears. When a creature is in range, the Tentacle will emerge and twirl around once before snapping and standing straight up. There is a brief delay before it will strike again.

If its target moves out of range, the Tentacle will sink back down into the ground; it cannot move around and give chase. After going back underground, Tentacles will stay hidden until any target moves in range or directly hits them, at which point they begin to attack again.

Due to their aggressive nature, it is common to find drops from creatures they kill or from dead Tentacles killed by other creatures (usually Merms) lying on the Swamps. They can kill a group of 4 Spiders on their own, many times, though it depends on the situation.

Hunting

Tentacles cannot be stunlocked. It takes 15 strikes with a Spear with most characters to kill one. If properly timed, they can be attacked in between their strikes. Although they appear to have an area attack, Tentacles actually attack targets individually. Due to this limitation, Pigs that attack if they get too close can easily kill a Tentacle if there are at least three of them.

Tentacles will still produce an insanity aura, even if is still in the ground and out of attack range. Thus, the sanity meter is a good indication that a Tentacle is near. Additionally, there is a low growl that can be heard when a Tentacle is near, and the player can watch for the bubbling patch, though Sanity drain is still the best indication, as the Tentacle growl can easily get confused with the normal growling ambience of the swamp.

A safe but time-consuming way to fight a Tentacle is to go right next to the spot where the Tentacle will come out, hit it as soon as the little nub appears, and dash to the side, out of its reach. Repeat after the Tentacle retracts into the ground.

It can be easy to kill Tentacles with little or no work by finding some Rundown Houses, waiting for dusk, and seeing if the Tentacle alarms the Merms. The stiff fight will end in Frog Legs, Monster Meat, Fish, and perhaps Tentacle Spots or a Tentacle Spike.

To make "tentacle traps", the player must bring several pine cones to the swamp and plant 3-6 of them around where the Tentacle emerges. Once the trees are grown and the player is ready to harvest the tentacle, they can simply light the trees on fire and the tentacle will die before the last tree burns out, even when hidden underground. The downside is that any Tentacle Spots that drop will also burn leaving only ash. This method of hunting is easiest with Willow due to her fire affinity.

Alternatively to the method above one can use Gunpowder. A player can place a stack of three near a tentacle, ignite them and dash away. Even when hidden underground the tentacle will die instantly in the blast. A gunpowder stack of two can also be used but a tentacle will need to be fished off with 2 swings of Tentacle Spike. It is fast enough to kill it before it manages to attack. However, 3 consecutive swings of the Spear will allow for retaliation after the second swing.

Below is the number of hits it takes with each weapon to kill Tentacles when playing with characters with a default damage modifier. The Weather Pain is not included due to the random nature of its projectile.

Weapon
No. of hits for	Immune	118	37	30	19	17	15	12	9 - 17	12 or 7	10	9	8	5	3	1

Trivia

• If the player is near a Swamp biome, the Tentacle can appear (rarely) outside of its biome.
• Tentacles are creatures that are believed to be created by Maxwell, as he shows some concern that the Tentacles have been reproducing, something he may not have planned to happen.
• When using the Thulecite Club, there is a chance that small Shadow Tentacles will appear and assist the player with attacking.
• Maxwell expresses surprise at the existence of the Big Tentacle and the baby Tentacles, suggesting that the Tentacles are reproducing, and not planned to do so, as Wilson and Wickerbottom mention that Tentacle Spots are its genitalia; supported by Maxwell's quote for Tentacle Spots, 'This is how they reproduce'.
• The small tentacles that appear around the Big Tentacle used to be colored green.
• In the script that handles the Tentapillar's emergence when the hole is attacked, there is a note/Easter Egg that says: ("Hit calls cthulhu"). This is a reference to a story by H.P. Lovecraft called "The Call of Cthulhu".
• The script refers to the "baby tentacles" as arms, suggesting they are from the same entity.
• In Adventure Mode, there will be a swirling path of marsh serving as a bridge between two landforms. Be very careful as you cross this, for it is swarming with tentacles.

Gallery

Tentacle bulge when the player is nearby.

Tentacle out of the swamp biome.

Tentacles remain on bare ground after the turf is dug out.

Tentacle Set Piece.

Reed Field Set Piece.

Rock Lobsters take out a massive quantity of Tentacles.

Tentacle found in a cave.

Tentacle attacking Wilson.

Tentacle mid-swing while fighting Merms.

A Tentacle dying to Merms and another one fighting them.

A Frozen Tentacle.

Smaller Tentacles spawned after attacking the Big Tentacle.

Baby Tentacles, some of which have retreated into the cave floor and appear as bumps.

A few Baby Tentacles killed by Rock Lobsters

• DS
• RoG
• SW
• Ham
• DST
• All