Guide:Plantera strategies

Plantera is a boss that can be spawned after defeating all three Mechanical bosses.

Spawn Condition
Plantera can only be spawned by breaking a, by a Pickaxe, Drill, or various other means.

She must then be killed within the Underground Jungle, otherwise she will enrage.

The Fight
Plantera will attempt to chase after the player, always trying to make her main bulb overlap the player's space. This results in a very linear kiting fight. She moves fairly slowly when compared to a player with speed-boosting equipment. This means a player in a large enough arena can easily keep a distance, assuming they just keep moving. As such, a good arena can make the fight much easier. Do keep in mind that if your arena gets too large, the middle of it may no longer be detected as Underground Jungle. This can be avoided while maintaining a comfortably large arena by making the space more long and narrow rather than square (or by simply somewhat widening a natural jungle cave then letting the jungle grass grow back over the surface). Also, cutting the edge of the arena with notches rather than a clean edge produces more jungle grass tiles on the perimeter and helps to maintain the jungle biome recognition.

The second stage begins when Plantera reaches 50% remaining health. The pink petals fall off to reveal a ferocious green maw and Plantera's speed is greatly increased.

Currently, Plantera will enrage and gain more defense, attack more frequently and deal massive amounts of contact and ranged damage if the player leaves the Underground Jungle (including to go to the surface), so surface-level arena strategies are impractical. One exception is taking advantage of Plantera's need to "grapple" to move by building a large enough space that Plantera cannot grapple up after you, and then firing down upon her. However, Plantera can grapple onto background walls, and since they extend down to the underworld, you would have to clear them out first.

The player will want to focus on dodging attacks while shooting constantly at Plantera. Once Plantera reaches her second form, the player should be very wary and attempt to dodge Plantera's lunges.

Ranged characters should try to kill tentacles as soon as they appear. Due to the generally low defense of Ranger sets, getting caught by tentacles often will kill the player very quickly.

Terrain Preparation
The actual shape of your arena depends on how you want to fight. For a player who wants to have plenty of evasive space, excavating around a screen's worth of space inside the Underground Jungle and filling it with rows of Platforms can work well. For more aggressive players, a smaller space excavated right next to a bulb can work too. Others will just use a stack of bombs to excavate a large area for flying and grappling. One fairly simple arena is simply widening a natural jungle cave enough to dodge and kite. The player can kite Plantera back and forth running a figure-8 pattern. Mobility is generally key during her battle, but enough of a damage output can kill her fast enough to make evasion less important. Plantera's spike balls do significant damage and are used frequently during Plantera's first phase, however, they can only bounce off solid surfaces. If you do not mind taking the extra time, consider digging a hole at least 2 times deeper than you would use for the fight and stick to the top half of your arena, without the added threat of Plantera's spike balls, she is much easier to defeat. Make sure the arena is not too big, as taking out too many Mud blocks might turn the Underground Jungle into just regular caverns, enraging Plantera and making the fight much more difficult. Honey can be used for its regeneration, so you can make little pools for the regeneration benefit. If you have the party girl, you can buy Bubble Blocks, and make a small pocket to put honey in. Bring a Hammer to remove the jungle walls so that in Plantera's second phase, the hooks can only grapple on to the blocks so she cannot reach you with her hooks, and thus you will not take damage from them.

Gearing up
It is recommended to increase your maximum life to 500 before trying to tackle Plantera and later challenges after her defeat. are very common if many days have passed after defeating one of the Mechanical bosses.

Armor

 * At minimum, players should use the with the helmet to suit your class. On the desktop version, it gives you the  buff, making it a great choice.
 * is also a great choice, due to slightly higher offensive and defensive bonuses, and also spawns an automatic turret over your head.
 * can be considered a cheaper alternative if one is looking to save chlorophyte, offering similar melee and ranged damage bonuses to Chlorophyte armor, but lacking the leaf crystal and having slightly less defense.
 * is a vital choice, but you will need to defeat enough Giant Tortoises to get three Turtle Shells.
 * is a decent choice due to the buff (formerly the  buff.)
 * The best offensive set for melee users consists of the, , and.
 * and are acceptable substitutes.
 * The best offensive set for magic users consists of the, , and.
 * The best offensive set for ranged users consists of the, , and.
 * and/or can be substituted into any of the above hybrid sets for additional regeneration or minion-based offense, respectively.
 * is a powerful and tanky armor set with a set bonus that triples the attack speed of Ballista sentries after taking damage.
 * Dedicated summoners should summon as many minions as possible while wearing, and then equip and , in that order.
 * can be worn instead of the Spider Breastplate, sacrificing 1 minion to gain an additional 19 defense.

Weapons

 * For Melee users:
 * The is the best choice for melee, being able to tear through both Plantera and her Biters fairly easily.
 * The is very useful, as it can rip through her first phase very quickly, especially with a Yoyo Bag.
 * The is a good choice for high damage as well.
 * and the are good choices as well, allowing for secure kiting from a comfortable range to avoid damage while wearing high defense melee armor.
 * With enough attack speed upgrades and the Cross Necklace, the can easily kill her in a matter of seconds.


 * For Ranged users:
 * The, , or are the best guns available. When used with  they can deal massive damage.
 * Ichor Bullets can also be useful in this fight
 * A, with or  can be used to great effect.
 * You can excavate a tall arena and use a paired with Holy Arrows, which will be great against Plantera.
 * The can be useful for killing Plantera's Tentacles in her second phase.
 * will freeze Plantera, making the fight incredibly simple.
 * The paired with  or  can be deadly against Plantera.


 * For Magic users:
 * The and  are solid weapons against Plantera.
 * Using the every so often can prove to be very helpful as it inflicts the, increasing your damage output even more.
 * The is always useful (even for non-magic users). It can deal continuous damage which can greatly help the fight, especially in vertical arenas.
 * The and  are very effective for the second phase, as they deal with the Tentacles while also damaging Plantera. The  can also be effective.
 * The is even more effective as it can home on them both while dealing a good amount of damage.
 * The can easily deal with Plantera's Biters in the second phase while also healing the player in the process.


 * For Summoners:
 * The and  summon the most reliable minions.
 * The can prove to be incredibly powerful when used with a Tavernkeep's armor set.

Potions

 * ,, , and s will help you survive much longer.
 * Anything that gives the Well Fed, Plenty Satisfied, or Exquisitely Stuffed buff is welcomed help.
 * and s give very welcomed damage upgrades.
 * s may be helpful for preventing spores from reaching you.
 * s and are very effective for Melee users.
 * Likewise with s, for Rangers who choose to use arrows.
 * and are a must have for Magic users.
 * s are very useful for summoners.

Accessories

 * will allow you to dodge Plantera's attacks.
 * Damage can be greatly boosted through combat accessories such as any or the.
 * Melee users who choose to use swords can use the to greatly increase their damage and attack speed. It can also be combined with the  for an even larger increase. Note that the latter should not be used by itself due to its slightly lower stats.
 * The will significantly increase a Yoyo's  and range.
 * The can be used for increased regen and the reduction of the Potion Sickness debuff time from one minute to 45 seconds. In order for the Philosopher's Stone effect to be applied, it only has to be equipped the instant a Healing Potion is drunk.
 * or the can reduce all damage taken.
 * The is very useful for preventing knockback in the second phase. The Obsidian Shield is an alternative, only losing the situational immunity to the Poisoned debuff.
 * The / can be used to extend the invulnerability period after being attacked. This can prove to be useful during the second phase due to the large amount of Biters.
 * The / can be used to extend the invulnerability period after being attacked. This can prove to be useful during the second phase due to the large amount of Biters.

Teleportation trick
Make a long hallway, and place a Teleporter with a pressure plate on each end.

When she is climbing down toward you on one side, jump on the pressure plate used to activate the Teleporter. You will teleport to the other side, and Plantera will need to climb back at you.

Boomerang-type weapons can fly indefinitely when using a teleportation trick, though there are not many hardmode-effective boomerangs available. Before the boomerang returns, the player can teleport to the other end of the hall, and the boomerang will change directions and pierce enemies along the way.

Note that if the hallway is too long, Plantera will despawn. This was observed in a hallway as small as 200 tiles. If you use the mobile edition, you should make the hallway around 125-150 tiles long, as Plantera will despawn within a shorter range of the player.

This method is more difficult in Expert mode, as her seeds can pass through blocks, all of her projectiles are now homing, and her 'mouths' spawn on her legs, closer to the player.

Fireworks
You can also use fireworks to kill Plantera, as Plantera is easy to lure into the path of fireworks. This requires only a large sum of money, and can kill Plantera in a matter of seconds.

If each firework deals 150 damage, you will need 200 fireworks, or in expert, 280 fireworks to insta-kill Plantera.

Minecart tracks
If you can locate a Plantera's bulb nearby a row of minecart tracks, you can easily annihilate Plantera at a distance while riding the tracks. This was observed with a natural generated minecart track, where Plantera was stuck in blocks due to the narrow hall and the varying heights.

Plantera can then be dodged at the end of the rail by using a bumper and ramming through her, suffering minimal loss on health.

This was done using a Chlorophyte Shotbow, along with Frost Armor and an Endless Quiver.

The pros being miminal terrain preparation, cons being depends on chance and rails may lead out of the jungle, resulting in a enraged Plantera.

Circle and run
This is a technique used by several youtubers in Expert mode, including Gellot.

Make an arena in the underground jungle about 2 screens wide and high with platforms, making sure to have the bottom row by platforms, letting the spiky balls she fires fall to the ground harmlessly. Nearby, place a Bed at one end of a long tunnel.

In Phase 1 of the fight, circle around Plantera using Wings, firing at her with projectiles.

When Phase 2 begins, use a Magic Mirror to teleport to your spawn point (making sure you don't go so far away as to make Plantera despawn) and progress down the tunnel, firing behind you as you go.

fr:Guide:Stratégies de Plantera