Snow biome



The Snow biome, also known as the Tundra, is a biome that takes on an arctic theme, being primarily composed of Snow and Ice Blocks, and displaying a constant snowfall effect regardless of weather elsewhere. Trees within Snow biomes have a snowy cover on them and yield Boreal Wood instead of ordinary Wood. Shiverthorns can be found regularly across the surface in the Snow. During rain, a Snow biome will undergo a blizzard instead, where snowfall increases, causing decreased visibility and the Ice Golem rarely spawning (in Hardmode). The Clothier, Merchant, and Painter NPCs each sell a unique item when in the Snow biome. The Snow biome will always spawn on the same side as the Dungeon and the opposite side of the Jungle and Underground Desert.

An area is considered a Snow biome if there are at least 300 /  1500 Snow or Ice Blocks, causing the water and background to change, but Snow plants and enemies can spawn on even a single block of snow or ice.

Snow biomes can become infected by the Corruption/Crimson and Hallow, either upon world generation or by sped up biome spread in Hardmode. However, only Ice Blocks can be infected.

In pre-Hardmode, only two enemies show up in the Snow biome regularly: the Ice Slime and the Frozen Zombie. The only critter is the Penguin, which regularly appears throughout the biome, and gets turned into a Corrupt/Vicious Penguin during a Blood Moon.

In Hardmode, the Snow biome gets a bit of a boost. At night, Ice Elementals and Wolves begin to spawn often. During Blizzards, Ice Golems have a rare chance to spawn and drop useful items, though note that it is quite difficult to fight due to its Frost Beam attack inflicting the Chilled debuff (slowed movement speed) for 45 seconds/ and the Frozen debuff (completely frozen, 20% chance of being inflicted) for 1 second/. Any enemy killed in the Snow biome in Hardmode also has a 1 in 300 chance of dropping the Amarok yo-yo, which is quite powerful and inflicts the Frostburn debuff to hit enemies.

The Snow biome has its own biome chest in the Dungeon which can be opened by a Frozen Key after Plantera is defeated. Any enemy defeated in the Snow biome has a 1 in 2,500 chance (0.04%) of dropping the Frozen Key (on the versions) or the Frozen Key Mold (on the ), which is crafted into the Frozen Key). The Frozen Chest contains the Staff of the Frost Hydra, a sentry summon weapon.

Fishing in the Snow biome has a chance of yielding Atlantic Cod, Frost Daggerfish, and Frost Minnow. Atlantic Cod is used to craft Cooked Fish and Frost Minnow is used to craft Warmth Potions, which reduces damage from cold-themed enemies by 30% and is very useful in the Snow biome. Frost Daggerfish are actually ranged weapons (on versions)/throwing weapons (on ) and can be useful at the beginning of the game. Frozen Crates and Boreal Crates can also be caught in the Snow biome in pre-Hardmode and Hardmode, respectively, and always include one item from Frozen Chests (alongside other loot).

Under the Snow Biome is the Ice biome, which starts at Underground depths and ends at the lower Cavern layer where lava begins to appear.

Stepping in water in the Snow Biome in Expert and Master Mode will inflict the player with the Chilled debuff when and for 5 seconds after they are in the water.

Trivia

 * The Angler refers to this biome as the "Tundra".
 * This is rather strange as a tundra is defined as a biome that has low temperatures but very little rainfall, where it ironically is always snowing in the Snow Biome.
 * Before 1.4, the Snow Biome was the only Biome that was required to craft an item, which was the Snow Cloud.
 * The Angler will still display quests for the Mutant Flinxfin, Pengfish, and Tundra Trout in the mobile version even if the world doesn't contain a Snow biome.

History
Tundra Toundra Havas 雪原生物群落