Angler

The Angler is an NPC concerned exclusively with fishing, who appears as a young boy. He does not sell anything, but rather assigns quests to players. Quest objectives generally involve catching him rare fish from particular biomes or layers, for which he dispenses various rewards.

On the, he will throw Frost Daggerfish at nearby enemies when threatened, dealing 10 / /  damage at the start of the game, and (on the ) as players progress he will gain various stat increases.

The Angler is first encountered as Sleeping Angler randomly sleeping on the sand or on the water surface of an Ocean biome. He will move in when:
 * There is an empty house.
 * The player has interacted with him and has woken him up.

Initiating a quest

 * The day's quest is determined at 4:30AM each day, regardless of whether or not the Angler has been spoken to.
 * In order to find out where to find the quest fish, the player needs to speak to the Angler and select his "" option.
 * The player will require a Fishing Pole, bait, and a sizeable amount of liquid (see fishing) to catch the quest fish.
 * The item will only be catchable while its quest is in effect (from 4:30AM of that day until 4:30AM of the next day, and before the player's daily catch has been turned in)
 * The quest fish can only be caught if it is not already in the player's inventory.
 * Speaking again to the Angler will remove the quest fish from the player's inventory, and reward them with items.

Quest rewards
After a quest has been completed, the Angler will reward the player with one item, a number of Coins, and possibly some bait. Notes:
 * Item chances: The chances of functional, non-potion items gradually increase from their base rates (shown below) with the number of quests completed: they become more likely (and others less likely) as more quests are completed.
 * At 50 quests, the chances of receiving a functional item reward are 2x the base rate.
 * At 100 quests, the chances are 4x the base rate.
 * At 150 quests, the chances are the highest, at 6.67x the base rate.
 * Coin quantity: The number of coins awarded increases with the number of quests completed, and is rounded down to the nearest Gold Coin (or Silver Coin, if less than ), up to a maximum of . The average coin reward is approximately, plus per completed quest, before rounding. These values are doubled in.
 * Bait chances: The Angler may additionally reward the player with an amount of bait, with chances scaling from ~50% on the first completed quest to 100% by the 50th quest. The average quality and amount of bait given similarly increases with the number of completed quests, up to a maximum of 7 Master Baits.
 * On the versions, after the 150th completed quest, the chances permanently reset to their base rates below, as if the player was always on their first quest each time thereafter. Coins are not affected by this and continue to scale up to a maximum of  per quest.
 * On the, the Angler's Happiness mildly affects his rewards, higher happiness treats the reward as if you've completed more quests than you actually have, and lower happiness treats the reward as if you've completed less quests. For example, assuming no quests are completed, the odds of getting the High Test Fishing Line may range from 2% at the Angler's lowest happiness to 2.778% at his highest possible happiness, compared to the base rate of 2.5%.
 * The angler's rewards will also be affected by his happiness . The player will not get any rare drops if the angler is not happy.
 * Rewards will not include duplicates of the info accessories already in the player's inventory or Portable Storage, unless the player has them all.

Reward lists
Only one of the following special rewards may be obtained. The chances listed are affected by the number of quests completed. Chances are rolled in the order given by the list below, starting from the top. This means rewards near the bottom have a slightly lowered chance of being obtained than what is listed.

If none of the rewards listed above are rewarded, one of the following will be obtained, and in no particular order. Chances are unaffected by the number of quests completed.

If bait is being rewarded, chances of getting which type are in the order listed below. The chances listed are affected by the number of quests completed. As noted above, chance of obtaining bait ranges from 50% to 100% and is based on the number of quests completed.

The minimum amount of bait obtained is determined by the number of quests completed. Once 25, 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 quests are completed, the minimum amount is increased by 1, for a total of 7 bait. There is also a small chance of obtaining an extra bait if below 250 quests completed.

Tips

 * In multiplayer, advancing the day forward to dawn using console commands does not reset the quest cooldown; the player still needs to wait another 24 minutes (24 in-game hours) for a new quest. However, advancing the day to midnight and waiting 4.5 minutes until dawn does work.
 * If the game does not save after the player turns in the daily quest, the game can be closed without saving to turn in the quest again with different rewards. This can be done multiple times to attain desired rewards without having to wait 24 minutes for a new quest.
 * Building mini-biomes is useful for quick access for fishing biome-specific fish, as some biomes such as the Jungle, Corruption, or Crimson may be more time-consuming and/or dangerous to travel to.
 * When attempting to get new accessories from fishing (e.g. to gain the ingredients for the Fish Finder), remember to hold accessories you already have gained from quest fishing in your inventory, to avoid receiving duplicates. However, if you have them all already, try to only hold two of them to minimize the chances of having an other. Completing quests in Pre-Hardmode also increases the chances of getting one of them.
 * Doing the achievements can be more easily done on Journey Mode by skipping the day cycle using the Time menu and using the Duplication menu for the quest fish.

Interaction quotes
When woken up:

Any time:

When a quest is available:
 * "" (reference to the famous World War I U.S. propaganda poster featuring )
 * "" (reference to the famous World War I U.S. propaganda poster featuring )
 * "" (reference to the famous World War I U.S. propaganda poster featuring )

When a quest is completed:

When the Quest button is clicked after the daily quest has been completed:



When a quest has been completed:



When Dryad is present when a quest has been completed:

When is present when a quest has been completed: During a :

During a Blood Moon, when a quest is available:

During a Blood Moon, when a quest has been completed:

While it's raining:

During a thunderstorm:

During a windy day:

When in a :

Happiness quotes
When nothing is affecting happiness:

When homeless:

When far from home:

When in a sparse area:

When overcrowded:

When in the Ocean:

When in the Desert:

When in an Evil Biome or the Dungeon:

When near the Demolitionist:

When near the Party Girl:

When near the Tax Collector:

When near the Tavernkeep:

Trivia

 * The Angler is one of the few town NPCs that can be obtained regardless of the current stage of game progression (others being the Guide, Stylist and Golfer).
 * The Angler's sprite is unique, as he is a child, and therefore younger than all the others. He is a block shorter than any of the others and is the only child NPC in the game.
 * While most NPCs die via the usual death animation, the Angler simply vanishes in a puff of smoke. He also has a unique death message: Instead of "" the message reads "" This is likely due to rating concerns, as depictions of children being killed tend to result in an "Adults Only" rating from the, which might have limited the game's distribution. This is not the case in the , as the status message reads "Angler was slain…" due to the game not being updated by Re-Logic for those platforms. He still vanishes in a puff of smoke.
 * The sleeping Angler is able to float on both water and honey.
 * The quest dialog for the Clownfish is a reference to the 2003 American computer-animated adventure movie .
 * The quest dialog for the Batfish is a reference to "", the title song of the 1966  TV series.
 * The quest dialog for the Pengfish is a reference to the fictional superhero.
 * Despite his quest dialog claiming that he will be "sooo rich!", the Jewelfish is still worth nothing when sold.
 * The Angler seems to be an orphan, judging by his quote ""
 * On May 19, 2020, Red responded to a Reddit post speculating that the Bride and Groom were the Angler's parents by stating that "this is now canon." It is not clear whether this was a joke or not.
 * Although it is extremely rare, it is entirely possible to give the Angler a Bunnyfish and receive a Bunnyfish Trophy, suggesting he immediately gave it back.
 * The Angler is allergic to bees, as shown when he gives the quest to find the Bumblebee Tuna.
 * The Angler is not allowed to try Ale from the Tavernkeep as seen in the quote "". This refers to the fact that the Angler is a child, and thus is likely under the.
 * The Angler's quote referencing the act of touching your tongue to an ice block references the fact that very cold objects, usually ice blocks, cause the saliva in the tongue to freeze inside the pores of the tongue, causing the tongue to become stuck to the ice. This behavior is referenced comically in films and cartoons, such as A Christmas Story.
 * Interestingly, despite his dislike of the desert for its apparent lack of fish, several fish can be caught in the desert, including two quest fish.
 * The Angler often seems to disregard the player's safety, as shown by his quotes. Example: ""