Plantera

"The jungle grows restless..."

Plantera is a Hardmode boss that can be fought after all three Mechanical Bosses (The Destroyer, Skeletron Prime, and The Twins) have been defeated. Once this happens, Plantera's Bulbs will begin to appear in the Underground Jungle biome.

Summoning
After all three Mechanical Bosses have been defeated, Plantera's Bulbs will randomly spawn in the Underground Jungle. Destroying one of these bulbs requires a Pickaxe, a Drill, or any explosives that destroys blocks, and upon doing so, Plantera will spawn immediately with the message, "Plantera has awoken!"

Attacks
Plantera moves through blocks. It uses long vines to grapple foreground blocks, which cause 60 damage on contact.

First form
Plantera creeps after the player, firing pink Seeds and eventually green Poison Seeds. These fire more rapidly as Plantera takes more damage. Plantera also begins to spit large, bouncing thorn balls after taking a certain amount of damage.

Second form
Once Plantera is brought down to half of its original health, it changes to its second form, with its pink bud falling away to reveal a thorn-filled mouth. In this form, Plantera moves quicker, and primarily attempts to make physical contact rather than fire ranged attacks.

Additionally:
 * It sprouts mouths that are attached via additional vines (called "Plantera's Tentacles").
 * It begins releasing floating pink spore projectiles that drift toward the player, similar to the spores released by the Giant Fungi Bulb.

Enraged behavior
Plantera only becomes "enraged" if it follows the player out of the Underground Jungle, to the surface, for instance. This causes it to gain double damage, double (quadruple in second form) defense and increased movement speed, as well as changing its attack patterns and directly rushing the player with its body. Plantera's behavior returns to normal upon reentry of the Underground Jungle biome.

Attack types

 * [[File:Plantera Seed.png]] [[File:Poison Seed.png]] Seeds (first stage): Similar to the stingers of the Hornets and Flower Pow. In expert mode, these can travel through blocks. The green Poison Seeds are more deadly than the more frequently fired pink Seeds.
 * Thorn Ball.png Thorn Balls (first stage): Thorn balls are similar to the Spiky Ball weapon. These bounce around erratically through the Jungle and can overwhelm the player if they stay in the same area for too long, as well as deal large amounts of damage on contact. Plantera will not begin releasing thorn balls until it drops below around 24000 life. It will stop releasing the thorn balls once it enters the second stage, although the thorn balls previously released may linger for a bit.
 * Plantera's Hook.png Plantera's Hooks: The ends of Plantera's tentacles, which cling to surfaces and deal 60 / damage on contact.
 * Plantera's Tentacle.png Plantera's Tentacles (second stage): Gnawing minions on "leashes", akin to smaller versions of The Hungry. They deal 60 / damage and get in the way of the player's attacks, making piercing weapons more valuable. With 1000 /  hp they are relatively weak and easily killed with proper equipment.
 * [[File:Spore.png]] Spores (second stage): Similar to the Fungi Spores fired by the Giant Fungi Bulb. Travels through blocks. Easily destroyed, but deal 70 damage if touched.

Expert Mode
In expert mode there are a few significant differences in Plantera's attacks, aside from the default increased health and damage.

Phase 1
Plantera's seeds, that originally didn't travel through blocks, now travel through them and do increased damage. The thorn balls are also more common and home in on the player.

Phase 2
Plantera's tentacles, originally only attached to the body, now are attached to the Hooks and have increased in number (considering there are 3 more for each hook, there appears to be 9 extra tentacles). They also have more health than usual (including the default increased health). Plantera's body also does more damage and is faster than normal.

Aftermath
When Plantera is defeated for the first time, it will always drop a Grenade Launcher with Rocket I for ammo, as well as the Temple Key. A Temple Key drops each time Plantera is defeated thereafter. The Temple Key allows access to the Jungle Temple and Golem. In the and, the Temple Key, prior to 1.3 could also be combined with Biome Key Molds to craft Biome Keys; after 1.3, keys drop from their respective zones and no longer require molds.

A status message saying "Screams are echoing from the dungeon" will appear, signaling that new, more difficult enemy types will begin spawning in the Dungeon (see details). These drop new weapons, accessories, and other useful items. Dungeon Spirits will begin to appear when enemies with more than 100 health are slain in the dungeon, which drop Ectoplasm, a new crafting material that offers access to the Pumpkin Moon and Frost Moon events, as well as the Spectre Bars used to craft Spectre armor and tool sets.

Additionally:
 * Hardmode Crimson, Corruption, and Hallow spread will be slowed down to 1/3 (33%) of their previous speed.
 * The Cyborg NPC becomes available.
 * The Truffle begins selling the Autohammer, used to craft Shroomite Bars, which are used to craft Shroomite armor and other pre-endgame items.
 * The Traveling Merchant will begin selling the Pulse Bow.
 * The Witch Doctor begins selling several items related to minion summoning. (Requires Pygmy Staff.)
 * The Biome Keys can now be used to open the Biome Chests in the dungeon
 * Butcher, NailHead, Deadly Spheres, Psycho and Dr. ManFly spawns during a Solar Eclipse

Tips

 * Excavate a sizable area to allow easier dodging before summoning Plantera.
 * Using a Gravitation Potion can help the player avoid any further damage from spiky balls laying on the ground, as the spiky balls obey gravity and fall to the floor.
 * Plantera's Bulb can spawn in player-made Jungle Biomes, which can provide a slightly easier way to fight Plantera.
 * Narrow passages slow Plantera as it takes more time for it to grip the surrounding terrain.
 * Plantera spawns off-screen and is quite easy to outrun, which means if the player intends for Plantera to chase them, they will need to stop periodically or move much more slowly than normal.
 * Widening a Bee Hive in the Underground Jungle is a fast and effective way of making an arena for fighting Plantera (but watch out for Larva).
 * In the Desktop version, if you happen to find Minecart Tracks in the Underground Jungle, utilize it when fighting Plantera, the speed and probable up and down directions can make avoiding Plantera's attacks simple. If a spawned one is not satisfactory, make one in a somewhat U or V shape with a wall in the middle to block most projectiles. In Expert Mode the Mechanical Cart is a convenient thing to have for this strategy.
 * The Flamethrower could be considered for fighting Plantera due to the continuous stream of projectiles emitted, and is a pre-Plantera weapon which can easily be crafted after defeating Skeletron Prime.
 * A recommendation is Chlorophyte Arrow, as they bounce off walls, allowing the player to get multiple hits on Plantera.
 * Equipping a Cobalt Shield will help with melee attacks because Plantera won't knock the player away, but the player may receive more damage since Plantera can get closer.
 * Building a long hallway two to three screen lengths and six plus blocks high, with Teleporters on each end will allow easy and quick battle with little to no damage.(Though the spores it shoots will go through walls)
 * It is possible that a Mushroom Biome is growing, or The Corruption, The Crimson or The Hallow is infecting in the jungle. If so, Plantera will become enraged upon entering the biome, so it is best to not fight near any of these.

Trivia

 * The name "Plantera" is a play on the title of American metal band Pantera, which is Cenx's favorite band. Plantera drops "The Axe", which looks similar to the Washburn and Dean electric guitars often used by late Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell. Also, the achievement for defeating Plantera is called "The Great Southern Plantkill" in reference to the Pantera album "The Great Southern Trendkill".
 * On the the saving icon is one of the spiked balls that Plantera fires.
 * There have been reports of Plantera dropping the Zapinator on the 3DS version. Whether this is intentional or not has yet to be confirmed.

History

 * Added Expert Mode drop, Spore Sac.
 * Now has a chance to drop the Seedler.
 * In Expert Mode seeds fired from Plantera now travel through blocks.