Tentacle

"BIOLOGY IS DISGUSTING."

- WX-78

Tentacles are hostile Monsters that live in Marshes or in Caves, though they will not spawn close to world-generated roads. They appear as purple, spiked, spotted tentacles coming out of the ground which will attack anything that comes close enough. They take three blasts from the Ice Staff to be frozen. When killed, Tentacles will drop 2 Monster Meat and can drop a Tentacle Spike or Tentacle Spots.

Behavior
Tentacles can only be seen once a creature or character gets relatively close. At first, there will be a barely noticeable swirling patch on the ground, followed by a small piece of tentacle that looks like a purple bubble which appears just before they strike. 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 they will strike again. If its target moves out of range, the Tentacle will sink back down into the Marsh; they cannot move around and give chase. After attacking, Tentacles will stay hidden until any target moves in range or directly attacks it, at which point they begin to attack said target if it gets in range again.

Hunting
Tentacles are very dangerous because of their high damage and health. A careless player might walk straight into tentacles. They cannot be stunlocked. It takes 15 strikes with a Spear to kill a Tentacle. If properly timed, they can be attacked in between their strikes. Tentacles are immune to Sleep Darts and Pan Flutes; however, Bee Mines are very effective against them. They also cannot be burned with the Fire Staff. Although they appear to have an area attack, Tentacles actually attack targets individually. Due to this limitation, Pigs that attack them if they get too close can easily kill a Tentacle if there are at least three of them.

Sanity decreases when the character is near a Tentacle, 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.

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.

Trivia

 * If the player is near a Swamp biome, the Tentacle can appear (rarely) outside of its biome. (In Default)
 * 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.
 * 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 intended to happen.
 * The Pan Flute has no effect on the Tentacle
 * Wickerbottom can summon tentacles using one of her self-published books.