Don't Starve Wiki
Register
Advertisement
Don't Starve Wiki

Waxwell Portrait
I'm glad the rest of it is still down there.

Maxwell

For the similar trinket, see Dessicated Tentacle.

Tentacles are hostile Monsters that specifically spawn in Marshes or Caves, though they will not spawn on world-generated roads. Wickerbottom can summon Tentacles using On Tentacles, one of her self-published books.

When the player or mob approaches an area containing a Tentacle, bubbles will appear on the ground. Getting closer will cause the Tentacle to bulge out of the ground before extending fully. It will then try thrashing at anything within range, and will disappear back into the ground once there's no targets left.

Tentacles take three blasts from the Ice Staff to be frozen and cannot be put to sleep or set on fire. When killed, they will drop 2 Monster Meat and can drop a Tentacle Spike or Tentacle Spots.

Big Tentacle[]

Wigfrid Portrait
A töwering tentacled föe.

Wigfrid, Examining a Tentapillar

A Big Tentacle, also known as a Tentapillar, is a large section of a Tentacle that appears underground, going up toward the surface. Attacking it will cause several, smaller "Baby" Tentacles to spawn around it, which will focus their attack on the player, but are weak and will die from one hit with a Spear. When defeated, the Big Tentacle will retreat into its hole, causing an Earthquake and dropping a variety of items, some of which are limited to a number per day across all Big Tentacles.

Baby Tentacle[]

Webber Portrait
Aw, it's just a baby!

Webber

Whenever a Big Tentacle is attacked or an Ancient Pseudoscience Station is hammered, it will spawn several "Baby" Tentacles, spawning groups of them with every swing. These tentacles are smaller than regular Tentacles and only take one hit from most weapons to be killed. They do not drop anything, as they are there only to protect the Big Tentacle/Pseudoscience Station. They also lack the spikes that the regular Tentacles have, though they still sport the telltale bumps in the ground indicating when they're about to come out.

If the Big Tentacle and the Baby Tentacles aren't attacked for a while, they eventually retreat back into the ground. Baby Tentacles are only found underground.

Baby Tentacles will fight nearby Tentacles and vice-versa.

When playing as Wendy, Abigail can easily kill off baby tentacles while the player attacks the big tentacle.

Don't Starve Together icon Big Slimy Pit[]

Wilson Portrait
Seems stinky, but worth exploring.

Wilson, Examining the Big Slimy Pit

In Don't Starve Together, when a Big Tentacle retreats into its hole, a Big Slimy Pit is left. The player can then travel through the hole, just like a Wormhole, teleporting them near the hole of another Big Tentacle. It won't cause an Earthquake, and the Big Tentacle on the other side will retreat into the ground as well. Unlike Wormholes, jumping into the Big Slimy Pit will not lower the player's sanity. The Big Tentacles will respawn after 6 minutes and they can be killed again, making Tentacle Spikes and Tentacle Spots renewable.

Brain Behavior[]

Tentacles are very dangerous because of their high damage and high health. They can only be seen once a creature or player gets relatively close, meaning that a careless player can easily walk into an area with many Tentacles without noticing them before being stun-locked and killed.

At first, there will be a barely noticeable bubbling patch on the ground, followed by a piece of tentacle that looks like a purple bubble, which appears just before the Tentacle surfaces. 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 it strikes again, they will often hit an entity twice during their attack animation.

As long as its current target is still in range, a Tentacle will not change targets even if something else attacks it, similar to Tallbirds.

If its target moves out of range, the Tentacle will sink back down into the ground; it cannot move around or give chase. After going back underground, Tentacles will stay hidden until another target moves into range or directly hits them, at which point they begin to attack again.

Due to Tentacles' 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. One Tentacle can sometimes kill a group of 4 Spiders on their own, though it depends on the situation. Due to this behavior, many players like to use Tentacles as a food and item supplier, especially when camping in or near a Marsh.

Tentacles do not respawn upon death, making them a finite resource for most characters. Wickerbottom is the only character who can prevent Tentacles from becoming extinct by using the book On Tentacles. It is worth noting that even though Tentacles themselves do not respawn, players can get the same loot from Big Tentacles (minus the Monster Meat).

Spear Hunting[]

When looking for hidden Tentacles, the player can hold a placeable item such as pine cone or a pre-built structure on their mouse cursor and move the cursor around to find an unplaceable spot, as players cannot plant or place structures on top of tentacles.

Another method is to go hunting in the winter, as the white snow layer highlight the bubbling hidden tentacles.

Tentacles cannot be stun locked. With most characters, it takes 15 strikes with a Spear to kill one. If properly timed, they can be attacked in between their strikes. Although they appear to have an area attack, Tentacles actually attack targets individually. Due to this limitation, Pigs that attack if they get too close can easily kill a Tentacle if there are at least three of them.

Tentacles will still produce an Insanity aura, even if it is still in the ground and out of attack range. Thus, the sanity meter is a good indication that a Tentacle is near. Additionally, there is a low growl that can be heard when a Tentacle is near, and the player can watch for the bubbling patch, though Sanity drain is still the best indication, as the Tentacle growl can easily get confused with the normal growling ambiance of the swamp. During Adventure Mode, the sanity meter indication can be a lifesaver if the player is traveling in a swamp at dusk or night.

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 to 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 even a Tentacle Spike.

Another easy way to kill a number of tentacles is to bring 2-3 Rock Lobsters from Caves. Tentacles will attack Rock Lobsters when they are led through them. The Rock Lobster that the tentacle attacks will curl up into a boulder, negating most of the incoming damage, while the other Rock Lobsters kill the Tentacle. 2-3 Rock Lobsters are capable of cleansing entire Marsh Biomes of tentacles provided the player has enough minerals to befriend them long enough to finish the job.

To make "tentacle traps", a player must bring several Pine Cones to the swamp and plant 3-6 of them around where the Tentacle emerges. Once the trees are grown and the player is ready to harvest the tentacle, they can simply light the trees on fire and the tentacle will die before the last tree burns out, even when hidden underground. The downside is that any Tentacle Spots that drop will also burn leaving only Ashes. To avoid this, the player can use exactly 4 Logs instead, which will drain Tentacle's heath low enough to be killed with a single hit using Spear. This method of hunting is easiest with Willow due to her fire affinity. This does not, however, work in DST, where the tentacle takes no damage from the fire.

Alternatively to the method above, one can use Gunpowder. A player can place a stack of three near a tentacle, ignite them and dash away. Even when hidden underground the tentacle will die instantly in the blast. A gunpowder stack of two can also be used, but the tentacle will need to be finished off with 2 swings of a Tentacle Spike. The player is usually fast enough to kill it before it manages to attack in this case. However, this case would require 3 consecutive swings of the Spear, which will allow for retaliation after the second swing.

When fighting Big Tentacles, bringing Fugu Hutch can bring a great advantage. When Hutch is pushed next to both the player and the Big Tentacle, it protects the player with its spiky exterior. Hutch can kill Baby Tentacles within their first strike, leaving an open area near void of the Baby Tentacles' attacks. The regenerative powers of Hutch negates any damage from the Baby Tentacles.

If one cannot find Hutch, one can use the Tail o' Three Cats or Bull Kelp Whip to kill the Baby Tentacles all while staying safe from the range of the attacks. With the Baby Tentacles out of the way, the player can strike the big tentacle once more. If playing as Wanda (Don't Starve Together icon), a fueled Alarming Clock is an excellent choice for both the Big Tentacle and Baby Tentacles due to its increased range and high damage output.

Tentacles are always considered as Wet mobs, even when it isn't raining. This makes the Electric Dart always deal 150 damage. A Wolfgang with full Mightiness can deal 300 damage per dart this way, and kill a Big Tentacle with just three darts from a safe distance.

Below is the number of hits it takes with each weapon to kill Tentacles when playing with characters with a default damage modifier. The Weather Pain is not included due to the random nature of its projectile.

Weapon Fire DartFire Staff

Tooth Trap

Fishing RodBug Net Lucy the Axe Shovel Pitchfork

Hammer Torch Umbrella

Walking Cane Willow's Lighter

Axe Pickaxe

Luxury Axe Opulent Pickaxe

Boomerang

PickSlashAxe Spear Bat Bat Ham Bat Morning Star Slurtle SlimeTentacle Spike

Battle Spear

Thulecite Club Dark Sword Blow Dart Gunpowder Old Bell
No. of hits for
TentacleTentapillar
Immune 118 37 30 19 17 15 12 9 - 17 7 or 12 10 9 8 5 3 1

Placeholder Trivia[]

  • If a player is near the Marsh Biome, a Tentacle can appear (barely) outside of its biome.
  • When using the Thulecite Club, there is a chance that small Shadow Tentacles will appear and assist the player with attacking.
  • Due to its longer attack range, Tail o' Three Cats can be used to kill Tentacles without being hit.
  • Maxwell expresses surprise at the existence of the Big Tentacle and the Baby Tentacles, suggesting that the Tentacles are reproducing and were not planned to do so. Wilson and Wickerbottom mention that Tentacle Spots are its genitalia; supported by Maxwell's quote for Tentacle Spots, "This is how they reproduce".
  • The small tentacles that appear around the Big Tentacle used to be colored green.
  • In the script that handles the Tentapillar's emergence when the hole is attacked, there is a note/Easter Egg that says: ("Hit calls cthulhu"). This is a reference to the famous novella by H.P. Lovecraft titled "The Call of Cthulhu".
  • Baby tentacles are actually arms of the big tentacles, as stated by the developers when they explained why baby tentacles don't drop souls.[1]
  • Wormwood mentions how Tentapillars are "sleeping" before being attacked by the player.

Blueprint Gallery[]

References[]

Advertisement