NPCs & Enemies Plantera's Bulb Spawn Handicap

stormconure

Duke Fishron
Making a boss arena is often crucial to progression in Terraria, as without an arena, players are often at an extreme disadvantage (either because of terrain hazards or because the boss is simply too strong to fight without careful previous planning). For most bosses (namely the ones summoned with an item), making an arena isn't too much of a challenge. However, five of the bosses have their spawn conditions linked to a specific locational item in the world: Eater of Worlds, Brain of Cthulhu, Plantera, Golem, and Lunatic Cultist. For the Eater and the Brain, the chasms of the corruption/crimson provide nice re-usable locations for an arena (not to mention that the orbs and hearts spawn very close together), and for Golem and Cultist, the location of the fight pretty much never changes.

But Plantera has a problem. Those little annoying pink bulbs spawn at completely random locations throughout the jungle. Of course, most people find a bulb and build an arena very close to it, which usually addresses the problem - if you manage to win. But if you lose the fight, there's a very good chance that your arena you just built can become completely useless if no bulbs spawn near it again. You either have to build a new arena, run like a madman to your old one once you break the next bulb, or take your chances against Plantera without an arena - none of which are ideal options.

So I'd like to offer a simple change to the bulb spawning mechanics that alleviates just a little bit of the headache felt by players who are struggling with Plantera. Basically, the idea is that bulbs would have a tendency to respawn in exactly the same location they were in before, provided ALL of these conditions are true: a) you lost the fight against the Plantera that was summoned by that bulb, b) Plantera hasn't yet been defeated in that world, and c) the location of the bulb has not been disrupted (via mining, corruption, chlorophyte, etc). So running from the fight by TPing out would NOT trigger this effect, and once Plantera has been defeated once, it will no longer happen at all. Also note: this has NO effect on the INITIAL bulb spawning, only bulb re-spawning.

This will basically allow your Plantera arena that you put all that effort into to be reused reliably (at least until you can beat Plantera once). It wouldn't affect anything to do with fight difficulty; it would simply be a quality of life change that allows you to actually get to the fight more easily. But enough about my gigantic rant: what do you think?

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- This mechanic continues to occur no matter the outcome of the fight, and no matter if Plantera has already been defeated or not. This would make farming Plantera much more convenient (and if you have a particular spot where you DON'T want bulbs growing, you can just break the ground or something).

- The bulbs themselves drop a seed when broken which can be planted on 2-block-wide jungle grass. These seeds then grow into another bulb over time. (idea by @Baconfry)

- Rather than summoning Plantera, the bulbs drop a Plantera's Bulb item when broken, which can be used like any other boss-summoning item.
 
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I think it’s a good idea to make starting the Plantera fight a more consistent process, but I have noticed that this doesn’t apply to rematches, and therefore is of little help when trying to farm something like the Pygmy Staff.

Personally, I’d make Plantera’s Bulb drop a seed when broken, that can be planted to grow another Bulb. Makes the Plantera more farmable, and remains useful even if you lose the fight.
 
I think it’s a good idea to make starting the Plantera fight a more consistent process, but I have noticed that this doesn’t apply to rematches, and therefore is of little help when trying to farm something like the Pygmy Staff.

Personally, I’d make Plantera’s Bulb drop a seed when broken, that can be planted to grow another Bulb. Makes the Plantera more farmable, and remains useful even if you lose the fight.
That is a pretty good idea. I was originally not wanting to change this mechanic TOO much, but an overhaul like that might work quite well.

I'll make a list in OP of "other possible ideas" lol
 
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