Dyes

   

Desktop/Console/Old-gen console/Mobile-Only Content: This information applies only to the Desktop, Console, Old-gen console, and Mobile versions of Terraria.

An example of color coordinated clothing using Dyes.

Wood armor shown dyed with all available dyes.

“

My dear, what you're wearing is much too drab. You absolutely must take a lesson in dyeing your tired attire!

— The Dye Trader

Dyes are items that can be placed in the "Dye Slots" of a player's inventory to alter the colors and/or textures of equipped armor, vanity items, and accessories. The Critter Shampoo allows applying dyes to minions. The Dye Trader NPC sells two dyes (Silver Dye and Brown Dye) as well as the Dye Vat (5). The other dyes must be crafted using the Dye Vat or obtained through trading in Strange Plants to the Dye Trader. Primary crafted dyes can be further combined to craft Bright, Gradient, and Compound dyes. There are currently 119 / 68 different dyes in the game (118 / 67 on single-player worlds, as Team Dye is not available in single-player worlds). Some dyes will make sprites visible in complete darkness, most of which are Strange Dyes.

Dyes are not available on the Nintendo 3DS version, due to the unavailability of pixel shaders.

Basic Dyes

Basic Dyes

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Statistics

Rarity	01*
Sell	20
Research	3 required

All basic dyes are crafted at the Dye Vat. Their crafting ingredients (not including Silver Dye and Brown Dye) can be found growing as background objects in the natural world or are guaranteed drops from special enemies. All dye plants show on the map. None of the Basic Dyes are visible in complete darkness.

Basic Dye		Ingredients	Source	Crafts
				String	Golf Ball	Bright Dye (+ Silver)	+	+	Special
	Red Dye Internal Item ID: 1007	Red Husk	Cochineal Beetle						Flame Dye
	Orange Dye Internal Item ID: 1008	Orange Bloodroot	Dirt(ceilings) Underground/Cavern						Flame Dye Yellow Gradient Dye
	Yellow Dye Internal Item ID: 1009	Yellow Marigold	Grass Surface						Flame Dye Yellow Gradient Dye Green Flame Dye
	Lime Dye Internal Item ID: 1010	Lime Kelp	Water Cavern						Yellow Gradient Dye Green Flame Dye
	Green Dye Internal Item ID: 1011	Green Mushroom	Dirt						Green Flame Dye
	Teal Dye Internal Item ID: 1012	Teal Mushroom	Dirt Underground/Cavern						Cyan Gradient Dye
	Cyan Dye Internal Item ID: 1013	Cyan Husk	Cyan Beetle Ice biome						Cyan Gradient Dye Blue Flame Dye
	Sky Blue Dye Internal Item ID: 1014	Sky Blue Flower	Jungle grass						Cyan Gradient Dye Blue Flame Dye
	Blue Dye Internal Item ID: 1015	Blue Berries	Grass						Blue Flame Dye
	Purple Dye Internal Item ID: 1016	Purple Mucus	Sea Snail Ocean						Violet Gradient Dye
	Violet Dye Internal Item ID: 1017	Violet Husk	Lac Beetle Underground Jungle						Violet Gradient Dye
	Pink Dye Internal Item ID: 1018	Pink Prickly Pear	Grows on Cacti Desert						Violet Gradient Dye
	Black Dye Internal Item ID: 1050	Black Ink	Squid Ocean water			n/a	n/a		all [...] and Black Dyes
	Brown Dye Internal Item ID: 2874	n/a	Dye Trader (1)						n/a
	Silver Dye Internal Item ID: 1037	n/a	Dye Trader (1)	n/a	n/a			n/a	all [...] and Silver Dyes all Bright Dyes

Bright Dye

Bright Dyes

• 

Statistics

Rarity	01*
Sell	20
Research	3 required

All colored basic dyes (except for black) can be combined with Silver Dye to craft Bright Dyes at the Dye Vat. None of the Bright Dyes are visible in complete darkness.

Dye		Ingredients	Crafts
	Bright Red Dye Internal Item ID: 1038	+	n/a
	Bright Orange Dye Internal Item ID: 1039	+	n/a
	Bright Yellow Dye Internal Item ID: 1040	+	n/a
	Bright Lime Dye Internal Item ID: 1041	+	n/a
	Bright Green Dye Internal Item ID: 1042	+	n/a
	Bright Teal Dye Internal Item ID: 1043	+	n/a
	Bright Cyan Dye Internal Item ID: 1044	+	n/a
	Bright Sky Blue Dye Internal Item ID: 1045	+	n/a
	Bright Blue Dye Internal Item ID: 1046	+	n/a
	Bright Purple Dye Internal Item ID: 1047	+	n/a
	Bright Violet Dye Internal Item ID: 1048	+	n/a
	Bright Pink Dye Internal Item ID: 1049	+	n/a
	Bright Brown Dye Internal Item ID: 2876	+	n/a
	Bright Silver Dye Internal Item ID: 3558	× 2	n/a

Gradient Dyes

Gradient Dyes

• 

Statistics

Rarity	01*
Sell	20
Research	3 required

These dyes produce fade effects between multiple colors. They are crafted at the Dye Vat. None of the Gradient Dyes are visible in complete darkness.

Dye		Ingredients	Crafts
	Flame Dye Internal Item ID: 1031	Red Dye + Orange Dye + Yellow Dye	Flame and Black Dye Flame and Silver Dye Intense Flame Dye
	Green Flame Dye Internal Item ID: 1033	Green Dye + Lime Dye + Yellow Dye	Green Flame and Black Dye Green Flame and Silver Dye Intense Green Flame Dye
	Blue Flame Dye Internal Item ID: 1035	Blue Dye + Sky Blue Dye + Cyan Dye	Blue Flame and Black Dye Blue Flame and Silver Dye Intense Blue Flame Dye
	Yellow Gradient Dye Internal Item ID: 1068	Lime Dye + Yellow Dye + Orange Dye	Rainbow Dye
	Cyan Gradient Dye Internal Item ID: 1069	Teal Dye + Cyan Dye + Sky Blue Dye	Rainbow Dye
	Violet Gradient Dye Internal Item ID: 1070	Pink Dye + Violet Dye + Purple Dye	Rainbow Dye
	Rainbow Dye Internal Item ID: 1066	Yellow Gradient Dye + Cyan Gradient Dye + Violet Gradient Dye	Intense Rainbow Dye
	Intense Flame Dye Internal Item ID: 1063	Flame Dye × 2	n/a
	Intense Green Flame Dye Internal Item ID: 1064	Green Flame Dye × 2	n/a
	Intense Blue Flame Dye Internal Item ID: 1065	Blue Flame Dye × 2	n/a
	Intense Rainbow Dye Internal Item ID: 1067	Rainbow Dye × 2	n/a

Compound Dye

Compound Dyes

• 
  

Statistics

Rarity	01*
Sell	20
Research	3 required

These dyes form patterns with multiple colors, applied as separate blocks depending on the shape of the item. All colored basic dyes, and some "flame" gradient dyes, can be combined with Black or Silver Dye to craft "<Color> and Black Dye" or "<Color> and Silver Dye", respectively. They are crafted at the Dye Vat. None of the Compound Dyes are visible in complete darkness.

Dye		Ingredients	Crafts
	Red and Black Dye Internal Item ID: 1019	+	n/a
	Orange and Black Dye Internal Item ID: 1020	+	n/a
	Yellow and Black Dye Internal Item ID: 1021	+	n/a
	Lime and Black Dye Internal Item ID: 1022	+	n/a
	Green and Black Dye Internal Item ID: 1023	+	n/a
	Teal and Black Dye Internal Item ID: 1024	+	n/a
	Cyan and Black Dye Internal Item ID: 1025	+	n/a
	Sky Blue and Black Dye Internal Item ID: 1026	+	n/a
	Blue and Black Dye Internal Item ID: 1027	+	n/a
	Purple and Black Dye Internal Item ID: 1028	+	n/a
	Violet and Black Dye Internal Item ID: 1029	+	n/a
	Pink and Black Dye Internal Item ID: 1030	+	n/a
	Brown and Black Dye Internal Item ID: 2875	+	n/a
	Silver and Black Dye Internal Item ID: 3559	+	n/a
	Flame and Black Dye Internal Item ID: 1032	+	n/a
	Green Flame and Black Dye Internal Item ID: 1034	+	n/a
	Blue Flame and Black Dye Internal Item ID: 1036	+	n/a

Dye		Ingredients	Crafts
	Red and Silver Dye Internal Item ID: 1051	+	n/a
	Orange and Silver Dye Internal Item ID: 1052	+	n/a
	Yellow and Silver Dye Internal Item ID: 1053	+	n/a
	Lime and Silver Dye Internal Item ID: 1054	+	n/a
	Green and Silver Dye Internal Item ID: 1055	+	n/a
	Teal and Silver Dye Internal Item ID: 1056	+	n/a
	Cyan and Silver Dye Internal Item ID: 1057	+	n/a
	Sky Blue and Silver Dye Internal Item ID: 1058	+	n/a
	Blue and Silver Dye Internal Item ID: 1059	+	n/a
	Purple and Silver Dye Internal Item ID: 1060	+	n/a
	Violet and Silver Dye Internal Item ID: 1061	+	n/a
	Pink and Silver Dye Internal Item ID: 1062	+	n/a
	Brown and Silver Dye Internal Item ID: 2877	+	n/a
	Black and White Dye Internal Item ID: 3557	+	n/a
	Flame and Silver Dye Internal Item ID: 3550	+	n/a
	Green Flame and Silver Dye Internal Item ID: 3551	+	n/a
	Blue Flame and Silver Dye Internal Item ID: 3552	+	n/a

Strange Dyes

  

Desktop/Console/Mobile-Only Content: This information applies only to the Desktop, Console, and Mobile versions of Terraria.

Strange Dyes

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Statistics

Research	3 required

These dye are given as quest rewards by the Dye Trader in exchange for Strange Plants. Dyes with a rarity level of Orange or Cyan can only be awarded in a Hardmode world. Strange Dyes have varying degrees of visibility in complete darkness. Note that Strange Plants are only obtainable in Hardmode.

Dye		Crafts	Sell	Rarity	Availability	Visibility in Darkness
	Acid Dye	n/a	75	02*	Always	Mid
	Blue Acid Dye	n/a	75	02*	Always	Mid
	Red Acid Dye	n/a	20	02*	Always	Mid
	Chlorophyte Dye	n/a	150	03*	After defeating any mechanical boss	Low/None
	Gel Dye		150	03*	Hardmode	None
	Glowing Mushroom Dye	n/a	75	02*	Always	Mid
	Grim Dye	n/a	150	03*	Hardmode	Mid
	Hades Dye	n/a	150	03*	Hardmode	High
	Burning Hades Dye	n/a	150	03*	Hardmode	High
	Shadowflame Hades Dye	n/a	150	03*	Hardmode	High
	Living Ocean Dye	n/a	150	03*	After defeating any mechanical boss	High
	Living Flame Dye	n/a	150	03*	After defeating any mechanical boss	High
	Living Rainbow Dye	n/a	150	03*	After defeating any mechanical boss	Mid
	Martian Dye	n/a	150	03*	After defeating Martian Madness	High
	Midnight Rainbow Dye	n/a	150	03*	After defeating Martian Madness	None
	Mirage Dye	n/a	75	02*	Always	None
	Negative Dye	n/a	75	02*	Always	None
	Pixie Dye	n/a	150	03*	After defeating Plantera	High
	Phase Dye	n/a	150	03*	Hardmode	High
	Purple Ooze Dye	n/a	75	02*	Always	None
	Reflective Dye	n/a	75	02*	Always	None
	Reflective Copper Dye	n/a	75	02*	Always	None
	Reflective Gold Dye	n/a	75	02*	Always	None
	Reflective Obsidian Dye	n/a	75	02*	Always	None
	Reflective Metal Dye	n/a	75	02*	Always	None
	Reflective Silver Dye	n/a	75	02*	Always	None
	Shadow Dye	n/a	75	02*	Always	None
	Shifting Sands Dye		150	03*	Hardmode	Low
	Skiphs' Blood	n/a	3	09*	After defeating Moon Lord	None
	Twilight Dye	n/a	150	03*	Hardmode	Low
	Wisp Dye	n/a	150	03*	After defeating Plantera	High
	Infernal Wisp Dye	n/a	150	03*	After defeating Plantera	High
	Unicorn Wisp Dye	n/a	150	03*	After defeating Plantera	High

Lunar Dyes

Lunar Dyes

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Statistics

Rarity	04*
Sell	250
Research	3 required

These animated dyes are crafted using Lunar Fragments at the Dye Vat. Solar Dye is the only Lunar Dye with any visibility in complete darkness.

Dye		Ingredients	Crafts	Visibility in Darkness
	Nebula Dye	+ 10	n/a	None
	Solar Dye	+ 10	n/a	Mid
	Stardust Dye	+ 10	n/a	None
	Vortex Dye	+ 10	n/a	None

Other Dyes

Other Dyes

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Statistics

Research	3 required

Dye		Source	Crafts	Sell	Rarity	Visibility in Darkness
	Loki's Dye	Expert Mode Hardmode Treasure Bag	n/a	3	09*	None
	Pink Gel Dye	+ 10	n/a	150	03*	None
	Shifting Pearlsands Dye	+ 20	n/a	150	03*	Low
	Team Dye	Dye Trader (1 each; in multiplayer only)	n/a	20	01*	None
	Bloodbath Dye	Dye Trader (750 each; only available during a Blood Moon)	n/a	150	03*	None
	Fogbound Dye	Dye Trader (750 each; while in a Graveyard)	n/a	150	03*	Mid
	Prismatic Dye	Empress of Light (25*1/4 (25%))	n/a	150	03*	None
	Void Dye	+ 5	n/a	250	04*	None

Unobtainable Dyes

Unobtainable Dyes

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Statistics

Unobtainable
The item(s) or effects described in this section exist as functional game items, but cannot be acquired through normal gameplay.

Dye		Sell	Rarity	Visibility in Darkness	Notes
	Color Only Dye Internal Item ID: 3978	150	03*	High	Makes the player completely white. Disappears from the inventory as soon as you load into a World if spawned into the inventory via an inventory editor. Its associated shader, ColorOnly, is used internally to draw player outlines on the minimap. Its sprite is a copy of the Unicorn Wisp Dye.

Notes

• All vanity items will benefit from dye, except for the Familiar shirt and pants. The colors shown when wearing the Familiar set can be changed using a Dresser instead.
  • The Familiar Wig, on the other hand, will change the appearance of the player's hair, when dyed. If the dye has effects, like the Bloodbath Dye, for example, will give the player the special effects (your hair will have blood drip from it, in the Bloodbath Dye's case). This allows for interesting dye/hair dye colors, effects and combinations.
• When transformed into a werewolf or a merfolk by the Neptune's Shell, Moon Charm, Moon Shell, or Celestial Shell any dye placed in the dye slots will color the werewolf or merfolk form's head, torso, and legs as if they are vanity items.
• The dye crafting materials found naturally-placed can be placed again manually by players (e.g. as decoration) excluding the Pink Prickly Pear. Green and Teal Mushrooms, as well as the Sky Blue Flower, can be placed on any blocks. Orange Bloodroot must be hung from the underside of any block. Lime Kelp must be submerged in liquid. When they are placed, they occupy space as one tile, even though most of them look larger or taller than one tile (same happens to Strange Plants). Enemy-dropped dye crafting materials cannot be placed (Red/Cyan/Violet Husks, Purple Mucus, Black Ink).
• Basic and Combined Dyes only affect the hue of an armor's color, but not the saturation level (i.e. how vibrant the color is). This means that armor and clothing that are dull in color, such as Ninja set, Necro armor, and Reaper set are relatively unaffected by these dyes. Compound Dyes, however, override an armor's color completely, so they do not have the same problem.
• Some white-/silver-colored clothing items, such as the Mrs. Claus Heels, will not dye properly with a basic dye but will take on the desired color when a combination that features Silver Dye is applied.
• Dyes with a small blue orb in their icon have a unique animation.
• The lid of a dye container seems to indicate some things about the type of dye:
  • A dark gray lid indicates basic dyes
  • A silver lid indicates bright dyes
  • A blueish gray lid indicates multicolored/gradient dyes, with a deeper blue lid for intense dyes
  • A checkered lid indicates a compound dye, with dark being "[...] and Black", light being "[...] and Silver", and bluish being "[...] Flame and [...]"
  • A green lid indicates glowing
  • A gold lid indicates the dye is reflective
  • A purple lid indicates animated dyes or other special effects
    • For unknown reasons, Black and White Dye falls under this category.
  • A red lid is reserved for Team Dye
• Dye also changes the appearance of the player's helmet on the map.
• Some dyes that have an animation – such as the Living Flame dye or Phase Dye – can cause mounts, Minecarts, and the Wisp in a Bottle to appear invisible.
• For some armors (such as Meteor armor), the trails will reflect the color of the dye. This means that if the player has Blue Dye, Pink Dye, and Yellow Dye on an armor, it will split to where it shows trails of the three colors.
• Oddly, there is no "White Dye", however, Bright Silver can sometimes be an alternative.
• The compound dyes have a different inventory sprite on  Old-gen console version, showing one normal sized bottle with colored dye next to a small bottle with Black or Silver Dye.

Achievements

Dye Hard • “Equip a dye in every possible dye slot.”

Equip dyes in all dye slots.

Tips

• All dyes and items used to create them sell for 20, so a beginning character should pick them up whenever encountered to sell them even if they are not interested in the dye itself.
• To craft thirteen () / three () of each dye (one for each dye slot, including combined and compound dyes), it takes:
  • 104 / 24 each of Red Husks, Green Mushrooms, Teal Mushrooms, Blue Berries, Purple Mucuses, Violet Husks and Pink Prickly Pears;
  • 156 / 36 each of Orange Bloodroots, Lime Kelps, Cyan Husks and Sky Blue Flowers;
  • 208 / 48 Yellow Marigolds;
  • 247 / 48 Black Inks;
  • 403 / 75 Silver Dyes (costing 43 / 75 );
  • 13 / 3 Team Dyes (costing 13 / 3 , multiplayer-exclusive);
  • 52 Brown Dyes (costing 52);
  • 130 Pink Gel;
  • 260 Crystal Shards.
• It takes at least 170 Strange Plants to obtain 15 of each dye (3 dye per plant) reward for 13 dye slots (likely much more, since obtaining many repeat rewards from the Dye Trader is common).
• To craft only one of each dye, if the player does not want to repeat any, it takes:
  • 8 each of Red Husks, Green Mushrooms, Teal Mushrooms, Blue Berries, Purple Mucuses, Violet Husks and Pink Prickly Pears;
  • 15 each of Orange Bloodroots, Lime Kelps, Cyan Husks and Sky Blue Flowers;
  • 16 Yellow Marigolds;
  • 19 / 16 Black Inks;
  • 31 / 25 Silver Dyes (costing 31 / 25 );
  • 1 Team Dye (costing 1, multiplayer-exclusive);
  • 4 Brown Dyes (costing 4);
  • 10 Pink Gel;
  • 20 Crystal Shards.

Trivia

• It was going to be possible to apply dyes to weapons. The feature was later scrapped because the particle and dye systems did not work very well with it.
• If not hunting for either specifically, and a mechanical boss has already been defeated, it is more likely that one will acquire the Living Rainbow Dye before the Rainbow Dye due to Rainbow Dye's complex crafting tree.
• The fact that the Rainbow Dye is crafted with Yellow, Cyan and Violet dye instead of Red, Green and Blue dye might be a reference to widespread use of the CMYK color model in printing industries.
• The effect of the Hades dyes are a reference to the character Hades in Disney's 1997 animated musical fantasy film Hercules.

See also

• Hair Dye
• Paints

History

 Desktop version

• Desktop 1.4.0.1:
  • Basic Dye materials now give 2 of that dye instead of 1 when crafting.
  • Bloodbath Dye, Fogbound Dye and Prismatic Dye introduced.
  • Strange Dyes are now Hardmode.

• Desktop 1.3.4.4: Some dye items rarity colors tweaked.

• Desktop 1.3.0.1:
  • Graphics of all dyes updated.
  • Brown Dye and its variants introduced.
  • Bright Silver Dye, Silver and Black Dye and Black and White Dye introduced.
  • Animated dye and special craftable dyes introduced.
  • Dyes now color particle effects (such as those from Rocket Boots)

• Desktop 1.2.3: Dyes now stack. They can also be applied to accessories. Team Dye introduced.

• Desktop 1.2: Introduced.
  • Items that were called dyes previously for crafting have been changed to thread.

 Nintendo Switch version

• Switch 1.4.0.5.5: Fixed an issue where most dyes would cause the accessories, armor, etc. they are equipped on to appear invisible.