Fishing
“The world is filled to the brim with the most outlandish kinds of fish!
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Fishing is an activity accomplished by using a fishing pole at a body of liquid (water, honey, or lava) while having bait in the player's inventory. Pressing the ⚒ Use / Attack button will cast a fishing line along with the bobber, which only functions when the bobber is thrown into liquid. Pressing the button again when the bobber moves up and down will reel in the line and often an item will come up with the line. The Angler NPC provides daily fishing quests and rewards their completion with an assortment of equipment, coins, potions, and vanity items.
Fishing provides an assortment of game resources: Crafting materials for potions and food, a variety of very useful items such as mobility improvements like a Frog Leg or Balloon Pufferfish, and even a pet Zephyr Fish. Through crates, fishing also provides an alternative source for ores, coins, many chest items, and some specialties such as the Falcon Blade and Sailfish Boots.
While fishing is not strictly necessary for game progression, some of the Angler's quest rewards (the Fish Finder components) are required to complete the Cell Phone. Fishing is also required to fight the boss Duke Fishron.
For pre-Hardmode players, fishing can be a good way of obtaining money and equipment; by mid-Hardmode, it is less competitive with other money-making options, enemy drops, and advancing equipment.
Requirements
75 connected tiles of liquid are required (1,001 for Oceans, 50 for honey) in order for fishing to work, and 300 or more tiles to be optimal (1,001 for Oceans, 200 for honey). The width of the top row of continuous liquid tiles (the row where the fishing bobber sits) determines the calculated pond width, and then the depth directly below those is counted. If the pond becomes wider at lower depths, that additional width is not counted. The player may successfully fish in a 1-tile-wide pond, as long as it is 75 tiles deep. The distance of the bobber to the shoreline does not matter.
On 
Desktop version, 
Console version, and 
Mobile version, it is possible to fish while partially submerged in liquid, as long as the player's arms are above the bobber.
On 
Old-gen console version and Nintendo 
version, it is not possible to fish when the player is submerged in liquid, even partially, and even within a completely disconnected body of water.
Fishing can, however, be done while moving, flying, while grappled to blocks, sitting on a chair, while floating on liquid with the Slime Mount, or while standing on top of the surface of the liquid, e.g. using Water Walking Boots.
Fishing can be done in lava, but will only work with the Hotline Fishing Hook, a Lavaproof Tackle Bag, a Lavaproof Fishing Hook, or by using a Magma Snail, Lavafly, or Hell Butterfly as bait. It can take much longer to get a bite in lava, but the chances increase with at least two of these sources; see the Catch frequency section below for details.
Fishing quests
Catching a quest fish for the Angler NPC requires fishing in the proper biome and height for the day's current quest, which can be determined by talking to the Angler. Although the player does not need to speak with him beforehand, nor have even encountered him, there is no other way of knowing where the quest fish is. The Angler gives out special rewards when the correct quest fish is turned in. Quest fish cannot be caught if the player already has that particular quest fish in their inventory, or if the quest fish was already turned in that day. However, if the player puts the quest fish in a storage item, then they may catch another quest fish. The Angler changes his quest every day at dawn (4:30 AM).
Factors
Given the prerequisites for fishing are fulfilled, some factors influence the quality/rarity of the caught item. There is a variety of relevant equipment:
- Certain accessories and items. They can stack with each other, and most of them are rewarded from Angler quests.
- Buffs from certain potions help with fishing, all of which can be crafted or rewarded by the Angler.
- Fishing poles can be crafted, received as Angler rewards, bought from other NPCs, or found in chests.
- Bait comes from multiple sources: captured critters, Angler rewards, crates, and even crafting.
- Chum Buckets can be dropped by enemies spawned by Blood Moon fishing.
- The Gummy Worm gives a permanent boost to fishing power.
All the factors are combined into a total Fishing Power that determines the chances of higher-quality catches. Fishing Power is calculated by starting with adding these three basic factors:[1]
- The Fishing Power of the fishing pole used.
- The bait power of the bait used.[fb 1]
- Effects from items and potions.
After the above three kinds of factors are added, bonuses (or penalties) are applied, as follows:
- The time the player is fishing, as a multiplicative percentage applied to the previous factors.
- The number of Chum Buckets used on the liquid's surface, as a flat bonus.
- The size of the lake. Lakes with fewer than 300 tiles (200 for honey) incur a Fishing Power penalty, as a multiplicative percentage applied to the previous factors.
- When fishing without the High Test Fishing Line, Lavaproof Tackle Bag, or Angler Tackle Bag, there is always a
14.29*1/7 (14.29%) chance that the fishing line will break on reel-in, forfeiting the caught item. Chances of consuming bait remain the same even if the line breaks. With one of the three accessories equipped, the line never breaks.
Amounts in the tables below that influence fishing power are marked green or red. Because some of the bonus factors are percentages, the fishing power amounts given by any of the three basic factors can seem to vary depending on, e.g., time of day or weather. (For example, when fishing during rain, the Angler Earring can appear to provide more than just +10 Fishing Power.)
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- ↑ % Bait Power also means % Fishing Power, and is combined with all other Fishing Power factors, such as the Fishing Pole's power and the Time factor, etc. Bait Power additionally determines the chances that the Bait item will be consumed from the player's inventory. Items with higher Bait Powers will tend to last through more fishing attempts: Higher Bait Power means lower chance of consumption.
- ↑ Chum Bucket bonuses are determined by how many are present on the water at once. One bucket used will give +11, two for +17 and three for a max of +20. These bonuses are not affected by previous factors (i.e. armor, accessories, potions, bait, pole, time, or weather), and are only affected by lake size. Also note that reeling in nothing or having the line break counts towards one of the 10 uses.
- ↑ This stacks with the Rain bonus, which means the Fishing Power bonus is more than +20% during raining due to the cloudiness.
- ↑ On Desktop, Console, and Mobile, fishing during a Blood Moon has a significant chance of spawning any of several exclusive and difficult enemies. See the Enemies section for more details.
- ↑ Lake sizes listed here are example numbers to illustrate the lake size effect, and are not thresholds. The penalty is actually determined by the equation
(tiles / (n * atmo)) × Fishing Powerwhere n = 300 for water and 200 for honey, and atmo is usually 1 except at very high altitudes. Any increase or decrease in total tiles between 75 and 300 (200) will alter the lake size penalty. To be exact, atmo is either always 1 (on Old-gen console version and Nintendo version) or else determined by the equation max(0.25, min(1, ((maxY - Y) - (60 + 10 * WF)) / (maxY / 6)))(if above the Surface on Desktop version, Console version, and Mobile version, where Y is the bobber's altitude above the surface measured in tiles, maxY is the maximum altitude in the world measured in tiles, and WF is either 1 for Small and Medium worlds or else 4 for Large worlds).
Luck
The player's luck statistic affects their Fishing Power. This effect is hidden, i.e. it never affects the numbers displayed in the UI by the Fisherman's Pocket Guide or related accessories.
If the player has bad (negative) luck, there is a chance (determined once every catch attempt) that their Fishing Power will be reduced. Similarly, good (positive) luck gives a chance of increasing their Fishing Power.
- If a player has total luck less than zero, then there is a (−100 × luck)% chance per catch attempt that the player's Fishing Power will be reduced by −10% to −40%.
- If a player has total luck greater than zero, then there is a (100 × luck)% chance per catch attempt that the player's Fishing Power will be increased by +10% to +40%.
- Actual fishing rewards are not influenced by luck beyond fishing power.
- The chance of catching crates is not affected by luck, although which kind of crate is caught is affected. This is because crates have a flat percentage chance of being caught, which is not affected by Fishing Power or luck, but if a crate is caught, the kind of crate is determined by Fishing Power. See the Crate mechanics section below for further details.[2][3]
Fishing poles
Fishing poles are used with bait for fishing. Some are craftable, while others are either sold by NPCs, found in chests, or are awarded by the Angler.
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Bait
This content is transcluded from Bait § Types.There are currently 46 different bait items available in Terraria, 1 of which is Hardmode-exclusive.
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Catches
Fish
These items can be caught at any time. Most can serve as crafting material for food (Cooked Fish) and other potions. Some can also craft other item types. Jellyfish can be used as bait. Most can be sold to NPCs. Note that the height requirements are mostly split between "Surface and above" versus "Underground and below". Of these items, only three items cannot be caught in either the Surface or Underground layers: The Damselfish (Sky only) and the Blue or Green Jellyfish (Cavern or Underworld only).
Quest fish
Quest fish are items that can be caught only when their particular quest is active and serve no purpose other than acquiring quest rewards. The player can determine the day's quest by speaking to the Angler NPC. There are 41 distinctive variants of quest fish.
Usable items
These items can be used directly without further crafting. Most are tools or weapons, many of which are best-in-class for large parts of the game. There are also a couple of accessories offering jump boosts, an improvement on Healing Potions, a pet, and in Hardmode, a mount. The Angler's rewards fill out the set somewhat, with an early mount, a top-tier (pre-Hardmode) grappling hook, and several items to help with fishing.
Crates
Crates are stackable grab-bag type items that each contain random loot, including potions, bait, useful items, coins, metal bars, and even ores. Rarer crate types contain more valuable loot. The biome crates can provide items otherwise found only in the matching biome chests, including Crimson Hearts/Shadow Orbs and the items found in Dungeon chests. Not all biomes or special chests have matching crates, however. Crates are one of the major sources of "alternate" metals and ores.
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Junk
These items generally have no use and no coin value. They can each be stacked up to 9999 / 99 in a single inventory slot. The player will only "catch" these if a lake is too small or if their Fishing Power is too low. When a lake is at least 300 tiles (200 for honey) in size or the player's total fishing power is at least 50, the player will no longer catch junk.
| Type | Value | Rarity | Height | Biome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Old ShoeInternal Item ID: 2337
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0 | 
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Any | Any |
 SeaweedInternal Item ID: 2338
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0 |
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Any | Any |
 Tin CanInternal Item ID: 2339
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0 |
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Any | Any |
 Joja ColaInternal Item ID: 5275
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0 | 
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Any | Any |
On the Desktop version, Console version, and Mobile version, junk items that have a rarity of can be used in an Extractinator or Chlorophyte Extractinator to obtain low-level bait.
This content is transcluded from Extractinator.
| Item | Chance | Quantity |
|---|---|---|
 Snail |
16.67% | 1 |
 Apprentice Bait |
75% | 1 |
 Worm |
5.56% | 1 |
 Journeyman Bait |
2.78% | 1 |
Joja Cola can be purified at the Dryad to obtain a Stardrop.
Enemies
During a Blood Moon event, fishing in water can cause several Blood Moon-themed enemies to spawn. These enemies are:
Upon retracting the line during a Blood Moon, there is a 16.67*1/6 (16.67%) chance (33.33*1/3 (33.33%) with the Chum Caster) that one of these enemies will spawn.[1] Note that fishing power has no effect on this mechanic, nor does the use of Chum Buckets.
If the player is using a Sonar Potion, the spawn will be shown with the enemy's name in red, giving players a second or two to prepare for the oncoming attack. In pre-Hardmode, the only enemies that can appear are the Zombie Merman and the Wandering Eye Fish, with an equal chance of each. In Hardmode, the Dreadnautilus has a 10*1/10 (10%) chance of appearing, and the other four enemies have equal remaining chances of appearing (22.5*9/40 (22.5%)).
Town pet
During a Blood Moon event, fishing in water can also spawn an exclusive town pet: the Surly Slime.
If the Surly Slime is not obtained in the world, upon retracting the line during a Blood Moon, there is a 20*1/5 (20%) chance for each fishing enemy spawn to be replaced with the Surly Slime.[1] Note that fishing power has no effect on this mechanic, nor does the use of Chum Buckets.
Once the Surly Slime is fished up, it will respawn naturally if killed, without the need to fish up another, and fishing during Blood Moon will not produce new Surly Slimes.
Crafting
Used in
Mechanics
Catch frequency
When fishing, there is a hidden catch counter which tracks the player's progress toward making a catch. The counter normally starts at 0 and increases over time. When it exceeds 660, there is a ((75 + fishing power) / 2) % chance that a fish will bite, capping out at 125 fishing power. The counter then resets to 0, regardless of whether or not there was a bite.
When fishing in lava with at least two of the following item kinds in use, the counter resets to 240 instead (if there was no bite): lava bait, a Hotline Fishing Hook, and/or a lava-proof accessory (either Lavaproof Fishing Hook or Lavaproof Tackle Bag). Using all three has the same effect as using only two[2].
The catch counter increases every tick[3] according to these factors:
- 1–2 points by default (average 1.5 points per tick)
- A 1 in 60 chance of 60 points (average 1 point per tick)
- Fishing power / 30 points per tick (e.g. 1.667 points per tick at 50 fishing power)
- A (fishing power / 3) % chance of increasing an additional 1–2 points (1.5 × fishing power / 300 points per tick)
Therefore, a formula for the average catch rate would look like this:
or simply:
For example, with a fishing power of 125, the player can expect to catch a fish around once every 1.5 seconds:
Biomes
A player can be eligible for catching fish from multiple biomes at once; however, certain biomes take priority over others. The priority order is:
| Biome | Standard priority | Crate priority |
|---|---|---|
 Lava |
1 | 1 |
 Honey |
2 | n/a |
 Dungeon |
3 | 2 |
 Corruption |
4[bp 1] | 4 |
 Crimson |
4[bp 1] | 5 |
 Hallow |
5 | 6 |
 Snow |
6 | 8 |
 Jungle |
7 | 7 |
 Glowing Mushroom |
8 | n/a |
 Ocean |
9 | 3 |
 Desert ( Oasis) |
10 | 9 |
 Sky (Forest) |
11 | 10 |
 Underground /  Cavern (Forest) |
12 | n/a |
 Surface (Forest) |
13 | n/a[bp 2] |
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 When in both Corruption and Crimson, there is a 50% chance of each (except for crates, where Corruption has higher priority).
- ↑ No crate is caught solely or especially in the Forest biome, however, there are crates which can be caught in any biome (including Forest). See the Crate Mechanics section below for further details.
Notes
- The background and music playing have a different priority order, and will not necessarily match which biome is used for generating fish; for example, if Jungle music is playing but there is enough Snow nearby, the player will not be able to find Jungle quest fish and will get Snow catches instead.
- Additionally, Glowing Mushroom biome catches require 200 Glowing Mushroom tiles nearby, which is more than is needed to display the Glowing Mushroom biome background and music.
- A lake can be shared between multiple biomes; what matters is what biome(s) the player is in. Remember that the lake size is figured from the bobber's row of liquid, downwards. In the image, the single top row of water makes the Forest lake fishable from the Glowing Mushroom biome. The fishing-shack across the lake is in the Forest biome but is just where the sky starts to darken from the nearby Glowing Mushroom biome.
- If a player is in multiple biomes but the higher priority biome does not generate a fish, the game will proceed to check for fish in subsequent biomes. The exceptions are that Corruption and Crimson biomes will skip over Hallow in subsequent checks, and also on the Desktop version, Console version, and Mobile version, Ocean and Desert (Oasis) biomes will skip all other biomes in subsequent checks. This also does not apply to fishing in lava or honey, where the player will only catch the fish listed for that liquid. Because of these exceptions, some fish (e.g. Bass) can never be caught in lava or honey, nor at the Ocean or Desert.
- On the secret world seeds Don't dig up and Get fixed boi, the layers are flipped, which means quest fish that are exclusive to the Cavern layer needs to be fished up just below surface.
Layers
The height requirement (Sky/Surface/Underground/Cavern) is set by the height of the surface of the water, not by the position of the player. This can be taken advantage of by creating two adjacent pools of water on different layers. This allows the player to fish in either while standing at the same spot.
There are five height zones for fishing (see Layers):
| Zone | Height |
|---|---|
| Sky | Fishing surface > 50% above Surface Level to the top of the world[lp 1] |
| Surface | Surface Level < fishing surface ≤ 50% above Surface Level[lp 1] |
| Underground | Cavern layer < fishing surface ≤ Surface Level |
| Caverns | 300 tiles above world bottom < fishing surface ≤ Cavern layer |
| Underworld | Fishing surface ≤ 300 tiles from the world bottom |
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 see Space § Notes
Catch quality
There are 6 different catch quality slots for catches, each with its own associated probability:
| Catch quality | Probability | Chance at 100 FP[cq 1] | Chance at 300 FP[cq 1] | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plentiful | Default catch | ||||
| Common | fishing power / 150, capped at |
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| Uncommon | fishing power / 300, capped at |
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| Rare | fishing power / 1050, capped at |
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| Very Rare | fishing power / 2250, capped at |
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| Extremely Rare | fishing power / 4500, capped at |
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The denominators are rounded down. A fishing power of 85, for example, would have a 1.92*1/52 (1.92%) chance of an Extremely Rare catch.
When a new fish is generated, each different catch quality is checked for success, separately from one another. For example, the Uncommon, Rare, and Very Rare rolls might all succeed, while the Common and Extremely Rare rolls fail. Then, depending on which roll(s) succeed as well as factors such as height and biome, the game will generate a fish.
With some exceptions, the highest catch quality roll that succeeded will take priority over lower catch quality slots in determining which fish a player receives. However, not every catch quality slot will contain a fish that can be caught; in that case, the game will move on to checking lower catch qualities. Success at the higher catch quality roll will not carry down to lower quality slots. For example, if the Rare roll succeeded but there is no Rare fish available to be caught, the game will move on to checking whether or not the Uncommon roll succeeded; if the Uncommon roll failed, it will move on to checking Common.
Each biome has a list of available biome-specific fish that can be caught there, based on the catch quality rolls and other factors. If no biome-specific fish is generated, the game will move on to checking subsequent, lower priority biomes. Many of the fish available in catch quality slots vary based on randomness, so succeeding at a catch quality roll in a specific biome does not guarantee that the player will get a specific fish of that quality or any fish of that quality at all. If no fish is selected for the slot, the game will proceed to check more common slots instead and move on to subsequent biomes if and only if none of those slots contain fish either.
When fishing in the water, a successful Extremely Rare roll will always check for a special catch first (Frog Leg, Balloon Pufferfish, and Zephyr Fish, in that order). If none of these checks succeed, the game will then check for biome-specific fish.
All quest fish occupy the Uncommon slot, except the Mirage Fish and Pixiefish, which are Rare.
There are only four Plentiful fish: Bass, Trout, Flounder, and Rock Lobster. If all other checks fail and the player is fishing in the water, they will catch one of these by default: Trout if fishing in the Ocean, Flounder or Rock Lobster if fishing in the Desert or Oasis on Desktop version, Console version, and Mobile version (with Rock Lobster being half as common as Flounder), and Bass otherwise.
Crate mechanics
There is a separate roll to determine if a crate is caught, defaulting to 10% (or 25% with a Crate Potion active). An Extremely Rare or Very Rare catch will generate a Golden Crate, a Rare catch will generate a biome-specific crate (if applicable, otherwise it will generate an Iron Crate), an Uncommon catch will generate an Iron Crate, and a Wooden Crate otherwise. In Hardmode on the Desktop version, Console version, and Mobile version, the crate will be the Hardmode-equivalent crate.
Fishing in honey will never generate a crate. Fishing in lava can only generate crates on the Desktop version, Console version, and Mobile version, and those crates will be either Obsidian Crates or Hellstone Crates.
Stack sizes
Stackable fish (i.e., Bomb Fish and Frost Daggerfish) generate in stacks that vary based on the player's fishing power. These can vary significantly, with higher fishing power levels generating higher minimum stack sizes as well as significantly higher maximum stack sizes.
Notes
- There are a total of 16 different fishing locations that can yield distinct catches.
- The number of completed quests is tied to the character, rather than the world. The minimum number required for a particular reward can be accrued by completing quests in multiple worlds. The number of completed quests for the purposes of achievements is instead a running total for all characters in all worlds, so multiple characters can contribute to earning achievements.
- There is no overlap between "fishable" fish and critters or enemies: The player may fish up a Golden Carp or Tropical Barracuda, but never a Goldfish or Piranha. Even if the player can see a Goldfish in the water, they need a Bug Net rather than a fishing pole to capture it.
- The bobber will move two or three times per bite, after which the fish will go away, but the line will remain cast. As long as the reel-in occurs before this animation ends, the timing of the click does not affect the quality of the catch.
- It is possible to catch a day's quest fish without having asked the Angler about it.
- Time must pass naturally from 4:29 AM to 4:30 AM (the start of a new day) before another quest begins.
- Sleeping will make time accelerate. This will make completing more quests easier.
- With an Enchanted Sundial, the player can get a new quest immediately.
- Crate contents are determined upon opening them. Crates caught in pre-Hardmode can, therefore, yield Hardmode items if opened during Hardmode. Stocking up on crates before Hardmode can let the player get an early supply of Hardmode ores without breaking altars.
- Ocean-only catches, including quest fish, cannot be caught from a Hallowed or Corrupted/Crimson Ocean. They may be catchable further out towards the map edge, where biome Sand Blocks is farther from the water surface. When the Ocean biome music plays, Ocean fish can be caught.
- On the Nintendo version, the player can catch many different fish in the Ocean biome, even those not native to it.
- The minimum height for Sky fishing in all world sizes is higher than that for generating floating lakes. Because of this, a floating lake can be generated too low to be counted as Sky, and will only yield surface fish and crates.
- Fishing can be done on reverse gravity (using the Gravitation Potion or the Gravity Globe); the bobber would fall "upwards" into the water, and fish can be caught as usual.
- Weapons and accessories obtained through fishing will never have any modifiers.
Achievements
Tips
General
- Building a lake that is suitable for fishing in various biomes can be helpful for getting both biome-exclusive loots and quest fish. Buckets can be used to duplicate liquids for quick lake building.
- Unless intending to summon Duke Fishron, the Truffle Worm should not be the upper-leftmost bait item when fishing in the Ocean. Bait is used from top-left to bottom-right, meaning that the Truffle Worm should be in the bottom-right square for regular fishing or the top-left square to summon Duke Fishron. Having the Truffle Worm anywhere else will prevent the player from using any bait that follows it in the inventory lineup, leaving them unable to fish.
- The player can defend themselves while fishing without breaking the line using any of the following: a Shield of Cthulhu, any summon (as long as it is summoned before the player throws out their line), Solar Flare armor's explosions, mounts capable of attacking, or any thorns effect such as a Thorns Potion.
- Considering the difficulty of obtaining Chum Buckets early on and the lowered bonus given by the second and third buckets, using a single bucket might be preferable in the early game.
- Sonar Potions allow players to reel in only their chosen catches.
- For honey or lava, this is hardly worth it, as the player only has a few possibilities, and all of them useful and saleable.
- Otherwise, using Sonar Potions can be more bait-efficient but slower: The additional time spent waiting for undesirable catches to change (with a Sonar Potion) can be longer than the time between bites (without a Sonar Potion).
- If a player is well-stocked on bait and is interested in catching more than just a specific few possibilities, it could be significantly faster (especially with high Fishing Power) to forego Sonar Potions.
- Alternatively, a player can respond to an unwanted catch by quickly switching to another hotbar slot and back. This quickly rejects the catch without risking the bait.
- On the other hand, bait is only consumed on whichever catches the player actually wants, and the player does not use inventory space on low-value fish.
- Fishing for Scaly Truffles remains a decent money-maker into Hardmode, and even after getting or beating all the fishable equipment, the player may still need to restock potion ingredients and (via crates) ores/metals.
Angler quests
- The Angler gives six different accessories as rewards, but with the Tinkerer's Workshop, those can be combined into one functional and one informational accessory:
- The Tackle Box, High Test Fishing Line, and Angler Earring combine into the Angler Tackle Bag.
- The Angler Tackle Bag can later be upgraded to a Lavaproof Tackle Bag by combining it with a Lavaproof Fishing Hook.
- The Angler Tackle Bag's fishing power bonus will stack with another Angler Earring and/or a Lavaproof Tackle Bag. All three items together will give a total bonus of 30%.
- The Fisherman's Pocket Guide, Weather Radio, and Sextant combine into the Fish Finder.
- The Fish Finder later combines with other items to make a Cell Phone.
- The Tackle Box, High Test Fishing Line, and Angler Earring combine into the Angler Tackle Bag.
- A quest fish cannot be fished or picked up when the player already has one in inventory, but it is easy enough to stash the fish in a storage item or even the trash slot (though it is easy to lose the fish this way) and collect multiples.
- Saved quest fish can be turned in the next time that quest fish comes up.
- Similarly, the same daily quest fish will be asked of all players on a world, so one player can supply the day's quest fish for the others. However, if a player of the same name as the one who has already turned in a quest tries to turn in a quest, they will be rejected.
- Note that quest fish do not stack, but 3 chests will suffice to hold 3 copies of each quest fish.
- A player cannot catch more of a quest fish after having turned one in for the day.
Session timing
- Fishing in long stretches can be tedious and is also not very efficient. It is better to fish in smaller stretches and cherry-pick the times (moon, weather, luck) when the player has bonuses:
- Any time 3:00 AM or 3:00 PM approaches, the player should check conditions: With overcast/rain, a full moon, or a lucky event (Ladybug swarm or Lantern Night), if the other two factors are at least neutral, then it is worth trying for a fishing session.
- Even if the player is not primarily fishing for crates, the 4-minute duration of a Crate Potion makes a good benchmark. Even one potion will usually give more than enough time to collect several crates and several copies of a quest fish if one is available.
- Starting a fishing session between 3:00 AM and 4:30 AM or 4:30 PM and 6:00 PM will allow the Crate Potion's duration to cover one of the "prime times" noted above while avoiding the following "dead time". If conditions are still good when the first potion runs out, a second potion may be worthwhile even if it runs into dead time, and it may even be worth finishing out the Sonar Potion's duration.
- A portable storage item allows a quick-change into and out of fishing gear, including swapping armor for the Angler armor.
Lava fishing
Lava fishing can begin pre-Hardmode but can get easier in Hardmode. The player needs at least one out of three factors (bait, pole, accessory), and having two of them will drastically speed up catches:
- In Hardmode, the Angler can award the Hotline Fishing Hook, a fishing pole that allows lava fishing with any bait.
- Even before Hardmode, lava bait can be caught in the Underworld. If the player does not have a Golden Bug Net, they will need to make a Lavaproof Bug Net.
- Either of the above will allow catching Obsidian Crates (Hellstone Crates in Hardmode) in search of a Lavaproof Fishing Hook. This accessory will allow using any bait and fishing pole to fish in lava. There will also be other useful and/or saleable items caught and found in the crates; if the player has no Shadow Key, they can save the Obsidian Lock Boxes until they get one (from the Dungeon). As noted above, the Lavaproof Fishing Hook can be combined with an Angler Tackle Bag to make a Lavaproof Tackle Bag.
- Again, having any two of the three (lava bait, Hotline Fishing Hook, or Lavaproof Fishing Hook/Lavaproof Tackle Bag) will produce catches much faster. This will be especially useful when fishing for the rare Lava Charm.
Maximum Fishing Power
The maximum possible Fishing Power is 375.
Item bonuses add to 188:
- 50% for Golden Fishing Rod
- 50% for bait (e.g. Master Bait)
- 15% for Fishing Potion
- 15% for Angler armor
- 5% for Angler Hat
- 5% for Angler Vest
- 5% for Angler Pants
- 10% for Angler Earring
- 10% for Angler Tackle Bag
- 10% for Lavaproof Tackle Bag
- 10% for Fishing Bobber
- 5% for Tipsy
- 5% for sitting on a Toilet, and 5% for the Inner Tube
- This can be done by using any item that provides underwater mobility (Flipper Potion, Neptune's Shell, Trident, Fishron Wings, etc.). This will disable the floating effect of the Inner Tube, making sitting on a Toilet in water possible.
- 3% for Gummy Worm
The weather and moon phase bonuses multiply that:
- 30% for time of day: 188 × 1.3 = 244.4
- 20% for Rain: 244.4 × 1.2 = 293.28
- 10% for cloudiness: 293.28 × 1.1 = 322.608
- 10% for Full moon: 322.608 × 1.1 = 354.8688 ≈ 355
The Chum Bucket adds further bonuses:
- +11 for the first bucket: 355 + 11 = 366
- +6 for the second bucket: 366 + 6 = 372
- +3 for the third bucket: 372 + 3 = 375
Luck has the potential to further increase Fishing Power: With positive luck, 375 Fishing Power can randomly become up to 525 Fishing Power for any given cast.
When to stop fishing
Once a player has their Golden Bug Net, Golden Fishing Rod, Fish Finder, Bottomless Water Bucket and Super Absorbant Sponge for water handling, Bottomless Honey Bucket and Honey Absorbant Sponge for honey handling, and an Angler Tackle Bag (or even two Angler Tackle Bags, and/or a spare Angler Earring), the Angler can give them little else. Fishing without the Angler can still be profitable, notably by collecting crates and other special catches.
Angler reward chances generally rise over time, but after the 150th Angler quest, most of the reward chances go back to their initial odds and stay there. Once the player has obtained the important pre-Hardmode rewards, they should leave off Angler quests until Hardmode, and hopefully avoid hitting the deadline before getting the Hardmode rewards. It is also helpful to stockpile crates before Hardmode, which can be opened in Hardmode for an early source of Hardmode ores and metals.
After Hardmode, there are only a couple more weapons and a mount to catch (Toxikarp or Bladetongue, Crystal Serpent, Scaly Truffle). The Angler only has two additional rewards to provide: Fin Wings for mobility on par with some early Hardmode Wings, and the Hotline Fishing Hook for fishing in lava (which can likely become redundant if the player has already obtained the Lavaproof Fishing Hook or Lavaproof Tackle Bag). Once a player has all of these items, they are done with Angler quests. Fishing can still provide potion resupply, metals (especially the alternates), and money (the Scaly Truffle is a good target), but no new items after this point.
Trivia
- The Golden Carp has no use, aside from its coin value of 10. In particular, it cannot be cooked.
- The Neon Tetra has no use, aside from its coin value of 15.
- The Double Cod is required to make an Ammo Reservation Potion, possibly a reference to the acronym for the first-person shooter video game franchise Call of Duty.
History
- Desktop 1.4.4:
- It is now possible to fish while partially submerged in water, as long as the player's arms are above the bobber.
- When fishing in a Hallowed Oasis, it is now possible to obtain both Hallowed or Oasis fish. This same rule does not apply to the more invasive Corruption/Crimson.
- Touching liquid when the Inner Tube or Mollusk Whistle is active now grants +5 fishing power.
- Sitting on toilets now grants +5 fishing power.
- Tipsy debuff now grants +5 fishing power.
- Added Fishing Bobbers.
- Added Surly Slime, which can be fished in water during a Blood Moon.
- Desktop 1.4.1:
- Removed downscaling effect on high Fishing Powers introduced in 1.4.0.1.
- Adjusted Mirage Fish and Pixiefish to be "uncommon" instead of "rare", to match other quest fish.
- Desktop 1.4.0.1:
- Added Desert (including Oasis) as a fishing biome.
- Added Blood Moon fishing: 5 new enemies can now be fished in water during a Blood Moon.
- Added Flounder and Rock Lobster.
- Added Chum Caster and Scarab Fishing Rod.
- Added Water Strider, Gold Water Strider, Maggot, Ladybug, Gold Ladybug, Magma Snail, Lavafly, Hell Butterfly, Black Dragonfly, Blue Dragonfly, Green Dragonfly, Orange Dragonfly, Red Dragonfly, Yellow Dragonfly, and Gold Dragonfly as baits.
- Added Frozen Crate, Oasis Crate, Obsidian Crate, and Ocean Crate along with Hardmode variants to all the crates.
- Added Chum Bucket.
- Added two additional ways to fish in lava: Lavaproof Fishing Hook and Underworld bait.
- Pre-Hardmode crates no longer give Hardmode ores.
- Angler quest rewards no longer drop off after 150 quests.
- Fishing Power is now affected by Luck.
- Now high Fishing Powers will be scaled down. The higher the Fishing Power is, the stronger will the scaling effect be.
- Desktop 1.3.0.5: Fixed a bug where the Seedler could be obtained through fishing.
- Desktop 1.3.0.4: Loot from fishing is now properly highlighted in the new items highlight system.
- Desktop 1.3.0.1:
- Added Jungle Crate, Sky Crate, Corrupt Crate, Crimson Crate, Hallowed Crate, and Dungeon Crate.
- Sky Quest Fish can no longer be caught on the Surface.
- Reduced the number of water tiles needed to fish successfully in the sky.
- Desktop 1.2.4.1:
- Fixed bug where repeated clicks after your line broke would nevertheless produce a catch.
- Fixed bug causing Seaweed (junk) to turn into Seaweed (pet item) if in the inventory of a dying Mediumcore character (the Seaweed now simply disappears).
- Desktop 1.2.4: Introduced.
- Console 1.0.933.1: Made changes from PS4’s 1.0.750.0 update. (
)
- Console 1.0.750.0: (
)
- Added Jungle, Sky, Corrupt, Crimson, Hallowed, and Dungeon Crates.
- Sky Quest Fish can no longer be caught on the Surface.
- Reduced the number of water tiles needed to fish successfully in the sky.
- Console 1.07: Introduced.
- Switch 1.0.711.6: Introduced.
- Mobile 1.3.0.7:
- Bobber mechanics updated to match Desktop 1.3.0.1.
- Added Jungle, Sky, Corrupt, Crimson, Hallowed, and Dungeon Crates.
- Sky Quest Fish can no longer be caught on the Surface.
- Reduced the number of water tiles needed to fish successfully in the sky.
- Mobile 1.2.11212: Introduced, with different bobber mechanics.
- 3DS-Release: Introduced.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information taken from the Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method
FishingCheck_RollEnemySpawns()inTerraria.Projectile.cs. - ↑ Information taken from the Desktop 1.4.3.6 source code, method
FishingCheck()inTerraria.Projectile.cs. There may be inaccuracies, as the current Desktop version is 1.4.4.9.
- ↑ A tick is a time unit countable by the software. Most of Terraria's updating logic happens every tick. A tick has the length of 1/60th of a second, hence there are 60 ticks in a second and 3600 ticks in a minute.
- Pages with information based on outdated versions of Terraria's source code
- Tool items
- Craftable items
- Desktop content
- Console content
- Old-gen console content
- Mobile content
- 3DS content
- Items of rarity 0
- Items of rarity 1
- Bag loot items
- Drop items
- Items of rarity 2
- Loot items
- Vendor items
- Items of rarity 3
- Bait items
- Consumable items
- Recipes table with unexpected total number of rows
- Achievement-related elements
- Game mechanics