Pylons

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Desktop/Console/Mobile-Only Content: This information applies only to the Desktop, Console, and Mobile versions of Terraria.
Pylons
  • Forest Pylon.png Snow Pylon.png Desert Pylon.png Cavern Pylon.png

    Ocean Pylon.png Jungle Pylon.png Hallow Pylon.png Mushroom Pylon.png

    Universal Pylon.png

Auto-use
Stack digit 9.pngStack digit 9.pngStack digit 9.pngStack digit 9.png
Statistics
Placeable✔️ (3 wide × 4 high)
Use time15 (Very fast)
TooltipTeleport to another pylon when 2 villagers are nearby
You can only place one per type and in the matching biome
RarityRarity level: 1
Buy10 GC (Universal: 1 PC)
Sell2 GC (Universal: 20 GC)
Research1 required
  • Internal Item ID: 4875, 4876, 4916–4921, 4951 (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
  • Internal Tile ID: 597
See also: Universal Pylon
Two pylons being used, as shown in the 1.4.0.1 changelog.

Pylons are furniture items that appear as a large stone or crystal hovering and rotating above a biome-themed stand. They allow a player to teleport to any other pylon by pressing the Open / Activate button on them, which will open the fullscreen map, and selecting the other pylon there. Pylons are only practical if there are two or more in the world. The system they form is referred to as the Pylon Network.

The following restrictions apply to the biome pylons (all pylons excluding the Universal Pylon):[1]

  • Pylons can only be used when there are 2 or more living, housed NPCs (including the Old Man and town pets) within a 169-tile wide by 124-tile high rectangle centered on each pylon.
    • At least a portion of the NPCs' housing tiles must be within this range, but the pylons will still work if the NPCs themselves walk out of this range. Pylons will not work if an NPC is not near their home.
  • Pylons only function when in their respective biome.

The following restrictions apply to all pylons (including the Universal Pylon):

  • Only one of each type of pylon may be placed in a world.
  • Pylons cannot be used during boss battles or when invasions are announced or in progress.
  • Pylons can only function when the Map is enabled in the Settings.
    • Furthermore, pylons are functional on the overlay map, but they cannot be used to travel long distances without opening the full-screen map.
  • Players must be within the use range of a pylon (60 tiles[2]) to use the pylon to teleport.

Types

Pylon Placed[3] Tile ID Minimap icon Price[4] Usable
Forest Pylon Forest PylonInternal Item ID: 4876 Forest Pylon placed 597 Map icon Forest Pylon.png 10 GC When not in any other biome and above the surface.[5]
In don't dig up and get fixed boi worlds, it must be below the Cavern layer and at least 350 tiles above the bottom of the true world edge (about 310 tiles above the visible world edge).[6]
Snow Pylon Snow PylonInternal Item ID: 4920 Snow Pylon placed 597 (6) Map icon Snow Pylon.png 10 GC When in the Snow biome.
Desert Pylon Desert PylonInternal Item ID: 4919 Desert Pylon placed 597 (5) Map icon Desert Pylon.png 10 GC When in the Desert biome.
Cavern Pylon Cavern PylonInternal Item ID: 4917 Cavern Pylon placed 597 (3) Map icon Cavern Pylon.png 10 GC When below the surface (including The Underworld).
Ocean Pylon Ocean PylonInternal Item ID: 4918 Ocean Pylon placed 597 (4) Map icon Ocean Pylon.png 10 GC When in the Ocean biome.
In don't dig up and get fixed boi worlds, except the central 14% of the world, it can be at anywhere below the Cavern layer and at least 350 tiles above the bottom of the true world edge (about 310 tiles above the visible world edge).[6]
Jungle Pylon Jungle PylonInternal Item ID: 4875 Jungle Pylon placed 597 (1) Map icon Jungle Pylon.png 10 GC When in the Jungle biome.
Hallow Pylon Hallow PylonInternal Item ID: 4916 Hallow Pylon placed 597 (2) Map icon Hallow Pylon.png 10 GC When in the Hallow biome.
Mushroom Pylon Mushroom PylonInternal Item ID: 4921 Mushroom Pylon placed 597 (7) Map icon Mushroom Pylon.png 10 GC When in the Glowing Mushroom biome.
In don't dig up and get fixed boi worlds, cannot be in the Underworld.[6]
Universal Pylon Universal PylonInternal Item ID: 4951 Universal Pylon placed 597 (8) Map icon Universal Pylon.png 1 PC Anywhere.

Status messages

Some status messages will display when pylons are not properly used.

If the player is more than 60 tiles away from the pylon which they are using:

  • "You are not close enough to a pylon to teleport with the pylon network"

If there are less than 2 NPCs near the destination biome pylon:

  • "There are not enough villagers near that pylon to access it"

If there are less than 2 NPCs near the interacted biome pylon:

  • "There are not enough villagers near the current pylon"

If a boss or a hostile event is active:

  • "Defeat the current threat before you can use the pylon network!"

If a biome pylon is not in its respective biome:

  • "This pylon is not in the correct biome to use"

If a pylon is in front of natural Lihzahrd Brick Walls before defeating Plantera:

  • "Ancient forces prevent you from accessing this location . . ."

Additionally, no special status message will be shown if the player attempts to place a second pylon of the same type in a world. Instead, the pylon will simply not be able to be placed, and its Placement Preview will be fully red.

Notes

  • Pylons emit faint light of their respective color.
  • When purchasing most pylons (except the Universal Pylon) from an NPC, the following restrictions apply:
  • The vendor NPC must be happy, with a sale modifier of 90% or better.
  • Note that NPC happiness only matters while purchasing a pylon. To use the pylon, two NPCs need to be housed nearby, but neither needs to be the one who sold the pylon, and their happiness is no longer relevant for the Pylon Network.
  • A hybrid biome can result in multiple pylons appearing in the NPC's inventory, except the Forest and Cavern, which are mutually exclusive and only available when not in the Snow, Desert, Ocean, Jungle, Hallow, or Glowing Mushroom biomes.
  • As with all biome-specific vendor items, NPCs sell pylons based on the biome the player is in, not the biome the NPC is in.
    • Similarly, pylons function based on the biome the pylon is in, not the biome the NPCs allowing it to function are in.
  • NPCs living in the Underworld count their current biome towards the Cavern Pylon, despite technically being in another biome.
  • NPCs will not sell pylons if there is no available space in their shop. One example is the Tavernkeep after Golem is defeated, who will stop selling pylons due to his shop inventory being entirely filled with unique offerings.
  • The Universal Pylon is a post-Moon Lord item, since obtaining it requires a full Bestiary, which includes having to defeat the Moon Lord.
  • It is possible to purchase a pylon without placing it down. Therefore, it can be worthwhile to move an NPC into a location long enough to buy the pylon, then move them out to a preferred location (especially useful for NPCs who may dislike a biome but be liked/loved by another NPC).
  • Since the hovering crystals are not part of the actual tile, but rather merely graphics placed on top of it, they cannot be painted. The actual tile of a pylon only consists of its stand, which can be painted.
  • Because the Princess has no biome preferences, she can sell every pylon given she is in the correct biome.
  • It is not strictly necessary to interact with the pylon, opening the map any other way while being close enough to a working pylon also allows teleportation.

Tips

  • Pylons can be used during the Lunar Events to traverse the world to combat the various pillars, allowing the player to choose the order they want to fight each pillar more easily. This exception does not extend to the Moon Lord, however, and they are still unusable during other invasions or boss fights.
  • Early access to all pre-Hardmode pylons can be gained from combinations of NPCs available prior to defeating any bosses, these combinations are: the Arms Dealer with the Nurse, or the Golfer with the Angler.
  • The Pylon Network can be supplemented by several other forms of teleportation or transportation, all of which do work during boss fights and invasions:
    • Each player can use a Recall Potion, Magic Mirror or its upgrades to teleport to their own spawn point (although, doing this while fighting the Wall of Flesh will result in an instant death).
    • The Shellphone and Magic Conch give access to both Oceans (use once for the currently more distant Ocean, then again for the other Ocean).
    • The Shellphone and Demon Conch give access to the center of the Underworld (it may be necessary to build a platform there, especially in drunk world secret world seeds).
    • Once the Mechanic is rescued, each pylon plus the three Shellphone landing points, can be used as the hub of a local Teleporter network.
    • Even before Hardmode, the pylons and conch points can also be rail hubs.
  • Pylons cannot work with solitary houses. One way to easily work around this without building another house is to have a town pet move in with the NPC in that house.
  • Since the area that the Cavern Pylon can be used in is very large, there are several possible use cases for it:
    • Creating a Cavern Pylon town immediately outside the Dungeon has many benefits, the most obvious being near-instant access to a deeper part of the Dungeon once Skeletron is defeated.
      • It is still possible to build a town prior to defeating Skeletron, as the Dungeon Guardian will not spawn unless a player is actually inside the Dungeon (more specifically, when the player is in front of natural Dungeon Brick Walls).
      • Since the Dungeon is right next to the Ocean, this means both Oceans can be conveniently accessed, so long as the Ocean Pylon is at the opposite Ocean from the Dungeon.
      • If there are at least three NPCs, part of the Dungeon may be considered part of the town instead. While it is not likely to be a large part, it can provide a relatively safe place to deal with enemies without more immediately spawning (Note that this effect is provided by the town, which does not require a pylon).
      • Later in the game, the player will not have to worry about accidentally triggering a battle with the Lunatic Cultist, as it is more likely they enter the Dungeon via an own entrance than the naturally-spawned one.
      • Aside from the practical benefits, it also provides unique scenery for both the town and the Dungeon.
      • This setup is not recommended in multiplayer games, where a player in the Dungeon can potentially cause Dungeon enemies to spawn within range to teleport to or attack players in the town.
    • Alternately, building the Cavern Pylon at the top of the Underground layer near the player's main base may be convenient, especially in multiplayer or when all players have some form of Magic Mirrors. This allows the player to Hallow their base area without reshuffling pylons, if desired. A Dungeon town can then use the pylon of whatever surface biome it is located in, often Forest, allowing quicker access to the Ocean but still quick access to the Dungeon.
    • Another use for the Cavern Pylon is to put it in or near the Underworld, providing a viable alternative to a conventional Hellevator.
  • The Universal Pylon uniquely works anywhere, and perhaps more usefully, does not require NPCs nearby. It can effectively be a free infinite-use Potion of Return for a player carrying it.
  • A third-party world-editing program can be used to circumvent the one-of-each-pylon rule. Additional pylons will function normally, as long as enough NPCs are present.

Purchasing pylons

A suggestion of one kind of pairings that allows buying pylons.
Another guide to groupings to allow pylon purchases.
  • When trying to purchase a pylon, the following tips may be useful:
    • NPC relationships are not always symmetrical, but only one vendor needs to be happy enough to sell the pylon. The NPC they like (who helps make them happy) does not even need to be a vendor.
    • The "solitude" bonus gets most of the way there, granted by having at most two other NPC within 25 tiles, and at most three more within 25 to 120 tiles.
      • Since NPCs will only sell pylons when there is another NPC nearby, simply placing a single vendor in a biome they like will not make them sell pylons.
    • In a more crowded area, bonuses can be stacked; e.g. an NPC who loves their biome, and at least likes their only close neighbor (or vice versa), can be happy enough even if there are too many NPCs within 120 tiles to get the solitude bonus.

The table below indicates which NPCs could be housed in the biome appropriate to the pylon (at a distance from other NPCs) to ensure that one of them is happy enough to sell the pylon. These are only examples and are not a complete list of every combination that can be used to obtain a pylon.

Pylon NPC combination examples
Forest Pylon Forest Pylon ZoologistZoologist and Witch DoctorWitch Doctor or GolferGolfer
Snow Pylon Snow Pylon MechanicMechanic and Goblin TinkererGoblin Tinkerer or CyborgCyborg
Desert Pylon Desert Pylon Dye TraderDye Trader and Arms DealerArms Dealer or PainterPainter
Cavern Pylon Cavern Pylon TavernkeepTavernkeep and DemolitionistDemolitionist or ClothierClothier
Ocean Pylon Ocean Pylon PiratePirate and AnglerAngler or TavernkeepTavernkeep
Jungle Pylon Jungle Pylon DryadDryad and PainterPainter and Witch DoctorWitch Doctor or ZoologistZoologist
Hallow Pylon Hallow Pylon WizardWizard and Party GirlParty Girl or DryadDryad or NurseNurse
Mushroom Pylon Mushroom Pylon TruffleTruffle and DryadDryad or GuideGuide

Trivia

  • While pylons will still hover and rotate when the game is paused, they will only hover when the game is "tabbed out".
  • Pylons resemble the building of the same name constructed by the alien race protoss in the 1998 military science fiction real-time strategy game StarCraft.
  • The maximum price for a non-universal Pylon is 9 GC. This is because even though all non-universal pylons have a base value of 10 GC, due to the fact that the NPC that one is buying from must have at least a 90% price modifier from happiness for the NPC to sell the pylon, a pylon can never be bought for its base value.

History

  • Desktop 1.4.4:
    • Increased the maximum range where Pylons are usable from (it should be impossible to be in range of opening a Pylon and not be able to teleport with it).
    • Can be used during Moon Lord's summoning sequence.
  • Desktop 1.4.3.3:
    • Pylons now require a minimum of 2 NPCs under all conditions to be sold.
    • The minimum required happiness for NPCs to sell pylons has been decreased from 0.85 to 0.9 (i.e. the required price modifier changed from 85% to 90%). This means that it is now easier to make NPCs happy enough to sell a pylon.
  • Desktop 1.4.1:
    • Fixed an issue where pylon NPC detection only checked for the housing flag, and not the actual NPCs being present near their home.
    • Now works during the Lunar Events.
  • Desktop 1.4.0.5:
    • Fixed a bug where the Ocean Pylon could be sold underground despite it not working there.
    • Tavernkeep will no longer sell pylons when his unique shop is full.
    • The Forest Pylon can now be used in the sky as well.

References

  1. Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.0.5 source code, method HandleTeleportRequest() in Terraria.GameContent.TeleportPylonsSystem.cs. There may be inaccuracies, as the current Desktop version Desktop version is 1.4.4.9.
  2. Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, struct TileReachCheckSettings.Pylons in Terraria.DataStructures.cs.
  3. The depictions here do not accurately represent the in-game appearance: In-game, the "crystal" part of a pylon will hover up and down 4 pixels. It moves in a sine-wave pattern, i.e. 4 pixels down from the base displayed here, 4 pixels up again, 4 more pixels up, and 4 pixels down again. It takes 5 seconds to complete a cycle, therefore the crystal moves by 1 pixel every 312.5 milliseconds. Additionally, the crystal emits a very faint glow which increases and decreases in volume in the same sine pattern. Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.0.5 source code, method DrawTeleportationPylons() in Terraria.GameContent.Drawing.TileDrawing.cs. There may be inaccuracies, as the current Desktop version Desktop version is 1.4.4.9.
  4. Although the listed cost for all biome pylons is 10 GC, they are only sold if the shopkeeper has a price modifier of 90% or less (due to happiness etc.). As a result, the actual price will be between 9 GC and 7 GC50 SC.
  5. The Forest Pylon only works when not in or above either Ocean biome, when not in the Jungle, Snow/Ice, Desert, Glowing Mushroom, Hallow, Corruption, or Crimson biomes, and when in (and/or above, as of 1.4.0.5) the Surface layer.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method DoesPylonAcceptTeleportation() in Terraria.GameContent.TeleportPylonsSystem.cs.