Life Fruit Terraria Guide - Indie Game Culture (2024)

This Life Fruit guide is to help you increase your maximum health when you enter Hardmode. Using this will likely make Hardmode easier on you by a mile. What is Hardmode? That’s what happens when you kill the Wall of Flesh.

As I tackle the trial of accumulating the max life in Terraria, I’ll take a few detours. Things you need to know to survive long enough to forage for this mystery fruit.

I remember thinking it would be easy to collect with my first character and repeatedly dying as a result. With a more nuanced second character, my luck in survival was up, but it was suddenly harder to find the fruit.

Now, with multiple max life archetypes in my Terraria library, I tackle this subject with determination. That is to make sure you don’t have the same troubles as me.

Let’s get into the Jungle.

Bottom Line Up Front:

This Life Fruit Terraria guide will tell you everything you need to know about Life Fruit in Terraria. Its location and the best tactics for farming it while avoiding danger.

Key Info

• Item: Life Fruit
• Item Type: Consumable
• Location: Underground Jungle or atop Jungle Grass Underground
• Effect: Permanent Max Life Increases by 5(life maxes out at 500).
• Material: No
• Value: 2 gold
• Required: Any attack or destroying the jungle grass beneath the fruit
• Additional Info: Life Fruit will not spawn within 120 tile area of each other(if so, rarely)

How Can I get Life Fruit?

The easiest way is to explore as much of the Underground Jungle as you can before entering Hardmode. Then, with a metal detector and spelunker potion, go hunting for them in that very Biome.

Life Fruit does not have permanent spawn locations. They will appear as other fauna, like strange plants or yellow marigolds. They grow over Jungle Grass, so they don’t exactly need to be in the Jungle Biome. They do only grow underground, however. Just the same, setting up jungle grass and hoping they spawn in less dangerous locations is far less effective than hunting in the Jungle itself.

You don’t need a pickaxe or an axe. Any weapon attack on them will work. No special attacks, but you need to be well-equipped because they only grow in Hardmode.

Avoiding Dangers

My first playthrough’s biggest issue was I didn’t go hunting for all the Life Fruit until I had defeated all the Mechanical Bosses first. This is because I was obsessed with trying out my “Invincibility Centers.”

While they worked great and all, and I became good at farming the Mechanical Bosses, I wasn’t ready for the intense underground combat that would come with Plantera.

When you defeat all Mechanical Bosses in Hardmode, Plantera bulbs begin to spawn in the Underground Jungle Biome just as rampant as Life Fruit.

Going around hunting down there at this time makes hitting a bulb by mistake quite common. Fighting Plantera when you are not in a good area to do so, and it’s floating through blocks doing massive damage, is a quick way to die.

To avoid the most dangerous issues with Life Fruit hunting, get them before you fight the Mechanical Bosses.

Is There an Easy Way to Locate Them?

Yes, well, easy but not fast. Explore as much, if not all, of the Underground Jungle before entering Hardmode. While doing so, make plenty of paths to fly or grapple hook your way around.

Open up the map on Hardmode and zoom in over the Jungle Biome. Light green squares(yeah, everything is a shade of green, so you need to scan with your pointer. When you pass over it, the name ‘Life Fruit’ will come up) represent where Life Fruit is.

Go ahead and collect your fruit.

Is Getting Life Fruit Hard?

When you first enter Hardmode, you can get killed by many regular enemies in just a few hits. The Underground Jungle Biome has some enemies you really aren’t prepared to deal with, but that doesn’t make it impossible.

A Yoyo is a really effective weapon underground. To prepare for hunting things in early Hardmode, kill the normal enemies in Hell to get a high-level Yoyo drop. Those enemies haven’t upgraded yet, but they’ve added a Hardmode Yoyo to their possible loot.

The Yoyo is called the Hel-Fire. It can attack around corners, doesn’t require mana or arrows, and has a decent range. Not to mention, it has knockback. You can learn more about that here.

Enemies to Worry About

In Hardmode, there are some nasty enemies in the Underground Jungle Biome. While having the range with the Yoyo can help you, be sure to keep blocks on the ready and build a quick wall between you and some of them for your own survival purposes. Here’s a list with some notes on what to expect.

The Jungle Creeper

It inflicts acid venom on you if it strikes. It does about 100 damage minus your defense on each hit. The venom only does about 6 damage a second, but italsoprevents regeneration. With the Hel-Fire, you should be able to survive this nasty spider in small doses. If they come with other enemies, probably better to flee until you’re stronger.

The Moss Hornet

The size of the hornet is not just an aesthetic. It inflicts poison, and the bigger it is, the more damage and defense it has. The largest one can do up to 72 damage with its stinger. Get into a small space and keep them pressured into a corner with your attack. They also have a chance to drop Tattered Bee Wings. Pick those up. They don’t usually come in droves.

Arapaima

This long fish is dangerous for weaker armor and, thus, new Hardmode players. If you haven’t got good Hardmode armor yet, stay out of the water, and you’ll be okay.

Moth

A rare spawning enemy that is pretty slow and easy to avoid but has a lot of health(1000). It drops the rare Butterfly Dust. Try to kill it if you can. Otherwise, it isn’t a danger.

Angry Trapper

This will be a big problem for you without Hardmode equipment as it can move through blocks, does 100 damage, has up to 300 life, and resists knockback very well. Try to move away from them when they spawn until you’re stronger.

Giant Tortoise

This is likely going to kill you the most. It makes a quick rolling shell attack that can almost one-shot most players before having Hardmode armor and has 470 life. If you see this, block yourself in a bit using mud or whatever you’ve kept in your inventory. Then send your Yoyo or another ranged attack through a gap to deal with it until you’ve got better equipment.

Plantera

There is a complete guide on battling this boss on the site right here. Otherwise, if you have killed all three mechanical bosses, just be careful of what you are attacking while hunting Life Fruit in the Underground Jungle. Plantera Bulbs are large and purple but still somehow can blend in. You can easily hit them and summon the boss by error.

For all monsters, when you first encounter them in Hardmode, don’t forget you have a mirror to escape their likely murdering of you.

Achievements

You can get two Achievements when hunting Life Fruit. The Get a Life achievement for using your first fruit and the Topped Off achievement once you’ve maxed your life to 500.

What Equipment Should I Have?

• You will NEED to have maxed out your life with Life Crystals before eating Life Fruit.
• You should have a Magic Mirror or an Ice Mirror for quick recall to your base.
• The best armor available to you. With a Molten Pickaxe, you can start mining Hardmode ore while you search for Life Fruit and upgrade your armor as you search.
• You should upgrade your Pickaxe and Armor only until you have Titanium or Adamantite equipment.
• The best grappling hook you have available.
• Some Spelunker Potions (Life Fruit will glow with these as ore does).
• A metal detector in your inventory or one of its upgraded variants.
• A Hel-Fire Yoyo or a weapon of equal or better damage output.
• Does it Take Long to Collect All the Life Fruit?
• Yes, it is not the fastest endeavor you will partake in.
• Also, there is technically no ‘all.’ They will continue to spawn even after you no longer need them.
• You can consume a maximum of 20 Life Fruit.

Extra Tips

• If a Fairy finds you in the Underground Jungle, follow them. They often lead you to Life Fruit.
• Kill one Mechanical Boss when you can get the Steampunker and buy the Jet Pack.
• If there is a large empty area Underground, build long single platforms of dirt and plant Jungle Grass.
• Remember, melee speed bonuses don’t help your Yoyo’s speed.
• Selling Life Fruit to a townsperson who is at their happiest will yield more money.
• If a townsperson is selling a pylon, it is a sign they are at their happiest.
• On an extra large map, I faced more dangers, and it took longer for me to dig around the Jungle, but I found Life Fruit quickly.
• On a small map, digging out the Underground was quicker, but Life Fruit spawned less often. It actually took me a longer time to max out my life.

FAQs

Happy Hunting

It doesn’t seem like much, but 100 extra life goes a long way in Terraria. So, get that Life Fruit. When you do, a little gold will grow over your read hearts. Not to mention, you’ll get plenty of other things while searching.

Good Luck and Good Gaming.