Terraria has many features that the importance of is often underestimated. Hooks are a perfect example of this. With many functions, hooks are an essential part of any Terraria player’s adventure.
While the grappling hook is typically used to traverse your Terraria world, it can serve other purposes too. For example, when latched onto something with a hook of any kind, you won’t take knockback. This alone makes the grappling hook a fantastic tool for defeating Skeletron and other early game bosses who can deal a lot of knockback.
The grappling hook is the standard hook in Terraria – the most functionally basic and easy-to-obtain hook. There are different tiers of hooks – the higher-tier hooks become available as your progress through the game. On top of this, different hooks have different static appearances and, sometimes, visual effects. This means that, as well as utility, you can pick a hook according to your personal preference.
Considering these factors, it’s important to know how to make a grappling hook in Terraria. This guide will teach you all you need to know about making a grappling hook, its uses, and some extra tips.
Grappling Hook Uses
Grappling hooks have two primary uses in Terraria. The first is using one to move over the terrain. In Terraria, the terrain can be unpredictable and challenging to traverse without the right equipment. On top of this, some bosses can be difficult to fight without knockback-reducing methods such as the grappling hook.
To use your grappling hook, having a hotkey set is essential. It’s recommended to assign an easily accessible key to your hook, as you’ll likely use it often, especially in the early-game.
Additionally, having your hook equipped is a necessity. You can equip your hook the same way as any other accessory – by right-clicking it with an open inventory.
In the early game – when there aren’t many mobility options – using a grappling hook is a brilliant solution to overcoming the sometimes treacherous terrain of a Terraria world. It provides predictable, controllable, and rapid movement.
As well as great mobility, the grappling hook can also provide immunity to knockback and gravity. To grant this immunity, you must have grappled onto any block.
While this may not seem significant, there are many benefits to having this ability. For example, immunity to knockback means that you can safely travel over dangerous areas like lava pools and Hellstone.
Also, immunity to knockback can make fighting some bosses a lot easier. Skeletron is a great example of a boss where knockback immunity is a major benefit.
However, it’s important to ensure that you have sufficient armor, health, and healing before fighting a boss using the grappling hook method. This is because, when grappled onto a block, you are immobile, sacrificing mobility for knockback immunity.
This sacrifice isn’t recommended if you are playing a class setup of minimal health and defense – like a mage, although class setups aren’t as prominent in the early-game, meaning that it’s less of a significant factor.
Obtaining a Grappling Hook
Crafting a grappling hook in Terraria is very straightforward. It requires a small number of resources and a basic crafting station. This means that you can craft a grappling hook early in your Terraria adventure.
All hooks are crafted at a Lead or Iron Anvil, and the basic grappling hook is no exception. The resources needed for a grappling hook are 3 chains and 1 hook.
Chain is used in many recipes and is also placeable – being an excellent alternative to rope. Making chain is very easy, requiring 1 Iron/Lead Bar per 10 Chains. The crafting station needed is an Iron or Lead anvil.
The Hook is slightly more difficult to acquire as it’s not craftable. It has a 1/25 (4%) chance of dropping from Undead Miners, Skeletons, Undead Vikings, and Hoplites in the Ice biome, Marble Caves, and Cavern layer.
Additionally, you can also obtain a Hook from Piranhas in the Cavern and Underground layer, as well as the Jungle and Underground Jungle. It has a 1/30 (3.33%) chance of dropping from these sources.
While it may seem like a challenge to get the Hook, it’s worth doing as soon as possible, as the grappling hook has many benefits, especially in the early-game.
Alternatively, you can buy a grappling hook from the Goblin Tinkerer NPC for 2 gold coins.
Extra Tips
Now that you know how to make a grappling hook in Terraria and what you can use it for, there are some additional tips worth knowing.
For example, you will get an achievement called “Hold on Tight!” for equipping a grappling hook for the first time.
When grappling to a block, the flight duration of your wings (or similar accessory) gets reset. This means that, by using an Ice Rod, you can effectively have an infinite flight duration. You can use the Ice Rod to spawn blocks to grapple to mid-flight, thus resetting the flight duration.
If you grapple onto and open a door while suspended by the grappling hook, you can fly through it at speeds up to 50mph. The immense speed will be maintained if Frozen Slime Blocks are on the other side of the door. This interaction can be used for efficient transportation on a skybridge or similar.
A grappling hook is often considered the next tier of mobility after rope and chain; however, it is a lot easier to make rope in Terraria than it is a grappling hook.
Conclusion
While there are many types of hooks in Terraria, the grappling hook is likely the first one you will come across. It has a couple of uses; however, its primary use is effortless movement around rugged terrain in your Terraria world.
