Rolling Cactus

  

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

Rolling Cactus

• 

Statistics

Placeable	✔️ (2 wide × 2 high)
Use time	15 (Very fast)
Tooltip	'They hatin'...'
Rarity	00*
Research	5 required

Projectiles created

• Rolling Cactus
  
• Rolling Cactus Spike
  

• Internal Item ID: 4390 (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
• Internal Tile ID: 484
• Internal Projectile ID: 727, 763

Hitting a Rolling Cactus with a Wooden Sword to make it roll.

The Rolling Cactus is a placeable object that behaves similarly to the Boulder. Rolling Cacti are naturally generated all throughout the Underground Desert but do not respawn once they have been activated. It is stationary when placed, and begins to move when hit by projectiles, pickaxes, or drills, or when the blocks under it are mined or hammered. Its roll direction is determined by whether its horizontal position in the world is an odd or even number, regardless of the slope of the surface it is on (unless it is blocked on one side by blocks, in which case it rolls in the other direction).

When both blocks under a Rolling Cactus are removed or hammered into a half-block, it will drop vertically until it hits a surface, then bounce and roll.

A Rolling Cactus projectile pierces an unlimited number of entities. When a Rolling Cactus that has already started rolling falls onto a lower surface, it maintains its forward momentum while bouncing back up, releasing 3–5 Rolling Cactus Spikes that travel in random directions. Hitting a vertical obstacle also releases Spikes, but destroys the Rolling Cactus. A Rolling Cactus' movement is affected by liquids, and it can roll uphill.

A stationary Rolling Cactus deals 25 damage when a player touches it. A Rolling Cactus projectile deals 70 / 140 / 210 damage to players (35 damage to NPCs, enemies, and critters) and inflicts a knockback value of 10 (Extremely strong) upon contact. Rolling Cactus Spikes deal 60 / 120 / 180 damage to players (30 damage to NPCs, enemies, and critters), inflict a knockback value of 2 (Very weak), pierce entities, and break upon contact with solid tiles.

Crafting

Recipes

Result	Ingredients	Crafting station
Rolling Cactus(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)	Cactus6	Heavy Work Bench(Desktop, Console, Old-gen console and Mobile versions) and Ecto Mist(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)

Notes

• A Rolling Cactus cannot be retrieved once placed, as hitting it with a pickaxe or drill, which would otherwise break the tile and drop an item, causes it to start rolling.
• Similarly to the Boulder, the Rolling Cactus accelerates to a top speed of 36 mph over the course of 2.17 seconds.
• Once rolling, a Rolling Cactus always causes the same amount of damage, regardless of its speed. A player or enemy hit by a Rolling Cactus that just began rolling will take just as much damage as they would from a fast-moving Rolling Cactus.
• Like all other projectiles, the Rolling Cactus will break after rolling for one minute. It will not release Rolling Cactus Spikes in this case.
  • If moving along a flat strip of land, it can reach a maximum distance of 1548.6 tiles.
• If a Rolling Cactus rolls into another Rolling Cactus, it will cause that Rolling Cactus to start moving at the expense of destroying the offending Rolling Cactus (unless both were placed adjacent to each other).

Trivia

• The tooltip is a reference to the opening lyrics of the song "Ridin'" by American rapper Chamillionaire: "They see me rollin', they hatin'..."
• Once the Rolling Cactus has reached top speed, it completes a full rotation approximately once every quarter of a second.
• The Rolling Cactus resembles a real-life Kroenleinia grusonii, an endangered species of barrel cactus endemic to eastern and central Mexico.

History

 Desktop version

• Desktop 1.4.4: Rolling Cactus projectile damage reduced from 90 to 70.

• Desktop 1.4.2: Fixed a recurring issue with Rolling Cacti spawning on Altars and causing crashes.

• Desktop 1.4.1:
  • Reduced the base Rolling Cactus projectile damage from 140 to 90.
  • Increased the base Rolling Cactus Spike projectile damage from 40 to 60.

• Desktop 1.4.0.1: Introduced.

 Console version

• Console 1.4.0.5.4.1: Introduced.

 Nintendo Switch version

• Switch 1.4.0.5.5: Introduced.

 Mobile version

• Mobile 1.4.0.5.0: Introduced.