Illness

Illness is a condition that can befall nearly any piñata. Many things can cause piñatas to become sick, and is fatal if left untreated. It can be cured by Doc Patchingo or a Chewnicorn. If a piñata remains ill for too long, Dastardos will appear to claim its life.

When a piñata becomes ill, it lies down and turns green and yellow if it is a resident. Icons of Dastardos' face are released from its body, indicating that Dastardos is alerted to its condition. When hovering over a sick piñata with the cursor, the player can use the A button (console games) or the Doc Patch icon (PP) to call the doctor to cure the piñata for a fee.

Wild and sour piñatas can become ill just like resident piñatas, and will be destroyed by Dastardos like any other sick piñata. However, these do not change color, and Doc Patch cannot be called to heal non-residents. In Trouble in Paradise, Dastardos no longer bothers to appear for wild piñatas, however they will still burst on their own without his help.

Sources of Illness

More research is needed. Details: Find all sources of illness.

There are many ways piñatas can fall ill, and all must be prevented as much as possible. These include:

• Eating poisonous foods, such as sour sweets, certain types of weeds such as toadstools, or nightshade berries.
• Being near certain weeds, such as the venus piñata trap.
• Losing a fight. This is tracked in the piñatas information as “times injured” however has the same effect as illness.
• Being whacked with the shovel too many times. Once the piñata becomes dizzy, the next hit will cause it to fall ill.
• Being on fire for too long, however sometimes the fire will go out on its own with no real harm to the piñata.
• Becoming stuck in a small area, such as between fences. Piñatas can be safely kept in pens so long as they have enough space to roam around.

Preventing Illness

Keeping a tidy, orderly garden is important to keeping your piñatas healthy. Some tips include:

• Breaking sour sweets as soon as they appear. When a sour piñata or Ruffian spits out a sour sweet, a distinct sound effect will play. As soon as you hear this, drop everything if possible and smash all candy with your shovel.
• Prevent fights from breaking out. Keeping species that dislike each other separate, clearing thistles, having a Red Eye Rainbow, and dealing with Ruffians and Sour Bonboons will help with this. If a fight does break out, watering your piñata is often a good way to stop the fight, so long as they haven’t begun attacking. The shovel may also be used, however nothing short of whacking will get their attention, which may injure them. A tamed Bonboon will be able to automatically stop fights for you.
• Keep weeds contained behind fencing. Some weeds aren’t dangerous enough to need containment, but others absolutely must be. These include the toadstool, hemlock, and prickly pear. The venus piñata trap and fireweed can shoot their projectiles through fencing, but it can still be used to prevent your piñata from getting too close.
• Do not hit piñatas with your shovel.
• Keeping fire sources, such as the firebrand, contained or turned off when not in use.
• Make sure your fencing isn’t placed too tightly.

Healing Piñatas

When piñatas fall ill, you have approximately 2 minutes before Dastardos appears to collect. In this time, you must find a way to heal your piñata before he reaches them and smashes them open.

The primary way of healing piñatas is to call Doc Patchingo. For a small fee, Patch can head over to your garden and instantly heal your piñatas for you. He arrives quickly in his car (or helicopter in Pocket Paradise), and will attempt to reach your piñata to fling medicine at it. Once he is finished, the piñata will be healed and he will return to his clinic.

Making sure the path is clear is important, as Patch has to navigate your garden to reach the piñata. Water will slow him down, and he needs to go around obstacles. If you called him right away though, this should not be a concern.

More research is needed. Details: How long it takes for Chewnicorn power to recharge.

Chewnicorns are also able to heal your piñata. Once a Chewnicorn is tamed, its horn will begin to flash. When this happens, you can direct it to a sick piñata. It will head over, and heal it free of charge. This power must recharge after use.

A piñata wearing the Halo of Hardness accessory will be instantly healed if it gets sick, with no assistance needed. This can make a piñata essentially immortal, however it is still vulnerable to other threats such as being hunted or Professor Pester.

Slowing Down Dastardos

If Dastardos reaches a piñata before it is healed, he will break it open and it will be too late to save it. The best way to make sure this doesn’t happen is to remain attentive and call Patch immediately, however sometimes a sick piñata can still go unnoticed. Once Dastardos has his sights set on a piñata, he cannot be stopped until the piñata is either broken or healed. He can be slowed down however, using the following methods:

• Having a Dastardos Scarer in the garden will extend his spawn timer up to 10 minutes.
• Directing a tamed Sherbat or Crowla to him will distract him, and temporarily stop his advance.
• Dastardos can only be hit with a shovel with the Dastardos Shovel Head upgrade. Doing so will stun him for about 5 seconds.

Dastardos will not go after a piñata until its timer is up. If a second piñata becomes sick sometime after the first, he will ignore the second unless it has hit the point he would normally appear to collect. If this is the case, he will break it open as well before leaving.

Broken Piñatas

When a piñata is broken, the sound of children cheering will play and it will explode into life candy around your garden. The piñata’s pieces will then float up into the air, flying towards the edge of your garden before reforming. It will now have its wild coloration again, and will no longer be a resident in your garden.

Unlike piñatas that leave due to being unhappy, broken piñatas are completely reset. Their name, stats, accessories, variant colors, and anything else will be completely erased. They are essentially reborn, and cannot be considered the same piñata they were before death. The piñata will then run away after reforming, and cannot be differentiated from wild piñatas that spawned naturally.

Wild piñatas can also become sick and break, however they will drop no candy. Any resident requirements they have fulfilled will still be reset however.

If a sour piñata is broken, it will behave similarly to a normal wild piñata, however it will drop weed seeds around your garden instead of candy.

Dastardos will appear to smash open wild piñatas, unless you are playing Trouble in Paradise. There, he no longer bothers with them, but the piñatas will still burst on their own.

If a certain species is beaten by the player too much, they may become reluctant to visit your garden.

Sometimes piñatas will reform without being broken or being reset. This usually happens if a piñata becomes stuck or ends up somewhere they shouldn’t. This is simply done to reset the piñatas position and has no effect on the piñata.