With so many things to see and do in Terraria, players who love this 2D survival and adventure game will have hours and hours of fun in every playthrough. One aspect that grants such great replayability is the quirky achievements that players can rack up over time by performing specific feats.
Some of these, despite being explained in-game, can be a little bit tough to wrap one's head around. The "Heliophobia" achievement is obtained if the player can “trick a gnome into turning into stone!” according to Terraria and its flavor text, however, there is no indication of how to trick said Gnome. Thankfully, this turns out to be pretty easy, as Gnomes are very predictable and can be found easily in a certain biome.
Where To Find Gnomes
The best place to find Gnomes in Terraria is definitely the Living Tree biome, which can be recognized by its colossal trees made from objects in the foreground as opposed to regularly choppable trees that appear on the same layer as the player and mobs.
Gnomes will always be found underground in one of the tunnels beneath the huge trees, as if they leave the shade, they will turn to stone, just as the Heliophobia achievement mentions. Though, with this being the case, players may be wondering how to draw out creatures into the sun when their AI usually makes them stay underground. Thankfully, the AI of the Gnomes isn't very sophisticated, which makes them easy to manipulate.
How To Trick Gnomes Into Turning Into Stone
Since Gnomes are surprisingly aggressive, all that the player will need to do to get their attention is stand somewhere relatively close to them. Once the little fellows take notice, they will begin rushing at the player. At this point, all one needs to do to get the Gnomes to walk into the sunlight and turn themselves to stone is to stand outside one of the tunnels to aggravate them into attacking. Breaking a hole in a wall of one of these tunnels and making a simple platform just beyond said hole should allow players to trick Gnomes simply and efficiently.
After the Gnomes stone themselves, players will get the Heliophobia achievement, as well as some neat ornaments that can actually be quite useful. Every Garden Gnome formed from a Gnome turning into stone will grant the player a 0.2 increase in Luck if the tiny statue is on the ground nearby. Garden Gnomes can also be picked up and placed down at will, as they are now considered to be furniture instead of a hostile mob.