Is the Temple Key consumed when crafting other keys?

I'm slowly making progress in hard mode, and I'm planning on tackling Plantera next. I see that he drops the Temple Key once defeated, which gets used to craft a number of Dungeon Keys.

Will crafting these dungeon keys consume the Temple Key, essentially requiring me to fight Plantera again to get another one? Or is the key retained?

2 Answers

Yes, you must farm Plantera for multiple keys. They are guaranteed drops at least and it isn't terribly hard if you've setup for the fight before hand, and have good equipment.

No, You don't keep the key. You can use a duplication glitch instead of farming Plantera. Here's how:

1. Start a Terraria server with the TerrariaServer file in your Terraria folder.The dedicated server files are located in the folder where the Terraria files are.
2. Join your server.
3. Create a chest with the items you want to duplicate in it.
4. On the server console, type save.
5. When it is done saving, go to the chest and take the items.
6. Disconnect from the server.
7. On the server console, type exit-nosave.
8. Your items will be in the chest and in your inventory.