Altars

Naturally generated
The content described on this page is only generated naturally and cannot be crafted or collected.

Demon Altar

•  

Statistics

• 80% (only in Hardmode)

Type	Crafting station
Placeable	✔️
Rarity	00*

• Internal Tile ID: 26 (1)

Crimson Altar

•  

Statistics

• 80% (only in Hardmode)

Type	Crafting station
Placeable	✔️
Rarity	00*

• Internal Tile ID: 26 (2)

This article is about the crafting station. For the altar located in the Jungle Temple, see Lihzahrd Altar.

A world after smashing a large number of Crimson Altars leaving the Crimson and Hallow to spread.

Demon Altars and Crimson Altars are naturally-occurring crafting stations found mainly in and around chasms in The Corruption or The Crimson, and less frequently underground. They are used to craft pre-Hardmode boss-summoning items and the Night's Edge as well as the Void Bag and Vault. Altars emit some light, making them easy to spot. They cannot be freed, picked up, placed, or crafted.

After a world enters Hardmode, they can be destroyed with Hardmode-tier hammers, but attempting to hit them with a hammer before Hardmode or a hammer with less than 80% hammer power causes the player to lose half their health and will leave the altar unaffected.

Crafting

Used to craft

Demon Altar or Crimson Altar

Result	Ingredients
only: Abeemination	Honey Block5 Stinger Hive5 Bottled Honey Crispy Honey Block3 Obsidian2
Ancient Hallowed Greaves	Hallowed Bar18
Ancient Hallowed Headgear	Hallowed Bar12
Ancient Hallowed Helmet	Hallowed Bar12
Ancient Hallowed Hood	Hallowed Bar12
Ancient Hallowed Mask	Hallowed Bar12
Ancient Hallowed Plate Mail	Hallowed Bar24
only: Bloody Spine	Vertebra15
only: Bloody Spine	Vicious Powder30 Vertebra15
Deer Thing	Flinx Fur3 Crimtane Ore5 Lens
	Flinx Fur3 Demonite Ore5 Lens
only: Night's Edge	Light's Bane Muramasa Blade of Grass Fiery Greatsword
	Blood Butcherer Muramasa Blade of Grass Fiery Greatsword
only: Night's Edge	Blood Butcherer Muramasa Blade of Grass Volcano
	Light's Bane Muramasa Blade of Grass Volcano
only: Slime Crown	Gel99 Gold Crown
	Gel99 Platinum Crown
only: Slime Crown	Gel20 Gold Crown
	Gel20 Platinum Crown
Suspicious Looking Eye	Lens6
Void Bag	Bone30 Jungle Spores15 Shadow Scale30
	Bone30 Jungle Spores15 Tissue Sample30
Void Vault	Bone15 Jungle Spores8 Tissue Sample15
	Bone15 Jungle Spores8 Shadow Scale15
Worm Food	Vile Powder30 Rotten Chunk15

Hardmode

After the Wall of Flesh has been defeated in a world, altars can be destroyed with anything that has a hammer power of at least 80%. Each destroyed altar will spawn a Wraith and causes one type of Hardmode ore to appear in the world, with the appropriate status message displaying in the chat: "Your world has been blessed with <name of ore>!"

1. First altar: Cobalt Ore or Palladium Ore, chosen randomly.
2. Second altar: Mythril Ore or Orichalcum Ore, chosen randomly.
3. Third altar: Adamantite Ore or Titanium Ore, chosen randomly.

Players will be able to find these new ores scattered across the Underground layer to near-Underworld levels, with them replacing most blocks created during world generation. They will spawn at random locations in varying quantity, in places explored and unexplored alike.

• Destroying more altars will never spawn Hardmode ore types beyond the three that were randomly assigned to the world during the initial round of destroyed altars. A world with Palladium Ore deposits will never spawn Cobalt Ore deposits, or vice versa.

• Which ores are generated is not determined until the first, second or third altar is smashed. For example, it is not determined if the world has Cobalt or Palladium until the first altar has been smashed. The same goes for Mythril/Orichalcum with the second altar, and Adamantite/Titanium for the third.
• Subsequent altars destroyed will begin the cycle again, though the fourth to sixth altars will drop half as much ore as the first ones, the seventh to ninth will drop only one third of the ore of the first ones, and so forth. This "multiplier" can be calculated with the formula ${\textstyle 1/\left\lceil {\frac {n}{3}}\right\rceil }$ where $n$ is the number of altars destroyed. So, destroying the 19th altar would yield one-seventh of Cobalt/Palladium Ore compared to the first altar. Destroying 12 altars will roughly double the ore provided by the first three; tripling that original allotment would require destroying 33 altars (if a world spawns that many).
• No matter how many altars are destroyed, ore rarity remains set with Cobalt/Palladium being the most common, followed by Mythril/Orichalcum, then Adamantite/Titanium as the rarest.
• Each time an altar is destroyed, one or two Wraiths spawn, regardless of the time of day.
• Each time an altar is destroyed, there is a 66% chance that a single random Stone Block in the Cavern layer will be converted to Ebonstone/Crimstone or Pearlstone, facilitating the spread of Underground Hallow or Corruption/Crimson. No block other than the selected one will be converted initially.
• Additionally, smashing an altar will allow mechanical bosses to spawn naturally (if said boss has not been defeated before it will spawn with a 10% chance each night), and random Pirate Invasions (if all the criteria are met).

Notes

A Demon Altar that spawned in a Crimson world.

• Altars can be destroyed through other phenomena, such as being spawned on top of sand, or being struck by a meteorite landing. Altars being destroyed this way prior to Hardmode will have no effect.
• Altars encountered outside of the Corruption/Crimson on a given map will always be found at a depth of around 8 feet or above. This can be seen at the Ocean floor, where altars can sometimes be found.

Achievement

Begone, Evil! • “Smash a demon or crimson altar with a powerful, holy hammer.”

Smash a demon or crimson altar, using the Pwnhammer.

Category: Explorer

Tips

• Altars emit a faint glow, making them somewhat easier to find in unlit areas.
• It is not uncommon to find an altar relatively close to the world spawn point. Wherever the player has set up their base, it is recommended to begin searching near 0 depth, and upon finding an altar, build a room around it so the player can craft in relative peace.
• Players about to enter Hardmode may benefit by mining paths to several known altars beforehand, as navigating Hardmode Corruption/Crimson is dangerous at first.
• Altars are needed for crafting certain items, hence destroying every altar in a world is not recommended.
  • However, most of the items are pre-Hardmode boss-summoning items which are mostly unneeded at this point in the game. If the Night's Edge has already been crafted, then there is very little reason to keep an altar.
• It is not strictly necessary to smash an altar; all ores obtained by doing so can also be obtained by fishing up crates, allowing access to all ores and their counterparts in one world.
• When destroying multiple altars in rapid succession, the resulting Wraith swarm may become difficult to deal with. Therefore, it is not recommended to smash another if the Wraiths are not defeated.

Trivia

• The difficulty that new players often face in identifying and determining the nature of Demon Altars, often resulting in forum posts asking about "purple spiky things", has become a notable social phenomenon in the Terraria community. A title message references this with the text Terraria: What's that purple spiked thing?
• In some rare cases an altar can spawn atop another altar. Hammering it in pre-Hardmode will deal damage and cause both altars to break.
  • Destroying the lower one in Hardmode will destroy both, with the full effects of destroying two regular altars.
• In some rare cases an altar can spawn on top of a Crystal Heart. Both lower quarters of the heart can be collected as two separate items, but the top half stays unbroken under the altar. The remaining half still exhibits its normal animation after the bottom half is broken.

History

 PC version

• Desktop 1.4.0.1: Now used to craft the Ancient Hallowed armor.

• Desktop 1.3.1: Sprites updated.

• Desktop 1.2.3.1: Fixed the problem with altars/pots/chests spawning in bugged conditions.

• Desktop 1.2.3:
  • Fixed Demon Altar mining death having no message.
  • Crimson Altar hover text now appears on the map.

• Desktop 1.2: Worlds which have the Crimson instead of the Corruption will have Demon Altars replaced with Crimson Altars.

• Desktop 1.1:
  • When smashed with a Pwnhammer during Hardmode, a vein of Hardmode Ore will generate in the world.
  • Now has a chance to summon a few Wraiths and create an additional Underground Corruption or Hallow spreading point somewhere in the world when smashed.

• Desktop-Release: Introduced.

 Console version

• Console 1.0.933.1: Sprites updated to match Desktop 1.3.1. ()

• Console 1.0.750.0: Sprites updated to match Desktop 1.3.1. ()

• Console 1.02: Worlds which have the Crimson instead of the Corruption will have Demon Altars replaced with Crimson Altars.

• Console-Release: Introduced with mechanics of Desktop 1.1.

 Nintendo Switch version

• Switch 1.0.711.6: Introduced.

 Mobile version

• Mobile 1.2.12773: Fixed a bug where Demon Altars would generate in the Dungeon.

• Mobile 1.2.6508: Worlds which have the Crimson instead of the Corruption will have Demon Altars replaced with Crimson Altars.

• Mobile 1.1.5536:
  • When smashed with a Pwnhammer during Hardmode, a vein of Hardmode Ore will be generated in the world.
  • Now has a chance to summon a few Wraiths and create an additional Underground Corruption or Hallow spreading point somewhere in the world when smashed.

• Mobile-Release: Introduced.

Nintendo 3DS version

• 3DS-Release: Introduced with mechanics of Desktop 1.2.