Desert Fossil is a type of block found in the Underground Desert biome in medium to large veins. On PC, Console, Mobile, and tModLoader, Desert Fossil can be mined with a Copper Pickaxe or equivalent/higher mining level, or with explosives. However, adjacent fossil blocks have a chance to crumble away and drop nothing. On Old Chinese and tModLoader Legacy, mining it requires either a Nightmare or Deathbringer Pickaxe or higher.
Desert Fossils can be used with an Extractinator to produce Sturdy Fossils, along with the normal Extractinator drops. Desert Fossils produce more Amber than Silt or Slush do. There is a 0.06*1/1666 (0.06%) chance that an Amber Mosquito (Baby Dinosaur pet) will be produced (the odds are 0.02*1/5000 (0.02%) for Silt and Slush).
- On the
PC version, Console version, Mobile version, and tModLoader version, Desert Fossils will occasionally break adjacent tiles when they are mined (either while being broken, or once broken). - By default, there is a 1/15 chance for a block in any of the 8 surrounding tiles to be destroyed. Of these 8 tiles, if any of them has no block below, they will have a 1/4 chance to be destroyed. The tick the original fossil is broken, the block above also has a 25% chance to break.
- To get as many fossils as possible, players should try to mine horizontally from top to bottom and avoid creating holes, which can otherwise spread quickly.
Crafting
Recipe
| Result | Ingredients | Crafting station |
|---|---|---|
only: Desert Fossil |  Work Bench |
Used in
| Result | Ingredients | Crafting station |
|---|---|---|
only: Desert Fossil Wall4 |
| Work Bench and Ecto Mist |
Notes
Desert Fossils appear highlighted under the effects of a Spelunker Potion.- This doesn't apply to the Switch version
Tips
As explosives break Desert Fossil instantly, early-game players may want to use them instead, so as to prevent weaker pickaxes from damaging the surrounding Desert Fossil during mining. Lacking these, however, any pickaxe will do.
History
- Desktop 1.4.0.1:
- Can now be mined with any pickaxe.
- Can now be destroyed and collected using explosives.
- Adjacent Desert Fossil blocks now have a chance to break when one is mined.
- Now drops Amber more commonly when put through Extractinator
- Added crafting recipes for Desert Fossil Walls.
- Desktop 1.3.0.1: Introduced.
- Console 1.0.933.1: Introduced. ()
- Console 1.0.750.0: Introduced. ()
- Switch 1.0.711.6: Introduced.
- Mobile 1.3.0.7: Introduced.
