Map view of a Dungeon.
The Dungeon is a vast underground brick labyrinth that is generated on world creation, being located on either the far right or left of the map, and contains unique enemies whose spawn rates increase the deeper a player travels. It begins at an above-ground entrance structure resembling a castle, and extends down to near-Underworld depths. A single Dungeon is generated in each world. Accessing the Dungeon requires first defeating Skeletron (see Access below). The Dungeon can appear in one of three Dungeon Brick colors, and with one or more Dungeon Brick Wall patterns, which is randomly generated at world creation.
The Dungeon contains a dense assortment of unique furniture and Mechanisms that can be retrieved by the player (using a Pickaxe) for later use. Several Dart Traps are Wired to Pressure Plates, providing an extra hazard to players. Traps like these can also sometimes be found above-ground at the Dungeon's entrance. Chain Lanterns are found wired to Switches, which the player can toggle on and off. The bound Mechanic is also found here, and is freed when spoken to.
There are several locked Gold Chests containing both Dungeon-only loot and standard underground loot. A Golden Key is required to open each of these, and will be consumed upon unlocking a chest. Golden Keys can be obtained from Pots, Dungeon Slimes, as a random drop from any other Dungeon enemy (1/65 chance), or from Wooden Chests in the Dungeon. Locked Biome Chests are also present, but they can only be opened after Plantera is defeated and the player has obtained a Biome Key.
After Plantera is defeated, the Dungeon spawns new, more powerful enemies, which offer access to new items. Not all enemies spawn in all Dungeons: The particular background wall type generated for a particular Dungeon, as well as the corresponding Faction Flags scattered around, determine which post-Plantera enemies spawn there (see below)
There are many shelves in the Dungeon, on which are Books, Lesser Healing Potions, Lesser Mana Potions, and occasionally Water Bolts, which appears to be a blue book with a yellow stripe in placed form.
Water Bolt in Dungeon
Lesser Healing Potion and Lesser Mana Potion placed
On the 
PC version, 
Console version, 
Mobile version, 
Old Chinese version, 
tModLoader version, and 
tModLoader 1.3-Legacy version, after a player defeats Golem and Skeletron in a world, a group of 4 Cultists will spawn at the entrance of the Dungeon. Killing them will summon the Lunatic Cultist, and killing the Lunatic Cultist will initiate the Lunar Events, an end-game event.
Access
To gain unrestricted access to the Dungeon, Skeletron must first be defeated. Skeletron is summoned by speaking to the Old Man, who guards the Dungeon entrance, at night. A "curse" option will be displayed, which will turn the Old Man into Skeletron when clicked. Speaking to the Old Man during the day will not allow you to fight Skeletron. Another effect triggered by Skeletron's defeat is that the Clothier NPC becomes available, and will spawn when a suitable vacant house is available.
The Dungeon can be entered but not fully explored before Skeletron is defeated. Traveling below zero depth in the Dungeon before Skeletron has been defeated will summon one or more Dungeon Guardians which will generally kill any player with a single hit. These Dungeon Guardians are practically invincible, and killing them will not grant access to the Dungeon. The only item gained from defeating a Dungeon Guardian is the Bone Key.
You can tell if the requirements to spawn Dungeon Guardians are met if the music changes to the unique Dungeon track, or if you have a Depth Meter equipped that reads "Level" or "X feet below". Dungeon entrances are located at varying heights, but are always some distance above zero depths, making their entrance structures and 1-2 screens of depth generally safe from Guardians.
Content
| Dungeon | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characters | Unique Treasures | Unique Drops | |||||||||
|
Hardmode post-Plantera
|
From Fishing: Through plundering:
Hardmode Post-Plantera plundering:
| |||||||||
Hardmode post-Plantera Dungeon
When Plantera is defeated for the first time in a world, the status message "Screams are echoing from the dungeon..." appears, signifying that new enemy types will now spawn in the Dungeon. These are generally much more difficult than ordinary Dungeon enemies (and in fact include the most dangerous non-event enemies in the entire game), and drop powerful new items. It also becomes possible to open the Biome Chests present in the Dungeon.
The particular post-Plantera enemies that spawn in a Dungeon area depend on its background wall type, which will also correspond to the Faction Flags found naturally placed in the area. A single Dungeon can contain multiple background wall types in different sections, or just one type. Whether a Dungeon contains different types can only be determined by exploring the Dungeon. A player will often need to generate more than one world, and defeat Plantera in each, in order to encounter all post-Plantera enemy types, and to collect all of their unique drops.
Comparison of the different Dungeon Wall types' appearances.
Template:Dungeon wall spawns
Achievements
Notes
- The Dungeon will always be on the side of the map opposite the Jungle. If you're looking for the dungeon and run into a Jungle, turn around and go the other way. Likewise, the Dungeon will always be on the side of the map the Snow biome is on.
- A player is considered to be in the Dungeon if they are at or below the depth of -3 feet, standing in front of any naturally-placed Walls except Dirt WallsVerify, and can see at least 250 Dungeon Bricks on screen.
- Most Dungeons, regardless of their visible background walls, have brick walls behind their foreground blocks. If these blocks are mined out and Plantera has been defeated, enemies associated with brick walls can potentially spawn.
- Dungeons are much smaller on the
Old-gen console version, Windows Phone version, and Nintendo version. - It is possible, though highly unlikely, for a Dungeon Guardian to spawn pre-Skeletron if the player is below -3 depth and outside of the Dungeon. This will only happen if the player is extremely close to the Dungeon, pretty much touching the outside wall.
Tips
For tips on navigating the Dungeon, see Guide:Surviving in the Dungeon.
- Farming for Bones is harder in a post-Plantera dungeon, as the weaker enemies will be overridden by the spawn rates of post-Plantera enemies, which don't drop bones. However, bones will be of little use by the time you've gotten this far.
If you want to navigate the Dungeon in a post-Golem world, ignore the Cultists when entering. Defeating all four of them by accident can and will spawn the Lunatic Cultist, so be cautious.
History
- Desktop 1.3.5: Newly-generated Dungeons now contain new furniture.
- Desktop 1.3.0.1:
- Hardmode Enemies can now have a chance to drop the Kraken.
- Cultists will now spawn at the entrance of the dungeon when Golem has been defeated.
- Bewitching Tables and Alchemy Tables now generate within the dungeon.
- Valor now can be found in a locked Gold Chest.
- There is a 1 in 7 chance that a Hardmode Dungeon monster will spawn on any Hardmode Dungeon backwall.
- Desktop 1.2.4.1: Fixed bug where hardmode dungeon casters would shoot more than 1 projectile in multiplayer.
- Desktop 1.2.4: The Dungeon (as well as the Underworld) has more new Furniture generated at world creation.
- Desktop 1.2.3: Heart Crystals no longer spawn in the dungeon.
- Desktop 1.2.0.3: Now only generates hardmode enemies after Plantera is defeated.
- Desktop 1.2:
- Dungeons now always have the same color bricks and back wall.
- Now generates with biome-key locked chests and Faction Flags that denote what will spawn there in Hardmode.
- Now has its own music instead of the Eerie theme.
- The dungeon now has 3 unique textures/colors and furniture.
- Desktop 1.1: Now generated with traps and light sources wired to switches.
- Desktop 1.0.6:
- Dungeons should no longer spawn in the Ocean.
- Dungeons now spawn with more Spikes and less lighting.
- Some items no longer spawn in Dungeon as these were meant for non-Dungeon areas.
- Chests are now locked and must be opened with a Golden Key.
- New enemies:
- Desktop 1.0.5:
- Entering the Dungeon before defeating Skeletron now spawns Dungeon Guardian instead of Skeletron’s head.
- Common Chests are now replaced with Gold Chests.
- Desktop-Release: Introduced.
- Console-Release: Introduced.
- Mobile-Release: Introduced.
- 3DS-Release: Introduced.
