The Corruption

Map view of a typical Corruption biome. Vertical Chasms are visible.

Corrupt Snow Biome — In a new world, Corruption can extend into the Snow biome. Purple ice won't spread Corruption until Hardmode.

Corrupt Desert Biome — In a new world, Corruption can extend into the Desert. Ebonsand won't spread Corruption until Hardmode.

"Making the world evil..."

The Corruption is an Evil Biome that presents a dark purple death and decay theme. It may exist somewhere in a generated world, generally far from a player's original spawn point. It is the counterpart to The Crimson biome and its red gore theme. A generated world will contain one of the two, generated randomly (each with a 50% chance of occurring), or, as of version 1.3.2, chosen by the player upon world creation (Desktop Version) after having reached Hardmode in any world - although you can still leave it up to chance with the Random setting. Both the Corruption and Crimson contain similar hazards, though each has its own unique enemies, items, and blocks. The tools, weapons, and armor obtained via Corruption materials are slightly less powerful than those obtained via Crimson materials, while Corruption enemies tend to have slightly lower stats (health, defense, damage).

The Corruption contains purple Grass and Trees, and hazards like Eater of Souls, Devourers, and Thorny Bushes. The Corruption can also extend into the Snow biome, which will be evident by purple ice, and into the Desert, which will contain Ebonsand and purple cactus. New players should generally avoid the Corruption until they obtain decent gear and a fair amount of health (via consuming Heart Crystals). The Corruption also features a dark background with limited daylight and unique theme music.

The Corruption area that generates initially with the World is home to Chasms that lead to Shadow Orbs and Demon Altars. Corruption Chasms are especially hazardous to beginning players due to Fall Damage, and players who have not yet acquired fall protection (eg. Lucky Horseshoe), a climbing aid (eg. Grappling Hooks), or a decent amount of Rope will have a tough or impossible time contending with them. Chasms are lined with Ebonstone, which can only be mined with a Nightmare Pickaxe/Deathbringer Pickaxe or better. Ebonstone can also be destroyed by explosives, like Bombs or Dynamite.

Corruption, like Crimson, can also spread via corrupt grass and Thorny Bushes into areas not initially infected, though slowly. Corruption spreads much more quickly in Hardmode. Corruption can be seeded in new locations by the player using Corrupt Seeds. Chasms, Shadow Orbs, and Demon Altars will not spawn in Corruption that has formed through spreading; however, Corruption enemies like the Eater of Souls, as well as Thorny Bushes, will spawn. If enough Corruption takes hold in a new area, this area will adopt theme music, background, and water color.

Purification Powder can be used on corrupted blocks to turn them into their regular counterparts. "Purified" blocks can still become Corrupted again afterwards.

Spread

In normal mode (Pre-Hardmode worlds), corruption can spread, but only under limited conditions:

Corrupt grass can spread in a manner similar to normal grass, converting adjacent Dirt tiles with at least one side open to air (only in the Surface Layer).
Corrupt grass can also displace normal grass. Until version 1.2.4.1, this is true unless the grass has a Sunflower planted on it.
Corrupt grass may sprout Thorny Bushes, which can grow six tiles in all directions, and will spread corrupt grass to any normal grass it touches.

Naturally-occurring corruption will often be halted by various natural barriers (stone, clay, etc.) before it is even discovered, but care should be taken when creating an artificial corruption biome that it does not spread further than intended.

If all corruption/crimson and hallow blocks are purified, then when speaking to the Dryad about the world status, she will say "[name of world] is completely pure. You have done an amazing job!".

Hardmode

Once the Wall of Flesh is defeated, a world enters Hardmode. New areas of Corruption and Hallow are immediately created that extend from the Underworld up to the Surface, sometimes intersecting existing Corruption. Corruption begins spawning more dangerous enemies, such as the Corruptor, the World Feeder, and underground, the Clinger.

File:Corruption vs Jungle.png

Corruption converting The Jungle (TEdit)

Corruption spreads much more aggressively once the world is in hardmode:

In addition to corrupt grass, thorns and plants, Ebonstone, Ebonsand and Purple Ice also generate corruption.
Grass can still be converted to corrupt grass, and corrupt grass can cover new dirt as in pre-hardmode.
Mud can now be converted into dirt.
Jungle grass can also be converted into corrupt grass (changing the underlying block type to dirt).
Jungle Thorny Bushes can be converted into Corruption Thorny Bushes.
Stone can be converted to Ebonstone.
Sand can be converted to Ebonsand.
Ice can be converted to Purple Ice.
Blocks that are up to three tiles away from an existing corrupt block can be converted (even if incorruptible blocks are in the way).
Sunflowers can no longer stop the spread

File:CorruptionThornyBushesSpread.png

Corruption converting the jungle thorny bushes and then spreading

The Corruption does not spread through other materials, even natural materials like clay and snow. Silt can be converted as part of the initial burst when you first defeat the Wall of Flesh, but not at other times.

In order to stop the spread of Corruption in Hardmode, a player must create a 3 tile gap filled with incorruptible blocks (or empty space). However, in the Surface layer, exposed dirt blocks will need a 6 tile gap of incorruptible blocks (or empty space) since corrupt grass could grow thorny bushes spanning 6 tiles. Replacing exposed dirt blocks with another block type (incorruptible blocks may be preferred) will prevent thorny bushes from growing. One must also be wary of tunnels and shafts in the Surface layer, which could become corrupted without intervention. Hallow blocks will also stop the spread of Corruption but will spawn its own hazards as well.

Killing Plantera reduces the speed at which the Corruption spreads to 33% of the default Hardmode speed.

Corrupted Desert

A Corrupted Desert.

In Hardmode, Corruption spreads through Deserts, transforming it into Corrupted Desert. It is very similar to The Corruption: The theme music is the same, and enemies are the same, with the addition of Dark Mummies.

Sand is replaced by Ebonsand. Although their color is different, cacti still drop ordinary cactus when cut. Waterleaf is not able to grow in corrupted deserts.

Achievement

Corruptible • “Your world is corrupt!”

Have 50% of your world Corrupt.

Trivia

Though the Crimson came after the corruption, the crimson has more enemies.
Many Corruption enemies have rotten bodies, sometimes with green pus dripping out of them, as seen with the Eater of Souls and Corruptor. This contrasts with the Crimson enemies' abnormal cancerous-like growths.
The Dead Space series features an organism also called the Corruption, which spreads and terraforms affected areas, serving as habitats for the franchise's signature zombie-like creatures; the Necromorphs. Terraria's Corruption may have been based on this.
The game Anti-Idle features an area called the Corruption, based heavily on the Terraria biome.^[1]
The Corruption and its shadow orbs seem to be based heavily on a story by H.P. Lovecraft, "The Colour Out of Space". In the story, a meteorite crashed near the small fictional town of Arkham, Massachusetts. The meteorite twisted the land, drove people insane, drained the life forces of anything around it, and deformed animals into grotesque abominations.^[2]
- This may have something to do with why meteorites begin falling after a shadow orb is smashed.
In Blood Moons three Critters turn Corrupt (the Corrupt Bunny, Corrupt Goldfish and Corrupt Penguin), a reference to The Corruption. (You also can manually corrupt these critters with Vile Powder.)

Notes

In 1.3, one-half of the world generation progress bar will be green, and the other half purple or red, depending on if the world is to have Corruption or Crimson. Not only that, a tree at the side of the world name in world selection has one green/normal side, the other purple/red (indicating Corruption/Crimson respectively).

In Hardmode, part of the tree will be yellow, representing the Hallow:

You can also tell if your world will have a crimson or a corruption because by reading the text that describes the processes in world generation, such as settling liquids, it will either say "making the world bloody," indicating crimson, or "making the world evil," indicating corruption.
Creating a new Corruption biome requires at least 200 corrupted blocks, such as corrupted grass, Ebonstone, Ebonsand or Purple Ice Blocks.
Although the Crimson replaces the Corruption at world generation, it does not prevent The Corruption from being artificially created by importing Corruption materials to a world with Crimson and vice versa. Spreading remains normal.
On the PC version, Console version, Mobile version, Old Chinese version, tModLoader version, and tModLoader 1.3-Legacy version, enemies in the Hardmode Corruption have a 1 in 2500 chance to drop a Corruption Key. On the Old-gen console version, Windows Phone version, and Nintendo 3DS version, they will drop Corruption Key Molds at instead, but at the same rate.
Once you reach the Underground layer, the currently playing music will switch to Underground Corruption.
Actual dirt blocks are immune to corruption- only dirt with grass can be affected. However, dirt with one side exposed can be converted to corrupt grass, just like normal grass
The Clentaminator is an extremely useful tool for removing the corruption. Green Solution is recommended, unless you want to replace it with another biome entirely.
A three tile wide gap may not be enough to stop the spread of the corruption on the surface, as corrupted grass can spawn thorny bushes, which can bridge the gap and continue the spread. It is recommended you have three tiles of noncorruptable blocks filling the gap in order to prevent this, both above the surface a bit, and down to the underground layer.
It is possible to bring Crimson Seeds from another world to the world with corruption to have a world with corruption and crimson.

Tips

Any of these items can be used to completely negate fall damage: wings, Lucky Horseshoe, Featherfall Potion, Umbrella (only works when held), the Bunny Mount, any flying mount (Bee, hardmode mounts: Pigron, Cute Fishron, Rudolph, UFO). Grappling hooks can be used to lower oneself down. Rope can be used to climb down, but enemies can knock the player off the rope, resulting in a fall. If none of these items have been obtained yet, there are several items that can reduce fall damage (see Fall damage for more information).
To climb back out of the chasm: flying mounts, wings and/or grappling hooks are ideal. The player may also find climbing gear useful, such as Climbing Claws, Shoe Spikes, Tiger Climbing Gear or Master Ninja Gear. Rope can be climbed up, but an enemy could knock the player off. If none of these items have been obtained yet, there are several items that can increase a player's jump height (see Guide:Jump Height Comparison for a complete list).
Slimy Saddle with multi-jump accessories combined with a hook is a very effective way of getting out of Corruption's chasms. (Although, the Unicorn Mount can jump slightly higher, is capable of double-jump, and reduces fall damage by 80%)
Another way is to place platforms every few blocks (this will take some time, but will come in handy for climbing back up). They can be used to dodge enemies, make quick shelters to hide, place campfires on and use hooks safely.

History

PC version

Desktop 1.3.0.1: Enemies now have the chance to drop Corruption Key instead of Corruption Key Mold. Ebonwood Trees now drop acorns.

Desktop 1.2.0.3:
- The spread slows down to 33% of the Hardmode speed after killing Plantera. However it will still convert all blocks as hardmode spread would.^[3]

Desktop 1.2:
- There is a chance for The Corruption Biome to be replaced with The Crimson Biome in a world on generation.
- Corruptor projectile no longer spreads Corruption.

Desktop 1.1:
- Corruption spreads through Sand and Stone, and will slowly turn Mud to Dirt after the Wall of Flesh is destroyed. This allows it to spread into the Cavern layer.
- An artificial Corruption Biome now only requires 200 Ebonstone blocks instead of 500 blocks.
- Now has own specific background.

Desktop 1.0.6:
- Thorny Bushes in growing from Corruption are now destroyed on contact with the player.
- The Corruption's music now has its own music (as opposed to before, when it used the track "Eerie" as its background music)..

Desktop 1.0.5:
- Corruption areas now have cave systems connecting many of the chasms.
- Small to medium deposits of Demonite Ore can now be found when exploring the chasms.

Desktop 1.0.4: Number of chasms generated in the world is decreased, but each chasm now has 100% chance to spawn a Shadow Orb.

Desktop-Release: Introduced.

Console version

Console-Release: Introduced.

Mobile version

Mobile-Release: Introduced.

Nintendo

version

3DS-Release: Introduced.

References

[1] ttp://web.archive.org/web/20160602204044/http://www.terrariaonline.com/threads/a-special-homage-to-terraria.60993/

[Lovecraft-2] ttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colour_Out_of_Space

[3] ttp://web.archive.org/web/20150310081439/http://www.terrariaonline.com/threads/hallow-corruption-is-still-spreading-after-plantera-has-been-defeated.112586/#post-2343629

[1]

[2]

[3]

Terraria Wiki

The Corruption

Contents