Map view of a typical Corruption biome. Vertical Chasms are visible.
In a new world, Corruption can extend into the Snow biome. Purple Ice will not spread Corruption until Hardmode.
In a new world, Corruption can extend into the Desert. Ebonsand will not spread Corruption until Hardmode.
"Making the world evil..."
The Corruption is an evil biome with a dark purple wasteland, death, and decay theme, in contrast to the red gore theme of its counterpart, the Crimson. Every world will contain one of the two, generated randomly (each with a 50% chance of occurring) or chosen by the player upon world creation. Both contain similar hazards and feature their own unique enemies, items, and blocks. The tools, weapons, and armor obtained via Corruption materials are generally slightly less powerful than those obtained via Crimson materials. Corruption enemies tend to have slightly lower stats, such as health, defense, and damage.
The Corruption contains multiple chasms, underground extensions of the biome. Chasms lead downwards in a straight line, some crossing a horizontal connector, ending with a Shadow Orb. Demon Altars generally line the chasm's passages, appearing inside and around it. Chasms consist of Ebonstone, which can be blown up by explosives or mined with a Nightmare/Deathbringer Pickaxe or higher.
The Corruption spreads, meaning it slowly converts adjacent tiles to their Corruption variants. See below for details. Chasms, Demon Altars, and Shadow Orbs will only appear upon world generation, and will not spawn in a Corruption area that has formed through spreading. If enough Corruption manages to take over a new area, then that area will eventually adopt the Corruption's theme music, background, and water color. For an area to be considered a Corruption biome, at least 200 tiles of Corrupt grass or Corruption blocks must be present.
Contents
Template:Item/options
-
Corruption Key(from any enemy, 1/2500 chance) - Corruption Key Mold
(from any enemy, 1/2500 chance)
- Vile Mushroom
- Deathweed
- Deathweed Seeds(during Blood Moon)
- Ebonwood(from trees)
Template:Item/options
Spread
Corruption converting The Jungle (TEdit)
Corruption converting the jungle thorny bushes and then spreading
In Pre-Hardmode, the Corruption can spread, but only under limited conditions:
- Corrupt grass can spread in a manner similar to normal grass, converting adjacent Dirt Blocks with at least one side open to air (only in the surface layer).
- Corrupt grass can also displace normal grass, unless the grass has a Sunflower planted on it.
- Corrupt grass may sprout thorny bushes, which can spread Corrupt grass adhering to the same rules.
Naturally-occurring Corruption will often be halted by various natural barriers (stone, Desert, etc.) before it is even discovered, but when creating an artificial Corruption in Pre-Hardmode, care should be taken that it does not spread further than intended.
In Hardmode, the Corruption and Underground Corruption spread much more aggressively. In addition to normal grass, the following tiles can be converted: Template:Item/options
| Original Tile | Converted Tile | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 Stone Block |
 Ebonstone Block
| ||
 Mud Block |
 Dirt Block
| ||
 Ice Block |
 Purple Ice Block
| ||
 Sand Block |
 Ebonsand Block
| ||
 Hardened Sand Block |
 Hardened Ebonsand Block | ||
 Sandstone Block |
 Ebonsandstone Block | ||
 Jungle grass |
 Corrupt grass(converting the Mud Block underneath)
| ||
| Jungle thorny bushes | Corruption thorny bushes | ||
Template:Item/options
Blocks which are up to three tiles away from an existing Corruption block can be converted, even if incorruptible blocks are in the way. Grass and thorny bushes can spread to tiles which are up to five tiles away. Due to this change, Sunflowers can no longer stop the spread.
The Corruption does not spread through any other materials, even natural materials like Clay and Snow. Therefore, in order to halt the spread, a gap or barrier, consisting of any incorruptible block, of three tiles is necessary. Note that thorny bushes might bridge a gap and continue the spread.
Hallow and Corruption cannot convert each other.
Defeating Plantera reduces the speed of the Corruption's spread to 33% of the default Hardmode speed.
Corrupted Desert
A Corrupted Desert.
In Hardmode, Corruption spreads through Deserts, transforming them into Corrupted Deserts. A Corrupted Desert is fairly similar to a regular patch of Corruption: The theme music and enemies are the same, with the addition of Dark Mummies on the surface and Dark Lamias, Tainted Ghouls and Desert Spirits in the underground.
Sand is replaced by Ebonsand. Cacti drop ordinary cactus when cut, even though they have a different color. Waterleaf is not able to grow in Corrupted Deserts.
Notes
- Corruption can be created or spread artificially using Corrupt Seeds, Vile Powder, Unholy Water, or the Clentaminator with Purple Solution, obtainable from the Steampunker during a Blood Moon in Corruption worlds (she sells Red Solution in a Crimson world instead).
- Artificially creating a new Corruption biome requires at least 200 Corruption blocks. Although Crimson might replace Corruption at world generation, it does not prevent Corruption from being artificially created in a Crimson world, and vice versa. Spreading remains normal.
- Any enemy in the Corruption or Underground Corruption has a 0.04% (1/2500) chance to drop a Corruption Key
/ Corruption Key Mold - The Archaeologist's set can only be completed in a world with Corruption. The Hat can be dropped by Doctor Bones, which can spawn in any world, but the Jacket and the Pants can only be crafted with Leather, which is crafted using Rotten Chunk, an item exclusive to the Corruption.
Tips
For elaborate strategies on surviving in the Corruption, including detailed gear recommendations, see Guide:Surviving in the Corruption.
- Early on, determining whether a world contains Corruption is possible in the following ways:
- The Guide will tell the player to break a Shadow Orb (Crimson Heart in Crimson worlds).
 
|
| The tree in world selection (on the right: during Hardmode) |
During world generation, one half of the progress bar will be green, and the other half purple (red for Crimson worlds). Additionally, the bar on the inside will be lime green (yellow for Crimson worlds), representing Cursed Flames. The step in the world generation process in which the Corruption is created is called "Making the world evil" ("Making the world bloody" for Crimson worlds). Also, a tree at the side of the world name in the world selection has one green/normal side and one purple side (red for Crimson worlds).
- Due to the vertical, straight shape of the Corruption's chasms, fall damage is an omnipresent danger. Any of these items can be used to completely negate fall damage: Lucky Horseshoe (or its upgrades), Featherfall Potion, Umbrella (only works when held), or the Bunny or Bee Mount.
- Climbing out of a chasms requires certain gear as well: any hook, Climbing Claws/Shoe Spikes (or their upgrades), any Rope (though note that enemies can easily knock the player off), Slime Mount, or items enhancing the player's jump ability (see Guide:Jump Height Comparison).
- It is recommended to cover all chasms with platforms to reduce the likelihood of accidentally falling into one and suffering fall damage. Placing rows of platforms inside the vertical chasms can be helpful, too.
Trivia
- 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 horror media franchise Dead Space 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 "The Colour Out of Space", a science fiction/horror short story by American author H. P. Lovecraft, written in March 1927. In the story, a meteorite crashed near a small fictional town. The meteorite twisted the land, drove people insane, drained the life forces of anything around it, and deformed animals into grotesque abominations.
- This may have something to do with why meteorites begin falling after a Shadow Orb is smashed.
- During a Blood Moon, three critters turn Corrupt (the Corrupt Bunny, Corrupt Goldfish and Corrupt Penguin), a reference to the Corruption. They can also manually be turned Corrupt with Vile Powder.
See also
History
- 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:
- Hardmode Corruption, Crimson, and Hallow spread is now slowed after killing Plantera instead of any Mechanical Boss.
- Desktop 1.2:
- There is a chance for the Corruption biome to be replaced with the Crimson upon world generation.
- Corruptor projectile no longer spreads Corruption.
- Desktop 1.0.6:
- Thorny bushes growing from the 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-Release: Introduced.
- Mobile-Release: Introduced.
- 3DS-Release: Introduced.
References
- Forest
- Desert
- Ocean
- Snow
- Jungle
- Glowing Mushroom
- Evil biome (
- The Corruption
- The Crimson
-
- The Hallow
- Space
