Terraria: Blood Moon Guide (2024)

Indie game smash hit Terraria, by developer Re-Logic, has been a well-known effort for many years, arguably on par with Minecraft. Having been in development since 2011, it has become an incredibly complex, in-depth game with much to learn and understand, as well as many obstacles to encounter and deal with.

Among these many obstacles, one such is the Blood Moon. It is specifically designed to only kick off after a certain point in the game, and knocks up enemy spawn rates, damage, health, and many other things, ensuring that there is a consistent challenge to even savvy players. Once the criteria are fulfilled, it will become a perpetual menace within the player's world, which will forever haunt the player and hang over them as a perpetual challenge to face and overcome.

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What Is A Blood Moon?

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A Blood Moon in Terraria is a world event that begins to occur once a certain list of criteria are fulfilled. These go as follows: a player in the world must have more than 120 health, the moon must not be in a new moon phase, something that can be kept track of with a cellphone, and a Blood Moon will never occur on the same night as an Eye of Cthulhu spawn.

A Blood Moon can also be manually initiated during nighttime with a Bloody Tear, a drop that players can get from killing enemy mobs during a Blood Moon, with the chance of drops scaling up with the difficulty of the mob killed. Without a Bloody Tear, a Blood Moon has a one in nine chance of occurring. That said, it is possible for Blood Moons to occur for more than four nights consecutively, or not occur for weeks.

During a Blood Moon, the world shifts: all water changes to red, and the player is warned of the impending event with a status message saying "The Blood Moon is rising...". Enemy spawn rates are significantly increased, but only on the surface. Furthermore, as if the existing additions are not enough, enemies become much more powerful. Zombies gain the ability to open doors, and many mobs gain a significant boost as well. On top of that, many new, dangerous Blood-Moon-themed mobs begin to spawn, not to mention many drops that can only be found during a Blood Moon.

How Do You Survive A Blood Moon In Terraria?

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The complex dangers of Terraria's Blood Moon are an ode to the developers' commitment to crafting an interesting game, and as is appropriate for any complex mechanic, there are several ways to approach a Blood Moon. The first thing to remember is that houses, which are generally very safe and capable of keeping away mobs, are incredibly vulnerable during Blood Moons. Zombie spawn rates especially skyrocket, and they gain additional behavior modifiers to attempt to find their way to the player, being very capable at navigation during Blood Moons.

First and foremost, Blood Moons are viewed by many players as an opportunity for mob farming. Since spawn rates are so high, it is incredibly easy to grind out kills for certain mobs, and resultantly unlock rewards and find unique drops. Items like the KO Cannon are incredibly rare, helpful drops that can be easily farmed during Blood Moons. While players won't need powerful mid-game weaponry like an Aknh Shield, it is important to be appropriately geared as being overwhelmed during a Blood Moon can be absolutely disastrous.

If players are unable to properly gear themselves, it is important to find somewhere safe. Building a small hovel is a good option, but a better option would be to go underground. During a Blood Moon, only surface spawn rates are increased, meaning that underground the impacts are hardly even noticed aside from the fact that water changes to the color red. It is worth noting, that if near the surface enemy mobs spawned by the Blood Moon may still attempt to find their way down to the player, something potentially very dangerous for the ill-prepared.

For the enterprising fisherman, they will find that the waters of Terraria are rampant with interesting finds during a Blood Moon, including dangerous enemies to fight like the Dreadnautilus, Zombie Mermen, and Hemoglobin Sharks. These enemies, as well as all Blood Moon enemies, can drop exciting loot. However, come dawn at 4:30 AM, all Blood Moon mobs will despawn, meaning players only have to survive the night.