Dungeon

The Dungeon entrance, including the Old Man.

A typical dungeon structure on a large map

The Dungeon is one of the highest level biomes in the game. It is either on the right or the left side of the map and can be in a variety of colors. The game randomly picks the color of the bricks and walls when the world is first created.

There is an Old Man guarding the entrance. If you talk to him during the night, he will turn into Skeletron. You should not enter the Dungeon until Skeletron has been defeated. If you try to enter without having defeated him, multiple Dungeon Guardians will appear once you reach a certain underground level inside the Dungeon. These skulls will act like Skeletron and do its spinning attack. If one hits you, it will instantly kill you.

Inside the Dungeon are chests, which can contain Dungeon-only loot (shown below), or the standard loot from underground chests. In order to open these a Golden Key is required. Books, Water Candles, Chain Lanterns and Spikes can also be found here. They can be looted with a hammer and used as decorations. The bound Mechanic may also be found in certain rooms here, which can be freed when spoken to.

Enemy spawn rates increase the deeper the player travels in the Dungeon.

Biome mechanics

A player is considered to be in the Dungeon if they're below the depth of -4 feet and standing in front of a naturally-placed Dungeon Wall.

Dungeon
Enemies	Unique treasures	Unique drops
Angry Bones Blazing Wheel Cursed Skull Dark Caster Dungeon Slime Spike Ball	Aqua Scepter Magic Missile Blue Moon Cobalt Shield Handgun Muramasa Shadow Key	Golden Key Bone (from Angry Bones, Cursed Skull and Dark Caster) Through plundering: Book Dungeon Brick Dungeon Brick Wall Spike Water Candle Chain Lantern Switch Water Bolt

Notes:

Anomaly: Sometimes the corruption may generate through a dungeon causing immediate access impossible without a nightmare pickaxe or higher, dynamite or bombs, or purification powder.

Anomaly: Occasionally, gold keys may come out of pots near the dungeon entrance.

• The Dungeon Entrance appears to be a vague reference to the entrances of the Temples in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.
• When one is digging out the dungeon bricks for building purposes, you may notice that the entrance to the dungeon has steps, buried by dirt/sand.
• The Dungeon seems to always be on the opposite side of the map to the Jungle. So, if you're looking for the dungeon, and run into jungle, turn around and go the other way.

History

• 1.1: Now generated with traps and light sources wired to switches.
• 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:
    • Blazing Wheel
    • Dungeon Slime
    • Spike Ball
• 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.
• Pre-Release: Introduced.