Day and night cycle

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Picture showing: Sunrise, Midday, Sunset and Moonrise, Midnight, Moonset.
“

You should stay indoors at night. It is very dangerous to be wandering around in the dark.

— Emote Town Guide.gif The Guide

"Sun" redirects here. For the vanity mask, see Sun Mask.
For the cycle of the moon, see Moon phase.

The day and night cycle of the Terraria world refers to the rising and setting of the sun and moon, and the ways this can affect the world.

  • Day begins at 4:30 AM, while night begins at 7:30 PM.
  • Day and night each have their respective theme music in some surface biomes.
    • For the "Morning Rain" track, morning lasts from 4:30 AM to 7:30 AM.
  • Some surface enemies only spawn at night (see Enemies below).
  • Some NPCs sell unique items at night, like the Arms Dealer, who sells Illegal Gun Parts at night.

Note that the sun in Terraria rises at the left of the map, even though the left is referred to in-game as "West" (the same for right/East), e.g. when a Goblin Army, Frost Legion, or Pirate Invasion begins approaching.

Time

Times
Dawn
(Sunrise/Moonset)
 4:30 AM
Dusk
(Sunset/Moonrise)
 7:30 PM
  • All newly-created worlds begin at 8:15 AM.
  • One minute of in-game time lasts one second of real-world time, meaning one hour in-game lasts one minute real-world. Therefore, one full Terraria day lasts 24 real-world minutes (15 during the day, 9 during the night).
  • In-game time can be displayed with the following:
  • Using the Enchanted Sundial(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) or the Enchanted Moondial(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions), time can be sped up to the next dawn or dusk respectively (i.e. to 4:30 AM or 7:30 PM) once every seven days.
  • (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) Sleeping in Beds makes time pass at five times the normal rate: 1 in-game hour takes 12 real-world seconds instead of 1 real-world minute. A full day and night takes 288 real-world seconds (4 minutes 48 seconds).
    • This also works in multiplayer worlds, but requires all players to be in bed.
    • Sleeping is not possible during events or when bosses are alive.
  • Time can also be sped up Power Menu Time Speed Slider.png and frozen Power Menu Time Frozen.png using the power menu in Journey Mode(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions).
    • Time rate can be altered from 1× to 24× its normal rate (using 24×, an in-game day will last 1 real-world minute).
      • This effect will stack with a Bed. With just the Bed and Journey Mode, an in-game day can be passed in 12 real-world seconds. The Enchanted Sundial or Moondial negates the Bed and Journey Mode, and works on its own.
    • Furthermore, it is possible to set time to one of four presets:
      • Power Menu Time Dawn.png Dawn (4:30 AM)
      • Power Menu Time Noon.png Noon (12:00 PM)
      • Power Menu Time Dusk.png Dusk (7:30 PM)
      • Power Menu Time Midnight.png Midnight (12:00 AM)
      .

Enemies

At the surface layer, unique enemies spawn at night. Nocturnal enemies will run or fly away when day starts.

Additionally, the Eye of Cthulhu, Skeletron, The Twins, The Destroyer, Skeletron Prime, and Ocram(Old-gen console and 3DS versions) can only be summoned at night, and will flee or become nigh-unkillable at dawn. In contrast, King Slime can only spawn randomly during the day, though it can be summoned with the Slime Crown at any time.

The following enemies only spawn during the night:

Pre-Hardmode
Hardmode

Naturally, all enemies exclusive to the Blood Moon also only spawn at night, and all enemies exclusive to the Solar Eclipse only spawn during the day.

Achievements

Achievement You Can Do It!.png
You Can Do It! • “Survive your character's first full night.”
Survive your first full night. (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Category: Explorer Explorer
Achievement Bloodbath.png
Bloodbath • “Survive a blood moon, a nocturnal event where the rivers run red and monsters swarm aplenty.”
Survive your first Blood Moon. (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Category: Explorer Explorer
Achievement Kill the Sun.png
Kill the Sun • “Survive a solar eclipse, a day darker than night filled with creatures of horror.”
Survive a Solar Eclipse. (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Category: Explorer Explorer
Achievement Survivor.png
Survivor • “You have survived the first night!”
Survive your first full night. (Old-gen console version)
Achievement Red Moon Rises.png
Red Moon Rises • “You have survived the Blood Moon!”
Survive your first Blood Moon. (Old-gen console version)

Trivia

  • Desktop version Mobile version Nintendo Switch On the title screen, the sun or moon can be dragged around.
    • Before formal server software was released for Terraria, and while it was necessary to open a second window of Terraria to host a server, dragging the sun or moon around would directly change the time of day within the server.
    • When the sun or moon is in the improper place after being dragged, when the world loads the sun will slowly move towards the proper place instead of instantly snapping there. However, if the moon is present on the title screen instead of the sun or vice versa, the sun/moon will instantly snap to its normal location.
    • Doing this in the Desktop version Desktop version, Mobile version Mobile version, and Nintendo Switch version Nintendo Switch version will cause the title screen music to change from "Journey's End" to the old Title Screen music and changes the Terraria logo to the old logo.
  • While wearing Sunglasses, the sun appears to be wearing them as well. The sun will also have the old sun texture from before 1.2. Un-equipping the Sunglasses will cause it to revert. This has no functional effect.
  • Internally, the time counter is increased by 1 each tick[1], and is reset to zero at both dawn and dusk. During the daytime, the counter is allowed to go up to 54000, and during nighttime, it is only allowed to go up to 32400.
  • Despite the sun and moon both always having the same relative position to each other, there are still moon phases (there can be a new moon even though the moon is not visible).

History

  • Desktop 1.2:
    • The sun is now brighter.
    • Midnight is now darker.
  • Mobile 1.3.0.7:
    • Removed shortened nights in pre-Hardmode.
    • Time can now be sped up with the Enchanted Sundial.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ A tick is a time unit countable by the software. Most of Terraria's updating logic happens every tick. A tick has the length of 1/60th of a second, hence there are 60 ticks in a second and 3600 ticks in a minute.
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