Debuffs
Debuffs are negative status effects inflicted on a player or enemy during combat or through various items or the environment. Active debuffs are shown as icons below the hotbar, along with their remaining duration. Debuffs are almost universally negative or at least malign effects, in contrast with buffs, over which the player has much more control.
In general, damaging debuffs will stack: If a player is both Poisoned and On Fire!, they will take damage from both debuffs. However, Poisoned and Acid Venom do not stack, and Poisoned will take precedence over Acid Venom. Death always cancels any active debuffs.
Unlike buffs, debuffs cannot be canceled by right-clicking their icons. The Nurse can cancel debuffs at a cost of 750 per active debuff. This does not apply to the Potion Sickness debuff, because when trying to cancel the Potion Sickness debuff, the Nurse will not charge for recovery of the debuff and the debuff will not be canceled, but the Potion Sickness icon will disappear.
From enemies
Icon | Name | Effect | Tooltip | Duration |
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Bleeding Internal Buff ID: 30
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Prevents the player from regenerating life naturally. Since enemies cannot regenerate life naturally, they will lose life instead when they have the debuff. | Cannot regenerate life | 3–45 seconds 6–90 seconds |
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Poisoned Internal Buff ID: 20
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Players turn green, slowly lose life over time, and cannot regenerate life. | Slowly losing life | 3–10 seconds 2–20 seconds |
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On Fire! Internal Buff ID: 24
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Players are engulfed with flames, lose life over time, and cannot regenerate life. | Slowly losing life | 7–10 seconds 14–20 seconds |
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Acid Venom Internal Buff ID: 70
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Players turn purple, lose life over time, and cannot regenerate life. | Losing life | 8 seconds 16 seconds |
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Darkness Internal Buff ID: 22
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Players turn blue, and light brightness is lowered. | Decreased light vision | 15 seconds 5–30 seconds |
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Blackout Internal Buff ID: 80
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Severely lowers the brightness of light, making it nearly impossible to see. | Light vision severely reduced | 3 seconds 6 seconds |
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Silenced Internal Buff ID: 35
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Prevents the player from using anything that requires mana. | Cannot use items that require mana | 7 seconds 2.5–14 seconds |
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Cursed Internal Buff ID: 23
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Prevents the player from using anything. | Cannot use any items | 4 seconds 1.25–8 seconds |
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Confused Internal Buff ID: 31
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Game controls are switched. | Movement is reversed | 7 seconds 2.5–14 seconds |
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Slow Internal Buff ID: 32
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Slows down the player's speed. | Movement speed is reduced | 5–16 seconds 0.5–32 seconds |
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Oozed Internal Buff ID: 197
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Player speed is severely reduced. | Movement is significantly reduced | 14 seconds 14 seconds |
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Weak Internal Buff ID: 33
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Causes the player's physical abilities to decrease. | Physical abilities are decreased | 1–5 minutes 18.75 seconds – 10 minutes |
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Broken Armor Internal Buff ID: 36
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Halves the player's defense. | Defense is cut in half | 10 seconds – 2 minutes 16.25 seconds – 4 minutes |
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Withered Armor Internal Buff ID: 195
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Halves the player's defense. | Your armor is lowered! | 5 seconds 10 seconds |
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Withered Weapon Internal Buff ID: 196
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Reduces all player-inflicted damage by 50%. | Your attacks are weaker! | 5 seconds |
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Horrified Internal Buff ID: 37
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Causes the player to die if they escape the Underworld. | You have seen something nasty, there is no escape. | While fighting Wall of Flesh |
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The Tongue Internal Buff ID: 38
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Pulls the player, through tiles, directly in front of the Wall of Flesh. | You are being sucked into the mouth | While in contact with The Tongue |
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Cursed Inferno Internal Buff ID: 39
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Ignites the player with cursed flames that deal damage over time. Cursed flames can not be extinguished by water. | Losing life | 7–8 seconds 14–16 seconds |
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Ichor Internal Buff ID: 69
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Causes the player to glow yellow along with the loss of 15 / 20 defense. | Reduced defense | 15 seconds 30 seconds |
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Frostburn Internal Buff ID: 44
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Affected entities lose life over time and cannot regenerate life. | It's either really hot or really cold. Either way it REALLY hurts | 1–8 seconds |
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Chilled Internal Buff ID: 46
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Slows down the player's speed. | Your movement speed has been reduced | 10–45 seconds 20–90 seconds |
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Frozen Internal Buff ID: 47
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Prevents the player from moving or using any item. | You can't move! | 1–1.5 second 2–3 seconds |
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Webbed Internal Buff ID: 149
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Causes the player to be stuck in the spot where they were hit. Players are still allowed to use items while this effect is ongoing. | You are stuck | 1 second |
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Stoned Internal Buff ID: 156
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Prevents the player from moving horizontally or using any item. The player will take increased fall damage, which will not be negated by wings or the Lucky Horseshoe. | You are completely petrified! | 1–4 seconds |
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Distorted Internal Buff ID: 164
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Causes the player to float upwards and downwards based on their position. | Gravity around you is distorted | 6–12 seconds 5–9 seconds |
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Obstructed Internal Buff ID: 163
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Darkens the screen almost completely, except for a small area around the player and causes the player to bleed. | You can't see! | While being attacked by a Brain Suckler |
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Electrified Internal Buff ID: 144
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Causes the player to take significant damage when moving and a smaller amount of damage when not moving. | Moving hurts! | 4–8 seconds |
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Feral Bite Internal Buff ID: 148
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Increases player damage but decreases health regeneration and applies other random debuffs. | Increased damage, Decreased life regen, Causes status effects | 3–90 seconds |
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Moon Bite Internal Buff ID: 145
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Prevents the player from healing via Vampire Knives or Spectre Hood. | You are unable to absorb healing effects | 14 seconds 16 seconds |
From items and environment
Icon | Name | Effect | Tooltip | Duration |
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Mana Sickness Internal Buff ID: 94
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Magic damage is reduced by 25%, the amount of damage reduced is reduced by 1% every 1/5 second. | Magic damage reduced by | 5–10 seconds |
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Potion Sickness Internal Buff ID: 21
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Prevents the player from drinking healing potions and restoration potions. | Cannot consume anymore healing items | 1 minute (45 seconds with a Philosopher's Stone/Charm of Myths) |
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Chaos State Internal Buff ID: 88
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Causes the player to lose 1/7th / 1/6th of their maximum health if they use the Rod of Discord again while the debuff is active. | Using the Rod of Discord will take life | 6 seconds |
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Suffocation Internal Buff ID: 68
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Players lose life over time while buried in Sand, Slush, or Silt. | Losing life | While in contact with falling Silt/Sand/Slush |
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Burning Internal Buff ID: 67
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Players burn, losing life, life regeneration speed, and movement speed. | Losing life and slowed movement | While in contact with Meteorite, Hellstone, or Hellstone Brick |
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Tipsy Internal Buff ID: 25
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Decreases defense, increases melee stats. | Increased melee abilities, lowered defense | 2 minutes |
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Lovestruck Internal Buff ID: 119
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Affected entities emit cosmetic red hearts. | You are in love! | 30 seconds |
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Stinky Internal Buff ID: 120
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Green fumes appear around the player, a purely visual effect. | You smell terrible | 30 seconds |
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Water Candle Internal Buff ID: 86
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Increases the spawn rate and max number of enemies on screen. | Increased monster spawn rate | When near a placed Water Candle |
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Shadow Candle Internal Buff ID: 350
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Nullifies the enemy spawn reduction benefits of towns in the area. | Dispels the peace of towns | When near a placed Shadow Candle |
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Mighty Wind Internal Buff ID: 194
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Pushed based on wind direction. | The wind moves you around! | Infinite while in a Sandstorm |
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Creative Shock Internal Buff ID: 199
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Cannot build or break blocks. | You have lost the power of creation! | Infinite during the Old One's Army event |
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Peckish Internal Buff ID: 332
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No actual effect. | You could eat, but it's not so bad. | While in the first stage of Hunger, for 5 minutes. |
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Hungry Internal Buff ID: 333
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Decrease the player's stats. | You are quite hungry and feeling weak. | While in the second stage of Hunger, for 5 minutes. |
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Starving Internal Buff ID: 334
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Decrease the player's stats. Health is lost equal to 2% of the player's maximum health every second. | You are starving to death! Eat immediately! | While in the third stage of Hunger, until food is eaten or the player dies. |
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Cerebral Mindtrick Internal Buff ID: 321
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Increases the player's critical strike chance and summon damage by 10%. Cannot use Brain of Confusion to dodge. | Increased critical chance | 4 seconds |
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Shimmering Internal Buff ID: 353
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Causes the player to phase through all blocks until they reach an opening. | You've gone insubstantial! | Lasts until the player has reached an opening or when ▲ Up, ◀ Left, ▼ Down, or ▶ Right is pressed after 20 seconds have passed. |
Other debuffs
Icon | Name | Effect | Tooltip | Duration |
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Midas Internal Buff ID: 72
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Causes affected enemies to drop more coins than usual on death. | Drop more money on death | 15 minutes |
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Oiled Internal Buff ID: 204
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Fires are more effective. | Taking more damage from being on fire | 4–9 seconds |
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Stunned Internal Buff ID: m200
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Completely immobilizes affected enemies. | Paralyzed by love | 5–7 seconds |
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Wet Internal Buff ID: 103
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Player drips water, a purely visual effect. | You are dripping water | 30 seconds |
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Slime Internal Buff ID: 137
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Player drips blue goo and gains a blue tint, a purely visual effect. | You are slimy and sticky | 30 seconds |
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Sparkle Slime Internal Buff ID: 320
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Player drips pink goo and sparkles, a purely visual effect. | You are slimy and sparkly | 30 seconds |
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Shadowflame Internal Buff ID: 153
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Deals 15 damage per second to the target. | Losing life | 5–8 seconds |
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Betsy's Curse Internal Buff ID: 203
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Defense reduced by 40. | Defense is lowered | 5 seconds |
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Penetrated Internal Buff ID: 169
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Causes affected enemies lasting damage for up to 15 seconds. | Bleeding Out | 15 seconds |
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Daybroken Internal Buff ID: 189
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Causes affected enemies lasting damage for up to 15 seconds. | Incinerated by solar rays | 15 seconds |
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Celled Internal Buff ID: 183
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Causes affected enemies lasting damage. | being eaten by cells | 6–9 seconds |
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Dryad's Bane Internal Buff ID: 186
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Causes affected enemies lasting damage. | The power of nature compells you | While in Dryad's leaf shield. |
Unobtainable debuffs
Icon | Name | Effect | Tooltip | Notes |
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Dazed Internal Buff ID: 160
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Move at one third speed horizontally. Reduced jump height. | Movement is greatly slowed | Unobtainable during normal gameplay |
Notes
- The duration of the following debuffs, if inflicted on players, is increased by 100% in Expert Mode (i.e. doubled) and by 150% in Master Mode:[1]
- Furthermore, players in Expert worlds are inflicted with the Chilled debuff when they enter water in a Snow biome. The Chilled debuff lasts for as long as the player is in the water plus 5 seconds after getting out.
- Players can inflict the Acid Venom, Betsy's Curse, Bleeding, Blood Butchered, Confused, Cursed Inferno, Daybroken, Frostbite, Frostburn, Hellfire, Ichor, On Fire!, Penetrated, Poisoned, Shadowflame, and Stinky debuffs on most enemies. An enemy is limited to 20 / 5 active debuffs at any one point. The following weapons inflict these debuffs:
Trivia
- The maximum possible DPS that can be inflicted on an enemy with damaging debuffs is 1331. This can be achieved by consuming a Flask of Cursed Flames, switching between wearing Frost armor and Huntress armor/Red Riding armor and a Magma Stone, and using the Daybreak, Shadowflame Knife, Venom Staff, while having a Imp Staff, a Hornet Staff, a Stardust Cell Staff minion, and an Explosive Trap active, against a target that has been Oiled (due to the Explosive Trap) and within the range of Dryad's aura in a world with all bosses defeated.
History
- Desktop 1.4.4:
- Player buff/debuff maximum increased from 22 to 44.
- Enemy debuff maximum increased from 5 to 20.
- Shadow Candle introduced.
- Desktop 1.4.1: Hellfire and Frostbite introduced.
- Desktop 1.3.4: Betsy's Curse, Creative Shock, Withered Weapon, and Withered Armor introduced.
- Desktop 1.3.3: Mighty Wind introduced.
- Desktop 1.3.0.5: Fixed bug that caused Distorted to freeze players instead of changing their movement pattern.
- Desktop 1.3.0.1: Stoned, Shadowflame, Distorted, and Feral Bite introduced.
- Desktop 1.2.3.1: Mana Sickness introduced.
- Desktop 1.2.1.2:
- Added Chaos State debuff.
- Fixed a bug that was causing monsters to only show one debuff on multiplayer.
- Monsters that transform now correctly keep their debuffs.
- Desktop 1.2.1.1: Water Candle introduced.
- Desktop 1.2: Burning, Blackout, Chilled, Frozen, Venom, Frostburn, Ichor Debuff and Suffocation debuffs introduced.
- Desktop 1.1: Bleeding, Broken Armor, Confused, Cursed Inferno, Horrified, Silenced, Slow, The Tongue, and Weak debuffs introduced.
- Desktop 1.0.6: Introduced.
- Console-Release: Introduced.
- Switch 1.0.711.6: Introduced with changes up to Desktop 1.3.0.1.
- Mobile 1.3.0.7: Damaging debuffs no longer deal percentage-based damage.
- Mobile-Release: Introduced.
- 3DS-Release: Introduced.