Life Drain

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Desktop/Console/Mobile-Only Content: This information applies only to the Desktop, Console, and Mobile versions of Terraria.
Life Drain
  • Life Drain item sprite
Autofire
Stack digit 1.png
Statistics
Type
Damage35 (Magic)
Knockback2.5 (Very weak)
Mana10
Critical chance4%
Use time12 (Very fast)
Velocity10
TooltipDrains life from enemies
RarityRarity level: 5
Sell8 GC
Research1 required
Grants Buff
BuffLife DrainLife Drain(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Buff tooltipIncreased life regeneration
DurationUntil all enemies are killed or usage of Life Drain ceases
Projectile created
  • Life Drain
    Life Drain
  • Internal Item ID: 3006 (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
  • Internal Buff ID: 151 (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
  • Internal Projectile ID: 476
Obtained from Obtained from
Classic Mode.png Classic
Expert Mode.png Expert
Master Mode.png Master
EntityQty.Rate
Crimson MimicCrimson Mimic2.pngCrimson Mimic120%
The Life Drain increasing health regeneration by damaging Werewolves.

The Life Drain is a Hardmode magic weapon that deals continuous damage to all enemies near the cursor's position, as long as the distance between the player and the cursor is unobstructed. A stream of red particles flows toward the player from each targeted enemy. While the weapon is in use, the user receives the Life Drain buff, which adds 1.5 health per second to existing health regeneration, plus 0.5 health per second for every two extra enemies hit,[1] while also increasing the ramp-up speed of natural regeneration greatly.[2] Enemies that are being damaged by the Life Drain additionally take 25 damage per second.[3] The Life Drain has a 1/5 (20%) chance of being dropped by Crimson Mimics.

Its best modifier is Mythical for damage output, or Celestial for mana conservation.

Notes

  • The Life Drain buff increases the player's health regeneration as long as it is hitting enemies. It does not depend on the red particles making contact with the player; these are merely a visual effect.
  • The weapon can hit enemies virtually anywhere on the screen, provided an unobstructed line of sight from the player to the cursor.
  • The Life Drain damages all enemies that are within 12.5 tiles horizontally and vertically of the cursor's position.[4]
    • While the player must aim at an area within their line of sight, the Life Drain can occasionally still damage enemies through walls this way.
  • Internally, enemies are also granted the Life Drain buff when struck. However, it acts like a debuff instead, dealing 25 damage per second.[5]
    • Enemies that are immune to all debuffs cannot get this buff. Therefore, they do not take damage over time and do not contribute to the player's increased health regeneration.

Tips

  • The Life Drain is not as effective against single enemies but it is a very effective weapon for crowd control, especially against the Goblin Army and Pirate Invasion.
  • The Life Drain employs a significantly different mechanic from the Vampire Knives, which actually heals the user based on damage dealt. This weapon instead applies a life regeneration buff while enemies are being damaged which increases in power for every two additional enemies within its effect, but provides slower healing than the Vampire Knives. Both weapons are, however, very thematically similar, being based around stealing health and focused around the Crimson biome. The Life Drain has one core advantage over the Vampire Knives, and that is that the radius of damage that can be dealt is unaffected by single block walls, so keeping a type of box of blocks around the player or standing near a wall/door that has enemies on the other side will assure the enemies die easily if swarmed. The Celestial Magnet and its upgrades and the Treasure Magnet help this even further as they increase the radius in which Stars can be picked up, allowing continuous usage of the Life Drain as long as enemies drop Stars or near a Star Statue on a timer.
  • The Life Drain is a useful weapon against worm enemies since it counts each segment as an individual target. This does indeed work against The Destroyer, though due to the boss and its Probes being immune to all debuffs, the Life Drain will not increase the player's life regeneration.
  • The Life Drain does affect Target Dummies as if they were normal enemies, allowing players to heal more quickly after respawning without needing to pay the Nurse.
  • Since the Life Drain buff is not a direct healing effect, the Moon Lord's Moon Bite debuff will not interfere with it in any way.
  • As the Life Drain will always consume a set amount of mana, regardless of how many enemies it damages, it is highly efficient when attacking huge hordes of enemies.
  • Because healing and the damage over time are not affected by magic damage multipliers, this weapon can still be useful to other classes, converting the otherwise useless mana to health.

Trivia

  • The Life Drain may be a reference to the Life Leech weapon from the 1997 first-person shooter video game Blood, as it bears a similar appearance and also works by draining life in a similar fashion.
  • The icon of the Hearty Meal buff is the same as that of the Life Drain.

History

  • Desktop 1.4.1:
    • Damage increased from 30 to 35.
    • No longer consumes mana when being used, but not hitting anything.

References

  1. Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method UpdateLifeRegen() in Terraria.Player.cs.
  2. By default, the natural regeneration counter increases by 1 per tick, but the Life Drain buff increases this counter by 5 per tick plus 1 per two enemies affected. This makes it so that the Life Drain increases the recovery rate by several times.
  3. Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method UpdateNPC_BuffApplyDOTs() in Terraria.NPC.cs.
  4. Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method SetDefaults() in Terraria.Projectile.cs.
  5. Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, methods StatusNPC() in Terraria.Projectile.cs, UpdateNPC_BuffSetFlags() in Terraria.NPC.cs, and UpdateNPC_BuffApplyDOTs() in Terraria.NPC.cs.