The Underworld

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BiomeBannerUnderworld.png

The Underworld (also known as Hell) is the deepest layer of the world. It is a large, open cavern that stretches across the bottom of the world, with a ceiling of Ash Blocks and a lower terrain of large lava pools, Ash Blocks, and Hellstone. It also contains numerous Ruined Houses, which are natural structures containing unique furniture and loot. The Wall of Flesh boss can be summoned in the Underworld; defeating it will cause the world to convert to Hardmode.

The Underworld contains many hazards, such as large pools of lava and various difficult enemies. Hellstone, a valuable crafting material only obtainable in the Underworld, inflicts the Burning debuff when touched and releases half a tile of lava when mined. Further, because the Wall of Flesh is summoned by dropping a Guide Voodoo Doll into lava, killing a Voodoo Demon positioned over lava can inadvertently summon it.

The middle two-quarters of the Underworld contains several Ruined Houses, which are towers made from Obsidian Bricks and, less commonly, Hellstone Bricks that contain Shadow Chests, Hellforges, Pots, Obsidian furniture, and other lootable items. Shadow Chests require the Shadow Key to open (acquired in the Dungeon's Locked Gold Chests, Golden Lock Boxes(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions), or dropped from Arch Wyverns(Old-gen console and 3DS versions)) and contain unique Underworld-only loot. (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) The outer edges of the Underworld features an Ash tree forest covered with Ash grass.

Contents

Characters
After defeating any mechanical boss:
Unique Treasures
Unique Drops
  • HotdogHotdog(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)(uncommon)
From any enemy after defeating Skeletron and before entering Hardmode:
  • CascadeCascade(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)(1/400 (0.25%) chance)
From any enemy in Hardmode:
  • Living Fire BlockLiving Fire Block(Desktop, Console, Old-gen console and Mobile versions)(1/50 (2%) chance)
  • Hel-FireHel-Fire(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)(1/400 (0.25%) chance)
Music

NPC happiness (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)

UndergroundUnderground / CavernCavern / The UnderworldThe Underworld
Loved byn/a
Disliked by
Hated byn/a

For more information, see NPC happiness.

Notes

  • The Underworld starts at about 1500 tiles (3000 feet) underground in a large world, at about 1000 tiles (2000 feet) underground in a medium world, and at about 650 tiles (1300 feet) underground in a small world.
  • If any water enters the Underworld, it will quickly evaporate. Therefore, attempting to generate Obsidian here is usually not very effective, due to most of the water evaporating before touching any lava. However, a Water Bucket can still be used to quench somewhat smaller amounts of lava.
  • On the Desktop version Desktop version, Console version Console version, Mobile version Mobile version, and Nintendo 3DSNintendo 3DS version version, the music track The Underworld plays ((Desktop, Console, Mobile and 3DS versions) "Hell" Music Box) in the Underworld. On the Old-gen console version Old-gen console version, the music track Eerie plays.
  • No background or foreground shaders can be applied by anything in the Underworld aside from normal light sources. This is apparent when fighting the Moon Lord(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) here, as blocks are not darkened, and the background is still visible, unlike in the rest of the world.
  • On Old-gen console version Old-gen console, the lava flowing through the cracks of the walls will not appear if a player uses any weapon that produces light on its own but if the weapon used is a sword that is able to shoot a beam like the Frostbrand, the beam will make the lava appear in the cracks.

Achievements

Achievement It's Getting Hot in Here.png
It's Getting Hot in Here • Spelunk deep enough to reach the molten underworld.
Reach The Underworld for the first time. (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Category: Explorer Explorer
Achievement Rock Bottom (PC).png
Rock Bottom • The only way is up!
Reach the very bottom of The Underworld. (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Category: Explorer Explorer
Achievement Rock Bottom.png
Rock Bottom • “Reach the bottom of the World”
Reach the very bottom of The Underworld. (Old-gen console version)
Achievement To Hell and Back.png
To Hell and Back • “You have gone to The Underworld and back without dying!”
Go to The Underworld and back without dying. (Old-gen console version)
Achievement Hellevator.png
Hellevator • “Go from the surface to The Underworld in under a minute.”
Go from the surface to The Underworld in less than 1 minute. PlayStation 3

Tips

For more tips on navigating the Underworld, see Guide:Surviving in the Underworld.
  • It is highly recommended to equip protective accessories when visiting the Underworld.
    • An Obsidian Skull or any of its upgrades will allow walking on Hellstone and Hellstone Bricks.
    • An Obsidian Rose can also reduce the damage from lava.
    • A Lava Charm or any of its upgrades will protect from brief contact with lava, and can also be combined with other accessories, culminating in the Terraspark Boots. Note that in Desktop version Desktop version, Console version Console version, and Mobile version Mobile version, these charms have become much rarer, appearing solely in 2.5% of lower-Cavern Gold Chests, and 2.5% of Obsidian and Hellstone Crates.
    • On the Desktop version Desktop version, Console version Console version, and Mobile version Mobile version, the Terraspark Boots represent a nearly sovereign remedy for the hazards of lava. While they do not provide complete protection against swimming in lava, they allow walking on its surface without harm, and they do offer 7 seconds of protection (extendable by other accessories) for a player who is accidentally dunked. They also protect the player from taking damage when walking on Hellstone or Hellstone Bricks. (Or Meteorite, but that's rare in the Underworld.) Combining all this with their speed and limited flight, they allow moving around the Underworld with fair impunity.
  • A very common method to quickly travel to the Underworld is to dig a hellevator, a vertical shaft from the surface to the Underworld.
  • Minions are a very effective way to counter Fire Imps and Red Devils. An Imp Staff is the best choice pre-Hardmode. Be careful not to let the minions kill any Voodoo Demons above lava pools, as a dropped Guide Voodoo Doll touching lava causes the Guide to die and the Wall of Flesh to spawn.
  • Since the Underworld spans the entire length of the world, it is easy to locate the Underground Jungle, Corruption/Crimson, and Hallow biomes. The bottoms of these biomes are often seen at the roof of the Underworld.
  • Despite the sequential boss difficulty, it is much easier to survive in the Underworld than in the Dungeon or Underground Jungle due to the much slower spawn rate. In contrast to those biomes, the Underworld can be explored fairly safely. When starting Hardmode, the Underworld is one of the safest areas of the world because there are no new or more difficult enemies spawning there until defeating a mechanical boss causes Lava Bats and Red Devils to spawn.
  • One way to avoid most of the Underworld spawns (except Fire Imps and Bone Serpents) is to stay in confined quarters while mining Hellstone. Ruined Houses are usually a safe base to tunnel to Hellstone veins from. With care, a player can tunnel directly from shelter through the ash, leaving spaces for lava to drain away from the player as they mine. Obsidian Platforms and Water Buckets will be helpful for this method.
  • The Ruined Houses are large enough to allow some enemies to spawn inside, but replacing their background walls will prevent that. Tunnels and bunkers will also help.
  • It is beneficial to seal all lava pools, because that prevents both inadvertent Wall of Flesh summonings and accidentally falling into a pool. Furthermore, it serves as terrain preparation for the Wall of Flesh fight.
  • (Old-gen console and 3DS versions) Avoid using Stone Blocks for bunkers or bridges, because the smashing of Altars may convert one or more Stone Blocks into Ebonstone/Crimstone or Pearlstone. While these biomes do not usually appear in the Underworld and cannot infect the usual blocks there, introduced stone bridges or shelters can spread the contagious biome following the block conversion. If enough stone blocks were placed, it might convert enough of them to produce spawns from that biome. These stone blocks may also be difficult to find when trying to purify the world completely. By contrast, the native Ash Blocks are incorruptible and are suitable for bridges, or in any case, processed Stone Slabs from the Heavy Work Bench or using any sort of Wood or brick will avoid all problems from biome spreading.
  • The native Underworld spawns can be overridden by placing at least 75 blocks of Meteorite, effectively creating an artificial Meteorite biome.
  • It is possible to flood parts of the Underworld by digging channels to dump an ocean over the lava. The water will eventually evaporate, but not before it converts the lava surface to Obsidian, sealing off many lava pools.
  • Luck can be increased in the Underworld by using Bone Torches.
  • In Expert Mode, killed Lava Slimes will cause lava to pour out from where they die, so it is recommended to have the Royal Gel accessory equipped as it will make Lava Slimes friendly.

Trivia

Fire flower icon in the corner of the Underworld on 3DSNintendo 3DS version.
  • (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) When the player gets close to the Underworld, the screen will start to waver slightly, like the shimmering caused by heat.
  • In the Nintendo 3DSNintendo 3DS version version, there is an icon of the Fire Flower power-up from the 1990 side-scrolling platform game Super Mario World in the bottom-right corner of the Underworld.
  • (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) Just above the Underworld (if backgrounds are switched on), there will be the old background that the Underworld used to have.
  • There was originally going to be a "Hell alternative" that would have had the color schemes from hell in Disney's Hercules.[1] However, the idea was scrapped.

Gallery

Backgrounds

This content is transcluded from Biome backgrounds § Underworld backgrounds.

Unlike the underground backgrounds, these have multiple layers like surface backgrounds do.

History

  • Desktop 1.4.4: Added Ash tree forest that spawns on the outer edges of the Underworld
  • Desktop 1.2.3: Fixed the bug where removing walls in the Underworld would not update the map.
  • Desktop 1.0.6:
    • Ruined Houses now spawn differently. They often spawn as all Obsidian Brick, and they can now get tall.
    • Clumps of Ash are now filled with more lava pockets, making mining Hellstone more of a challenge.
    • Gold Chests are now replaced with Shadow Chests which now hold most underworld loot.