Desert

See also: Underground Desert

The heat distortion effect added in 1.3.3

The Desert is a sandy biome. Each map will generally contain at least one Desert area. The main Desert, present in every world, will be larger and will house the Underground Desert biome beneath. Pyramids can rarely appear in Desert biomes. Pools of water may rarely appear in the desert, which take on a sandy yellow (on  Old Chinese and  tModLoader Legacy) or turquoise (on  PC,  Console,  Mobile, and  tModLoader) color.

On the  PC version,  Console version,  Mobile version, and  tModLoader version, the Oasis mini biome can be found inside the Desert, which includes palm trees and a big pool of water in the middle.

On the  PC version,  Console version,  Mobile version, and  tModLoader version, the main desert has a 33.33*1/3 (33.33%) chance of containing some kind of entrance to the Underground Desert below. These entrances come in four varieties: Chambers, Anthill, Larva Hole, and Pit.If spawning this way, some of the Anthills or Larva Holes may just contain Antlion Eggs and not lead to the Underground Desert. On the  Old Chinese version and  tModLoader 1.3-Legacy version, the main desert will always have an Pit-type entrance.

An area is considered a Desert biome if there at least 1500 Sand Blocks, causing the water and background to change, but Desert plants and enemies can spawn on even a single block of sand. Deserts are overridden by most other biomes, including the Ocean. Rain will occur in Deserts just as in any other surface biome. On the  PC version,  Console version,  Mobile version,  tModLoader version, and  tModLoader 1.3-Legacy version of Terraria, Sandstorms may also occur periodically /when wind speed is over 30 mph , which cause special enemies to spawn as well as pushing the player according to the direction of the wind.

During Hardmode, the increased spread of the Corruption/Crimson and Hallow is likely to eventually convert any normal Deserts. Corruption/Crimson Deserts spawned upon world creation may also be turned into Hallow ones if they are inside the world part that is instantly converted at the beginning of Hardmode. All variations will be similar to their main biomes (e.g. The Corruption or The Hallow): the music theme is the same, the enemies are the same (except for Mummy variants and sandstorm enemies), and the background is just slightly different. The sand will be replaced by ebonsand, crimsand, or pearlsand. Although their color will change, cacti still drop Cactus when cut, and Waterleaf are also able to grow in a Hallowed Desert.

• 

  Corrupted Desert

• 

  Crimson Desert

• 

  Hallowed Desert

• 

  Oasis Desert

Contents

See Underground Desert, Sandstorm, Pyramid, and Oasis for additional content related to the Desert.

Characters

Pre-Hardmode:

• ​Sand Slime
  (only on )
• ​Vulture
• ​Antlion
• ​Albino Antlion

Hardmode:

• ​Mummy
• ​Light Mummy
  (Hallowed)
• ​Dark Mummy
  (Corrupted, Crimson)
• ​Blood Mummy
  (Crimson)
• ​Shadow Mummy
  (Corrupted)
• ​Spectral Mummy
  (Hallowed)

Critters:

• ​Scorpion
• ​Black Scorpion

Unique Drops

From Normal, Dark, Blood, and Light Mummies:

• ​Mummy set
  (rare)

From normal Mummies:

• ​Fast Clock
  (rare)

From Blood and Dark Mummies:

• ​Dark Shard
• ​Megaphone
  (rare)
• ​Blindfold
  (rare)

From Light and Spectral Mummies:

• ​Light Shard
• ​Trifold Map
  (rare)

From Shadow Mummies :

• ​Dark Shard

From Antlions and Albino Antions:

• ​Antlion Mandible

From Antlions:

• ​Banana Split
  (rare)

From any enemy in Hardmode:

• ​Desert Key
  (1/2500 chance, only on )

From Terrain:

• ​Sand Block
• ​Ebonsand Block
• ​Crimsand Block
• ​Pearlsand Block
• ​Hardened Sand Block
• ​Hardened Ebonsand Block
• ​Hardened Crimsand Block
• ​Hardened Pearlsand Block

From Vegetation:

• ​Cactus
• ​Waterleaf
• ​Pink Prickly Pear

For Sale

From the Painter:

• ​Secret of the Sands

Any Happy NPC Shop:

• ​Desert Pylon

Music

• ​Desert
• ​Desert (Otherworldly)

Entrances to the Underground Desert

     

PC/Console/Mobile/Old Chinese/tModLoader/tModLoader 1.3-Legacy-Only Content: This section's information applies only to the PC, Console, Mobile, Old Chinese, tModLoader, and tModLoader Legacy versions of Terraria.

On the  PC version,  Console version,  Mobile version, and  tModLoader version, there is a 33.33*1/3 (33.33%) chance that the main desert will generate with one of four types of structures that lead towards the Underground Desert. They are referred to as: Chambers, Anthill, Larva Hole and Pit:

• The Chambers consist of of a zigzagging downward tunnel with one or two small rooms connected to the corners.
• Pits are large funnels generated at the center of the desert.
• Anthills are upward cones with narrow downward holes in the center. For this entrance type, 2-3 Anthills will generate across the surface of the main desert.
• Larva Holes are downward funnels with narrow holes in the center. For this entrance type, 2-3 Larva Holes will generate across the surface of the main desert.

On the  Old Chinese version and  tModLoader 1.3-Legacy version, there is a 100% chance that the main desert will generate with a large Pit-type entrance.

• 

  Surface Desert types. From left-to-right, top-to-bottom: Oasis; Pit; Larva Holes; Anthills; Oasis and Larva; Oasis and Anthills; Chambers; a featureless Desert; and two connected Deserts (one with an Oasis. Seemingly faulty desert generation).

• 

  The Chambers-type entrance to the Underground Desert.

• 

  An individual Larva Hole (left) and Anthill (right).

• 

  A Pit, as of 1.4.0.1.

• 

  A world view of an Underground Desert from 1.3 with a Pyramid. Notice the large Pit on top.

NPC Happiness

	Desert
Loved by	n/a
Liked by	​Arms Dealer ​Steampunker ​Dye Trader
Disliked by	​Merchant ​Dryad ​Angler ​Zoologist
Hated by	​Santa Claus

For more information, see NPC happiness.

Trivia

• The Desert is the least popular biome for housing (discounting invalid housing biomes like the Corruption and the Crimson). A total of 5 NPCs either hate or dislike living in it, more than any other biome.
• The Desert, along with the Glowing Mushroom biome, are the only surface biomes to not have a biome-exclusive Boss.
• The Desert is the only biome not to contain any special fishing catches.
• According to the Bestiary entry for the Sand Shark, a saltwater river ran through the Desert in ancient times.

Gallery

Backgrounds

This content is transcluded from Biome backgrounds § Desert.

• 

  Classic sand dunes

• 

  Sand dunes with animal skeletons

• 

  Sand dunes with rocks and buttes

• 

  Sand dunes with cacti and a few ruins

• 

  Dry flat desert over a cliff, with a few dead trees and bones

History

 PC version

• Desktop 1.4.0.1:
  • Added three new backgrounds.
  • Added Otherworldly Desert track.
  • Added Blood Mummy.
  • Oasis biome now generates in deserts.
  • Added Vulture as the ambience in the Desert background.
  • Now generate less commonly and larger with more natural dunes.
  • Banana Split now drops from Antlions, Antlion Chargers and Antlion Swarmers.
  • Desert Pylon is now sold by any Happy NPC Shop.
  • Coconuts and Bananas now drop from Shaking Palm Trees outside of Oasis.

• Desktop 1.3.3:
  • Added Sandstorm event.
  • Added a heat distortion visual effect.

• Desktop 1.3.0.1: Added Underground Desert, including new enemies and blocks.

• Desktop 1.2.3: Fixed a bug where Crimsand deserts were not making the water show up red.

• Desktop 1.2:
  • Water in deserts is now yellow.
  • Now has its specific music.

• Desktop 1.1:
  • Cacti no longer damage the player.
  • Now has own specific background.

• Desktop 1.0.6:
  • Cacti no longer cause knockback when damaging players and no longer destroy blocks above when growing.
  • Desert spawn slightly farther away from the initial spawn point.

• Desktop 1.0.5: Cactus, Waterleaf, Antlion, and Vulture added to desert biomes.

• Desktop 1.0.2: Sand no longer spawns within a certain distance of the spawn location. This removes the chance of spawning in a desert with no wood to use.

• Desktop-Release: Introduced.

 Console version

• Console-Release: Introduced.

 Nintendo Switch version

• Switch 1.0.711.6: Introduced.

 Mobile version

• Mobile 1.4.0.5.0: Added all features and changes from Desktop 1.3.3 to 1.4.0.1.

• Mobile-Release: Introduced.

Nintendo 3DS version

• 3DS-Release: Introduced.