Guide:Surviving in the Underworld

Surviving in The Underworld

The Underworld is one of the most dangerous biomes in Terraria, and reasonably so; the best items are found here and the best materials mined for high tier items, such as the Molten Armor set. This guide will cover how to survive long enough to gather these precious resources and go home safely, as well as an exploration guide. In the Underworld, there are currently 6 monsters that spawn regularly: Hellbats, Fire Imps, Lava Slimes, Demons, Voodoo Demons, and Bone Serpents. In your first trip to the Underworld, you should be equipped with good armor, such as Necro Armor or Shadow Armor, and an Obsidian Skull is a necessity. The Hellstone in the Underworld, one of the main reasons to go there, is extremely hot and will burn you if an Obsidian Skull is not equipped. Be sure to have an Orb of Light, because even thought the Underworld is lit somewhat well, you always want to be sure of what is near you. As for weapons, you should go with your strongest weapons, such as a Muramasa, Blue Moon, Magic Missile, and for rangers, a high tier bow and at least Flaming Arrows. If you are more of a mana character, bring the Aqua Scepter along as well and fire in short bursts if Jungle Armor is not equipped and be sure to have one or two Band of Starpower. Flippers are also strongly advised because if timed right, you can swim in lava without being harmed by it, but only once. This may save your life and give you time to grapple a nearby block. Plenty of expendable blocks, such as dirt or stone, are advised for SHORT BRIDGING. Making long bridges in the underworld will allow a Bone Serpent or Hellbat to catch you and knock you into the lava. For large pools of lava, either bring Rocket Boots and fly over them, or stick to the ashy ceiling and grapple over it. In the Underworld, the Hellstone Brick "houses" with the Hellforges in them (you may want to pick up one or two while you're there, as it is the only way to craft Hellstone Bars and make the whole trip actually worthwhile) will be your best friend, as they are a relatively safe place for you to heal yourself or get your mana back to a more acceptable level. The bricks will block Demon and Voodoo Demon scythe attacks, but be sure to stay away from the wall because the scythe goes through the wall just a small bit when it hits it and can damage you. This is where you want to use that Magic Missile you should have brought to safely kill the Demon and move on. Demons and Bone Serpents are far to powerful to leave alive and continue on your way. They should be dealt with as soon as possible. Hellbats and Lava Slimes can be, for the most part, somewhat ignored. Do not underestimate any monster in the Underworld, however, that will end you in a pit of lava or in bits from a lone Hellbat. A Lucky Horseshoe is also advised, because there can be some large drops in the Underworld that you may not care to die from. In the Underworld, the major things you should go for are the pots, chests (while watching your back and remembering you can still attack with the inventory open if autopause is turned off), Hellstone, and Fireblossoms. While at first it may not seem like it, Fireblossoms can be extremely useful in the Underworld. When combined with Waterleaf, Obsidian, and a Bottled Water, it will make an Obsidian Skin Potion, which grants you immunity to lava for 3 minutes. This comes in extremely useful, as now those Lava Slimes are less than a threat the next trip to the Underworld. As for your very first trip to the Underworld, you should focus on gathering as much Hellstone as you can and collecting as many Fireblossoms as you can find (mature Fireblossoms look like a red stalk, they're somewhat large, grow on ash and should be rather obvious). Also, you HAVE to pick up a Hellforge while you're there so you can make use of that Hellstone. Hellforges can be picked up by taking away the block underneath them. On your other trips to the Underworld, you should be much more prepared and ready to fight. You shouldn't go for extreme exploring until you have a full set of Molten Armor, a Flamarang, a Fiery Greatsword or possibly a Night's Edge if you have the other swords, and a Phoenix Blaster or a Molten Fury. You should also have several Obsidian Skin Potions. But even with all this gear, the Underworld is extremely tough and should be treated with caution. Try and kill Bone Serpents until you get a Sunfury and a Flamelash, as these are very strong weapons and will aid in your explorations (more info on combating this monster below). When you have these weapons, use that handy dandy Magic Mirror you should very well have and prepare for more serious explorations. My personal arsenal for the Underworld is Night's Edge, Dark Lance (this isn't necessary as it is very rare, but it can help in some situations), Demon Scythe (again, this is another rare weapon that can be replaced by a Water Bolt or your favorite mana weapon of choice), the Flamarang, Sunfury, Flamelash, sometimes the Phoenix Blaster or Molten Fury, but I prefer to save the ammo slots for more loot, the Orb of Light, and the Ivy Whip (this can be replaced by the Grappling Hook, but the Ivy Whip has a better range). As for armor, I use Necro or Molten Armor, mostly Molten Armor for its melee damage bonus. I use Necro Armor for speeding through the Underworld on small worlds, which should only really be tried with people who know very well what they're doing. My accessories are the Shiny Red Balloon, Lucky Horseshoe, Obsidian Skull, Flippers, and the Rocket Boots. I never change this setup, as it works perfectly for me every time. I'm also sure to have at least 100 Restoration Potions and around 60 Healing Potions as well as about 90 Obsidian Skin Potions. Taking this huge quantity of potions is not necessary by any means, but I feel it is always better to be safe than sorry. Feel free to copy any part of my load-out, it's free to use. My gift to you. Now that we are more properly equipped, we can begin to challenge the the REAL Underworld. Before, we were just defending ourselves to mine enough Hellstone to make decent gear. Now, we go on the offensive. Our goals are to find as many chests as possible while breaking pots on the way, and stopping immediately to pick up any Fireblossoms to make more Obsidian Skin Potions. Pots are very useful in the Underworld, as some have the rare Hellfire Arrows in them. Be sure to trash anything you don't need, such as Torches, Glowsticks and Bombs. You pick up quite a few from those pots. Putting Autopause on is suggested for those who don't fight well with the inventory open so you can trash the trash. Pots will also have potions, sometimes even Obsidian Skin Potions, saving you the trouble of making more back at your base. On these exploration trips, Hellstone is by no means a priority. Since you already should have all the Molten gear you need, the only use for Hellstone Bars is money. Unless, of course, you are helping out a friend who has no luck with the Underworld because they did not read this guide. You should be sure to keep an eye on your health, making sure it doesn't drop too far below 200 (I assume you all have 400 health). If you find yourself to be getting overwhelmed, wall yourself in somewhere safe and restore yourself, but break right out of there once you're either at full health, a Bone Serpent spawns, or multiple Fire Imps spawn. And be sure not to wall yourself into a small area, that would be a very bad idea. Make sure you have enough room to move around and dodge if needed. If you're not overly confident in your fighting abilities, be sure to sacrifice an extra weapon to keep the Magic Mirror in your inventory so you can survive if things go wrongly for you. Know which hotkey it is on or which weapon it is near if you scroll. There's no shame in backing out of the Underworld so you can keep the money you gathered down there. A lot of surviving the Underworld is preparation, but even more of it is practice and experience. You have to keep trying if you ever fail, learn what happened and take extra precautions to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Combat Survival in the Underworld

This section will be divided in two parts; the first bullet will be a strategy if you are mining Hellstone, while the second will be a strategy for exploration runs.

Hellbat
 * Hellbats are very common in the Underworld, but once you have a good tunnel going there's a chance that many Hellbats will spawn on-screen, but unable to reach you. This is VERY good, because it stops other more dangerous monsters from spawning like Bone Serpents and Demons. There is the occasion that one or two will reach you while mining away. Simply kill it with your sword of choice, making sure it does not get near you because it will bounce around the walls and hit you a good few times should you miss enough. Collect the coins and move on with life.
 * Hellbats are one of the most annoying monsters that appear in the Underworld, for me they are second to only the Demon. They spawn very commonly and are quite small. My personal strategy is to hit them with the Flamarang, but this does require some accuracy. If you don't feel you can make the shot, use an Aqua Scepter, Flamelash, Magic Missle or a good old fashioned sword to get the job done. On crowds, the Night's Edge and Fiery Greatsword work wonders with the right timing. If you just can't get the time right, use a Muramasa to combat these annoyances.

Lava Slime
 * Lava Slimes are your all-time worst enemy for mining, as they drop that dreaded Lava when killed. If you somehow manage to have Obsidian Skin Potions, by all means use them. It makes them of no harm whatsoever besides a little knockback when they hit you. With Molten Armor, their max hit is a whopping 1. If you don't have Obsidian Skin Potions, lead the slime somewhere else and kill him there, or you can wall him off before he gets to you. That leaves you to mine the rest safely and then kill him while watching out for the lava when you're all done.
 * Lava Slimes are very useless to the alert Underworld explorer, as we can move well out of the way of any lava drop. They should be dealt with in any way you see fit; range weapons are more advised as you are further from the lava when it falls. Again, if you have any Obsidian Skin Potions, Lava Slimes are completely harmless other than a little knockback.

Fire Imp
 * Ah, the infamous Fire Imp. Older players, such as myself, who have been playing this game since its release have grown to hate this monster with a passion, especially when mining. Since the 1.0.5 patch came out, which added more monster content to the Underworld, Fire Imp spawn rates have been well lowered to make room for the new monsters. You will encounter quite a few of these while mining, but because there is more chance of a Hellbat to spawn than a Bone Serpent, simply hit their fireballs then go up to them, say hello and kill them. They fire 3 fireballs, then teleport to another location. If you can hit them once, they stop everything and don't move for about 2-3 seconds after each hit, making them defenseless to any attack you choose. If you're not fast enough, however, they will teleport away and start firing again.
 * Because Hellbats and Lava Slimes are extremely common now, Fire Imps are actually a rather uncommon spawn while exploring. They often spawn behind you, but you should keep moving while dodging their fireballs (which pass through walls) until they get in a more reachable position. Then kill them like you would a green slime that doesn't move with 80 health and decent defense.

Demons/Voodoo Demons
 * Since Demons and Voodoo Demons both follow the same AI, they should be dealt with the exact same way: walling off their entrance and leaving a small hole so they can't hit you but you can use your Magic Missile or, if you have it, the Flamelash. If you're feeling gutsy, you can make it faster by simply hacking away at them, but Demons and Voodoo Demons are the hardest hitting monster in the underworld, able to hit 39's no problem with a single scythe. They should be treated with high caution anywhere in the Underworld.
 * Demons and Voodoo Demons are not entirely that common in the Underworld, but they do occasionally spawn in groups, and that is very bad. When a group of Demons or Voodoo Demons spawn, your best bet is to get to a spot where you are somewhat defended by bricks and snipe them with the Magic Missile or Flamelash. The same strategy works for a single Demon, but does leave you open to attack by more versatile monsters such as Hellbats and maybe even a Bone Serpent that are bound to spawn with only one Demon. These monsters should be treated with extreme caution. As you get more experienced, try the Night's Edge with Molten Armor on them, flying up to them with Rocket Boots and running away as it is about to spawn its scythes.

Bone Serpents
 * Bone Serpents have the power to single handedly wreak your mining operation. They're big, they're fast, they take a lot of hits, but remember: it is much better to be hit by a body segment than the head. The head does large amounts of damage, while the body segments do significantly less. This monster is the whole reason you brought the Blue Moon or Sunfury. These two weapons work wonders on the Bone Serpent, because they do good damage on almost every single part of his body multiple times. While you're mining, you will take some hits from this monster, but be sure to keep damage at its lowest and run when you hear that tunneling sound it makes so you can prepare to fight back.
 * Bone Serpents, when alone, are not too much of a treat. A simple strategy that works well is to jump up and use Rocket Boots to keep yourself above it while smacking it with your Blue Moon or Sunfury. Unfortunately, this monster loves to jump in on a Demon party in progress. In this occasion, you must kill the Bone Serpent first. Bone Serpents cause you to stay in a predictable area, making you an easy target for Demons. While the Bone Serpent is on-screen, focus Blue Moon and Sunfury attacks on him. When he is gone, switch to the Magic Missile or Flamelash to fight the Demons. Be sure to switch right back to your flail when you hear that tunneling sound and you should be fine.