Biome spread

The evil biomes and the Hallow, unlike all other biomes, can spread themselves to other areas. They slowly convert ("infect") certain susceptible tiles which are near their own, biome-exclusive tiles, to their respective biome counterparts, increasing the range of the biome. The exact rules for biome spread are subtly different for each of the three infectious biomes, as described at length below.

Collectively, these three biomes can be called the "infectious biomes". Blocks and walls which are vulnerable to infection are called "corruptible", those which cannot be infected under any circumstances are "non-corruptible". Blocks and walls which could be infected, but have not been, are called "pure".

Biome spread starts immediately upon world generation, is greatly enhanced and sped up after defeating the Wall of Flesh (i.e. after initiating Hardmode) for the first time, and is slowed down again after defeating Plantera. Once Hardmode begins, the world's evil biome and the Hallow have few restrictions on their spread, and without player effort, they will eventually take over almost the entire world between them.

This process is part of the game's "tile update cycle": Every game tick,✅ the game chooses a handful of tiles to update, which covers several processes including biome spread. The tiles above, and below, the surface level are selected in separate passes; as an approximation, "surface" tiles will each average about one update every 140 seconds, while "underground" tiles each average about one update every 830 seconds. (That is, aboveground tiles get updated about six times as often as belowground tiles, so biome spread will be that much faster above ground.) Due to the random selection method, even the averages here are approximate, and the actual length of time between a given tile's updates can vary wildly. When an infected tile is updated, it is considered as a potential "source tile", which can infect multiple other tiles in a single update.

Spreading tiles
Only the following blocks and plants of a biome are capable of converting susceptible tiles in their vicinity. Blocks and plants can convert blocks, plants, and walls, while walls can only convert other walls (see below for the latter case). None of the three biomes can convert each other's blocks, with the exception of grass (see below for details).

Note the inconsistency here: While Crimson plants and Vicious Mushrooms are able to act as source tiles, their Corruption equivalents, Corrupt plants and Vile Mushrooms, are not.

Pre-Hardmode spread
In pre-Hardmode, the three biomes can only spread in a very limited way: The only spreading tiles are Corrupt, Crimson, and Hallowed grass and Corruption and Crimson thorny bushes. See below for the intricacies of grass spread.

Even though the Hallow is usually not present in a pre-Hardmode world, it does spread when artificially seeded pre-Hardmode.

Hardmode spread
In Hardmode, the pre-Hardmode grass spreading remains unchanged. However, many more tiles become susceptible to conversion and will spread much faster. Read the table in the following way: Any of the spreading tiles can convert any of the pure tiles that is within three tiles from it to the respective converted tile.

Defeating Plantera for the first time reduces the speed of the biomes' spread to of the default Hardmode speed.

Grass
Like regular grass, the evil and Hallowed variants spread as well. The mechanics described in this section do not change upon initiating Hardmode or defeating Plantera but instead remain the same for the entirety of the game.

For the purposes of grass spread, Corruption and Crimson thorny bushes are considered Corrupt/Crimson grass blocks, respectively.

The following general restrictions apply to all forms of grass spread, including pure grass:
 * Grass does not spread below the surface whatsoever. You need to be at least at 4 feet (on the Depth Meter) on the surface for the grass under your feet being able to spread.
 * Grass only spreads to adjacent tiles, i.e., tiles within the eight tiles directly surrounding the spreading tile.
 * Grass does not spread to tiles that have lava in one of their adjacent tiles.
 * Grass only spreads to tiles that have at least one tile of open space within their adjacent tiles.

All grass variants will spread to Dirt Blocks. Furthermore, evil and Hallowed grass blocks can convert other grass as follows:

All three grass variants spread in an equal manner, hence there is none that is "faster" or "stronger", for example. However, Hallowed grass has the ability to overtake Crimson grass.

In Hardmode, Corrupt, Crimson, and Hallowed grass will still grow to Dirt Blocks and infect other grass as described above. However, they additionally gain the ability to convert any corruptible tile within three tiles (just like the other spreading tiles) – including pure grass. Converting a tile that way is handled differently and thus the restrictions outlined above do not apply. This allows them, for example, to infect pure grass below the surface, something which is not possible pre-Hardmode.

Evil and Hallowed grass will never convert any tile underneath a Sunflower. Note that while in pre-Hardmode, Sunflowers thus serve as an effective barrier, spreading grass will be able to spread to tiles up to three tiles away in Hardmode, easily bypassing a single Sunflower.

Background Walls
Background walls cannot infect blocks, but they can be infected by blocks, and they can infect certain other walls within certain restrictions. Walls can also be converted by the initial Hardmode transition, or manually by the player.


 * Natural or placed Grass Walls, Jungle Walls, and Flower Walls are all converted to infected Grass walls. Only pure walls are infected, and then cannot be re-infected by a different infection.
 * Natural or placed Sandstone Walls or Hardened Sand Walls are converted to the corresponding biome wall. Even if infected, these can be re-infected and converted to a different biome.
 * Stone walls cannot be infected this way, but Ebonstone and Crimstone walls can infect the other wall types listed above.
 * In all cases, any wall undergoing biome conversion (including from Thrown Water or the Clentaminator) thereafter qualifies as a natural wall. This may affect enemy spawning, and perhaps the presence of the various Underground Desert biomes.

There are two overlapping patterns ("grassy" and "sandy") for infection of walls, depending on the contents of the source tile. Both patterns are considered for each tile update, and can separately infect different walls. The behavior can also vary according to whether the tile is above or below surface level, and which infection is being considered.

Common Rules

 * In all cases, wall infection range is 2 tiles (a 5×5 square centered on the source tile), compared to 3 tiles for most blocks.
 * As with blocks, Hallow cannot infect Jungle Walls
 * For a source tile to infect a wall, it must find a qualifying foreground block or plant with the infection in question (collectively, "biome blocks") either in the source tile, or within 20 tiles of it.
 * The qualifying biome blocks vary with context, but the following blocks always qualify: Grass, Ice, Stone, Sand, and Vines.
 * For Crimson, or to infect any grassy wall below surface level, the biome block must be in the source tile.
 * Otherwise (infecting a grassy wall above surface level with Corruption or Hallow or any sandy wall), the biome block can be found anywhere in a 20-tile range (a 41×41 square centered on the source tile).

Grassy Wall Infection
If the source tile includes any natural infected Grass Wall, natural infected Stone Wall (except Pearlstone Wall) or infected grass block, then it can attempt to infect a pure Grass, Flower, or Jungle Wall. Both natural and player-placed walls of these types can be infected.


 * Each of the infectious biomes is checked in turn: Crimson, then Corruption, then Hallow. If the tile has a qualifying wall and a grass tile from different biomes, it can attempt to spread both biomes.
 * For each infection attempt, a single tile within range is chosen, and if it is a pure grassy wall, it will be infected.
 * Again, infection needs a "biome block" as above:
 * For Crimson or if below surface level, then the biome block must be in the source tile, otherwise within 20 tiles.
 * In addition to the list from above (Grass, Ice, Stone, Sand, and Vines), Demonite Ore qualifies for Corruption. It only qualifies as a biome block in this step, and Crimtane Ore does not qualify for Crimson.
 * Most biome-specific plants (if infected) also qualify as biome blocks here. This includes thorny bushes, tall grass/flowers (that is, growing from proper grass blocks), Vile/Vicious Mushrooms, and (again) vines.
 * As above, Hallow cannot infect Jungle Walls, and Pearlstone Walls cannot infect grassy walls at all.

Sandy Wall Infection
If the source tile contains any Sandstone Wall, any Hardened Sand Wall, and/or any Sandstone Block, then it can attempt to infect a Hardened Sand or Sandstone Wall.


 * Only Hardened Sand or Sandstone Walls, pure or with any infection, are converted this way.
 * Unlike with grassy walls, only one biome is chosen, and then a single nearby tile is chosen for an infection attempt.
 * To attempt infection, the source tile must have an infected wall and/or an infected biome block.
 * Qualifying walls include Grass, Stone, Sandstone, or Hardened Sand. (Note that the first two imply a Sandstone Block from the first step)
 * Qualifying biome blocks include the list from above (Grass, Ice, Stone, Sand, and Vines), or Sandstone Blocks, but not other plants.
 * If the tile has different infections for wall and block/vine, Crimson takes priority, then Hallow. Corruption applies only if there is no competing infection.