The Crimson



"Making the world bloody..."

The Crimson is an Evil Biome that presents a red gore theme, in contrast to the Corruption's purple wasteland theme. A generated world will contain one of the two, generated randomly (each with a 50% chance of occurring), or chosen by the player upon world creation. The two contain similar hazards, though the Crimson is sometimes considered to be the more difficult of the two. Each have their own unique respective enemies, items, and blocks. The tools, weapons and armor obtained via Crimson materials have minor advantages over those obtained via Corruption materials, while Crimson enemies tend to have slightly higher stats (health, defense, damage). New players should avoid The Crimson before obtaining better gear.

At least 200 Crimson Grass, Red Ice Blocks, Crimstone, and/or Crimsand must be present for a Crimson biome.

The Crimson contains multiple Chasms, deep pits in the ground that lead to underground caverns and on the map resemble arms with relatively large hands. The chasms in the Crimson cut at angles into the terrain, lead to large circular cavities, then branch off into small veins that lead to Crimson Hearts. Crimson Altars generally line the chasm's entry passage, appearing in and around it. Chasms are lined with Crimstone, which can be blown up by Bombs and higher tier explosives, or mined with a Nightmare Pickaxe/Deathbringer Pickaxe or higher.

Crimson spreads in the same manner as Corruption, replacing Grass with Crimson grass, and in Hardmode, replacing Sand with Crimsand, Stone Blocks with Crimstone, Ice Blocks with Red Ice Blocks and the Underground Crimson is formed. Chasms, Crimson Altars and Crimson Hearts will only appear upon world generation, and will not spawn in a Crimson area that has formed through spreading. If enough Crimson manages to take over a new area, then that area will eventually adopt the Crimson's theme music, background, and water color.

Purification Powder can be used on crimtane blocks to turn them into their regular counterparts. "Purified" blocks can still become Crimson again afterwards.

Spread
In Pre-Hardmode worlds, Crimson can spread, but only under limited conditions:
 * Crimson grass can spread in a manner similar to normal grass, converting adjacent Dirt tiles with at least one side open to air (only in the Surface Layer).
 * Crimson grass can also displace normal grass. Until version 1.2.4.1, this is true unless the grass has a Sunflower planted on it.
 * Crimson grass may sprout Thorny Bushes, which can spread Crimson grass according to the same rules.

Naturally-occurring Crimson will often be halted by various natural barriers (stone, Desert, etc.) before it is even discovered, but care should be taken when creating an artificial Crimson that it does not spread further than intended. You can also dig a 3 block shaft/tunnel all around the infected area with nothing in-between to stop the spreading.

If all crimson blocks are purified, then when speaking to the Dryad about the world status, the Dryad will say "(world name) is completely pure. You have done an amazing job!".

Hardmode
Once the Wall of Flesh is defeated, a world enters Hardmode. New areas of Crimson and Hallow are immediately created that extend from the Underworld up to the Surface, sometimes intersecting existing Crimson. Crimson begins spawning more dangerous enemies, such as the Herpling, and underground, the Ichor Sticker.

Crimson spreads much more aggressively once the world is in hardmode:
 * In addition to Crimson grass, thorns and plants, Crimstone, Crimsand and Red Ice also generate Crimson.
 * Mud can now be converted into dirt.
 * Jungle grass can also be converted into crimson grass (changing the underlying block type to dirt).
 * Jungle Thorny Bushes can be converted into Crimson Thorny Bushes.
 * Stone can be converted to Crimstone.
 * Sand can be converted to Crimsand.
 * Ice can be converted to Red Ice.
 * Blocks that are up to three tiles away from an existing crimson block can be converted (even if incorruptible blocks are in the way).
 * Sunflowers can no longer stop the spread

The Crimson does not spread through other materials, even natural materials like Clay and Snow. Silt can be converted as part of the initial burst when you first defeat the Wall of Flesh, but not at other times.

In order to stop the spread of Crimson in Hardmode, the player must create a gap of at least three tiles containing empty space or non-corruptible blocks. Hallow blocks will also stop the spread of Crimson but will spawn its own hazards as well.

Killing Plantera reduces the speed at which the Crimson spreads to 33% of the default Hardmode speed.

Crimson Desert
In Hardmode, Crimson spreads through Deserts, transforming it into Crimson Desert. It is very similar to the Crimson: The theme music is the same, and enemies are the same, with the addition of Dark Mummies, Dark Lamias, Tainted Ghouls and Desert Spirits.

Sand is replaced by Crimsand. Although their color is different, cacti still drop ordinary cactus when cut. Waterleaf is not able to grow in crimson deserts.

Tips

 * One way to know if your world has Crimson is to ask the Guide. He will tell you to break a Crimson Heart if your world has Crimson, or to break a Shadow Orb if the world has Corruption.
 * In 1.3, one-half of the world generation progress bar will be green, and the other half purple or red, depending on if the world is to have Corruption or Crimson. Additionally, the bar on the inside will be yellow in a Crimson world and lime green in a corruption world, representing ichor and cursed flames, respectively. The step in world generation in which the Crimson is created is called "Making the world bloody." Also, a tree at the side of the world name in world selection has one green/normal side, the other purple/red (indicating Corruption/Crimson respectively). In hardmode, part of the tree will be yellow, representing the Hallow.
 * In Expert mode, the Vampire Knives are highly useful in virtually all situations. However, the Crimson's boss accessory, the Brain of Confusion, pales heavily in comparison to its Corrupt counterpart, the Worm Scarf, meaning that the two balance each other out.

Trivia

 * Because of the large circular cavity, its out-warding branches, and the entrance tunnel cutting at sharp angles, the chasm could be interpreted as a cartoon-like hand, or a heart connected to veins.
 * The entrance of the chasm has teeth acting like stalactites and stalagmites, and could be interpreted as the entrance being the mouth of a beast.
 * The interpretations of the above mentioned trivia notes would make sense with the Crimson's gore like theme.
 * Many Crimson enemies have deformed features or blisters that resemble cancerous growths.
 * In Blood Moons three Critters turn Crimtane (the Crimtane Bunny, Crimtane Goldfish & Vicious Penguin), a reference to The Crimson. (You also can manually crimtane these critters with Vicious Powder.)
 * The Crimson is a living being who wants to balance the world, and the creatures who come from it were once people who worshipped The Crimson according to the official lore.

History
Le Carmin 猩红之地 Багрянец