The Destroyer

"You feel vibrations from deep below..."

The Destroyer is a Hardmode Mechanical Boss which is essentially a harder version of the Eater of Worlds. Like the Eater of Worlds, The Destroyer is a very large Worm. Though it appears to be similarly made up of many segments, individual segments cannot die, and The Destroyer will not split apart into multiple enemies. The entire body has a single shared health bar, and The Destroyer will remain at full size until it is killed.

The Destroyer can spawn randomly on any given night once a Demon or Crimson Altar has been smashed, as long as it has not yet been defeated in the current world. It can also be summoned manually using a Mechanical Worm at night. Night-time is the only condition required for summoning (unlike Eater of Worlds, which requires a Corruption biome). Its arrival is announced by one of two messages: "You feel a quaking from deep underground..." or "You feel vibrations from deep below...." It must be killed before dawn, otherwise it will despawn. If this message pops up and you log out, it will not spawn. If you auto-pause, it will also not spawn.

Each of The Destroyer's segments contains a red-lit, which is an independent flying enemy that is launched periodically as The Destroyer takes damage. They fire lasers at the player, both while within The Destroyer and when detached. Probes can be killed individually once detached. If the red light is missing from a segment, it means the Probe was already launched from that segment. On the, The Destroyer's body and its Probes are immune to all debuffs.

While The Destroyer is alive, music Boss 3 will play.

Segments
And also see Probe.

Tips

 * Using a Magic Mirror or other methods to teleport away (ie. Wormhole Potion) to escape from The Destroyer will not cause it to despawn. It will follow the player back to their spawn, no matter how far away it is. Because of this, a great strategy for players is to set their spawn point near a Nurse and use a Magic Mirror when their health is low and heal back up.
 * The Destroyer is an excellent target for cash farming by way of Light Discs; given ample supply (12-24) of Souls of Light, each kill will drop the makings for 4-8 discs worth apiece.
 * Piercing weapons can strike multiple sections, making them especially effective. Similarly, explosive weapons can catch multiple sections in their blast radius. Making a fully-enclosed room and using ricocheting weapons can also be effective.
 * The head of The Destroyer has 0 defense. Although it can be very difficult to damage simply the head segment itself, you can possibly rake in higher damage than the usual body and tail segments.
 * If you are low on health, try killing The Destroyer's probes because they have a chance to drop hearts.
 * Building a long skybridge of Asphalt Blocks and using a ranged weapon can make the fight easier — simply run continuously in one direction while firing backwards.
 * In Expert mode, avoid its head at all costs, as it can cause massive damage (over 250).
 * On the, firing Heart Arrows at its head will immobilize it entirely.
 * Making a huge platform high above ground and then putting a 1x1 hole at the bottom can allow the player to shoot at the Destroyer without it hitting them.
 * Using the Minimap to see where the Destroyer will surface may help with dodging. This is especially useful in Expert mode, since the Destroyer can do 200+ damage with its head.

Trivia

 * The Destroyer had the most total health of any Boss before the Moon Lord was added. It still has the most health of any single enemy, as the Moon Lord's total health is the combined health of all its body parts.
 * The Destroyer is the mechanical version of The Corruption's Eater of Worlds. However, there is no mechanical version of the Brain of Cthulhu from The Crimson, although the Probes it spawns are similar in function to the Brain of Cthulhu's Creepers.
 * The Destroyer has 10x as much health as Wall of Flesh.

History
Der Zerstörer Le Destructeur 毁灭者