Meteorite (biome)



A Meteorite biome is a location where a Meteorite has crash-landed. When this event occurs, it leaves a crater lined with Meteorite ore somewhere in the World. This event always occurs off-screen, so the player will only see a message and the resulting crash site, but never the impact itself. Meteorite biomes have the same theme music as the Blood Moon, but somewhat different spawned enemies, though there is only one unique enemy type: the Meteor Head.

Meteorite crash sites provide Meteorite, a crafting material that can be crucial to game advancement. Meteorite Ore requires a Gold or Platinum Pickaxe or better to mine. Touching Meteorite blocks causes damage to the player, unless they have the Obsidian Skull, Obsidian Shield, Obsidian Horseshoe or Ankh Shield accessory equipped, or are using an Obsidian Skin Potion.

When a Meteorite crash occurs, the player is notified by a chat message: "A meteorite has landed!". Meteorites can land anywhere, including Floating Islands, inside of a Chasm, or the Dungeon. Meteorites can even land at the bottom of a body of water. The Meteorite replaces dozens of blocks deep with Meteorite in a crater pattern.

Warning: If you have built a skybridge, the meteorite will not land beneath it. If a meteorite strikes your skybridge, only the bridge is converted into Meteorite ore. A meteor's blast radius is ~20 blocks.

Conditions
A Meteorite crash site has a 50% chance of spawning the next midnight after a Shadow Orb or a Crimson Heart is smashed. (The meteorite, if rolled, will spawn immediately if the Orb is smashed between midnight and dawn.) Additionally, each night has a 2% chance that a Meteorite will fall, if at least one Shadow Orb or Crimson Heart has already been smashed in the World.

Once the conditions are met, multiple Meteorites will land in a World over time. However none will fall if there are already a certain number of Meteorite blocks above 0 depth. The limits are:
 * Small worlds: 400
 * Medium worlds: 600
 * Large worlds: 800

16% of the world centered on your spawn point is protected from falling meteors. Also, meteors won't fall within 25 blocks of a player, NPC or a chest.

Mining


The Meteorite's primary use is in providing the player with Meteorite ore, allowing them to craft Meteorite Bars at a Furnace to then craft a variety of items.

Meteorite requires a Gold or Platinum Pickaxe or Bombs/Dynamite to mine and an Obsidian Skull, Obsidian Shield, Obsidian Horseshoe, or Obsidian Skin Potion in order to touch its blocks without taking damage. Mining can be achieved without Obsidian equipment, as picking up mined Meteorite Ore does not cause damage, though the player will likely have a harder time without being able to walk on Meteorite blocks. Mining without Obsidian equipment can be done safely by covering the meteor site in a single layer of sand blocks, creating a platform that follows the top layer of Meteorite as it is mined away.

Meteor Heads will continuously spawn and attack as the player is in the vicinity of a Meteorite crash site that hasn't been mined away yet. Meteor Heads fly, follow the player as they move, and can pass through all blocks, so it can be difficult for players without good defenses and weapons to attempt to mine Meteorite.

Once most of the Meteorite has been mined away (less than 50 Meteorite blocks remain unmined; about 10%), the area will cease to be considered a Meteorite biome. The music will change back to normal and Meteor Heads will stop spawning, although the remaining Meteor Heads will still attack. Afterwards, the remainder of the Meteorite can be safely mined or ignored.

Tips

 * Meteorites impact the highest-altitude blocks they encounter in a given area. If you have built a sky bridge, even one composed of Wood Platforms, the Meteorite has a good chance of landing on that bridge. Having a low density of blocks to replace means you will not obtain the intended yield of Meteorite from the event. It may be advisable to destroy any paths in the sky before destroying a Shadow Orb in order to get the full yield of Meteorite, as it is a valuable resource and the event can be rare. If you have an abundance of Wire and Active Stone Blocks, you could also create a Sky Bridge with these materials, then switch off the Bridge before smashing a Shadow Orb.
 * A pickaxe can be used to knock back Meteor Heads if the player strategically repositions themselves as they spawn.
 * Dynamite is useful for mining Meteorites, as 2 or 3 sticks can rid the area of enough ore to stop Meteor Heads from spawning relatively quickly. Be sure not to throw Dynamite while uncollected ore is still present in the area or the uncollected ore may despawn. Explosives also effectively mine 3/4 of the Meteorite in a single blast, albeit expensively and requiring a little while to set up.
 * With two players, one player with the Vilethorn can protect the mining player rather easily if they stick together. (The Vilethorn will kill a Meteor Head in one direct hit, and it goes through walls as do the Meteor Heads.
 * If only one player is available, quickly switching between the Vilethorn and a Pickaxe to, respectively, defend yourself from the Meteor Heads and mine the Meteorite will be sufficient to mine the Meteor with relative ease.
 * Even if a meteorite lands on a Floating Island, Harpies and Wyverns will not stop spawning.
 * In Hardmode, it can be useful to place enough Meteorite Ore in Underground Hallow, Underground Corruption, Underground Crimson, Underground Jungle or Underground Snow to spawn Meteor Heads instead of Hardmode Enemies, enabling an easy way of collecting Souls and Biome Key Molds.
 * NOTE: In the PC version, Meteor Heads no longer drop anything once Hardmode is activated. Although this makes the technique useless for obtaining enemy drops, it remains useful for mining relatively unimpeded.
 * If a piece of Obsidian equipment isn't available, it's worth noting that angled Meteorite blocks can be touched without taking damage. Leaving a brick alone every few rows and angling it with a Hammer will allow you to use it as a platform to dig deeper down.