Guide:Surviving in the Dungeon

Getting there
Finding the Dungeon is a simple matter. Simply go to one end of the map, if you encounter a Jungle when you are trying to find it then it is at the other end.

In order to be able to safely enter the Dungeon, you will have to kill Skeletron. For tips on how to kill Skeletron, see Guide:Skeletron strategies.

IMPORTANT: You MUST kill Skeletron in order to access the whole Dungeon, otherwise you will be killed instantly by the Dungeon Guardian.

Required Items
Once you have access to the Dungeon, you will want to bring:
 * Strong weapon, such as Light's Bane/Blood Butcherer or a strong bow
 * Torches and Glowsticks
 * Healing Potions
 * Shadow Armor/Crimson armor or better (Not required, but strongly recommended)
 * An alternative to higher-tier armor are well-reforged accessories, but it's advisable to spend some time farming for Demonite/Crimtane before you go to the dungeon.

Suggested Items

 * Magic Mirror-you don't want to die at the botttom of the dungeon, teleport back home if you are in serious danger.
 * Rocket Boots or Cloud in a Bottle-useful when you need to jump from a high ledge or when you accidentally fall. If you already have Lucky Horseshoe, you don't have to worry about fall damage.
 * Grappling Hook/Ivy Whip
 * Vilethorn-ood for killing cursed skulls,you will usually encounter them inside bricks.
 * Sticky Bombs
 * Glowsticks
 * Nightmare Pickaxe/Deathbringer Pickaxe or better
 * Note: Lower Tiers of Pickaxe cannot break Dungeon Brick, and are thus useless in the Dungeon.
 * Ball O' Hurt (for dealing with large groups of enemies)
 * Potions (Ironskin potion, regeneration potion, hunter potion or other)
 * Pick up the first Dart Trap or Pressure Plate you find, or you can alternatively bring one. When holding it, you will see all wires and can thus avoid the dart traps, which are very common in the dungeon.

Tips
'''Go slowly. The faster you go, the more likely you are to run into a situation where you die or can't get back out of.'''
 * If you tear down and re-place the Dungeon walls, it will prevent monsters from spawning in those sections.
 * Removing any Water Candles you find can help you to survive, because they increase the spawnrate when placed. You can use them later in game when farming for rare enemies.
 * Use a Grappling Hook or an Ivy Whip to avoid ground-based hazards and to get out of range of most enemies.
 * If a Weapon hits a projectile from a Dark Caster, the projectile will be destroyed. Used well, this can negate most damage from them.
 * It is generally very dark in a dungeon. While, you can place torches, use of a Hunter Potion is smart, as it will help you to notice enemies quickly even in the dark, especially if you run out of torches.
 * A wall passing weapon such as a Vilethorn will help greatly, allowing you to kill Dark Casters and Cursed Skulls from behind walls.
 * Blazing wheels glow and thus are not hard to see, but they can be very annoying due to their fast speed.
 * Moving far enough off-screen causes an inconvenient spiky ball or blazing wheel to disappear.
 * Blazing wheels can't go through closed doors, meaning that you can easily trap them inside already explored rooms.
 * Remember to kill any Dungeon slimes you encounter, since you'll need plenty of keys for looting the chests.
 * Equip Cobalt Shield as soon as you find it, resistance to knockback is invaluable.
 * Keep a pressure plate in your hotbar and check every room for traps before you enter.
 * Spikes may be removed with a Pickaxe, or from a distance with Sticky Bombs. Use a grappling hook to get across or build a bridge above them.
 * Dart traps can be harvested with a pickaxe and used for custom traps or home-defense systems.

Dungeon after you defeat Plantera
Dungeon becomes extremely dangerous once you defeat Plantera. The message "Screams are echoing from the dungeon..." appears and much more dangerous enemies start to spawn.