The Destroyer

The Destroyer is a Hardmode mechanical boss which is essentially a more difficult version of the Eater of Worlds. Like the Eater of Worlds, it is a very large worm. Although it appears to be similarly made up of many segments, individual segments cannot die, and The Destroyer will not split apart into multiple entities; its segments share a singular health pool. Like other worms, The Destroyer can take increased damage from attacks that damage multiple segments at once.

The Destroyer can be summoned manually using a Mechanical Worm at night in any biome. It can also spawn naturally upon dusk with a chance of 10% once a Demon or Crimson Altar has been smashed, as long as it has not yet been defeated in the current world. If spawning this way, its arrival is announced by the status message: "" ( alternatively "You feel a quaking from deep underground..."). It must always be killed before dawn; otherwise, it will quickly despawn.

Each of The Destroyer's segments contains a red-lit, which is an independent flying enemy that is launched periodically as the boss takes damage. Probes can be killed individually once detached, and never return to The Destroyer. They fire lasers at the player, both while within The Destroyer and when detached. If the red light is missing from a segment, it means the Probe was already launched from that segment.

The Destroyer's body and its Probes are immune to all debuffs (except for ).

Behavior
The Destroyer spawns coiled up, like most worm enemies, and immediately uncoils and moves toward the player. It follows the player from any distance, and will only despawn if the player dies or if dawn comes (4:30 AM). It despawns by quickly traveling underground until off-screen.

The Destroyer leaps from the ground and attempts to ram the player. It has limited mobility when fully in the air, requiring blocks or platforms to "burrow" through. It also attempts to surround the player, and if the player is too close to the ground it can succeed.

Other attacks:
 * Firing lasers from its red-lit Probes (while they are still within the main body) which deal 44 / /  damage.
 * Releasing flying from its body that continue firing lasers which deal 50 /  /  damage.

Probes are periodically released from the body as it takes damage, from exposed segments above-ground, and they will fly towards the player, attempting to maintain a distance whilst occasionally moving towards the player, making them vulnerable to melee damage. They fire lasers at the player while flying. They fire with moderate accuracy, able to reliably hit a stationary player but can usually be dodged easily. Probes never return to the main body, and despawn if the player gets too far away or dies, unlike The Destroyer, which follows the player until either one dies. Probes do not die when the boss dies, so they may have to be killed even after The Destroyer has been defeated.

Tips

 * A strategy to defeat The Destroyer is to build a box or platform 150 tiles above the ground so the player can attack The Destroyer without it being able to reach the player. Note that the probes which The Destroyer generates can fly and thus reach and attack the player. Placing wired traps can eliminate this threat for the most part. Keep at least 100 blocks away from Space to prevent Wyvern spawns.
 * Defeating The Destroyer before the other two mechanical bosses allows the player to craft the Megashark, a powerful ranged weapon which can help defeat the other two.
 * Unlike most bosses, The Destroyer does not despawn if players get too far away and will simply follow them to their position.
 * This means that one can use any means of teleportation (Magic Mirrors, Teleporters, etc.) to easily avoid it during the fight, as it does not teleport either.
 * Keep in mind that The Destroyer can move freely without blocks when off-screen.
 * Any weapon that can hit enemies multiple times or damage multiple segments at once will have a much higher effectiveness against The Destroyer compared to single-target weapons. Ricocheting weapons can also be very effective in enclosed arenas.
 * Avoid most debuff-based weapons, as The Destroyer is immune to all debuffs, except Stunned from . Note that Heart Arrows only freeze The Destroyer if they hit its head segment.
 * Some highly effective weapons are the Daedalus Stormbow with Holy Arrows, Tome of Infinite Wisdom the Nimbus Rod, the Meteor Staff, the Flamethrower, the Onyx Blaster (with Explosive Bullets), the Star Cannon, and the Cannon (though note that the Cannon fires very slowly). All of them are not very hard to acquire with the exception of Nimbus Rod.
 * The head of The Destroyer has 0 defense. Although it might be very difficult to damage simply the head segment itself and it causes massive damage to the player ( in and  in ), it can speed up the fight tremendously. If playing a Summoner class, using a Whip to focus your summons on the head can be very effective if targeted right.
 * Probes should be taken out as soon as possible, since they may greatly interfere with the fight and additionally serve as a steady source of Hearts (20% drop rate in Expert).
 * Using the Minimap to see where the Destroyer will surface can greatly help with dodging.
 * Farming the Destroyer is a quick method for making money, as its drops can be used to craft multiple Light Discs, which sell for each.
 * Another way of beating the Destroyer is using a Blowgun with Ichor darts. Ichor darts explode into 3 shots that will hit multiple segments and do some damage.
 * In Master Mode, The Black Spot can be used to outspeed The Destroyer. If this strategy is used in conjunction with any weapon that pierces multiple segments horizontally, The Destroyer can be defeated with relative ease.
 * Using the Clinger Staff can deal a lot of damage.
 * Using the Dart Rifle with Cursed Darts, whilst being in the air, or running, would be useful as the dart rifle would give the Cursed darts high speed, and the Cursed darts would spread and rain its cursed drops.

Trivia

 * The Destroyer has many small metal devices jutting out of it that can resemble -like legs or wheels, which might explain its ability to move freely within blocks.
 * The Destroyer has the most total health of any boss except the . It still has the largest single health bar, as the Moon Lord's total health is the combination of all its body parts, and Moon Lord's parts all have lower health than The Destroyer individually.
 * In Classic worlds, the Destroyer has 10 times as much health as the Wall of Flesh.
 * This makes the Destroyer a useful target for testing DPS on higher tier Hardmode weapons with secondary effects that don't work on Target Dummies, like Phantasm.
 * Despite the status message saying "" or "You feel a quaking from deep underground...", it does not spawn when the player is underground. However, it seems to appear from underground.
 * Some teasers for the release included The Destroyer having blue-lit segments instead of red.
 * On the (and previously, the ), Lepus, which can be spawned during Easter, also has a chance to drop 3 Souls of Might (1%) and is easy to farm. Note that these are of no use during pre-Hardmode, as crafting any item from them requires a Hardmode Anvil.
 * The Wall of Flesh, the Moon Lord and Queen Bee in multiplayer are the only other three bosses that do not despawn when the player gets too far away.
 * The Wall of Flesh, the Moon Lord and Queen Bee in multiplayer are the only other three bosses that do not despawn when the player gets too far away.