Blood Moon



A Blood Moon is a common, randomly occurring event that takes place over the course of an entire night. It causes several hazards for its duration: Enemy spawns increase, even near your Home and NPCs (where enemies do not normally spawn), Zombies become able to open Doors, and Bunnies, Penguins, and Goldfish transform into dangerous enemies, along with other effects (see below). Blood Moons are signaled by the message "The Blood Moon is rising..." in the lower left corner of the screen, and the moon, sky, water, and Rain will appear red for their duration.

A Blood Moon will only occur if at least one player in the world has over 120 life, and only on nights when a moon is present (any night except a new moon). Given those criteria, a Blood Moon has a 1 in 9 chance (11.11%) of occurring. Without taking the current moon into consideration, there is an overall chance of approximately 1 in 10 (1/9 * 7/8 = 7/72, or 9.72%).

Enemies

 * The spawn rate of monsters on the surface increases, and The Groom has a chance to spawn. Enemies not only spawn faster, but more are spawned than can normally exist on-screen at once. This works no matter the environment, so Corruption enemies can also swarm even more than they normally would, for example.
 * This also applies regardless of height. This can make Meteor Head-based soul or key farms even more effective, although if you're building in Underground Hallow, you'll have to relocate yourself for the night; otherwise, Chaos Elementals will kill your NPCs.

Additionally, in hardmode:
 * Zombies become able to open a door after hitting them two times. This can put the player's home and NPCs in peril if they are not guarded appropriately. An easy fix is to place a block beside the door.
 * Enemies can spawn even near NPCs and Home(s), whereas those usually suppress enemy spawns.
 * All Bunnies, Goldfish, and Penguins become Corrupt Bunnies, Corrupt Goldfish, and Corrupt Penguins, respectively.
 * Clowns have a chance to spawn.

Other effects

 * The store Inventory of most NPCs change:
 * The Merchant will sell Throwing Knives
 * The Arms Dealer sells Silver Bullets
 * The Clothier sells the Mime Mask
 * The Dryad stops selling Purification Powder, Sunflowers, and Grass Seeds, and starts selling Vile Powder, Corrupt Seeds and Crimson Seeds. If you have the console version, she will sell you Sparkly Wings
 * The Painter sells Evil Presence painting
 * The Steampunker sells Purple Solution (if the Corruption is present) or Red Solution (if the Crimson is present) instead of Green Solution
 * The Cyborg sells advanced ammunition, namely Rocket II & Rocket III (Note: Cyborg has a small chance to sell these ammunitions without a Blood Moon being present. The Blood Moon merely guarantees it.)
 * Deathweed will bloom. Blood moons are the only time you can harvest Deathweed Seeds from Deathweed.
 * All Female NPCs become annoyed, sometimes rude, in an unusual way (except for the Party Girl).
 * Most of the NPC's will have their own unique lines commenting on the event, and sometimes of the female NPC's arguing with each other.
 * All water will turn a blood red color in all biomes except for the Ocean. If it is raining, the rain drops will also appear red.

Tips

 * Newer players may want to barricade themselves indoors during the event. Doors can be barricaded easily by placing blocks of any type directly next to them. Other placeable items like the Table or a Torch will prevent doors from swinging inwards, which is the only way Zombies and Possessed Armor may enter. Placing all doors at least one tile above the ground, or with a 2x2 trench in front of them, will also prevent intruders. The player can also place two doors next to each other to prevent the intruders from entering.
 * An effective way of barricading yourself in is to use Actuators. Instead of placing Doors, you can simply make a 3 block wall, wire them up and use them as a Door instead.
 * Blood Moons can benefit a fairly well-equipped player by providing quick money and items through enemy drops.
 * With a Flail, open a door, throw the flail, and quickly close the door so the flail is stuck outside. Any approaching enemies will be hurt/killed on contact.
 * More advanced players may want to use Mechanisms to construct lock-down systems to barricade entrances, and traps such as Lava "moats", to deal with Blood Moon and Goblin Invasion enemies. Active Stone Blocks and actuators can make simple or elaborate systems possible.
 * With a Fish Statue or Bunny Statue and a 1 Second Timer, Corrupt Goldfish or Corrupt Bunnies will continuously spawn. This stops other enemies from spawning, and the player is able to make money by killing those relatively easy enemies. Corrupt Bunnies also provide the Bunny Hood, which sells for 40 silver (Version 1.2 removed coin drops from both).
 * Using a Bunny Statue or a Fish Statue during a blood moon while in the underground hallow or corruption is a great way to quickly gather large amounts of Souls of Night and Light.
 * Being near surface Hallow or Corruption means large spawns of those types of enemies during Blood Moons. This is useful for farming Mimics, since they drop so many rare items. This method also produces very large quantities of Pixie Dust, which is used in Greater Healing Potions.
 * During a blood moon, every enemy has a 0.1% chance of dropping the KO Cannon.
 * One way to keep your world always prepared for a Blood Moon is to put one or 3 Inactive Stone Blocks next to your doors and wire them to a lever or switch, so when a Blood Moon occurs, you will already have your doors barricaded.
 * If you're underground (for any reason) during a Blood Moon, you can opt to just continue to mine as normally (only to be careful to not die if you've set your spawn point above ground). Enemies underground do not change during a Blood Moon, so if you were able to handle the enemies underground any other time, then that's probably the safest bet. Since any enemy would be trying to find you, if you're not in your house during a Blood Moon, then no enemies will spawn there, meaning your NPCs are safe while inside (which they are anyway during nightfall). Be advised, though, that only the surface enemies will drop better loot during a Blood Moon, so you'd lose out if you opt to just not come back above ground.

Trivia

 * The Blood Moon is based on one of the "Seven Signs of the Apocalypse" from the Bible, in which it states that ,"...on the 6th sign the moon will arise, showing the color of blood, bringing with it the demons that prowled the Earth, but were sealed away. Then they will feast on those who doubted...".
 * The Blood Moon is not entirely fictional. In real life it is an astronomical event in which a full moon passes directly into Earth's shadow - a lunar eclipse. As sunlight passes into the shadow through the atmosphere, the Moon is given a red/orange color due to the amount of air the light passes through. It is the same phenomenon that gives sunsets and sunrises such colors. This also means that Terraria has both Lunar and Solar Eclipses. When a real Blood Moon occurred on the 14th April in 2014 a warning was jokingly announced on the official Terraria forums.
 * The fact that most of the Female NPC's get annoyed and rude may be a crude reference to menstruation.