The Destroyer

"You feel vibrations from deep below..."

The Destroyer is a Hardmode Mechanical Boss which is essentially a more difficult 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.

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

 * If you get the status message "You feel vibrations from deep below..." in early hardmode, it's recommended to go Underground as this will prevent it from spawning.
 * Using a Magic Mirror or other methods to teleport away (i.e. 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.
 * With that in mind, Teleporters around the world is an effective strategy to heal and avoid the boss.
 * 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.
 * An effective way to defeat the Destroyer quickly is using a Daedalus Stormbow with Holy Arrows, but if you don't have that you can also easily use the Nimbus Rod to quickly defeat him. Cannons sold from the pirate, are also an effective way to defeat the destroyer.
 * 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.
 * In, however, avoid the head at all costs, as it can cause massive damage.
 * If you are low on health, try killing The Destroyer's probes because they have a chance to drop hearts.
 * Using the Minimap to see where the Destroyer will surface may help with dodging.
 * Farming the Destroyer is a quick method for making money, as you can use its drops to craft multiple Light Discs, which sell for each.
 * It's best to keep an eye on the probes, as they can shoot lasers, which can kill you pretty quick. Note that the more you continue to damage the Destroyer, the more probes will spawn.

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 to the Brain of Cthulhu's Creepers.
 * The Destroyer will always have 10x as much health as the Wall of Flesh, even if it's a multiplayer game in Expert Mode.
 * The Destroyer has many small metal devices jutting out of it that can both resemble centipede-like legs or wheels.
 * Despite the status message saying "You feel vibrations from deep below..." or "You feel a quaking from deep underground...", The Destroyer won't spawn as long as the player is underground.
 * Some teasers for the release included The Destroyer having blue-lit segments instead of red.

History
Der Zerstörer Le Destructeur 毁灭者