Dungeon

Dungeons are enormous late-game buildings found close to the edge of a generated world, spanning many layers deep, usually all the way to The Underworld.

They are filled with treasure chests containing dungeon exclusive, rare and powerful items as well as unique decoration items (water candles, books, chain lanterns, etc.), all of which are spread evenly, and all of which have the same chance of containing the exclusive dungeon loot. Regular chest loot can be found in a dungeon as well. The golden chests in dungeons require special Golden Keys to open.

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Dungeons can be made from one of three brick types unique to dungeons (blue, green or pink). Every dungeon will only have one of the three types in a singleplayer and multiplayer world, unless tampered with using Third Party Software. Dungeons also have unique background walls which, similar to the bricks, come in one of the three colours and are unique to dungeons. However, the walls and bricks of the dungeon do not always have to be the same color.



Read more: Dungeon Bricks

The bottom of the Dungeon will sometimes cut into the Underworld, providing a viable way to easily access The Underworld. This can happen on any world size, but it is more common on smaller worlds.

To gain access to the Dungeon, you must first defeat Skeletron, the guardian boss who is summoned by talking to the Old Man standing just outside the dungeon entrance. If you talk to the Old Man in the day, he'll tell you to wait until night to talk to him.

Before v1.0.5, there was a second option to gain access to the dungeon, however; you can kill the Skeletron Heads that spawn if you haven't yet defeated Skeletron himself. When attempting this method, it is advised to make it back to the surface (as the Skeletron heads do not spawn until you have descended some into the dungeon itself) as fast as you can. Since you will need to slay all the heads in one go, the extra space you have at the surface is vital. This method is usually used to gain access to a dungeon when the Old Man doesn't respawn after an attempt to kill Skeletron. Note that the Skeletron Heads are, in fact, guardians of the dungeon that exist to prevent you from entering it, and thus, they will instantly kill you during the day. Therefore, attempting this during the day is not recommended. During the night, however, they deal the same amount of damage as the head of the actual boss.

It is recommended to be at an mid-to-end-game level to access the Dungeon, as enemies in the Dungeon will deal up to 20+ damage even with armor and efficient navigation requires a grappling hook or movement-enhancing accessories. Some may attempt to make run throughs of the dungeon. This method works best because enemies will constantly respawn anywhere, thus taking too long in a particular spot will result in less loot being found.

Multiple dungeons can be generated, although this is extremely rare. The only way to generate more than one dungeon in a new world is to use a certain mod.

Any chest that is found extremely near the dungeon (It will actually be sitting on the dungeon blocks) is actually spawned as a dungeon chest and you will recieve dungeon loot. This is helpful as you can get your hands on powerful weapons without entering the dungeon itself. This is less effective as of 1.06 however as most dungeon chests generated are locked.

Dungeons can be spawned with dirt and other earthly materials on the picture to right. The dungeon's loot is spread evenly throughout the dungeon, meaning loot further down is not necessarily better.

It is possible to make a home in a dungeon by taking out the back wall, placing a different wall there, and putting down a bed. This will allow you to spawn there and it keeps monsters from spawning.

It is possible for a Dungeon to have spawned on the same side of a map as an ocean, but very rarely. Rarer still, it was possible for an Ocean to spawn inside of a Dungeon, as the picture shows. however, this is no longer true, as of patch 1.0.6.

Proven Fact: Dungeons usually spawn in the Eastern direction, rarely in the western direction.

Here is a video of things you can find in a dungeons http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUARJb9yycw&NR=1

Monsters

 * Dungeon Guardian (Only if one enters a dungeon without defeating Skeletron first)


 * Angry Bones


 * Burning Skull (only in version 1.04 and below)
 * Cursed Skull


 * Dark Caster


 * Skeletron (Guardian Boss and only once at one map)
 * Dungeon Slime
 * Blazing Wheel (Immortal)
 * Spike Ball (Immortal)

Loot
Chests may contain, along with normal chest loot:

All golden dungeon chests are locked and require Golden Keys to unlock.
 * Handgun
 * Aqua Scepter
 * Muramasa
 * Magic Missile
 * Blue Moon
 * Cobalt Shield
 * Feral Claws
 * Whoopie Cushion
 * Water Bolt (obtainable by right clicking the icon that shows up when mousing over it, as if it was a potion. It does not have a regular coloration like the other books).
 * Dark Lance (Rare and only near The Underworld)
 * Shadow Key