Shimmer

See also: Liquids

Shimmer is a liquid that can be found in the world in the Aether cave biome on the jungle side of the world. It cannot be picked up with Buckets, but can be placed anywhere through use of the Bottomless Shimmer Bucket (Post-Moon Lord). It has a variety of effects on different items and NPCs, triggered through contact.


 * If you get submerged in it, and you are not in The Underworld or wearing the Chromatic Cloak, you will fall through blocks until there is an open space for you to exit into.
 * This is called the shimmer debuff. Any animations on your character or mounts freeze while this debuff is active. You are unable to use items while this debuff is active.
 * This will also happen whenever a player attempts to fish in shimmer. This is not prevented by the Chromatic Cloak.
 * The shimmer debuff will not be applied if the player is in the The Underworld. Suffocation will occur if the player is still inside of a block once the Underworld layer is reached.
 * Certain items will be upgraded by being submerged, some will be downgraded. Some won't be affected at all.
 * Putting any item that has a crafting tree into it will disassemble it into its components.
 * Placing any coins into the pool will increase your luck. The number of coins dropped determines the length of the luck.
 * Placing any coins into the pool will increase your luck. The number of coins dropped determines the length of the luck.


 * Certain accessories used in crafting trees turn into the accessory they combine with, cycling in a similar fashion to emblems.
 * Grappling hooks end when they touch shimmer, not grabbing and not having to retract.
 * Any new item created from shimmer will not have a modifier, even cycling items like the emblems.
 * If a critter walks into the shimmer, it will turn into a Faeling. The same will happen if you throw it into the shimmer as an item.
 * Ancient items such as Ancient Gold Helmet change to their standard form, and the standard form changes to the ancient form. Only tested on loot drop ancient items.
 * Pouring it onto NPCs and certain enemies will transform them into a shimmering variant. The only difference between variants is the sprite.
 * Most projectiles bounce off the surface of the liquid.
 * Upon placing a certain amount of shimmer in an area, the place will get dimmer and stars will appear in the background (like with using the Aether Monolith). The music that plays is "Aether".
 * Enemies submerged in the Shimmer which cannot be transformed by it will rapidly turn invisible, this effect will fade very slowly once the enemy leaves the Shimmer.
 * Gem animals turn into their respective gems.
 * Hardmode Crates turn into their respective Pre-Hardmode variants.
 * Items will float out of the shimmer and stay in the air when they are transformed, and their sprite is a bit brighter.
 * When Shimmer comes into contact with any other liquid it will make an Aetherium Block.
 * Luminite bricks will turn into different variants, depending on the phase of the moon it is when they are thrown into the shimmer.
 * Shimmer cannot be fished in. Attempting to will give the player the Shimmer debuff, even if wearing the Chromatic Cloak.
 * If the player obtains the Shimmer debuff whilst flying (through the use of a fishing rod or other means) the debuff will instantly disappear.

Transmutations in Shimmer
For an item to be transmuted, the transmuting pool must completely cover the item.

Interchangeable items
These items will cycle between each other when placed into the shimmer These items cycle from left to right

Downgrading
Shimmer can downgrade various tiered items thrown into it, like ores and gems. When the lowest version of something is thrown into the shimmer, it turns into a stone block, and stone blocks turn into dirt blocks.

With ores, shimmer downgrades by tier, with 1.2 variants at each tier coming after the original variants. Copper is the lowest ore in the chain, luminite is presumably still the highest.

Gems thrown into shimmer downgrade from Diamond down to Amethyst.

Note: Demonite Ore, Crimtane Ore, Meteorite, Hellstone, and Hallowed Bar are unaffected by Shimmer.

Note: Amber is unaffected by Shimmer.

Downgrading items requiring multiple blocks to craft in a high enough stack can break the max limit to how many of those blocks you can stack.

Tips

 * While Buckets cannot collect Shimmer, it can be transported using Pumps.

Trivia

 * This item may be a reference to the 2018 science fiction film "Annihilation", in which an amorphous phenomenon called "the shimmer" transforms living things.
 * May also be a reference to "The Waterfall of Wishing"/"Mysterious Pond" areas in the video game, "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past", where the player can throw in items and get a stronger item in return.