Brain of Confusion

Type	Accessory
Tooltip	Has a chance to create illusions and dodge an attack; Temporarily increase critical chance after dodge; May confuse nearby enemies after being struck
Rarity
Sell	2
Research	1 required
Debuff	Cerebral Mindtrick
Debuff tooltip	Increased critical chance
Duration	4 / 5 seconds

Expert Mode-Only Content: This information applies only to Expert Mode and Expert Mode worlds.

Desktop/Console/Mobile-Only Content: This information applies only to the Desktop, Console, and Mobile versions of Terraria.

The Brain of Confusion is an Expert Mode accessory item obtained from the Treasure Bag dropped by the Brain of Cthulhu. Upon taking damage with the Brain of Confusion equipped, nearby enemies have a 60*3/5 (60%) chance of receiving the Confused debuff for at minimum 1.5 seconds. The chance, duration, and area of effect of the debuff are based on the amount of damage taken.

In the Desktop version and Mobile version, the player wielding it has a 16.67*1/6 (16.67%) chance of dodging an attack, which inflicts the Cerebral Mindtrick debuff on them for four seconds. It increases critical strike chance by 10% / 20%, despite being a debuff. While the debuff is active, the player cannot dodge another attack.

Though not listed, the debuff will also increase summon damage by 10% / 20%.

Inflicting Confused on enemies[]

The base chance to inflict the Confused debuff is 60*3/5 (60%). It is increased by 0.4*1/250 (0.4%) per point of damage taken, hence with 100 or more damage taken, the debuff is guaranteed to be inflicted.^[1]

The debuff duration is determined randomly, and the bounds depend on the amount of damage taken:^[1]

$duration_{min} = \left( 90 + \left\lfloor \frac{dmg}{3} \right\rfloor \right) \div 60$ $duration_{max} = \left( 300 + \left\lfloor \frac{dmg}{2} \right\rfloor \right) \div 60$

The values are in seconds.

The range within which enemies are affected is determined randomly as well. There are certain damage thresholds that affect which equation to use:^[1]

$alt=range_{min} = \begin{cases} \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ dmg \leq 600 & : \ \left\lfloor \frac{dmg}{2} \right\rfloor + 200 \\ \ \ 600 < dmg \leq 1333 & : \ \frac{3}{4} \times \left\lfloor \frac{dmg}{2} \right\rfloor + 275 \\ 1333 < dmg \leq 2200 & : \ \frac{3}{8} \times \left\lfloor \frac{dmg}{2} \right\rfloor + 487.5 \\ 2200 < dmg & : \ \frac{3}{32} \times \left\lfloor \frac{dmg}{2} \right\rfloor + 796.875 \\ \end{cases}$

$alt=range_{max} =\begin{cases} \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ dmg\leq 100\ :\ 2\times dmg+300\\ 100< dmg\leq 233\ :\ \frac{3}{2} \times dmg+350\\ 233< dmg\leq 500\ :\ \frac{3}{4} \times dmg+525\\ 500< dmg\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ :\ \frac{3}{16} \times dmg+806.25 \end{cases}$

The values are in pixels; divide by 16 to obtain tiles.

Examples:

Damage taken	Debuff chance	Debuff duration	Debuff range
1	60.4*151/250 (60.4%)	1.5–5 seconds	12.5–18.88 tiles
32	69.2*173/250 (69.2%)	1.67–5.27 seconds	13.5–22.75 tiles
50	80*200/250 (80%)	1.77–5.42 seconds	14.06–25 tiles
78	91.2*228/250 (91.2%)	1.93–5.65 seconds	14.94–28.5 tiles
100	100*250/250 (100%)	2.05–5.83 seconds	15.63–31.25 tiles
300	100*250/250 (100%)	3.17–7.5 seconds	21.88–46.88 tiles

Notes[]

The effect can be activated by any form of direct damage, including damage taken by traps and thorny bushes. It is not activated from damage inflicted over time, e.g. debuffs.
Each time the effect is triggered, a flying brain projectile will be spawned. It is a purely visual effect.
The Brain of Confusion is not affected by dyes.
Its 16.67*1/6 (16.67%) chance to nullify incoming damage can be viewed as a dynamic 16.7% damage reduction that is not a part of the overall defense system. However, this is not as reliable as a flat damage reduction bonus or defense bonus provided through other means such as the Worm Scarf.
The chance that the Confused debuff is inflicted, as well as its duration, is calculated for each enemy within range individually.

Tips[]

In the Console version, the Brain of Confusion is sometimes considered to be a disappointment compared to its Corruption counterpart, the Worm Scarf, which reduces damage taken by 17%. Despite this, it can still shine in certain moments, such as during events, or for preventing the player from being swarmed by enemies such as Cave Bats.
In the Desktop version and Mobile version, the added chance to dodge nearly matches the percentage of damage the Worm Scarf prevents along with the extra critical bonus. This means that both accessories will, on average, prevent the same amount of damage but in a different way. This makes the Brain of Confusion significantly more useful and is arguably even better than the Worm Scarf, depending on the scenario. Often in Master Mode, taking damage in the first place can be extremely dangerous, so a chance to dodge can prove to be more useful in tight situations as taking 17% reduced damage from the Worm Scarf may still be too much.
- The short-term DPS increase from the critical hit chance increase after a successful dodge can allow the player to deal much more damage to enemies or bosses for a short period of time. Some could consider this to solidify the Brain of Confusion's place as the DPS version of the Worm Scarf.
  - However, the best of both worlds would be the use of both accessories together, significantly increasing the player's chances of survival, while also improving DPS capability.
Its dodge ability stacks with the effect of the Black Belt/Master Ninja Gear and Holy Protection. Together with the Black Belt/Master Ninja Gear, the combined chance to dodge an incoming attack is 25*1/4 (25%). This can be very useful in Master Mode, especially against the daytime Empress of Light.
Since Cerebral Mindtrick is a debuff, it can be removed by the Nurse. While this removes the critical strike chance bonus, it allows dodging another attack immediately.
Since Cerebral Mindtrick also provide summon damage bonus, it is a viable option to summoners.

History[]

Desktop version

Desktop 1.4.1:
- Halved the critical chance bonus of Cerebral Mindtrick from 20% to 10%.
- Reduced the duration of Cerebral Mindtrick from 5 to 4 seconds.

Desktop 1.4.0.1: Now grants a chance to dodge an attack. It provides a 20% bonus to critical strike chance for 5 seconds when a successful dodge happens.

Desktop 1.3.0.1: Introduced.

Console version

Console 1.0.933.1: Introduced. ()

Console 1.0.750.0: Introduced. ()

Switch version

Switch 1.0.711.6: Introduced.

Mobile version

Mobile 1.3.0.7: Introduced.

References[]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Information taken from the Desktop 1.4.1.2 source code, function Hurt() in Terraria.Player.cs. There may be inaccuracies, as the current Desktop version is 1.4.2.3.

[hurt-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Information taken from the Desktop 1.4.1.2 source code, function Hurt() in Terraria.Player.cs. There may be inaccuracies, as the current Desktop version is 1.4.2.3.

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