What Happens When You Break a Crimson Heart in Terraria?

Breaking a Crimson Heart in Terraria is a pivotal event that can significantly alter your gameplay. When you destroy one, several things occur: there’s a chance for a meteorite to fall, a boss can be summoned (specifically the Brain of Cthulhu), and you can acquire valuable early-game items. Timing and strategy are crucial when tackling these ominous organs pulsing within the Crimson biomes. Understanding the consequences of your actions is key to progressing effectively in the game.

The Immediate Effects of Destruction

The most immediate effects revolve around the direct consequences of smashing the Crimson Heart itself. This includes the potential for a meteorite strike, the summoning of the Brain of Cthulhu, and the acquisition of new items. Let’s dive into each of these:

Meteorite Showers: A Chance Encounter

Each Crimson Heart gives a separate 50% chance of immediately causing a meteorite to fall when destroyed between midnight (12:00 AM) and dawn (4:30 AM) in-game time. If you destroy a Crimson Heart between dawn and midnight, there is a 50% chance a meteorite will fall the following midnight. This meteorite will land somewhere on the surface of your world, depositing Meteorite Ore. This ore is essential for crafting the Meteor Armor and Space Gun, powerful early-game items, especially for mages. It’s beneficial to break Crimson Hearts during the appropriate time frame to maximize your chances of triggering a meteorite event.

Summoning the Brain of Cthulhu

The Brain of Cthulhu is the boss associated with the Crimson biome. The third Crimson Heart destroyed summons the Brain of Cthulhu, which spawns immediately. The Brain of Cthulhu is re-summoned with every third Crimson Heart destroyed. Therefore, destroying 3 Crimson hearts, 6 Crimson hearts, and 9 Crimson hearts will all summon the boss once for each respective set of 3 hearts destroyed. Preparing for this fight is essential. Ensure you have adequate gear, healing potions, and a well-lit arena within the Crimson biome to make the encounter manageable.

Loot and Treasures: Rewarding the Brave

Upon breaking a Crimson Heart, it drops some items. You’ll typically find items such as Crimtane Ore, the primary ore found within the Crimson, as well as other items that assist you on your journey. This ore is crucial for crafting Crimson Armor and the Blood Butcherer, offering early-game power boosts. You might also obtain items like the Panic Necklace, a very helpful accessory early-game. Breaking Crimson Hearts early can give you strong items in the 1.4.3.2 Terraria version.

Long-Term Implications: Crimson’s Influence

The Crimson biome itself plays a larger role in your Terraria world. Understanding its mechanics and influence helps you manage it effectively:

The Spread of Crimson

The Crimson spreads, meaning it slowly converts adjacent tiles to their Crimson variants. This includes turning grass into Crimson Grass, sand into Crimsand, and stone into Crimstone. While this can be visually interesting, an uncontrolled Crimson spread can overtake your world, impacting NPC housing and biome-specific resources. Containing the Crimson is often necessary for preserving specific biomes and maintaining a diverse world.

Containing the Crimson

To stop Crimson spread permanently, you need to dig a surrounding tunnel that is at least three blocks wide. A six-block width is recommended for extra precaution. These trenches prevent the affected blocks from spreading past it. Alternatively, placing non-corruptible blocks such as wood, bricks, or glass can act as barriers.

The Importance of Maintaining Balance

As desirable as completely eliminating the spread might sound, leaving a part of the world with Crimson is not a bad idea if contained properly, since there are a lot of items exclusive to these biomes the player may need later, such as Souls and Biome mimics. These items are crucial for crafting powerful gear later in the game.

Tools of Destruction: Breaking Crimson Hearts

Any hammer may be used to break Shadow Orbs and Crimson Hearts. This means you can break them from the very start of the game. However, note that a Pwnhammer or better is required to destroy altars, this is only possible in a world where the Wall of Flesh has been defeated.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about Crimson Hearts and their impact on your Terraria adventure:

1. What hammer can break Crimson Hearts? Any hammer can be used to break Crimson Hearts, making them accessible from the start of the game.

2. Can Crimson Hearts spread crimson? No, Crimson Hearts themselves do not spread the Crimson. The spread is caused by blocks like Crimstone, Crimson Grass, and Thorns. Crimson Hearts will only appear upon world generation, and will not spawn in a Crimson area that has formed through spreading.

3. What happens if I destroy altars in Terraria? Each time an altar is destroyed, there is a 2/3 (66.67%) chance that a single random Stone Block in the Cavern layer will be converted to Ebonstone/Crimstone or Pearlstone, facilitating the spread of Underground Hallow or Corruption/Crimson. It is also required to spawn hardmode ores upon entering hardmode after defeating the Wall of Flesh.

4. How do you break Crimstone? The Crimstone Block can only be broken with a Nightmare Pickaxe or higher.

5. Should I get rid of Crimson entirely? No. Leaving a part of the world with Crimson is beneficial as it provides access to Crimson-exclusive items, such as Souls of Night and materials for crafting powerful gear. Keeping a contained Crimson biome ensures you can access these resources later in the game.

6. What happens if Crimson takes over? If enough Crimson manages to take over a new area, that area will eventually adopt the Crimson’s theme music, background, and water color. For an area to be considered a Crimson biome, at least 300 / 200 tiles of Crimson grass or Crimson blocks must be present.

7. Should I destroy crimson altars? Players about to enter Hardmode may benefit by mining paths to several known altars beforehand, as navigating Hardmode Corruption/Crimson is dangerous at first. Altars are needed for crafting certain items, hence destroying every altar in a world is not recommended.

8. Does breaking crimson altars spread corruption? Each time an altar is destroyed, there is a 2/3 (66.67%) chance that a single random Stone Block in the Cavern layer will be converted to Ebonstone/Crimstone or Pearlstone, facilitating the spread of Underground Hallow or Corruption/Crimson.

9. How many Crimson Altars should I break? Six is normally best for maximum amount of ore balanced against random infection. 3 would reduce the amount of infection, but you might struggle to find enough ore. Every 3 altars you smash reduces the amount of ore that spawns, but still increases the amount of infection spawned.

10. Can crimson infect Hallow? No, The Corruption or Crimson is unable to overlap the Hallow.

11. What happens if you destroy 3 Crimson Hearts? The third Crimson Heart destroyed summons the Brain of Cthulhu, which spawns immediately. The Brain of Cthulhu is re-summoned with every third Crimson Heart destroyed.

12. How many Crimson Hearts can you break? You can break all of the crimson hearts in your world. Crimson Hearts and Shadow Orbs share the same counter for how many have been destroyed in a world, meaning that if both appear in the same world, such as in drunk worlds, destroying three total of either will summon the boss associated with the last one broken.

13. Does killing Plantera stop the corruption? Defeating Plantera for the first time reduces the speed of the Corruption’s spread by 1/2 (50%).

14. Why can’t I break the crimson Altar? Demon Altars and Crimson Altars can’t be destroyed with a normal hammer. You have to pwn them. The Pwnhammer is a Hardmode hammer that is able to destroy Demon Altars and Crimson Altars with a few hits, blessing the world with one of the six Hardmode ores. It is always dropped by the Wall of Flesh.

15. Is there a way to stop crimson from spreading? Using a block of lava is enough to stop the spread of surface crimson, as it will burn any grass, but this is not confirmed in corruption biomes, and is a good early Hardmode solution to crimson spread. The Hallow can stop your world evil, and NPCs will live in it, but it is very dangerous for early hardmode players.

Understanding these aspects of the Crimson Heart ensures you make informed decisions that benefit your gameplay and long-term progression in Terraria. It is useful to learn more about Games Learning Society and other sources of information. Check out GamesLearningSociety.org to learn more.