A Shadow Orb is a floating sphere that can sometimes be found below chasms in small empty spaces confined by Ebonstone. Shadow Orbs can be destroyed with hammers or Dynamite, which causes a random item drop and sometimes an event.

Terraria Shadow Orb Guide(01:54)
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EventsEdit

Upon destroying a Shadow Orb, one of the following messages will be displayed in the bottom-left corner of the screen:

• "A horrible chill goes down your spine..." (First orb broken)
• "Screams echo around you..." (Second orb broken)
• "Eater of Worlds has awoken!" (Third orb broken - 100% Chance after each third Orb), which means the Eater of Worlds has now spawned and will begin attacking the player momentarily.
• "A Meteorite has landed!" (50% chance of spawning the Night after the orb has been destroyed.)
• "A Goblin army is approaching from the east/west!" (Has a chance of occurring when you have met the other conditions of a goblin army attack

Possible dropsEdit

• Musket and Musket Balls (25 - 50)
• Orb of Light
• Ball O' Hurt
• Vilethorn
• Band of Starpower

StrategyEdit

There are three strategies used for getting past the Ebonstone to the Shadow Orb, although it is possible for no Ebonstone to block the way:

• Dynamite or bombs can be used to destroy the surrounding Ebonstone effectively. Though this is an expensive method, it is generally the first one to become available to players. It generally takes 2 to 3 sticks of Dynamite to get to the Shadow Orb.
• If you have a Dryad, you can purchase Purification Powder, which turns Ebonstone blocks into ordinary Stone blocks, allowing you to mine through it and get to the Shadow Orb.
• If you have a Nightmare Pickaxe or better, you can simply mine the Ebonstone that surrounds the Orb. Using the Nightmare Pickaxe, it takes four hits to destroy one block. Using the Molten Pickaxe, it only takes two hits.

NotesEdit

• The Eater of Worlds often attacks the player while in the confined underground space where they destroyed the Orb. It is wise to plan your escape into a larger open space prior to destroying an Orb, unless you want to fight the Eater of Worlds in a small confined area.
• The Flails, the Vilethorn,or Spears are extremely useful against the Eater of Worlds, which is convenient as you get 2 chances to get one before your 1st "3rd" shadow orb, and 3 chances every time after.
• Shadow Orbs can sometimes appear without any Ebonstone blocking access.
• At a certain point in the game, you might smash a shadow orb to help along the way. If you don't want to you don't have to, but it is very essential to kill the goblin army for the Goblin Tinkerer, or have a meteorite land for meteorite bars.
• When breaking your first Shadow Orb on your world, it will always drop a Musket.
• An effective way to gather multiple orbs is to "Jump Worlds" and get multiple orbs with your character. This may be considered cheating, but it allows players that cannot find Corruption, or have gotten all the Shadow Orbs in their world to get more.

Update InfoEdit

v1.0.6.1

• Fixed bug where Shadow Orbs could break on world creation.

v1.0.0

• Introduced.

GalleryEdit

Three Shadow Orbs next to each other, one on top of another

Half a shadow orb after destroying one of two overlapping orbs

6 shadow orbs unusually close together

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