Pirate Invasion (2024)

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The Pirate Invasion is a Hardmode event where pirate-themed enemies spawn and swarm the world's original spawn point. A Pirate Invasion can occur randomly after certain conditions are met, or alternatively when the player uses a Pirate Map.

For a single-player invasion, the player must kill 120 pirates before the event is completed. This number increases with each additional player.

Once the first Pirate Invasion in a world has been defeated and a suitable house is vacant, the Pirate NPC will move in.

Once the player has defeated at least one pirate invasion in a post-Plantera world, they can purchase a Land Mine. However, on old Gen they can be purchased without defeating Plantera.

Summoning[]

The Pirate Invasion can be summoned manually using a Pirate Map, which drops from all enemies in the Ocean biome.

If the following conditions are fulfilled, a Pirate Invasion can also occur randomly:

• No other events are currently in progress.
• The Wall of Flesh has been defeated.
• At least one Altar has been destroyed.
• The player has at least 200 max health (if the player does not meet this requirement, the Pirate Map will also not work).

The chances of a random Pirate Invasion are as follows:

• First, the Goblin Army event must fail to occur (59/60 chance).
• If a Pirate Invasion has not yet been defeated, there is a 1/30 chance for the first one to occur.
• After a Pirate Invasion has been defeated, the chance is reduced to 1/50.
• The final probability is 3.27% each morning for the first invasion, and 1.96% for subsequent invasions. If the player does not manipulate time with a bed or sundial, this is an average of 1 random pirate invasion every 20.4 hours of gameplay (or 12.2 hours of gameplay for the first one after conditions are met).

When a Pirate Invasion occurs, it will be announced by a status message; either "Pirates are approaching from the west!" or "Pirates are approaching from the east!" The message will repeat several times until the pirates reach the initial spawn of the world or any area of the world above the surface which has a nearby NPC. When the pirates' initial wave reaches the spawn, their arrival is announced with "The pirates have arrived!"

If the first status message says "west", then the initial pirates will come from the left. Otherwise, if the message says "east", they will arrive from the right. Note that these directions are not related to the apparent motion of the sun and the moon, which, in Terraria, appear to move from left ("west") to right ("east").

Contents[]

"Pirates" redirects here. For the friendly NPC, see Pirate.

Notes[]

• Although Pirate Maps can only be obtained in Hardmode, they can be used to summon Pirate Invasions even in pre-Hardmode worlds.
• While a Pirate Invasion is happening, bosses may still spawn, naturally or by item summon. This puts the invasion on hold – the percentage completion bar will disappear and no more pirates will spawn for the duration of the boss fight. If the boss, or all players in the world are killed, the invasion will resume as it was before the boss fight.
• If a Pirate Invasion is started while a Flying Dutchman is still alive from another invasion, any pirates spawned from it and killed after using the Pirate Map will count towards the invasion progress, even before the second invasion officially starts.

Achievements[]

Tips[]

• The Pirate Invasion is similar to the Goblin Army, but while the pirates are generally tougher, they do not have a caster like the Goblin Sorcerer, much less anything to match the Goblin Summoner. Most of the same tactics and preparations will prove even more effective, given these weaknesses.
• Since pirate enemies have no piercing attacks, the player can wall themselves off with blocks and safely attack from there, e.g. with weapons like the Daedalus Stormbow (ideally with Holy Arrows for damage maximization) or, after digging a small hole in the wall, a yoyo, Magic Dagger, Flying Knife or other projectile weapons.
  • However, the player must be cautious, as killing a Pirate Captain will cause a Pirate's Curse to spawn, which can move through walls and deal heavy damage to the player.
• If fought while using a Flask of Gold, one can average between 45–55 per event, thus making this one of the easiest ways to make money.
• Pirate Invasions can be used to farm Biome Keys if the fight is arranged to take place in the corresponding biome. One way to do so is to set up an artificial biome near the spawn point. The other is to simply go near the spawn point to trigger the invasion, then fly to an existing biome that has been prepared to handle an invasion.
• Pirates themselves can drop Pirate Maps if fought within the Ocean biome, which can make farming easier. This also applies to all other invasion enemies, such as the Goblin Army and Frost Legion.
• Since the Flying Dutchman spawns pirates, it is possible to stop or even trap the Dutchman and only kill the enemies spawned from it.
  • Trapping the Flying Dutchman creates a steady source of enemies, which can be utilized for indefinitely farming money, e.g. with a Slime Staff and a Lucky Coin.

Trivia[]

• The Pirate Invasion enemies are some of the only unquestionably human enemies in Terraria.
• When Pirate Deckhands and Pirate Corsairs are forced through a 2-tile-high space, they will stand with their arms down for a few seconds and then start moving away from the player.

History[]

• Desktop 1.4.0.5: Reduced chance of subsequent invasions occurring.

• Desktop 1.4.0.2: Added the Pirate's Curse.

• Desktop 1.3.0.1: Added the Flying Dutchman and trophy.
  • Now has its own music.
  • Added banners: Pirate Corsair Banner, Pirate Crossbower Banner, and Pirate Deadeye Banner.
  • Added Buccaneer set: Buccaneer Bandana, Buccaneer Tunic, and Buccaneer Pantaloons.
  • Added new furniture: Golden Sink.
  • Added Gold Ring and its crafting.

• Desktop 1.2.4: New drops added. Not destroying a Shadow Orb at all will no longer block natural Pirate Invasions.

• Desktop 1.2.1: Fixed a bug that would prevent pirates from spawning.

• Desktop 1.2.0.3: Added rare drops of Golden furniture set and the Pirate, Pirate Captain, and Parrot Banners.

• Desktop 1.2: Introduced.

• Console 1.02: Introduced.

• Switch 1.0.711.6: Introduced.

• Mobile 1.2.6508: Introduced.

• 3DS 1.04: Now has its own music.

• 3DS-Release: Introduced.