"The ocean depths are trembling..."

The Abyss is an aquatic biome added by the Calamity Mod which spawns upon world creation. It is located under the Sulphurous Sea on the Dungeon side of the world through a chasm on the seafloor. It is extremely deep, dark, and perilous, filled with deadly enemies, which increase in strength as the biome grows deeper. Because many enemies in the Abyss are initially passive, only becoming hostile when hit or when in close proximity to the player, stealthiness should be greatly prioritized while exploring the biome. The Abyss is divided into four distinct layers, each with a different set of enemies that will spawn.

Layer 1 is the entrance to the Abyss and is empty and open. No real danger is present in this layer.

Layer 2 is the first exploration site of the Abyss. There will be 'islands' in the middle and on the sides of the Abyss, which have small houses on them. These houses have locked Shadow Chests containing either powerful late Pre-Hardmode weapons or useful items for further Abyss exploration. As a Shadow Key is required to obtain the loot from the chests, it is highly recommended to explore these layers after Skeletron has been defeated.

Layers 3 and 4 contain the most dangerous enemies present in the biome, which include the biome's mini-bosses. Layer 3 is similar in structure to layer 2, while layer 4 is relatively open until it comes to a closing point. A Shadow Chest containing the Terminus can be found at the bottom of the Abyss. It is recommended to explore these layers after Polterghast has been defeated.

The upper two layers of the Abyss are mostly composed of Abyss Gravel, with Abyss Gravel Walls as a background. The third layer begins replacing Abyss Gravel with Voidstone and Voidstone Walls, while the fourth layer is completely made out of Voidstone. Planty Mush, Tenebris and Scoria Ore can also be found in the 2nd and 3rd layers. Several Pots are scattered around the islands, containing several useful drops.

Light Level [ edit | edit source ]

Without a sufficient level of light, the player's vision may be reduced (similarly to the Darkness debuff) or blackened completely (similarly to the Obstructed debuff), depending on how deep they've descended into the Abyss.

In Layer 1, the player's vision will be reduced unless they have a light level of 1 or higher.

In Layer 2, the player's vision will be blackened unless they have a light level of 1 or higher, and reduced unless they have a light level of 3 or higher.

In Layer 3, the player's vision will be blackened unless they have a light level of 3 or higher, and reduced unless they have a light level of 5 or higher.

In Layer 4, the player's vision will be blackened unless they have a light level of 5 or higher, and reduced unless they have a light level of 7 or higher.

In Death Mode, Abyss light level requirements are increased by 25% .

The following items increase the player's light level. These values are cumulative, and stacking several of them at the same time is required for maximum vision in the Abyss. In Death Mode the effectiveness of light level increasing accessories and buffs is decreased by 25%.

The breath meter drains faster in the Abyss, with each deeper layer applying more severe breath loss. Players with zero breath in the Abyss will lose health far more rapidly than if they were drowning in normal water. Finally, the Crush Depth debuff is commonly inflicted by enemies in the Abyss and causes the player's breath to drain even quicker. These conditions make underwater breathing equipment a necessity for players wishing to explore the Abyss.

The first layer of the Abyss reduces the player's breath by 2 every tenth of a second, resulting in a net loss of 20 breath per second. Each layer beyond the first reduces the player's breath three times as quickly as the previous: the second layer takes away 60 breath per second, the third layer takes away 180, and the fourth takes away 540.

The Abyss ignores all items that normally grant permanent underwater breathing, such as the Gills Potion, Neptune's Shell, and the Ocean Crest. These items are still useful as they separately help reduce the breath loss the Abyss applies to the player.

Breath loss rate [ edit | edit source ]

The following items reduce how frequently the Abyss takes breath away from the player. These effects add together to create an overall delay multiplier that slows down the Abyss' breath loss:

Gills buff or Ocean Crest: +4

Any item which lets the player ignore water physics, as listed below: +5

The delay multiplier is capped at 50. The Abyss takes away breath DelayMultiplier + 1 times more slowly from the player.

Breath loss amount [ edit | edit source ]

The following items reduce the quantity of breath taken away by the Abyss. These effects do not multiply together. Rather, they add onto each other and create an overall percentage to reduce the Abyss' breath loss by:

This percentage reduction is capped at 95%. At this cap, the Abyss removes 20 times less breath from the player.

A player drowning in the Abyss takes extra damage in addition to the vanilla game's health drain from drowning. More precisely, the Abyss reduces the player's health instead of their breath if their breath meter is empty. With no relevant equipment, drowning in the Abyss deals an extra 30 damage per second in Layer 1, 60 damage per second in Layer 2, 120 damage per second in Layer 3, and 240 damage per second in Layer 4. This damage is reduced by 30 per second if the Depths Charm or Abyssal Diving Gear is equipped; this damage is further reduced by 60 damage per second if the Abyssal Diving Suit is equipped. The extra drowning damage dealt by the Abyss is slowed down by all items which reduce the rate of breath loss.

Being in the Abyss decreases the player's defense, with more severe reductions occurring at the deeper levels. All of these defense reductions can be reduced to one-third effectiveness by equipping the Anechoic Plating or Abyssal Diving Suit:

Layer 1: -15 defense (-5 if wearing appropriate accessory)

Layer 2: -30 defense (-10 if wearing appropriate accessory)

Layer 3: -60 defense (-20 if wearing appropriate accessory)

Layer 4: -120 defense (-40 if wearing appropriate accessory)

Unlike many defense reducing effects, the Abyss can reduce the player's defense below zero, causing them to take increased damage.

When fishing in the Sulphurous Sea the player can catch Abyss related items, these depend on the player's fishing power, and are as follows:

Abyssal Crate - Can be caught with any fishing power.

Planty Mush - Can only be caught with 0 to 80 fishing power. Planty Mush's coded requirement is actually 40 to 80. However, as this item replaces Junk catches in the Abyss, it is technically 0 to 80.

Alluring Bait - Can only be caught with 40 to 159 fishing power.

Abyssal Amulet - Can only be caught with 110 to 239 fishing power.

Fishing within the Abyss is possible, although it is very difficult and gives the same loot as the Sulphurous Sea.

Being in any layer of the Abyss below the first layer will disable natural life regen, much like the Bleeding debuff. This can be prevented by equipping the Depths Charm, Abyssal Diving Gear, or Abyssal Diving Suit. Only the Abyssal Diving Suit will prevent bleeding in Layer 3. The bleeding effect cannot be prevented in Layer 4. Equipping any of these accessories will also halve the amount of damage taken from running out of breath in the Abyss.

Attempting to use air pockets in the Abyss to regenerate air will instead deal very rapid damage to the player: a point of damage per tick (60 per second). This damage over time will stop if the player is at or below 100 health.

Empty Buckets and the Super Absorbant Sponge cannot be used in the Abyss.

Lava and Honey buckets cannot be placed in water inside of the Abyss.

It is possible that the entrances into the Shadow Chest rooms will be blocked, requiring the player to slowly mine through the Abyss Gravel to get into them.

Sometimes in Small or Medium-sized worlds, and very rarely in Large worlds, the Abyss will generate over the Dungeon.

It is possible to break holes into The Underworld from the Abyss. Doing so will drain the Abyss of water and may lead to the flooding of the entire Underworld.

Because Abyss Gravel leaks water naturally, should the Abyss be drained on accident, so long as said drain is plugged the Abyss will eventually fill back up over time.

The Abyss biome is defined by world position rather than the blocks present, meaning that any entering any water beneath the world's Dungeon-side Ocean will cause the player to be considered as inside the Abyss, and all of the related effects will occur, even if the world was initially generated without Calamity installed. However, this also means that an artificial Abyss cannot be created by relocating Abyss Gravel or any other Abyss blocks. If the world was generated without Calamity installed, most of the Abyss' unique physical loot can still be obtained from other sources. The chest items and Planty Mush can be caught from Fishing, Tenebris can be obtained by opening Abyssal Crates, and Voidstone drops from several Abyss enemies.

It is possible for the Abyss to overlap with the dungeon on small worlds, usually resulting in Abyss Gravel blocks or Voidstone blocking some of the Dungeon's pathways.

All non-Boss enemies in the Abyss are inflicted with the Crush Depth debuff causing a loss of 1500 health per second regardless of progression. This does not affect enemies that are immune to Crush Depth, including all of the enemies native to the Abyss.

It is possible to find Lime Kelp in the Abyss.