Meteor Head

 Classic

 Expert

 Master

Statistics

Type	Flying Enemy
Environment	Meteorite
AI Type	Flying AI
Damage	40/80›72/120›108
Max Life	26/52›56/78›84 108 ‌
Defense	6
KB Resist	60%/64%/68%
Banner	Meteor Head Banner
Immune to

Inflicts debuff

Inflicts debuff

Inflicts debuff

Debuff	On Fire!
Debuff tooltip	Slowly losing life
Chance	33%
Duration	7 seconds14 seconds17.5 seconds

Drops

Coins	80Pre-Hardmode: 2Hardmode: 160

• Item (Quantity)Rate
• Meteorite

  (pre-Hardmode only)
  2%    

Sounds

Hurt
Killed

• Internal NPC ID: 23

Meteor Heads are flying enemies that only spawn in a Meteorite biome. They override all other enemy spawns in the biome, except when the Meteorite biome is within the Ocean. Once only 74 / 49 / 22 blocks of Meteorite remain, the area is no longer considered a Meteorite biome. Therefore, Meteor Heads will then no longer spawn.

Meteor Heads follow the Flying AI, with the exception that they do not collide with solid blocks and can fly straight through them.

Notes[]

•     Meteor Heads have a very small chance of dropping one Meteorite, making Meteorite a renewable resource. However, after two or three landings players should be able to craft everything they can out of it.
  • If one requires a large quantity of Meteorite, continually fighting the Eater of Worlds or Brain of Cthulhu / breaking Shadow Orbs or Crimson Hearts, and then mining all the Meteorite after it lands, and repeating, one could theoretically generate an infinite amount of Meteorite as long as there are enough blocks for one to spawn on. However, since the number of Shadow Orbs and Crimson Hearts in a world is limited, Meteorite is not renewable on 3DS.
•     In Hardmode, Meteor Heads no longer drop loot.
  • On the Nintendo 3DS version, Meteor Heads never drop loot.

Tips[]

• If a player obtains the Meteor Head Banner by killing Meteor Heads, they can hang it within 50 tiles from where they are mining Meteorite. The banner grants players +50% / +100% damage inflicted with all weapons and −25% / −50% damage taken from melee attacks against Meteor Heads.
• Water/Honey will cancel the On Fire! debuff that Meteor Heads have a chance to inflict.
• One way of defeating Meteor Heads is to defend oneself by using a pickaxe. While mining, the player can hit the Meteor Heads as they are flying towards them, as long as they are approaching from one direction. Suggested items are a Cobalt Shield to negate knockback and an Obsidian Skull to prevent damage from the Meteorite itself. With the Tinkerer's Workshop, a player can combine the two into an Obsidian Shield, providing both benefits and using only one accessory slot. Alternatively, any sort of Grappling Hook can be used to hold the player in place.
• Because Meteor Heads move at a slow speed, the player can alternate between mining the Meteorite and killing all Meteor Heads on the screen, giving them time for another round of mining.
• Weapons that are capable of hitting through blocks are highly recommended for fighting Meteor Heads. The Vilethorn is an exceptionally effective choice, dealing damage multiple times per use, but spears like the Dark Lance work well, too. High-damage weapons like the Night's Edge and the Musket can destroy Meteor Heads in a single hit. Minions or the Crimson Rod can often deal with Meteor Heads on their own.
• In multiplayer, the tasks of mining and fending off the Meteor Heads can be split between the players.
• Because of the conditions of an area to be considered a Meteorite biome, a player can place 75 / 50 / 23 or more Meteorite wherever they like to disable the normal spawns of that area and spawn Meteor Heads instead.

Trivia[]

• They are one of the only enemies, along with the small Bee and Servant of Cthulhu, to deal more base damage than their own maximum life.

The Bestiary entry for the Meteor Head: "When meteorites strike the surface, their fragments lay scattered for the taking. Some pieces are alive, and will attack."

History[]

 PC version

• Desktop 1.4.0.1: Expert mode health reduced to 52, Master mode health set at 78. Now requires 75 Meteorite to spawn.

• Desktop 1.3.5: Sprite updated.

• Desktop 1.2.3: No longer drops loot once in Hardmode.

• Desktop 1.2.0.3: Can now drop its own respective banner.

• Desktop 1.0.6: Meteor Heads may inflict the On Fire! debuff.

• Desktop 1.0.5:
  • Doesn't make a splash sound when hitting water now.
  • Health decreased from 50 to 26, defense decreased from 10 to 6, damage increased from 25 to 40.
  • Speed reduced.
  • They now always face their target player, rather than facing the direction they are moving.

• Desktop-Release: Introduced.

 Console version

• Console-Release: Introduced.

 Nintendo Switch version

• Switch 1.0.711.6: Introduced.

 Mobile version

• Mobile-Release: Introduced.

Nintendo 3DS version

• 3DS-Release: Introduced.