Where Do Wyverns Spawn in Terraria?

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Ah, Terraria. Whether you enjoy exploration, constructing cool buildings, gardening, or mechanical engineering, you’ll find plenty to keep you occupied in this 16-bit 2D paradise. I personally find it a lot more laid back than Minecraft, and have lost literal days spelunking for materials to build the perfect house above ground.

Back when it was released in May of 2011, Terraria didn’t even have a Hardmode. While this wasn’t something I was looking for at first, the 1.1 update later that year brought Hardmode, several new bosses, and a slew of items that kept the game fresh after dozens of hours of play, many of which were pivotal in making Terraria what it is today.

Among the new bosses was one I was laughably unprepared for during my first encounter – the Wyvern. After getting massacred during the construction of a sky castle, I did some digging to find out where Wyverns spawn in Terraria.

Wyverns can only spawn in Hardmode, and are able to appear at any altitude that is 55% or more of the distance from the surface level (depth of 0) to the top of the map. They will not spawn in Corruption, Crimson, or Dungeon biomes, or if a town NPC is close by.

So for example, if the top of your map has an altitude of 1200, a Wyvern can spawn any time a player reaches an altitude of 660 or higher. The easiest way to measure your character’s current altitude is by carrying or equipping a Depth Meter, GPS, PDA, or Cell Phone.

Once a Wyvern spawns, it will happily chase the player who spawned it anywhere above the surface, and if it kills its target, it’ll find another person to harass, even if it has to cross long distances to do so. They can also fly through blocks, but since only 1 can spawn at a time, it’s usually easy to keep track of where they are and where they’ll attack from.

Terraria Wyvern in house
Sir. SIR! I’ll thank you to not fly through my sky house. I still haven’t finished cleaning up this morning’s Harpy feathers!

Do Wyverns Spawn During A Specific Time of Day in Terraria?

Nope. Wyverns have no respect for what hour of the day it is – if you’re in their airspace during the early hours of the morning, the middle of the day, or the dead of night, they consider it their sworn duty to show up and defend the skies from your presence.

This is also true of other enemies that spawn in space like the Harpies. Space is a bit of a misnomer though – all Terraria really looks for when spawning space enemies is whether you’re 55% or more of the way from the surface to the top of the map.

What Height Do Wyverns Spawn At In Terraria?

Since the size of a Terraria world can vary, there isn’t an exact height I can give you outside of “above 0”. If you can find how high the top of the map’s altitude is, you can calculate the minimum altitude a Wyvern is allowed to spawn at in your world.

A Wyvern can spawn when all the following conditions are met:

  • A player is occupying a space at a height greater than or equal to 55% of the distance between the surface (altitude 0) and the top of the map (height varies)
  • That same player is not in a Dungeon, Corruption, or Crimson biome
  • There are no town NPCs near the player

Getting to the top of the map is easy if you have a flying mount or a good set of wings, but if you haven’t been able to find the former or craft the latter, you might find this task to be considerably more difficult.

Fortunately, there are a couple options you can use to find this information without these items:

  • A Gravitation Potion will allow you to fall upward for a short period. Grab a Depth Meter and see how high you go!
    • If you don’t have a Depth Meter, it’s easiest to farm for one by defeating various bats underground. The Crawdad, Giant Shelly, and Salamander enemies can also drop these at a slightly better drop rate if you’ve found a good place to farm them instead.
    • If you want to avoid fall damage, consider equipping an item that negates it like the Lucky Horseshoe or a set of wings, or drinking a Featherfall Potion.
  • Grab a couple stacks of dirt or stone blocks and start building a pillar into the sky. If you jump, you can place blocks under you before you land, allowing you to effectively climb the map.
    • I also recommend bringing some wood or another material you can make platforms out of and setting them up periodically as you climb so you can climb this pillar again at your convenience.

Once you know the altitude number for the top of the map, simply grab a calculator, multiply your number by 0.55, and you’ll know where Wyverns are allowed to pop up in your Terraria world!

How Do I Kill Wyverns in Terraria?

Wyverns are made up of several different sections you can attack, so weapons that can hit multiple sections easily can make short work of them.

This makes many arrows, melee weapons like the Ice or Death Sickle, weapons with huge hitboxes like the Flamethrower or Elf Melter, or explosives great ways to rack up a lot of damage very quickly.

If you don’t have access to weapons like these, try to aim for the head as it has the lowest defense. Wyverns have 4,000 hit points in Classic mode, 8,000 in Expert mode, and 12,000 in Master mode, which can be very daunting if you’ve just entered Hardmode, but gets considerably easier as your find and craft increasingly powerful gear.

What Do Wyverns Drop in Terraria?

Wyverns always drop Souls of Flight, which are used in a lot of recipes for early and mid-tier wings at a Mythril or Orichalcum Anvil. You can receive anywhere between 5 and 40 Souls of Flight from each Wyvern you kill, so you might have to kill a few before you can outfit everyone on your server with the wings they need.

Wyverns also have a 4% chance to drop a Wyvern Kite if you fight them during a windy day. While these are strictly novelties, Wyvern Kites are bigger and longer than many kites, making them fun to fly around while you’re waiting for everyone else to finish emptying their inventory from the latest dungeon crawl.

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