I write this Muramasa guide not for my love of ancient Japanese swords or legends but for my fellow Terraria players.
After angrily trying to gather my things from the Dungeon, I stumbled upon the Muramasa blade in my first play-through. Why angrily? A giant skull head had rolled over me. It ended my life whilst I brazenly used a mediumcore character for no reason other than ego.
That character is still my main, and it still sucks when I die.
Anyways, I got the sword pretty quickly once in the Dungeon, and it was great. I used it more often than swords with a more powerful damage rating due to its auto-swing and speed.
There is a reason to pick this weapon up other than early-game combat. Which is why I am going to tell you all about it.
Here is our Muramasa Terraria Guide.
Embark on a boundless adventure in the pixelated sandbox world of Terraria, where you can dig, build, and explore to your heart's content. With endless possibilities for creativity and discovery, join millions of players in crafting your own epic journey.
Bottom Line Up Front:
I will tell you where and how to get the sword and what you can craft with it. The guide will also let you know the dangers and methods best used to avoid them in your search.
Key Info
- Item Type: Weapon/Sword
- Damage Type: Melee
- Special Notes: Auto swing, Emits small light upon swing
- Location: Locked Golden Chests in the Dungeon
- Difficulty to Obtain: Medium
- Availability: Pre-Hardmode and throughout
- Material: Yes
Weapon Stats
- Damage: 24
- Critical Chance: 4%
- Speed: Very Fast
- Knockback: Very Weak
- Rarity: Green
- Sold For: 1.75 Gold
- Research in Journey Mode: 1 point
- Best Modifier: Legendary
Where Can I Find the Muramasa?
The Muramasa will be in one of the locked golden chests in the Dungeon. Every map in Terraria has a dungeon, and the chances of finding a Muramasa in one of the chests are pretty high. I’ve seen more than one in each of the twelve maps I currently have for gaming purposes.
You will need to collect a golden key in the Dungeon to open them up. There are plenty of dangers between you and this goal, and that’s why I’ve listed the difficulty as medium. The sword may be pretty easy to grab up, but you have to be able to even get to it first.
In fact, let’s talk about the Dungeon.
The Dungeon
The color of your Dungeon, much like the color of our skin, is only an aesthetic. It doesn’t change the Dungeon at all. It is a fun, really welcome addition to the game. It adds a great area of exploration and battle, and I could go on about why I like it.
Here’s why you shouldn’t run and gun for it, though. It has a guardian, oh, that freaking guardian.
You can’t break the blocks to gain entrance when you first find the Dungeon. You have to go through the designated front doors. An Old Man is standing in front of them. If you talk to him during the day, he says to return at night. It’s a warning.
If you enter in the daytime, A giant, near-invincible skull will come crashing down over you and kill you. Even if you somehow defeat it by bringing in your hardmode character fully ready for this, you still can’t get all the way down. More Guardian skulls will come, and you will eventually be slain.
So, to get in, you have to fight a boss. You have to come back at night.
Here’s a quick list of things needed to gain access to the Dungeon.
- Visit the Dungeon at night.
- Speak to the Old Man.
- Click the “Curse” option, and the Old Man will become Skeletron.
- Fight and defeat Skeletron.
- You can now enter the Dungeon at any time.
- Oh, the Old Man will become the Clothier in your town if you have an open house.
Well, with that list out of the way. Let’s talk about Skeletron real quick. Keep an eye out on the site for a guide to battle him. Until then, here is a quick low down to help you out.
Skeletron
This boss has multiple parts. His head and his hands. While it seems like killing the hands-off will make life easier, it won’t. Unless you have a long sky bridge and an excellent mount to make a speedy run while being chased.
Because once the hands are dead, he will start spinning at you.
Take out one hand if you can, but mainly focus on dodging and hitting that head. A YoYo is an excellent weapon for Skeletron, but a Bow with Fire Arrows is also very effective. If you have mana potions, he is one of the bosses a good Magic Weapon can work well against because they often hit his hands and heads simultaneously.
Quick Note: I beat Skeletron for this article’s sake with 140 life, a Bunny Mount, a Tendon Bow(I killed the Eye of Cthulhu first), about 400 arrows(fire/frostburn split), tungsten armor, and the Starfury. I got the Starfury using a gravitational potion found in a wooden chest near the surface. I also used an Ironskin potion(found in the same chests). It took a few minutes, but I was never in much danger.
You need to beat him during the night. If he fights in the day, his damage increases to 1000, and he disappears after you most surely perish.
Stats
Hand(same stats for both)
- Damage: 20
- Life: 600
- Defense: 14
- Knockback Resist: Extreme
- Immunity: Poison, Confusion
- Attack Type: Slashing, Melee, Travel through blocks
Head (Defeating the head also kills the Hands)
- Damage: 32
- Life: 4400
- Defense: 10 but 0 while spinning (9999 during the day!)
- Knockback Resist: Extreme
- Immunity: Poison, Confusion, Penetrated, Blood Butchered, and Tentacle Spike
- Attack Type: Travel through blocks, Melee, Spins, and runs down the player
Defeat this boss and you can enter the Dungeon. If you could beat him, you should be okay in here. You still need to worry about some dangers, especially if you get too overconfident. Like you know, me.
*I died immediately after entering when writing this guide by falling through breakaway blocks into a room with spikes on every wall and floor. So, don’t hastily traverse the Dungeon if you don’t want some deaths.
Dangers Below
Firstly, traps. It is ridden with traps. Dart traps and false bricks that give way when you jump on or hit them. Mostly though, the Spikes are savage.
Spikes do plenty of damage, and going in without a grappling hook is a terrible idea. Sometimes the only safe place in a room is the roof, sometimes not even there. Spikes are EVERYWHERE.
You can blow up the spikes with bombs. I suggest bringing some. While they can be mined up, it is a slow endeavor with pre-hardmode pickaxes. The bomb is much faster. If you don’t have bombs, you will still be better off using your pickaxe to clear some of these.
*Making Sticky bombs with gel is my suggestion.
There are spike balls on chains. Now while these are easier to avoid, they can’t be destroyed. They do heavy damage, and you want to avoid being stuck fighting in a room these spawn in. What’s more, they spawn randomly. The good news about this is that going far enough back when you see one may despawn it in that room.
Next, the blazing wheel. This, like the spiked balls, spawns and can be despawned. It can’t be destroyed, either. Try to despawn it by going backward and returning or leap over it and move on before engaging enemies.
ReCap on Traps
- Spikes: Mineable, 60 damage, inflict bleeding.
- Spiked Ball: Random Spawn, indestructible, 32 damage, chain deals no damage.
- Blazing Wheel: Random Spawn, indestructible, 24 damage, will not go through closed doors.
Enemies
The enemies are all within your killing range, seeing as you killed Skeletron, but that isn’t the issue. In the Dungeon, several blue candles hang around that increase the spawn rate of enemies.
If you wander into a dead end with traps and swarms coming in, that could still easily be your death. Many players perish in the Dungeon due to being comfortable. Be vigilant, use your recall potion when danger is imminent, and you should be fine. There are only two enemies you really need to look out for.
Dungeon Slime:
This enemy guarantees a golden key drop. If you see this slime pop up, hunt it down and pick up that key. You can get the key by chance from basic chests and other enemies, but this one is a 100% drop.
Cursed Skulls:
These can become a small problem as they cause Cursed debuff if they hit you. The Cursed debuff makes it so you can’t use any items. Including potions and weapons! To counter this, have a minion or two summoned, as they will still attack while you try to survive. These skulls travel through all blocks, so killing them is the best way to avoid the debuff.
Enemies in the Dungeon can do an average of 30 damage, so getting swarmed is not ideal. Keep moving and kill as often as possible.
Make sure you place torches and keep your path lit to avoid traps.
The Golden Chest
These can be opened(if found in the Dungeon) with a golden key. When opened this way, they will always have one of the Dungeon items in them.
- Handgun
- Aqua Scepter
- Magic Missile
- Blue Moon
- Cobalt Shield
- Shadow Key
- Valor
- Muramasa: YOUR GOAL
It could take anywhere from five to thirty minutes to get a chest with the Muramasa, but it is not too hard to find. The real struggle is surviving until you do get it.
The Muramasa
This sword is an excellent pre-hardmode weapon. It’s fast, does decent damage until Hardmode, and gives off a little light. Not to mention that auto swing on it makes it more viable than weapons that are stronger than it in many ways.
Most importantly, however, you need it to craft the Night’s Edge. You need the Night’s Edge to craft the True Night’s Edge. You need that to craft the Terra Blade and the Terra Blade to craft the Zenith.
In other words, no Muramasa, no best swords in the game.
Night’s Edge: Muramasa, Volcano, Blade of Grass, and Blood Butcher/Light’s Bane by Demon/Crimson Altar.
Why is it called the Muramasa?
It is an homage to the legend of the real-life Japanese swordsmith Muramasa Sengo. Well, perhaps just an homage to the myth about his blades.
Some legends about the swordsmith portray him as so incredibly insane that he transferred some of his madness into the blades. So, while they were of the highest quality and extremely desired…some believed them cursed.
These legends grew, and you can find the Muramasa as a weapon used in several video game titles and even popular media such as Marvel Comics.
There is a lot of wonderful reading for any history buffs at these two sites(yamato magazine and wayofbushido) on the history of the Muramasa blades and the man who crafted them.
Muramasa Terraria Guide: FAQs
Question: Is the Muramasa a Good Weapon?
Answer: Yes. It is one of the best pre-hardmode swords.
Question: Do I need the Muramasa to get the Terra Blade?
Answer: Yes, it is unobtainable without this sword.
Question: Should I get the Muramasa?
Answer: Yes. Even if you are playing Terraria and want to do a class other than melee, it is still a good sword to get just as a backup should you run out of ammo or mana. If you use YoYos or another weapon type as your main, it is still a nice sword to have when running through the map due to its auto swing.
Happy Hunting
That is all there is to know about the Muramasa, and I hope this helped you. It is one of my favorite early-game weapons, mostly due to the auto swing. Grab it up, slash some things, and make your way to greater swords.
Good luck and good gaming.
Embark on a boundless adventure in the pixelated sandbox world of Terraria, where you can dig, build, and explore to your heart's content. With endless possibilities for creativity and discovery, join millions of players in crafting your own epic journey.
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