Desert Scourge

"...A dried up and gluttonous husk on a constant and voracious search for its next meal."

The Desert Scourge is a Pre-Hardmode boss. It is intended to be one of the first bosses fought by the player and is considered to be the weakest of all of the bosses added by the Calamity Mod. It is intended to be fought before the Eye of Cthulhu and after the King Slime, but can still pose a considerable challenge to new players with only basic equipment.

Spawn
The Desert Scourge does not spawn on its own, and requires the player to summon it with the Desert Medallion. It must be summoned in the Desert or Underground Desert.

Behavior
Desert Scourge behaves like a regular worm enemy, moving through blocks and attempting to ram the player. The Desert Scourge has segments in total.

It becomes enraged if the player leaves the Desert biome, increasing its speed and acceleration by 50%.

Attacks

 * Upon reaching health, the Desert Scourge will occasionally burrow underground and [[Media:DesertScourgeRoar.wav|roar]], then rapidly lunge at the player before burrowing again from a height 37.5 tiles above the player.
 * This attack occurs every seconds. After performing the attack, this timer resets on the apex of its lunge.
 * If the attack takes longer than 10 seconds, it will automatically reset to its default behavior.
 * When the Desert Scourge is below 75% health, striking a body segment will have a 10% chance to spawn a.
 * There can only be up to three Dried Seekers at a time.

In Expert Mode

 * Segments are increased from 27 to 32 and size increased by 10%.
 * Can use its burrow-and-lunge attack upon reaching 75% health.
 * Gains up to 50% bonus acceleration and speed as its health lowers.

In Revengeance Mode

 * Segments are increased from 32 to 37 and size increased by 5%.
 * Can use its burrow-and-lunge attack regardless of health.
 * 2 are spawned alongside the main worm, each with a total of 14 segments.
 * These worms act independently and are not required to be defeated to progress through the fight.
 * Randomly fires gravity-defying towards the player from its body segments.
 * This does not occur while in its burrow-and-lunge attack.

In Death Mode

 * Segments are increased from 37 to 42 and size increased by 10%.
 * Requires two less seconds to prepare for its burrow-and-lunge attack.
 * Gains up to 25% bonus acceleration and speed as its health lowers, on top of the boost in Expert Mode.

Aftermath

 * The Sunken Sea's tiles become breakable and Prism-Backs will begin dropping Prism Shards.
 * The Sea King will begin to arrive if provided suitable housing and Giant Clam is defeated.
 * If the Sea King isn't in the player's current world, defeating the Giant Clam will now summon the Sea King.
 * The Sea King will begin selling Desert Medallions.
 * Sandstorms can now occur, indicated by a sandstorm starting upon its defeat.
 * Ghost Bells will begin dropping the Voltaic Jelly.
 * Eutrophic Rays will begin dropping the Eutrophic Shank.

Resistances

 * All segments take reduced damage from non-minion piercing projectiles in Expert Mode. Projectile damage is divided by the number of times it pierces. Infinite piercing deals 50% damage.
 * All segments reduce damage from grenade-type projectiles by 80%. A list of affected projectiles is below.

Tips

 * Building a few layers of platforms across the Desert will make avoiding the Scourge much easier.
 * Another alternative is to build a rope, however make sure the rope is inside the Desert or the Desert Scourge will become enraged.
 * The Scourge will tunnel through platforms if it reaches them, keeping platforms around 20 blocks above the ground and each other can help prevent this.
 * Be careful: If platforms are too high the player might leave the Desert while on them, enraging the Scourge.
 * Avoid its head at all costs, especially in Expert Mode or higher difficulties.
 * Always stay moving as the Scourge's attacks will easily kill an immobile target.
 * This becomes even more important when on Revengeance Mode as the Scourge gains its sand blast attack.
 * The Desert Scourge is a good boss to farm for money in Pre-Hardmode.

Trivia

 * Desert Scourge's theme is Guardian of the Former Seas, which was composed by the artist DM DOKURO.
 * If the Calamity Music add-on mod is disabled, Boss 1 will play instead.
 * The Aquatic Scourge is a hydrated version of the Desert Scourge, although it has been mutated by the toxic waters of the Sulphurous Sea.
 * This boss and the Aquatic Scourge can both drop the Aero Stone and several fishing drops, making them the only two bosses to share a drop outside of crafting materials, potions, or fishing items.
 * The Desert Scourge was one of the first bosses to be added to the Calamity Mod, along with The Slime God and The Devourer of Gods.