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NPCs and Housing

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Tactical Quick Answer

Town NPCs arrive on their own, one per day, even with no house built, but any NPC still homeless by 6:00 PM walks away again. To keep them you need a valid house: at least 60 tiles and fewer than 750 tiles of fully enclosed space, background walls you placed yourself, a door or platform, a light source, a flat surface item, and a comfort item. Build several empty houses early so the Guide, Merchant, and Nurse have somewhere to go the moment they show up. Use the question mark tool in the housing menu to check any room and see exactly what is missing.

Town NPCs are merchants and service providers that move into your world as you complete specific milestones. They sell essential items, heal you, and offer powerful upgrades. The game also calls them villagers, which is the word the newer achievements and the housing dialogue use.

Since 1.4.5 they no longer wait for you to build first. If your world has no vacant valid house at all, one homeless NPC turns up on its own by noon. It leaves again after 6:00 PM unless you have given it somewhere to live, and while homeless it charges the worst prices in the game. So the house is still the point, it is just no longer the starting gun. This guide explains the housing requirements and how to attract the most important early NPCs.

Two 1.4.5.7 changes tightened that arrival behavior. Homeless NPCs can no longer spawn while time is frozen, matching how regular NPC spawning already worked, and a bug that let them turn up even when houses were sitting empty is fixed.

Building a Valid House​

The game checks specific criteria before classifying a structure as a valid house. If one requirement is missing, the NPC will not move in.

A valid house needs the following components:

  • Size: The total size must be at least 60 tiles and fewer than 750 tiles, which includes the ceiling, floor, walls, and frame. The internal area must be completely enclosed.
  • Enclosure: The room must be fully enclosed by solid blocks, platforms, doors, trap doors, or tall gates.
  • Background Walls: Fill the background with walls you placed yourself. It does not have to be perfect. Gaps up to 4 tiles across are fine, so windows work. Walls the world generated, like the dirt in a hillside, do not count, and neither do walls that Corruption or Hallow spread has converted.
  • Entrance: Place a door, trap door, tall gate, or platform. A single platform counts anywhere in the room, and it does not have to lead outside.
  • Light Source: Place at least one torch, chandelier, or lamp inside.
  • Flat Surface Item: Place a table, workbench, or dresser.
  • Comfort Item: Place a chair, bed, or bench.
  • Somewhere to stand: The room needs a valid floor tile the NPC can occupy. Since 1.4.5 a platform counts, so all-platform houses are legal, and the housing menu now tells you specifically when this is what is missing.
  • Not too much evil nearby: The game counts Corruption and Crimson tiles around the house and rejects it at 50 or more. Each Sunflower you plant is worth minus 40, which is the usual fix.

Liquid does not affect validity at all, despite how often players assume it does. You can flood a house and it stays a house.

To check if a room is valid, open your inventory, click the housing menu icon on the right side of the screen, and use the question mark tool on the room. The game tells you exactly what is missing.

Essential Early NPCs​

Build at least five valid empty houses as soon as you finish your main base. The 1.4.5 arrival change makes this more useful, not less, because an NPC who turns up with nowhere to live leaves at 6:00 PM and you lose the day. Spare houses catch them.

The Guide​

The Guide spawns with you at the start of the game. He offers useful tips and, more importantly, tells you every crafting recipe a material is used in. Show him a piece of gel or iron ore, and he lists exactly what you can make with it and which crafting station you need. Build him a house quickly to keep him safe from zombies.

The Merchant​

The Merchant moves in once all players in the world hold a combined total of more than 50 silver coins directly in their active inventories. Coins secured in portable storage like Piggy Banks do not count. He sells basic supplies like torches, arrows, and the Bug Net. The Bug Net is critical for catching bait to fish, which provides powerful potions. He also sells the Mining Helmet, which lights up the area around you, saving you thousands of torches.

The Nurse​

The Nurse moves in after the Merchant is present and your maximum health is greater than 100. She heals you completely and cures debuffs for a small coin fee. Place her house near your boss fighting arena. You can quickly visit her mid-fight to heal back to full health and save your potion cooldown.

Managing NPC Happiness​

NPCs prefer living in specific biomes and near specific neighbors. When they are happy, their prices drop. When they are unhappy, they charge more. For example, the Merchant loves the Forest biome and likes living near the Golfer.

Three NPCs per cluster is the sweet spot. That earns the Solitude bonus, which needs no more than two other NPCs within 25 tiles and no more than three more in the band between 25 and 120 tiles. A fourth neighbor is neutral, costing you the bonus but no penalty, and the crowding penalty only starts at the fifth, adding a flat 5 percent per NPC after that. Put each cluster in a biome those NPCs love, pair them with neighbors they love, and space the clusters far enough apart that they do not see each other.

The discount is capped. Prices bottom out at 75 percent of list, so the best possible outcome is 25 percent off. The same multiplier scales the Nurse's healing fee.

Frequently Asked Questions​

What makes a house valid in Terraria?

It needs at least 60 tiles and fewer than 750 tiles of space, full enclosure, background walls you placed yourself, an entrance such as a door or a platform, a light source, a flat surface item like a table, a comfort item like a chair, and a floor tile the NPC can stand on. It also fails if there are 50 or more Corruption or Crimson tiles nearby, which Sunflowers offset. Liquid inside the house does not matter.

Why will an NPC not move into my house?

One of the requirements is missing. Open your inventory, click the housing menu icon on the right side of the screen, and use the question mark tool on the room. The game tells you exactly what is wrong.

Do dirt walls count for NPC housing in Terraria?

No. Walls the world generated do not count, and neither do walls that biome spread has converted. Fill the background with walls you placed yourself. It does not have to be airtight, since gaps up to 4 tiles across are still valid, so you can leave windows.

How do you get the Merchant to move in?

All players in the world need a combined total of more than 50 silver coins held directly in their active inventories. Coins secured in portable storage like a Piggy Bank do not count.

How do you get the Nurse in Terraria?

The Merchant has to be present and your maximum health has to be greater than 100. Place her house near your boss arena so you can heal to full mid-fight and save your potion cooldown.