Merchant

The Merchant is an NPC vendor who moves into a vacant house when all players in the world have more than 50 Silver total in their inventories.^[1] He defends himself by throwing Throwing Knives, dealing 12 / 18 / 21 damage initially and gaining stat boosts as the player progresses.^[1] Only coins held directly by players in their personal inventory are considered for the 50 Silver requirement; those placed in chests or portable storage like the Piggy Bank are excluded.^[1] After being killed, the Merchant will eventually reappear on his own.^[1]

Quick Facts

Type: NPC
Environment: Valid house
AI Type: Passive AI
Damage: 12 18 21 (Throwing Knife) [ 1 ]
Max Life: 250
Defense: 15
KB Resist: 50%

Facts from the infobox of Merchant on the Terraria Wiki (wiki.gg, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).

Items sold

The Merchant sells items such as the Mining Helmet for 4 Gold, the Piggy Bank for 1 Gold, and the Bug Net for 25 Silver.^[2] Some items are only available under certain conditions, such as the Healing Potion in Hardmode or the Throwing Knife during a Blood Moon.^[2]

Living preferences

The Merchant likes the Forest biome and dislikes the Desert biome.^[3] He likes having the Princess, Golfer, or Nurse as neighbors and dislikes the Tax Collector, hating the Angler.^[3]

Shimmered form

Putting the Merchant into Shimmer or hitting him with the Shimmer Gun causes a visual-only change to his Shimmered form, with no effect on gameplay or dialogue.^[4]

Tips

When the Merchant says "I feel like an evil presence is watching me.", it signals that the conditions for the Eye of Cthulhu to spawn naturally have been fulfilled.^[5]

Trivia

The Merchant's Bestiary entry describes him as a simple general store providing useful starter tools and supplies for exploration.^[6]

References

"Merchant" (opening section) - Terraria Wiki on wiki.gg, revision 1014335 terraria.wiki.gg
"Merchant", section "Items sold" - Terraria Wiki on wiki.gg, revision 1014335 terraria.wiki.gg
"Merchant", section "Living preferences" - Terraria Wiki on wiki.gg, revision 1014335 terraria.wiki.gg
"Merchant", section "Shimmered form" - Terraria Wiki on wiki.gg, revision 1014335 terraria.wiki.gg
"Merchant", section "Tips" - Terraria Wiki on wiki.gg, revision 1014335 terraria.wiki.gg
"Merchant", section "Trivia" - Terraria Wiki on wiki.gg, revision 1014335 terraria.wiki.gg

Text adapted from the Terraria Wiki on wiki.gg (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0), used by Freedom Games LLC, the operator of wiki.gg and Codexery. Page: Merchant (contributors). Codexery summarised the page: each numbered sentence above was checked against the wiki section it cites before publication, and this entry is shared under the same licence.