Core Keeper Ghorm Boss Fight Guide

In this Core Keeper Ghorm Boss Fight Guide, I'll tell you how to find and defeat Ghorm the Devourer, a boss patrolling the outside of the Dirt Biome.

Where to Find Ghorm the Devourer

You can find Ghorm the Devourer patrolling the outside of the Dirt Biome, constantly moving in a clockwise circle around the entire starting area. It takes a little less than 4 minutes for Ghorm to complete a circuit around the map. It's easiest to stand and wait for it -- you'll hear him coming -- and then start attacking as soon as it's in range.

How to Unlock Ghorm the Devourer

The Core Keeper Ghorm boss fight is unlocked by default in a new world -- all you have to do is find him.

How to Win the Core Keeper Ghorm Boss Fight - Best Strategy

And now, to the meat of the Core Keeper Ghorm Boss Fight Guide -- how to beat Ghorm. Strangely, it's actually not all that hard to beat it. The real challenge involves getting Ghorm to stop.

Preparing Equipment and Supplies

Equip the best armor and weapons you can make. If you're using the ranged strategy (which I strongly recommend), you're going to want to craft at least two Slingshots. You'll also want to cook at least 10 Hearty Pepper Wraps (Heart Berry + Bomb Pepper) -- you'll need speed to win this fight in the ranged and melee strategies. If you're going with the explosives or trap strategies, you'll need to craft items for those, too.

As strange as it may seem, it may be easier to fight the third boss HIve Mother first. The Hive Mother drops the Grub Egg Necklace -- pair that with the Larve Ring (which you can get as a drop from creatures in The Clay Caves biome) and you'll gain a set bonus that prevents slime from slowing you down.

Preparing the Arena

There is no real arena prep you can do here aside from placing a bunch of torches on the outside of Ghorm's tunnel. Anything placed in the tunnel will be destroyed when it runs over it. Don't bother cleaning up the slime on the floor, either -- Ghorm simply leaves more slime behind as it moves through the tunnel.

If you can't keep up with Ghorm while running on the slime, you have another option -- widen the tunnel. You can run on the outside (or inside) and chase it without being slowed by the slime on the ground.

How to Stop Ghorm

You can stop Ghorm when you reduce its health to around 50% or so. Ghorm will then growl and start attacking you by charging, turning around, and charging again. This means that the only way to stop Ghorm is to do a lot of damage very quickly or by keeping up with it as it moves through the tunnel.

Strategy 1 - Ranged

Using a Slingshot and speed-boosting items (such as the Hearty Pepper Wrap) can help you keep up with Ghorm. Keep chasing it and shoot it in the butt every time you get close enough.

Eventually, you'll reduce Ghorm's health low enough that it will stop and start attacking you. Step out of the way of its charge and shoot it as it passes by. Repeat this process until Ghorm is dead.

Strategy 2 - Melee

If you're fast enough, you can attack Ghorm with a melee weapon rather than with a Slingshot. It's difficult to keep up with Ghorm unless you widen the tunnel or have the Grub Egg Necklace + Larva Ring item set combined with a speed boost from the Hearty Pepper Wrap.

Strategy 3 - Explosives

There are very few problems that cannot be solved with a liberal application of explosives and Ghorm is no different. Craft 30 or so Bombs and run ahead of Ghorm, dropping them in front of it as you go. If you drop enough Bombs quickly, you'll do enough damage to kill it. Unfortunately, this strategy can be costly -- you'll need to dig up a lot of Tin to make your Bombs, and you'll also have to farm a fair amount of Bomb Peppers, too.

Strategy 4 - Traps

You may notice that there are spike traps that you can craft. (You can also find naturally-generated spike traps in The Clay Caves biome.) You may be tempted to simply place a ton of traps on the ground and let Ghorm be damaged by them.

This strategy can work, but it comes with a massive downside -- all of the traps will be destroyed as Ghorm runs over them. You can do much more damage with Bombs for fewer resources overall, so I don't recommend attempting this strategy.

How to Summon Ghorm Again

You can summon Ghorm again by buying a Ghorm Summoning Idol from the Backpack Merchant for 500 Ancient Coins and placing it on Ghorm's summoning rune.

Unfortunately, you might not know where the summoning rune is. Ghorm's spawn point is outside of the circuitous track that loops around the outside of the Dirt Biome. You'll have to run down the tunnel until you encounter the tunnel that splits off.

Core Keeper Ghorm Boss Loot

Here is the loot you can get for defeating Ghorm the Devourer in Core Keeper. Keep in mind that this may not be a complete list -- there could be other loot from this boss that we haven't discovered yet!

Ghorm Chest

• Guaranteed drop.
• Has 24 item slots (8x3).

Ghorm's Horn

• Guaranteed drop.
• Used to activate the Ghorm Statue in the Core.
• Unlocks recipes for:
  • Carapace Helm
  • Carapace Breastplate
  • Recall Idol

Mysterious Idol

• Guaranteed drop.
• Used to spawn the Backpack Merchant in a habitable room.

Ghorm's Stomach Bag

• Guaranteed drop.
• +12 inventory slots when equipped.

Larva Ring

• Ring
• +21 max health
• Part of a set with Grub Necklace
  • 2 set bonus: Immune to being slowed by slime

Larva Meat

• Cooking material.

Ancient Gemstone

• Crafting material.

Gold Ore

• Crafting material.

Fiber

• Crafting material.

That's it for our Core Keeper Ghorm guide! Check out more guides below: