Terraria: Hard Mode Guide

What to do when starting Hardmode

When the Wall of Flesh is defeated, the message "The Ancient Spirits of Light and Dark have been released" heralds the start of Hard Mode. You will receive a Pwnhammer , which is vitally important to Hard Mode progress. Many players are lost as to what to do once they get to this point. They've already explored the world and got the best ore, found good weapons and armor and overcame one of the game's largest hurdles. With Hard Mode initiated, it is a new beginning in terms of progression. This Guide to Hard Mode will teach you some of the things you should do first, and what you should build in order to proceed to the end-game.

At first, I am just describing aspects of Hardmode here. Later, we'll get to what you should do.

Molten Pickaxe Requirement

Of course, the Wall of Flesh is a requirement and you should have 300-400 (max) health. However, before leaving the Underworld after the battle with the Wall of Flesh, you should be sure to have a Molten Pickaxe, crafted with Hellstone and Obsidian. The new monsters do not spawn here until you defeat a mechanical boss, so it's as safe as it was before the boss kill.

This takes 60 Hellstone Ore and 20 Obsidian for 20 Hellstone Bars. It can only be crafted at a Hellforge. This is a major barrier to your progress. The only alternative pickaxe is the Reaver Shark, which is currently only available to PC players through fishing from the Ocean.

Hard Mode Features

About Crimson/Corruption and Hallow

When Hard Mode is started, two stripes will appear on the world, extending diagnonally in a V shape all the way down. The new Hallow Biome will be one of them, the other is either Crimson or Corruption, depending on what your world is set to. The hardest monsters of these Biomes are found further down, in the Cavern layer. You can handle most of them that spawn on the surface.

Know that Hallow and Crimson/Corruption spread and can convert entire Biomes and make your NPCs' homes unliveable. If some is very close to your base, it is best to create a buffer zone soon after you get a better pickaxe, just to keep your housing working. A gap 5 blocks wide is sufficient to stop their spread toward your territory. Do that maybe 50 blocks deep, then keep an eye on it so it doesn't get out of hand. Do this early at least in areas with grass, as it spreads fast. Eventually, you can get something that makes this more manageable (Clentaminator), so don't worry about it for a while unless the threat is right next door.

New Monsters

New types of enemies will spawn in all Biomes. They are significantly harder than those before, but also feature better gold drops, materials, and unique accessories. Some appear only deep in the ground, others are right there on the surface. In some cases, entire species are wiped out and replaced with a stronger variant.

New NPCs

New types of NPCs will become available (See my NPC List for move-in requirements), while others will simply sell better items. Prices go up, but it's to be expected. Enemies drop over 5x more silver and items you find can be worth 5 gold coins. Money comes faster, but it also goes as you reforge gear.

New Armor, Weapons, and Tools

Along with all this, you can craft entirely new armor sets with better set bonuses than flat +defense. Your set bonus will now be determined by the type of helmet you wear. There is one helmet for each type of metal for magic, melee, and ranged. New weapons and tools (drill) become available to you with these new ore, but the key is getting them. You will basically start from scratch, fairly weak, and need to build up your defense and damage to nullify the threat of all the new enemies.

What to Do Early in Hard Mode

Getting New Ores in the World

Hopefully you have already found plenty of Demon or Crimson altars as you explored in pre-Hardmode. The majority will be located within those biomes, but some are spread throughout the world. With the Pwnhammer, you can finally break them. This means at least going underground in the Corruption/Crimson though it's not necessary to go to deep and have to deal with stronger enemies. You can break more later, but may want to save one in case you have trouble crafting a Terra Blade later. There are probably at least 5-6 of them in the area where you fought Eater of Worlds or Brain of Cthulhu. Maybe many more! In my medium world, there were at least 7.

Breaking these Altars will bless your world with new types of metals that you can mine, but also place a lone block of evil corruption or crimson somewhere in the world, allowing it to spread. Do not be overly worried about this, because you can handle it much easier later on, should you want a 'pure' world. For every Altar you break, one of three pairs of metals below will spawn in your world in random places, replacing other blocks. There is plenty of it, trust me. The key thing here is to break as many as you can, because each will put more of that ore in your world when broken. This makes it more abundant and makes it more likely you can find it in the first place.

Similar to how you only get Tin or Copper, Lead or Iron in a world at generation, breaking a Demon Altar will choose one of each pair below, in the listed sequence. Breaking a 4th will start the sequence over, only with the same ores and less yield - 100% on pass one, 50% on pass 2, 25% on 3 and so on... Don't worry if you do not get Titanium, because there is a FAR better ore in the game that evens the playing field. End-game gear is equally accessible to all players. The second of the two listed is, however, generally stronger in terms of defense/attack power, though set bonuses differ. Work with what you're given!

Altar #1 blesses with either Cobalt or Palladium

or Altar #1 blesses with either Mythril or Orichalcum

or Altar #1 blesses with either Adamantite or Titanium

or Altar #4 starts the sequence over, with less each time as there are diminishing returns.

Breaking these Altars is the first thing you should do in Hard Mode, to allow yourself to gear up for the much more difficult enemies. Be prepared to fight when you break them, as up to 3 Wraiths can come and attack you when you do this. They apply the slow debuff and have about 300 life. Switch to your main weapon and knock them out before hitting another. It's worth noting so that you don't break a few in quick succession and get overwhelmed by wraiths.

Mine and Explore!

Once your world has been blessed, take your Molten Pickaxe out and locate Cobalt or Palladium, which ever your world was blessed with. You want a new pickaxe and a full set of armor made of that metal with a helmet based on your playstyle in order to boost damage. You will now have to follow a linear progression in what you are able to mine and craft:

Cobalt/Palladium require Molten Pickaxe/Reaver Shark

Mythril/Orichalcum require a Cobalt or Palladium Pickaxe or Drill, and all the gear/tools you can craft with these ores require an Anvil made of a Mythril/Orichalcum (10/12 bars, respectively). Thankfully, these are the last Anvils you will need to make, although on PC there are other crafting stations in the end-game.

Adamantite/Titanium require a Mythril/Orichalcum Pickaxe or Drill. Turning the ore into bars requires you to get 30 of either and combine with a Hellforge to create an Adamantite/Titanium Forge. This can smelt all ores in Terraria.

Your playstyle should not change substantially just because you're in Hardmode. There is likely a lot of ground you've not yet covered, and you'll now find better ores along the way. You can use Spelunker/Mining Potions to help you advance faster so you can prevent corruption spreading too far. Try to prioritize your new ore finds in this priority: Pickaxe, Armor, Weapon. The reasoning for this is the pickaxe is needed for mining better ores, the armor cannot be found otherwise. There are magical weapons you may find/make that outclass those you can craft. So, for example, after making a Titanium Pickaxe, save up your Titanium for a set of armor, and if needed make a lesser class weapon in case you find something better.

For your convenience, I've made this table showing the amount of ore you need to make a bar, and the amount of bars to make a Pickaxe (or Drill) of each hardmode ore and full set of armor.

Pickaxes and Armor Set Ore Requirements Ore Type Ore/Bar Pickaxe Bars (Ore) Full Armor Set Bars (Ore) Cobalt 3 15 (45) 45 (135) Palladium 3 18 (54) 54 (162) Mythril 4 15 (60) 45 (180) Orichalcum 4 18 (72) 54 (216) Adamantite 5 18 (90) 54 (270) Titanium 5 20 (100) 59 (295)

Prepare for the Mechanical Bosses

Everything you do at the beginning of Hardmode is to prepare your character for one of the first big hurdles of Hard Mode: Defeating the Three Mechanical Bosses. Different things happen when you beat them, but a key point of progress is to be able to get gear that is better than Adamantite/Titanium: the gear and tools made from Hallowed Bars and the Souls they drop. This leads you on a path toward the final bosses of Terraria. The better your gear, the greater your chance of defeating them.

As you'll see if you read the linked guide, there is a chance each night that one of the Mechanical Bosses will spawn. They will obliterate you in pre-Hardmode gear - I experienced it myself - there was no winning with my skill level because I just didn't have enough Defense. Thankfully, like all bosses, you can also summon them manually and on your terms. Build arenas to fight them, and they're much easier. Read the guides above along with Destroyer, The Twins, and Skeletron Prime.

You will see a message when they are about to attack. If you fear a death, just save and exit your game and come back and they should not spawn. They can attack you just about anywhere.

Top Early Hardmode Priorities

There are several things you should do after you've blessed your world and got a new pickaxe and armor set. I have information elsewhere in my Terraria Guide that can be of help:

This really should be done before hardmode, but if you haven't - farm herbs! If you haven't already, make a "garden" so that you can Make Potions. They are invaluable in the mechanical boss fights and you can get enough materials that you are always going about with 5-6 buffs on your character, which helps to prevent death. There are also amazing potions for mining, which increase speed and also reveal the location and types of ores by letting you see through dirt. Spelunker Potions rock! These are very helpful in obtaining the gear you need to defeat the mechanical bosses, so it cannot be emphasized enough.

Soon after obtaining Hardmode Armor: get Wings - see my in-depth Guide to farming them. Being able to fly means being able to dodge some attacks you couldn't otherwise, while also making exploration easier. It's also really frickin' fun to fly around, though you only get a couple of seconds flight time from early wings. It's a good starting point.

Pre-Hardmode weapons are way too weak to get you very far and put you at risk because you just can't take out enemies fast enough. Here are a few suggestions for players using the main three playstyles. Summoner-type gear gets much better toward the endgame, so there are technically four main builds you can pursue. This doesn't mean non-summoners shouldn't make use of a minion, though!

Reforge and Combine your accessories. This is super important. Use the wiki to search accessories you have and those you'd like. Combine them at the Tinkerer's Workshop, then reforge them again to get defense, crit, or damage. These are the best three modifiers you can get on accessories.

Farming

Wall of Flesh - you can farm him, and will need to one day if you want a high damage build. Do it when you're stronger, and the fight is easy. It will drop the Emblem(s) you need to make an Avenger Emblem later, after the three Mechanical Bosses are dead.

Souls of Light and Souls of Night - these are dropped from enemies in the Underground Hallow and Underground Crimson/Corruption, respectively. These are helpful crafting components, used to make summoning items for the three mechanical bosses. They don't make many great items themselves,

Watch for Mimics, or summon one yourself. These are strong enemies (fake treasure chests) that often drop accessories and weapons that can be of great use. You can also summon mimics using the above materials - 15 Souls of Light will make a Light Key, 15 Souls of Night makes a Night Key. Craft a regular treasure chest and put the key inside - make it the only item. The mimic will spawn, and after a tough fight you can reap the reward.

More to Come

This guide is ever-evolving. I'm on my third pass through hard mode and plan to update this with more tips. I am always open to reader suggestions. The transition to hard mode is different for each player, and I'd love to hear your experiences. Contact [email protected] to share a tip for this page.

- Share your Terraria Gameplay Tips and Strategies below!

