This is a Guide page.

This means the page will walk you through a specific task, strategy, or enemy/boss fight.

Status: Subject to revision (This Guide does not meet certain quality standards and may be heavily outdated.) Things to do:

• Update guide for 1.4

For a simple graphical summary, see Guide:Game Progression graph

This page summarizes the game progression. It will give tips for control of the transitions in the game, and note key items to craft or find (beyond the next tier of weapons and armor). Some tips will represent opportunities for "sequence breaking", by gaining equipment slightly in advance of the "usual" timing. For a more detailed and graphics-heavy guide, see the Walkthrough Guide. For details about strategies for each specific boss fight and/or event, see their respective guides.

Terraria is a sandbox game, but that does not mean it is without structure or change. The game progression presents a cyclic pattern:

The player explores a new (or changed) section of the world. This area offers new dangers, especially new enemies, but those enemies also drop new resources. The environment will also offer new items, including local chests with rare items. The player uses these to upgrade their equipment, until they are ready for... ... a boss fight, with occasional events for variety. Each new boss and event provides a uniquely-challenging fight. Defeating the boss or event provides still more advanced weapons, equipment and materials.

New NPCs may appear, and existing NPCs can sell new items.

Once a player has defeated each boss or event for the first time, it can later be re-summoned for more drops, thus becoming a potential resource. The items gained from the boss fight/ event will again improve the player's equipment, but will also present a new challenge, such as access to a new area, or new enemies in a previously explored area. This returns the player to step 1.

Several bosses are particularly significant for game progression:

Skeletron initially gives access to the Dungeon, which is technically optional. However, if you don't defeat him eventually, you won’t be able to enter the endgame. (On most platforms)

optional. However, if you don't defeat him eventually, you won’t be able to enter the endgame. (On most platforms) The Wall of Flesh will trigger Hardmode in the world when defeated. Both the environment and the enemies encountered become far more hostile and dangerous after this point.

Defeating Plantera opens access to many different locations and challenges, which all serve in preparation for the late game.

The Moon Lord is the last of the "mandatory" bosses for most versions. ( Old-gen console and 3DS have Ocram instead.) Defeating them is the minimum standard for "beating the game". However, this being a sandbox game, that's not a "game over"! From this point on, the player is in the "endgame", where they can continue to gather resources and equipment, build projects, and test themselves against various optional challenges.

Getting Started [ edit | edit source ]

The Player starts with minimal equipment. Your task at hand is to collect resources, build a base, and craft better equipment. You'll start off chopping Trees for wood, killing Slimes by day, and digging around the surface of the world.

You need to make yourself a base before night. If you have time, make one or two NPC houses for your first NPCs to move in. If not, simply build a box to keep yourself in for the night.

Once you get the Merchant, buy a Piggy Bank and a Bug Net as soon as you can. When you can afford it, a spare piggy bank or two will come in handy.

Collect Fallen Stars as you find them. Until your mana is maxed out, make Mana Crystals and use those immediately, and afterwards bank the stars for later use -- they are important for a variety of crafting recipes.

Collect all the Life Crystals you find, but don't actually use them until you're ready (see "Tips" below).

Use the Bug Net to collect all the critters you can. You can sell most of them for silver (and in some cases gold), but hang onto the worms (and anything with a better bait value) for later fishing.

In 1.4, food comes in three tiers of increasing strength, and within those, food items vary widely in duration. Rare drops from various enemies can provide all three levels, but there are more reliable sources, notably by cooking critters or fish into food at a Cooking Pot. Bunnies, squirrels, and most birds can be turned into basic food, providing the Well Fed buff. Fruit dropped from trees can also provide this, and crafting them into various juices can extend the duration. Keep an eye out for those critters whose cooked form can provide the more powerful Plenty Satisfied buff: Goldfish, Snails, Ducks, Frogs, and jungle bait (see Grub Soup for details). When you get into fishing (see below), various fish you catch can provide all three tiers of food, in quantity. The top-tier Exquisitely Stuffed buff is quite powerful, but correspondingly scarce; even so there are some sources available even before Hardmode: Surplus potion fish (including some that are otherwise useless) can be cooked into Seafood Dinners; their duration is short, but they can be had in quantity. In the early game, the most common enemy drop yielding the buff, will probably be Burgers from Eaters of Souls/Crimera. (Still a rare drop, but the enemies are plentiful!) If you have money (platinum) to spare, buying and breaking Pigronatas in bulk can get you some Bacon, which lasts a full game day. Any Golden Critter (including those which aren't usually edible) can be turned into a Golden Delight, which can be eaten for a full two game days duration, or sold for the same price as the critter.



Over time you will accumulate money, which lets you buy items and services from NPCs. Accumulating a bit of gold early on can let you buy a powerful weapon when the Traveling Merchant brings it by; see Making Money for details and more ideas, but here are some simple sources of money.

Naturally, you can sell off duplicate or unwanted equipment. Remember, if it came from an enemy or from fishing, you can probably get more later, let alone if it grew from the grass. The surface Dye plants are also common, and they sell well.

Gemcorns and farm more gems, converting them to Stained Glass for maximum profit. This will take some time to pay off, but you can do other things while the trees are growing.

Gemcorns and farm more gems, converting them to Stained Glass for maximum profit. This will take some time to pay off, but you can do other things while the trees are growing. You can catch and sell Critters, for significant amounts of money. cooked.

cooked. Selling off surplus ores/bars can make some money, especially the evil ores from summonable bosses ( after you've made the items you want, of course). With your evil pickaxe and some buckets, you can also convert lava to obsidian, and mine that for Obsidian Skulls to sell.

you've made the items you want, of course). With your evil pickaxe and some buckets, you can also convert lava to obsidian, and mine that for Obsidian Skulls to sell. Fishing quests can be set up fairly quickly in the early game -- between Angler rewards, crates, and fished items, fishing can bring in a fair bit of money, even after you set aside the useful stuff.

There are several elements to luck, and "working" any of them can be helpful even if it's hard to see the effects.

Ladybug luck: Touching a ladybug (running past it will do) gives 12 minutes of enhanced luck, double that for a golden ladybug. Catching it afterwards makes no difference, but killing one gives bad luck for the same duration. (Don't use them for fishing bait either, that counts as killing them) They have to be "wild" ladybugs, releasing previously-caught ladybugs will not help. Ladybugs are common near NPCs on windy days.

luck for the same duration. (Don't use them for fishing bait either, that counts as killing them) They have to be "wild" ladybugs, releasing previously-caught ladybugs will not help. Ladybugs are common near NPCs on windy days. Torches: Torch luck can't hurt you, but it can help. Several biomes (Snow, Desert, Jungle, Ocean, Corruption or Crimson, and later the Hallow) have "biome torches". In the Surface and above, holding the right sort of torch gives a bonus, while holding the wrong sort or a regular torch does nothing. Below Surface level, placed torches have similar effects nearby (40 block radius): The right biome torch gives a bonus, but a wrong or regular torch will cancel that out. It only matters whether at least one torch of a type is present, more don't stack. Once you have some mobility accessories, defense, and increased health, you may want to try the Torch God challenge, which will make the biome torches almost free (regular torches auto-convert). Gem torches don't affect torch luck, but some colors are dim or otherwise annoying. Bone Torches (from the Skeleton Merchant) are reasonably bright, whitish, and safe to put anywhere, plus they even provide a smaller bonus in biomes that have no biome torch. These are a good choice for the edges of biomes, where they can safely be on-screen when you're in the neighboring biome. Coral torches don't reduce your luck (away from the Ocean) if they're underwater, and they're the first torches you'll get that ''can'' be placed underwater.

help. Garden Gnomes: Luring a Gnome "into the sun" (outdoors at daytime, even if it's raining) will yield a Garden Gnome statuette. Placing these around your base (or elsewhere) will give a luck bonus in their vicinity. Luring a Gnome will be fairly difficult until you get a Cobalt Shield -- in "normal mode" they do little damage but give enough knockback to make it quite hard to climb out of the Living Trees where they spawn. (In Expert or Master Mode Gnomes do do serious damage, but a beginning player certainly should not be in either mode)



Those mushrooms are your first "healing potion". Get in practice! Don't wait until you're almost dead, because you have a 60-second cooldown before you can use another healing potion.

Until you start using Heart Crystals, your biggest threats are the night monsters, and possibly King Slime if you wander far enough away from spawn. The first crystal you use will enable Blood Moon nights to happen randomly, while also bringing in the Nurse. You probably shouldn't do this until you've got at least Iron/Lead armor and weapons. The second crystal enables Slime Rains, which can bring King Slime to your doorstep. The fifth crystal will cause the Eye of Cthulhu to spawn randomly at night. If possible, work your way up to Gold/Platinum armor and weapons before you use the fifth crystal. If you have more crystals, use them all with the fifth one, you want to be as strong as possible for this fight. You can collect lenses to craft a Suspicious Looking Eye, to summon the Eye manually at your convenience. Watch for messages and comments from the NPCs, so you don't summon him on a night when he'll appear on his own. Similarly, don't summon him at exactly 7:30 pm: wait a few seconds to make sure he's not coming, and that it's not a Blood Moon.

When you get killed, you will normally have a tombstone left where you died. Mine and collect these as soon as you can, as they can attract monsters even during the day -- including ghosts, which are fairly dangerous to a beginning character. If a ghost shows up when you mine the tombstone, for now you should attack from a distance or run away. When you have six tombstones, you can make a Graveyard, which will allow you to buy and craft a number of special items.

It may be worth pushing ahead to get the Minishark. This powerful and expensive weapon is sold by the Arms Dealer, who doesn't show up until you've gotten a gun or bullets (usually from the evil biome, see below).

Terraria offers a couple of seasonal events, based on the Gregorian calendar used in the Western world. These "holiday seasons" overlap any normal game events that may be happening and provide additional features.

If it is Valentine's Day in Terraria, the Merchant will sell two particularly useful items:

For 10000* 1 , the player can buy a Valentine Ring. When dropped, picked back up, and equipped, it grants a jump bonus and a health regeneration boost.

, the player can buy a Valentine Ring. When dropped, picked back up, and equipped, it grants a jump bonus and a health regeneration boost. For 50* 50 , the player can buy a Heart Arrow. Heart Arrows are basically Wooden Arrows which stun enemies for 1.5 seconds. These can be extremely useful against bosses, especially when used in large amounts. If a large enough amount is used, a boss can be stunned forever.

Halloween is somewhat less generous than Christmas, but does offer some goodies:

If it's Christmas in Terraria, you can use Presents to speed up progression:

Once you've beaten the Eye, it will no longer spawn on its own. You should definitely be able to reach the Jungle by now, and go onward to the Ocean (for the Angler).

The Dryad sells a number of nature-related items, including: Seeds to plant any sort of grass, Sunflowers for a useful buff, Acorns to grow trees, and Pumpkin Seeds to grow pumpkins for another building block. Once you've defeated some bosses, she will also sell Planter Boxes to grow herbs more conveniently. The boxes have names and appearances for each herb, but in fact any herb will grow in any pot. Her Purification Powder can purge Corruption or Crimson from small areas, and is the only way to revert tainted blocks Pre-Hardmode. The Dirt Rod can be useful for dealing with traps or fending off enemies from a distance. Various decorative items, such as the jungle and flower wall.

The Angler is found sleeping near the Ocean. His quests will provide a trickle of money and a steady stream of useful tools and accessories, as well as some sea-themed decorations.

Carry any Strange Plant to attract the Dye Trader. He sells dye-related items, including a couple of colors that are not otherwise found in the world, and the crafting station to mix your own dyes. He also trades Strange Plants for unique dyes. From 1.4 and onward, Strange Plants only spawn in Hardmode. Pre-1.4 worlds that were upgraded to 1.4 may already have Strange Plants spawned in Pre-Hardmode; stash these for later use, as the Dye Trader will not trade for Strange Plants in Pre-Hardmode.

From here on, use Heart Crystals immediately until your health is at maximum. Once you've used all you can, you can craft them into Heart Lanterns.

Make a Cooking Pot for cooking fish

Make Clay pots or buy Planter Boxes from the Dryad to grow Herbs as you collect seeds. Place a bottle and start making potions. You will be collecting seeds for 7 herbs from as many biomes: Daybloom (Forest), Blinkroot (underground), Moonglow (Jungle), Shiverthorn (Snow), Waterleaf (Desert), Deathweed (evil biome), and Fireblossom (Underworld). The occasional Herb Bag from chests can provide herbs and seeds from areas you haven't reached yet.

Make a Reinforced Fishing Pole for fishing.

Boots add mobility, and begin the crafting chain ending with Terraspark Boots.

From this point on, fish as much as you can: take every possible quest from the Angler, using all the fishing-related equipment and potions you get from him. Continue until you have all the functional rewards: Golden Bug Net, Golden Fishing Rod, Fish Finder, Angler Tackle Bag. On the console and mobile versions, the Angler has a cap of 150 quests, after which all the remaining rewards become much more rare. So once you have all the pre-Hardmode rewards, stop taking Angler quests until Hardmode, when there will be a few new rewards.

Until you get Master Bait, Enchanted Nightcrawlers are your best bait. Some butterflies and golden critters are a little better, but those also sell for good money.

Fishing will get you an assortment of useful items, both directly and from crates. The Reaver Shark, Sawtooth Shark, and Rockfish will serve you for a long time, while some of the accessories will help you get around and/or protect from falls. Crates can provide the tiny but powerful Falcon Blade, among other powerful items.

Set up three chests for quest fish, and each time you fish for one, try to catch four of the current quest fish at a time (stuff them into your piggy bank as you catch them). The next couple of times those quests come up, you can hand over the fish immediately from your chests.

Crates, and continue until Hardmode. Biome crates can have special items, mostly the same items as the biome's chests. Crimson or Corrupt Crates will also add special drops in Hardmode, so make sure you keep some of those.

Crates, and continue until Hardmode. Biome crates can have special items, mostly the same items as the biome's chests. Crimson or Corrupt Crates will also add special drops in Hardmode, so make sure you keep some of those.

definitely recommended....) Either a Wandering Eye Fish or a Zombie Merman will make for a tough fight, but the potential rewards are rich, including an early minion.

Once you reach Hardmode, you want the Bottomless Water Bucket, Super Absorbant Sponge, and Hotline Fishing Hook, after which you're pretty much done with the Angler. Fishing in general will remain useful into early Hardmode, but eventually there will come a point when the player has better equipment than anything they could fish up. At this point, fishing is reduced to resupplying potion ingredients and perhaps farming for cash or metals.

The Evil biomes [ edit | edit source ]

Once you have Gold/Platinum or better equipment, with some helpful accessories, you should be able to delve into your "evil" biome with relative impunity. At this point, you can start breaking Shadow Orbs or Crimson Hearts (collectively "orbs"). After the first orb is broken, meteorites will begin falling on the world (always off-screen). In 1.4 versions, meteorites will not spawn until the Eater of Worlds or Brain of Cthulhu is defeated for the first time. There will also be a random chance each day of the Goblin Army invading.

When breaking that first orb, make sure of the status message you get, which should be "A horrible chill runs down your spine...". If you instead get "Screams echo around you...", this means that one of the orbs has already been broken by faulty world generation.

you get, which should be "A horrible chill runs down your spine...". If you instead get "Screams echo around you...", this means that one of the orbs has already been broken by faulty world generation. The first orb always gives you a Gun (Musket in Corruption world and The Undertaker in Crimson world). The second orb broken will offer more drops, but otherwise ought to do nothing in particular.

Every third orb broken summons Eater of Worlds (corruption) or Brain of Cthulhu (crimson).

Eater of Worlds or Brain of Cthulhu is defeated for the first time. Each time the boss is defeated, there is a 50% chance that night of one falling.

Eater of Worlds or Brain of Cthulhu is defeated for the first time. Each time the boss is defeated, there is a 50% chance that night of one falling. meteorites, avoid breaking multiple orbs between midnight and dawn (4:30 AM), as that can get you multiple meteorites immediately (separate 50% chance for each orb broken). If orbs are broken at other times, there will only one meteor landing (next midnight) no matter how many orbs you broke that day.

meteorites, avoid breaking multiple orbs between midnight and dawn (4:30 AM), as that can get you multiple meteorites immediately (separate 50% chance for each orb broken). If orbs are broken at other times, there will only one meteor landing (next midnight) no matter how many orbs you broke that day. Regardless, once this box is opened, there will be a small chance of meteorites falling every night thereafter. However, no more meteorites will fall if there are already one (small worlds) or two un-mined crash sites. There are also ways to protect particular areas from meteorites: They will never fall on the central sixth of the world , so areas near spawn are safe. They will also not fall within 35 tiles of an NPC or a chest, which effectively protects your towns and most of your bases. They will never fall on-screen for any player.



Carry Bullets or a Gun (from a broken orb) for the Arms Dealer. He sells Guns, Ammunition, and the Illegal Gun Parts used to craft several powerful guns. Specialized ammunition may not be offered unless you are carrying the appropriate weapon.

Tavernkeep, found after defeating your Evil biome boss. He provides access to the Old One's Army event, and equipment to fight it.

The Goblin Tinkerer can be found underground after defeating the Goblin Army. He provides several useful services such as: He sells the Tinkerer's Workshop to combine accessories. He sells Rocket Boots, and a handful of other items. Reforging, which is the process by which you can improve an accessory, weapon, or tool by getting a new modifier for the item. Throughout the game, a fair bit of your coin will go toward reforging your equipment for improved power.

Painter. His wares are purely cosmetic, but can drastically improve the appearance of your base, not to mention such practical uses as color-coding chests.

From this point on, Meteorites will be hitting your world. Place Chests at all your bases and other points you want to protect, as they will prevent from landing there.

Skybridge as a Meteor shield over your world.

This is a completely optional challenge which requires a fair bit of preparation, and at this point the direct rewards are mostly minor. However, it's still worth playing through a few of these, for a major weapon and to prepare for the future:

The Tavernkeep will give you the tokens for one of his sentry weapons up front, but until you've beaten the Army once, you can't use them outside the event. The Tavernkeep sentries turn out to be remarkably useful in ordinary adventuring, and these are the only sentries you'll get before Hardmode and the Queen Spider Staff.

If you like, you can play a few extra times to buy the other Tier 1 sentries, each of which has its advantages.

Later in the game, the Old One's Army will progress to Tier 2, where the Ogre drops will be much more useful. Five wins at Tier 1 will let you buy a Tier 2 sentry before you go to fight the Tier 2 invasion. Twenty wins at Tier 1 will let you buy the sentry and the matching armor to buff it. Likewise, a few wins at Tier 2 will let you buy a Tier 3 sentry (perhaps even some of the armor) before you fight the Tier 3 invasion.

you go to fight the Tier 2 invasion. Twenty wins at Tier 1 will let you buy the sentry the matching armor to buff it.

The main boss here is the Queen Bee, though there are plenty of other dangerous enemies around. The Queen Bee will punish you for leaving the underground or the Jungle, but you don't have to fight her inside her own Hive -- you can run to a prepared arena with more space. She will provide you with what's probably your first minion, various other powerful weapons and accessories, and the makings for the pre-Hardmode summoner's armor.

Witch Doctor (after killing Queen Bee). At this point his most important item is the Imbuing Station, which allows you to make Flasks for melee buffs. He also sells the Blowgun, and as the game advances will provide miscellaneous tools and ammunition.

If you haven't been to these already, you should be able to get there by now with ropes, minecart tracks, and/or Gravitation Potions. Fall damage is the biggest threat. The Umbrella or Featherfall Potion will prevent you from taking fall damage. You can find Umbrella in wooden chest found in the surface level. Both Featherfall and Gravitation potions can be found in chests, or crafted by players or Pots. (Gravitation potions can also appear in crates.) You will get several unique items from Skyware chests - while fishing can provide other jump bottles and a balloon, there's no substitute for a couple of items here. A Sky Lake will also let you fish for Sky Crate and Damselfish.

By this point, you should have at least Demonite, Crimtane, Meteorite, or Jungle equipment, with a fair range of weapons and accessories. A tough fight with Skeletron will grant you access to the Dungeon. The Dungeon will provide a Tally Counter to complete your Cell Phone, a Nazar for your eventual Ankh Shield, a Muramasa to complete your Night's Edge, a Handgun to make a Phoenix Blaster, and a Shadow Key for looting the Underworld. It will also provide an Alchemy Table to improve potion crafting, Bewitching Table to let you summon an extra minion, and the Bone Welder and Bone Wand to get some use out of all those bones you've collected. The Mechanic is also rescued here. You should now be able to craft a Void Bag, doubling your inventory by allowing you to continue to pick up items when your main inventory is full.

Cell Phone, Shadow Key, Night's Edge, The Grand Design.

Clothier: He can supply an assortment of wearables and the materials to make others. All his wares are cosmetic or used to craft other vanity items.

Mechanic: She will be your main source for wires, switches, actuators, and other Mechanisms. You can also loot wire, pressure-plates, and traps from the world.

Clear the place out as best you can, fixing obstacles and stripping away Spikes as you go. (Note that spikes only hurt players, so using them elsewhere is pointless except maybe in PvP.) You might also want to make a fishing hole here for later; remember, to fish for Dungeon Crates you must be below Surface level and in front of "natural" Dungeon wall. In 1.4 versions, areas of the Dungeon are blocked off by brittle blocks that are destroyed by walking or grappling on them. Therefore, it is a good idea to use a Dangersense Potion to see where these blockades are so you can safely remove them and discover every room in the dungeon.

Explore and loot all the Underworld's Ruined Houses and loot the Shadow Chests, while mining Hellstone for Molten Armor and other equipment. You will also begin to make several kinds of preparation for Hardmode, see below. Build bridges over the lava, especially in the central area with the Ruined Houses.

Imp Staff

Demon Scythe(rare)

Fireblossom seeds

Shadow Chests may contain the normally mid-Hardmode Drax. If you find one, keep it handy, as it will be very useful even in late Hardmode.

Lava Fishing [ edit | edit source ]

Fishing in lava can yield some quite powerful items, especially useful in the Underworld. To fish in lava, you need one of: a lavaproof fishing pole, a lavaproof hook (accessory), or Underworld bait. Note that you do not need to actually be in the Underworld, you can adopt a lava pool in the Caverns, or make your own at your base.

If you wait until Hardmode, the Angler will eventually give you the Hotline Fishing Hook, which despite its name is a fishing pole. If you don't want to wait for that (and you're on a 1.4 version), you can catch Underworld bait:

Catching Underworld bait requires a fireproof net; the Golden Bug Net will work, but if you don't have one, you can gather some extra Hellstone to upgrade a regular bug net into a Lavaproof Bug Net. Magma Snails are best, followed by Lavaflies, but Hell Butterflies also qualify, and in any case at first you'll get whatever you can find.

Once you have some Underworld bait, do your best to max out your fishing power and luck, and fish for Obsidian Crates. Eventually one of these will contain a Lavaproof Fishing Hook. Unlike the Hotline rod, this is an accessory that will let you fish in lava with any rod or bait -- arguably superior to the other options, since you can use your Golden Fishing Rod and Master Bait.

Once you can fish for Obsidian Crates, try for a Lava Charm if you don't have one already -- with Water Walking Boots from the Ocean and some obsidian, you can upgrade your Frostspark Boots to Terraspark Boots, which let you casually walk on lava (or water or honey), and even protect you for a few seconds from an unexpected dunking.

At this point, you should be more-or-less master of all you survey, able to casually slaughter the worst of the pre-Hardmode enemies and bosses. That will change in Hardmode, but with no new threats incoming, you can take some time to do projects and large builds, and especially to prepare your world for Hardmode:

Reshape the landscape as you like -- if any ravines or mountains are annoying you, now's the time to do something about them. Fallen Logs!

Fallen Logs! If you haven't already, construct a basic arena with platforms, campfires, and heart lanterns. This will help you throughout Hardmode and will also prepare you if a Pirate Invasion occurs very early in Hardmode.

It may be a good idea to set up an underground AFK farm so you can quickly obtain some good weapons at the start of Hardmode.

Prepare your bases with defenses against the future Hardmode enemies. You'll be dealing with more powerful jumpers, and a number of enemies that can move through blocks.

You can chop up your world with "hellevators" and tunnels, to block spread of the Hallow and Crimson or Corruption. Especially try to protect at least some of the Jungle and your spawn base. Note that for Desert in particular, you will want all three sorts of desert on the surface and underground: Evil, Hallowed, and "pure". You should also take measures to protect at least one of the ocean shores.

Make sure you have spare houses scattered across the map, in case some of them get swallowed by the Evil biome, and set up some secure fishing spots in each biome.

If you haven't already, make a surface Glowing Mushroom biome, and build a house there for Truffle to move in later.

Do the Torch god event if you haven't yet, as it will help with the luck mechanic, and in early Hardmode you will need every advantage you can arrange. In this vein, go around to your underground bases and active areas, and replace regular torches with the appropriate biome torches wherever you can.

Try and fill out your map as much as possible, including locating the Jungle Temple and finding all the Biome Chests in the Dungeon. Exploring in early Hardmode will be a difficult task until you obtain decent weapons. Unlocking more of your map will also let you see how the evil biomes are affecting your world in Hardmode.

Pylons you can, and arrange them across your world (if you have not done so already) as doing this in early Hardmode will be a dangerous and difficult task. At this point, you should be able to obtain all but two of the Pylons. Some in particular offer special flexibility in where you place them: The Cavern Pylon can be supported by putting NPC almost anywhere underground, including barely below Surface level. The Mushroom pylon can be placed in an your artificial Surface Mushroom biome, or in any of the natural Mushroom biomes deep underground. For both pylons, you will need to take measures to seal the NPCs away from their hostile neighbors. The Ocean Pylon can be used with either ocean. The only two pylons you can't get yet are Hallow (which you can get in early Hardmode), and the endgame Universal Pylon. When Hardmode begins, some of the Pylons will fail, as their biome is taken over by the world Evil (or even Hallow, for the Forest Pylon). Either fix the biome, or relocate the NPCs and/or the pylons, to a safer area.

Pylons you can, and arrange them across your world (if you have not done so already) as doing this in early Hardmode will be a dangerous and difficult task.

Try and obtain all the pre-Hardmode fishing rewards, both from crates and the Angler. Hardmode with at least a stack or two. Two full stacks of wooden crates and at least some "Evil" crates will pay big dividends by (hopefully) letting you skip altar-breaking later.

Stock up on potions, because you'll be wanting those more in Hardmode. If you haven't already, set up a farm for all seven herbs.

Prepare the Underworld for the Wall of Flesh fight: Having established a safe surface to walk on, place stations along the way with Heart Lamps, Campfires, Stars in Bottles, Peace Candles and banners, trying to cover as much territory as you can with your protective buffs.

Warning: As of version 1.4, the old liquid duplicators will no longer work! Flooding either side of Hell will basically sacrifice the ocean on that side; you have little hope of refilling it until you get the Bottomless Water Bucket from the Angler in Hardmode (though a few stacks of Wet Bombs might help some), and even then, it will be a much more involved and tediious process than the old liquid-duplication machines.

As of version 1.4, the old liquid duplicators will no longer work! Flooding either side of Hell will basically sacrifice the ocean on that side; you have little hope of refilling it until you get the Bottomless Water Bucket from the Angler in Hardmode (though a few stacks of Wet Bombs might help some), and even then, it will be a much more involved and tediious process than the old liquid-duplication machines. Lava Waders or an upgrade -- you can now combine them with your Frostspark Boots to get Terraspark Boots, which will let you move freely around the Underworld with little fear of lava.

Lava Waders or an upgrade -- you can now combine them with your Frostspark Boots to get Terraspark Boots, which will let you move freely around the Underworld with little fear of lava. Even if you've been playing pure melee so far, you probably want to have some strong ranged or magical weapons for backup in your first Wall of Flesh fight -- facetanking a boss that's moving toward you at increasing speed is not recommended! Among melee weapons, yoyos and perhaps flails may help keep some distance. Of course, summons are always handy.

Finally, gather up your best weapons and armor, choose your accessories, grab a few bags of Purification Powder, close up your base, and head down to summon the Wall of Flesh.

When you defeat it, your first step is to collect its drops -- unlike other bosses, the drops will be enclosed in a box safely suspended above the lava for easy retrieval. The box is a also a good shelter while you take the next step: Check your map to see which stripe went to which side, and what they changed. This will drastically affect your game -- in particular, the big question will be whether the Evil stripe has overlaid the Jungle, which will mean at least some trouble dealing with that, because the Evil biomes cause more permanent damage to the Jungle than to other biomes. You should also check what's happened to the Underground Desert.

Having checked on your world, look around for a Tortured Soul to purify into your Tax Collector. Note that for the moment, the Underworld is probably safer than most other places -- the only new enemy you'll see in the underworld is mimics, and while those are still tough, they are also "good hunting" with worthwhile drops.

If you want to dare heading up the long way instead of teleporting home, keep an eye out for a Wizard to rescue, and if you meet the Skeleton Merchant be sure to pick up some yoyo equipment: A Yoyo Glove (and a Counterweight if you don't have one yet) to make a Yoyo Bag. If you didn't pick up a Hel-Fire in the Underworld, you might buy a new yoyo from him too -- A Gradient if you can (full moon to waning crescent) or a Format:C otherwise. While you're at it, you might pick up a Slap Hand too.

Early Hardmode [ edit | edit source ]

After killing the Wall of Flesh, the world moves into the "midgame". At this point, much of the world has probably been mapped and looted, including all the surface biomes and most of the large structures (except the Lihzard Temple, which has at least been located). But the monsters are a lot tougher in all environments, the contagious biomes are trying to take over the world, and big chunks of previously-known territory have been taken over by evil or the Hallow. Additionally:

Rain brings Angry Nimbuses and their Nimbus Rod.

Goblin Armies now include Goblin Summoners, which drop Shadowflame weapons;

Underground, the rare Biome Mimics are a tough challenge with awesome rewards;

Chlorophyte will start appearing in the Jungle, but you can't mine it yet ( Drax in a Shadow Chest).

If you insist, you can get the Hardmode metals from fishing for Crates, but that will take a while --- as of 1.4 you need to do that in Hardmode, and you will need to get hundreds of crates while the biomes spread over your world.

Otherwise, it's back to the normal method of "chaining up" to get the first few tiers of Hardmode metals. Note that the ore counts below are the minimum for chaining up, you will certainly want more for weapons and armor.

If you carry a workbench, anvil, and Hellforge with you, you might not even need to go back to base between ore tiers. Food and Mining Potions will also be handy.

Use the Pwnhammer you got from the Wall of Flesh, to smash at least three Demon Altars. You can smash more to get more ore, but diminishing returns set in fast, and for each altar smashed, a random block in your world has the chance of being converted to either the Hallow or evil biome, potentially starting a new infection (perhaps in an unexplored area where it can spread freely). Destroying 12 altars will roughly double the ore provided by the first three, while quadrupling the hazard from these seed blocks. Watch out for the Wraiths that spawn! Use your Molten Pickaxe to mine for at least 45 Cobalt or 54 Palladium ore. Use your furnace (it doesn't have to be a Hellforge yet) and anvil to make a Cobalt or Palladium pickaxe (or drill, as you prefer) which can mine the next tier of ores. Use that pickaxe/drill to mine for at least 100 Mythril or 120 Orichalcum ore. Use your furnace to smelt some of it into bars and make a Hardmode Anvil, then use that to make a new pickaxe/drill, which again can mine the next tier of ores. Use your newest pickaxe/drill to mine at least 30 Adamantite or Titanium ore, and use that to upgrade a Hellforge into a Hardmode Forge. This will let you smelt the rest of your new ore into bars; you don't need to make a pickaxe out of it, so get started on weapons and armor.

At this point, you should try to kill the first Mechanical Boss as soon as possible (to get the Steampunker and her Clentaminator) and perhaps push onward to killing Plantera (which will drastically slow down the infections). How important this is will depend on how well you prepared your world, but in any case, The Hallow and infectious Evil are now part of your game.

There are a few new catches and Angler rewards:

Evil crates fished up after entering Hardmode can contain Souls of Night and Ichor or Cursed Flames, which are vital ingredients in several powerful Early Hardmode crafting recipes.

Keep in mind that Wraiths will spawn when you break altars, and random parts of the world can be infected.

Maintain world purity: At this point, the evil biome will spread thrice as fast even over grass, and will also corrupt Stone blocks and Sand, so Sunflowers can no longer stop it from spreading. Additionally, the Hallow starts to spread over the world.

Even if you have not broken any altars, you can still manually summon a Pirate Invasion with a Pirate Map. The enemies include no casters, and only one slow flyer. If summoned in the Ocean biome, the pirates themselves will drop several more Pirate Maps for later use.

Defeating the invasion once unlocks the Pirate NPC, who sells two placeable cannons and ammo, a pet, a costume, and a new decorative Wall.

If the player has played during the Christmas season, they may have obtained Presents. If opened during Hardmode, these can contain a Snow Globe. Snow Globes can be used at any time to summon the Frost Legion. The invasion itself is fairly easy, with no casters or flyers at all.

The enemies create and drop Snow, making it renewable.

After defeating it, the Clothier will sell the Balla Hat and the Gangsta Hat.

After defeating it, Santa Claus can spawn during the Christmas season.

When you feel you're ready, it's time to tackle the Mechanical Bosses. You may have gotten some of their summoning items already, if not you can easily make them. It doesn't necessarily matter what order you take them in, and the game-advancement effects kick in based on only whether you've beaten one of them, or all of them. However, each of them provides the Souls for particular weapons and tools. Once you've learned how to beat each of the Mechanical Bosses, it will be much easier to repeat the performance, in case you run low on Hallowed Bars or their respective Souls.

After One Mechanical Boss [ edit | edit source ]

Life Fruit will begin to grow in the Underground Jungle. Grab as much as you can and use it until you're maxed out. Once you are maxed out, sell them for easy gold.

You now have Hallowed Bars and one of the advanced Soul types. You likely don't have enough for full Hallowed armor yet, but especially with your new Souls you can probably make some new weapons: Depending on the Souls you have, the main targets include Excalibur, the Megashark or Light Discs (Destroyer), an Optic Staff or magical weapon (Twins), or a Flamethrower (Skeletron Prime).

The Second Mechanical Boss [ edit | edit source ]

Slaying the second of the mechanical bosses doesn't unlock anything special, but you get more Hallowed Bars and another soul type.

Slaying all three of the mechanical bosses opens a few more gates, primarily the ability to mine Chlorophyte Ore.

When Plantera has been defeated, a number of things happen, collectively entering the "late game":

Spectre armor offers magic boosts, with an option for either damaging orbs or healing. However, Spectre bars make no weapons and only a few tools: A Pickaxe, Hamaxe, and painting tools, all with extra range. Spectre Wings are overshadowed by the Hoverboard.

Shroomite armor is the strongest Ranged armor available at this point, and offers a stealth mode with bonuses. Shroomite bars don't make weapons or most tools, except for the Shroomite Digging Claw, which is the fastest pickaxe in the game. They do allow making the Hoverboard, with the second-best flight time plus hovering and speed.

Mothron can now drop The Eye of Cthulhu, the second-most-powerful yoyo in the game.

The Jungle Temple provides yet another furniture set and the crafting station to make it, plus lots of deadly traps which you can take for your own use. It also leads up to the Golem fight. Defeating the Golem represents the beginning of the "late game":

These challenges are all optional, but offer great rewards for those that can manage to overcome them... or even those who survive long enough to get some decent drops.

Martian Madness provides the blocks for another furniture set, a new mount with a distance attack, a mount that can fly forever (as fast as the Dungeon Guardian), a unique hook, and an assortment of deadly weapons.

The Pumpkin Moon offers many powerful weapons, notably the Horseman's Blade, Stake Launcher, and Raven Staff. Also available are two pets, two high-tier wing tokens, and Spooky Wood. In 1.4, reaching the final wave before dawn will unlock one in-game day of Halloween (see above) regardless of the calendar, allowing access to free pumpkins, many costumes, and other goodies.

The Frost Moon offers the chance of several powerful (but often eccentric) weapons, a pet, and a mount. In 1.4, reaching the final wave before dawn will unlock one in-game day of Christmas (see above) regardless of the calendar, allowing access to Presents with assorted goodies including likely access to the Frost Legion.

Duke Fishron, if defeated, will drop one of five powerful weapons, and his impressive Fishron Wings.

The Old One's Army reaches Tier 3: it will now have 7 Waves and Betsy, alongside with its loot, along with new sentries and armor. Some consider it the most difficult event of the game, though its competition is the intimidating Frost Moon. If you have not acquired enough Defender Medals to buy a Tier 3 sentry, you may need to come back after the Moon Lord.



The Cultists at the Dungeon represent the start to a final marathon of boss fights.

Killing the Cultists will summon the Lunatic Cultist, a fairly difficult boss with a variety of attacks. When defeated, he drops the crafting station used for endgame gear.

Once he is defeated, the Celestial Towers will spawn, and they will not despawn until defeated, whether you leave the world or not. Some key notes: Even a player who isn't powerful enough to defeat them outright can battle: Chip away at the spawns at the edge of the most convenient pillar until its shield breaks down, then make a run to kill the pillar. The drops from the first pillar should let them create at least one powerful weapon, which will help in defeating the next one. If practical, start with the pillar for your own class: Solar – melee, Vortex – ranged, Nebula – magic, Stardust – summoner. Other things being equal, the Solar Pillar's fragments will let you craft the Daybreak or Solar Eruption. While they are melee weapons, both have range and a powerful debuff that doesn't depend on class bonuses. You may have discovered by now that the Pylons don't work during invasions. The Lunar Events count -- hopefully, you've built a teleporter network by now for backup.

despawn until defeated, whether you leave the world or not. Some key notes: Each fragment type can produce a few of its own weapons and other items. All four together can produce Super Healing Potions, the Lunar Hook and the Celestial Sigil. Any three types of fragment can craft the fourth -- this is expensive (3 fragments of different types for 1 of the fourth), but it lets you craft a few Super Healing Potions before the final battle against the Moon Lord.

the final battle against the Moon Lord. Once all the Pillars are defeated, the Moon Lord will spawn, while the Lunar Cultists reappear at the Dungeon entrance. If the Moon Lord wins the fight, he will despawn, leaving the players to start over from the Cultists.

Defeating the Moon Lord will provide access to the final tier of equipment, with which you can establish ultimate power over your world.

He always drops one of several endgame weapons, representing three options for melee, and two each for rangers, magic-users, and summoners.

He always drops the Portal Gun.

Besides bullets and arrows, Luminite unlocks all four Celestial armor sets, plus their wings, pickaxes and hamaxes. The tools are essentially identical except for appearance. The Wings offer a choice between two sets of statistics: The Stardust and Solar maximize time and ascent speed, while the Nebula and Vortex instead offer hovering. The armor sets support the class of their respective pillars, and are usually considered the best available armor for that class.

After many battles, combining Luminite with all the previous "advanced" bars (all in quantity) lets you create the Drill Containment Unit.

After obtaining the sword weapon drops from the Moon Lord, and various other swords, the player can now craft the final, powerful sword, the Zenith





After the End [ edit | edit source ]

This content is transcluded from Guide:Walkthrough/Hardmode § The Post-Game.After defeating the moon invasions and acquiring all their drops, the player is free to do anything. You could try designing an ultimate castle or PvP with other top-tier players, or even overcome incredibly difficult challenges (e.g. Frost Moon wave 15+ with Ranger, no arena.) The only end is the player's imagination!

Some things you might try: