Expert Mode - Terraria Guide - IGN (2024)

Expert Mode is the new game type added in the 1.3 version update. It can be selected when creating a world for the first time, and will greatly change how the game is played.

What does Expert Mode do?

Basically put, it ramps up the difficulty. It can work in tandem with other difficulty modifiers, to create a punishingly difficult game.

Note: Currently this new mode is only available for the PC version.

When Expert Mode is activated, it will give all enemies twice as much health and damage. It also adds a slew of new boss specific and Expert mode specific items, and alters how many monsters and bosses behave. Below is a list of changes that become active in Expert Mode.

• Enemies and Bosses gain more competent AI, they also have increased health and damage.
• Enemies will drop more loot upon death.
• Some enemies spawn with weapons that have a small chance to drop on death.
• Bosses drop unique Expert Mode only loot.
• You will drop up to 75% of total money on death.
• Enemies can now pick up dropped money. They will shine if they have your money when you find them again.
• Respawn time is longer when dead.
• Boss health scales based on the amount of players in a game.
• Monsters can now spawn in safe locations, albeit rarely.
• Pots now contain more loot.
• Ice creatures can freeze you with attacks.
• Quest rewards grant more money.
• Bats can now apply Feral Bite.
• Life Regen is slower now.
• Vampiric and Spectre healing is slightly less effective.
• Your Defense stat now has greater affect on damage you receive.

Boss Items

The following items drop from bosses, but only in Expert Mode!

• King Slime
  • Royal Gel - Slimes are now friendly!
• Eye of Cthulu
  • Shield of Cthulu - Players can dash, dealing damage to enemies.
• Eater of Worlds
  • Worm Scarf - Player takes 17% less damage.
• Brain of Cthulu
  • Brain of Confusion - Chance to confuse enemies when you attack.
• Skeletron
  • Bone Glove - Gives chance to not consume bones.
• Queen Bee
  • Hive Pack - Ally bees become stronger.
• Wall of Flesh
  • Demon Heart - Increases the number of accessory slots.
• The Destroyer
  • Mechanical Wagon Piece - Part of the Mechanical Cart.
• The Twins
  • Mechanical Wheel Piece - Part of the Mechanical Cart.
• Skeletron Prime
  • Mechanical Battery Piece - Part of the Mechanical Cart.
• Plantera
  • Spore Sac - Summons spores to damage your enemies.
• Golem
  • Shiny Stone - Increases life regen when standing still.
• Duke Fishron
  • Shrimpy Truffle - A mount with endless flying.
• Moon Lord
  • Gravity Globe - Used to change gravity.

Surviving Early On

Expert Mode isn't fooling around, and you will feel the difference almost immediately as a lowly blue slime jumps your way and kills you in a few hits. The common enemies in Terraria used to be a nuisance and nothing more, but now they pack a serious punch, so you will need to be far more careful and prepared!

Get Sheltered, Quickly!

The first few nights are going to be incredibly rough, and if you don't have shelter, you will die. The little sword you start with won't cut it on this difficulty, so make sure to immediately begin cutting down trees, or digging yourself a hole.

If you are lucky, during the night some zombies with weapons will attack you, and you will get one. You will tell these new zombies apart from the rest, as it looks like they are holding something like a sword. It is in fact a Zombie Arm they are using as a weapon. When they die, they have a chance to drop this, and it happens to be a good starting weapon.

Along with this, you should aim to get a Campfire built quickly. This will increase health regen in the area, which is very important given the lower base health regen you receive on Expert Mode.

Prioritize Armor Upgrades

When playing on a normal world, it's common to skip entire armor classes because they don't offer much improvement. On Expert Mode this simply isn't an option. Armor is more effective on this mode, so the difference between 3 armor and 5 may seem insignificant, but that's far from the truth!

Having a complete set of even wood armor can help save your life against the enemies above ground, and once you start getting decent amounts of Tin Ore and Tungsten Ore you can upgrade to that. A set of Tungsten Armor is some of the best early game armor you can use, and will serve you well even against the first couple bosses.

Friends Make All The Difference

Expert Mode is a grueling solo experience. However, bring a few friends and you will find that the challenge lets up just enough to still give you hard time while being fun.

Having others in your world will help you accumulate ore and other items quicker, and of course they can aid in battle with hordes of enemies or while you are exploring deep in caves. There is a downside though. When playing on Expert Mode, bosses will gain more health for every player that's in the game. So although friends will make the normal day to day life easier, bosses can be serious business, so you best stock up for a long fight!

Goal Progression

When playing on Expert Mode, there are certain goals you should try to reach. These will likely be different than your normal goals, since enemies pack a serious punch on this difficulty.

Goal 1. Tungsten Pickaxe

This is your first objective. The Tungsten Pickaxe is one of the best early tools as it can harvest Meteorite Ore, which is invaluable on Expert Mode.

It should be noted that not every world spawns with the same ore. If you can't find any Tungsten, it's likely your world simply doesn't have any! Instead, you should aim for a Gold Pickaxe, which also can mine Meteorite!

Goal 2. Dynamite!

With the Tungsten Pickaxe (or Gold one) in hand, you now want high explosives. To get these, simply make sure your house has suitable room then wait for the Demolitionist.

Once he arrives, buy up as much Dynamite as you can. You will need it to smash orbs in either the Corruption or Crimson. Remember you only want to smash 2, as smashing 3 will cause a boss to spawn! With the orbs smashed, meteors now have a chance to fall.

Goal 3. Meteorite Set

You've used some dynamite, smashed some orbs and a meteor finally landed. Using your Tungsten Pickaxe, go slowly mine it and forge yourself an entire set of armor. Once you have it, also craft the gun that goes with it. It is one of the best early weapons since the lasers will penetrate several enemies at a time, does decent damage and has infinite ammo!

Goal 4. Boss Time!

With the mighty Meteorite Set on and gun in hand, you can now fight some bosses. The Eye of Cthulu is fairly easy with the gun, although watch out for his new dashing attack.

Depending what world you have, the next boss can be tougher. Brain of Cthulu is similar to the eye and thus easy enough to deal with, however the Eater of Worlds can be a hard boss to kill. Make sure to check out their pages to get tips on how to kill them in Expert Mode.

Goal 5. Skeletron

Once you beat the first bosses, your next goal should be Skeletron. We go into detail on how to beat him on his page, but suffice it to say you will need a lot of potions, tons of preparation, and at least Meteor Armor but Molten Armor is suggested. Once you do finally take him out, you can clear out the Dungeon for all it's loot!

Goal 6. Hardmode

With Skeletron down, your next goal is the Wall of Flesh so you can access Hardmode. Once you get there, the rest is fairly straight forward, specially if you have played the game before. Of course everything hits harder, but the general plan is the same, obtain the new ore, get the highest quality you can then start spawning the new versions of all the bosses.