Difficulty

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This is the main page whose information applies to the Desktop, Console, and Mobile versions of Terraria.
For the differences of this information on Old-gen console and 3DS, see Legacy:Difficulty.

Difficulty refers to how challenging the gameplay is. Terraria has different forms of difficulty for both characters and worlds.

  • The actual difficulty mode is a character setting selected during character creation. There are the following options: Journey, Classic, Mediumcore, and Hardcore, all modes changing the penalty upon death. Journey characters start with extra equipment and can only be played on Journey worlds. Classic characters drop only coins. Mediumcore characters drop all of their items on death, and Hardcore characters cannot respawn, and drop all items on death. Once a character has been created, its difficulty cannot be changed.
    • There is no reward for playing in Mediumcore or higher difficulty, other than increased difficulty for its own sake.
  • Another form of difficulty is world modes. Players may choose between Journey, Classic, Expert, and Master when creating a new world. This is a separate setting that applies to the world, rather than the character, and similarly cannot be changed once the world has begun generating.
    • Playing in Expert Mode or higher rewards the player with mode-exclusive items.
  • A third form of difficulty is the transition from pre-Hardmode to Hardmode, which also applies to the world. This is a gameplay advancement achieved by defeating the Wall of Flesh and is thus non-optional.

Character modes

Journey

Journey Mode is unique, as the player may choose and change game difficulty whenever they wish. Journey Mode also includes additional tools such as godmode, item duplication, time and weather control, and the ability to control enemy spawns. The player must choose Journey on both the character and world creation menus to use it.

Classic

Classic is the default character mode. It is the standard Terraria experience.

Classic characters drop 50% / 75% / 100% of their coins when they die, which can be retrieved upon respawning, but may also be collected by other players in multiplayer or by enemies in Expert Mode or above. Classic characters respawn at their spawn point, 10–20 / 15–60 seconds after death (see Respawn for details).

Mediumcore

Mediumcore characters drop all of their items upon death, including all coins and ammo. These can be retrieved upon respawning, but any items may also be collected by other players in multiplayer and coins by enemies in Expert Mode or above. Mediumcore characters still respawn at their spawn point, 10–20 / 15–60 seconds after death.

Hardcore

Hardcore characters die permanently, and drop all of their items upon death, including coins and ammo.

Upon death, a Hardcore character is deleted.[1] The character then becomes a Ghost that can continue to observe the world but cannot affect it. Ghosts can fly, pass through walls, and continue to chat with other multiplayer users, but cannot interact with the environment in most ways and cannot open a world.

The items players placed in chests will not be deleted, but items the character had in portable storage will be deleted.

NPCs in worlds with Hardcore characters in them will drop Tombstones, which can potentially result in a Graveyard biome.

World modes

There are four different world modes to choose between during world creation:

  • Journey Mode: This is an easier mode that gives the player extra items on the start, allows duplicating items, and allows making the game easier. See Journey Mode for a more complete list.
  • Classic Mode: This is the regular world mode.
  • Expert Mode: Intended for experienced players, Expert Mode worlds contain the same enemies, but with increased stats, and some have altered behavior patterns that make them more difficult to defeat. However, as a special reward, loot drops are more frequent and bosses drop Treasure Bags which, in addition to the normal boss loot, also contain special items only available in Expert Mode. Expert Mode brings numerous other changes. See Expert Mode for a more complete list.
  • Master Mode: A harder version of Expert Mode, with enemies gaining the same AI changes but increased health and damage. It also includes two new drops per boss and an extra accessory slot. See Master Mode for a more complete list.

Additionally, the term Legendary Mode refers to a For the worthy or Get fixed boi world that is in Master Mode. See For the worthy § Difficulty for details.

Notes

  • Coins dropped upon death are rounded up.
  • When a player dies in Hardcore, their character's files are put into the recycle bin, and therefore can still be recovered.

Colors

The colors used by different difficulties are listed below:

Color Character mode World mode
#FF78BB [2] Journey Journey
#FFFFFF Classic Classic
#FF9900 [3] Mediumcore Expert
#FF2619 [4] Hardcore Master
#32CD32 [5] n/a "Legendary"

Tips

See also: Guide:Practical tips
  • Mediumcore characters may want to keep their second-best equipment in a Chest in case of death.
  • Hardcore mode can be used to freely explore a world by dying and flying through the ground and sky as a Ghost. However, Ghosts do not generate light, so exploring non-lit areas may be difficult.
  • One may consider Mediumcore comparable with the behavior on death in Minecraft. There are, however, significant differences:
    • Terraria's equipment is much more varied and individual than Minecraft's; while keeping spares or "second best" in a go-chest can help, there are some items that are not easily duplicated, and a few that come "one to a world".
    • Item despawning behavior is very different; in Terraria there is no time limit, but items can despawn if too many other items accumulate in the world. This is not usually an issue unless the player has an automated farm running, or perhaps fights a major invasion before retrieving their dropped items.
  • In multiplayer, items dropped by dead players can be collected by others.
    • By extension, after dying as a Hardcore character, it is possible to rejoin the server with a new character to collect the dropped items back.

History

  • Desktop 1.4.4.6: For the worthy and Get fixed boi worlds that are in Master Mode now display their difficulty as "Legendary".
  • Desktop 1.4.4: Character creation now defaults to Classic instead of Journey.
  • Desktop 1.4.0.1:
    • Journey Mode option for world generation and character generation added. Journey characters can only play on Journey worlds and vice versa, and Journey Mode worlds have exclusive power features including item research and duplication, enemy difficulty control, infection spread control, and much more.
    • Added Master Mode, a harder version of Expert Mode.
    • Renamed Normal mode to Classic mode.
    • Renamed Softcore to Classic.
  • Desktop 1.2.4.1: The proper items will now drop on Mediumcore/Hardcore deaths.
  • Desktop 1.2.3.1: Fixed bug where Hardcore characters could not open the menu after death.
  • Desktop 1.0.6:
    • Mediumcore mode introduced.
    • Added Ghost sprite to replace dead Hardcore characters.
  • Mobile 1.3.0.7: Introduced Mediumcore and Hardcore difficulties, and players now can choose difficulty.
  • Mobile-Release: Introduced Softcore difficulty. Characters drop Tombstones on death.

References

  1. ↑ Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method KillMeForGood() in Terraria.Player.cs.
  2. ↑ Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, field creativeModeColor in Terraria.Main.cs.
  3. ↑ Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, field mcColor in Terraria.Main.cs.
  4. ↑ Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, field hcColor in Terraria.Main.cs.
  5. ↑ Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, field legendaryModeColor in Terraria.Main.cs.
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