Hardmode

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Initial Hardmode map of a large world on the Desktop version Desktop version. Notice the "V" made of the new outburst of Corruption (dark purple) and Hallow (pale pink) biomes, which each replace existing world blocks upon the defeat of the Wall of Flesh.
This article is about a triggered change in world difficulties. For the player character difficulty setting, see Difficulty § Hardcore. For the initial world difficulty setting, see Expert mode and Master Mode.
Bestiary Reach Hardmode.png"The ancient spirits of light and dark have been released."Bestiary Reach Hardmode.png

Hardmode, as its name suggests, is essentially a more difficult version of the initial world. A world permanently converts to Hardmode after the Wall of Flesh is defeated for the first time, granting players new challenges and much more content to explore.

Hardmode adds The Hallow, a new biome, and its underground variant to the world. Along with The Corruption, The Crimson, and their Underground versions, they will spread continuously and at a steady pace in Hardmode. They may eventually infect the entire world if not dealt with properly.

In Hardmode, Demon and Crimson Altars can be broken with any hammer with 80% or more hammer power (the first eligible hammer the player can obtain is usually the Pwnhammer, which drops from the Wall of Flesh). Upon doing so, new ores become available to start the player off in Hardmode. On the Old-gen console version Old-gen console version and Nintendo 3DSNintendo 3DS version version, destroying an altar has a 66% chance of converting a single random Stone Block in the Cavern layer into Ebonstone/Crimstone or Pearlstone, facilitating the spread of Corruption/Crimson or Underground Hallow respectively. No block other than the selected one will be converted initially.

Along with the regular enemies, Hardmode contains new enemies that are more difficult, some of which are "upgraded" versions of pre-Hardmode enemies. It also makes available new armor sets, weapons, accessories, and other various items that will aid the player and are essential to dealing with new challenges. Some of these become available for purchase from NPCs, drop from enemies, or are craftable using new Hardmode crafting materials and crafting stations.

Enabling Hardmode in a world is necessary for natural gameplay progression, as several new bosses leading up to the game's final boss only become available to fight in this world state.

On the Nintendo 3DSNintendo 3DS version version, when the Wall of Flesh is defeated, a pop-up box will briefly appear describing Hardmode while the world is being converted.

Conversion

Defeating the Wall of Flesh for the first time triggers a conversion in the world, creating the Hardmode biomes.Two diagonal stripes will generate in a "V" pattern, one converting tiles to their Hallow counterpart, the other converting tiles to their evil biome (Corruption or Crimson, depending on the world evil) counterpart. The stripes extend from the top of the world to the bottom of The Underworld. The Hallowed stripe is always generated first.[1] See below for a list of tiles converted during this conversion. As a result, several new biomes will be created, these are:

The status message "The ancient spirits of light and dark have been released." is displayed after the conversion is done.

The starting point and the width of the diagonal stripes depends on the world size and the location of Dungeon, listed in the following table.[2]

World size Stripe starting point[3]
(tiles)
Stripe width[4]
(tiles)
Dungeon at left half Dungeon at right half
Stripe 1 Stripe 2 Stripe 1 Stripe 2 Original value Counting scattered tiles
Small 840–1256 2524–2940 1260–1676 2944–3360 200–249 200–286
Medium 1280–1914 3846–4480 1920–2554 4486–5120 305–379 305–436
Large 1680–2512 5048–5880 2520–3352 5888–6720 400–498 400–573

There are some differences in the conversion process in different game versions and secret world seeds:

  • In worlds generated after 1.4.0.5(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions), the direction of Hallow/Corruption/Crimson biomes is random, but its position is determined by World Seed.
  • In worlds generated between 1.3.4(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) and 1.4.0.5, the direction of Hallow/Corruption/Crimson biomes is determined by the World Seed.[5]
  • In worlds generated before 1.3.4 (thus in all worlds on Old-gen console version Old-gen console and 3DSNintendo 3DS version), however, it is completely random.
  • In drunk worlds(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions), the selection of Corruption/Crimson is determined by the dominant evil of that day.
  • In Don't dig up(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) and Get fixed boi(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) worlds, the "V" pattern is replaced by a rectangular conversion zone located at the same side of the Jungle, which converts tiles to their Hallow counterpart. No new evil biome will be generated. See Don't dig up § Hardmode conversion for details.

Converted tiles

Hallow

Resulting converted tile Original tiles
Hallowed Grass WallHallowed Grass Wall(unsafe)Internal Wall ID: 70
Hardened Pearlsand WallHardened Pearlsand Wall(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)(unsafe)Internal Wall ID: 219 Hardened Sand WallHardened Sand Wall(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)(unsafe)Internal Wall ID: 216
Pearlsandstone WallPearlsandstone Wall(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)(unsafe)Internal Wall ID: 222 Sandstone WallSandstone Wall(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)(unsafe)Internal Wall ID: 187
Pearlstone WallPearlstone Wall(unsafe)Internal Wall ID: 28
Pearlstone BlockPearlstone Block
Pearlsand BlockPearlsand Block
Jungle grassJungle grass
Hallowed grassHallowed grass
Pink Ice BlockPink Ice Block
Pearlsandstone BlockPearlsandstone Block(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) Sandstone BlockSandstone Block(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Hardened Pearlsand BlockHardened Pearlsand Block(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) Hardened Sand BlockHardened Sand Block(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
When > 200000 Hive blocks in the world[6]
Pearlstone BlockPearlstone Block HiveHive
Hardened Pearlsand BlockHardened Pearlsand Block(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) Crispy Honey BlockCrispy Honey Block

Corruption

Resulting converted tile Original tiles
Corrupt Grass WallCorrupt Grass Wall(unsafe)Internal Wall ID: 69
Hardened Ebonsand WallHardened Ebonsand Wall(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)(unsafe)Internal Wall ID: 217 Hardened Sand WallHardened Sand Wall(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)(unsafe)Internal Wall ID: 216
Ebonsandstone WallEbonsandstone Wall(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)(unsafe)Internal Wall ID: 220 Sandstone WallSandstone Wall(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)(unsafe)Internal Wall ID: 187
Corrupt Jungle grassCorrupt Jungle grass(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Corrupt grassCorrupt grass
Ebonstone BlockEbonstone Block
Ebonsand BlockEbonsand Block
Purple Ice BlockPurple Ice Block
Ebonsandstone BlockEbonsandstone Block(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) Sandstone BlockSandstone Block(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Hardened Ebonsand BlockHardened Ebonsand Block(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) Hardened Sand BlockHardened Sand Block(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
When > 200000 Hive blocks in the world[6]
Ebonstone BlockEbonstone Block HiveHive
Hardened Ebonsand BlockHardened Ebonsand Block(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) Crispy Honey BlockCrispy Honey Block

Crimson

Resulting converted tile Original tiles
Crimson Grass WallCrimson Grass Wall(unsafe)Internal Wall ID: 81
Hardened Crimsand WallHardened Crimsand Wall(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)(unsafe)Internal Wall ID: 218 Hardened Sand WallHardened Sand Wall(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)(unsafe)Internal Wall ID: 216
Crimsandstone WallCrimsandstone Wall(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)(unsafe)Internal Wall ID: 221 Sandstone WallSandstone Wall(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)(unsafe)Internal Wall ID: 187
Crimson Jungle grassCrimson Jungle grass(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Crimson grassCrimson grass
Crimstone BlockCrimstone Block
Crimsand BlockCrimsand Block
Red Ice BlockRed Ice Block
Crimsandstone BlockCrimsandstone Block(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) Sandstone BlockSandstone Block(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Hardened Crimsand BlockHardened Crimsand Block(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) Hardened Sand BlockHardened Sand Block(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
When > 200000 Hive blocks in the world[6]
Crimstone BlockCrimstone Block HiveHive
Hardened Crimsand BlockHardened Crimsand Block(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) Crispy Honey BlockCrispy Honey Block

Wall replacement

After the inital conversion, the game will also create patches of biome-specific background walls. This can replace existing applicable background walls, or create new walls at locations where no wall existed.[7]

During this process, the game will choose a random tile within a vertical range from 100 tiles above surface to 190 tiles above the bottom of the world, and determine generated wall type (see below). The block on the chosen tile must be a block listed in the table below, and the tile above the chosen tile cannot be occupied by a solid block. Then, an area containing all tiles without blocks, with applicable walls, and connected with the tile above the chosen tile will be selected. If the selected area contains more than 50 tiles and no more than 1000 tiles, then the wall in the whole area will be replaced by one random type of wall corresponding the chosen tile.

There is also restriction on the total times of performed wall replacements. See below for details.

Blocks and corresponding walls

Block type Wall type

Applicable walls

Only tiles with no background wall, or with the following types of wall can be replaced.

  • Attempt times

    The total times of wall replacement actions is capped at different values for different world sizes, listed in the following table. Each successful wall replacement attempt will reduce remaining attempt times by 1. In addition, remaining attempt times will also be reduced by 1 after 15000 failed attempts are performed.

    World size Attempt times
    Small 25
    Medium 38
    Large 50

    Biomes

    Below is a brief introduction on the generated Hardmode biomes. See their respective pages for more detailed info.

    Underground Corruption / Crimson

    The Underground Corruption and Underground Crimson appear in the Cavern layer. They have the same themes as the surface Corruption/Crimson, though these biomes contain several new themed enemies that can only be found here, as well as a noticeable change of background music.

    Hallow / Underground Hallow

    The Hallow represents a brand-new theme, distinguished by its pastel-colored fairy tale imagery. Rainbows make up the surface's background image, its trees are puffy and multicolored, and enemies look similarly whimsical, such as the Unicorn and Pixie. However, this quickly proves to be misleading, as Hallow enemies are quick, resilient, and deadly, so players must proceed with caution.

    The Underground Hallow appears in the Cavern layer. It acts similarly to the surface Hallow in enemy function. There are, however, several unique enemies and a change in background music which sets it apart from the surface.

    (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) The Underground Hallow also features Gelatin Crystals, which are boss-summoning items that spawn the Queen Slime.

    Spread

    Main article: Biome spread

    While the Corruption and Crimson spread rather slowly in pre-Hardmode, they spread much faster and more aggressively in Hardmode. In addition to the evil biomes, the Hallow spreads actively as well.

    Given enough time, these biomes might reach the player's home base, hence it is advisable to take steps to protect any areas a player wants to invest time in keeping around. See Guide:Maintaining world purity for further information.

    Ores and bars

    Hardmode ores

    The Wall of Flesh always drops the Pwnhammer upon its defeat. This enables destroying Altars (as that requires a Pwnhammer or superior hammer) in order to begin progress into Hardmode. This content is transcluded from Altars.

    1. First altar: Cobalt OreCobalt Ore or Palladium OrePalladium Ore, chosen randomly.
    2. Second altar: Mythril OreMythril Ore or Orichalcum OreOrichalcum Ore, chosen randomly.
    3. Third altar: Adamantite OreAdamantite Ore or Titanium OreTitanium Ore, chosen randomly.

    Players will be able to find these new ores scattered across the Underground layer to near-Underworld levels, with them replacing most blocks created during world generation. They will spawn at random locations in varying quantity, in places explored and unexplored alike.

    • Destroying more altars will never spawn Hardmode ore types beyond the three that were randomly assigned to the world during the initial round of destroyed altars. A world with Palladium Ore deposits will never spawn Cobalt Ore deposits, or vice versa (with the exception of drunk worlds(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)).
    • Which ores are generated is not determined until the first, second or third altar is smashed. For example, it is not determined if the world has Cobalt or Palladium until the first altar has been smashed. The same goes for Mythril/Orichalcum with the second altar, and Adamantite/Titanium for the third.
    • Subsequent altars destroyed will begin the cycle again, though the fourth to sixth altars will spawn half as much ore as the first ones, the seventh to ninth will spawn only one third of the ore of the first ones, and so forth. So, the nth cycle will only generate one-nth as much ore as the first one. For example, destroying the 19th altar (seventh cycle) would yield one-seventh of Cobalt/Palladium Ore compared to the first altar. Destroying 12 altars will roughly double the ore provided by the first three; tripling that original allotment would require destroying 33 altars. Notice that although each subsequent destroyed altar will yield less ore, the total amount is unbounded (except by the number of altars in a world).
    • No matter how many altars are destroyed, ore rarity remains set with Cobalt/Palladium being the most common, followed by Mythril/Orichalcum, then Adamantite/Titanium as the rarest.

    Crates

    (Old-gen console and 3DS versions) All six Hardmode ores and their bars can also be obtained via opening crates. With an ample supply, this can render destroying altars obsolete entirely.

    (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) Hardmode ores and bars can also be obtained from Hardmode crates, which can be fished up during Hardmode. Note that Pre-Hardmode crates that are opened during Hardmode will not drop Hardmode materials.

    Hallowed Bars

    Hallowed Bars are bars solely dropped by the three mechanical bosses. They are one of three types of bars not crafted by ore, alongside Spectre and Shroomite bars, and Hallowed Bars are the only bars without a crafting recipe.

    Chlorophyte Ore

    Chlorophyte Ore starts spawning in the Underground Jungle upon entering Hardmode. It can be mined with either the Drax, Pickaxe Axe, or stronger. To craft the Drax or Pickaxe Axe, the player needs Hallowed Bars and at least one soul from each of the three mechanical bosses. On the Nintendo 3DSNintendo 3DS version version, the Drax can be found in Shadow Chests.

    Unlike other ores, Chlorophyte Ore is special in that it can convert adjacent Mud Blocks into Chlorophyte Ore, and chunks can become rather large. Chlorophyte Ore can be "replanted" and artificially seeded in Mud Blocks at any depth, allowing the player to farm Chlorophyte Ore.

    After Plantera's defeat, Chlorophyte Bars can be crafted into Shroomite Bars with an Autohammer, which can be bought from the Truffle, or into Spectre Bars with an Adamantite/Titanium Forge, requiring Ectoplasm from the Dungeon.

    Luminite (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)

    Luminite is dropped by Moon Lord. The Luminite Bars made out of it (at the Ancient Manipulator) can be crafted into endgame items, most of them also requiring Lunar Fragments dropped by the Celestial Pillars.

    Mining and crafting

    Bosses

    All pre-Hardmode bosses can be summoned in Hardmode.

    Queen Slime (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)

    Queen Slime is a semi-translucent pink slime with a crystal core, which shares many similarities with its pre-Hardmode counterpart King Slime.

    • This boss is entirely optional, but acts as a gap between the mechanical bosses and the start of Hardmode.
    • Queen Slime acts very similar to King Slime throughout her first phase, but shoots projectiles and summons different slimes accordingly.
    • In her second phase, the boss gains wings and begins to fly above the player, shooting buoyant projectiles that bounce off of tiles.

    Mechanical bosses

    The three mechanical bosses are essentially much stronger versions of their respective pre-Hardmode boss.

    • The Twins are the Hardmode version of the Eye of Cthulhu, and can be manually summoned by using the Mechanical Eye at night. The boss itself consists of two eyes, each performing different attacks. Unlike the other mechanical bosses, The Twins have a second stage, where they become more mechanical and have new attack patterns.
    • The Destroyer is the Hardmode version of the Eater of Worlds, and can be manually summoned by using the Mechanical Worm at night. Despite being a direct upgrade of the Eater of Worlds, a Corruption-themed boss, it can be summoned in any world, even those with Crimson (as there is no mechanical upgrade to the Brain of Cthulhu). Also, unlike the Eater of Worlds, the Destroyer will not split into multiple segments, and instead the whole body shares one health bar.
    • Skeletron Prime is the Hardmode version of Skeletron, and can be manually summoned by using the Mechanical Skull at night. Being very similar to Skeletron, its defining features are its four limbs, each being topped with a different weapon: a saw, a vice, a laser, and a cannon.

    Once a world enters Hardmode and at least one altar is destroyed, there is a 10% chance every night that one of these mechanical bosses will spawn, as long as they have not been killed in that world before.

    Once any single mechanical boss has been defeated for the first time, several new items become available, (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) most notably Life Fruit which start growing in the Underground Jungle.

    Plantera

    After all three mechanical bosses are defeated, a message will appear saying: "The jungle grows restless..." This indicates that Plantera is now available for summoning:

    • Plantera is a giant plant-like boss that is summoned by destroying a Plantera's Bulb found within the Underground Jungle. It traverses the terrain using three claws that grab and hold to surfaces. Plantera's first phase consists of it simply traversing terrain and firing little seeds and thorn balls. After it reaches a certain point, it will enter phase two, unleashing many tentacle minions around its body and proceed to use a more intense attack pattern which is much quicker.

    Post-Plantera

    Plantera's defeat will be accompanied by the status message "Screams are echoing from the dungeon..." The world now undergoes a minor transformation, allowing access to various new events:

    Golem

    Plantera will always drop a Temple Key upon defeat. This unlocks the Lihzahrd Temple, and inside, Golem becomes available to fight.

    • Golem is a boss that can initially be fought in the last chamber of the Jungle Temple, where the Lihzahrd Altar rests. Players must use Lihzahrd Power Cells at the altar to summon it. In its first form, Golem has three target areas: its head and its two fists. After its head is defeated, the head flies off and the body becomes the target while the invincible flying head attempts to defend the body.

    Duke Fishron

    While Duke Fishron can be fought as soon as Hardmode is initiated, he is incomparably more powerful and will generally require post-Golem gear.

    • The boss is a pig-fish-dragon hybrid that is summoned by fishing in the Ocean with a Truffle Worm in the player's inventory. He attacks mainly by lunging at the player in short bursts, occasionally firing Detonating Bubbles, and summoning Sharknados that fire Sharkrons. Once he enters his second stage, he attacks with Detonating Bubbles that spew from his body and Cthulunadoes that shoot Sharkrons. In Expert and Master mode he has a third phase where he turns invisible with only his eyes showing, and he teleports and dashes at the player.
    • Defeating Duke Fishron does not unlock any new events or other aspects required for game progression, but will rather provide powerful loot.

    Empress of Light (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)

    The Empress of Light is one of the two Hallow bosses featured in the game. Although she can be fought as soon as Plantera is defeated, the high difficulty of the fight will generally necessitate post-Golem gear.

    • As it is an optional fight, defeating the boss does not warrant any changes in the world or progress it any further. In order to summon her, the player has to go to the Hallow biome at night, and proceed to kill a Prismatic Lacewing. It should be noted that she can be summoned in any biome, but it is trickier as the Prismatic Lacewing disappears faster in any biome other than the Hallow. While it is not required to fight the Empress of Light at night time, if she is fought during the day, all of her attacks will kill the player in one hit.
    • The fight is considered one of the hardest and flashiest, as it is a "bullet hell" inspired boss. The fight is very similar to that of Duke Fishron's, in the sense that they are both challenging optional bosses who warrant worthy loot to their names.

    Lunatic Cultist (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)

    The Lunatic Cultist is summoned by killing the Cultists that spawn at the Dungeon's entrance after Golem is defeated. Defeating it initiates the Lunar Events.

    Moon Lord (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)

    Moon Lord is considered the final boss of the Desktop version Desktop version, Console version Console version, and Mobile version Mobile version of Terraria. He spawns after a short delay after completing the Lunar Events, i.e. destroying all four Celestial Pillars. He can also be manually summoned by using a Celestial Sigil.

    Enemies

    Most of the new enemies are significantly more difficult to defeat, dealing more damage and having higher health and defense than pre-Hardmode enemies. Most pre-Hardmode weapons will prove ineffective, and until a player can obtain new Hardmode gear, they may be forced to avoid enemy swarms and/or play more strategically. Slow-hitting powerful weapons with high knockback are generally preferable over fast weapons with low base damage because many Hardmode enemies have high defense.

    In Expert Mode(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions), most pre-Hardmode enemies receive significant stat buffs when entering Hardmode (e.g. a Blue Slime's health will increase from 50 to 274). Some Hardmode enemies can kill a player in 5–6 hits. Similarly, in Master Mode enemies will also gain a drastic buff (e.g. Blue slimes will have 411 health).

    However, not all biomes are immediately buffed with more powerful enemies. The Underworld does not receive any stronger enemies until after a mechanical boss is defeated, and the Dungeon does not receive additional enemies until after Plantera is defeated. Therefore, these are viable areas to look for the Wizard (and the Goblin Tinkerer and Tavernkeep if the player have not got them yet) because of their lack of new enemies to have to deal with early on.

    NPCs

    Several new NPCs become available in Hardmode:

    • The Wizard can be found in nearly any open area underground, initially bound, and speaking to him frees him (similar to the Mechanic and the Goblin Tinkerer). He will then respawn as long as a vacant house is available. The Wizard sells magic-related items.
    • Santa Claus appears during Christmas, after the defeat of the Frost Legion, so long as a vacant house is available. He sells many Christmas-themed decorations and vanities.
    • The Steampunker appears after defeating one mechanical boss, and if a vacant House is available. She sells steampunk-themed items, including the Clentaminator.
    • The Truffle appears once the player makes a house in a surface Glowing Mushroom biome. He sells useful mushroom-themed items and, after defeating Plantera, the Autohammer.
    • The Cyborg appears once the player has defeated Plantera, so long as a vacant house is available. He sells rockets and other mechanical items.
    • The Pirate appears once the player has defeated a Pirate Invasion, and sells a vanity set as well as other pirate-themed items.
    • The Tax Collector(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) becomes available by throwing Purification Powder on a Tortured Soul in The Underworld. He gathers money over time and grants it to the player if they request it.
    • The Princess(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) appears after all other town NPCs have moved in. She mainly sells cosmetic items, such as decorative paintings and royal-themed vanity items.

    Events

    There are several new events in Hardmode, each containing unique and powerful enemies that will spawn in vast numbers and drop a variety of exclusive items.

    • The Frost Legion never invades on its own, but is triggered only by the Snow Globe, which can be acquired from Presents.
    • The Pirate Invasion is triggered by the Pirate Map, or can appear randomly at the start of the day if at least one altar has been smashed.
    • The Solar Eclipse behaves like the Blood Moon, only it happens during the day, and can only appear after any mechanical boss is defeated.
    • The Pumpkin Moon can only be started at night by using a Pumpkin Moon Medallion. Unlike most other events, it takes place in (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) 20 / (Old-gen console and 3DS versions) 15 different waves, with each wave requiring a progressively higher score to progress to the next. More and harder enemies will spawn at higher waves, and there can be several boss-level enemies attacking at once. The event ends at the end of the night.
    • The Frost Moon is similar to the Pumpkin Moon, though being a step up on the difficulty. It is started by using the Naughty Present at night and features 20 waves.
    • The Martian Madness(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) can be triggered after defeating Golem by activating a Martian Probe, found only on the outer edges of the world.
    • Higher tiers of the Old One's Army(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) event are available. Defeating any mechanical boss grants access to Tier 2, while defeating Golem grants access to Tier 3, which is the final tier and features the final boss of the event, Betsy.

    In Hardmode worlds, a Goblin Army can still invade, and Meteorite can still land, each at their regular rates. Blood Moons, Rain, and Slime Rain also occur just as frequently as they did pre-Hardmode, though occasionally feature Hardmode-exclusive content.

    Items

    Several new tools, weapons, accessories, armor, and crafting materials become available in Hardmode, as enemy drops, sold from NPCs, or via crafting. Drills, chainsaws, and repeaters are variations of pickaxes, axes, and bows, respectively, which can be obtained once in Hardmode.

    Equipment

    Each of the earlier Hardmode ores has its own complete item set, including armor, drill, chainsaw, sword, spear, and repeater.

    Many of the Hardmode armor sets have three different options for the helmet slot, each of which benefits players that use either magic weapons, melee weapons, or ranged weapons. The Chlorophyte-derived armors are exceptions: Shroomite armor benefits ranged weapons in all cases (and requires further specification on either arrows, bullets, or rockets), Turtle and Beetle armor benefit melee weapons, and Spectre armor benefits magic.

    Notes

    The "Setting hard mode" screen on the Mobile version Mobile version.
    • Demonite Ore and Crimtane Ore do not spread the Corruption and Crimson during Hardmode.
    • Hardmode enemies will begin spawning as soon as the Wall of Flesh is defeated. The stripes of Corruption/Crimson and Hallow, however, need to be generated by the game, and the message "The ancient spirits of light and dark have been released." will appear when the generation is finished.
      • The generation time depends on world size. If the player exits the world before the message appears, the loading description "Setting hard mode"[sic] will appear and the player has to wait for the game to generate the Hardmode biomes before returning to the main menu.
    • It is not possible to revert a Hardmode world into pre-Hardmode unless a third-party map editor is used. Beyond toggling the Hardmode state this approach would still involve tedious work if the player wishes to completely restore, either by gameplay or map viewer tools, the world as it was before Hardmode. For re-experiencing pre-Hardmode, it is advised to either backup the world before entering Hardmode or simply make a new world.
    • During Hardmode, Hellstone can be destroyed with Dynamite and Bombs.
    • If too much of the world is dug out, the game will get stuck 80% of the way through setting Hardmode, thus making that world impossible to complete as it never enters Hardmode.Verify

    Achievements

    Achievement It's Hard!.png
    It's Hard! • Unleash the ancient spirits of light and darkness across your world, enabling much stronger foes and showering the world with dazzling treasures (and rainbows!).
    Enter Hardmode. (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
    Category: Explorer Explorer

    Tips

    Difficulty

    • When beginning Hardmode, a player can easily become overwhelmed by the difficult new enemies, which have health and damage many times greater than pre-Hardmode enemies. It is advisable to start by identifying the player's most damaging weapons and investing money in reforging them to acquire high damage bonuses, as well as reforging their accessories to boost stats. Low-tier Hardmode weapons begin at around 40 damage, so pre-Hardmode weapons of use will be the Sunfury, Night's Edge, and Flamarang as melee options, the Molten Fury, Hellwing Bow, or guns like the Pheonix Blaster for ranged, the Flower of Fire and Flamelash for magic, and the Spinal Tap (or Firecracker if one is dropped by the Wall of Flesh) and Imp Staff for summoners. Reforging these and making use of other damage boosts from accessories or armor bonuses can easily push these weapons into damage ranges that will make Hardmode fights relatively balanced.
    • Because Hardmode relies more upon drops than treasure chests (which have mostly been looted by then), players will need to kill large numbers of the tougher enemies for essential crafting materials. Consider building dedicated farming areas.
    • Mechanical bosses and invasions can take the player off guard. It is advisable to leave and rejoin if the player is ill-prepared.
    • The start of hardmode offers several viable and even top-tier weapons, such as the Shadowflame Knife and Spider Staff.

    Resources

    • Do not throw away Iron Ore/Bars, Lead Ore/Bars, Bones, Lenses, Vertebrae, and Rotten Chunks, as these are used for crafting boss-summoning items in Hardmode. If the player needs to collect more, it may be easier to create a new pre-Hardmode world and collect them there, along with any other pre-Hardmode materials the player finds themselves needing.
    • (Old-gen console and 3DS versions) Wait to open crates until Hardmode to be able to immediately get some Hardmode ores and bars without even smashing any altars or mining. With a sufficient stockpile of crates, the player may not need to break any altars, allowing them to face the mechanical bosses on their schedule with proper Hardmode equipment. Selling spare accessories and weapons from the crates will also provide considerable money.
      • (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) Crates obtained prior to Hardmode can only drop pre-Hardmode ores and gear. The player have to obtain the new Hardmode-exclusive crates to get Hardmode ores, bars, and gears.

    Money

    Main article: Guide:Making money
    • The Eater of Worlds and Wall of Flesh are a reliable source of money (dropping about 9–11 and 8 GC, respectively) during the beginning stages of Hardmode. However, summoning them in Hardmode can be more difficult due to the new enemy spawns. It might be easier to fight them in pre-Hardmode worlds.
    • Once the player becomes reasonably able to traverse the Underground Hallow, it is possible to collect Crystal Shards, which are common and sell for 16 SC each, netting 15 PC99 GC84 SC for a full stack of 9999. Since they grow naturally on any Pearlstone surface facing air, the player can mine away stripes of pearlstone in areas they visit often to farm crystals more readily.
    • Farming The Destroyer once the player can beat it is another way to make a considerable amount of money since they can farm it without too much additional effort. Because it is relatively easy to kill quickly and can easily be defeated using melee weapons (avoiding spending any money on ammunition), the Hallowed Bars it drops can be crafted into Light Discs, together with the Souls of Might it also drops, and with Souls of Light which can be obtained in the Underground Hallow. Each Light Disc sells for 15 GC. As it drops 15–30 Hallowed Bars and 20–40 Souls of Might per kill, that is typically 3–7 Light Discs per run (if the player has enough Souls of Light, that is). The Souls of Might it drops may also be sold for additional money, 80 SC each, which is another 16–32 per run if they do not spend the souls on Light Discs, in addition to the 12 GC the boss drops. In total, they net 42–82 per fight, and due to the ease of crafting the Mechanical Worm and the relative quickness with which they can dispatch the boss, they can fight it multiple times in a single in-game night.
    • An AFK farm is another option that allows players to easily obtain coins and rare items from enemies without much effort. It is most useful in the Cavern layer with an artificial biome container to get a variety of enemies and loot.

    History

    References

    1. Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method smCallBack() in Terraria.WorldGen.cs.
    2. Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, methods smCallBack() in Terraria.WorldGen.cs and GERunner() in Terraria.WorldGen.cs.
    3. The starting point's X coordinate will be a random value within the range below, while the Y coordinate starts at 0. The game will first generate a random integer within [300,399], then multiply it by 0.001 to get factorA (i.e. [0.300-0.399]); then generate a random integer within [200,299], then multiply it by 0.001 to get factorB (i.e. [0.200-0.299]). If the Dungeon is at left half of the world, the starting point is maxTilesX×(1-factorA) and maxTilesX×factorB; if the Dungeon is at right half of the world, the starting point is maxTilesX×(1-factorB) and maxTilesX×factorA. maxTilesX is the width of the world (in tiles).
    4. After setting up the starting location of the stripes, the coordinates of the point will be stored in a vector v, the X, Y coordinates being v.X and v.Y, respectively. The game then generate a random integer within [240,249] (we call it rNum), multiply it by maxTilesX / 4200.0 to get a width value. maxTilesX is the width of the world (in tiles). Then, check tiles in a rectangle area (horizontal: from v.X-width÷2 to v.X + width ÷ 2; vertical: from v.Y - width ÷ 2 to v.Y + width ÷ 2), if a tile's coordinate ((X,Y)) meets the following condition: | X- v.X | + | Y - v.Y | < rNum × 0.5 × ( 1 + rFactor × 0.015 ) (rFactor is a random integer within [-10,10]), then the tile will be converted. The randomness of rFactor creates scattered converted tiles around the stripe; the "Original value" column is the stripe width when not considering these scattered tiles. Besides these checks, the slope of the stripes is stored in another vector v2, where v2.X being 3 or -3, depending on the direction of the stripe, and v2.Y always being 5. After each rectangle area check, the v2 will be added to v (i.e. v.X = v.X + v2.X, v.Y = v.Y + v2.Y). Then, the game generates a random integer within [-10,10], multiplies it by 0.05, and added it to v2.X. The value of v2.X is capped within [2,4] (or [-4,-2]).
    5. https://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/313208
    6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 This usually happens in Not the bees, but technically can happen in any world, given the condition is fulfilled. Since the Hallow stripe is always generated first, it is possible for it to convert enough Hive to make the evil stripe unable to convert these tiles.
    7. Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method smCallBack() in Terraria.WorldGen.cs. Note that this applies to both regular worlds and worlds with secret world seeds.