Guide:Walkthrough

Welcome to Terraria! Whether you are a new player, or perhaps a returning player who can’t remember if it’s Blinkroot or Moonglow that goes in that Night Owl Potion, hopefully this guide can be of some help to you. At least it might be more useful than the in-game NPC Guide.

When progressing through Terraria, many players can be confused about where they should go and what they should do next. This is not a design oversight: Terraria is an open-ended game; you are not forced to go anywhere or do anything. You are free to set your own goals and follow through with them, whether you are a builder, fighter, explorer, collector, or whatever else. This walkthrough merely aims to provide a logical order of progression through Terraria’s many different environments, called biomes, generally in order of increasing difficulty. It is recommended, but there is certainly no requirement to visit each biome, or even in this order if you don't want to.

If you are unsure of what map size to choose as a new player, choose small. Even in a small world, a player can face long travel times, and it would still take hundreds of hours to explore every cave in a small world at a normal pace.

New players may also want to refer to the Getting Started Guide.

On the creation of a new world, a helpful NPC (Non Player Character) will spawn, and he is called the Guide. If you are new to Terraria, then chat with him and he will give you advice on different elements of your world. But upon Hardmode, his tips often become useless and unnecessary because you will either already know or have used them.

= Starting Out=

A newcomer could easily be lulled into a false sense of security upon entering into the bright world surrounded by cute bunnies and harmless slimes. Don’t be deceived. You have 11 minutes and 15 seconds before night falls and you are ripped into pieces by packs of zombies, if you are not prepared. Your goal in the daylight remaining to you should be to kit yourself out with some better starting equipment from your surroundings and find a source of shelter, preferably underground, to pass the night.

The first thing you should do is cut down several trees (using your, aim for the lowest block), as wood is needed for many things, then build a. From there, craft a Wooden Sword, and perhaps a, as your starting weapons are next to useless.

Next, you should explore your surroundings. There are usually some s and s on or near the surface near your starting point, which will often contain useful weapons and other items. If you are lucky (a 9% chance per chest), you’ll find a Spear, which is one of the best starting weapons, especially against zombies, the biggest threat at this point. If you can find enough Cobwebs near the surface (you'll need 20), you can also make a Wooden Yoyo, which is finicky, but a solid starting weapon. There will also almost always be at least one cave entrance close by leading Underground. Use s and Platforms to reach high ledges, bridge chasms, and safely descend. Always carry blocks around with you so you can descend safely!

Once you have explored your surroundings and cracked open all the chests and pots in sight, you should head to the safety of the Underground before night falls to continue your search for useful items and resources.

For a more experienced player, you may wish to consider another option: /  /  equipment is as effective as Iron gear, and far quicker to obtain, albeit at serious personal risk. Note that the Jungle always generates in a world opposite from the Snow and Dungeon, the Snow often generates close to spawn, and frequently the Corruption/Crimson generate just after or in the Snow biome, especially in small worlds. It is preferable to travel through the Snow as it is faster and safer than the Jungle, and knowing this, one can often quickly reach the Corruption/Crimson. Once there, it is advised to use any buff potions you may have picked up on the way and craft any Wooden Arrows into Flaming Arrows. Nip in, cut one tree, duck out, make an Ebon/Shadewood Sword/Bow, then use the new weapon(s) you’ve made to defend yourself while you chop down a few more trees to make the armor. It only takes a minute or two before you have sufficient equipment to survive every surface biome, as well as the caverns.

It should be emphasized that it is very easy to die while doing this, as it is a gamble and there may not be corruption/crimson at all on one side of the world, and sometimes when the corruption/crimson generates in the snow, there will only be boreal trees around. On the other hand, this strategy frequently does pay off and allows you to quickly obtain superior starting equipment. Even if you don’t find shadewood/ebonwood trees, you can usually at least encounter numerous chests, a desert, or even a pyramid, and collecting cactus is even faster and easier. (Tip: Use a pickaxe to mine the sand under the cactus to conserve time.)

As of the 1.3 update, a great way to get a great starting weapon is to travel to the outer thirds of your map and look for 1 block wide holes in the forest biome. There is a chance you will find the entrance to an Enchanted Sword Shrine, and if you dig down, at the bottom you may find an enchanted sword. You will need climbing gear, blocks or a grappling hook to climb back up. You will also need basic gear to travel to the end of your map, but just be careful and you shouldn't die.

It is recommended to stay underground during night time until you are strong enough to easily deal with zombie packs, as there is little to be gained and much to lose for a new character outside after dark. If you do find yourself outside at night, any weapon that can hit multiple times, such as the Spear, Wooden Yoyo, Throwing Knives, and Shurikens are very useful. Any bow and Flaming or Frostburn Arrows also tend to deal more damage than most other starting weapons. If you're not used to playing sandbox building/mining games, it is easy to forget your greatest ability: the power to move blocks.

If you are busy fighting enemies at night, it may be wise to look for Fallen Stars while you're outside. 3 / 5 of them can be used to craft a, which will benefit you later when you obtain magic weapons.

=Going Under=

The short depth of this layer (particularly on small worlds), combined with its limited rewards, means you will probably not be spending too much time here before moving on to the more lucrative Caverns. Copper/Tin is highly abundant, but with the advent of comparable cactus- and wood-based gear which is far quicker to acquire, a once borderline useless ore is now almost completely useless (save for the gem staves).

For a more in-depth guide on mining, see Mining Techniques.

The Caverns are a massive biome with many useful items and treasures, and as such, players may find themselves spending a lot of time here. Although its monsters can prove quite dangerous for a new adventurer, the greatest threat in this layer may actually be the danger of falling into its vertiginous chasms, frequently with the aid of the ever-helpful bats. In Terraria, it seems the difference between stubbing your toe and breaking both your legs can only be the height of a handful of blocks. Should you find yourself falling to your doom, don’t forget there are a number of items that can break your fall: Cloud in a Bottle’s double jump, grappling any surface, including the ground you’re about to hit, or even an Umbrella. Pools of water (1+ block deep) and cobwebs will also save you if you’re lucky enough to fall into them.

This ever-present danger is closely followed by the devious and near-invisible traps sprinkled generously throughout the inky blackness. A bold, fearless new adventurer skipping heedlessly through the caves for the first time will quickly meet with a boulder landing on their head, or even more hilariously, a landmine powerful enough to bring down a skyscraper. Hopefully, the adventurer will be able to share the developers’ sense of humor when this occurs, particularly if their character was hardcore. Needless to say, tread with extreme caution, and take advantage of the helpful Dangersense Potion if you wish to avoid retrieving your own head. Using generous amounts of light sources is one of the best ways to mitigate both of these dangers. The Flare Gun, Mining Helmet, and Shine Potions can prove useful additions to the usual sources.

Although there are many helpful items to be collected in this layer, probably at the top of the list will be a Grappling Hook and a Magic Mirror. Both of them will make getting around much easier and faster. Fortunately, with the gem hooks, it is trivial to obtain one, and Magic Mirrors are also very common. Besides these two, a player may want to craft a Gem Staff, as even after being nerfed, they still tend to outclass most other weapons at this stage of the game, limited mostly by the number of stars you’ve managed to collect so far.

Note that should you descend too far, you will actually find yourself in the Underworld. This will be marked by a change in music and background to lava walls, and Underworld enemies will start spawning which you probably won’t want to face at this juncture.

A quick note on weapons and armor: at this stage, you have a lot of choices of ore-based weapons and armor that you can craft. It is entirely feasible to be constantly upgrading your weapons if you desire, as they don’t cost much. The Iron Broadsword, for example, only costs 8 iron bars – 24 iron ore – which is about one to three ore veins. Armor is a different question. Because of set bonuses, it is wise to try and complete an armor set rather than mixing and matching different pieces. Because of the way defense works, there isn’t a huge benefit from upgrading from one armor set to the next. The Copper armor set, for example, reduces damage taken by 3, Iron armor reduces damage by 5, so the difference in damage reduction is only 2, which is barely noticeable. Yet to complete the Iron armor set requires 225 ore, which represents a significant amount of mining time.

It is therefore recommended to start out with one of the surface Ebonwood/Shadewood or Cactus armors, which can be obtained in under a minute and are as effective as Copper, and then targeting one of Lead/Silver/Tungsten/Gold/Platinum armors. Lead/Silver/Tungsten is recommended because they are good enough to take on all three of the normal bosses, significantly faster to complete than Gold/Platinum, and allows you to save your Gold/Platinum for weapons/tools.

=Building a Base=

Once you’ve filled your pockets with blocks, you may want to consider starting to build a base, as now you have some building materials and money to buy things. A base can take anywhere from a single in-game day to more than an in-game week to complete, depending on the player's tastes. It is not necessary, however, to build the entire base right away. Waiting to build the majority of the base can be advantageous, as it will allow the player to use the large stores of blocks they will end up gathering as a by-product of mining. Regardless of when or what the player builds, it is recommended to build houses for the Guide, Merchant and Nurse, a campfire, and an area for storage and crafting before progressing. It is also wise to create a layout that can be easily added onto later as more NPCs are available and more storage is needed.

For a more in-depth guide on building bases, see Bases.

You should have at least the following in your base before moving on:


 * Of course, houses for the Guide, Merchant and Nurse, as well as a valid empty house or two for other NPCs.
 * Several organized chests for item storage. You don't want to have a cluttered inventory every time you leave your base.
 * A campfire and sunflowers, both of which provide helpful buffs to those nearby. (Sunflowers also block the spread of Corruption and Crimson until hardmode, if you happen to have such biomes near your base.)
 * A crafting room, preferably with a chest or two in it to store crafting materials. Eventually, you're going to want a unified place for all your crafting needs. By now, you'll have a Work Bench, a Bottle on that Work Bench, a Chair next to it, a Furnace, and an Iron/Lead Anvil, and probably a Sawmill and a Loom. A Chair and a Table adjacent to each other will serve as a crafting station for Watches. You should also leave some space for later-game crafting stations and more chests, but with just this setup, you'll be able to craft anything up to this point, from swords to robes to potions and building blocks.

= Beyond the Forest =

Once the player obtains strong enough weapons many mid-tier biomes open up. These biomes contain crafting materials as well as other treasures.

As you continue your exploration of the surface, you should also expect to encounter this event:

=The Bosses: Taking On The Big Three= Once you’ve survived the first couple nights and started work on a base, you should begin preparations for the upcoming boss battles, as even if you do not wish to go looking for them, they will come looking for you.

Eater of Worlds / Brain of Cthulhu
After the Eye of Cthulhu is defeated, you should do the following:


 * Be sure the Dryad has a home. She sells Purification Powder, a less explosive option for getting to those Shadow Orbs and Crimson Hearts, and planters, a more convenient way to grow your alchemy herbs.
 * Make sure to have at least 10 (preferably 12) valid NPC houses and be sure you can access them without having to go all the way across the map (this will be important in hardmode).
 * If you have Crimson in your world and don't have anything better than a Platinum Broadsword, Platinum Bow or Rally yet, craft a Blood Butcherer from the Eye's drops.
 * Start on your herb farm. Potions will be immeasurably helpful throughout the rest of the game.
 * Build a chest room. It's not a bad idea to have plenty of storage space to put away items you'll find later on.

Then head to the Underground Crimson or Corruption to smash your first Crimson Heart or Shadow Orb (don’t forget the hammer). Smashing your first heart or orb allows two events to occur in short order:

Every third Orb or Heart you smash in the world will spawn either Eater of Worlds or Brain of Cthulhu respectively:

Skeletron
=The Late Pre-Hardmode Biomes= The three late pre-hardmode biomes — the Underground Jungle, Dungeon, and Underworld — are all of the roughly similar difficulty and can be done in any order or concurrently.

The Underground Jungle
Be on the lookout for the following loot and materials in the underground jungle:


 * Staff of Regrowth: This drastically improves the yield of your alchemy garden and makes it far easier to harvest (only on PC though).
 * Feral Claws: These will increase your melee speed, and therefore, your mining speed, and can prove very helpful later on in hardmode.
 * Anklet of the Wind: This greatly increases your movement speed without having to be charged up, unlike Hermes/Flurry/Sailfish Boots, and can also be tinkered with Spectre Boots and an Aglet to make Lightning Boots, which are highly recommended to have before hardmode.
 * Bezoar: Immunity to poison is nothing to sneeze at whilst you're in the underground jungle, and this accessory is very helpful when coming up against Queen Bee. This accessory is also needed to make the Ankh Charm later on in hardmode.
 * Honey: This will give you a healing buff upon touching it and is therefore very useful in boss arenas. Consider bringing Buckets along to pick it up.
 * Stingers and Jungle Spores: These can be used to craft better gear that's useful against some of the upcoming challenges.
 * Vines: These can be used to craft an Ivy Whip, which allows you to grapple to three different spots, unlike any other hook in easymode (except the Slime Hook), and is still very useful well into hardmode.
 * Flower Boots: These are useful for creating farms for harvesting hay, critters, and strange plants (note the last do not grow within 240 blocks(480 feet) of one another.

Unsurprisingly, many of the Queen Bee's drops may be better than what you already have. Even if they aren't, farming Queen Bee is a good source of income before hardmode (and you will need the money sooner or later anyway). Plus, the Bee mount is the earliest mounts that can fly, although it's slow on land and hates water.

The Dungeon
Make sure to get the following loot before leaving the Dungeon:
 * Cobalt Shield: Protection against knockback will be invaluable in the Underground Jungle and Underworld, and later on in hardmode. The Cobalt Shield can also be tinkered with an Obsidian Skull to make an Obsidian Shield, which will prove very valuable in the Underworld as well.
 * Muramasa: This is one of the swords used to make the Night's Edge, which is useful to have before hard mode. WaterBolt.png
 * Water Bolt: This weapon's piercing and bouncing projectiles will utterly wreck any enemy in the Dungeon, Jungle, and Underworld. However, it won't be as useful in hardmode because enemies will then have a much higher defense.
 * Valor: Like all yoyos, this can help greatly in tight situations.
 * Handgun: This weapon is a strong, reliable ranged weapon, provided you can click fast enough. Not very useful in the dungeon, due to its lack of piercing and stun-locking. Can be upgraded into the much more powerful Phoenix Blaster.
 * Shadow Key: This item can unlock any Shadow Chest in the Underworld. These chests contain many weapons which are unrivaled in power in easy mode and often still remain decent in early hardmode.
 * Nazar: Although not very useful outside the Dungeon, this accessory is needed to craft the Ankh Charm. It is highly recommended to farm for this accessory before unlocking the hardmode dungeon, as the Cursed Skulls which drop it will become much rarer then.

The Underworld
Hell is theoretically the hardest major biome in normal mode, and generally, the last biome players explore pre-hardmode. In reality, by employing the appropriate strategies, the Underworld is not so difficult and it is even completely possible for a new character to venture here.

The greatest danger working in Hell is, unsurprisingly, the wide expanses of molten lava. Fortunately, the game provides an array of tools to make working around lava safe and painless. The most important of these is probably the Water Walking Potion, which might well be called the Lava Walking potion as that is how it is often used. Note that this potion has an alarming tendency to still dunk you in lava pools from time to time, where you can seem to "slip" when walking onto the lava surface from blocks, which is why additional precautions should also be taken. The Lava Waders are the ultimate accessory in hell, although it can be difficult to find all the components. Otherwise, the Lava Charm is an invaluable aid. If you have neither of these accessories, Obsidian Skin Potions are a fantastic alternative. When used, the potion gives you a four-minute invulnerability to lava, and yet making the lava even less dangerous than water. There is no breath meter in lava, so as long as you have potions, you can stay in lava indefinitely.

Another reason Hell is less dangerous than you might expect is that the primary economic activity in Hell is Hellstone mining, which has a surprisingly good safety record. Hellstone mining is quite time-consuming and is the main reason to spend time in Hell. The first thing you'll need is an Obsidian Skull or another obsidian accessory to prevent Hellstone ore and bricks from burning you. There are many strategies to mine Hellstone, but perhaps the simplest and most straightforward is what might be called the low-hanging fruit method. Abundant deposits of Hellstone spawn next to the buried Ruined Houses, which act as preexisting mine shafts. Instead of going to significant effort to burrow deep into the earth and construct lava channels, just nab the ones that spawn close to the walls and move on quickly to the next house. Monster spawn rates are low in the Ruined Houses, and the architecture and poor pathing AI prevent most of them from bothering you, except the Fire Imps and Bone Serpents which can penetrate blocks. You can block the Fire Imp shots with any weapon or projectile, including your swinging pickaxe, so even these are little more than annoying. As always, the Vilethorn is an MVP if you have one.

You can mine and pick up Hellstone up to 3 blocks away from your character, and Hellstone deposits are frequently around 3 blocks thick outside the houses. Remove the wall then mine the last two rows of Hellstone, leaving the row nearest you as a buffer for the lava. Then replace the wall and mine the last row and you need not worry about where the lava is going. In this way, even a small world should yield enough easily accessible Hellstone around the Ruined Houses to craft all the Hellstone items. For more Hellstone mining strategies, see Guide:Mining Techniques.

Once you have all the hellstone gear you want, you may want to farm Demons for the Demon Scythe, which decimates the Wall of Flesh and is invaluable for quite a while into hardmode, or search Shadow Chests for the Hellwing Bow, which does the same if you have plenty of Wooden Arrows (other arrows are not as effective).

One last note: if you kill a Voodoo Demon, you better be ready to get under that Voodoo Doll before it drops into the lava, or you will be in for a nasty fight you're not prepared for. Should you accidentally awaken the Wall of Flesh, you might want to save and exit, as using a Magic Mirror will gib you.

=Activating Hardmode= Defeating the Wall of Flesh will activate hardmode. Once the world has entered hardmode, there is no way of going back to easymode. Hardmode is pretty self-descriptive: routine tasks in easymode can become difficult and time-consuming once there, and it is, therefore, wise to complete any tasks and preparations you can before entering hard mode.

Preparing For Hardmode
The following is a list of preparations you may wish to consider before summoning the Wall of Flesh:


 * Obtain maximum health and mana if you have not already done so.


 * Craft Hellstone equipment. Hellstone equipment is the best equipment available in Pre-Hardmode, although you may have reason to prefer Shadow armor, Crimson armor, Meteor armor, Necro armor, Jungle armor, or Bee armor to Molten armor. Night's Edge is the highest-tier sword (Bee Keeper is also a good option).


 * Ensure you've obtained key normal mode accessories and items such as: Frostspark Boots, Lava Waders, Diving Gear, Frog Leg, Flying Carpet, Lucky Horseshoe, Obsidian Shield, Magic Cuffs, Feral Claws, Ivy Whip, Magic Mirror, Mining armor and Metal Detector. Many of these accessories can be combined from others at the Tinkerer's Workshop and the base accessories and items will be much harder to get during hardmode.


 * Ensure you have a sufficient stock of potion ingredients. You may consider creating "farms" for certain ingredients. For more information on farming, see Guide:Gardening.


 * Identify Demon Altar or Crimson Altar locations. Most Demon and Crimson Altars are found in the Corruption and Crimson, respectively, so explore each Corruption or Crimson biome in the world. You may need to dig tunnels to visible Altars. They need to be easily accessible when hardmode begins (further information in the Hardmode section).


 * Consider creating quarantines. You may wish to contain the spread of the Corruption/Crimson, and Hallow biomes in Hardmode which will otherwise quickly overtake your world. There are a few reasons you might want to do this: these biomes are very hard when first entering hardmode, your base can be converted and NPCs will not live near Corruption or Crimson, there are some unique drops only available from "natural" biomes, and many fish, especially quest fish, can only be caught in "natural" biomes (at the least, you may wish to take steps to quarantine fishing lakes). You may particularly wish to protect the Jungle and Ocean biomes in their natural state. Note that building quarantines can be painstaking and very time-consuming, particularly on larger maps, and may be more trouble than it's worth. To make a long story short, hallow/corruption/crimson blocks can convert certain blocks up to 3 blocks away; therefore, containing them requires digging trenches three blocks wide (e.g., a three-block-wide hellevator or a horizontal tunnel as tall as your character). Killing the Wall of Flesh will spawn two stripes of Hallow and Corruption/Crimson in a V from the top to the bottom of the world, so to do a full containment you would need to dig trenches around all the existing Corruption/Crimson, then once in hardmode around all the "V" from the surface to hell, and then you need to contain all the random Hallow/Corruption/Crimson that springs up when you break Altars. We are talking about a lot of digging, even if it is made much faster with the new automining feature, Mining armor and Mining Potions (back in the old days, we used to dig quarantines with our bare hands!).  For more information on building quarantines, read Guide: Containing the Hallow/Corruption.


 * Reforge weapons and accessories. You'll generally want extra defense, damage, or critical strike chance. Don't go overboard with this as all your equipment will quickly be replaced with WoF drops and hardmode gear anyway, plus you've yet to obtain the super-duper Discount Card. For more information about item prefixes, see Reforge.


 * Consider farming money. Some vendors sell new, very expensive items in hardmode and reforging Hardmode weapons is extremely expensive. For more information on farming money, see Guide:Making money.


 * Construct an arena for upcoming boss fights. This arena should be about two screen lengths wide and one screen height tall, with about six or seven blocks of space between horizontal rows of platforms. Consider adding Campfires, Heart Lanterns and a small pool of honey.


 * Finish excavating your hellavator or start on it if you don't have one, to make it easier to get to underground areas in hardmode without slogging through a bunch of ganged up monsters.


 * Excavate a fishing lake near your base if you don't have one already. You don't want to risk your life in hardmode going to a spot halfway across the map to fish. You may also want to have a decently sized lake of honey to farm Honeyfin, which are easier to get than Greater Healing Potions and restore 120 health.


 * Construct a surface Mushroom biome with a house for the Truffle NPC, as gathering the necessary materials will become much harder during hardmode. The Truffle is an NPC who sells the Mushroom Spear, a very powerful weapon in hardmode. However, it can now only be purchased when you have defeated at least one hardmode boss. Note that a room of sufficient size in your base with mushroom blocks should qualify.


 * Optionally, Make sure you have 21 valid NPC houses, so you don't have to worry about building them later on (possibly during a hardmode event or invasion).

Wall of Flesh
As usual for boss fights, attacking from distance is recommended. Because the pack of the Hungry can block shots at the eyes at the beginning of the fight, you may wish to begin by using AoE weapons such as grenades, hellfire arrows, or demon scythes to clear out the Hungry before switching to your main weapon.

You may wish to build an arena for this fight, consisting of a long, uninterrupted landbridge of 500 blocks or more. Although it is not necessary to beat WoF, there is no doubt it will make the fight significantly easier. You won't have to dodge terrain, the bridge will catch hearts and other drops, and it will typically block the lasers from the lower eye from hitting you, effectively halving the damage you take. If you intend to run WoF for all its drops, a landbridge is highly recommended. It will take 15 kills on average to get all 6 of WoF's drops. Subsequent runs become easier as you can use the WoF drops to make the fight go much faster. (Pro tip: if you make your landbridge out of mud and plant some mushroom seeds on it, you'll soon have a nice little glowing mushroom farm for zero additional effort. Using ash will yield fireblossom, and dirt will yield blinkroot- but be mindful that Hardmode will convert dirt to Corrupt, Crimson, or Hallowed Grass.)

A very good strategy is to use about 80 - 100 Beenades. This will likely require the crafting of a queen bee spawn, but beenades can kill the wall in under 25 seconds, depending on how many you have. This strategy works best on a platform.

If you don't wish to build a landbridge, it is recommended to start the fight at the edge of the Underworld where it is flat and use a Water Walking Potion so you can walk on the lava, without any disturbance in the landscape.

Once Wall of Flesh is defeated you will receive a message which says "The ancient spirits of light and dark have been released". You have now entered Hardmode.

=Hardmode=

Hardmode in a nutshell: same scenery, new stuff. For complete details, read Hardmode. Summary of changes:
 * New biomes (Hallow & Underground Hallow, Underground Corruption or Crimson) that generate in a V shape (see picture) and quickly spread and convert your world
 * New hardmode enemies in existing biomes (alongside normal enemies), and bosses
 * New events
 * New items (including weapons, armor, and accessories)
 * New hardmode ores
 * New NPCs

See How Hallow/Corruption/Crimson Spread and How To Contain It (scroll down to “Consider Creating Quarantines”)

Smashing Altars
Setting foot in a hardmode world is much like being a newbie in the Forest all over again. You’re inadequately equipped and almost everything is much stronger than you. To remedy that, once again, you will venture underground in search of ore to get some decent gear. But first, you’ll need to make a detour because none of that shiny new ore actually exists yet. You’ll have to whack a few Demon Altars or Crimson Altars with the Pwnhammer to make it. Every time you destroy an Altar, ore will be generated in various places underground, spawning more densely at lower depths. The first altar destroyed will spawn Cobalt / Palladium. The second altar destroyed will spawn Mythril / Orichalcum. The third altar destroyed will spawn Adamantite / Titanium. The pattern will repeat with additional altars destroyed, spawning more Cobalt, then more Mythril, then more Adamantite. Twelve altars is a good number to aim for (you should try to ensure you smash a multiple of three).

Also note, however, that each altar destroyed may spawn a new block of Ebonstone/Crimstone, or Pearlstone somewhere in the world, causing the respective biomes to spread from another location.

The easiest place to find altars is in the underground Corruption or Crimson biomes, at the bottom of ebonstone chasms or inside large crimstone caves, respectively. You may notice that many often generate in a row; you may be able to even fill your quota in one go. Note that this is quite a dangerous activity. In addition to the challenging underground Corruption/Crimson enemies you encounter, every time you smash an altar you will also generate one to three Wraiths. You may want to carefully dispatch them one at a time (note: they can float but can’t actually fly, so hang from the ceiling), or perhaps go full Captain Kirk and smash them all at once and Magic Mirror out before your innards get rearranged.

On your way to smash altars, you may find yourself passing through some of these biomes:

Mining Hardmode Ores
Once enough ore has been spawned, the player should begin mining Cobalt/Palladium with a Molten Pickaxe. Mythril/Orichalcum and Adamantite/Titanium can not be mined with normal mode pickaxes. Proceed with extreme caution. The most difficult biomes in Hardmode are found underground. The player should bring a stock of Ironskin, Regeneration, and Spelunker potions to use as they mine. If the player created a hellevator in normal mode, they should use it to access the lower layers quickly. Hardmode ores are more abundant deeper underground.

It can be very difficult to survive long enough in Hardmode biomes to mine enough ore. If the player finds they are having difficulty mining, they should consider looking for ores in the ceiling of the Underworld. This biome has the same mobs as it did pre-Hardmode, making it considerably safer than almost anywhere else in the world.

Aim to upgrade to a or  (or their pickaxe equivalents) as quickly as possible. The Cobalt Drill or Pickaxe and its counterpart can mine Mythril/Orichalcum. The first 100 Mythril/Orichalcum ore mined should be used to craft a and then a Mythril Drill (or their Orichalcum counterparts). The Mythril Drill and Pickaxe (and their Orichalcum counterparts) can mine Adamantite/Titanium (as can the Palladium Drill in the console version, letting you get a head start if you obtain Palladium instead of Cobalt; however, the drill's power was reduced in 1.2.3, so this exploit no longer works on PC). The first 30 Adamantite/Titanium ore mined should be used to create an or. Upgrading to an Adamantite Drill or Titanium Drill isn't crucial, as it does not grant access to any new ores.

Be mindful when opening chests. A seemingly innocuous treasure chest may be a Mimic posing as a chest. Mimics will chase the player when they approach or when attacked. A good approach is to shoot any chests with a ranged weapon before opening them. This will cause any Mimics to break their ruse and attack. With this danger comes great reward, as Mimics can drop items that are incredibly useful in hardmode, such as the Cross Necklace, and also always drop several gold coins.

Use any leftover ore to upgrade armor, then weapons, and lastly tools. Keep mining until enough Adamantite or Titanium is collected to craft a full set of armor and any weapons or tools the player may want.

The Great Run-up
Whilst you're trying to find enough ore to make better gear, it's highly recommended that you make the following other preparations in the run-up to the mech bosses:


 * Make sure you have a home for the Wizard. Like the Goblin Tinkerer and Stylist, he can be found tied up underground. This NPC is pretty much mandatory for magic users, as he is the only source of Spell Tomes, which are needed to craft the Golden Shower, Cursed Flames and Crystal Storm, all of which are devastating to many of the hardmode monsters you've run up against by now. The Wizard also sells Greater Mana Potions (a must in any boss fight by now) and crafting ingredients used to craft some very powerful spells made with mech boss drops.
 * Be sure your arena is ready for the upcoming fights. If you haven't done so already, place some Campfires of any kind, Heart Lanterns, and Honey, and wire up the Heart and Star Statues that you may have collecting dust by now. Of course, if you didn't figure it out already, the mech bosses are going to be tough and grueling, even with the weapons you may have found, especially in Expert mode, so you'll need all the preparation you can make for them.
 * Make sure you have a full set of buff potions and at least half a stack of Greater Healing Potions or Honeyfin, especially in Expert mode. The mech bosses' damaging attacks will eat away at your health very quickly, so the better the heals, the less you'll be desperate not to get ripped apart. (Honeyfin can be easily fished up from a good-sized lake of honey and don't require you to risk your life in the Underground Hallow looking for crystals.)

Collecting Souls
Collecting souls (and other miscellaneous items) is the last task the player should complete before fighting the mechanical bosses. There are three types of souls dropped by normal monsters: Soul of Light, Soul of Night, and Soul of Flight. Souls of Light can be obtained from any monster found in the Underground Hallow, Souls of Night can be obtained from any monster found in the Underground Corruption or Crimson, and lastly, Souls of Flight can be obtained from Wyverns. The order in which the player obtains these souls does not matter. However, it can be advantageous to gather Souls of Flight first, as Wings are very useful when navigating the Underground Hallow or Underground Corruption.

Soul of Flight
Wyverns can be found at very high altitudes, at around the same level as Floating Islands. Look for Wyverns on Floating Islands, as it is much easier to fight them this way.

Soul of Light
Souls of Light can be found by killing enemies in the Underground Hallow. Underworld Enemies spawned below the Underground Hallow will also drop Souls of Light. Keep a stock of Regeneration potions and Ironskin potions when exploring this biome. The easiest way to deal with hallowed enemies is to grapple to the ceiling and shoot at them with a ranged weapon. The opposite is true when dealing with Illuminant Bats. Drop to the ground and swing a melee weapon to deal with them. Try to gather crystal shards while looking for souls. Try to gather at least 50 souls, although more is better. If the Hallow in your world went through a Spider Nest, you can also farm the spiders, taking advantage of their fast spawn rate, for Souls of Light.

Soul of Night
Souls of Night can be found by killing enemies in the Underground Corruption and Crimson. Underworld Enemies will also drop Souls of Night if they spawn below the Underground Corruption or Crimson. Many of the same rules apply within these biomes. Use Ironskin and Regeneration potions when exploring. Try not to stay in one place for too long in this biome. Clingers, Corruptors, and Ichor Stickers can all shoot projectiles; World Feeders and Floaty Grosses can easily attack a stationary player; and the rare Hallowed, Crimson, and Corrupt Mimics can pose a serious danger for the unprepared. Make use of Lightning/Frostspark Boots or Wings to dodge projectiles and keep moving around. Try to gather at least 50 souls, although more is better. Look for Cursed Flames or Ichor while gathering souls. Also, the spider nest farming method works well for Souls of Night too.

Miscellaneous Items
There are a few other important items not mentioned above.


 * Pixies from the surface Hallow will drop Pixie Dust, which is needed to make Greater Healing Potions, or combined with Unicorn Horns to make Holy Arrows.
 * Mummies from the Corrupt or Crimson Desert will drop Dark Shards; Mummies from the Hallowed Desert will drop Light Shards. Collect these to craft the Dao of Pow.
 * Biome Keys have an extremely rare chance to drop from enemies in the five main biomes (Hallow, Corruption, Crimson, Jungle, and Snow). After Plantera is defeated (later on), these can be used to open the Biome Chests in the Dungeon, which contain extremely powerful items.
 * Mimics can appear in just about any biome. Look for Mimics using Hunter Potions or a Lifeform Analyzer and kill them until you get a Philosopher's Stone and a Cross Necklace.
 * Fifteen Souls of Light or Night can be used to make Light or Night Keys, respectively. A Key of Light or Night placed into an empty chest will create Hallowed or Corrupt/Crimson Mimics, which are larger than normal mimics and more dangerous. The Hallowed Mimic has a good chance of dropping the Daedalus Stormbow, which can be used with Holy Arrows to quickly decimate any of the three Mechanical Bosses.
 * Hallowed, Corrupt and Crimson Mimics can also naturally appear in their respective underground biomes, so be prepared for a fight when you go underground.

=The Three Mechanical Bosses=

Once you have a stockpile of the various hardmode resources, it's time to begin preparing to defeat the first three hardmode bosses. Each must be summoned with an item that can be crafted or dropped by enemies. It's also possible for one to spawn on its own at sunset, though the player will probably not be able to defeat it unless they are well prepared.

Recommended Equipment for Mechanical Bosses
Following is a list of equipment recommendations for use against the mechanical bosses. This is not an exhaustive list; other items may prove to be effective. This list assumes no Hardmode bosses have been defeated yet:

Melee Characters
Recommended Weapons:, , , or ,, ,

Recommended Armor: with Titanium Mask,  with Adamantite Helmet,.

Recommended Accessories:, , , , , ; all with Defense (highly recommended) or Damage enhancing prefixes

Recommended Buffs:, , , , , and any  the boss is not immune to.

Ranged Characters
Recommended Weapons: or, ,  or

Recommended Armor: with Titanium Helmet,  with Adamantite Mask,.

Recommended Accessories:, , , , , ; all with Defense (highly recommended) or Damage enhancing prefixes

Recommended Buffs:, , , , , (with Adamantite or Titanium Repeater)

Magic Characters
Recommended Weapons:, , or /. (Golden Shower works extremely well against the Destroyer when you aim along the arc of the Destroyer. Also, the Crystal Storm, being the mana Megashark of the game, works very well against all hardmode bosses.)

Recommended Armor: with Titanium Headgear,  with Adamantite Headgear,.

Recommended Accessories:, , , , , , ; all with Defense (highly recommended) or Damage enhancing prefixes

Recommended Buffs:, , , , , , ,

Summoning Characters
Recommended Weapons:, ,

Recommended Armor:,.

Recommended Accessories:, , , , , , ; all with Defense (highly recommended) or Damage enhancing prefixes

Recommended Buffs:, , , , , ,

Building a Hardmode Arena
Proper terrain preparation is almost completely essential to successfully defeat all three mechanical bosses. Players who intend to solo the hardmode bosses will find the task very challenging without an adequate arena.

For solo players, build a very long bridge out of wood platforms. The bridge should be at least 1000 platforms long, but 2500 is recommended. Build the bridge a large distance from the ground; the ground should not be visible from any part of the bridge. Place blocks at each end of the bridge to prevent running off of the sides.

For team players, the arena can be much shorter. A team arena can be between 250-500 platforms long, but should also have 2-3 separate rows. Space the rows so they are not too close together, but are reachable with rocket boots.

Consider setting up Heart Statues and Star Statues on 1 Second Timers, as well as Sunflowers, Heart Lanterns, Campfires, and pools of Honey as these can make the battles much easier.

If you don't quite feel up to the task of making a second very long bridge, you could simply use the first one you built for the Wall of Flesh. this will also make the first fight easier due to all of the ambient light. However, after defeating your first mechanical boss, this becomes much harder due to the additional spawns of Lava Bats and Red Devils.

Fighting the Mechanical Bosses
The Destroyer is arguably the easiest of the three bosses and should be fought first. The Destroyer has a chance of spawning naturally at sunset with the message "You feel vibrations deep below..." It can also be summoned by using a Mechanical Worm at night. Fight the Destroyer first if you prefer melee, as its souls can be used to craft Light Discs.

As of 1.2, hallowed equipment (except for the Drax/Pickaxe Axe, which is necessary for progression) doesn't require boss souls; it only requires Hallowed Bars, which you can farm up from the Destroyer.

It is recommended to fight Skeletron Prime next, as ranged characters can make a Flamethrower if he is defeated.

The last of the three mechanical bosses is the Twins. This boss is the hardest of the three for most players and should be defeated last. The Twins have a chance of spawning at sunset with the message "This is going to be a terrible night..." They can also be summoned by using a Mechanical Eye at night. The Twins are recommended for magic and summoning players, as the Rainbow Rod, Magical Harp, and Optic Staff will be very useful weapons later on.

=Return to the Underground Jungle=

Once any mechanical boss has been defeated, new challenges unlock, and the player gains access to new materials to work with, starting with the souls and bars dropped by the boss. Hallowed Bars can be used to craft Hallowed armor and several melee weapons, but most importantly the Drax or Pickaxe Axe which will be used to harvest the next tier of ore. The new souls (Might, Fright, and Sight) are used to craft 2-3 new weapons and tools each.

Once all three mechanical bosses have been defeated, changes are made to the Underworld and the Underground Jungle, and a new event has a chance of occurring. The Pirate Invasion is dependent on an altar being smashed, and actually defeating a boss is unnecessary.

When a Pirate Invasion spawns or is summoned using a Pirate Map, a message will appear saying "Pirates are approaching from the (East/West)!" When the Pirates' initial wave reaches the spawn, their arrival is announced with "The Pirates have arrived!" See Pirate Invasion for more info and tips.

The Solar Eclipse is a very rare event and one recommended for melee characters. You may need to do many before obtaining every item. In the the Solar Eclipse can be summoned manually using a Solar Tablet, which can be crafted with eight Solar Tablet Fragments. The fragments drop from Flying Snakes And Lihzahrds, and can be found in Lihzahrd Chests in the Jungle Temple.

Plantera
Also found in the underground jungle is a mysterious purple bulb. Destroying this bulb with a drill or pickaxe summons the boss Plantera.

Upon defeating Plantera, the message "Screams are echoing from the dungeon..." appears, and powerful new enemies are added to the dungeon. The boss also drops the Temple Key, which is used to open the Jungle Temple.

Golem
At the bottom of the Lihzahrd, there is a boss room with a lihzahrd altar. Using a Lihzahrd Power Cell on it summons the Golem.

=Return to the Dungeon=

=Duke Fishron=

Duke Fishron is one of the hardest bosses in the game as of 1.3.3.3. Just summoning the Duke is a significant challenge in itself, as you will need to capture the wily and elusive Truffle Worm. The spawn rates in naturally occurring Underground Mushroom biomes are low, and if you intend on getting the Fishron Wings (1/15 chance), as well as all his drops, you’ll need to defeat him on average 10 times. Add in a few more for the times you die and because the RNG hates you, and you could easily be looking at 20-25 truffle worms needed. Trying to net that many manually, even with the help of a Clentaminator, Golden Bug Net and Blue Solution, is tedious and frankly boring. Your best bet is to build a Truffle Worm farm, for which you can find a guide here.

Once you’ve collected sufficient Truffle Worms, you should select your class. Melee, ranged, and magic are all viable options. Ironically, the ranger, which has up until now been a mainstay of boss fights, is probably the worst option. Although the Ranger is still great at dealing high DPS, the lack of a self-healing attack, unlike the other two, also makes this the most dangerous approach, and with the Duke’s extremely high damage, leaves you very little margin for error. If you're a ranger, make one mistake and you’re dead. Melee using Vampire Knives is the second option, which is relatively safe. And despite Spectre armor (Hood) getting its damage nerfed by 40%, and mana potions nerfed a further 25%, the magic approach is probably still the best one (which goes to show how overpowered it was). As of 1.3, the new magic weapon Life Drain, with a 20% drop rate from the difficult Crimson Mimic, can serve as a magical replacement for the Vampire Knives, and can be obtained earlier in Hardmode by farming for Souls of Night, crafting a Key of Night, and farming Crimson Mimics. However, know that whereas the Vampire Knives' regenerative powers are proportional to damage, Life Drain simply provides faster regeneration, which may not be enough to save the player from death.

Unlike most boss fights, an arena is of little help. Duke Fishron seems to have been designed with the intention of being farm-proof (he’s not), and if you sit still or linger in the same area, he can literally take you from a full 600hp to zero in two seconds flat in his second stage, whereas if you keep moving and keep your distance, you shouldn’t take much damage. It is important to keep in mind that if you move too far away from him that he will despawn, wasting a precious Truffle worm.

Once you’re ready to fight the Duke, summon him by fishing in the Ocean using a Truffle Worm as bait. From there, the best strategy is to just continually run away while firing until he’s dead. Don’t stop moving at any time or you’ll die. In theory it’s best to use a Gravitation Potion for maximum mobility, but in reality you may actually have very little experience using Gravitation Potions, as they can be disorienting, you can run into floating islands, mountains, or worst, lakes (which will kill you), you can’t fly too high or you will float, and it will be very difficult to dodge (which will kill you). With Wings and Frostspark Boots, you’re very mobile on the ground too and both approaches are viable, so go with what you’re most comfortable with. The Tabi/Master Ninja Gear will allow you to dash out of the way of his more lethal attacks, but be wary of accidentally dashing into a Sharknado. If you have the Shield of Cthulhu, you are even better off, as it allows to dash into him without taking damage (if timed correctly). This can actually be a reliable lifesaver from his quick lunging attacks during his second stage, especially on expert mode (3rd stage). Note that of 1.3 if the player leaves the Ocean Biome Duke Fishron's defense and attack will double, making fighting across the map an invalid option. The best option as of the latest update will be to build platforms over the Ocean Biome and begin building a flexible arena.

Although Duke Fishron is a very difficult boss, he’s probably still easier than the Lunar Events and it’s probably best to beat him before taking on the Events. However, if you find yourself stuck attempting and failing to kill him, the Lunar Events may be the only other option to continue. If you do undergo the events, it's best to defeat your class's pillar (Vortex for ranged, Nebula for magic, Solar for melee, and Stardust for Summoner). Defeating a Pillar once allows the crafting of one of the Lunar Weapons. An optional detour is to defeat the Stardust Pillar to gain a powerful minion (Stardust Dragon or Stardust Cell) to aid you in the fight. BEWARE: if you defeat all Lunar Pillars, the Moon Lord will spawn, and chances are if you can't defeat Fishron, you have an even lower chance of defeating the Moon Lord. If you’re fighting Duke Fishron multiple times, the fight will be somewhat easier once you've acquired his weapon drops and wings.

For more strategies to defeat the Duke, see Guide:Duke Fishron strategies.

=The Pumpkin Moon=

=The Frost Moon=

=Martian Madness=

=The Lunatic Cultist=

=The Celestial Pillars= Once the Lunatic Cultist is defeated, four pillars will spawn in the world. These can easily be found with the map. Be sure to pick up the Ancient Manipulator the Cultist drops, as it is needed to craft end-game gear.

Chances are that you will be near a pillar when they spawn. The pillars represent the four classes: Solar for melee, Vortex for ranged, Nebula for magic, and Stardust for summoning. There is no set order necessary to kill them, but it is preferable to take on the one corresponding to your class first, then the Stardust Pillar to get the powerful Stardust Dragon Staff.

Once the final Pillar is defeated, the status message "Impending doom approaches..." will appear. About a minute later, the Moon Lord will spawn. It is recommended to have potions for the fight, as he will easily kill you if you are not prepared.

=The Moon Lord=

For more elaborate strategies on defeating Moon Lord, including Weapon and Arena recommendations, see Guide:Moon Lord strategies.

The Moon Lord, bearing a striking resemblance to Cthulhu but confirmed not to be by the developers (although at health thresholds it spawns True Eyes of Cthulhu), is summoned directly after defeating the final Celestial Pillar and serves as Terraria's final boss as of version 1.3.

=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:
 * Purify the Corruption or Crimson biomes
 * Reach top tier in Fishing and acquire the Hotline Fishing Hook/Golden Fishing Rod.
 * Beat multiple Bosses at once.
 * Complete all the achievements.
 * Defeat the Dungeon Guardian.
 * Play on an online server.
 * Explore player-made custom maps and content.
 * Make your own theme park using minecarts.
 * Experiment with the extremely elaborate combinations possible with wiring and teleporters, such as making your own in-game computer!
 * Try to complete the game as different Classes.
 * Do a hardcore playthrough.
 * Do speed runs.
 * Play, design, and/or create new PvP modes for all to enjoy!
 * Acquire every single weapon and tool.
 * Obtain every single armor and vanity set.
 * Gather up every single accessory and dye.
 * Collect every single Trophy and Banner.
 * Play through the game on Expert mode.
 * Seek out the rarest items in the game, such as the Nymph Banner or Slime Staff.
 * Find bugs and glitches so developers can fix them.
 * Create a mod or texture pack, or maybe an adventure/puzzle map.
 * Become a wiki contributor!