Hardmode



"The ancient spirits of light and dark have been released..."

Hardmode is essentially a harder version of the initial world. A world permanently converts to Hardmode after the player successfully defeats the Wall of Flesh boss for the first time in forever in that world. Hardmode grants players new challenges and gives them access to much more content for them to explore.

Hardmode adds new biomes to the world that will appear and function upon converting: the Underground Corruption, the Underground Crimson, and The Hallow. Corruption, Crimson and Hallow will spread continuously and at a steady pace in Hardmode, and can eventually overtake an entire map if not dealt with properly.

Demon Altars and Crimson Altars can be broken with the Pwnhammer at this point (which drops from the Wall of Flesh), and upon doing so, new ores become available to start the player off in Hardmode.

Along with the regular enemies, Hardmode contains new enemies that are more difficult, some of which are "upgraded" versions of pre-Hardmode enemies. In addition, coin drops and item prices both rise.

Hardmode also makes available new armor sets, weapons, accessories, and other various items that will bring aid to the player, and are sometimes essential in dealing with new Hardmode challenges. Some of these become available for purchase from NPCs, as drops from enemies, or are craftable using new Hardmode crafting materials and crafting stations.

On the, when the Wall of Flesh is defeated, a pop-up box will appear briefly describing Hardmode.

Biomes
Defeating the Wall of Flesh triggers the announcement, "The ancient spirits of light and dark have been released." This refers to the creation of the Hardmode biomes that become released into the world. In a "burst" of corruption, two diagonal stripes of the new biomes generate, replacing large sections of the world in a "V" pattern that extends from the center of The Underworld all the way to the surface. The biomes created are:


 * The Hallow and Underground Hallow
 * The Underground Corruption (in worlds that initially contain Corruption biomes)
 * The Underground Crimson (in worlds that initially contain Crimson biomes)

Underground Corruption / Crimson
The Underground Corruption and Underground Crimson primarily replace stone, sand, ice, and silt (which is treated like sand, but only during the initial "burst" of corruption) that lie within the "V"-shaped path with their respective corrupted versions immediately upon conversion. Underground Jungle biomes do not generally contain these specific blocks in significant amounts, and in turn are not replaced. The mud blocks in an Underground Jungle, however, will slowly be converted to dirt upon contact with the corrupted blocks of the Underground Corruption or the Underground Crimson.

The Underground Corruption and Underground Crimson looks similar to the surface Corruption/Crimson in terms of atmosphere and enemy appearance, though these biomes contain several new Corruption/Crimson-themed enemies that are restricted to underground areas only, as well as a noticeable change of background music.

Hallow / Underground Hallow
The Hallow represents a brand-new theme, distinguished by its pastel-colored fairytale 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 proves to be misleading, as Hallow enemies are quick, resilient, and deadly, and their spawn rates are high, so players must proceed with caution.

The Underground Hallow acts similar to the surface Hallow, in that enemies of similar caliber appear here as well. There are, however, special enemies that only appear down here, as well as a change in background music, that set it apart from the surface Hallow.

Spread
Corruption, Crimson and Hallow spread actively in Hardmode:

These new properties mean that Hallow and Corruption/Crimson will now continuously spread, and can reach the player's home base, given enough time. It is advisable to take steps to protect any areas a player wants to invest time in keeping around, which can be done by mining away a four tile wide frame surrounding the area, then sealing it in with Wood or Clay. A Sky City and building on top of the Dungeon are other options.
 * Corruption, Crimson and Hallow will spread to stone, sand, ice, and grass (the "corruptible blocks") that are up to three tiles away.
 * Corruption, Crimson, and Hallow vines (which grow downward from grass blocks) can spread Corruption, Crimson, and Hallow when they come in contact with corruptible blocks below (regardless of distance).
 * Mud will slow the spread of Corruption and Crimson, but not stop it, since Corruption and Crimson can convert mud blocks into dirt over time (and in the Surface layer, corrupted grass can then spread to exposed dirt blocks). Mud blocks containing mushroom grass are not affected. Hallow cannot convert mud at all.
 * Hallow and Corruption/Crimson cannot convert each other.
 * On the, if a Sunflower is placed next to the Corruption, Crimson, or Hallow, it won't spread.

Hardmode Ores
The Wall of Flesh always drops the Pwnhammer upon its defeat. Players are encouraged to destroy Demon/Crimson Altars at this point in order to begin progress into Hardmode. Altars can be destroyed with the Pwnhammer or any superior hammer (note that if a player attempts to destroy the Altar with a lesser hammer, or in a pre-Hardmode world, the Altar will be unaffected and the player will lose half their current health).

Hallowed Bars
Hallowed Bars are bars solely dropped by the three Mechanical Bosses. They provide the player with options for armor and weapons statistically better than those made from the initial six Hardmode ores. It is recommended for players to attempt and gather enough bars to craft a set of armor, as it can prove to be useful.

Chlorophyte
Chlorophyte is a special ore that first appears in the Underground Jungle when Hardmode begins. It cannot be retrieved until the player has gathered at least one soul from each Mechanical Boss and enough Hallowed Bars to craft the Drax or the Pickaxe Axe; only then can players mine it. It opens a new window for players by providing more opportunities for weapons and armor choices.

Unlike other ores, Chlorophyte is special in that it can grow to adjacent Mud Blocks, and chunks can become rather large. This means that players can be able to farm Chlorophyte.

Mining and crafting

 * Mining Cobalt Ore or Palladium Ore requires at least the Molten Pickaxe or the Reaver Shark.
 * Mining Mythril Ore or Orichalcum Ore requires at least the Cobalt Drill, Cobalt Pickaxe, Palladium Drill, or the Palladium Pickaxe. Crafting many higher-tier Hardmode items will require a Mythril Anvil or Orichalcum Anvil, which is crafted from 10 Mythril or 12 Orichalcum Bars.
 * Mining Adamantite Ore or Titanium Ore requires at least the Mythril Drill, Mythril Pickaxe, Orichalcum Drill, or Orichalcum Pickaxe, however on the the player may use Palladium Drill or Palladium Pickaxe, but not the Cobalt Pickaxe or Cobalt Drill. Crafting Adamantite Bars or Titanium Bars will require an Adamantite Forge or a Titanium Forge, which is crafted from a Hellforge and 30 Adamantite/Titanium Ore.
 * Mining Chlorophyte requires at least the Drax or the Pickaxe Axe.

Mechanical Bosses
The three Mechanical Bosses are essentially much stronger versions of their respective pre-Hardmode boss. These bosses include:
 * The Destroyer acts as 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. Unlike the Eater of Worlds, however, the Destroyer will not split into multiple segments, and instead the whole body shares one health bar. The Destroyer will periodically release Probes from its body as it takes damage, and both can fire lasers continually.
 * 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 is actually two eyes, each performing different attacks. Unlike the other Mechanical Bosses, The Twins have a second stage, where they turn out to become more mechanical and have newer attack patterns.
 * 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 bomb launcher. This wide array of weapons deem this boss to be much more challenging and diverse in attack style.

Once a world enters Hardmode, there is a chance every night that one of these Mechanical Bosses will spawn, just as long as they haven't been killed in that world before.

There is currently no Mechanical Boss upgrade to the Brain of Cthulhu. The Destroyer will still be available to battle in worlds that contain Crimson.

Plantera
After all three Mechanical Bosses are defeated, a message will appear saying: "The jungle grows restless..." This means that Plantera is now available for summoning:
 * Plantera is a giant plant-like boss that is summoned by destroying 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.

Golem
After Plantera is defeated, it will always drop a Temple Key. This unlocks the Lihzahrd Temple, and inside, the 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. There are three vulnerable spots on its body in its first phase: the head and the two fists. The fists will spring outward to try and hit the player, and its head will occasionally spew fireballs, and eventually lasers as it gets low on health. Once its second phase gets initiated, the head will blast off and fly around the player, becoming invincible at this point and firing lasers. The only vulnerable spot, presuming the player already destroyed the fists, will be the body. Destroying the body will cause Golem to be defeated.

Duke Fishron
There are no prerequisites to fighting Duke Fishron other than the fact that the world must be in Hardmode, and that the players must have the materials needed to summon it.
 * Duke Fishron is a horrid pig-fish-dragon hybrid that spawns by fishing in the Ocean while a Truffle Worm is handy. He attacks mainly by lunging at the player in short bursts, occasionally firing Detonating Bubbles and summoning Sharknadoes that fire Sharkrons. Once it enters its second stage, his attack are Detonating Bubbles that spew from his body and Cthulunadoes that shoot Sharkrons.

Lunatic Cultist

 * The Lunatic Cultist becomes available as four cultists appear in the entrance of the Dungeon after defeating Golem. The Lunatic Cultist spawns after these cultists are defeated. Defeating him subsequently triggers the Lunar Events.

Moon Lord

 * The Moon Lord becomes available after beating the Lunar Events. When the Lunar Events are completed, the Moon Lord will spawn automatically after a short delay; or it can be summoned without fighting the Lunatic Cultist or Lunar Events by using a Celestial Sigil.

 Please note that all pre-Hardmode bosses can still be summoned in Hardmode.

Post-Plantera
When all of the Mechanical Bosses have been defeated, the world undergoes its first minor transformation. This allows Plantera's Bulbs to spawn randomly across the Underground Jungle, giving players access to fight Plantera

Once Plantera has been defeated, the world undergoes its second minor transformation, allowing access to various events.


 * Newer and more difficult enemies begin spawning within the Dungeon, with their uprising being introduced with the message: "Screams are echoing from the dungeon."
 * The spread of the Hallow, Corruption, and Crimson is slowed.
 * The Cyborg NPC becomes available.
 * The Truffle NPC begins selling the Autohammer, which is solely used to craft Shroomite Bars.
 * The Jungle Temple can now be opened using the Temple Key, and the Golem boss can be fought.
 * The Pumpkin Moon and Frost Moon events can now be initiated via the Pumpkin Moon Medallion and Naughty Present, respectively. Crafting these requires Ectoplasm that the new Dungeon Spirits drop.
 * Biome Chests within the Dungeon can now be opened using their respective Biome Keys.

Enemies
See Forest, Underground, Desert, Underground Desert, Tundra, Underground Tundra, The Hallow, Underground Hallow, Corruption, Underground Corruption, Crimson, Underground Crimson, Jungle, Underground Jungle, Dungeon, and The Underworld for the complete lists of enemies that spawn in those biomes during Hardmode.

Most of these enemies are significantly harder, doing more damage and having higher health and defense than pre-Hardmode enemies. Most pre-Hardmode weapons can 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 are generally preferable over fast weapons with low base damage because many hardmode enemies have high defense.

In Expert Mode, most pre-hardmode enemies receive significant stat buffs (for example a blue slime will have 287 HP). Expert mode also renders most hardmode enemies much more dangerous to the point where 5-6 hits can kill a player. One must be extremely careful as one mistake is all it takes to be killed.

However not all biomes are immediately buffed with more powerful mobs. The Underworld does not receive any stronger mobs until after a mechanical boss is defeated and the Dungeon doesn't receive any mobs either until after Plantera is defeated.

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 between December 15th and 31st (based on the player's computer time setting), after the defeat of the Frost Legion, so long as a vacant House is available. In mobile, he stays until he is killed or the player destroys his home. He sells the Santa costume, Red/Green/Blue lights, the Christmas Tree, and decorations for it. Hardmode is not required for Santa to appear.
 * The Steampunker appears after defeating one Mechanical Boss, and if a vacant House is available. She sells Teleporters and other steampunk themed items.
 * The Truffle appears once the player makes a house in a mushroom biome above ground when their world is in hardmode. He sells useful mushroom themed items and 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. At night he sells more advanced items such as upgraded rockets.
 * 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 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.

Events
There are several new events in Hardmode:
 * The Frost Legion is triggered only by the Snow Globe, never invading on its own. The Snow Globe can be used to summon the Frost Legion in non-Hardmode worlds, but the Snow Globe itself can only be acquired from Presents that are obtained during the Christmas season on a Hardmode world.
 * Pirate Invasions are triggered by the Pirate Map, or can appear randomly at the start of the day.
 * The Solar Eclipse behaves like the Blood Moon, only it happens during the day, and can appear after any Hardmode boss is defeated. During a Solar Eclipse, unique and powerful monsters will spawn in vast numbers and drop a variety of exclusive items.
 * The Pumpkin Moon is the one of the most challenging Hardmode events. It can only be started at night by the player using a Pumpkin Moon Medallion, which is crafted with 30 Pumpkins, 5 Ectoplasm, and 10 Hallowed Bars. This turns the moon into a scary pumpkin face. The event has 15 waves, with each wave requiring a progressively higher score to progress to the next. Enemies that spawn are Scarecrows, Splinterlings, Hellhounds, Poltergeists, Headless Horseman, a mini-boss Mourning Wood, and a boss Pumpking. More and harder enemies will spawn at higher waves, and there can be several Mourning Woods and Pumpkings attacking at once. The event ends at the end of the night or when all 15 waves have been completed.
 * The Frost Moon is an invasion-like event similar to the Pumpkin Moon, though being a step up on the difficulty. It is started by using the Naughty Present at night. Featuring some of the hardest enemies in the game and 20 total waves, it is one of the hardest events in the game.
 * Martian Madness is an invasion-like event similar to those before it, and is considered to be the most difficult invasion-style event in Terraria. It is triggered when a Martian Probe, found only on the outer edges of the world, is activated and escapes. It features incredibly difficult enemies and will be a challenge to all but the most prepared players.

In Hardmode worlds, Goblin Armies do still invade, and Meteorites still land, each at their regular rates. Blood Moons, Rain, and Slime Rain also occur just as frequently as they did pre-Hardmode, though sometimes feature Hardmode-exclusive content.

Items
Several new Tools, Weapons, Accessories, Armors, 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 many hardmode Ores have their own complete item set, including Armor, Drill, Chainsaw, Sword, Spear, and Repeater. In addition, Hallowed Armor and associated tools and weapons become available: the Drax, Excalibur, Gungnir, and Hallowed Repeater. Crafting Hallow-tier items required creating the item sets for what was then all the hardmode ores and defeating the Mechanical Bosses introduced with hardmode for set-specific boss souls. As of 1.2, their crafting recipes were simplified to need only Hallowed Bars, which dropped when the mechanical bosses were killed.

Many of the hardmode Armor sets have three different options for the Helmet slot, which each benefit players that use either Magic Weapons, Melee Weapons, or Ranged Weapons. Shroomite Armor is an exception - its helmet choices benefit ranged weapons in all cases, although only specific ones (see the article for details).

Note: See The Hallow, Underground Hallow, Corruption, Underground Corruption, Crimson, and Underground Crimson for complete item drop lists.

Corruption/Crimson and Hallow spread

 * Corruption or Crimson which gets too close to NPC housing will render them invalid. It should be a priority to craft Holy Water or place Hallowed blocks to aid in its conversion near the edges of any farms or biomes of this type and contain them as soon as possible.
 * Once the player gets the Steampunker, they might want to buy the Clentaminator for 2 platinum, along with its ammunition, named Solution. It is a quick and handy way of cleaning/destroying/creating biomes.
 * Corruption/Crimson can completely devour the Jungle. To farm Plantera, Chlorophyte Ore, or other jungle enemies, consider sealing off the underground jungle with Hallow, as this will prevent the conversion of jungle grass and mud blocks.

Difficulty

 * When beginning Hardmode, a player can easily become overwhelmed by the difficult new enemies, which have Health and Damage many times greater than regular-mode 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 add high defense bonuses. Low-tier Hardmode weapons begin at around 35 damage, so viable regular-mode weapons of use will be the Sunfury and Night's Edge as melee options, the Molten Fury and Flamarang as semi-ranged, and the Flower of Fire and Demon Scythe as magical. 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 don't suddenly respawn with more loot), players will need to kill large numbers of these tougher enemies for items like Souls or Pixie Dust. Consider building mini-bases with proper protections that involve shallow lava pits above small access tunnels that run between Underground Hallow and Corruption/Crimson biomes.  Use Active Stone Blocks to make the "doors" that let the player jump up and grab floating souls.  Place walls to prevent spawns inside their mini-base.  The player will still need to fight off the occasional Cursed Hammer, but it's a much easier job to farm these enemies when the player reduce the threats to a few at a time.  Eventually, they will drop either a good weapon, or the resources needed to craft one.
 * Mechanical bosses and invasions can take the player off guard. It's best to leave and rejoin if player is ill prepared.

Resources

 * Don't 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 non-Hardmode world and collect them there, along with any other pre-Hardmode materials the player finds themself needing.
 * The Eater of Worlds and Eye of Cthulhu are commonly used by players as a good source of money, and this is still useful during the beginning stages of Hardmode. However, summoning them in Hardmode can be more difficult: eg. the player has probably destroyed any close Demon Altars (needed to craft the Worm Food and Suspicious Looking Eye), the player may have demolished their nearby Corruption farm or Arena, and trips to the naturally-occurring Corruption are now more hazardous (Eater of Worlds must be summoned and fought within Corruption). It is much easier to simply create a new non-Hardmode world to farm these bosses, then use the funds collected from them in their Hardmode world. The Wall of Flesh can be farmed and drops about, and items which each sell for approximately.
 * One way to farm money in Hardmode once the player becomes reasonably able to traverse the Underground Hallow (aside from using a glitch) is to collect Crystal Shards, which are common and sell for   for a full stack of 999 (each one sells for ).  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 meleed to death (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 . 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, each, which is another 16-32  per run if they don't spend the souls on Light Discs, in addition to the  the boss drops. In total, they net 42-82, 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.
 * Wait to open Crates until Hardmode so as to be able to immediately get some hardmode ores and bars without even smashing any altars or mining. The Enchanted Sundial can also be salvaged from crates; it is an immensely useful item as it allows the player to skip a day every week. Even Souls and Ichor/Cursed Flames/Crystal Shards can be looted from crates without even visiting the Hallow/Crimson/Corruption.