User:Gearzein/Hardmode draft

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

Hardmode is a stage of a world's progression marked by the defeat of the Wall of Flesh and the appearance of new Environments, Enemies and Bosses. As the name implies, a world in Hardmode is considerably more difficult to survive in than a freshly generated world. Hardmode is a permanent state of a world independent of a player's progression; any player that enters a Hardmode world will encounter Hardmode content, regardless of whether they have personally defeated the Wall of Flesh.

The most obvious change brought by Hardmode's onset is the sudden expansion of a world's native Corruption or Crimson, as well as the introduction of The Hallow. These new areas appear as a large V-shaped area of the world, converting certain corruptible blocks and overwriting biomes in their way where possible. These strips reach all the way to the bottom of the world, introducing additional new biomes in the Underground Corruption, Underground Crimson and Underground Hallow. In addition, both these new areas and existing patches of Corruption and Crimson begin to continuously spread at a much greater pace than before.

Both the new biomes and existing ones will begin generating new enemies as well. Some, such as the Ice Elemental and Giant Tortoise, are entirely new enemies, while others are improved versions of previously encountered threats, such as the Toxic Sludge, a variation on the Slime. In addition to normally generated enemies, three of the early-game bosses have more difficult variants in the form of the Mechanical Bosses.

While most pre-Hardmode equipment will be outclassed by these tougher enemies, new materials and weapons also become available to the player. Using the Pwnhammer dropped by the Wall of Flesh, Altars can be smashed to cause new, hardmode-exclusive ore materials to spawn in random locations in the Underground and below. These can be used to craft an entirely new suite of Weapons, Tools and Armor that can compete with the increased difficulty. In addition, several new Accessories, as well as crafting and construction materials, also become available from enemies or purchasable from a host of new NPCs that the player can add to their town after certain conditions are met. Many powerful items are also gated behind Souls, a crafting material obtained exclusively from Hardmode enemies and required to craft many Hardmode weapons and items.

Biome Spread
While the world generates with natural chasms of Corruption or Crimson, these areas are relatively static in the early game. Once Hardmode begins, however, these biomes begin to actively spread, converting susceptible blocks within their influence. The Hallow enters the world with this spreading ability, which operates nearly identically to that of the Corruption and Crimson. The mechanics for their spread are as follows:
 * Stone, Sand, Ice and Grass are blocks susceptible to conversion. Each spreading biome has its own converted counterparts.
 * The Corruption turns the above into Ebonstone, Ebonsand, Purple Ice Blocks and Corrupt Grass.
 * The Crimson converts blocks into Crimstone, Crimsand, Red Ice Blocks and Crimson Grass.
 * The Hallow turns these blocks into Pearlstone, Pearlsand, Pink Ice Blocks and Hallowed Grass.
 * Nearly all other blocks are immune to conversion.
 * The three types of biome-specific blocks listed above will all spread their respective biome to nearby blocks if possible. If a susceptible block is within three blocks (six feet) of one of these blocks, it will eventually be converted. Immune blocks will not "contain" spread in any way- only distance will prevent this conversion.
 * The thorny bushes that grow in the Corruption and Crimson will convert nearby blocks, as well as hanging vines. Naturally occurring Demonite or Crimtane Ore veins will not spread their biomes, nor will Altars.
 * Certain Walls within range will be converted, though this is entirely aesthetic. No Wall serves as a vector for conversion spread.
 * Further, Corruption and Crimson blocks are capable of converting Mud and Jungle grass into dirt and grass respectively. This extra step will slow their spread through the Jungle, at the expense of its near-permanent loss.
 * Hallow, Corruption or Crimson will not convert one another.

Just as is the case prior to Hardmode, NPCs will not move into a House that has an excess of Corrupt or Crimson blocks, though now they can be driven from their current homes through its spread. NPCs are not deterred by the Hallow in this way, and in fact the presence of Hallowed blocks (or Sunflowers) near a home can offset the negative influence of Corruption in determining its validity.

Underground Corruption and Underground Crimson
For more information, see Underground Corruption and Underground Crimson.

With a converted strip reaching all the way to the Underworld, areas in the Underground and Caverns begin to take on the properties of the Corruption or Crimson native to the world. These underground areas become their own unique underground biomes, complete with enemies and hazards different from those found in their surface counterparts. Just as on the surface, these areas spread by converting nearby blocks; though there is no grass to spread through, the stone-rich Cavern layer converts quickly.

The Hallow
For more information, see The Hallow and Underground Hallow.

A deceptively cheery environment, thick with pastel colors and rainbows. Introduced at the beginning of Hardmode, the Hallow is a biome in opposition with the Corruption and Crimson- its Hallowed Grass and Pearlstone cannot be converted, halting the spread of its competitors. However, the Hallow spreads in the exact same way as its competitors- given time, it too will convert the Forests and Deserts, as well as large areas below ground, causing its unique enemies to spawn and continue to menace the player.

New Materials
The Wall of Flesh always drops the Pwnhammer upon its defeat, which can be used to destroy Altars.


 * The first destroyed Demon Altar or Crimson Altar will trigger the creation of Cobalt Ore or Palladium Ore.
 * The second destroyed Demon Altar or Crimson Altar will trigger the creation of Mythril Ore or Orichalcum Ore.
 * The third destroyed Demon Altar or Crimson Altar will trigger the creation of Adamantite Ore or Titanium Ore.

For every Demon Altar you break, 1-3 Wraiths will spawn immediately. The new ores are created by replacing existing World blocks.

Events
There are several new events in Hardmode:
 * The Frost Legion is triggered by the Snow Globe and never invades 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 in a Hardmode world.
 * Pirate Invasions are triggered by the Pirate Map, or can appear randomly at the start of the day.
 * Solar Eclipses behave like the Blood Moon, only 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, including Reapers, Vampires, Swamp Things, Frankensteins and Eyezors.
 * 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 game's strongest enemies and 20 waves, it is currently the most difficult encounter in Terraria.

In Hardmode worlds, Goblin Armies do still invade, and Meteorites still land, each at their regular rates. Blood Moons and Rain also occur just as frequently, though with new Hardmode enemies.

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).

History
Hardmode