Expert Mode

"Fortune & Glory, Kid."

Expert Mode is an option that can be selected during world creation. Compared to normal mode:


 * It causes enemies and bosses in that particular world to have more difficult AIs.
 * Enemies drop more loot, including higher percentage chances to drop certain items.
 * Enemies have 2x more health and do 2x more damage.
 * Some type of enemies can be spawned with melee-weapons which they swing at the player, instead of just walking into you.
 * Each boss offers a unique Expert Mode item when defeated, contained in Treasure Bags they each drop. These items were originally only exclusive to an expert mode world, but were eventually retracted so that all but one endgame item can be used outside of Expert Mode.
 * You drop 75% of your gold upon death.
 * Enemies can pick up your dropped coins when you die. Kill them when you respawn to get your coins back. Enemies holding dropped coins emit a sparkle effect based on the color of the best coin they're holding.
 * You stay dead longer before being able to respawn during boss fights.
 * Boss health scales in multiplayer depending on the number of players.
 * Weaker enemies gain increased stats as the players progress, starting in hardmode.
 * Monsters have a small chance to spawn in towns.
 * Pots now drop more stuff when broken.
 * Ice Monsters gain an additional chance to freeze upon hitting the player.
 * Quest rewards give more money.
 * Bats have a chance to give the new Feral Bite debuff. This debuff will increase player damage but lower player health regen. This debuff will also cause other random debuffs to be applied to the player.
 * Life Regen isn’t as effective unless the player has the Well Fed buff.
 * Vampire and Spectre healing is slightly less effective than in normal mode.
 * The Defense statistic is more effective than in normal mode.
 * Developer items are obtainable and will not kill the player when worn.
 * Because of this, Red's Wings no longer have their unique attributes.

Trivia

 * The caption upon making a world in Expert Mode might be a reference to Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom, where Indiana Jones says, "Fortune and glory, kid, fortune and glory".

Expert-exclusive items
Expert Mode-exclusive items are found inside Treasure Bags, dropped by bosses, and have the Rainbow rarity.

History
Bosses now drop special Expert-Mode-only items.