Expert Mode


 * "Fortune & Glory, Kid."

Expert Mode is an option that can be selected during world creation. It greatly increases the difficulty of the game, while providing the player with many opportunities to gain powerful items exclusive to Expert Mode.

Enemies & events

 * Enemies have 2x more health, do 2x more damage (before taking defense into account) and are 10% more resistant against knockback.
 * Weaker enemies gain increased stats when reaching hardmode.
 * Weaker enemies gain increased stats for every additional player in multiplayer.
 * Enemies and bosses in that particular world have more difficult AIs.
 * Monsters have a small chance to spawn in towns, although they won't spawn in front of background walls.
 * When touching the water in a snow biome, you gain the Chilled debuff for as long as you stay in the water, and for ten seconds after getting out.
 * When attacking enemies for too long, there is a chance that more of the same enemy will spawn close by and join the fight (e.g. attacking 1 Umbrella Slime causes more to spawn and attack.)
 * Various enemies apply additional debuffs upon hitting the player.
 * An enemy's Defense stat reduces damage by 75% of its number instead 50% in Normal mode.
 * Many enemies gain additional attacks:
 * Bats have a chance to give the Feral Bite debuff, increasing player damage but lowering health regeneration. This debuff will also cause other random debuffs to be applied to the player.
 * Some zombies carry a long bone, causing them to have an extended range and higher damage.
 * Spiked Slimes can shoot up to 6 spikes at once in a small area around them.
 * Some skeletons can throw bones.
 * Lava Slimes leave behind a block of lava when killed.
 * Jellyfish gain a new shock attack in which they move in a straight line and take no damage.
 * Slime Rain can occur without the player meeting a certain criteria, spawn rates are 15% higher and a higher chance for Green/Purple Slimes to spawn.
 * Celestial Towers require you to kill 150 enemies, instead of 100.
 * Killing Pumpkin/Frost Moon enemies will progress the event twice as fast. (Which is needed, considering the increased health of enemies.)

Bosses

 * Each boss offers a unique Expert Mode item when defeated, contained in Treasure Bags they each drop.
 * Bosses have increased health, which further increases in Multiplayer based on the number of players in the world.
 * Most bosses gain new, more difficult attack patterns.

Items & Loot

 * Enemies drop more loot, including higher percentage chances (usually 50% or 100% extra chance) to drop certain items.
 * Pots now drop more stuff when broken.
 * Fishing quest rewards give more money.
 * Developer items are obtainable and will no longer kill the player when worn.
 * Banners give a larger buff when placed.

Player

 * Life Regen is half as effective (three-quarters with Shiny Stone) without the Well Fed buff.
 * Vampire and Spectre healing is slightly less effective than in normal mode.
 * The Defense stat reduces damage by 75% of the number instead of 50% in Normal mode.
 * Entering water in the Snow Biome causes the Chilled debuff until the player exits the water for 5 seconds.
 * The debuffs Poisoned, Darkness, Cursed, On Fire!, Bleeding, Confused, Slow, Weak, Silenced, Broken Armor, Cursed Inferno, Frostburn, Chilled, Frozen, Ichor, Losing life and Blackout last twice as long.

NPCs

 * All NPCs do x1.5 damage.
 * Traveling Merchant has a 50% chance to sell an additional item.

Death

 * You drop 75% of your gold upon death instead of 50%.
 * 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.
 * Respawn times are increased to 30 seconds during boss fights.
 * Normal respawn times are increased to 15 seconds.

Expert-exclusive items
Expert Mode-exclusive items are found inside Treasure Bags, dropped by bosses, and have the Rainbow rarity. While these items can only be obtained via an expert mode world, they still function in regular worlds, excluding the Demon Heart.

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

Mode Expert Expert Mode