Guide:Travel

Due to the generation of the world, and the huge variety in biomes and terrain, even small worlds in Terraria can present a challenge when a player wants to visit certain points on the map or return to a point far from their spawn point. Here are some often-used methods.

Navigating Uneven Terrain
Because of the fact that the world's surface is not flat, it makes it quite difficult to travel from one side of the map to another in order to visit points of interest. There are a few things that can be done about this.

Equipment
There are a number of items that can make it much easier to do so giving the player a better overall playing experience.

The most basic item that can decrease travel time is the Hermes Boots accessory which allows the player to run at a faster rate. It is one of the first item a player finds in Underground Cabins, but a very useful one. Combined with other accessories at the Tinkerer's Workshop, it's useful throughout the entire game. The effect stacks with that of Swiftness Potion which too is common underground. Another accessory item, the Rocket Boots, can be helpful because they can propel the player high in the sky allowing them to leap over obstacles. If possible, combining it with hermes boots together in order to create the Spectre Boots is advised as it allows the player to hold more accessories. The Flurry Boots are somewhat harder to be found, but work exactly as hermes boots. Spectre boots can be upgraded to Lightning Boots for even faster running. Athough they can be further combined with Ice Skates to make Frostspark Boots, they provide improved mobility on ice rather than speed bonus. Nevertheless, they are very useful when you travel through Ice Biome.

The Aglet and Anklet of the Wind both improve basic movement speed by 5% and 10%, respectively. Both are ingredients for the Lightning Boots mentioned above.

As well as the aforementioned items, a Shiny Red Balloon is also helpful in leaping over obstacles. The Cloud in a Bottle is another travel aid as it grants the player the ability to double-jump making the navigation of uneven terrain easier. It is possible to combine these two items together at the Tinkerer's Workshop in order to create the Cloud in a Balloon. The 1.2 update introduced many cloud in a bottle-like items, the most common being the Blizzard in a Bottle. Any of these accessories can be combined with shiny red baloon and if you are lucky enough to find three balloons as well as the three in-a-bottle accessories, you can combine them, creating a Bundle of Balloons.

Probably the best of the vertical movement items is Wings. They are Hardmode-exclusive but very efficient if obtained. They increase jump height by flying, allow for gliding like the Featherfall Potion, and negate fall damage. The best for horizontal speed is the Hoverboard's hover ability(toggled by pressing down and jump at the same time) and the best for vertical is the Solar Flare Wings.

You can also use Climbing Claws/Shoe Spikes or their upgrades to climb up walls and cliffs. Attach yourself to the wall, jump and hold the A or D key (depends on which way you are facing). You will jump and fall back to the wall, but a few blocks higher. Repeat and you'll quickly climb up any straight wall.

The various grapples are also very useful in this regard, as they allow quick navigation of steep slopes and small chasms. They do not need to be equipped and can be activated with a hotkey (default E), making them very convenient to use. Grapples can also be used to increase the player's velocity by shooting them in the direction of travel then releasing the grapple right before reaching the point. This works best on flat open area, and can allow your Hermes Boots or Spectre Boots the ability to get to full speed in a fraction of the distance.

Whatever your mean of travel, you'll find the Cobalt Shield useful: it allows you to remain at full speed, instead of being stopped at every encounter with minor enemies. Not having to fight your way through dozens of insignificant foes along the way is a huge bonus in travel time. It is found later, in the Dungeon.

Some sets of armor also provide speed bonuses, but you obviously won't choose your armor based on its bonuses, but on its defense.

Terraforming
Alternately, instead of changing equipment to navigate the terrain, it is within the player's means to change the terrain itself. This is not as tedious as it sounds because the goal is to make travelling smoother rather than the complete flattening of the surface. Most of the time all that is needed is to simply flatten the top of small rises or to fill in small holes or dips in the ground; for large hills it may be easier to just tunnel right through them, and chasms of any size are easily handled by laying a row of dirt or other abundant blocks to serve as a bridge.

Done little by little, over time the terrain will eventually be mostly flat surfaces easily jumped from one to another, allowing for quick travelling through. Alternatively, the player can scale one block up without stopping. This is useful too, for the lazy player.

Sky Bridge
A Sky Bridge is a long platform of blocks usually a single block in height, or Wood Platforms, either of which are placed at high altitude, that players may build in order to provide easy travel to far-away areas of the world without having to negotiate the uneven natural terrain. To maximize speed, players may wish to make the bridge from Asphalt, or out of Minecart Tracks that are, however, slower than Asphalt. Players who wish to farm Fallen Stars may also build a Sky Bridge to catch and collect them easily by simply running its length. With the advent of Wings in 1.1, this is now their primary advantage. They also make effective boss arenas, maximizing mobility in all directions and leaving a clear line of fire to the boss, the downside being the lack of cover from bosses like The Destroyer and occasional attacks from Harpies and Wyverns. If you wish to avoid this, make the bridge low enough to prevent the monsters from spawning.

It may be a good idea to make a Sky Bridge out of dirt blocks. It is one of the most easily obtained materials and would allow you to make an efficient tree farm, as well as a bridge to collect falling stars. Additionally, making both a floor and ceiling (i.e. Sky Tunnel) will protect against enemies and may be created early in the game to find and loot Floating Islands. Once a player has access to Asphalt, it is helpful to use it for any fast-travel construction--especially sky bridges. This is because asphalt increases the running speed of a player walking on it, which can be used in conjunction with other speed boosting items to make long distance travel easy and quick.

Using Hermes Boots, Spectre Boots or Lightning Boots players can make good time running along the bridge, and it can greatly reduce travel time with or without the added bonus of asphalt. Points of interest can be marked and exits provided by substituting wood platforms in place of blocks for easy access back to the surface.

Building a Sky Bridge will cause Meteorites to be caught on the thin platform, producing only minimal ore. This is a good measure if you'd like to defend your world against meteorites. If you'd also like to mine them, you can make the Sky Bridge thick enough to fully exploit the ore. However, this would require an extremely large amount of effort and building materials, almost as much as simply flattening the entire surface of the world in the first place. Alternatively, a new world could be created specifically for obtaining Meteorite. You could also save back 50 ore and farm Meteor Heads. Although it is only a 2% drop chance, using Water Candles and a large melee weapon can make for a simple and potent farm.

One possible solution is to build a skybridge out of active/inactive stone. You would be able to turn the skybridge on and off with the flip of a switch or lever, and while it is deactivated does not interfere with meteors. The process of activating and deactivating this is time consuming depending upon the size of the bridge. Additionally, the cost in wire is high; every 2000 wire (for 1000 active blocks and wiring each of them up) is one platinum. Travel speed could be even further increased by obtaining Ice Skates or Frostspark Boots. Then the player could make their Skybridges out of Ice Block for taking advantage of the speed boosts given by wearing Ice Skates or Frostspark Boots on ice. This speed could possibly be amplified even further with a Hoverboard. Stopping is achieved by making floating walls at points of interest that you jump into to stop your forward motion on a dime.

A decent way of making a sky bridge would be to lay many solid blocks, then lay mine cart tracks on them. Once the rails are in place, remove the solid blocks. Building at a high enough altitude to avoid biomes below, and low enough to avoid harpies and wyverns would minimize monster spawning. Using rope to mark points of interest would allow a player to exit the cart without needing to slow down (merely exit the cart by canceling the buff or swinging a tool and holding the down button to catch the rope). Putting two booster rails spaced apart on either side of a rope (or whatever you happen to be using to reach the skybridge) would allow for efficient acceleration if starting from a point in the middle of the track, while also not stopping the cart and speeding it back up if you wish to pass by.

Note added later (1/20/2015) On the note of bridges and tunnels, the most easily farmed resource is arguably Glowing Mushrooms, which are easily produced with a single seed and some mud. They grow on their own and, when used for wall blocks, need no internal lighting. By placing mud on the top of a tunnel, even the somewhat harder mobs of the Glowing Mushroom Biome become all but irrelevant, as only one can get to you inside, and it's range is limited, with no distance attacks available to it. The lighting supplied is low, but sufficient to see by.

Subway
An alternate travel solution to the Skybridge is to create a Subway, which is an underground tunnel rather than a bridge suspended in mid air. Surface entrances/exits are created by simply digging shafts down to the level of the subway. The subway itself is then mined out horizontally across the map in both directions, usually with a height of 3 blocks (the minimum height necessary for the player to fit). Chasms or other open spaces can be filled in with Dirt Blocks or other resources if you wish to block them off from the Subway, or wooden platforms if you wish to be able to easily leave. Like the Skybridge, Hermes Boots or Spectre Boots can be used to quickly travel through the subway, and asphalt can be used for the floor to increase speed.

For ease of returning to the surface from the subway, junctions can be created at desired places on the map by simply mining upwards from the subway to the surface. Exiting the subway vertically can be made easier by using rope or chains as a climbing aid. Signs can be placed near the junction to let travelling players know what is at that particular exit. If you wish to prevent monsters from spawning in your subway, natural background walls must be replaced with player-placed walls.

A subway provides the same ease of travel as the Skybridge but without obstructing meteorites. However, digging out a subway is considerably more work than creating a skybridge (mining across the entire map compared to placing a line of blocks in open space), although it may be one of the useful team projects to work on in a cooperative multiplayer server. Another inefficient thing about subways are desert biomes. The sand falls and you have to construct a barrier, which is very time consuming. You can avoid this by digging down, then left or right, back up, then you can continue mining.

A wide enough subway can also double as a barrier to prevent the spread of hallow/corruption (see the Quarantine section in the Guide on how to contain the Hallow/Corruption). To maximize the effectiveness of this secondary barrier function, the subway should be carefully designed so as not to abruptly end somewhere where the Hallow/Corruption can simply spread around the end to the other side. This will almost inevitably require digging out additional shafts whose functions are primarily to act as a continuation of the barrier rather than an extension of the subway.

Placing minecart tracks along a subway would allow much faster travel speed along it, as well as not needing to worry about the spawning of monsters, as a top speed minecart deals high damage on contact, killing most kinds of pre-hardmode creatures instantly without damage to the player - only hardmode creatures (most of them) not being killed instantly, and the contact will cause minor damage to the player. However, to build it, players would need to dig out a four block tall tunnel rather than a three block tall tunnel to make room for the track and the player character in the cart over it. This can make digging a subway a bit more time consuming and tedious. If you have access to the Rocket Launcher and Rocket II or IVs (preferably IIs), you can use rockets to rapidly mine a horizontal tunnel of the needed height - this is rendered less efficient by large numbers of hardmode ore deposits.

Minecarts
You can make 50 Minecart Tracks for 1 Iron and 1 Wood. They can be placed, and you click on the track to summon a Minecart mount!

This is one of the easiest forms of travel, and you can use it easily. You can either make it underground, inside of your subway, or aboveground, on top of your skybridge. It is your choice...

You can also Hammer the tracks to make certain changes to it. Here are all of the options:
 * Bumper: This resembles a metal fence, and when you hit it, you start going in the opposite direction.
 * Open: This is just an open track, and when you encounter it, you fall off of the track.
 * Closed: This resembles a wooden fence and when you hit it, you just harmlessly stop.

Hell Bridge
A Hell Bridge is a path constructed above the lava in The Underworld. Though the bridge need only be built a single block high, the rises and low ceilings in this layer of the world will need to be flattened down or tunneled through. The bridge itself can serve as a farm of sorts, for gathering Fireblossoms if the bridge is made out of Ash Blocks or Blinkroots if the bridge is made out of Dirt Blocks.

This bridge also allows a player to fight the Wall of Flesh without worrying about lava or getting stuck in uneven terrain - for most players this will quite likely be the main point of building the bridge in the first place. While building it the player should also be prepared to fend off the underworld's monsters, so having good armor and weapons is vital. On the plus side, the time spent building this makes it likely that desirable monster drops will be obtained, such as the Guide Voodoo Doll and the Demon Scythe.

Hellevator
A Hellevator or Dropshaft is a vertical tunnel of mined-out blocks, usually 3 blocks wide, that generally extends all the way from the surface to the Underworld via a straight fall. Players who have reached lower layers of their world may have spent considerable time constructing underground structures such as testing areas, corrupt farms, Underground Jungle farms, and Glowing Mushroom farms. Having a quick way to access these areas can be a big time saver, and this means constructing a hellevator.

Other players may wish to create one with wider shafts with wooden platforms along the side, providing a choice between a straight fall or a controlled descent, and allowing the player to ascend provided the platforms are placed close enough together to access via jumps. Having a grapple negates the need for platforms for ascending, although slipping and missing may result in an unplanned and likely fatal fall.

A better alternative to this is making a line of rope on one side and placing the torches on the other. If you have yet to obtain Magic Mirror, this would be the best way to get back to the surface safely, not to mention that having a rope all the way down has its advantages even later in game. The speed of sliding down the rope is equal to that of falling, and is much faster than having to stop every few blocks when stepping down the wooden platforms. Rope is very common in the underground and can be also bought from the Merchant if you want to complete the rope line as soon as possible.

Another alternative to using platforms or ropes is to use minecarts. If they are placed with the open end of the Minecart Track into the Hellevator and with a few Minecart Tracks at the bottom of the hellevator then this will prevent all fall damage, as when in a Minecart falling on Minecart Track does not make you take fall damage. This avoids many of the problems with a hellevator. Minecart tracks can be crafted using 1 Iron and 1 Wood to make 50 at an Iron Anvil.

Similar to the subway (see above), the hellevator can also be incorporated as part of a player's defenses against the spread of corruption/crimson/hallow, although this usually requires the mining out of additional secondary shafts not part of the primary hellevator shaft.

As of Terraria 1.3, holding a Portal Gun while traveling downwards in a hellavator cuts the travel time by 67%.

Skylift
A skylift is a special tower-like construct, used to get to Sky-Islands or Space. There are three types of skylifts: 1) Ladder - A skylift constructed from platforms. A player jumps on a platform, then jumps again, getting onto the higher platform. 2) Rope - A skylift constructed from props and rope. A player climbs the rope. 3) Teleporter - A skylift constructed from two Teleporters linked via Wire and a triggering mechanism. Player stands on the first Teleporter, triggers the trigger, and is instantaneously transported to the second Teleporter.

Recommended Items

 * A good pickaxe reforged to Light prefix. Light Deathbringer Pickaxe will dig 2-wide shafts through stone at 2.5 feet per second, Light Bone Pickaxe 3.3 fps, Light Reaver Shark 4 fps, Light Cobalt Pickaxe 5.5 fps, Light Palladium Pickaxe 6.7 fps, Light Orichalcum Pickaxe 8.6 fps, Light Adamantite Pickaxe 10 fps, Light Picksaw 12 fps and Light Shroomite Digging Claw 20 fps.
 * Mining Potion, that will increase the mining speed (Deathbringer Pickaxe to 3.3 fps, Bone Pickaxe to 5 fps, Reaver Shark to 5.5 fps, Adamantite Pickaxe to 15 fps, Shroomite Digging Claw to 30 fps)
 * Mining armor will increase the speed even more with the potion (Deathbringer Pickaxe to 6 fps, Bone Pickaxe to 7.5 fps, Reaver Shark to 10 fps, Adamantite Pickaxe to 30 fps, Shroomite Digging Claw to 60 fps)
 * Fall damage negating item, this includes water, Cobweb, any form of grappling hook, rope, or numerous accessories.
 * Sand or Silt (not necessary, but helpful) (see "Air Pockets" under "Avoiding Obstacles" below)
 * Depth Meter or GPS (useful for gauging when to prepare to grapple to stop your fall if the landing area is not prepared)
 * A source of hands-free light or a stack of Torches and Glowsticks
 * Obsidian Skull, Obsidian Horseshoe or Obsidian Shield (recommended for underworld survival)
 * Magic Mirror
 * Climbing Claws

As mentioned above, a hellevator is a method of getting you quickly from the surface to various points of interest deep underground. Therefore, ideally the surface entrance of the shaft should be easily accessible from your spawn point. Note that if you do not possess a magic mirror for a quick return trip, you may need to either place a long line of rope or design the shaft to accommodate ascending by strategically placing wooden shafts or otherwise leaving unmined blocks jutting out from the sides of the shaft.

While digging you can throw a glowstick at your feet - since glowsticks drop down with the floor as you dig, the illumination provided will keep the area around you visible. Another advantage of glowsticks is that they remain lit up even while underwater, making exploring pools much less harrowing.

Bringing torches is recommended, because when placed they will provide permanent illumination and can double as marker beacons. For example a vertical row of torches can be used to indicate the approach of the shaft floor and serve as a reminder to quickly grapple the wall to stop falling.

Avoiding Obstacles
As you tunnel downward, a variety of obstacles may impede your progress. Here are some ways to overcome them and carry on quickly.


 * Monsters - Most monsters will not bother you if the shaft is sealed and small enough (wide shafts will allow monsters to spawn in it). Burrowing monsters and casters, on the other hand, remain a danger. For casters, the only real solution is to get to their level, kill them, and get back to the shaft, ASAP. If you have a Vilethorn and mana, you can possibly use it to kill them without getting near them. (Certain ranged weapons can also fire through walls, under the right conditions - the Star Cannon, for example.)


 * Air Pockets - This is why you brought sand. Before you fall, place sand to the area directly beneath your feet. The sand will fall to the bottom of the floor, and eventually will build itself back up underneath you, assuring you do not fall to your death. You may then remove the blocks beneath you, building the shaft walls as you go. You may instead drop sand for the walls as well, if you don't mind its instability. Alternately you may simply use your grapple to negotiate your way down the sides of the air pocket to the bottom and continue digging downwards. Another way to deal with air pockets is to use dirt blocks. Build two dirt blocks below you, and then one across. Mine/jump down to that, and build the dirt blocks down the other side of the shaft, plus one block in. Mine the single block you built into the shaft earlier, and continue cat-stepping down the shaft as you dig downwards.
 * Note that, whatever the method used, the Extendo Grip greatly helps in building though air pockets, as it allows to build further away from where you stand. The difference can be felt even more importantly in the downward direction, in which your initial reach is quite low.


 * Water - See Digging through Water.


 * Lava - See Digging through Lava.

Avoiding Fall Damage
Depending on how the end of the shaft is reached, fall damage may be a problem. Here are some ways to prepare for it.
 * Fall damage can be averted using a small water pool, at least 2 tiles deep, just above the Underworld (water evaporates within the Underworld itself).
 * If water is "leaked" into a Hellevator from far above the landing zone, the water will settle at the bottom (off-screen) and won't immediately evaporate. Once it is disturbed (by taking/adding a bucket of water) the pool will then "update" and begin evaporating. Use with caution as this is most likely a bug.
 * Alternatively, Honey is a good solution for replacing a pool of water at the bottom of a Hellevator, as it will not evaporate.
 * If you drop a bucket full of water into your hellevator and jump after it, you will fall at a safe pace as you continually float in the falling water.
 * Cobwebs can be placed at or near the landing, though these can take some time to get free of without having to cut them away. Also, they come loose and fall away as the player falls or cuts through them, requiring that they be repositioned after each fall.
 * Pink Slime Blocks negate fall damage and do not need to be repositioned like cobwebs, nor do they risk evaporating like water.
 * The Lucky Horseshoe, Obsidian Horseshoe or Wings can be equipped to eliminate fall damage.
 * The Grappling Hook, Dual Hook, Ivy Whip, Cloud in a Bottle, or Rocket Boots can be engaged just before landing, though this requires that the player pay close attention to their location during the fall. A depth meter or GPS is useful for noting when you will be approaching the landing area.
 * You can also use a Featherfall Potion to negate fall damage, provided your fall is not too long.
 * The Cobalt Shield or Obsidian Shield will prevent knockback by any enemies who find their way into the shaft through side entrances. Without these items, knockback by an enemy can result in an unexpected and nearly immediate death if there's room to the opposite side, since fall damage isn't reset by the knockback.
 * Wood Platforms can be placed periodically throughout the hellevator to negate fall damage altogether if the player does not mind holding the "Down" key. Wood Platforms would also give an easy exit as the player would only need to jump repeatedly to get back to the surface if they did not have or did not wish to use the Magic Mirror. About 200 platforms should be enough for a three-block wide hellevator assuming the player has the Spectre Boots.
 * Ropes or Chains can be use instead of Wood Platforms or water at the bottom of the hellevator . What you do is put the chains or ropes on one side of a two-block wide hellevator, get on the chain or rope on it, and hold Down. You will go as fast as freefall without taking fall damage, so long as you are on the chain or rope and holding Down until you reach the Underworld. This is notably more efficient than the use wood platforms since you don't get any fall damage at all, or require to clean up any wood platforms making the hole. Additionally, you can mine or place blocks even when you're on the rope or chain; this includes adding more rope or chain.

Teleporters
With 1.2, teleporter pads, sold by the Steampunker, can be the fastest means of travel in any direction given that it is set up correctly. However, placing the wires and teleporters may take a bit of time. To use, wire together two teleporters with a switch, a lever, or a pressure plate on both ends. Stand on a teleporter, trigger it, and watch as you are instantly transported between the two teleporters. An amazingly overcomplicated sounding way to move quickly is to use a series of anywhere from 6-20 teleporters and have little "Junctions" every 2000 blocks so you can go through one teleporter, move 3 blocks, go through another, etc. You can also use multiple wires and create "Stations" that let you flick a switch, go to a teleporter, flick another switch, and go to the next one. It would require about 1/2 as many teleporters, but would require more switches, and, if you're not good with wiring, multiple wire colors & wrenches.

Hoik
http://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/hoik-guide-rapid-player-npc-etc-transport-using-only-sloped-tiles.1656/

A Hoik is a term used for a device which uses glitched half blocks for fast travel. The glitch occurs when a character sprite shares space with a sloped block: The character is immediately displaced a couple of tiles in a predictable direction. By chaining these glitches together with a deliberately placed line of shaped blocks, entities (Players, NPCs, enemies, and even items) can be moved rapidly in any direction: horizontal travel at 60 or 120 tiles per second and up/down elevators at 180 tiles per second, several times that provided by legitimate means (aside from teleporters). Hoiks can be built regardless of a player's current level of game advancement, as it requires nothing more advanced than a hammer.

It also allows to create mechanisms, such as binary counters, that aren't available with standard game features or can be slower.