This means the page will walk you through a specific task, strategy, or enemy/boss fight.
Crafting is the act of combining one or more materials into a different item, usually at a specific crafting station. The crafting system is deeply interwoven with game progression, with many "key" materials and crafting stations dropped by various bosses, or otherwise available only after a given boss has been defeated.
Crafting Basics[]
The crafting aspect is slightly different across different versions of Terraria. To access the crafting menu, press the Inventory key while in-game. This will bring up the heads-up display, showing your inventory, equipment slots, and other options. The crafting menu is located in the bottom left of your screen, as indicated in the image below. On 
Console, press 
(
) / 
(
) / 
(
). From there, switch tabs on 
Old-gen console to access the crafting interface and on Console, switch menus (
/ 
) 
.
The crafting area on
PC, outlined in red.
The crafting area on
Console.
The crafting area on
Old-gen console.
The crafting area on
Mobile (pre-1.3 screenshot).
The new crafting area on
Mobile for 1.4, visible on the right.
PC version[]
The items that can be currently crafted will appear in this menu. Your crafting options are determined by the items you have in your inventory, as well as your proximity to various crafting stations. Next to a selected item's icon in the list, its crafting recipe appears.
To navigate this menu, you can click or use the mouse wheel to scroll through items. You can also see all craftable items at once by clicking the hammer icon below the word "Crafting". To select an item (as depicted by a yellow border), simply click on it, and to craft it, click it again. The newly crafted item will attach itself to your cursor, and from there it can be placed in your inventory or dropped by right-clicking outside of your inventory space. Large numbers of stackable items can be crafted by right-clicking and holding the icon, which quickly creates and stacks that item until the stack is full, you run out of materials, or simply let go. To exit your inventory, press the Inventory key again.
Upon crafting, there is a 75% chance that a weapon or accessory is provided with a random modifier, slightly altering its quality. There is no way to predict what modifier will be applied on an item, and many items cannot get modifiers at all.
To change its modifier, you will have to use the reforge mechanic located in the Goblin Tinkerer's text box.
Crafting Stations[]
Many recipes require that you have a crafting station to craft them. The first crafting station available is the Work Bench, which can be crafted without any crafting station. To use a crafting station, it must be placed in the world, and you must be standing close enough to it (see image). Items you can craft using the station will then be added to the list of items you can currently craft. It is possible to stand near many crafting stations simultaneously to craft items using any of these stations. Additionally, some items, such as the Copper Watch or Waterfall Blocks require that you stand next to multiple different crafting stations to be able to craft them.
Multi-Crafting Areas[]
A highly compact crafting station used to craft most items available pre-Hardmode. Some stations such as the Dye Vat and Cooking Pot are excluded.
A compact, ultra-comprehensive above-ground crafting station that is capable of crafting almost any craftable item in 1.3. The only missing station is the Demon Altar/Crimson Altar as they cannot be moved. It also includes the Piggy Bank and the Safe for storage.
The same compact crafting station, but updated to include 1.4 crafting stations. Additions include Decay Chamber, Teapot, and Ecto Mist. Also built in a Snow biome and includes Piggy Bank, Safe, and Void Vault for storage.
A very efficient pre-Hardmode crafting area (as of v1.3.2.1) with every station needed to progress to Hardmode (including a table for making a Watch). Simply stand on the Work Bench to access all surrounding crafting stations and chests.
A pre-Hardmode, post-Dungeon upgrade from the previous crafting area once the player has an Alchemy Table. Crimstone Blocks are used to surround the single tile of water to prevent losing the water from accidental hits with a strong Pickaxe. Also, note the wooden platform at the top of the water - this allows the extra chest to be placed.
The Artisan Loaf increases crafting range. Standing on the platforms, the blue/white grid shows the normal crafting station range while the white/green grid shows the crafting station range when standing at either platform's edge. The red/yellow grid shows the increased crafting station range while the yellow/purple grid shows the increased crafting station range when standing at either platform's edge.
Notes[]
Many players may find it useful to use the Guide's help, as he shows not only the recipes an item is used in, but also what crafting stations are needed to craft those items.- If you keep any potion ingredients in one area, it can be useful to place a Bottle or Alchemy Table nearby for quick crafting. Similarly, for dyes and paints you can put a Dye Vat nearby.
- To make a fully complete crafting area, you would need to include either a Demon or Crimson Altar. Unfortunately, those are immobile! If you don't want to locate your crafting area near an altar, you can instead provide a way to get to an altar quickly -- teleporters are good for this. Don't forget the minor stations such as Lava and honey blocks (a sink can substitute for water), and a Campfire (for a Marshmallow on a Stick).
- The player is required to be on the same level as crafting stations to use them and cannot craft using items from a chest (they must be in the player's inventory).
- On the Nintendo version, one can scroll through all recipes previously discovered, no matter if the materials are available or not. This can help the player, however, they will have to scroll for a while late-game. Also, when crafting on the Nintendo version items cannot receive modifiers. Only by reforging with the Goblin Tinkerer may one receive modifiers on crafted items.
- On the Mobile version before 1.3, the Guide was unhelpful with crafting, and could only give you tips (there was no “crafting” button).
