Terraria Wiki

  • Discussions are now available on the Terraria Wiki.
  • Miss the old Hydra Skin? Try out our Hydralize gadget! Visit the preferences page while logged in and turn on the gadget.

READ MORE

Terraria Wiki
Register
Advertisement
PC versionConsole versionMobile versionOld Chinese versiontModLoader versiontModLoader 1
PC/Console/Mobile/Old Chinese/tModLoader/tModLoader 1.3-Legacy-Only Content: This information applies only to the PC, Console, Mobile, Old Chinese, tModLoader, and tModLoader Legacy versions of Terraria.
Expert mode icon
Expert Mode-Only Content: This information applies only to Expert Mode and Expert Mode worlds.
Not to be confused with Hardmode, which is triggered by defeating the Wall of Flesh, or Master Mode, which is another, extra hard, difficulty option for world generation.
"Fortune & Glory, Kid."
Create world prompt expert mobile

Selection of Expert Mode on Mobile version Mobile 1.3.0.7, showing a Corrupt Bunny instead of a regular Bunny to illustrate the increased difficulty.

Expert Mode is an option that can be selected during world creation. It greatly increases the difficulty of the game, as well as the quantity and quality of drops and the chances to obtain rare items. Furthermore, it offers certain exclusive content. Expert Mode begins the moment the Expert Mode world is created, and cannot be altered after that by the player. In Journey Mode, Expert Mode can be toggled using the difficulty slider.

General Changes[]

  • Most enemies have twice as much health, do about twice as much damage, and receive 10% less knockback.
    • Weaker enemies, excluding bosses and their minions, may get an additional multiplier to the above stats upon entering Hardmode and another after Plantera has been defeated.
    • Specific enemies (such as bosses) have additional multipliers to their stats.
  • Enemies and bosses have new AIs with higher difficulty attack patterns.
  • Enemies can spawn near NPCs, although they still will not spawn in front of placed background walls.
  • Enemies drop more loot, including higher chances (usually 50% or 100% extra chance) to drop certain items.
  • Some enemies inflict additional debuffs, or have an increased chance to inflict a debuff that they already inflict.
  • Enemies can pick up coins dropped by enemies or players. Enemies holding dropped coins emit a sparkle effect based on the color of the best coin they are holding.
    • Picked-up coins will be reset on NPC transformation, therefore the player cannot retrieve coins from enemies like spiders after they have transformed into their alternate form (from horizontal form to wall form, or reverse) or other enemies behaving similarly.
    • On PC version PC, Console version Console, Mobile version Mobile, and tModLoader version tModLoader, Expert Mode enemies who steal the player's money will be saved in that area and respawn when the player returns. Their locations and how much money they carry is displayed on the minimap.
  • Softcore/Classic players drop 75% of their coins upon death instead of 50%.
  • The general respawn time is increased to 15 seconds, while respawn time during boss fights is increased to 30 seconds.
  • Slime Rain can occur without its usual criteria, spawn rates are 15% higher, and Green/Purple Slimes have a higher spawn chance.
  • Killing Pumpkin/Frost Moon enemies progresses the event twice as fast, due to the increased health of their enemies.
  • All NPCs do 1.75× their regular damage.Verify
  • The Traveling Merchant has a 50% chance to sell an additional item.

Enemies[]

New enemy attacks[]

Bosses[]

  • Bosses in Expert Mode have increased health. Their health is boosted even further in multiplayer, with more health added for each player.
    • Each boss has their own boost factor, which is a decimal number greater than 1. For example, Skeletron has a boost factor of 2.0 and Plantera has a boost factor of 1.4.
    • In single player, Expert boss health follows this formula: ExpertHealth = NormalHealth * BoostFactor
    • In multiplayer, Expert bosses multiply their health further based on the number of players: ExpertHealth = NormalHealth * BoostFactor * MultiplayerFactor
      • The multiplayer factor is increased incrementally for each player: MultiplayerFactor = 1 + HealthAdded[2] + HealthAdded[3] + ...
      • The base amount of health added per player is 35%. That is, HealthAdded[2] = 0.35.
      • Each consecutive player adds more health than the last: HealthAdded[n+1] = HealthAdded[n] + (1 - HealthAdded[n]) / 3
      • If there are ten or more players, the multiplayer health boost is modified using this formula: MultiplayerFactor = (MultiplayerFactor * 2 + 8) / 3
      • The multiplayer factor cannot exceed 1,000. This limit is never reached in practice because it requires 1,498 players, and Terraria servers cannot have more than 255 players.
    • Boss health is determined at the time the boss is spawned. If a player joins the server after the boss has spawned, the boss's health will not update to account for the additional player.
  • Most bosses gain a new attack or movement pattern which makes them more difficult. For example, Duke Fishron gains a third stage.
  • When defeated, each boss (except for the Lunatic Cultist, Dark Mage, and Ogre) drops an Expert-exclusive Treasure Bag unique to that boss. Each Treasure Bag contains a greater quantity of the boss's usual drops from Classic Mode, along with unique Expert Mode-exclusive items. These items can all be used in non-Expert Mode worlds, with the exception of the Demon Heart. Hardmode bosses' Treasure Bags have an additional 5% chance to contain one random set of developer items (with the exception of Queen Slime). Treasure Bags can be opened in both Expert Mode and Normal worlds.

Items[]

Player[]

  • A sixth accessory slot can be obtained by consuming a Demon Heart, which is an Expert-only item. The slot is permanent, but will only be active if a player is in an Expert or Master Mode world.

Expert-exclusive items[]

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

Boss Items Usage
King Slime Royal GelRoyal Gel Slimes become passive and deal no damage to the player.
Eye of Cthulhu Shield of CthulhuShield of Cthulhu Allows the player to perform a dash attack, 2 defense.
0x33's Aviators0x33's Aviators Vanity item only. The Treasure Bag must be opened by a Hardcore character. Master Mode-exclusive on PC version PC, Console version Console, Mobile version Mobile, and tModLoader version tModLoader.
Eater of Worlds Worm ScarfWorm Scarf Reduces all damage taken by 17%.
Brain of Cthulhu Brain of ConfusionBrain of Confusion Has a chance to create illusions and dodge an attack.

Temporarily increase critical chance after dodge.

May confuse nearby enemies after being struck.

Queen Bee Hive PackHive Pack Increases the strength of friendly bees.
Skeletron Bone GloveBone Glove Throws Crossbones when the player attacks.

A thrown / ranged weapon that uses Bones as ammunition.

Deerclops Bone HelmBone Helm Summons Shadow Hands to deal damage to enemies.
Wall of Flesh Demon HeartDemon Heart Permanently increases the number of accessory slots by 1. One time use.
The Destroyer Mechanical Wagon PieceMechanical Wagon Piece Used to craft the Minecart Upgrade Kit / Mechanical Cart tModLoader version.
The Twins Mechanical Wheel PieceMechanical Wheel Piece
Skeletron Prime Mechanical Battery PieceMechanical Battery Piece
Queen Slime Volatile GelatinVolatile Gelatin Releases volatile gelatin periodically that damages enemies.
Plantera Spore SacSpore Sac Summons spores over time that will damage enemies.
Empress of Light Soaring InsigniaSoaring Insignia Grants infinite wing and rocket boot flight.

Increases flight and jump mobility.

Golem Shiny StoneShiny Stone Greatly increases life regeneration when the player is not moving.
Duke Fishron Shrimpy TruffleShrimpy Truffle Mount with endless flight and hover. Travels faster in liquids.
Mourning Wood Witch's BroomWitch's Broom Mount with endless flight and hover.
Moon Lord Gravity GlobeGravity Globe Allows the holder to reverse gravity.
Suspicious Looking TentacleSuspicious Looking Tentacle Light pet that exposes nearby enemies, treasures, pots and ores.
Celestial StarboardCelestial Starboard Allows flight and slow fall. Highest mobility among Wings.

Trivia[]

History[]

  • Desktop 1.3.0.4:
    • Fixed hittable enemy projectiles not scaling in Expert Mode.
    • Fixed air items being left over when monsters pick up coins in Expert Mode.
  • Desktop 1.3.0.1: Introduced. Bosses now drop special Expert Mode-only items.

Footnotes[]

  1. The increased defense is still less effective than normal, because enemy damage is multiplied by about 2 while damage reduction is only multiplied by 1.5. As a result, the player will take more than twice as much damage from enemies given the same amount of defense. For example, assuming the player is wearing full melee Adamantite armor (50 defense) with no other defense bonuses and gets hit by a Giant Bat (45 damage in Classic Mode). In Classic Mode, they get 25 damage reduction from 45 damage and take 20 damage. In Expert Mode, they get 38 damage reduction from 90 damage and take 52 damage.
  2. Information taken from the PC version PC 1.4.3.6 source code, method AddBuff_DetermineBuffTimeToAdd() in Terraria.Player.cs. There may be inaccuracies, as the current PC version PC version is 1.4.4.9.
Advertisement