Expert Mode

     

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-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." 

Selection of Expert Mode on  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,  Console,  Mobile, and  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

• Bats have a chance to inflict the Feral Bite debuff.
• Some Zombies carry a Zombie Arm, causing them to have an extended attack 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 (except in the middle of the don't dig up seed).
• Jellyfish gain a new shock attack in which they move in a straight line and take no damage. Hitting them with a swung melee weapon or tool will incur damage.
• Black Recluses and Jungle Creepers gain an additional spit attack which renders the player unable to move for a short duration.
• Granite Elementals can shield themselves from attacks, similar to Granite Golems, but will only do so if they have less than 50% health.

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

• Enemies drop 2.5x as many coins.
• Pots drop more items when broken, and have higher chances for rare items.
• Fishing quest rewards give more money, and also have higher chances for better loot.
• Enemy banners offer more powerful buffs when placed.
• Armed Zombie Statues and Bone Skeleton Statues can be found in the world.
  • On  PC,  Console,  Mobile, and  tModLoader, these statues can be found in non-Expert mode worlds.
• Hardmode Dungeon enemies have enhanced drop tables, and can drop two items at once.
• Pumpkin Moon and Frost Moon mini-bosses start to have a chance of dropping trophies 5 waves before the normal wave 15.

Player

• Health regeneration is half as effective (three-quarters with Shiny Stone) without the Well Fed buff.
• Vampire Knives and Spectre armor healing is slightly less effective.
• The defense stat is more effective, 50% more effective than in Classic Mode.
• When touching the water in a Snow biome, the player is inflicted the Chilled debuff for as long as they stay in the water, and for five seconds after getting out.
• The following debuffs last twice as long when inflicted on players:

• Poisoned
• Darkness
• Cursed
• On Fire!
• Bleeding
• Confused
• Slow
• Weak
• Silenced
• Broken Armor
• Cursed Inferno
• Frostburn
• Chilled
• Frozen
• Ichor
• Acid Venom
• Blackout

• 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

See also: Expert-exclusive content

Expert Mode-exclusive items are found inside Treasure Bags dropped by bosses and generally have the 12* 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 Gel	Slimes become passive and deal no damage to the player.
Eye of Cthulhu	Shield of Cthulhu	Allows the player to perform a dash attack, 2 defense.
	0x33's Aviators	Vanity item only. The Treasure Bag must be opened by a Hardcore character. Master Mode-exclusive on  PC,  Console,  Mobile, and  tModLoader.
Eater of Worlds	Worm Scarf	Reduces all damage taken by 17%.
Brain of Cthulhu	Brain 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 Pack	Increases the strength of friendly bees.
Skeletron	Bone Glove	Throws Crossbones when the player attacks. A thrown / ranged weapon that uses Bones as ammunition.
Deerclops	Bone Helm	Summons Shadow Hands to deal damage to enemies.
Wall of Flesh	Demon Heart	Permanently increases the number of accessory slots by 1. One time use.
The Destroyer	Mechanical Wagon Piece	Used to craft the Minecart Upgrade Kit / Mechanical Cart .
The Twins	Mechanical Wheel Piece
Skeletron Prime	Mechanical Battery Piece
Queen Slime	Volatile Gelatin	Releases volatile gelatin periodically that damages enemies.
Plantera	Spore Sac	Summons spores over time that will damage enemies.
Empress of Light	Soaring Insignia	Grants infinite wing and rocket boot flight. Increases flight and jump mobility.
Golem	Shiny Stone	Greatly increases life regeneration when the player is not moving.
Duke Fishron	Shrimpy Truffle	Mount with endless flight and hover. Travels faster in liquids.
Mourning Wood	Witch's Broom	Mount with endless flight and hover.
Moon Lord	Gravity Globe	Allows the holder to reverse gravity.
	Suspicious Looking Tentacle	Light pet that exposes nearby enemies, treasures, pots and ores.
	Celestial Starboard	Allows flight and slow fall. Highest mobility among Wings.

Trivia

• Expert Mode's descriptive text, "Fortune & Glory, Kid.", is a quote from the 1984 American action-adventure film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

History

 PC version

• Desktop 1.4.3: Added Bone Helm, Deerclops's exclusive Expert Mode accessory.

• Desktop 1.4.0.1:
  • Added Soaring Insignia, Empress of Light's exclusive Expert Mode accessory.
  • Added Volatile Gelatin, Queen Slime's exclusive Expert Mode accessory.
  • Added Witch's Broom, Mourning Wood's exclusive Expert Mode mount.
  • Added Celestial Starboard, Moon Lord's third exclusive Expert Mode item.
  • Enemies who pick up coins in Expert Mode are now saved to a location when they despawn.
  • 0x33 Aviators no longer drop from Treasure Bags opened by Hardcore characters in Expert Mode, but instead drop from Eye of Cthulhu normally in Master Mode.

• 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.

 Console version

• Console 1.0.933.1: Introduced. ()

• Console 1.0.750.0: Introduced. ()

 Nintendo Switch version

• Switch 1.0.711.6: Introduced.

 Mobile version

• Mobile 1.3.0.7: Introduced.