1.3 Expert Mode Discussion

Do you like Expert mode?

  • Yeah!

  • Meh....

  • No.

Results are only viewable after voting.
For all you melee users, the Light Disc is now a must. I've always loved Light Disc for being able to defeat the Golem and Plantera while only being a Destroyer drop, and it honestly couldn't be rivaled by other melee weapons in boss battles except for the Terra Blade. They've now doubled it's damage, which is insane.
 
With a Blood Moon at the Ocean, it was quite interesting to be dancing around with all the jellyfish and their electric ram attacks. Not to mention that hordes of sharks were attacking as well. It felt like the Snail that drops the purple dye spawned a little more frequently which was awesome.

After that, I will actually be getting Molten tier Armor and Weapons in order to take down Eater of Worlds and Skeletron. As well as setting up specialized arenas for both of them.
 
Currently I have beaten All pre-hardmode bosses, the 3 Mechanical Bosses, Plantera, and Golem.
Am I enjoying the mode very much, even though I have cursed countless times and Moss Hornets.
Ranged Attacks seem to be very effective, considering you can literally take 60 damage from anything, even a green slime. Ranger4lyfem8.

The only problem I seemed to have is that the Rune Wizard can deal 360 Damage to me with 40 defense, little prick :dryadcry:
Overall, it's an incredible challenge to even the most experienced players, and I'm talking about the players who have over 400 hours (guilty).
If you haven't played it, you should!!! :dryadnaughty:
 
Preferred Selection said:
There are so many changes in expert mode that I just view as trolling the player... I appreciate the challenge, but mostly I feel like expert mode (on a new character) is Terraria minus the fun.

My current axe to grind are the Lava Slimes dropping lava again. Why? Why not just make them a stronger enemy? Getting lava on everything is just frustrating.
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I cannot describe how useful the royal gel is with regards to the lava slimes. Spread the word people!
 
For people struggling with Skeletron: I think I found out a pretty easy way to trump him. I did this with Molten Gear, Shield of Cthulhu, Spectre Boots, Blue Horseshoe Balloon, Band of Regeneration, and Lava Waders (only because they had warding), for a total of 43 defense. Everything had either movement speed or defense on them, and I used Molten Fury and Water Bolt, with Ironskin, Regeneration, Archer, and Swiftness potion. For the arena: just make two platforms about 150 tiles long with a vertical wall on both ends. Whenever your mana becomes full, just sprint and fire in a straight horizontal line with the Water Bolt, and when it's empty, just fire either unholy or hellfire arrows at the hands first, and then the head. Only took me two tries to accomplish.
 
johnnymac03 said:
For people struggling with Skeletron: I think I found out a pretty easy way to trump him. I did this with Molten Gear, Shield of Cthulhu, Spectre Boots, Blue Horseshoe Balloon, Band of Regeneration, and Lava Waders (only because they had warding), for a total of 43 defense. Everything had either movement speed or defense on them, and I used Molten Fury and Water Bolt, with Ironskin, Regeneration, Archer, and Swiftness potion. For the arena: just make two platforms about 150 tiles long with a vertical wall on both ends. Whenever your mana becomes full, just sprint and fire in a straight horizontal line with the Water Bolt, and when it's empty, just fire either unholy or hellfire arrows at the hands first, and then the head. Only took me two tries to accomplish.
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I'm currently stuck on Skeletron and have been for about 10 attempts now, I'm managing to consistently destroy both hands and get the Skull it's self to about 25% health but it's getting rather frustrating :p

I have pretty much the exact gear that you said you used (Lightning Boots instead of Lava Waders and I don't have a band of regeneration so I'm using that Necklace from new blood moon enemies, I forget it's name, one with defense penetration) and I tried your tactic with similar results.

The one think I am missing is the consumables, could they realistically be what'd make or break my success in killing him? I'm rather new to the game and if that is the case I'd need advice on how to obtain them as I've already used all the ones that I've found.
 
On my current playthrough I make a fresh character and playing solo, but currenly stuck dan frustating with Plantera, lol. Too lazy to find the bulb.
Well, I almost killed it(about 1/6 of it's health) but that bunch of tentacles frustrating me and disturb my Shield of Cthulhu dash, I keep bumped to them.
Oh by the way, this expert mode really forced me to make an arena which I don't really like and never do in normal mode, for example like with that WoF, it's really difficult to climbing or destroying the building in the underworld since the WoF will increase it speed when it's on a low health, so I need to make a pretty long track.

But actually I really love the expert mode, it's challenging. I have a goal to complete all of the achievements soloing in expert mode, which means to beat the Moon Lord solo too, but I don't know if it's possible or not. :dryadconfused:
 
I love expert mode, mostly because it actually makes bosses tough, makes you plan a strategy, instead of just being able to kill bosses with a wooden sword. in 1.2 I actually did that against all pre-hardmode bosses with molten armor. Though blood moons seem a little messed up, since I got none for 50 days, then I got 7 in a row. just what is my luck? speaking of luck, I literally dug out my whole desert to try to find a pyramid, and there were none, I generated another world, and same thing. they need to make pyramids more common

I do like how stuff like the stopwatch, watch, gps, and all that stuff is not necessary to have equipped to gain the effect of it. it saves so much accessory space.

What is strange is how if I go to the rock bottom of the underworld, I get frame skipping, and only at the very bottom of the underworld. BTY Lava waders are amazing, and I like how they also work if you have them equipped and you get on a mount. slimy saddle is too OP
 
Ti87tyk said:
The one think I am missing is the consumables, could they realistically be what'd make or break my success in killing him? I'm rather new to the game and if that is the case I'd need advice on how to obtain them as I've already used all the ones that I've found.
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Potions can be the difference between life and death. I would recommend getting at least ironskin, endurance, regeneration and swiftness potion. Also well fed buff from some kind of food.

Potion recipes in an alchemy station (Workbench/Table + Bottle placed on it):
Ironskin = Bottled Water + Daybloom + Iron Ore
Endurance = Bottled Water + Armored Cavefish (can be fished in the Underground) + Blinkroot
Regeneration = Bottled Water + Daybloom + Mushroom
Swiftness = Bottled Water + Blinkroot + Cactus

Ironskin and endurance give you more defence. Swiftness makes you move faster and regeneration gives life regeneration. For additional regeneration, you could also place Campfires and Heart Lanterns on your arena.
 
johnnymac03 said:
For people struggling with Skeletron: I think I found out a pretty easy way to trump him. I did this with Molten Gear, Shield of Cthulhu, Spectre Boots, Blue Horseshoe Balloon, Band of Regeneration, and Lava Waders (only because they had warding), for a total of 43 defense. Everything had either movement speed or defense on them, and I used Molten Fury and Water Bolt, with Ironskin, Regeneration, Archer, and Swiftness potion. For the arena: just make two platforms about 150 tiles long with a vertical wall on both ends. Whenever your mana becomes full, just sprint and fire in a straight horizontal line with the Water Bolt, and when it's empty, just fire either unholy or hellfire arrows at the hands first, and then the head. Only took me two tries to accomplish.
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Molten armour...Molten Fury...Water Bolt (which you don't have a 100% chance of getting in the first place pre-Skeletron).

Yeah, bosses become easy when you use gear two tiers above what the boss is at.
 
FlakMaster said:
Molten armour...Molten Fury...Water Bolt (which you don't have a 100% chance of getting in the first place pre-Skeletron).

Yeah, bosses become easy when you use gear two tiers above what the boss is at.
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Tiers don't mean jack in pre-hardmode - to a degree. The Underworld is as doable as any other biome. The Waterbolt is a lucky find but nothing that can't be replaced with jungle, or more specifically, Bee tier. The jungle is basically no longer an alt to the dungeon but a prerequisite (for those who aren't skilled at dodging, aka: me).

What I find more amusing is the multiplayer posts. Buff the bosses all you want, it's always easier with 2 or more players, the AI of a single boss can't simply cope with 2 or more superior human brains. Not that there's anything wrong with that, if you're struggling you can always phone a friend, it's nice social game design, but don't bother telling me about "difficulty" when you you're in multiplayer. :)

Anyway, I made a post on another thread about how EM was a bit of a slog with little reward but I went back to NM and absolutely wrecked the EoC in wooden armour and shurikens, and felt sorry for him. I can't play NM now. EM is the new NM!
 
rubeszilla said:
Tiers don't mean jack in pre-hardmode - to a degree. The Underworld is as doable as any other biome. The Waterbolt is a lucky find but nothing that can't be replaced with jungle, or more specifically, Bee tier. The jungle is basically no longer an alt to the dungeon but a prerequisite (for those who aren't skilled at dodging, aka: me).

What I find more amusing is the multiplayer posts. Buff the bosses all you want, it's always easier with 2 or more players, the AI of a single boss can't simply cope with 2 or more superior human brains. Not that there's anything wrong with that, if you're struggling you can always phone a friend, it's nice social game design, but don't bother telling me about "difficulty" when you you're in multiplayer. :)
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Yeah, I completely agree. I just like to face bosses at the level it was designed at.

rubeszilla said:
EM is the new NM!
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Definitely.
 
FlakMaster said:
Yeah, I completely agree. I just like to face bosses at the level it was designed at.



Definitely.
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And what "level" was Skeletron designed for? Back in 1.2 there was an obvious tier but I think that's gone. It's all a hodge-podge of whatever you can get from all over the map with Skeletron being the hardest boss. I really like the hodge-podge but I'm not sure why Skelly is such a threshold guardian on the hero's journey when there's really nothing so much better to be gained from the dungeon. /shrug.

Anyway, as per most bosses, one very long bridge and run'n'gun is always an easy way out if you like/need cheese.
 
rubeszilla said:
And what "level" was Skeletron designed for? Back in 1.2 there was an obvious tier but I think that's gone. It's all a hodge-podge of whatever you can get from all over the map with Skeletron being the hardest boss. I really like the hodge-podge but I'm not sure why Skelly is such a threshold guardian on the hero's journey when there's really nothing so much better to be gained from the dungeon. /shrug.
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Well, the way I've always seen it, it is Pre-EoW/BoC (EoC is optional), then you sack the evil biomes. Then, you can either go to the dungeon and jungle. And then, your next task is hell. Following that, Skeletron should be on-par to Queen Bee. So, the 'level' the gear you have could either be demonite/crimtane goodies or jungle. Hellstone is pretty overkill.

Of course, there's no strict limits to what way you can take Pre-HM. I'm just going by the strength of the gear that you get.
 
I recently did an Expert playthrough with a new character (but gave up on it after a rare bug caused the Wall of Flesh to refuse to spawn, after my third failure against it).

I held off on fighting bosses until I had at least 300 HP. I got myself full Meteor set and a Space Gun before fighting Eye of Cthulhu, Eater of Worlds, and Queen Bee.
In order to get the meteor to spawn, I bombed out a path to two of the Shadow Orbs and smashed them, holding off on a third until I was ready to fight.
Worked out pretty well, actually. Helps that I had a pretty good accessory setup, with a couple moblity boosters and a couple defense-boosting prefixes.
For Skeletron, I waited until I had full Molten armor and a Molten Fury, and used a nice array of buffs to help with the fight.


rubeszilla said:
And what "level" was Skeletron designed for? Back in 1.2 there was an obvious tier but I think that's gone. It's all a hodge-podge of whatever you can get from all over the map with Skeletron being the hardest boss. I really like the hodge-podge but I'm not sure why Skelly is such a threshold guardian on the hero's journey when there's really nothing so much better to be gained from the dungeon. /shrug.
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Really, the only reason I can see to open up the Dungeon is to get the Muramasa to craft Night's Edge, the Handgun to craft Phoenix Blaster, and the Shadow Key to get all the shadow chest items, so you're ready for early Hardmode. The rest of the gold chest items are either inferior to shadow chest items (Blue Moon and Magic Missile, to be specific) or not that impressive.
 
I've completed all there is to expert mode, which I take to mean I defeated the final boss a couple of times and got all his drops (minus the trophy still) and I will say that if you're struggling with Skeletron, the Lunar Event will be an extreme nightmare. Anywho, I will give some 2 cents on normal mode/pre-mech boss stuff.

1. Don't bother with queen bee unless you want to be a summoner, or really want the bee mount. Even so, there's no boss pre-hardmode that requires some form of flight to battle it, and her bees are painful and very small to see.

2. Skeletron is all about learning when to dash between his skull projectiles and dodging them. It takes time to learn, but there is a window to dash (if using the expert mode EoC drop) in between skulls and once they are behind you, they no longer home in, learning it is vital to surviving the 2nd phase. Lastly, his head spin when below 1/2 HP and both hands down (which, by the way, influences how much defense his head has. 2 hands = most defense, 0 hands = much less defense) is a death sentence if you get hit. Unless you're a total ninja with grappling hooks, there is no escape from the head spin since you won't have the colbalt shield yet, and you will effectively be stun-locked inside of him.

3. BoC was (imo) miles easier than EoW. Try a crimson world if EoW is destroying you. BoC pro-tip: you can tell which one is real by hovering over with the mouse. HP and name = real Brain.

4. Fishing for crates and stockpiling them gives you the edge at the start of hardmode to help eliminate the mining grind and dangerous underground, whilst still providing enough bars (hopefully) to make some early HM armors.

5. Banners. Banners. BANNERS. I can't emphasize how useful they are for invasions and in general! Kill the mobs quickly then place the banners for double damage and increased DEF against them! Grind out all the banners for goblins before hardmode, then use them when you fight them again in hardmode. There is a miniboss in it which drops a very strong weapon for each of the classes, and not having to deal with all the other goblins as much really helps.

6. As usual, check the top of the dungeon for an early water bolt. It was buffed (for some strange reason) in 1.3 and does extremely well against both the Eater and Brain. Put a solid roof on your arena, wall it up on both sides, shred the bosses quickly.

Finally my last point, I used to be able to go and tackle a boss very early on a fresh character with little preparation. This was huge mistake on Expert. Don't expect the bosses to be pushovers anymore, and preparation is key.
 
Rio said:
3. BoC was (imo) miles easier than EoW. Try a crimson world if EoW is destroying you. BoC pro-tip: you can tell which one is real by hovering over with the mouse. HP and name = real Brain.
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I'd have to argue though that Eater's expert item is far better than Brain's though.
Being able to inflict Confusion is nice, but it certainly won't help out in boss fights.
Taking reduced damage from everything, however, is the kind of thing I'd be taking with me for the long run.
 
Rio said:
Don't bother with queen bee unless you want to be a summoner, or really want the bee mount. Even so, there's no boss pre-hardmode that requires some form of flight to battle it, and her bees are painful and very small to see.
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I gotta agree with the bees. I fought the Queen Bee with Frost Armor (or whatever it's called), around 55 defense, and the Queen's dash at me did 10 damage. I thought it would be easy but then she sent out bees that did 50 damage every attack.

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As for opinions on pre-hardmode expert items.

Shield of Cthulhu - Good for the defense, and dash is useful against even some hardmode bosses.
Worm Scarf - Amazing even for very late game, way better bonus than an entire warding set, imo.
Brain of Confusion - Okay for pre-hardmode, otherwise not worth it.
Slime King drop - Not useful, but fun.
Hive Pack - Useful for some types of weaponry, but otherwise useless.
Skeletron Hand thingy - Absolutely useless.
Demon Heart - Best of course.

@People talking about dungeon items - The dungeon is worth it imo.

Cobalt Shield - Makes the game a lot easier with no knockback and I think everyone can agree about this. Also can be upgraded for no debuffs, which is way better in expert.

Handgun - Makes the amazing Pheonix Blaster which is useful against WoF.

Muramasa - Required to make the Terra Blade.

Shadow Key - Gives lots of choices of good items.

Magic Weapons - completely useless
 
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