1.3 Expert Mode Discussion

[Jeremopolis]

So far I've killed the Eye and Brain of Cthulhu, Queen Bee and Skeletron, the hardest fight so far was with Skeletron...

key items to kill him: slimy saddle (to avoid skeletron's spinning attack), Horse Shoe (to negate fall damage from double jump), Sandstorm in a Bottle (to get double jump) other accesories with defense bonus, Bee's Knees with Hive Pack, basic buffs

it is weird that it's easier to get molten armor than beating skeletron...

IMO expert mode is fun, I feel like the first days playing terraria were everthing killed me, but I really don't like the fact that the only way to defeat bosses is through ranged attacks, so far for me melee in expert mode is buried and it's sad because I really want to try those yo-yos, I hope hardmode will be diferent

Dude, Amen. I have beaten every boss in expert mode with melee so far, with fun and challenging difficulty. But i cannot beat the wall of flesh. you have to get too close to the hungries with the weapons that kill them fast enough, and end up taking too much damage, and weapons that you can use from a safe enough distance like the dark lance, sunfury, flamarang, and cascade, dont kill them fast enough. and they regenerate crazy fast, so i can never get close to the wall of flesh. It's impossible, and i can't continue the playthrough so far. it stinks

 

[nethersage]

Dude, Amen. I have beaten every boss in expert mode with melee so far, with fun and challenging difficulty. But i cannot beat the wall of flesh. you have to get too close to the hungries with the weapons that kill them fast enough, and end up taking too much damage, and weapons that you can use from a safe enough distance like the dark lance, sunfury, flamarang, and cascade, dont kill them fast enough. and they regenerate crazy fast, so i can never get close to the wall of flesh. It's impossible, and i can't continue the playthrough so far. it stinks

Have you tried yo-yos?

 

[Rath]

I'm of mixed feelings with Expert Mode. The idea of a harder game is nice, but the implementation ends up being more frustrating than hard, simply due to the damage enemies can deal to you early on. Even then, most of the rewards are pretty meh for the challenge(though I have discovered that the Royal Gel is an INCREDIBLE item - expecially pre-Cobalt Shield). That feeling when you defeat Expert EoC when semi-unprepared in the middle of a Slime Rain(thanks for that, RNG gods..) is pretty satisfying, though. Getting killed in 2 hits by zombies.. not as much.

Did teach me to sort of change up my progression based on what I'm running, but that's more to adapt than anything else.

Dude, Amen. I have beaten every boss in expert mode with melee so far, with fun and challenging difficulty. But i cannot beat the wall of flesh. you have to get too close to the hungries with the weapons that kill them fast enough, and end up taking too much damage, and weapons that you can use from a safe enough distance like the dark lance, sunfury, flamarang, and cascade, dont kill them fast enough. and they regenerate crazy fast, so i can never get close to the wall of flesh. It's impossible, and i can't continue the playthrough so far. it stinks

I'm actually right before the WoF in my current playthrough. Figured after I learned a bit with my first Expert Mode char I'd run through the entire thing with each class, and started with Melee. Figure I'm going to need a lot of buffs, lot of healing/regen, and a LOT of luck.

 

[Jeremopolis]

I'm of mixed feelings with Expert Mode. The idea of a harder game is nice, but the implementation ends up being more frustrating than hard, simply due to the damage enemies can deal to you early on. Even then, most of the rewards are pretty meh for the challenge(though I have discovered that the Royal Gel is an INCREDIBLE item - expecially pre-Cobalt Shield). That feeling when you defeat Expert EoC when semi-unprepared in the middle of a Slime Rain(thanks for that, RNG gods..) is pretty satisfying, though. Getting killed in 2 hits by zombies.. not as much.

Did teach me to sort of change up my progression based on what I'm running, but that's more to adapt than anything else.

I'm actually right before the WoF in my current playthrough. Figured after I learned a bit with my first Expert Mode char I'd run through the entire thing with each class, and started with Melee. Figure I'm going to need a lot of buffs, lot of healing/regen, and a LOT of luck.

It's Impossible as far as i'm concerned. I even cheated in an arkhalis just to see if it would work, and junked it after since it was cheated. it didnt do enough damage. Like i said, the hungries regenerate WAY too fast, so you can rarely get close enough to attack the wof itself without it being bodyblocked by hungries. the whole time, dodging lasers as well

 

[rubeszilla]

It's Impossible as far as i'm concerned. I even cheated in an arkhalis just to see if it would work, and junked it after since it was cheated. it didnt do enough damage. Like i said, the hungries regenerate WAY too fast, so you can rarely get close enough to attack the wof itself without it being bodyblocked by hungries. the whole time, dodging lasers as well

I thought this was the easiest fight of all.

- Make a long bridge, punch out some holes here and there for lava slime, place camplanterns along it. Seriously, I had the entire bridge covered with camplanterns, about 10 of each.
- Reforge all (or most) accessories to warding.
- Reforge your weapon/s to Godly/Demonic.
- Buff with the Unholy Six: Ironskin, Regeneration, Well Fed, Rage, Swiftness, and Endurance/Wrath.

Use whatever top tier pre-HM gear you want, if you reforge them all and get buffed you should be able to do it. (I used Crimson armour, Bee Keeper, Waterbolt, Molten Fury)

 

[Matuse]

WoF is pretty easy if you're not restricting yourself to melee. Beenades and the Hellwing Bow make short work of the WoF, but they massacre or pierce through the Hungries, which a melee item is really going to struggle to do. Plus when the Wall is on it's last 5-10% of health, it really goes fast. So fast that someone in melee range running flat out will still be getting tongued constantly for huge damage.

But then, I've never really understood the appeal of X-weapon-only playthroughs. WoF is extremely melee unfriendly. So...I don't use melee. Problem solved.

 

[Jeremopolis]

WoF is pretty easy if you're not restricting yourself to melee. Beenades and the Hellwing Bow make short work of the WoF, but they massacre or pierce through the Hungries, which a melee item is really going to struggle to do. Plus when the Wall is on it's last 5-10% of health, it really goes fast. So fast that someone in melee range running flat out will still be getting tongued constantly for huge damage.

But then, I've never really understood the appeal of X-weapon-only playthroughs. WoF is extremely melee unfriendly. So...I don't use melee. Problem solved.

Yes, even in expert, the wof can be just as easy if using beenades, molten fury, hellwing bow, water bolt, ect ect ect. But the whole point of dedicated X weapon playthroughs are just that, for only that class of weapon to be used. In my case, anything that deals melee damage. And as you also said, yes. It's UNBEARABLY melee unfriendly. The only thing that kills the hungries fast enough is the night's edge, and you have to get MUCH too close for that, and end up taking a ton of damage. no other pre-hardmode melee weapon clears out the hungries faster than they can regenerate. him speeding up isnt that much of a problem honestly, at that point you can switch to bunny mount (it outruns him) and start using the cascade or flamarang.

 

[somebody1234]

The arkhalis can kill hungries in <2 seconds, and I'm pretty sure it can hit multiple enemies in the same swing as well.

 

[Rookas]

What bosses have you beat? I've beaten the EoC and the EoW. It was really fun
How'd you beat em? EoC was pretty fun. With my OP enchanted sword AND Arkhalis (my world was really lucky I suppose), I sniped his first phase and most of his second with the beam. When he gets infinite berserk, I switched to my Arkhalis and stood still. Use regen, swiftness, ironskin, and sunflowers. As or the EoW, Arkhalis destroyed him, so not much tot alk about. No buffs, just Arkhalis.
Found any cool loot or things? That shield is pretty nifty.
What do you like/dislike about expert mode? I like the challenge, but skeletron man, he's hard ;-;.
And most importantly, are you having fun? Absoultly!

 

[neoselket]

in my opinion, buffing the damage mobs do is a cheap way to increase difficulty. when i heard they were going to improve the AI, i figured they'd make it so mobs would maybe not fall into lava so much, be better at parkour, maybe try and dodge your attacks, and what do we get? we get mobs that wallhack, deal double damage, get superspeed, and shoot projectiles at you. that's not artificial intelligence, that's artificial superpowers.

the worm scarf and stronger defense points are nice, but they're rendered moot because enemies deal double damage anyway, so you're still taking more damage than on normal. also, the expert mode items aren't very good. why are the goodie bags even there? just make the bosses drop the items directly rather than adding a pointless item in. overall, it provides a nice challenge, but was poorly implemented.

 

[Voyager]

I think expert mode just wasn't scaled well. It's OK in hardmode, I like the spitting black recluse...
But the slimes are too strong at the start.

 

[vladesch]

Dude, Amen. I have beaten every boss in expert mode with melee so far, with fun and challenging difficulty. But i cannot beat the wall of flesh. you have to get too close to the hungries with the weapons that kill them fast enough, and end up taking too much damage, and weapons that you can use from a safe enough distance like the dark lance, sunfury, flamarang, and cascade, dont kill them fast enough. and they regenerate crazy fast, so i can never get close to the wall of flesh. It's impossible, and i can't continue the playthrough so far. it stinks

I failed with a number of weapons and eventually succeeded with demon scythe.
Does a lot of damage and is piercing. Ideal.
Problem is WOF has a ton of defense, so things like the minishark just dont cut it. Plus it doesnt pierce so much of your shooting is just wasted on the little spawns.
You just need to buy several stacks of mana potions. Small ones work fine. They dont have a cooldown so you just quaff them almost continuously.

 

[nethersage]

in my opinion, buffing the damage mobs do is a cheap way to increase difficulty. when i heard they were going to improve the AI, i figured they'd make it so mobs would maybe not fall into lava so much, be better at parkour, maybe try and dodge your attacks, and what do we get? we get mobs that wallhack, deal double damage, get superspeed, and shoot projectiles at you. that's not artificial intelligence, that's artificial superpowers.

the worm scarf and stronger defense points are nice, but they're rendered moot because enemies deal double damage anyway, so you're still taking more damage than on normal. also, the expert mode items aren't very good. why are the goodie bags even there? just make the bosses drop the items directly rather than adding a pointless item in. overall, it provides a nice challenge, but was poorly implemented.

Me personally, I like the goodie bags. That way every player gets some loot when a boss is defeated. I guess that is why they put it in.

 

[FlakMaster]

Problem is WOF has a ton of defense, so things like the minishark just dont cut it.

IIRC, the eyes don't have any defence and the mouth has 15.

 

[neoselket]

after defeating skeletron, i went into the jungle expecting the queen bee tio put up a good fight, as the most difficult prehardmode boss in normal mode. however, it was pretty dang easy. i had molten armor, but the only new behavior exibited was extra dashing, which is easy to dodge and just looks totally loony when you see a giant bug flying back and forth in hyperspeed. wall of flesh was nice and challenging though.

 

[OddGirl]

I'm really enjoying expert mode. I've gotten through the WoF and some pirate/Goblin invasions. I'm playing as a summoner. The destroyer is my current road block but its still fun.

What's annoying me most? The Goblin Tinkerer and reforging. I expect it to cost more in expert mode but when he reforges it to the same (crappy) prefix 4 times in a row I seriously want to punch his Goblin face!

 

[Budggolden]

I've killed all of them... in expert mode. This is going to be long. I know this is late, I mean REALLY late, but if you happen to see this, then good for you, this might help you a little bit.
Make sure to use buffs for ALL of the bosses, it's pretty much necessary. Also, I played as the ranger class, so some of these guides might not work for you.
EoC: Make a huge arena with platforms, and run and dodge. That's all I can say for him.
EoW: Make platforms higher then he can reach. Slime mount is recommended. I beat him ranger, but I think it would be easier with weapons that pierce more.
Skeletron: The demon of expert mode. Make a big arena in the dungeon, and make sure to put blocks above your head, because skeletron doesn't fire his skulls if there are blocks between him and you, and when he starts spinning, run as fast as you can, because if he catches you, you're dead.
WoF: Make a huge bridge, stay away from the hungries, and use your weapons. I played as ranger, so I had necro armor. He is possible with lower defence armor like necro, trust me.
HARDMODE!
Destroyer: Super easy peasy, just use daedalus stormbow with holy arrows. It's incredible if your a ranger, he dies super fast, and you can get your next weapon . I don't really have a guide, just use your EoC arena.
The Twins: Make a skybridge, kill spasmatism first, and let retinizer be last. Megashark and crystal bullets are probably the bet weapon to use, as far as I know.
Skeletron Prime: Take out the limbs, target his head next. Use the skybridge that you used for the twins. Just run away and your fine.
Plantera: Plantera is probably the second most annoying boss (second to the moon lord). She deals more damage now, and some of the old methods don't work anymore, so this is what I did. I used a super big underground jungle arena with platforms for the first stage, and used a long hallway for the second form. DO NOT USE THE PLATFORM ARENA FOR HER SECOND FORM, use swiftness potion and hermes boots/fuzzy carrot/blessed apple and run as fast as you can, while attacking her. Also, a flamethrower works really well for plantera's second form, because of it's piercing and burning.
Golem: Pretty easy, just use buffs and you are fine.
Moons: Didn't do them .
Martian Madness: Stand in a box, and use weapons that can go through walls to kill the martian saucers.
Duke Fishron: Not to hard, just use the cosmic car key (if you have it) to go in big circles for the first and the second form, then when he teleports around on his final form, it sounds crazy, but just go up and down in the cosmic car while firing at him with your weapons. It actually works.
Lunatic Cultist: Just fly and shoot, pretty easy. Also if you have the sniper rifle, it's best to use it when the lunatic cultist creates clones, because chlorophyte bullets will home on to the real lunatic cultist.
Moon Lord: Pretty much impossible on expert. It's terrible, it's so hard. Just build a long minecart track and shoot, I don't really have anything else to say.
There it is. A guide for every boss in the game on expert. If you didn't understand anything of what I just said, then please tell me. Expert mode is pretty awesome, and you get some awesome stuff from it (aka demon heart). It's really fun, and challenging, all at the same time.

 

[The Water Bolt]

Skeletron's definitely tough, but his spin form STILL isn't the fastest thing around. With a simple minecart loop you can dodge him 90% of the time without even trying. With a good weapon (such as the Bee's Knees) you might not even need buffs.

 

[Budggolden]

Skeletron's definitely tough, but his spin form STILL isn't the fastest thing around. With a simple minecart loop you can dodge him 90% of the time without even trying. With a good weapon (such as the Bee's Knees) you might not even need buffs.

That is true, and probably would work very well. Personally, I prefer running with hermes boots, but that sounds like something to try.

 

[Granger]

Am the only one whoo thinks skeletron is not that bad...? The homing skulls have a crap turn rate and stop chasing you once they pass you (even if missed) so for these dodge TOWARDS and just past them them, the spinning skull is not that fast and can be outrun with hermesboots or just be jumped over with cloud in a bottle and featherfall, getting hit by it is no death sentence either, just grapple to the next platform (...You did setup an arena, right?), cancel the grapple before you reach the block targeted to literally launch yourself away (Its like, the dash from the soc, except in all directions and farther!)...

Fun fight tho.