Expert/Master

Whenever I play expert mode, and now master mode, I’ve always ran warding on all accessories to compensate for high damage attacks. I’m hearing that some people use all menacing accessories and don’t use warding, and I’m wondering how well it works, for menacing users out there how hard is it to progress through pre hard mode and then through hard mode, is the damage Increase actually significant enough to make up for the lack of defense? Talking about general progression and also boss fights.
 
In Master Mode, Defense overall is less effective. While each defense point you have on your character negates 1 point of damage compared to .75 on Expert, the enemies overall do a lot more damage due to having x3 increased attack strength compared to normal mode.

I am still in the middle of my own Master playthrough, and I don't know for sure how much a warding build would help for Master Mode. I do think it is better to invest in Menacing or Lucky Accessory modifiers than Warding. Due to the high amount of damage received, it will be more important than ever to use strategies and develop reflexes to avoid taking damage in the first place.

A warding build could probably still work and it will negate a small amount of damage, I just don't know how effective it would be.
 
In Master Mode, Defense overall is less effective. While each defense point you have on your character negates 1 point of damage compared to .75 on Expert, the enemies overall do a lot more damage due to having x3 increased attack strength compared to normal mode.

I am still in the middle of my own Master playthrough, and I don't know for sure how much a warding build would help for Master Mode. I do think it is better to invest in Menacing or Lucky Accessory modifiers than Warding. Due to the high amount of damage received, it will be more important than ever to use strategies and develop reflexes to avoid taking damage in the first place.

A warding build could probably still work and it will negate a small amount of damage, I just don't know how effective it would be.

It seemed to work very well in pre hardmode, typical enemies would do half damage cause of my modifiers. I just got to hardmode and I can tell that when enemies are hitting. 130 damage, reducing that to 100 wouldn’t all be that great. I’m just worried about boss fights. I don’t know if my health regen can keep up with damage, but the solution is I should probably get better at dodging. And I’m not bad at it I’m just not the best at it
 
It does come down to practice ultimately. I've had to make at least several attempts against most bosses in my own Master Mode Playthrough.

For Regen, having Campfires placed, Heart Lanterns, along with using the Regeneration potion will help greatly with life regeneration. Eating Food that gives medium or major improvements to stats will also help. I've found my life regeneration to be pretty good overall with each of those effects stacked together in my boss arenas. Even if you take a hit, if you can avoid taking another hit quickly, the stacked regeneration should help with the regen.
 
For one, keeping all of your coins in a piggy bank / safe / money trough means if you die, there aren't really any consequences behind repeatedly trying new techniques to remain alive. Short of creating a graveyard at some point, of course.

At first, I viewed Warding as useful. If all five of your accessories have it and you get a +20 defense, in addition to other buffs, like the Iron Potion's +8 defense and the Dryad's Blessing +8 defense and contact damage with life regen, and other buffs you might have, that's a hefty boon to your play-style.

But if you learn to dodge enemy attacks and develop your reflexes, and enhance your arenas with additional platforms and ropes, you can still afford to take one or two hits if you make a mistake, but you'll have eventually learned how to dodge and not be hit at all; or at least much less.

So if you don't need Warding prefixes and instead use Menacing or Lucky, you won't have to dodge for as long because you'll be doing more damage. If you're wearing the right armor, you'll do even more damage. It's the difference between having to deal four hits to a monster and dealing two hits to dispatch them. Not too bad.
 
I keep hearing about "getting better at dodging" and "not taking hits" and I'm starting to wonder what sorcery you guys are pulling to dodge so effectively.

I know right 😂, my guess would be maybe with plantera for example, trying to build a bigger arena and get more mobility so you can move around her better. Idk how well I actually dodge so I guess I’ll find out soon
 
I know what you mean. There was a time when I felt similarly. At some point it's about mastering the game engine; knowing how high you can jump and why and where, and knowing just how far you need to travel horizontally to avoid something's attack while still being in attack range. Basically, rarely stand still. If you have to jump, make tiny hops rather than huge awkward jumps so you have better control of your momentum and where you'll land.
 
I know what you mean. There was a time when I felt similarly. At some point it's about mastering the game engine; knowing how high you can jump and why and where, and knowing just how far you need to travel horizontally to avoid something's attack while still being in attack range. Basically, rarely stand still. If you have to jump, make tiny hops rather than huge awkward jumps so you have better control of your momentum and where you'll land.
It's not control of my own mobility that's the problem so much as I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DODGE THESE THINGS.

Admittedly, part of it is my fault since I like playing Summoner, aka the squishiest guy. So even one hit is devastating in and of itself.

Mainly my biggest issue seems to be the sheer unpredictability of the boss's movements. Maybe that's partly because I play with a friend? Monster Hunter has this issue too and it's why a lot of speedrunners not only prefer to run alone but don't even bring their cat along, so the monster's attention isn't split up.

I dunno, I feel like SOMETHING is different. I didn't have these issues before Journey's End so it's easy to assume something significant has changed. I'm not saying Expert Mode wasn't HARD just that I was able to handle it alright.
 
I did a warding build in my master mode run, too, until early hardmode. I'm feeling the same thing, that the defense maybe isn't just worth it because you'll take more than enough damage one way or another. So going full glass cannon with menacing alongside practicing dodging skill may be the way to go.

I've had to make at least several attempts against most bosses in my own Master Mode Playthrough.

I think this is really a good thing. Even if I can get frustrated over these things, even on expert mode I did most of the bosses first try because I know how to prepare and what to use. Now with the new difficulty, new items and rebalanced old items I have to experiment again and maybe just have that one try where I play outstanding.
 
I've only beaten Expert mode once, so I'm no Master, but I've noticed a lot of the best youtubers rely heavily on mobility.

In pre-hardmode, there's the bundle of balloons, the horseshoe balloons, featherfall potion, gravity potion, and (against wall of flesh) water walking potion.

In hardmode, there's the dashing tools, cute fishron plus bubbles, and the rod of discord, or the mechanical minecraft, teleporters and hoiks.

Getting a pink horseshoe balloon made a huge difference in my own expert run, and I assume the same is true in Master mode. A bundle of balloons requires mining multiple worlds and long hours of searching, but I guess that's the point of Master mode, right? To make you use every tool?

These videos helped me a lot with understanding dodging:

(Expert summoner hardcore, wall of flesh fight at end)
(all bosses no damage, possibly tool-assisted but still useful)
 
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