Game Mechanics Nightmare Mode (A Difficulty Level above Expert Mode)

Should the Illegal Items Condition be kept or removed from Nightmare Mode?

  • Kept, Players shouldn't be able to use Endgame Items to make NM Mode Easier.

    Votes: 4 57.1%
  • Removed, it defies the Core/Spirit of Terraria to restrict Items. Players will play how they want.

    Votes: 3 42.9%
  • Illegal Items should be changed somehow (Explain what you want this change to be in a post)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    7
Status
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Aurora3500

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Staff member
Moderator
UPDATE: As of 1.4, this suggestion has been fulfilled in the form of Master Mode!

Conquered all the evolved enemies and bosses on Expert Mode? Gotten all of the new special Expert items to fill out your collection? Feel like you could do it again and handle a lot more? Worry not, as another difficulty above Expert Mode has been unlocked. This Nightmare Mode transforms a new world you make into a true Nightmare!

Credits: @DatPedro for Spriting for some of the items

Unlike the current Normal and Expert Mode chosen at World Generation, this mode needs to be unlocked. The way to unlock it is simply to defeat the Moon Lord, the final boss of Terraria on an Expert Mode World. After this is done, there will be a prompt when you enter the Main Menu next time that says "Nightmare Mode has been unlocked". The next time you generate a world, Nightmare will Appear as an option alongside Normal and Expert. Nightmare itself will be in red text to fit with the character options "Softcore, Mediumcore, and Hardcore".

I also made an Easy Mode suggestion which goes to the opposite end of the spectrum of difficulty compared to Nightmare Mode. These 2 Suggestions together are designed to expand on Terraria's current difficulties to try and include in players with an even greater variety of skills and to make the people who are focused on the non-combat elements of Terraria happy along with those who want a great challenge.

Don't get me wrong, Terraria is still fairly difficult with Expert Mode implemented, and it was fairly difficult to take on the challenges in it. This doesn't mean that there can't be an even harder difficulty however. There are many experienced players who play the game and some may think that even Expert Mode is still too easy. Many fun games unlock more difficulty levels after you beat the game once. The reason I think it could make a fun addition is that many games have a set of 3 or more difficulty levels that can be chosen. Some have a basic (Easy, Normal, Hard) system, some games don't even offer an easy mode and have (Normal, Hard, Nightmare) as the difficulties. The very hardcore games don't even have a Normal Mode and expect the players to be super hardcore gamers and play (Hard, Nightmare, Inferno) where even a player who wants to play the game on the easiest difficulty will fail a lot. Terraria would fit the (Normal, Hard, Nightmare) system naturally as Normal Mode is the main state of the game and intended to be a fair challenge for anyone to play and have harder difficulties to challenge more experienced and skilled players.

Nightmare Mode will naturally bring even greater increased stats to enemies and bosses. The true challenge of Nightmare Mode is that almost every major boss in the game (Except Pumpkin/Frost Moon minibosses) gains new attack patterns and a form of shield ability, preventing too much DPS (Damage Per Second) being done against a boss at once. The biomes also become far more hazardous with some damaging players just by being in the biome.

It is also worth noting that Nightmare Mode could be considered a little unbalanced being brutal towards the player considering it would be even more difficult than Expert Mode. It will not be impossible of course, but greater reflexes and strategies than ever will be required. The imbalance is instead directed at the player who will have the odds overwhelmingly stacked against them. Using Arenas, Potions, Traps may be even more of a requirement compared to Expert Mode. Because this mode is completely optional and doesn't affect the main Normal Game or Expert Mode at all, and is a challenge for Experts who may think even Expert Mode is too easy. It is completely fair to make it push the player way beyond their limits as only Masters among Experts will wish to try a mode that makes your world a nightmare.

You won't be left completely on your own. There will be a few things that help you out to complete this difficulty mode like in Expert Mode. These things will mainly just affect your mobility and survivability and not your attacking power. To get you excited for some of whats coming, you'll be able to have 700 Max HP after defeating Plantera.

This is no joke, you will very likely need 700 HP to defeat the Golem and bosses/events after it, more details will be described about the boss changes and how to get 700 hp in the appropriate categories in this thread.

All Expert Mode Features and Items still remain in Nightmare Mode with some mechanics being made more difficult.

Expert Stats are Blue

Nightmare Stats and abilities are Orange

Mechanics

  • Debuff lengths are increased x2 compared to what they were in Expert Mode.
  • Player inflicted debuffs last x4 longer.
  • Player Buffs last x4 longer.
  • Player drops 90% of Money on Death.
  • Defense Stat for the Player still reduces damage by 75% of the number like in Expert Mode.
  • Enemies drop more money compared to Expert Mode.
  • Overall Spawn Rate and Spawn Limit is increased significantly during night time.
  • Events occur at a more frequent rate.
  • Drop Rates for enemies in general are higher compared to Expert Mode
  • Boss Treasure Bags will contain more of the Boss's Loot compared to Expert Mode (As an Example, you could get the normal Beetle Husks, Greater Healing Potions, a Sun Ray, and a Sun Stone from Golem)
  • Respawn Wait times are the same as they were in Expert Mode
  • If you bring in a Nightmare World Save File (In the scenario you lose your progress from computer issues, or are using a different computer from the one you originally played Terraria with) The game will automatically unlock Nightmare Mode as a selection for World Generation
  • Super Healing Potions can now be bought from the Merchant after Plantera has been defeated. (Only on Nightmare Worlds) This is to account for the player being able to get 700 HP and the new Ultra Healing Potion and close to endgame bosses dealing a lot more damage. (Ultra Healing Potions become Super Healing Potions if brought into a Non-Nightmare World)

New Achievements
Terrarian Expert: Defeat the Moon Lord on Expert Mode
Ethereal: Obtain 700 Max HP (excluding Lifeforce Potion)
No More Nightmares: Defeat the Moon Lord on Nightmare Mode
Terrarian Master: Defeat the Moon Lord on Nightmare Mode without having any items from other Worlds

Projectile Changes

New Projectile: Vicious Spit (Crimson version of the Vile Spit Projectile fired by Corrupters)

It is unknown what the current Vile Spit damage is for the Eater of World's Vile Spit as it was reduced from the Corrupter's Vile Spit damage. For Nightmare Mode, Vile Spit damage is still increased for the Eater of Worlds. Eater of Soul's Vile Spit won't do as much damage as the Corrupters.

As the Crimson enhances all enemy and item stats compared to Corruption counterparts, Vicious Spit from Crimeras and BoC do more damage compared to Eater of Souls and EoW.

Biomes

The Corruption and Crimson Biomes damage players that enter them. Meaning that just being in the Corruption/Crimson will damage you. (This is applied through a Dark Decay Debuff that damages the player at a rate of 1 HP every second whenever the player is in either of the biomes. The only way to cancel this is to leave the Corruption/Crimson). If the player is not wearing any armor, the damage rate will be even higher (2 damage per second) This debuff is prevented if a player is wearing Armor greater than Light Red Rarity.

Jungle Water now has the ability to Poison Players.

Desert Water inflicts the slow debuff.

Blizzards in the Ice biome inflict the Chilled Debuff on the player for as long as they stay in the Ice Biome.

The Underworld damages the player whenever they are in it. This is applied through the Overheating Debuff, that damages the player at a rate of 2 HP every second. The only ways to remove this
Debuff are to leave the Underworld, or wear an Armor above Light Red Rarity. Damages the player at the rate of 4 damage per second if the player is wearing no armor at all.

Events

Blood Moon can happen on any Night (Player doesn't need to have 120 HP)
In exchange, the Nurse NPC can also move in right away at any time even if you haven't consumed a Life Crystal.

Eye of Cthulhu has a 1/3 chance to spawn on any night if the player has 160 HP or more.
After the EoC's 1st defeat the EoC still has a 1/12 chance to spawn on any night.

The Eater of Worlds/Brain of Cthulhu have a 1/800 chance to spawn any moment the player is in the Corruption/Crimson, has 200 or more hp and has broken at least 3 Shadow Orbs/Demon Hearts

Life Fruit is changed back to growing when Hardmode begins instead of when a Mech Boss is defeated.

Mech Bosses still have a chance to spawn every night after their 1st defeat, though at a greatly reduced chance.

Pumpkin/Frost Moon events advance x1.33 times faster compared to Expert Mode.

New Items

The new items from Boss Treasure Bags will appear in place of the Expert Item. Basically each time a Treasure Bag is opened it has a 50% chance of having either its Expert Item or new Nightmare Item.

50% Drop from Eye of Cthulhu Treasure Bag
Amulet of Cthulhu (Accessory)
(Sprite made by DatPedro)
Cthulhu amulet 2.png

Reduces Healing Potion Cooldown by 10 seconds, creates a shield for the player within 5 seconds that will completely block 1 attack. After being attacked the Shield disappears, the player must not take any damage for 5 seconds for the shield to reappear. (This accessory can stack with Philosopher's Stone or Charm of Myths)

50% Drop from Eater of Worlds Treasure Bag
Expeller of Darkness (Accessory)
(Sprite made by DatPedro)
Expeller of darkness.png

Creates a dark fog around player, any enemy that gets within 3 blocks of player is inflicted with a permanent Dark Decay Debuff (Just damages the enemy by 1 hp every second). This also affects bosses except for Eater of Worlds/Brain of Cthulhu. Doesn't affect Corruption/Crimson Creatures or Underworld Creatures. Also reduces damage of Dark Decay from Corruption/Crimson against player (1 damage every 10 seconds instead of 5 seconds)

50% Drop from Brain of Cthulhu Treasure Bag
Neuron Veil (Accessory) Projectile attacks from enemies have a 33% chance of reflecting off the player if they hit the player. Increases Critical chance by 22%.

Potential Item for Expert and Nightmare Lunatic Cultist
Phantasmic Amplifier (Accessory) Damage is increased by 20%, Potion Sickness Cooldown is increased by 1 Minute. (If player attempts an exploit by using a healing potion then reequipping this accessory, Potion Sickness cooldown is automatically raised to 2 minutes after reequipping)

Life Core (Item) Used as a crafting material to create Energy Stimulant (Obtained from Flying Snakes at a 33% Drop Rate)

Energy Stimulant (Item) Crafted from 1 Life Core and 2 Life Fruit at an Adamantite/Titanium. Permanently increases Max HP by 10. Can only be used if player has 500 HP or more, can't be used if Player has 700 Base Max HP. Can only be used in Nightmare Worlds.

Ultra Healing Potion (Item) Crafted from 8 Super Healing Potion and 1 of each Lunar Fragment. Heals player for 400 HP.

100% Drop from Moon Lord Treasure Bag
Celestial Infuser (Accessory) Changes player form to be similar to the Moon Lord. Makes player Phantasmal (Gives player a 40% chance of dodging all enemy attacks). Unleashes 3 Tentacles that float out from the player near the player that automatically reach out to damage nearby enemies. Tentacles reduce non-boss enemy movement speed and drains 2 HP per second from enemy and slowly restores player Health and Mana.

20 of the Energy Stimulants consumed will increase player health from 500 to 700. Using the Lifeforce Potion with 700 HP will bring Player Health to 840 HP (700 * 1.2). To preserve the balance established by the Developers for Normal and Expert Mode, Player Health will be reset to 500 HP if they enter a Normal or Expert World if they have over 500 Base HP in a Nightmare World. Their Health would be reset to what it was when they return to a Nightmare World. Being able to increase one's HP to even more than it was in Normal/Expert Mode should be the biggest reward for Players who have the courage and determination to attempt an even harder difficulty than Expert Mode. They've made it up to Plantera in Nightmare Mode with very little additional help from new items, they need a great reward to make all the horribly difficult bosses they've fought earlier worth it. Just like how the additional accessory slot is locked to Expert Mode only (Its still naturally available in Nightmare Mode as well of course), HP here should also be the case.

Hearts enhanced by Energy Stimulants look Light Blue in Appearance. The affected hearts will be gold with an inner light blue mini heart if the player goes to a Normal or Expert World, to show what hearts have been increased for Nightmare World.

Plus, the bosses after Plantera have evolved with this being in mind with new Patterns and even more deadly attacks. Players will pretty much need at least 700 HP to finish the late-endgame of Nightmare Mode given how brutally the bosses scale in Nightmare Mode compared to Expert Mode. Think Golem is still too easy even in Expert Mode? That changes in Nightmare Mode, Experts will be crying and want stronger weapons to take down Golem which they will never get.

Enemies

  • In general, all enemy attack and HP stats are multiplied x3 compared to Normal Mode
  • Defense for all enemies and bosses remains the same as it was in Expert Mode.
  • Overall enemies and their attacks are faster and more aggressive compared to Expert Mode.
  • All Bats can charge at the player.
  • Skeletons can shield themselves like the Granite Golem.
  • The Enemy limit for all biomes is increased by 4.
  • Spawn rate for all biomes is increased slightly.
  • Eater of Souls and Crimeras gain the ability to shoot vile spit/vicious spit projectiles. This also Corrupts any Corruptable block with its Corruption/Crimson variant.
  • Corrupter's vile spit Corrupting blocks is reintroduced.
  • World Feeders gain ability to shoot Vile Spit similar to Eater of Worlds.
  • Floaty Grosses gain ability to shoot Vicious Spit (Slightly stronger than the Crimera version)
  • Moss Hornets gain a charge ability similar to the Queen Bee in addition to their other attacks (The Moss Hornet version can't go through blocks)
  • Chaos Elementals teleport more frequently and teleport to a random reachable location whenever the players damage them.
  • Blood Zombie and Drippler inflict the Bleeding Debuff on contact with player.
  • Wandering Eyes gain a small charging attack like the Eye of Cthulhu when in their 2nd phase.
  • Snatchers and Man Eaters have a longer reach compared to Expert Mode. Will try to attack player the instant they are in range.
  • All Slimes gain a stomp attack similar to the Miniboss Mimics that does more damage than their normal contact damage.
  • Spiked Slime Variants of all Slimes in the game are added, and can spawn along with normal slimes.
  • Because current Spiked Slimes have doubled stats compared to their normal variant, these new Spiked Slimes would also have doubled stats compared to the on they're based off of.
  • Spiked Slimes completely replace regular Slimes in Hardmode, and have increased stats in Hardmode.
  • Spiked Slimes will also completely replace regular slimes if an item you don't have access to is brought into the Nightmare World
  • The Royal Gel will still work on all Spiked Slimes as long as they aren't the King Slime or spawned by the King Slime.
A few examples of Spiked Slimes compared to their normal versions.

1st the one that already exists:

Ice Slime
HP: 120
Damage: 32

Spiked Ice Slime
HP: 240
Damage:
48 (Melee)
72 (Ranged)

Here's what a few new ones would be like

Purple Slime
HP: 160
Damage: 48
Defense: 12

Spiked Purple Slime
HP: 320
Damage:
72 (Melee)
109 (Ranged)
Defense: 24

Green Slime
HP: 56
Damage: 24
KB Resist: 6%

Spiked Green Slime
HP: 112
Damage:
36 (Melee)
55 (Ranged)
Defense: 8
KB Resist: 6%

Bosses

In General, all bosses will gain the ability to shield themselves completely from damage. More details are described for the individual bosses, but there is a threshold for an amount of DPS received that causes them to put up a shield to prevent a boss from taking too much damage too quickly. While direct damage won't affect shielded bosses, if bosses have gotten a debuff like Cursed Inferno, or On Fire! Before they put up their shield, They will take damage from it and experience its other effects if they aren't already immune to it. This makes using debuffs on enemies even more important during boss fights.

I imagine boss shields to look similar to the shields used by the Lunar Pillars except that the Shield will also have the Boss's color scheme mixed in with it.

The DPS Threshold for Boss Shields is increased in Multiplayer depending on the number of players, as the Bosses Scale in Multiplayer like they do in Expert Mode.

I try to list as many stats as possible for all of the bosses, but there are many pieces and if conditions that applies to boss fights which just makes it difficult to post every single stat. For NIghtmare Mode you may assume anything about the Bosses not listed here gets a similar type of increase. The Developers would likely use different stats from the ones I made for Nightmare Mode if they were to implement another difficulty like this anyway. The new stats are more just to illustrate how much longer and more difficult the bosses would be

Normal and Expert Boss Stats are also listed to see the comparison to Nightmare mode Stats.

Pre-Hardmode Bosses
Eye of Cthulhu
HP
: 2800 (3640) (6200)
Damage: 15 (30) (60)

New Abilities:
The Eye of Cthulhu's main new ability is the ability to shield itself completely from damage. After receiving more than 500 damage within 5 seconds, it will automatically shield itself preventing damage. The Eye can still move while shielded trying to go into the player, and the shield remains up for 10 seconds. If the player continues to attack the Eye (for about 3 seconds) while it's shield is up, the Eye will retaliate and charge into the player similar to its hyper mode causing contact damage, this will not cause it's shield to go down. The Eye can also randomly shield itself throughout the fight even if the 500 threshold isn't reached.

The EoC can also teleport near the player if they get too far away from it offscreen, similar to King Slime and the Moon Lord

2nd Phase:
HP: 3100/6200
Damage: 75

New Abilities:
The EoC still has its Hyper Ability from Expert Mode as it gets lower on health and it can still shield itself. However, the EoC can't move from its position while shielded unlike the 1st phase (It would remain floating in place in midair), and the damage threshold for the shield activation is more than 600 damage in 5 seconds. The shield also remains up for 10 seconds if player doesn't attack it. It can still summon Servants of Cthulhu while shielded. This gives the player some time to prepare for its Hyper Attack.

Servant of Cthulhu
HP
: 8 (12) (24)
Damage: 12 (24) (48)

New Abilities:
Servants of Cthulhu also gain a light charge attack they can use like the EoC

King Slime
HP
: 2000 (2800) (4200)
Damage: (Wiki is missing Normal/Expert stats for some reason, this makes it harder to balance for Nightmare Mode, will fill in once they are back)

New Abilities:
All Slimes the King Slime summons are Spiked Blue Slimes, and the King Slime has spike abilities as well which do more damage on contact compared to its body. Its shield threshold is 500 damage in 5 seconds. It won't use its shield as randomly compared to the Eye of Cthulhu.

Eater of Worlds
HP
:
Head: 65 (91) (132)
Body: 150 (210) (270)
Tail: 220 (308) (430)
Damage:
Head: 22 (48) (72)
Body: 13 (20) (34)
Tail: 11 (17) (24)

New Abilities:
Little is changed about this fight in Nightmare Mode aside from the shield ability. The Individual Segments may shield themselves after reaching a damage threshold of 50 Damage Per Second (Head), 90 Damage Per Second (Body), and 137 Damage Per Second (Tail). Unlike the EoC, the segments can't use their shields randomly. The Vile Spit of the Eater of Worlds can Corrupt Blocks just like the Eater of Souls can in Nightmare Mode now.

Brain of Cthulhu
HP
: 1000 (1700) (3200)
Damage: 30 (60)

New Abilities:
In the 1st Phase Creepers are faster and travel in more scattered patterns around the player and Brain. The Brain naturally doesn't have a shield like the other bosses for this fight. The Brain is one of the few bosses that doesn't have a shield since the whole 1st phase is like fighting it while shielded.

In the 2nd Phase the Mirages of the Brain will be completely visible from the start and be indistinguishable from the real Brain. Unlike the lower difficulties, the Brain will not attempt to hit the player. Instead the Real Brain will flash for a split second before it shots a volley of 3 Vicious Spit Projectiles then disappears and reappears with the cycle repeating until the Brain is defeated.

Creepers
HP
: 100 (200) (250)
Damage: 20 (40) (50)
Defense: 10 (16)

Skeletron
HP
:
Head: 4400 (8800) (12100)
Hands: 600 (1560) (2440)
Damage:
Head: 32 (70) (120)
Hands: 20 (44) (76)
Water Bolt: 50

New Abilities:
Skeletron's head remains completely shielded until its Arms are destroyed. Its Arms can't shield themselves After its arms are destroyed its shield drops down, but it will still randomly shield itself while not spinning at the player and/or receiving a damage threshold of over 450 damage in 4 seconds. It can't shield itself while spinning. If it is still shielding itself and decides to spin the shield instantly drops allowing the player to damage it.

In addition to its Floating Skull projectiles, Skeletron can also shoot Water Bolt Projectiles at the player that can bounce off of surfaces just like the player's Water Bolt can. Skeletron cannot shoot its Water Bolt projectiles while shielded, but it can still shoot its floating Skull Projectiles. These move slightly faster than the player Water Bolts and are larger in size

Queen Bee
HP
: 3400 (4760) (7230)
Damage:
Melee: 30 (54) (95)
Stinger: 22 (44) (77)

New Abilities:
Queen Bee's shield activates when reaching 1000 damage in 5 seconds, and can still activate it randomly. A new attack of the Queen Bee is to squirt Honey at the player, this doesn't cause damage to the player and actually gives inflicts the Honey Buff for 30 seconds, however this also inflicts the New Sticky Debuff which greatly reduces movement speed as if the player is in Honey even when they're not. This Debuff lasts for 45 seconds and makes the fight very dangerous as the Queen Bee's projectiles and charge attack will be extremely difficult if not impossible to avoid, both of which do far more increased damage compared to Expert Mode. The Debuff is reset to 45 seconds if the Queen Bee squirts the player with more honey if they are already sticky.

Wall of Flesh
HP
: 8000 (11200) (17800)
Damage (Body): 50 (150) (200)

New Abilities:
The Wall of Flesh Shields automatically shields itself if it receives 3000 damage in 4 seconds. It can also randomly shield itself (though the random shield won't be super frequent). The Shield lasts for 3 seconds whether its random or the threshold is reached.

The Wall of Flesh's lasers inflict the Darkness Debuff for 10 seconds.

Otherwise not much about this fight is changed. It gets faster as it takes more damage like in Expert Mode. It is worth noting that the player will have to deal with the Overheating effect of the Underworld while fighting this boss which damages them at 1 HP every 4 seconds which is why not too many changes are made to this boss to be super unfairly difficult.

Hardmode Bosses
The Destroyer
HP: 80000 (120000) (220000)
Damage:
Head: 70 (280) (340)
Body: 55 (93) (163)
Laser: 44 (72) (110)
Tail: 40 (68) (92)

New Abilities:
The Destroyer deploys it's shield when it receives 20000 damage within 7 seconds. This shield affects the whole body unlike the Eater of World's segments. It can also shield randomly like the other bosses. Its shield lasts about 10 seconds. It cannot shoot its lasers while shielded, but it will still release probes while shielded.

Its main deadly new ability, is the ability to fly. Similar to a Milkyway Weaver. It does not need to tunnel into the ground to build up momentum to reach the player who has likely built a sky arena. The Destroyer will attempt to fly its head into the player and redirect its course in midair whether it misses or not. It is much slower while flying compared to launching from the ground however. It will attempt to attack the player 6-10 times with a charge attack once close to the player while flying until it retreats to the ground to build up momentum to fly again.

Probe
HP: 200 (300) (450)
Damage:
Laser: 50 (88) (110)
Melee: 50 (80) (102)

The Twins
1st Phase
HP:
Retinazer: 20000 (30000) (52000)
Spazmatism: 23000 (34500) (60500)
Damage:
Retinazer:
Laser: 40 (76) (150)
Melee: 45 (76) (154)
Spazmatism:
Cursed Flame: 50 (88) (162)
Melee: 50 (85) (157)

New Abilities:
One of the Twins will always be shielded. The Shielded Twin can still attack Normally Within 10-20 seconds, that Twin will drop its shield and the other Twin will throw its shield up. Repeating the cycle throughout the fight.

The rest of the fight remains the same as in Normal/Expert Mode until one of the Twins reaches their 2nd Phase.

2nd Phase
HP:
Retinazer: 21000/52000
Spazmatism: 27000/60500
Damage:
Retinazer:
Death Laser: 170
Rapid Fire Laser: 92
Melee: 202
Spazmatism:
Eye Fire: 188
Melee: 210

New Abilities:
The Twin that reached its 2nd Phase will no longer shield itself and the Twin who is still in its 1st Phase will keep its shield up until the 2nd Phase Twin dies. The 1st Phase Twin can still attack normally, and the 2nd Phase Twin will use its 2nd Phase abilities from Expert Mode.

When the 2nd Phase Twin dies, the other Twin will automatically enter its 2nd Phase regardless of how much health it has left and gain new attacks and even greater damage. Which is actually skipping to a 3rd Phase in practice. This causes its form to change once again to an even deadlier one.

3rd Phase
Damage:
Retinazer:
Death Laser: 220
Pulse Laser: 260
Rapid Fire Laser: 110
Melee: 290
Spazmatism:
Eye Fire: 240
Melee: 330

New Abilities:
Only one of the Twins will be alive at this stage in the fight, the one that remains can no longer shield itself.

Retinazer gains a new laser attack called a Pulse Laser. It is a thin red Laser Beam, that reaches as far as possible until hitting a block that Retinazer constantly fires out like a Laser Beam (Similar to Moon Lord's Laser except extremely thin) Retinazer will stop its other attacks and make a charging noise when its about to use it then fire it in a straight line from its Retina Beam. It will attempt to aim at the player with this beam and it can turn at a pretty quick rate meaning this Laser will turn quickly which forces the Player to circle around Retinazer to avoid it. Retinazer can't use its other attacks while using its Pulse Laser. The Pulse Laser will fire for about 3-5 seconds. After this time is up, Retinazer will attempt to use it 2 more times which will end after the same interval before using its other Phase 2 attacks, then switching back to the Pulse Laser at another point during the fight.

Spazmatism gains a greatly increased charge attack (Think Eye of Cthulhu's Expert Mode Hyper Attack taken Up to Eleven). Spazmatism will zip through the screen in less than 0.3 seconds, continue to try it again a few more times consecutively as well as make the same noise the EoC makes during its hyper phase. It still uses its other attacks after this is over, but as it gets lower on health, it uses this attack more frequently. It cannot use its other attacks while doing this, however Spazmatism is also capable of inflicting the Cursed Inferno Debuff on the player just from contact or grazing the player by a span of 2 blocks.

Skeletron Prime
HP:
Head: 28000 (42000) (74000)
Cannon: 7000 (10500) (21000)
Laser: 6000 (9000) (15000)
Vice: 9000 (13500) (24000)
Saw: 9000 (13500) (24000)
Damage:
Head: 47 (79) (108)
Head (Spinning): 94 (158) (182)
Head (3 Limbs Left): 210
Head (2 Limbs Left): 265
Head (1 Limb Left): 292
Head (No Limbs): 330
Cannon (Grenade): 40 (75)
Cannon (Melee): 30 (51) (78)
Laser (Death Laser): 50 (100) (160)
Laser (Melee): 29 (49) (81)
Vice: 52 (88) (133)
Saw: 56 (95) (158)

New Abilities:
Skeletron Prime can only shield it's head. Its head remains shielded while it is not spinning. It is only vulnerable while it is spinning. As Skeletron Prime's Limbs are destroyed, Skeletron Prime gets faster overall and its head spins towards the player at a greater frequency.

The Head of Skeletron Prime loses defense, but gains damage potential as Skeletron Prime's limbs are destroyed.

By the time 2 of its limbs are potentially destroyed it can spin it's head almost as fast as Normal Skeletron's Head.

If Skeletron Prime has no more limbs and its head is still alive, it will always be spinning toward the player and be unable to use its shield as a result. Its speed is almost as fast as Lightning Boots at full speed.

Plantera
1st Phase
HP: 30000 (42000) (74000)
Damage:
Melee: 50 (100) (170)
Seed: 44 (76) (98)
Poison Seed: 54 (96) (124)
Thorn Ball: 62 (108) (162)

New Abilities:
Only new ability of Plantera's 1st Phase is the overall shield ability for all Nightmare Bosses. Its damage threshold is 9000 damage within 4 seconds and it can hold its shield for 4-6 seconds. It can also put up its shield randomly but the random shield only lasts 2-3 seconds. Plantera will retaliate by rapidly shooting seeds at the player if the player attempts to hit Plantera while shielded for too long which also increases the length of time the shield remains up. Plantera will not adjust its hooks or move while shielded, but it can still shoot seeds which go through walls just like they do in Expert Mode.

2nd Phase
HP: 55% of Max HP 40700/74000
Damage: 70 (140) (210)
New Abilities:
Plantera can no longer shield itself. Its 2nd Phase plays out like it does in Expert Mode. However, Plantera has a new 3rd Phase that triggers once it reaches 25% HP

3rd Phase
HP: 25% of Max HP 18500/74000
Damage: 272

New Abilities:
Plantera stops previous attacks and stops moving and relocating its hooks once it is a fair distance close to the player. It will not attempt to hit the player anymore at this phase, but if the player moves too far away from Plantera, Plantera has greatly enhanced mobility and will relocate its hooks very rapidly to get close to the player again.

Its new attack involves shooting an enhanced Plantera Tentacle from its mouth that is aimed towards the player. Once it shoots it out, it goes out in a straight line for a distance and quickly retracts if it doesn't hit the player. Plantera will immediately try this attack again and repeat until its tentacle hits the player. This attack can go through blocks. If this attack hits the player, it latches onto the player draining the player's life at a rate of 10 HP per second at the same time healing Plantera at 200 HP for every 10 HP taken from the player. (Plantera will not revert to any of its previous phases if its HP gets above 18500 again) This tentacle stays on the player for 10-15 seconds and can't be removed by the player. The player can still move normally while it has a tentacle attached to them (Its similar to the Moon Lord's Moon Bite attack) This is applied through the new "Leech Life" Debuff.

If Plantera is taken out of the jungle and becomes enraged, it remains in Phase 3 if it was taken out during Phase 3. Along with its other enhancements, it can rapidly fire its life stealing tentacle with greater frequency, if it hits the player, it recovers 1000 HP instead of 200 HP per second while in Enraged Mode.

Keep in mind that after Plantera, the player can potentially increase their Max HP up to 700. 840 while using a Lifeforce Potion. Bosses after Plantera have attack values designed to account for this.

Golem
1st Phase
HP:
Body (Head Attached to Body): 16000 (24000) (48000)
Golem Fist: 7000 (10500) (21000)
Damage:
Head (Melee): 64 (102) (270)
Fireball: 121-230 (Depends on Health)
Laser: 56 (112) (284)
Fist: 59 (94) (190)

New Abilities:
Golem's shield has a threshold of 6000 damage in 4 seconds. It cannot shield itself randomly. It will start firing its Laser attack a little sooner compared to Expert Mode. That's all that's changed in the 1st Phase.

2nd Phase
HP: 60000 (Head)
Damage:
Head (Melee): 342
Fireball: 230
Laser: 250
Flare Bomb: 450
Shockwave: 360

New Abilities:
After Golem's Head Separates from its body, Golem's Body becomes shielded until Golem's head is destroyed. Golem's body becomes stationary and can't deal contact damage to the player during this time. If the Golem Fists haven't been destroyed when this phase begins, they cannot be damaged and cannot damage the player until Phase 3.

Golem's Head will continue to move around the room not too far away from the player. Golem's Body is automatically teleported near the player if the player is moves too far away, but still remains shielded and stationary.

Golem's Head doesn't shield itself, but it becomes capable of shooting fireballs and lasers in 8 directions, aiming for the player with one of the directions, with the other 7 directions going in a down, left right, and all 4 diagonals pattern. It will alternate between shooting its fireballs and lasers this way for a time.

A new attack of the Golem head is to drop a Flare Bomb. This bomb will drop to the ground and explode in 3 seconds or explode immediately if it makes direct contact with the player, the explosion blast covers an area a little larger than dynamite which reaches about a quarter of the Golem's room space. This explosion will not destroy Lihzahrd Blocks, but it will destroy any blocks weaker than them. Needless to say it causes massive damage to the player if directly caught in the explosion and also inflicts the On Fire! Debuff. The Golem Head will not use its other attacks while dropping the Flare Bomb and while it explodes. This also causes a wall of flame shockwave (about 10 blocks tall) to come out on the ground in both directions from where the bomb exploded. It will keep going until it hits another 10 block wall structure. It will also disappear after 3 seconds. (The shock wave moves very fast)

It will cycle between the 8 way Fireballs and Lasers, as well as Flare Bomb this way.

This phase will continue until the head is destroyed.

3rd Phase
HP: 9000 (13500) (72000) (Body)
Damage:
Body: 72 (115) (222)
Sun Beam (Main): 402
Sun Beam (Side): 333
Possessed Hatchet: 215

New Abilities:
After the Golem Head is destroyed, the shield of the Golem Body will come down and will no longer be able to shield itself. The Golem Body regains its hopping ability and the Golem Fists will continue to attack the player if they weren't destroyed in Phase 1.

The Golem Body's hop is more frequent and much quicker.

The Golem Body gains a new Possessed Hatchet attack (based on the player weapon). The Body will fire 3 Possessed Hatchets one after the other. Which will slowly move toward the player. This attack can go through blocks. They will disappear after 7-12 seconds. The Golem Body will not hop while firing these Hatchets, but it will continue to hop after they are deployed and headed for the player.

The Golem Body's next attack is to charge up a Sun-themed laser where it's head used to be. This attack composes of 3 lasers, with the main one being a medium wide beam and the other 2 being thinner beams (Though not as thin as Retinazer's new Pulse Laser). The 3 Lasers make a sort of 3-way formation with the side lasers aimed diagonally 33 degrees away from the main laser with all of them coming from the same center. The Golem Body remains stationary during this attack. While the Golem is charging this attack, an outline of where the Lasers will go is shown. The main laser is aimed at the player. A second before the Golem Body fires this attack, the outlines remain where they were even if the player has moved. The Lasers fire up to the distance they hit blocks and the beams are maintained for 10 seconds. While firing the Golem will slowly adjust its Main Sun Laser to aim at the player, forcing the player to stay in between the main laser and one of the side lasers.

If the Golem Fists somehow are still on the Golem after destroying the main body, they are also destroyed like how they are in Normal and Expert Mode.

Duke Fishron
1st Phase
HP: 50000 (60000) (85000)
Damage:
Melee: 100 (140) (220)
Sharknado: 90 (100) (180)

New Abilities:
Duke Fishron's Shield triggers if it receives 10000 damage within 5 seconds or 5000 damage within 3 seconds. It can also shield randomly in very infrequent intervals. Duke Fishron will not charge at the player or use its bubble attack while shielded but it can still release it's Sharkrons which summon Sharknados, and releases 4 instead of 2 Sharkrons while shielded. Duke Fishron's shield stays up for 6-10 seconds until its dropped. If player attempts to attack Fishron too long while shielded, it will start reflecting all projectiles back towards player.

Duke Fishron's Sharknado's gain the ability to slowly move towards the player, this is only done from a Horizontal position and they can't move vertically.

The Sharkron enemies fired from the Sharknadoes gain the ability to arc slowly towards the player while in midair before going to the ground making Sharkron enemies more difficult to dodge. They also move a little faster compared to Expert Mode.

2nd Phase
HP: 42500/85000
Damage:
Melee: 150 (201) (380)
Cthulhunado: 160 (200) (367)

New Abilities:
Fishron retains it's shield in this phase, but the threshold decreases to 8000 damage within 5 seconds or 4500 within 3 seconds. Like the 1st Phase, Fishron won't charge at the player while shielded, but it will release 2 blobs that cause the Cthulunado Tornado. The 2nd one will be fired behind Fishron while the 1st one pursues the player like it does now. Both of these Cthulhunados move slowly towards the player horizontally making them more difficult to avoid. They still fire Sharkrons as they have before.

3rd Phase
HP: 16% of Max HP 13600/85000
Damage: 184 (310)

New Abilities:
Duke Fishron no longer shields itself and it doesn't use any other of its previous attacks. Its 3rd Phase plays out just like its Expert Mode 3rd Phase.

Sharkron
1st Phase
HP: 100 (150) (200)
Damage: 100 (150) (250)

2nd Phase
HP: 100 (150) (230)
Damage: 120 (180) (320)

Lunatic Cultist
HP
: 32000 (40000) (68000)
Damage:
Melee: 50 (75) (250)
Shadow fireball: 36 (72) (236)
Ice Mist: 70 (100) (310)
Fireball: 60 (80) (272)
Lightning Orb: 90 (120) (334)

New Abilities:
The Lunatic Cultist can shield itself randomly, except when summoning the Phantasm Dragon (Or Ancient Vision). Once the Lunatic Cultist reaches below 50% of max Health, the Cultist will teleport much more rapidly around the player before unleashing its cycle of attacks. The fight plays out just like in Expert Mode aside from these changes.

Phantasm Dragon
HP
: 4000 (5000) (12000)
Damage:
Head: 80 (120) (240)
Body: 40 (60) (150)

New Abilities:
The Phantasm Dragon moves faster compared to Expert Mode

Ancient Vision
HP
: 2000 (4000) (8000)
Damage: 90 (180) (320)
Defense: 30 (50)

Moon Lord
HP
:
Head: 45000 (67500) (100000)
Hand: 25000 (37500) (62500)
Core: 50000 (75000) (125000)
Damage:
Phantasmal Deathray: 150 (300) (550)
Phantasmal Bolt: 60 (120) (320)
Phantasmal Eye: 60 (120) (240)
Melee (Eye Socket): 80 (80) (200)

New Abilities:
The Moon Lord's Head and Hands do not have shields as they are able to block damage normally anyway.

The Moon Lord's Phantasmal Deathray shoots out in 4 directions like a Cross meaning it will be much more difficult for the player to avoid no matter where they are. The Deathray will rotate counter-clockwise if the player is to the right of the Moon Lord, or clockwise if the player is to the left of the Moon Lord like it does now.

After the Moon Lord's Core is exposed, it has a shield that triggers after receiving 25000 damage in 8 seconds. It won't shield randomly.

The True Eye of Cthulhu Phantasmal Deathrays gain the ability to damage blocks like the Phantasmal Deathray except that their damage rate is 8 hits for blocks of dirt hardness, and 16 hits for blocks of stone hardness. The True Eyes of Cthulhu will also try to use an attack similar to Expert Mode Eye of Cthulhu if they're close enough to the player.

True Eye of Cthulhu Phantasmal Deathrays fire for a longer period of time and also have the 4 direction cross pattern the Moon Lord's Phantasmal Deathray has.

The Moon Lord will also be able to keep up pace with the player much quicker after its Core is exposed.

After Moon Lord is defeated on Nightmare Mode the message <Insert clever message congratulating the player on defeating Nightmare Mode Here> Appears.

The Moon Lord's Treasure Bag will contain 3 of its "Main Drops" (Ex. Meowmere, S.D.M.G., Last Prism) along with its other drops and Expert Mode Items instead of 1. It will also have a unique Nightmare Mode Item.

True Eye of Cthulhu
Damage
:
Melee: 60 (108) (255)
Phantasmal Sphere: 110 (220) (366)
Phantasmal Deathray: 100 (200) (420)
Phantasmal Eye: 70 (140) (280)
Phantasmal Bolt: 70 (140) (280)

New Debuffs

Dark Decay: Applied in Corruption/Crimson, damages player at a rate of 1 HP every Second. Canceled with Armor above Shadow/Crimtane Tier and Orange Rarity or leaving Corruption/Crimson.
Overheating: Applied in Underworld, damages player at a rate of 2 HP every Second. Canceled with Armor above Shadow/Crimtane Tier and Orange Rarity or leaving Corruption/Crimson.
Sticky: Greatly reduces player's movement speed as if they were in honey. Applied from Queen Bee's new Honey Squirt attack.
Leech Life: Your HP is being drained! Plantera is absorbing your HP and healing itself! (Steals HP at a rate of 10 HP per second, and Heals Plantera at 200 HP per second. 1000 HP while enraged.

Illegal Items Proposal
Illegal Items has been officially removed from this suggestion, but it will be left here for archival purposes as well as those who would like to see Illegal Items in this suggestion. My Poll has shown roughly a 50/50 divide between people who like this Illegal Items Concept and those who don't so this felt like the best compromise.

Nightmare Stats enhanced by the Illegal Items condition are Magenta/Pink

  • If you bring in any item from a different character or world into a Nightmare World which doesn't have access to that item. All enemy stats (except for Defense) get multiplied x10 to their base Nightmare stats. We will call this condition "Illegal Items".
  • However, it is still okay to bring in a Crimson item to a Corruption world, or Corruption item to a Crimson world as long as its in the same tier the world is in (EoW and BoC and their items are considered equivalent tier). This will not cause the x10 modifier to enemies.
  • Defense for all enemies and bosses is multiplied x3 compared to their base Defense if the Illegal Items condition is meet. This is to allow Worlds affected by Illegal Items to still be playable, but make it impractical for many players (As most attacks by all enemies will kill players in 1 hit)
  • Some examples would be bringing a Nightmare/Deathbringer Pickaxe to a Nightmare World where you haven't defeated EoW/BoC. Bringing a Daedalus Stormbow to a Nightmare World that isn't in Hardmode. And of course bringing a Meowmere or Last Prism to a freshly created Nightmare World. Bringing in a character with over 400 HP to a Nightmare World where you haven't activated Hardmode and/or defeated a Mech Boss.
  • Enemy stats get reset to their normal Nightmare values if all items and characters that were brought in from higher tiers are removed.
  • This would be bad for multiplayer so servers will have access to a command to prevent characters that meet Illegal Items from entering the Server.

Here is an example of what Illegal Items Condition would do to an enemy:

Spiked Green Slime
HP: 1120
Damage:
360 (Melee)
550 (Ranged)
Defense: 24
KB Resist: 60%

As you can see from the stats here, the weakest enemy in the game has over 1000 hp and its Spike attack can potentially kill the player in one hit if their armor isn't high enough. Not to mention the extreme extra defense it has which is greater than most boss defense in Expert Mode. This means that most other enemies would be even stronger than this. It is best not to bring in any items that trigger Illegal Items unless you want to do a type of New Game + Super Hard run, which would be much harder than doing Nightmare Mode normally.

Normal enemies may still not be an issue with this condition if the player is very careful (which is an expected skill for the player to have if they attempt this mode) It is a different story when fighting a boss however.

We'll pull up the Nightmare Wall of Flesh here in its Illegal Items condition.

Wall of Flesh
HP: 184000
Damage: 2200
Defense: 72
New Abilities:
The Wall of Flesh Shields automatically shields itself if it receives 3000 damage in 4 seconds. It can also randomly shield itself (though the random shield won't be super frequent). The Shield lasts for 3 seconds whether its random or the threshold is reached.

The WoF has a whopping 184000 Health which is multiplied x10 from 18400 which is its Nightmare Mode Single Player Health. More importantly, its body damage is inflated to 2200 (Multiplied from the nightmare stat 220) which is more than three times as much needed to one hit kill any player in Terraria. Meaning all of its attacks kill the player in one hit. To make this even more difficult, its shield activates if it receives 3000 damage within 4 seconds, meaning that using powerful endgame weapons like the Meowmere, S.D.M.G. or Last Prism will easily reach that level of DPS, but the Wall of Flesh will pull up its shield once it's over 3000 damage in that timeframe and other damage won't directly affect it until it is taken down which happens a few seconds later. Not only is every attack an automatic death shot, because of its shield, the player also won't be able to constantly damage it for an extended period of time. This is the consequence of using an item a player is not supposed to have at this stage of the game in their Nightmare World. If the player still plans to do a Nightmare World using Illegal Items, they really have to be the best of the best of the best. All fights and strategies will have to be perfect.

If you think that a mode like this sounds like a total Nightmare to play after seeing even a few of the new Deadly Hazards and enhanced Boss Patterns, but still not impossible to deal with, then I have succeeded with this idea. The 700 HP Extension may be the most controversial part of this idea, but I think it is a great reward for players who attempt a super hard difficulty even harder than Expert Mode, and it gives more flexibility to make the bosses even stronger.

EDIT 1 (August 22nd 2015):
Implemented a few suggestions from @Shadowaltz @crackshotCerberus @ThomasC @Zesty_Limez
Respawn Times changed back to Expert Mode respawn times
A Warning Prompt appears in game with magenta text if a player enters a Nightmare Mode with Illegal Items
Buffed Corruption/Crimson and Underworld environmental Damage, but allowed Armors above Shadow/Crimtane to become immune to environmental damage.
Removed enemy and boss Buffed Defense Stats unless Illegal Items takes effect.
Removed Random Lightning damaging player and enemies from Rain Events.
Buffed player inflicted debuff time from x1.33 to x4
Buffed player buff time from x1.33 to x4
Buffed player debuff time from x1.5 to x2
Buffed Amulet of Cthulhu's player shield recharge time from 10 seconds to 5 seconds.
Buffed Expeller of Darkness's Dark Decay buff from 1 HP every 4 seconds to 1 HP every second
Buffed Neuron Veil's Critical chance from 17% to 22%

EDIT 2 (October 25th 2015):
Implemented a few suggestions based on feedback from users
Nightmare Mode is Automatically unlocked to be selected on World Creation if you bring in a Nightmare World Save File into a fresh installation of Terraria.
Overall Spawn Rate and Spawn Limit is increased for all biomes significantly during night time.
Events occur at a more frequent rate.
Slightly nerfed the stats for Queen Bee, WoF, and The Twins
Added Ultra Healing Potions and made Super Healing Potions obtainable from Merchant Post-Plantera and Pre-Lunar.
Moon Lord's Treasure Bag will contain more of its main drops (Weapons like Meowmere, Last Prism) along with its other drops and Expert Items, and will have a special Nightmare Mode Item in it.
Regular Enemy Stats are only increased by x3 instead of x4 compared to Normal Mode Stats in Nightmare Mode.

EDIT 3 (November 1st 2015):
Made some changes and updates based on feedback
Removed Invasion Enemy and Frost Golem abilities to destroy blocks
Removed Moon Lord's ability to damage/destroy blocks with Phantasmal Deathray
Added Sprite for Amulet of Cthulhu made by DatPedro
This Suggestion will receive changes overall in the future to add more enemy patterns/debuffs and change boss attacks/phases
Removed Statement that Pirates and Mechs can appear instantly once hardmode starts because this already happens in Expert Mode.

EDIT 4 (December 30th 2015):
Removed Illegal Items from this suggestion in favor of a proposal by @Dragrath to implement achievements for defeating Nightmare Mode without using Illegal Items.
Final Update for this Suggestion.
I feel like this suggestion has run its course and Controversy (which was unintended, but still controversial) and just want to leave it as is. It is too stressful to think of ways to make this suggestion appeal to everyone.
 
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I'd say that we don't exactly need to give enemies more defense, because at that point, the game becomes to tedious to be enjoyable, unless you get a damage buff somehow.
 
After all, it's totally alright to make a game frustrating and poorly designed if it's for the sake of difficulty! (still salty about Dark Souls 2)

If I don't mention it, I don't have an issue with it.

Mechanics seem alright, although extended respawn timers on Single Player add absolutely nothing but annoyance.
Biome DoTs sound incredibly annoying but not actually hard. 1 HP per 4 seconds is negated by a basic Regen band, if anything they're too weak.
Random lightning? Because randomly taking or dealing 200 damage is such great design and really fair, Acid Rain might be a better choice, a very damaging DoT to encourage taking shelter that doesn't depend on RNG.
HPx4 and Defx2... Maybe if defense worked differently, but this basically means many attacks will be outright ineffective against enemies. Even then, HPx4?
What's the point of the shields? A punishment for doing well? You say it's to make DoT debuffs more important, but unless I missed that you massively buffed DoT debuffs somewhere in there they'd be even more laughable than they are now with four times health.

It sounds annoying, frustrating, tedious, I would never touch this mode with a ten-foot pole, and begin to actively deny its existence, but because it's all for the sake of difficulty these are the only real issues I have.
 
Just reading that brought the same sense of dread as my first attempt at killing the boss in the tutorial of demon's souls. That doesn't sound entirely impossible but it is very difficult. You would need some kind of warning for the whole illegal item thing.

I do like the idea of hazards like dark decay, it makes the area seem more like a threat to the world.
 
Here's an idea: Let's make 'Nightmare Mode' a new-game+ -- You get to keep your character and stuff, but the world starts out where moon lord items are just enough to try to kill some mobs. Then, start the tier of items over again, while adding something, like a True Copper Broadsword that deals 50 more dmg than Meowmere, etc. etc. We don't need a harder difficulty to START from--instead, we need a difficult to CONTINUE from, as to eliminate excessive frustration and to reduce the grind of a new world/character.
 
This idea is good but I have a few issues with it. First off, it should be available right from the start. I loose my progress all the time so I would have to unlock it many times. Also the tier armor required to repel the DPS applied to players by the World's Evil Biome, and Underworld is way too high. This could make killing the WoF impossible without hardmode tier armor, and you can't do that because of the nightmare mode's anti-cheating system. A good suggestion is to allow the player to repel the stuff with lower tier armor much like Shadow, Crimson, Molten, Necro, Meterorite, Jungle, and Bee Armor. These are the highest tier pre-hardmode armor sets for each of the 4 main classes. Also some monster's new ability to break blocks is a terrible idea on large proportions especially if the player wants to use that world full time. And the respawn time is way too much time to wait. It's even too much time in expert mode so why extend it (maybe in multiplayer this wait time would be acceptable). And finally, the enemy defense stats (except for bosses maybe) should remain the same as expert mode. But apart from these inconveniences (most have no purpose to be in nightmare mode anyways), this may work in Terraria.
 
Here's an idea: Let's make 'Nightmare Mode' a new-game+ -- You get to keep your character and stuff, but the world starts out where moon lord items are just enough to try to kill some mobs. Then, start the tier of items over again, while adding something, like a True Copper Broadsword that deals 50 more dmg than Meowmere, etc. etc. We don't need a harder difficulty to START from--instead, we need a difficult to CONTINUE from, as to eliminate excessive frustration and to reduce the grind of a new world/character.
Someone actually made that idea already, but I didn't think that would work either.
 
I have read everyone's feedback, and made several changes that seemed appropriate

Changelog 1:
Implemented a few suggestions from Shadowaltz, crackshotCerberus, ThomasC, and Zesty_Limez
Respawn Times changed back to Expert Mode respawn times
A Warning Prompt appears in game with magenta text if a player enters a Nightmare Mode with Illegal Items
Buffed Corruption/Crimson and Underworld environmental Damage, but allowed Armors above Shadow/Crimtane to become immune to environmental damage.
Removed enemy and boss Buffed Defense Stats unless Illegal Items takes effect.
Removed Random Lightning damaging player and enemies from Rain Events.
Buffed player inflicted debuff time from x1.33 to x4
Buffed player buff time from x1.33 to x4
Buffed player debuff time from x1.5 to x2
Buffed Amulet of Cthulhu's player shield recharge time from 10 seconds to 5 seconds.
Buffed Expeller of Darkness's Dark Decay buff from 1 HP every 4 seconds to 1 HP every second
Buffed Neuron Veil's Critical chance from 17% to 22%

Biome DoTs sound incredibly annoying but not actually hard. 1 HP per 4 seconds is negated by a basic Regen band, if anything they're too weak.

Made Biome DoT stronger, but also allowed Shadow/Crimtane Armor and similar Tier Armors and above to give immunity to Environment Damage

You say it's to make DoT debuffs more important, but unless I missed that you massively buffed DoT debuffs somewhere in there they'd be even more laughable than they are now with four times health.

I had Debuff time that the player inflicts on enemies increased by x1.33 and all Player Buffs increased by x1.33, but I buffed both of these up to x4 based on this and similar feedback.

What's the point of the shields? A punishment for doing well?

The main thing I was trying to do with shields was to prevent the player from inflicting too much damage on the bosses all at once to give the bosses a little chance to use their attacks. Because with fights like the Destroyer/Eater of Worlds/ Plantera/ Eye of Cthulhu and others the fight goes quickly because the player is constantly damaging them. The bosses fought at night are all beatable before half of the night has gone by even on Expert Mode. Aside from that it seemed like a good way to give bosses a form of defense to make Nightmare Mode different from the previous difficulties. I can remove the random shield ability that some bosses have if that would make it better. Otherwise if there's a better way than shields that bosses can defend themselves I'm all ears for it.


Otherwise in general, Defense is back to what it was on Expert Mode (which is mostly unchanged from Normal Mode anyway) Keep in mind that the earliest game bosses drop new Nightmare Mode unique Items designed to help the player in this new mode and I buffed all of them based on current feedback. The Amulet of Cthulhu Accesory reduces Potion Sickness cooldown by 10 seconds (and 10 seconds can make a life or death difference in all boss fights) and gives the player a shield that recharges in 5 seconds if the player takes no damage. Corruption players get the Expeller of Darkness Accessory that inflicts a permanent Dark Decay Debuff on nearby enemies which now does 1 Damage Per Second. This still works on bosses as well as any enemy except Corruption/Crimson related ones. Crimson players have the Neuron Veil which now increases Critical Chance by 22% and a 33% chance to reflect projectiles, which when combined with other weapons and accessories means that many of the player's hits will be critical hits. Players who mix the Corruption and Crimson won't be affected by Illegal Items if they wish to use all of these accessories at once.

Illegal Items is in place specifically to keep players from breezing through this difficulty like they can do in Expert Mode by bringing endgame items. This suggestion took over a week to make so it would be too difficult to change it to make it a New Game + Mode at this point. I could try that in a different suggestion, but based on the support this suggestion has received so far, I have no motivation to try that now. I made this suggestion mainly because there are players who have easily finished Expert Mode, from using Illegal Items, and complain that the new endgame items are overpowered. For this suggestion, it was hoped that the extreme increase in difficulty from enemies and the environment would make all the weapons in the game not seem overpowered. I am sorry if I have failed to properly design a new Super Hard Difficulty Level.
 

First of all, thanks for being cool with my slightly aggressive post, I got a little bit heated. Sacrificing quality for difficulty is a bit of a peeve of mine.

Second, with those changes I've decided to support this, it's honestly really well thought out. I'm still iffy on the shields, but I think I understand your reasoning and I'm not sure what would be better.

I didn't mention it before, but I love the idea of illegal items and this is a pretty good implementation. Things like enemies destroying blocks and the like are usually despised, but that's kinda the point here. A Nightmare world would be meant to be a brutal challenge, anyone playing it would know exactly what they're getting into, and besides, normal mode is still there for building and feeling powerful.
 
I have read everyone's feedback, and made several changes that seemed appropriate

Changelog 1:
Implemented a few suggestions from Shadowaltz, crackshotCerberus, ThomasC, and Zesty_Limez
Respawn Times changed back to Expert Mode respawn times
A Warning Prompt appears in game with magenta text if a player enters a Nightmare Mode with Illegal Items
Buffed Corruption/Crimson and Underworld environmental Damage, but allowed Armors above Shadow/Crimtane to become immune to environmental damage.
Removed enemy and boss Buffed Defense Stats unless Illegal Items takes effect.
Removed Random Lightning damaging player and enemies from Rain Events.
Buffed player inflicted debuff time from x1.33 to x4
Buffed player buff time from x1.33 to x4
Buffed player debuff time from x1.5 to x2
Buffed Amulet of Cthulhu's player shield recharge time from 10 seconds to 5 seconds.
Buffed Expeller of Darkness's Dark Decay buff from 1 HP every 4 seconds to 1 HP every second
Buffed Neuron Veil's Critical chance from 17% to 22%



Made Biome DoT stronger, but also allowed Shadow/Crimtane Armor and similar Tier Armors and above to give immunity to Environment Damage



I had Debuff time that the player inflicts on enemies increased by x1.33 and all Player Buffs increased by x1.33, but I buffed both of these up to x4 based on this and similar feedback.



The main thing I was trying to do with shields was to prevent the player from inflicting too much damage on the bosses all at once to give the bosses a little chance to use their attacks. Because with fights like the Destroyer/Eater of Worlds/ Plantera/ Eye of Cthulhu and others the fight goes quickly because the player is constantly damaging them. The bosses fought at night are all beatable before half of the night has gone by even on Expert Mode. Aside from that it seemed like a good way to give bosses a form of defense to make Nightmare Mode different from the previous difficulties. I can remove the random shield ability that some bosses have if that would make it better. Otherwise if there's a better way than shields that bosses can defend themselves I'm all ears for it.


Otherwise in general, Defense is back to what it was on Expert Mode (which is mostly unchanged from Normal Mode anyway) Keep in mind that the earliest game bosses drop new Nightmare Mode unique Items designed to help the player in this new mode and I buffed all of them based on current feedback. The Amulet of Cthulhu Accesory reduces Potion Sickness cooldown by 10 seconds (and 10 seconds can make a life or death difference in all boss fights) and gives the player a shield that recharges in 5 seconds if the player takes no damage. Corruption players get the Expeller of Darkness Accessory that inflicts a permanent Dark Decay Debuff on nearby enemies which now does 1 Damage Per Second. This still works on bosses as well as any enemy except Corruption/Crimson related ones. Crimson players have the Neuron Veil which now increases Critical Chance by 22% and a 33% chance to reflect projectiles, which when combined with other weapons and accessories means that many of the player's hits will be critical hits. Players who mix the Corruption and Crimson won't be affected by Illegal Items if they wish to use all of these accessories at once.

Illegal Items is in place specifically to keep players from breezing through this difficulty like they can do in Expert Mode by bringing endgame items. This suggestion took over a week to make so it would be too difficult to change it to make it a New Game + Mode at this point. I could try that in a different suggestion, but based on the support this suggestion has received so far, I have no motivation to try that now. I made this suggestion mainly because there are players who have easily finished Expert Mode, from using Illegal Items, and complain that the new endgame items are overpowered. For this suggestion, it was hoped that the extreme increase in difficulty from enemies and the environment would make all the weapons in the game not seem overpowered. I am sorry if I have failed to properly design a new Super Hard Difficulty Level.


You are aware you can edit the main post to have the change logs instead of adding a new post for every change log right? Or are you making a separate post for each change log for a specific reason?
 
You are aware you can edit the main post to have the change logs instead of adding a new post for every change log right? Or are you making a separate post for each change log for a specific reason?

I added the Changelog to the Main Post as well. The changelog was also added in a new post to make it more visible that changes were made based on feedback as well as addressing feedback, as well as to better explain my reasoning behind certain features of this suggestion.

I won't make a new post for every edit if its a minor one, but if its something important that needs to be addressed like this 1st major edit, or to discuss a big change in this suggestion I view it as necessary to make another post to go into greater detail about parts of the suggestion.
 
Conquered all the evolved enemies and bosses on Expert Mode? Gotten all of the new special Expert items to fill out your collection? Feel like you could do it again and handle a lot more? Worry not, as another difficulty above Expert Mode has been unlocked. This Nightmare Mode transforms a new world you make into a true Nightmare!

Unlike the current Normal and Expert Mode chosen at World Generation, this mode needs to be unlocked. The way to unlock it is simply to defeat the Moon Lord, the final boss of Terraria on an Expert Mode World. After this is done, there will be a prompt when you enter the Main Menu next time that says "Nightmare Mode has been unlocked". The next time you generate a world, Nightmare will Appear as an option alongside Normal and Expert. Nightmare itself will be in red text to fit with the character options "Softcore, Mediumcore, and Hardcore"

Don't get me wrong, Terraria is still fairly difficult with Expert Mode implemented, and it was fairly difficult to take on the challenges in it. This doesn't mean that there can't be an even harder difficulty however. There are many experienced players who play the game and some may think that even Expert Mode is still too easy. Many fun games unlock more difficulty levels after you beat the game once. The reason I think it could make a fun addition is that many games have a set of 3 or more difficulty levels that can be chosen. Some have a basic (Easy, Normal, Hard) system, some games don't even offer an easy mode and have (Normal, Hard, Nightmare) as the difficulties. The very hardcore games don't even have a Normal Mode and expect the players to be super hardcore gamers and play (Hard, Nightmare, Inferno) where even a player who wants to play the game on the easiest difficulty will fail a lot. Terraria would fit the (Normal, Hard, Nightmare) system naturally as Normal Mode is the main state of the game and intended to be a fair challenge for anyone to play and have harder difficulties to challenge more experienced and skilled players.

Nightmare Mode will naturally bring even greater increased stats to enemies and bosses. The true challenge of Nightmare Mode is that almost every major boss in the game (Except Pumpkin/Frost Moon minibosses) gains new attack patterns and a form of shield ability, preventing too much DPS (Damage Per Second) being done against a boss at once. The biomes also become far more hazardous with some damaging players just by being in the biome.

It is also worth noting that Nightmare Mode could be considered a little unbalanced being brutal towards the player considering it would be even more difficult than Expert Mode. It will not be impossible of course, but greater reflexes and strategies than ever will be required. The imbalance is instead directed at the player who will have the odds overwhelmingly stacked against them. Using Arenas, Potions, Traps may be even more of a requirement compared to Expert Mode. Because this mode is completely optional and doesn't affect the main Normal Game or Expert Mode at all, and is a challenge for Experts who may think even Expert Mode is too easy. It is completely fair to make it push the player way beyond their limits as only Masters among Experts will wish to try a mode that makes your world a nightmare.

You won't be left completely on your own. There will be a few things that help you out to complete this difficulty mode like in Expert Mode. These things will mainly just affect your mobility and survivability and not your attacking power. To get you excited for some of whats coming, you'll be able to have 700 Max HP after defeating Plantera.

This is no joke, you will very likely need 700 HP to defeat the Golem and bosses/events after it, more details will be described about the boss changes and how to get 700 hp in the appropriate categories in this thread.

All Expert Mode Features and Items still remain in Nightmare Mode with some mechanics being made more difficult.

Expert Stats are Blue

Nightmare Stats and abilities are Orange

Nightmare Stats enhanced by the Illegal Items condition are Magenta/Pink

Mechanics

  • If you bring in any item from a different character or world into a Nightmare World which doesn't have access to that item. All enemy stats (except for Defense) get multiplied x10 to their base Nightmare stats. We will call this condition "Illegal Items".
  • However, it is still okay to bring in a Crimson item to a Corruption world, or Corruption item to a Crimson world as long as its in the same tier the world is in (EoW and BoC and their items are considered equivalent tier). This will not cause the x10 modifier to enemies.
  • Defense for all enemies and bosses is multiplied x3 compared to their base Defense if the Illegal Items condition is meet. This is to allow Worlds affected by Illegal Items to still be playable, but make it impractical for many players (As most attacks by all enemies will kill players in 1 hit)
  • Some examples would be bringing a Nightmare/Deathbringer Pickaxe to a Nightmare World where you haven't defeated EoW/BoC. Bringing a Daedalus Stormbow to a Nightmare World that isn't in Hardmode. And of course bringing a Meowmere or Last Prism to a freshly created Nightmare World. Bringing in a character with over 400 HP to a Nightmare World where you haven't activated Hardmode and/or defeated a Mech Boss.
  • Enemy stats get reset to their normal Nightmare values if all items and characters that were brought in from higher tiers are removed.
  • This would be bad for multiplayer so servers will have access to a command to prevent characters that meet Illegal Items from entering the Server.
  • Debuff lengths are increased x2 compared to what they were in Expert Mode.
  • Player inflicted debuffs last x4 longer.
  • Player Buffs last x4 longer.
  • Player drops 90% of Money on Death.
  • Defense Stat for the Player still reduces damage by 75% of the number like in Expert Mode.
  • Enemies drop more money compared to Expert Mode.
  • Drop Rates for enemies in general are higher compared to Expert Mode
  • Boss Treasure Bags will contain more of the Boss's Loot compared to Expert Mode (As an Example, you could get the normal Beetle Husks, Greater Healing Potions, a Sun Ray, and a Sun Stone from Golem)
  • Respawn Wait times are the same as they were in Expert Mode

Projectile Changes

New Projectile: Vicious Spit (Crimson version of the Vile Spit Projectile fired by Corrupters)

It is unknown what the current Vile Spit damage is for the Eater of World's Vile Spit as it was reduced from the Corrupter's Vile Spit damage. For Nightmare Mode, Vile Spit damage is still increased for the Eater of Worlds. Eater of Soul's Vile Spit won't do as much damage as the Corrupters.

As the Crimson enhances all enemy and item stats compared to Corruption counterparts, Vicious Spit from Crimeras and BoC do more damage compared to Eater of Souls and EoW.

Biomes

The Corruption and Crimson Biomes damage players that enter them. Meaning that just being in the Corruption/Crimson will damage you. (This is applied through a Dark Decay Debuff that damages the player at a rate of 1 HP every second whenever the player is in either of the biomes. The only way to cancel this is to leave the Corruption/Crimson). If the player is not wearing any armor, the damage rate will be even higher (2 damage per second) This debuff is prevented if a player is wearing Armor greater than Light Red Rarity.

Jungle Water now has the ability to Poison Players.

Desert Water inflicts the slow debuff.

Blizzards in the Ice biome inflict the Chilled Debuff on the player for as long as they stay in the Ice Biome.

The Underworld damages the player whenever they are in it. This is applied through the Overheating Debuff, that damages the player at a rate of 2 HP every second. The only ways to remove this
Debuff are to leave the Underworld, or wear an Armor above Light Red Rarity. Damages the player at the rate of 4 damage per second if the player is wearing no armor at all.

Events

Blood Moon can happen on any Night (Player doesn't need to have 120 HP)
In exchange, the Nurse NPC can also move in right away at any time even if you haven't consumed a Life Crystal.

Eye of Cthulhu has a 1/3 chance to spawn on any night if the player has 160 HP or more.
After the EoC's 1st defeat the EoC still has a 1/12 chance to spawn on any night.

The Eater of Worlds/Brain of Cthulhu have a 1/800 chance to spawn any moment the player is in the Corruption/Crimson, has 200 or more hp and has broken at least 3 Shadow Orbs/Demon Hearts

Goblin and Pirate event enemies have the ability to destroy blocks weaker than Ebonstone/Crimstone/Pearlstone through melee attacks. Destroyed blocks drop to be able to be picked up by the player again. Will only attempt to destroy blocks if they cannot physically reach player. Only enemies in said events that have melee attacks can destroy blocks.

Life Fruit is changed back to growing when Hardmode begins instead of when a Mech Boss is defeated.

Mech Bosses can naturally spawn at night as soon as Hardmode Starts.

Pirate Invasions can naturally happen as soon as Hardmode Starts.

Mech Bosses still have a chance to spawn every night after their 1st defeat, though at a greatly reduced chance.

Pumpkin/Frost Moon events advance x1.33 times faster compared to Expert Mode.

New Items

The new items from Boss Treasure Bags will appear in place of the Expert Item. Basically each time a Treasure Bag is opened it has a 50% chance of having either its Expert Item or new Nightmare Item.

50% Drop from Eye of Cthulhu Treasure Bag
Amulet of Cthulhu (Accessory) Reduces Healing Potion Cooldown by 10 seconds, creates a shield for the player within 5 seconds that will completely block 1 attack. After being attacked the Shield disappears, the player must not take any damage for 5 seconds for the shield to reappear. (This accessory can stack with Philosopher's Stone or Charm of Myths)

50% Drop from Eater of Worlds Treasure Bag
Expeller of Darkness (Accessory) Creates a dark fog around player, any enemy that gets within 3 blocks of player is inflicted with a permanent Dark Decay Debuff (Just damages the enemy by 1 hp every second). This also affects bosses except for Eater of Worlds/Brain of Cthulhu. Doesn't affect Corruption/Crimson Creatures or Underworld Creatures. Also reduces damage of Dark Decay from Corruption/Crimson against player (1 damage every 10 seconds instead of 5 seconds)

50% Drop from Brain of Cthulhu Treasure Bag
Neuron Veil (Accessory) Projectile attacks from enemies have a 33% chance of reflecting off the player if they hit the player. Increases Critical chance by 22%.

Potential Item for Expert and Nightmare Lunatic Cultist
Phantasmic Amplifier (Accessory) Damage is increased by 20%, Potion Sickness Cooldown is increased by 1 Minute. (If player attempts an exploit by using a healing potion then reequipping this accessory, Potion Sickness cooldown is automatically raised to 2 minutes after reequipping)

Life Core (Item) Used as a crafting material to create Energy Stimulant (Obtained from Flying Snakes at a 33% Drop Rate)

Energy Stimulant (Item) Crafted from 1 Life Core and 2 Life Fruit at an Adamantite/Titanium. Permanently increases Max HP by 10. Can only be used if player has 500 HP or more, can't be used if Player has 700 Base Max HP. Can only be used in Nightmare Worlds.

20 of the Energy Stimulants consumed will increase player health from 500 to 700. Using the Lifeforce Potion with 700 HP will bring Player Health to 840 HP (700 * 1.2). To preserve the balance established by the Developers for Normal and Expert Mode, Player Health will be reset to 500 HP if they enter a Normal or Expert World if they have over 500 Base HP in a Nightmare World. Their Health would be reset to what it was when they return to a Nightmare World. Being able to increase one's HP to even more than it was in Normal/Expert Mode should be the biggest reward for Players who have the courage and determination to attempt an even harder difficulty than Expert Mode. They've made it up to Plantera in Nightmare Mode with very little additional help from new items, they need a great reward to make all the horribly difficult bosses they've fought earlier worth it. Just like how the additional accessory slot is locked to Expert Mode only (Its still naturally available in Nightmare Mode as well of course), HP here should also be the case.

Hearts enhanced by Energy Stimulants look Light Blue in Appearance. The affected hearts will be gold with an inner light blue mini heart if the player goes to a Normal or Expert World, to show what hearts have been increased for Nightmare World.

Plus, the bosses after Plantera have evolved with this being in mind with new Patterns and even more deadly attacks. Players will pretty much need at least 700 HP to finish the late-endgame of Nightmare Mode given how brutally the bosses scale in Nightmare Mode compared to Expert Mode. Think Golem is still too easy even in Expert Mode? That changes in Nightmare Mode, Experts will be crying and want stronger weapons to take down Golem which they will never get.

Enemies

  • In general, all enemy attack and HP stats are multiplied x4 compared to Normal Mode
  • Defense for all enemies and bosses remains the same as it was in Expert Mode. Defense is only increased x3 for all enemies if Illegal Items is in effect.
  • Overall enemies and their attacks are faster and more aggressive compared to Expert Mode.
  • All Bats can charge at the player.
  • Skeletons can shield themselves like the Granite Golem.
  • The Enemy limit for all biomes is increased by 4.
  • Spawn rate for all biomes is increased slightly.
  • Eater of Souls and Crimeras gain the ability to shoot vile spit/vicious spit projectiles. This also Corrupts any Corruptable block with its Corruption/Crimson variant.
  • Corrupter's vile spit Corrupting blocks is reintroduced.
  • World Feeders gain ability to shoot Vile Spit similar to Eater of Worlds.
  • Floaty Grosses gain ability to shoot Vicious Spit (Slightly stronger than the Crimera version)
  • Moss Hornets gain a charge ability similar to the Queen Bee in addition to their other attacks (The Moss Hornet version can't go through blocks)
  • Frost Golems can destroy blocks weaker than Ebonstone/Crimstone or Pearlstone with a direct melee attack. Destroyed blocks drop as collectables.
  • Chaos Elementals teleport more frequently and teleport to a random reachable location whenever the players damage them.
  • Blood Zombie and Drippler inflict the Bleeding Debuff on contact with player.
  • Wandering Eyes gain a small charging attack like the Eye of Cthulhu when in their 2nd phase.
  • Snatchers and Man Eaters have a longer reach compared to Expert Mode. Will try to attack player the instant they are in range.
  • All Slimes gain a stomp attack similar to the Miniboss Mimics that does more damage than their normal contact damage.
  • Spiked Slime Variants of all Slimes in the game are added, and can spawn along with normal slimes.
  • Because current Spiked Slimes have doubled stats compared to their normal variant, these new Spiked Slimes would also have doubled stats compared to the on they're based off of.
  • Spiked Slimes completely replace regular Slimes in Hardmode, and have increased stats in Hardmode.
  • Spiked Slimes will also completely replace regular slimes if an item you don't have access to is brought into the Nightmare World
  • The Royal Gel will still work on all Spiked Slimes as long as they aren't the King Slime or spawned by the King Slime.
A few examples of Spiked Slimes compared to their normal versions.

1st the one that already exists:

Ice Slime
HP: 120
Damage: 32

Spiked Ice Slime
HP: 240
Damage:
48 (Melee)
72 (Ranged)

Here's what a few new ones would be like

Purple Slime
HP: 160
Damage: 48
Defense: 12

Spiked Purple Slime
HP: 320
Damage:
72 (Melee)
109 (Ranged)
Defense: 24

Green Slime
HP: 56
Damage: 24
KB Resist: 6%

Spiked Green Slime
HP: 112
Damage:
36 (Melee)
55 (Ranged)
Defense: 8
KB Resist: 6%

This is also a good chance to show what the Illegal Items Condition would do to an enemy:

Spiked Green Slime
HP: 1120
Damage:
360 (Melee)
550 (Ranged)
Defense: 24
KB Resist: 60%

As you can see from the stats here, the weakest enemy in the game has over 1000 hp and its Spike attack can potentially kill the player in one hit if their armor isn't high enough. Not to mention the extreme extra defense it has which is greater than most boss defense in Expert Mode. This means that most other enemies would be even stronger than this. It is best not to bring in any items that trigger Illegal Items unless you want to do a type of New Game + Super Hard run, which would be much harder than doing Nightmare Mode normally.

Normal enemies may still not be an issue with this condition if the player is very careful (which is an expected skill for the player to have if they attempt this mode) It is a different story when fighting a boss however.

We'll pull up the Nightmare Wall of Flesh here in its Illegal Items condition.

Wall of Flesh
HP: 184000
Damage: 2200
Defense: 72
New Abilities:
The Wall of Flesh Shields automatically shields itself if it receives 3000 damage in 4 seconds. It can also randomly shield itself (though the random shield won't be super frequent). The Shield lasts for 3 seconds whether its random or the threshold is reached.

The WoF has a whopping 184000 Health which is multiplied x10 from 18400 which is its Nightmare Mode Single Player Health. More importantly, its body damage is inflated to 2200 (Multiplied from the nightmare stat 220) which is more than three times as much needed to one hit kill any player in Terraria. Meaning all of its attacks kill the player in one hit. To make this even more difficult, its shield activates if it receives 3000 damage within 4 seconds, meaning that using powerful endgame weapons like the Meowmere, S.D.M.G. or Last Prism will easily reach that level of DPS, but the Wall of Flesh will pull up its shield once it's over 3000 damage in that timeframe and other damage won't directly affect it until it is taken down which happens a few seconds later. Not only is every attack an automatic death shot, because of its shield, the player also won't be able to constantly damage it for an extended period of time. This is the consequence of using an item a player is not supposed to have at this stage of the game in their Nightmare World. If the player still plans to do a Nightmare World using Illegal Items, they really have to be the best of the best of the best. All fights and strategies will have to be perfect.

Bosses

In General, all bosses will gain the ability to shield themselves completely from damage. More details are described for the individual bosses, but there is a threshold for an amount of DPS received that causes them to put up a shield to prevent a boss from taking too much damage too quickly. While direct damage won't affect shielded bosses, if bosses have gotten a debuff like Cursed Inferno, or On Fire! Before they put up their shield, They will take damage from it and experience its other effects if they aren't already immune to it. This makes using debuffs on enemies even more important during boss fights.

I imagine boss shields to look similar to the shields used by the Lunar Pillars except that the Shield will also have the Boss's color scheme mixed in with it.

The DPS Threshold for Boss Shields is increased in Multiplayer depending on the number of players, as the Bosses Scale in Multiplayer like they do in Expert Mode.

I try to list as many stats as possible for all of the bosses, but there are many pieces and if conditions that applies to boss fights which just makes it difficult to post every single stat. For NIghtmare Mode you may assume anything about the Bosses not listed here gets a similar type of increase. The Developers would likely use different stats from the ones I made for Nightmare Mode if they were to implement another difficulty like this anyway. The new stats are more just to illustrate how much longer and more difficult the bosses would be

Normal and Expert Boss Stats are also listed to see the comparison to Nightmare mode Stats.

Pre-Hardmode Bosses
Eye of Cthulhu
HP
: 2800 (3640) (6200)
Damage: 15 (30) (60)

New Abilities:
The Eye of Cthulhu's main new ability is the ability to shield itself completely from damage. After receiving more than 500 damage within 5 seconds, it will automatically shield itself preventing damage. The Eye can still move while shielded trying to go into the player, and the shield remains up for 10 seconds. If the player continues to attack the Eye (for about 3 seconds) while it's shield is up, the Eye will retaliate and charge into the player similar to its hyper mode causing contact damage, this will not cause it's shield to go down. The Eye can also randomly shield itself throughout the fight even if the 500 threshold isn't reached.

The EoC can also teleport near the player if they get too far away from it offscreen, similar to King Slime and the Moon Lord

2nd Phase:
HP: 3100/6200
Damage: 75

New Abilities:
The EoC still has its Hyper Ability from Expert Mode as it gets lower on health and it can still shield itself. However, the EoC can't move from its position while shielded unlike the 1st phase (It would remain floating in place in midair), and the damage threshold for the shield activation is more than 600 damage in 5 seconds. The shield also remains up for 10 seconds if player doesn't attack it. It can still summon Servants of Cthulhu while shielded. This gives the player some time to prepare for its Hyper Attack.

Servant of Cthulhu
HP
: 8 (12) (24)
Damage: 12 (24) (48)

New Abilities
:
Servants of Cthulhu also gain a light charge attack they can use like the EoC

King Slime
HP
: 2000 (2800) (4200)
Damage: (Wiki is missing Normal/Expert stats for some reason, this makes it harder to balance for Nightmare Mode, will fill in once they are back)

New Abilities
:
All Slimes the King Slime summons are Spiked Blue Slimes, and the King Slime has spike abilities as well which do more damage on contact compared to its body. Its shield threshold is 500 damage in 5 seconds. It won't use its shield as randomly compared to the Eye of Cthulhu.

Eater of Worlds
HP
:
Head: 65 (91) (132)
Body: 150 (210) (270)
Tail: 220 (308) (430)
Damage:
Head: 22 (48) (72)
Body: 13 (20) (34)
Tail: 11 (17) (24)

New Abilities
:
Little is changed about this fight in Nightmare Mode aside from the shield ability. The Individual Segments may shield themselves after reaching a damage threshold of 50 Damage Per Second (Head), 90 Damage Per Second (Body), and 137 Damage Per Second (Tail). Unlike the EoC, the segments can't use their shields randomly. The Vile Spit of the Eater of Worlds can Corrupt Blocks just like the Eater of Souls can in Nightmare Mode now.

Brain of Cthulhu
HP
: 1000 (1700) (3200)
Damage: 30 (60)

New Abilities
:
In the 1st Phase Creepers are faster and travel in more scattered patterns around the player and Brain. The Brain naturally doesn't have a shield like the other bosses for this fight. The Brain is one of the few bosses that doesn't have a shield since the whole 1st phase is like fighting it while shielded.

In the 2nd Phase the Mirages of the Brain will be completely visible from the start and be indistinguishable from the real Brain. Unlike the lower difficulties, the Brain will not attempt to hit the player. Instead the Real Brain will flash for a split second before it shots a volley of 3 Vicious Spit Projectiles then disappears and reappears with the cycle repeating until the Brain is defeated.

Creepers
HP
: 100 (200) (250)
Damage: 20 (40) (50)
Defense: 10 (16)

Skeletron
HP
:
Head: 4400 (8800) (12100)
Hands: 600 (1560) (2440)
Damage:
Head: 32 (70) (120)
Hands: 20 (44) (76)
Water Bolt: 50

New Abilities
:
Skeletron's head remains completely shielded until its Arms are destroyed. Its Arms can't shield themselves After its arms are destroyed its shield drops down, but it will still randomly shield itself while not spinning at the player and/or receiving a damage threshold of over 450 damage in 4 seconds. It can't shield itself while spinning. If it is still shielding itself and decides to spin the shield instantly drops allowing the player to damage it.

In addition to its Floating Skull projectiles, Skeletron can also shoot Water Bolt Projectiles at the player that can bounce off of surfaces just like the player's Water Bolt can. Skeletron cannot shoot its Water Bolt projectiles while shielded, but it can still shoot its floating Skull Projectiles. These move slightly faster than the player Water Bolts and are larger in size

Queen Bee
HP
: 3400 (4760) (7630)
Damage:
Melee: 30 (54) (102)
Stinger: 22 (44) (77)

New Abilities
:
Queen Bee's shield activates when reaching 1000 damage in 5 seconds, and can still activate it randomly. A new attack of the Queen Bee is to squirt Honey at the player, this doesn't cause damage to the player and actually gives inflicts the Honey Buff for 30 seconds, however this also inflicts the New Sticky Debuff which greatly reduces movement speed as if the player is in Honey even when they're not. This Debuff lasts for 45 seconds and makes the fight very dangerous as the Queen Bee's projectiles and charge attack will be extremely difficult if not impossible to avoid, both of which do far more increased damage compared to Expert Mode. The Debuff is reset to 45 seconds if the Queen Bee squirts the player with more honey if they are already sticky.

Wall of Flesh
HP
: 8000 (11200) (18400)
Damage (Body): 50 (150) (220)

New Abilities:
The Wall of Flesh Shields automatically shields itself if it receives 3000 damage in 4 seconds. It can also randomly shield itself (though the random shield won't be super frequent). The Shield lasts for 3 seconds whether its random or the threshold is reached.

The Wall of Flesh's lasers inflict the Darkness Debuff for 10 seconds.

Otherwise not much about this fight is changed. It gets faster as it takes more damage like in Expert Mode. It is worth noting that the player will have to deal with the Overheating effect of the Underworld while fighting this boss which damages them at 1 HP every 4 seconds which is why not too many changes are made to this boss to be super unfairly difficult.

Hardmode Bosses
The Destroyer
HP: 80000 (120000) (220000)
Damage:
Head: 70 (280) (340)
Body: 55 (93) (163)
Laser: 44 (72) (110)
Tail: 40 (68) (92)

New Abilities:
The Destroyer deploys it's shield when it receives 20000 damage within 7 seconds. This shield affects the whole body unlike the Eater of World's segments. It can also shield randomly like the other bosses. Its shield lasts about 10 seconds. It cannot shoot its lasers while shielded, but it will still release probes while shielded.

Its main deadly new ability, is the ability to fly. Similar to a Milkyway Weaver. It does not need to tunnel into the ground to build up momentum to reach the player who has likely built a sky arena. The Destroyer will attempt to fly its head into the player and redirect its course in midair whether it misses or not. It is much slower while flying compared to launching from the ground however. It will attempt to attack the player 6-10 times with a charge attack once close to the player while flying until it retreats to the ground to build up momentum to fly again.

Probe
HP: 200 (300) (450)
Damage:
Laser: 50 (88) (110)
Melee: 50 (80) (102)

The Twins
1st Phase
HP:
Retinazer: 20000 (30000) (55000)
Spazmatism: 23000 (34500) (62500)
Damage:
Retinazer:
Laser: 40 (76) (150)
Melee: 45 (76) (154)
Spazmatism:
Cursed Flame: 50 (88) (162)
Melee: 50 (85) (157)

New Abilities:
One of the Twins will always be shielded. The Shielded Twin can still attack Normally Within 10-20 seconds, that Twin will drop its shield and the other Twin will throw its shield up. Repeating the cycle throughout the fight.

The rest of the fight remains the same as in Normal/Expert Mode until one of the Twins reaches their 2nd Phase.

2nd Phase
HP:
Retinazer: 23000/55000
Spazmatism: 29000/62500
Damage:
Retinazer:
Death Laser: 170
Rapid Fire Laser: 92
Melee: 202
Spazmatism:
Eye Fire: 188
Melee: 210

New Abilities:
The Twin that reached its 2nd Phase will no longer shield itself and the Twin who is still in its 1st Phase will keep its shield up until the 2nd Phase Twin dies. The 1st Phase Twin can still attack normally, and the 2nd Phase Twin will use its 2nd Phase abilities from Expert Mode.

When the 2nd Phase Twin dies, the other Twin will automatically enter its 2nd Phase regardless of how much health it has left and gain new attacks and even greater damage. Which is actually skipping to a 3rd Phase in practice. This causes its form to change once again to an even deadlier one.

3rd Phase
Damage:
Retinazer:
Death Laser: 220
Pulse Laser: 260
Rapid Fire Laser: 110
Melee: 290
Spazmatism:
Eye Fire: 240
Melee: 330

New Abilities
:
Only one of the Twins will be alive at this stage in the fight, the one that remains can no longer shield itself.

Retinazer gains a new laser attack called a Pulse Laser. It is a thin red Laser Beam, that reaches as far as possible until hitting a block that Retinazer constantly fires out like a Laser Beam (Similar to Moon Lord's Laser except extremely thin) Retinazer will stop its other attacks and make a charging noise when its about to use it then fire it in a straight line from its Retina Beam. It will attempt to aim at the player with this beam and it can turn at a pretty quick rate meaning this Laser will turn quickly which forces the Player to circle around Retinazer to avoid it. Retinazer can't use its other attacks while using its Pulse Laser. The Pulse Laser will fire for about 3-5 seconds. After this time is up, Retinazer will attempt to use it 2 more times which will end after the same interval before using its other Phase 2 attacks, then switching back to the Pulse Laser at another point during the fight.

Spazmatism gains a greatly increased charge attack (Think Eye of Cthulhu's Expert Mode Hyper Attack taken Up to Eleven). Spazmatism will zip through the screen in less than 0.3 seconds, continue to try it again a few more times consecutively as well as make the same noise the EoC makes during its hyper phase. It still uses its other attacks after this is over, but as it gets lower on health, it uses this attack more frequently. It cannot use its other attacks while doing this, however Spazmatism is also capable of inflicting the Cursed Inferno Debuff on the player just from contact or grazing the player by a span of 2 blocks.

Skeletron Prime
HP:
Head: 28000 (42000) (74000)
Cannon: 7000 (10500) (21000)
Laser: 6000 (9000) (15000)
Vice: 9000 (13500) (24000)
Saw: 9000 (13500) (24000)
Damage:
Head: 47 (79) (108)
Head (Spinning): 94 (158) (182)
Head (3 Limbs Left): 210
Head (2 Limbs Left): 265
Head (1 Limb Left): 292
Head (No Limbs): 330
Cannon (Grenade): 40 (75)
Cannon (Melee): 30 (51) (78)
Laser (Death Laser): 50 (100) (160)
Laser (Melee): 29 (49) (81)
Vice: 52 (88) (133)
Saw: 56 (95) (158)

New Abilities
:
Skeletron Prime can only shield it's head. Its head remains shielded while it is not spinning. It is only vulnerable while it is spinning. As Skeletron Prime's Limbs are destroyed, Skeletron Prime gets faster overall and its head spins towards the player at a greater frequency.

The Head of Skeletron Prime loses defense, but gains damage potential as Skeletron Prime's limbs are destroyed.

By the time 2 of its limbs are potentially destroyed it can spin it's head almost as fast as Normal Skeletron's Head.

If Skeletron Prime has no more limbs and its head is still alive, it will always be spinning toward the player and be unable to use its shield as a result. Its speed is almost as fast as Lightning Boots at full speed.

Plantera
1st Phase
HP: 30000 (42000) (74000)
Damage:
Melee: 50 (100) (170)
Seed: 44 (76) (98)
Poison Seed: 54 (96) (124)
Thorn Ball: 62 (108) (162)

New Abilities
:
Only new ability of Plantera's 1st Phase is the overall shield ability for all Nightmare Bosses. Its damage threshold is 9000 damage within 4 seconds and it can hold its shield for 4-6 seconds. It can also put up its shield randomly but the random shield only lasts 2-3 seconds. Plantera will retaliate by rapidly shooting seeds at the player if the player attempts to hit Plantera while shielded for too long which also increases the length of time the shield remains up. Plantera will not adjust its hooks or move while shielded, but it can still shoot seeds which go through walls just like they do in Expert Mode.

2nd Phase
HP: 55% of Max HP 40700/74000
Damage: 70 (140) (210)
New Abilities:
Plantera can no longer shield itself. Its 2nd Phase plays out like it does in Expert Mode. However, Plantera has a new 3rd Phase that triggers once it reaches 25% HP

3rd Phase
HP: 25% of Max HP 18500/74000
Damage: 272

New Abilities
:
Plantera stops previous attacks and stops moving and relocating its hooks once it is a fair distance close to the player. It will not attempt to hit the player anymore at this phase, but if the player moves too far away from Plantera, Plantera has greatly enhanced mobility and will relocate its hooks very rapidly to get close to the player again.

Its new attack involves shooting an enhanced Plantera Tentacle from its mouth that is aimed towards the player. Once it shoots it out, it goes out in a straight line for a distance and quickly retracts if it doesn't hit the player. Plantera will immediately try this attack again and repeat until its tentacle hits the player. This attack can go through blocks. If this attack hits the player, it latches onto the player draining the player's life at a rate of 10 HP per second at the same time healing Plantera at 200 HP for every 10 HP taken from the player. (Plantera will not revert to any of its previous phases if its HP gets above 18500 again) This tentacle stays on the player for 10-15 seconds and can't be removed by the player. The player can still move normally while it has a tentacle attached to them (Its similar to the Moon Lord's Moon Bite attack) This is applied through the new "Leech Life" Debuff.

If Plantera is taken out of the jungle and becomes enraged, it remains in Phase 3 if it was taken out during Phase 3. Along with its other enhancements, it can rapidly fire its life stealing tentacle with greater frequency, if it hits the player, it recovers 1000 HP instead of 200 HP per second while in Enraged Mode.

Keep in mind that after Plantera, the player can potentially increase their Max HP up to 700. 840 while using a Lifeforce Potion. Bosses after Plantera have attack values designed to account for this.

Golem
1st Phase
HP:
Body (Head Attached to Body): 16000 (24000) (48000)
Golem Fist: 7000 (10500) (21000)
Damage:
Head (Melee): 64 (102) (270)
Fireball: 121-230 (Depends on Health)
Laser: 56 (112) (284)
Fist: 59 (94) (190)

New Abilities:
Golem's shield has a threshold of 6000 damage in 4 seconds. It cannot shield itself randomly. It will start firing its Laser attack a little sooner compared to Expert Mode. That's all that's changed in the 1st Phase.

2nd Phase
HP: 60000 (Head)
Damage:
Head (Melee): 342
Fireball: 230
Laser: 250
Flare Bomb: 450
Shockwave: 360

New Abilities:
After Golem's Head Separates from its body, Golem's Body becomes shielded until Golem's head is destroyed. Golem's body becomes stationary and can't deal contact damage to the player during this time. If the Golem Fists haven't been destroyed when this phase begins, they cannot be damaged and cannot damage the player until Phase 3.

Golem's Head will continue to move around the room not too far away from the player. Golem's Body is automatically teleported near the player if the player is moves too far away, but still remains shielded and stationary.

Golem's Head doesn't shield itself, but it becomes capable of shooting fireballs and lasers in 8 directions, aiming for the player with one of the directions, with the other 7 directions going in a down, left right, and all 4 diagonals pattern. It will alternate between shooting its fireballs and lasers this way for a time.

A new attack of the Golem head is to drop a Flare Bomb. This bomb will drop to the ground and explode in 3 seconds or explode immediately if it makes direct contact with the player, the explosion blast covers an area a little larger than dynamite which reaches about a quarter of the Golem's room space. This explosion will not destroy Lihzahrd Blocks, but it will destroy any blocks weaker than them. Needless to say it causes massive damage to the player if directly caught in the explosion and also inflicts the On Fire! Debuff. The Golem Head will not use its other attacks while dropping the Flare Bomb and while it explodes. This also causes a wall of flame shockwave (about 10 blocks tall) to come out on the ground in both directions from where the bomb exploded. It will keep going until it hits another 10 block wall structure. It will also disappear after 3 seconds. (The shock wave moves very fast)

It will cycle between the 8 way Fireballs and Lasers, as well as Flare Bomb this way.

This phase will continue until the head is destroyed.

3rd Phase
HP: 9000 (13500) (72000) (Body)
Damage:
Body: 72 (115) (222)
Sun Beam (Main): 402
Sun Beam (Side): 333
Possessed Hatchet: 215

New Abilities
:
After the Golem Head is destroyed, the shield of the Golem Body will come down and will no longer be able to shield itself. The Golem Body regains its hopping ability and the Golem Fists will continue to attack the player if they weren't destroyed in Phase 1.

The Golem Body's hop is more frequent and much quicker.

The Golem Body gains a new Possessed Hatchet attack (based on the player weapon). The Body will fire 3 Possessed Hatchets one after the other. Which will slowly move toward the player. This attack can go through blocks. They will disappear after 7-12 seconds. The Golem Body will not hop while firing these Hatchets, but it will continue to hop after they are deployed and headed for the player.

The Golem Body's next attack is to charge up a Sun-themed laser where it's head used to be. This attack composes of 3 lasers, with the main one being a medium wide beam and the other 2 being thinner beams (Though not as thin as Retinazer's new Pulse Laser). The 3 Lasers make a sort of 3-way formation with the side lasers aimed diagonally 33 degrees away from the main laser with all of them coming from the same center. The Golem Body remains stationary during this attack. While the Golem is charging this attack, an outline of where the Lasers will go is shown. The main laser is aimed at the player. A second before the Golem Body fires this attack, the outlines remain where they were even if the player has moved. The Lasers fire up to the distance they hit blocks and the beams are maintained for 10 seconds. While firing the Golem will slowly adjust its Main Sun Laser to aim at the player, forcing the player to stay in between the main laser and one of the side lasers.

If the Golem Fists somehow are still on the Golem after destroying the main body, they are also destroyed like how they are in Normal and Expert Mode.

Duke Fishron
1st Phase
HP: 50000 (60000) (85000)
Damage:
Melee: 100 (140) (220)
Sharknado: 90 (100) (180)

New Abilities:
Duke Fishron's Shield triggers if it receives 10000 damage within 5 seconds or 5000 damage within 3 seconds. It can also shield randomly in very infrequent intervals. Duke Fishron will not charge at the player or use its bubble attack while shielded but it can still release it's Sharkrons which summon Sharknados, and releases 4 instead of 2 Sharkrons while shielded. Duke Fishron's shield stays up for 6-10 seconds until its dropped. If player attempts to attack Fishron too long while shielded, it will start reflecting all projectiles back towards player.

Duke Fishron's Sharknado's gain the ability to slowly move towards the player, this is only done from a Horizontal position and they can't move vertically.

The Sharkron enemies fired from the Sharknadoes gain the ability to arc slowly towards the player while in midair before going to the ground making Sharkron enemies more difficult to dodge. They also move a little faster compared to Expert Mode.

2nd Phase
HP: 42500/85000
Damage:
Melee: 150 (201) (380)
Cthulhunado: 160 (200) (367)

New Abilities:
Fishron retains it's shield in this phase, but the threshold decreases to 8000 damage within 5 seconds or 4500 within 3 seconds. Like the 1st Phase, Fishron won't charge at the player while shielded, but it will release 2 blobs that cause the Cthulunado Tornado. The 2nd one will be fired behind Fishron while the 1st one pursues the player like it does now. Both of these Cthulhunados move slowly towards the player horizontally making them more difficult to avoid. They still fire Sharkrons as they have before.

3rd Phase
HP: 16% of Max HP 13600/85000
Damage: 184 (310)

New Abilities:
Duke Fishron no longer shields itself and it doesn't use any other of its previous attacks. Its 3rd Phase plays out just like its Expert Mode 3rd Phase.

Sharkron
1st Phase
HP: 100 (150) (200)
Damage: 100 (150) (250)

2nd Phase
HP: 100 (150) (230)
Damage: 120 (180) (320)

Lunatic Cultist
HP
: 32000 (40000) (68000)
Damage:
Melee: 50 (75) (250)
Shadow fireball: 36 (72) (236)
Ice Mist: 70 (100) (310)
Fireball: 60 (80) (272)
Lightning Orb: 90 (120) (334)

New Abilities:
The Lunatic Cultist can shield itself randomly, except when summoning the Phantasm Dragon (Or Ancient Vision). Once the Lunatic Cultist reaches below 50% of max Health, the Cultist will teleport much more rapidly around the player before unleashing its cycle of attacks. The fight plays out just like in Expert Mode aside from these changes.

Phantasm Dragon
HP
: 4000 (5000) (12000)
Damage:
Head: 80 (120) (240)
Body: 40 (60) (150)

New Abilities:
The Phantasm Dragon moves faster compared to Expert Mode

Ancient Vision
HP
: 2000 (4000) (8000)
Damage: 90 (180) (320)
Defense: 30 (50)

Moon Lord
HP
:
Head: 45000 (67500) (100000)
Hand: 25000 (37500) (62500)
Core: 50000 (75000) (125000)
Damage:
Phantasmal Deathray: 150 (300) (550)
Phantasmal Bolt: 60 (120) (320)
Phantasmal Eye: 60 (120) (240)
Melee (Eye Socket): 80 (80) (200)

New Abilities:
The Moon Lord's Head and Hands do not have shields as they are able to block damage normally anyway.

The Moon Lord's Phantasmal Deathray shoots out in 4 directions like a Cross meaning it will be much more difficult for the player to avoid no matter where they are. The Deathray will rotate counter-clockwise if the player is to the right of the Moon Lord, or clockwise if the player is to the left of the Moon Lord like it does now.

The Moon Lord's Phantasmal Deathray can also damage blocks weaker than Ebonstone/Crimstone or Pearlstone. It will destroy blocks that have the hardness of dirt in 6 hits and destroy blocks with the hardness of stone in 12 hits.

After the Moon Lord's Core is exposed, it has a shield that triggers after receiving 25000 damage in 8 seconds. It won't shield randomly.

The True Eye of Cthulhu Phantasmal Deathrays gain the ability to damage blocks like the Phantasmal Deathray except that their damage rate is 8 hits for blocks of dirt hardness, and 16 hits for blocks of stone hardness. The True Eyes of Cthulhu will also try to use an attack similar to Expert Mode Eye of Cthulhu if they're close enough to the player.

True Eye of Cthulhu Phantasmal Deathrays fire for a longer period of time and also have the 4 direction cross pattern the Moon Lord's Phantasmal Deathray has.

The Moon Lord will also be able to keep up pace with the player much quicker after its Core is exposed.

After Moon Lord is defeated on Nightmare Mode the message <Insert clever message congratulating the player on defeating Nightmare Mode Here> Appears.

True Eye of Cthulhu
Damage
:
Melee: 60 (108) (255)
Phantasmal Sphere: 110 (220) (366)
Phantasmal Deathray: 100 (200) (420)
Phantasmal Eye: 70 (140) (280)
Phantasmal Bolt: 70 (140) (280)

New Debuffs

Dark Decay: Applied in Corruption/Crimson, damages player at a rate of 1 HP every Second. Canceled with Armor above Shadow/Crimtane Tier and Orange Rarity or leaving Corruption/Crimson.
Overheating: Applied in Underworld, damages player at a rate of 2 HP every Second. Canceled with Armor above Shadow/Crimtane Tier and Orange Rarity or leaving Corruption/Crimson.
Sticky: Greatly reduces player's movement speed as if they were in honey. Applied from Queen Bee's new Honey Squirt attack.
Leech Life: Your HP is being drained! Plantera is absorbing your HP and healing itself! (Steals HP at a rate of 10 HP per second, and Heals Plantera at 200 HP per second. 1000 HP while enraged.

If you think that a mode like this sounds like a total Nightmare to play after seeing even a few of the new Deadly Hazards and enhanced Boss Patterns, but still not impossible to deal with, then I have succeeded with this idea. The 700 HP Extension may be the most controversial part of this idea, but I think it is a great reward for players who attempt a super hard difficulty even harder than Expert Mode, and it gives more flexibility to make the bosses even stronger.

EDIT 1 (August 22nd 2015):
Implemented a few suggestions from @Shadowaltz @crackshotCerberus @ThomasC @Zesty_Limez
Respawn Times changed back to Expert Mode respawn times
A Warning Prompt appears in game with magenta text if a player enters a Nightmare Mode with Illegal Items
Buffed Corruption/Crimson and Underworld environmental Damage, but allowed Armors above Shadow/Crimtane to become immune to environmental damage.
Removed enemy and boss Buffed Defense Stats unless Illegal Items takes effect.
Removed Random Lightning damaging player and enemies from Rain Events.
Buffed player inflicted debuff time from x1.33 to x4
Buffed player buff time from x1.33 to x4
Buffed player debuff time from x1.5 to x2
Buffed Amulet of Cthulhu's player shield recharge time from 10 seconds to 5 seconds.
Buffed Expeller of Darkness's Dark Decay buff from 1 HP every 4 seconds to 1 HP every second
Buffed Neuron Veil's Critical chance from 17% to 22%

I'm not sure if it's something I'd do personally, but it would definitely add a ridiculous challenge for those who need it.
I found the biome debuffs to be the most interesting feature of the thread.
 
I don't really see how increasing the HP and defense of enemies in Expert Mode makes enemies harder, if anything it just makes them tedious. x4 stats would result in the most incredibly boring enemies ever. The shield idea and biome themed debuffs are pretty interesting mechanics to prevent players going full out DPS, more armor and dodging incentives. Just stats... I wish there was a version of Expert Mode with same stats as normal mode.
 
I don't really see how increasing the HP and defense of enemies in Expert Mode makes enemies harder, if anything it just makes them tedious. x4 stats would result in the most incredibly boring enemies ever. The shield idea and biome themed debuffs are pretty interesting mechanics to prevent players going full out DPS, more armor and dodging incentives. Just stats... I wish there was a version of Expert Mode with same stats as normal mode.

I actually agree, Although maybe buff only certain stats.
[DOUBLEPOST=1440744190,1440743859][/DOUBLEPOST]x4 stats seems a bit over the top. though I like a lot of the other things, especially the shields.
 
I really like this suggestion as it would definitely add a lot of replayability for us hardcore fans. I just think that universal x4 stats seem a little over the top and unnecessary. The shields are a good idea but they should be triggering a cap of damage instead of just x amount per y seconds because this would sort of punish high crits and keep in mind the player could always stop shy of the damage cap to avoid the shield from being activated.

For enemies, 3x Normal health would be good for most mobs. Instead of just 4x damage, I suggest GREATLY increasing spawn rates and caps and adding new abilities like your suggested spiked slime variants. A 4x DMG to some mobs could be well for easymode but don't buff it over the top for hardmode enemies (I'm thinking 3x DMG), especially enemy projectiles (spammable ones at least). Keep in mind that by enemies gaining new attacks, it would be much harder to simply dodge and kill them quickly.

The whole illegal items seems unneccesary considering that Expert Mode doesn't work like that. I see your purpose but multiplayer will become really annoying (imagine you just wanna fight a power-up boss with some friends) and the whole same tier thing seems complicated not to mention that cheaters will bypass it anyway.

The biome debuffs are a really cool idea and would prevent a player from immediately going to the corruption/crimson right away. Also rather than increasing the length of debuffs, make them more potent/damaging and have a higher chance of being applied. Add debuffs to mobs (mainly hardmode ones) like the Giant Flying Fox/etc. (here's what I mean) and new debuffs like feral bite.

I suggest that Blood Moons become twice as common, along with solar eclipses. The idea of randomly spawning bosses is kind of trollish in easy mode but I think they should appear as mini-bosses in Hardmode. Having enemis destroy blocks would simply be annoying so I suggest they can instead teleport as well as making the projectiles wall-phasing and more powerful across walls.

As for bosses, I feel like you buffed Queen Bee and the Wall of Flesh way too much. Keep in mind that the Queen Bee is optional and by uberbuffing it you're just discouraging players from fighting and killing it. Giving the Wall of Flesh 18400 health would make the battle on small worlds almost impossible. Nerf the health a bit but feel free to buff the leeches and hungries and perhaps add a flamethrower attack to the mouth? Perhaps also increase the defense on the mouth.

For the mechanical bosses, I think you gave a little too much health to them too. The destroyer is sort of a bullet sponge so it doesn't really change much and the twins are killed fairly easily (120K HP but very easy to hit, still could be a little much) but it goes for especially Skeletron Prime (158K HP?). I suggest for the twins that the shield goes to the first one to be brought down to phase 2. This means the player will have to fight both of the Twins in phase 2. Phase 3 is for the remaining twins after one is killed. The laser damage on the twins does seem a little ridiculous. Nerf the DMG by about 20-35% but make it scale with damage. Destroyer and Skelly Prime DMG seem fair.

As for Plantera, your proposed Phase 3 seems really annoying as well as lacking in attacks. I propose instead combining the attacks of phase 1 and 2. Visually Plantera would turn light red and some sort of thorn thingy would grow from its mouth shooting faster petals (now thorns):

As for after Plantera, you propose 700 max HP. I dislike this idea mainly because you're indirectly making potions, health regen and all other forms of health recovery pretty much completely obsolete, except for the Nurse. I propose taking this the other way; rather in Expert Mode players can buy Super Healing Potions after killing Plantera and craft them into Ultra Healing Potions that heal 400 HP. Keep in mind that I'm mostly keeping the ridiculous damage of mobs and bosses after Plantera. This would mean battles are much quicker paced as one too many mistakes will kill you, but you can still recover to kill the boss after losing a lot of health. Ultra Healing Potions would only heal 200 HP on non-Nightmare Worlds.

As for the Expert Moon Lord, it seems completely ridiculous and nigh-impossible on single player. But I'm not objecting to that as that's the point of the final boss. In compensation killing the Expert Moon Lord should grant ALL of his drops alongside the two expert mode items and whatever nightmare-mode godtier items you could add. Perhaps infinite-flight wings, a ring that doubles damage and an infinite replicator?

EDIT: Do you mind if I create a thread detailing my vision of Nightmare Mode?
 
I really like this suggestion as it would definitely add a lot of replayability for us hardcore fans. I just think that universal x4 stats seem a little over the top and unnecessary. The shields are a good idea but they should be triggering a cap of damage instead of just x amount per y seconds because this would sort of punish high crits and keep in mind the player could always stop shy of the damage cap to avoid the shield from being activated.

For enemies, 3x Normal health would be good for most mobs. Instead of just 4x damage, I suggest GREATLY increasing spawn rates and caps and adding new abilities like your suggested spiked slime variants. A 4x DMG to some mobs could be well for easymode but don't buff it over the top for hardmode enemies (I'm thinking 3x DMG), especially enemy projectiles (spammable ones at least). Keep in mind that by enemies gaining new attacks, it would be much harder to simply dodge and kill them quickly.

Thank you for analyzing my suggestion and giving great feedback like this. I will update this suggestion soon to include some of your suggestions. And suggestions from other people as well.

By damage cap you mean when the boss gets down to a set number of HP, then it throws up its shield? As an example in Single Player Eye of Cthulhu gets down to 4960/6200 HP (Or 80%) then it throws its shield up, rather than having it at a dps interval or randomly? I can change it to "When Boss X reaches x% Health, they throw up shield" If that sounds better.

I will implement some of your proposals when I can. It will take more time to think of changes to changing Phases and the Shield Mechanics.

EDIT: Do you mind if I create a thread detailing my vision of Nightmare Mode?

Yes you can create another thread with your version of Nightmare Mode.
 
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