Terraria 1.2.4.1 Guide: A guide to playing Terraria

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Predious

The Destroyer
Terraria 1.2.4.1 Progression: A near complete guide to playing Terraria and getting the most of of your world. (IMPORTANT: There is a summary checklist at the bottom of this guide for quick reference and convenience.)

Note: This is a large compilation of information from multiple sources, including the Wiki, as well as experiences, and some
information is based on experience when playing. You can play your way, but this is how I have done things.

Stage one: The beginning

You start with a short sword, pick axe, and an axe. look for the corruption/crimson in the world and set up an outpost near it. just a few rooms for NPC's, as well as a room for yourself and the essentials for crafting, storage, and a bed is enough.

Dig into the underground and upgrade to gold/platinum quality gear (tools, weapons, armor) and try to find accessories as well. Once you have the appropriate gear, its time to kill a boss.

Stage 2: An Eye for an eye

Kill the Eye of Cthulhu. plain and simple. Easiest way get to him is to wait until night and hope that he spawns at random that night. Otherwise, farm 10 lenses from the demon eyes that float around at night and try to kill you. Then take those 10 lenses and craft a Suspicious Looking Eye at a Demon Alter/ Crimson Alter.

Then summon the Eye and kill it. Once you do, you should soon get Demonite/Crimtane ore. Smelt these down into bars and accumulate enough to make the corruption/crimson set of armor, tools, etc. Note, you must kill the Brain of Cthulhu or the Eater of Worlds for scales/ tissue samples to complete your respective set of armor, tools, and weapons before you can continue.

When you go to kill these bosses, an easy way to summon them is to find the Shadow orbs/ Demon hearts in the underground corruption/ crimson biomes. Break three of these, and you will start to fight the boss in that zone. It is a good Idea to make an arena first to make the fight easier for you to handle.

OPTIONAL: You will get a message that says 'A meteorite has landed!' on your screen if you break a Shadow orb/ Demon heart. When you get to it, you can mine it up and convert the Meteorite ore into bars and turn these into gear for you to use. BEWARE, meteor heads will attack you while you are near the meteor, and the meteor site itself is harmful to you in that the meteorite blocks cause you to take burning damage when you stand against it unless you have a certain accessory.

Stage 3: Bone Chilling

Now with two out of the four bosses in Pre-hardmode killed, its time to go to the Dungeon. Find the Dungeon, make an arena if you'd like, and then wait for night. A old man in red clothing and white hair and beard will reside there. Talk to him when night falls and you will be able to summon Skeletron. Kill him to gain entrance into the Dungeon.

WARNING! If the fight against Skeletron lasts too long and day breaks, HE WILL INSTANTLY KILL YOU AND TAKE MUCH LESS DAMAGE. Please go there prepared. And don't go down into the dungeon WITHOUT KILLING SKELETRON FIRST. The Dungeon Guardian will kill you if your not prepared.

Once you kill him, go down into the dungeon and hunt for gold keys and locked gold chests. These chests contain valuable items that you will need on your quest through the land of Terraria. Namely, Cobalt shield is A MUST, as well as other items that are useful.

Stage 4: Buzz...

This is more optional, but should be done early on to make life in Terraria easier for you. Go to then jungle and descend underground and look for the large hives to summon and kill the Queen Bee. With the gear you should have when following this guide, killing the Queen Bee shouldn't be too hard.

When you kill her, continue looking through the underground jungle for more accessories. It is highly recommended to craft the Frostspark Boots early on, as they are very useful for traveling long distances, which you will be doing A LOT OF IT.

Note: Sometime in your game play, there should be a Goblin Army event approaching the horizon. When it does, it will tell you which side of the world its coming from, East, or West. Defeat the event for an important NPC. This NPC is called the Goblin Tinkerer, and is REQUIRED to have in your base for numerous reasons.

Another Note: After Killing the Queen Bee, the NPC known as the Witch Doctor will spawn, and making a house for him in the jungle early on will benefit you greatly in the future.

Stage 5: Fire! Fire!

By now, you will have killed three bosses, shaped the world as you desired, gathered a large following of NPC's in your housing development, and also gather a large amount of items for you to use. It is very important at this stage to make sure your house is safe and not within the corruption/ crimson biomes. You also need to make sure that you have some important NPC's in your home base as they are important for different reasons, like the above mentioned Goblin Tinkerer whom can Reforge your gear, and sell you a workbench to combine accessories.

Once your base is well taken care of, and many preparations are taken, its time to go to the underworld.

Make a 'Hellevator' or a long running tube going straight down to the bottom of the map to reach the underworld. This is where the final boss in Pre-hardmode lives in.

Go through the area collecting Hellstone and Obsidian to make tools and armor for that area, while also making a long stretching pathway that you can use to fight the Wall of Flesh on.

The Wall of Flesh is a unique boss in that it is literally as it is, a moving wall of flesh, and if this wall passes you, you will die or be knocked back. You also cannot escape the fight, or you will be killed. Take precaution and prepare the battle ahead.

WARNING, ONCE THE WALL OF FLESH IS KILLED, THERE IS NO GOING BACK TO PRE-HARDMODE. PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE BEFORE KILLING THE WALL OF FLESH.

By this time, you should have at least this type of gear set and health/mana values.
Molten armor, tools, and weapons. 400 health, 200 mana. Reccomended accessories include: Frostspark Boots, Obsidian Shield, Horseshoe Balloon, Celestial Cuffs, Mana Flower, Band of Regeneration, Arctic Diving Gear(for underwater exploration in the oceans,) and Lava Waders

Life crystals are found underground, and increase your health permanently by 20, up to 400. At night, fallen stars will descend from the heavens and hit the ground. These stars can deal 1000 damage to enemies, but NOT TO PLAYERS. Gathering 5 stars will let you create a Mana Crystal, and these permanently increase your Mana bar by 20, up to 200.

Note: Another thing to make life easier is to build a Surface Mushroom Biome early on. And will be a great benefit in Hardmode. Just look for underground glowing mushroom biomes, gather the mushrooms and seeds there as well as mud blocks, then build your surface biome somewhere and use the seeds to start growing glowing mushroom biome grass, and glowing mushrooms.

AND NOW... The final boss in Pre-Hardmode. Its been a long journey, and much dedication and patience is needed, but you are now here. Its time to fight the Wall of Flesh and begin Hard-mode. Potions and buffs can be helpful in this fight, and with all the preperations you've made, things should be easier, but don't underestimate your enemy. Fight with honor, and courge, and strive for FREEDOM!

Stage 6: Hardmode here we come!

You have now defeated the Wall of flesh, a box appears with some loot inside where you killed it, and a message saying "The ancient spirits of light and dark have been released" will appear on the screen. You are now in Hardmode.

When you return to your base, you will find more enemies running around in your world, and possibly a new biome. The Hallowed biome is a perky, happy little corner of Terraria with its own unique set of enemies to deal with. Rainbows and clouds with smiley faces fill the sky with light and warmth, but don't be fooled. The enemies are not to be trifled with.

Using the new 'Pwnhammer' you have acquired from killing the Wall of Flesh, go to the Demon Alters/ Crimson Alters, and destroy them with this Pwnhammer. If you noticed before acquiring the Pwnhammer, using any other hammer in pre-hardmode would make you take damage. The Pwnhammer will destroy the alters without you taking damage, and spawns new ore types for you to collect.

Your concern now is to find the new ores placed into the game, many of which will be easy to get since you've probably dug a few Hellevators to look for different things to help you on your journey. The monsters underground will be making this difficult, but be patient and you will be rewarded.

These new ores are: Cobalt, Palladium, Mythril, Orichalcum, Adamantite, and Titanium.

Cobalt and Palladium are of similar quality, and can be mined with the Molten Pickaxe you made in pre-hardmode, but in or to gather the other ores, you need to at lease craft a Cobalt/Palladium drill or pickaxe. Gather the ores and make the gear and tools you need.

More items, including accessories be com available to be gathered and crafted. WINGS ARE REQUIRED.

Stage 7: What are those clinking noises?

The Mechanical boss, hardmode versions of some of the bosses you had fought in the past, are now deadlier then ever, and need more preperation and precaution taken to beat them. The Twins, Skeletron Prime, and The Destroyer. Each are unique in their own right, and as stated, patience, prep work, and determination are required. Sometimes at night, one of these bosses can randomly appear, but can be avoided if you flee underground.

After beating these three bosses, a message will appear stating "The Jungle grows restless" and Plantera is available to be killed. This boss is different from the mechanical bosses, both in appearance, and what it unlocks later on.

Once you kill Plantera, a temple key will drop, and another message will appear stating "Screams are echoing from the dungeon." This means that the dungeon has now begun its hardmode journey.

The truffle NPC that can move into your previously created surface glowing mushroom biome, and after plantera is killed, he can sell a furniture item called the "Autohammer" that can be used to create even stronger and more deadly items.

There is another boss with its own challenge and set of loot. Fishron, which can be summoned by using a special fishing bait.

Throughout your hardmode experience, you may find key molds. Combine these with Temple keys and other materials will net you a biome specific key to use on chests within the dungeon. Be very careful in the dungeon, as new monsters will appear to harm you!

A few more event will also occur in your world. During Halloween, the Pumpkin moon event can spawn a variety of Halloween themed monsters for you to slay, as well as loot to gather. During Christmas, you may also see a Frost Moon event, bringing its own array of creatures to kill and loot to be had. A Solar Eclipse event can come around, bringing even more monsters to slay and treasures to earn! And the Pirate invasion can also occur, with monsters and loot galore. The Pumpkin moon and Frost moon events can be manually triggered at night by creating an item to summon them.

Note: These event are MUCH MORE DIFFICULT then your standard Goblin Army event, so it is highly recommended to build an arena to fight them off in.

Finally, after everything else, the journey you've taken, the things you've seen, the monster you've slain, the events you've witnessed, the last boss remains. The Temple taunts you. It is well defended with heavily armored blocks picks can't mine through but one, traps strewn everywhere within, and a key needed to enter beforehand.

The Golem, the final Boss in the game (as of Terraria Patch 1.2.4.1) with its glowing eyes, massive fists, and statuesque demeanor, it stands as your final barrier to becoming the king of the world (that you generated in the video game. By the way, congratulations for getting here!)

Defeating this boss is no simple task just as everything else has been, but its not stopped you yet. Sure you may have died a few times, but if your on soft or medium core, you can always try again. But once you do, you will feel like a god, like nothing could destroy you, like you could bend the world to your will at a moments notice!

Stage 8: THE END! (for now...)

Congratulations! You have completed your journey in Terraria. The bosses, monsters, and events you've faced should no doubt prove a challenge to you, but with hard work and patience, you will become the ruler of the world you generated! But you can still revisit the areas of the world and reap the benefits of their loot, and with lots of gold in your pocket, you can reforge your gear and become unstoppable. You can also take this opportunity to create wonderful art in your world, and paint a picture of your battles and experiences, and make that world a legendary adventure and legacy to remember for all time... or at least as long as there are people around to remember it. Your game play is only limited to your imagination, so go nuts!

Thank you for reading this guide, and because its so long and you got here, you get a cookie! Well... if I could cook and send it to you via internet that is... But anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, please comment on anything super important I might have missed, or errors in this guide, and I will try to fix it.

But now, one question remains... How will you play?

Edit: 3/8/2015
To make things easier, I will create a Checklist below this comment to summarize the guide in fewer details for quicker access.

Stage 1: Start, gather Gold/Platinum tools and armor.
Stage 2: Kill Eye of Cthulhu and Brain of Cthulhu/ Eater of Worlds. Gather Demonite and Shadow Scales/Crimtane and Tissue Samples to make respective Armor and Tools. (Optional, get meteorite armor and tools)
Stage 3: Kill Skeletron, loot dungeon.
Stage 4: Kill Queen bee, Goblin Army event should happen by now, expand base of operations.
Stage 5: Prepare for Hardmode (build home for Witch Doctor in jungle, Glowing mushroom Biome with proper npc housing within, gather Hellstone and Obsidian to make Molten armor and tools, max health and mana) Kill Wall of Flesh.
Stage 6: Enter Hardmode, Gather Cobalt, Palladium, Mythril, Orichalcum, Adamantite, and Titanium, make respective armor and tools as you go, hunt down more accessories, and Life Fruit in Jungle. GET WINGS.
Stage 7: Kill Skeletron Prime, The Destroyer, and The Twins. Make better gear with the souls they drop. New events may occur. Kill Plantera, make better gear at this point, Truffle NPC should arrive by now to help with this. (Optional: Fishron is not a part of the progression to get to the Golem, but can be killed for good loot.) Kill Golem. (Optional: Pumpkin Moon and Frost Moon events can be manually triggered, and have good loot as well.)
Stage 8: Enjoy the world, create, kill bosses and events again, explore the rest of the map.
 
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Awsome starter guide , havent played in ageeeeees so helped me prepare for Hard Mode , very well done
Well thank you very much. This is geared more towards experienced players who want a sort of check list on stuff to get through on their Terraria journey. And just like to the other person i had said this to, I made this out of boredom. :p
 
I don't really feel like this is a guide imho, there's no real tips or uncommon knowledge at the table. Just a list of things you have to do to progress to endgame. Just my opinion
 
When I was fighting skeletron prime he went away before half moon. Is that supposed to happen?
Thanks for any/all help. This was on the Xbox One.
 
Prime isn't supposed to despawn even at dawn. He just gains much more power

I know if you go deep underground he may leave.

If you died he may leave I think.

It does seem to be a bug though if nothing out of the ordinary happend.
 
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