Expert Mode is the second highest difficulty you can select when creating your world. If you are looking for a challenge while playing Terraria but do not want to face the complete brutality of the Master Mode then this is the difficulty to choose. However, there is more to Expert Mode in Terraria than just the challenge and this will be discussed in this article.
Expert Mode increases the difficulty in Terraria by a great margin. What makes it worth your while is that you will receive rarer loot with better quantity and quality. Also, there is a plethora of changes that are exclusive to this mode only like special items and totally new enemy/boss behaviors.
Let us find out what is different in Expert Mode in Terraria and what makes it worth taking on this challenge.
Why Choose Expert Mode?
Before we go deep into Expert Mode, you need to know that Expert Mode is selected through the Difficulty settings when you are creating a world at the start.
Simply put, Expert Mode is mainly chosen for a more challenging experience of Terraria. If you have already breezed through the base difficulties and the sadistic inside of you wants to dare itself, then Expert Mode is your go-to difficulty before the balls-to-the-walls Master Mode.
Or do you want to prepare yourself for the Master Mode, then this mode can be treated as a nice training run.
With that said, it is not just about enduring cruelty in this difficulty mode, it also provides some variations that are unique to it. Needless to say, if you have already sifted through everything that the lower difficulties have to offer then this mode can give Terraria a much-needed shot of “newness”.
Let us go over what are the differences that Expert Mode brings with it.
Expert Mode Changes
We have already stated that Expert Mode comes with a difficulty boost but what is exactly boosted here? We will go over some of the changes below:
- Enemies have a significant increase in resilience, damage, and a decrease in the extent of knockback they endure, with their health and damage output being twice as much as usual.
- Certain special enemies and bosses have increased stats.
- Some enemies will inflict new types of debuffs.
- Enemies and bosses in the game now have new and more advanced AI. This means they have become better at attacking and their moves are now more difficult to predict and avoid.
- Enemies can now spawn inside your village or near NPCs.
- NPCs do more damage.
- Defeating enemies will drop more items and you have a greater chance of getting specific items. Sometimes, you might even get a 50% or 100% extra chance of getting those special items.
- Coins dropped by dead players will be picked up by nearby enemies. You will have to retrieve it by defeating the sparkling enemy.
- Respawn time is increased.
- Enemies will receive a further boost to stats when playing in multiplayer.
As you can see there are so many things that Expert Mode brings to the table other than just hardship. There is so much more to it and this just adds that extra icing on the cake especially if you are playing with friends. Really helps alleviate the monotony of base difficulties.
Enemies/Bosses in Expert Mode
On top of the changes to enemies mentioned above, there are more in this mode. Enemies will drop more than twice the coins when killed. Their attack patterns and damage will increase, and new attacks are added to their repertoire.
Bosses like Duke Fishron will have additional stages to deal with. In single-player, bosses will have even more health. If you are playing multiplayer then the bosses will get an additional health boost for each extra player. Some bosses will also drop Treasure bags with a greater quantity of boss items and even some exclusive items.
Having so many changes to enemies and bosses will not only shake up the gameplay but will allow you to experiment with new builds. Furthermore, there is an extra incentive in the shape of exclusive items to look forward to.
Expert Mode Exclusive Items
Following is the list of items that are rewarded from the bosses’ Treasure bags:
| Items | Boss |
|---|---|
| Royal Gel | King Slime |
| Shield of Cthulhu 0x33’s Aviators | Eye of Cthulhu |
| Worm Scarf | Eater of Worlds |
| Brain of Confusion | Brain of Cthulhu |
| Hive Pack | Queen Bee |
| Bone Glove | Skeletron |
| Bone Helm | Deerclops |
| Demon Heart | Wall of Flesh |
| Mechanical Wagon Piece | The Destroyer |
| Mechanical Wheel Piece | The Twins |
| Mechanical Battery Piece | Skeletron Prime |
| Volatile Gelatin | Queen Slime |
| Spore Sac | Plantera |
| Soaring Insignia | Empress of Light |
| Shiny Stone | Golem |
| Shrimpy Truffle | Duke Fishron |
| Witch’s Broom | Mourning Wood |
| Gravity Globe Suspicious Looking Tentacle Celestial Starboard | Moon Lord |
Without going over each of the item’s effects (you can do that by checking out the Terraria Wiki) we can safely say that these items are some of the best in the game.
If you are looking for maximum impact in this game then adding these items to your inventory will definitely up your game. And who knows your next favorite item might just be waiting right inside one of these bosses’ Treasure Bags.
Conclusion
If you are looking for a challenge, then playing on Expert Mode makes a whole lot of sense. The trials and tribulations, as documented above, that come with this mode have a huge impact on the whole game and the way you experience and interact with it.
The other changes, like new items, give you the motivation to take on this challenge since these items are quite effective. You will be sufficiently rewarded for the treacherous journey you are about to embark on.
But at the end of the day if the base game has become boring and requires a shot of adrenaline then by all means select Expert Mode when creating that new world. You will be punished, but at least you will feel something!