Have you ever looked into your piggy bank and wished it was full of platinum? Are you tired of saving up for your next reforges or purchases?
The best ways to make money in Terraria are by selling easy-to-find materials, farming-specific bosses, and farming events.
Look no further because I will tell you the best ways to get money, no matter your point in the game. Most of the methods here require you to be farming actively, but the last and most effective method can be done while you’re AFK!
1. Sell Obsidian Skulls
It sounds like an odd method just hearing about it, but the skulls sell for 54 silver a piece! If you fill your inventory with them, you’re bound to make a pretty decent profit.
To do this, you need to buy many bombs from the Demolitionists. Then, head down to a point where you see the largest lava pit. Using a lava charm will limit any damage you take, so it’s optimal to equip one.
When you’ve found the perfect lava pit, you’ll need to locate a water source somewhat close to it. Search above it first, but one diagonal to it will work well. Next, you need to guide the water to the lava pit and block off any possible areas from which the water can leak. This effectively creates a constant source of obsidian that will generate until the lava or water is consumed.
Next, Perch yourself in an area where you have a clear area to throw your bombs. Simply throw the bombs into the water onto the obsidian, and watch as it breaks dozens of obsidian pieces.
Ideally, you should get as much obsidian as possible. You can even gather several lava pools of obsidian for the best results. Now, craft as many Obsidian Skulls as possible, then sells them to the nearest merchant.
You can use this renewable income source for a long time. If you don’t wish to use up all the lava in your world, just make a new world for farming. Once you get further in the game, other ways exist to make money even faster than this.
2. Farm Eye of Cthulhu
This is not as involved as farming obsidian, but it takes better gear and a little skill. Boss areas also are optional but are recommended for Expert mode.
Normal mode EoC is extremely easy to beat, so you can run around with your favorite ranged weapon and go to town. The expert mode will require much more dodging, so equip your Shield of Cthulhu to evade his attacks.
Spawning him can be done by finding Suspicious Looking Eyes or crafting them at a Demon/Crimson Alter using 6 lenses. I prefer to spawn him using any eyes I find while mining because going out and farm lenses is annoying.
When you’ve beaten the beast, take and sell all the items you get. I like smelling the Demonite/Crimtane in bars, but the ore sells for the same amount. The gold you get from the EoC is good but isn’t the most you can get from a pre-hardmode boss.
3. Farm the Eater of Worlds/Brain of Cthulu
You can only fight one or the other, but my favorite one to fight is the Eater of Worlds. Both are pretty easy to defeat, but you can beat the EoW quicker using the right weapons.
Breaking 3 Shadow Orbs/Crimson Hearts will cause the boss to spawn immediately and will also cause meteors to spawn. This is beneficial since you can mine the meteor with bombs and sell all the ore, giving you a good profit.
When you run out of Orbs to break, you can craft boss spawners for each one. I personally just like to create a farming world and use up all the Orbs. It saves me a lot of time farming mobs, and I can start making money immediately.
Startup the fight with a decent-sized arena, but make sure you don’t get stuck after breaking the Orb. Weapons that penetrate multiple enemies are ideal, such as a Vilethorn or Waterbolt. The fight won’t last long, so collect and sell all the drops.
Due to its ease and profitability, I do this method even after Hardmode, so I highly recommend it.
4. Farm Pumpkin Moon
The Pumpkin Moon is probably the hardest method here to do. Expert mode players will have a tough time completing it, but the reward is worth it. Not only is there potential to get some great items, but also you’ll get a good amount of gold for completing the waves.
The best way to do this is to make a lava trap on either side of you and stand in the middle. This works well, that is until the Pumpkin shows up. The bosses will require you to move around much more than normal enemies, making the events much more difficult.
I would have added this method to the list, but the bosses make it hard to repeat easily. Repeated deaths will cause your coins to be lost, so you know what you’re doing.
5. Farm the Destroyer
The Destroyer is my favorite Hardmode enemy to defeat simply because of his ease. With the right accessories, you can destroy this boss in less than a minute, and that’s in Expert mode!
To do this, ensure you have plenty of Mechanical Worms to spawn him with. Next, get a Daedalus Stormbow with some Holy Arrows. A Ranger Emblem, a Magic Quiver, and ranged armor will give you the best success.
Simply spawn the boss and fire away! Watch as the shooting stars rain from the sky and shred the Destroyer’s health. I’ve also used this method to kill the other mechanical bosses, but this is way more effective on the Destroyer due to his long body.
Grab all the Hallowed Bars and other items he drops, and sell them for some awesome profit! The hardest part about this whole thing is farming Mechanical Worms, which aren’t even hard to get.
6. Farm Pirate Invasion
Before you start farming the pirates, you’ll need a bunch of Pirate Maps. There are 2 easy ways to do this:
Corrupt Worlds: Corrupt the bottom of the ocean using a Clentaminator or Holy Water, and spawn the Eater of Worlds. It should only take fighting him 1 or 2 times to drop a map.
Crimson Worlds: Place 200 Crimtane blocks on one side of the ocean to create an artificial biome. Blood Jellies will spawn much more than their normal counterparts will. Battle potions and Water Candles also give you a better chance of getting a map.
Once you’ve obtained at least 1 map, you can make the Pirate Invasion self-sustaining. Make some lava traps in the Ocean Biome, and make sure at least 1 NPC lives near there. They won’t spawn without the NPC, and the lava traps will defeat them without much effort.
The one thing you’ll need to worry about is the Flying Dutchman spawns. You’ll have to move around a bit more to take care of these guys, but they aren’t very hard to beat.
Not only will you have a chance of getting a Lucky Coin from the Pirates, but also you will probably get many more Pirate Maps from them. Just keep doing invasions as often as you want, and plunder some of that pirate booty!
Ultimate AFK Farm
Now for the best method, I could find online. It involves using a Lucky Coin in the ocean biome to farm mods passively slowly. You can also place jungle blocks along with Crimson and Corruption to farm for biome keys.
You’ll also obtain a boatload of Pirate maps, which you can use for even more money. Overall, this is probably the best AFK method you can use. This video explains how to do it perfectly and will ensure you become so rich that you’ll never have to worry about money in Terraria again!
Conclusion
Every method in this list is a great way to make money in Terraria. I checked out many more methods, but they seemed too annoying to set up. I also didn’t include any cheating methods here because I prefer to make Terraria money legitimately.
Start doing these methods to see which one you like the best. Inevitably, you’ll find some easier than others, so you want to stick with the one that’s right for you.