Terraria is not just a Minecraft clone. If you’ve read my review, you will know that there is a huge world to be explored and endless things to do in the game, even more than Minecraft I dare say. It can easily take up to 200 hours of your time, or more if you’re planning on building an elaborate castle with electrical wiring and Christmas lightings. With this guide, I’ll take through the tough times and get you past the basics so you can join me in being a demonite-armor wearing boomerang thrower.
This guide will also teach you the basics of combat and the right strategy to kill most bosses. Don’t be afraid to look up the wiki for Terraria to check out the full list of what you can build. Because I am a kind soul, I will provide you with the link right here. There are just infinite number of things you can craft, so don’t stop digging!
Let there be light
When you are first thrown into the world of Terraria, the first thing you have to do is to start chopping trees. Gather as much wood as possible so that you can build torches, a decent-size shelter around you and a workbench. The workbench is your first crafting station that you can use to build basic furniture and other workbenches. Make sure to stay indoors when the sun sets because bad things come out at night. Don’t worry about your Guide NPC, if he dies he will just respawn later on.
When you’re satisfied with the amount of wood you have, it’s time to start digging down. The further you dig, the more ores you find, and the quality of the ores increase. Build the furnace and the anvil as soon as you can so that you can turn these ores into armor, tools and weapons. Gold ores are the best pre-boss fights, so equip yourself with as much gold-plated stuff before you even think about looking for the first boss. If you’re lucky, you will find demonite ores scattered in small doses around the underworld. These are very valuable and rare. If you’re hardworking, you will still only be able to find enough to craft one thing.
Mikasa Sukasa
Building a house is not just to protect yourself from the terrors in the night. When you build a room that is walled up with a light source and a flat surface object (ie table), that room will be eligible for NPCs to live in it. As you play, you will realize that more and more NPCs will move in to your house. Some are unlocked when you meet a certain criteria, and some are found around the map. Each of these NCPs have their own advantages and benefits to have staying with you. For a full list of them, check out the wiki page link above.
Also, that’s a big part of the joy in playing Terraria. When you spend much of your time building your amazing skyscraper, you don’t want it to be empty, right?
The world is your oyster
Try building shortcuts from one end of the world to the other, with a single shaft down from the basement of your house as the center point. This will make travelling much easier as you won’t have to keep jumping over higher land. When digging down, try to dig straight down first so you can easily get back up to the surface. Also, you might find joy in building up too, just saying. The sky is your limit!
If you chance upon Hearts when digging, hammer it out and use it for a permanent boost to your maximum health. Similarly, during the night, if you find shooting stars landing near you, pick it up for a permanent boost to your mana. However, be careful not to let your health go above 200 because the difficulty ramps up considerably when you exceed that amount. Bosses will spawn randomly without needing to be summoned. If you’ve reached 190 health, keep the rest in your inventory until you’re ready to fight bosses, then gulp everything down.
En Garde!
Combat in Terraria starts off simple. The sword just spins in a circle around you and damages whatever is in its way. As you gather more resources, try to get a good bow (some recommend spending demonite to make the bow) and make a lot of arrows (200+ at least). The bow will be very important to you because that will be your primary weapon when fighting bosses. You do NOT want to be close to the boss, ever, so a ranged weapon is much needed.
When you are decked out in Gold and Silver armor and bow, and have a ton of health, you are now ready to fight your first boss. Yes you can possibly win before this, but better be prepared right? Make sure all your arrows and bows and potions are equipped and in the bar at the top for easy access, make sure you have a long flat landing to run around while you kite the boss and always be on your feet, running and jumping around to avoid the boss. You’re a sitting duck if you just stand in one place and shoot. Stay away from the boss and never use a melee weapon against them. If you can, make better arrows too. The flaming arrow does more damage and is not too difficult to make.
For your first boss, many would recommend the Eye of Cthulhu. It is the easiest boss to kill mainly because there is a lot of room for you to move around, and it can be summoned any time and any where you want. It moves in a set pattern, so it should be pretty simple to avoid its attacks. Keep running away from it, jumping around it, while shooting arrows continuously and it should be dead in no time. Remember to keep chugging potions as soon as the cooldown is up. If you want to be more prepared, you can drink potions that buff you (ie Ironskin potion) before beginning the fight.
The next boss you kill should be the Old Man at the dungeon. Simply talk to him at night and he will turn into the boss. Like before, try to create a long flat landing area in front of the dungeon to run around and employ the same strategy. When it is dead, the Old Man will join you at your house as an NPC, and the dungeon is now open to you. This is where it is the most fun! You might want to make a bed at the dungeon entrance so that when you die, you will respawn at the entrance instead of far away in your house. The Eye of Cthulhu can be summoned again and again, so feel free to kill it over and over to obtain more demonite ore. You’re gonna need it for harder bosses.
This is not the end
If you beat the dungeon and you’re wondering where to go next, try digging ALL the way down. Welcome to Hell. The boss down below is terribly difficult for the unprepared and you shouldn’t try it until you’re decked out and have covered all the lava in Hell. Once you have defeated the boss in Hell, the world will enter Hard Mode. And still, it is not the end. There are many many more things to do and bosses to kill, and progression to be felt, so just keep digging and building. If you find that you are stuck, don’t be ashamed to refer to the wiki to see which boss you haven’t killed, or any areas you haven’t explored.
This is not even half of what you can find in Terraria. If I list down everything, this article would be 20 pages long. Have fun exploring and being the master of your world, ladies and gentlemen!
