Mediumcore + Expert mode= (2024)

Hnnnnggg... The pain is real. lol...

It's all fun and games until you die 3 biomes away from your spawn point, with only a backup set of copper gear. RIP platinum set. + trinkets.

Thoughts? Tricks? Also, Is it just me or does it rain waaay too much in expert mode? Besides all that, lovin the patch - it's like a whole new game.

This is exactly the world I started yesterday.
So couple things I've been doing:

Building little 'refuges' when I get to far from home. These are just basic houses that are semi-zombie proof. I like putting a campfire and a workbench in them too. Basically if I feel like I'm getting in trouble I run here. Also if I'm trying to get my gear back after dying I can wait out events/night in these.

Taking things just a little slower. Seems self evident, but I mean it. I consciously have to remind myself to 'take it slowly'. Especially if I just made new armor or got a new weapon.

Placing extra torches/lights. This actually helps a ton! I'm so used to my uber ranger with shroomite armor and a wisp from the dungeon that I forgot how dark the game can be. Now I constantly have a full stack of torches on me and I place them liberally. They are also a good timer for when I should probably head back to base. No more exploring 'just a little farther' using a glowstick!

Finally I am using the fact that you get 2 planks for each wood now to full advantage. Water I have to swim? Plank over it! Small canyon I would usually climb down then climb up other side? Plank over it! Even those long shallow bodies of water in the jungle I plank over because the water slows you down making you more vulnerable! Also every single drop of water in the snow biom I plank because it applies a chilled debuff that makes running away impossible.

Finally I tend to examine the point where I died on the map, and try to find a different way to approach my gear then the one that got me killed. This is something I never did before, but now when slimes will kill you without armor... I find it makes the biggest difference in time to recover gear, even if the secondary path takes me longer cause I have to dig through something.

Hope some of those help!

Some really insightful tips - I hadn't considered little refuge shacks, smart thinking. Also, to add to your planking tip, I would also mention add ropes to anything you can't reach with a single jump, even if you get climbing gear/bottle/wings - just in case you "need" to get up a ledge without said trinkets.

EDIT: also in hindsight, maybe have a chest with a recall potion in it at every refuge shack (if a player has come across a abundance)

Spot on about the rope thing. I have that accessory that gives you jungle vine rope and I store all of that at home so I can take it out with me when getting equipment back, since the game seems to give me enough normal rope to place while I'm exploring.

Also good idea with the chest in the refuge, hadn't really thought of that.

There was a thread on TO about Mediumcore in general, I found myself typing parts of it over again. Here's the link instead:

http://www.terrariaonline.com/threads/a-guide-to-mediumcore.117958/

I'm sure there are specific things in 1.3 that could make life easier too. Sunflower buff perhaps? (Worth carrying a few to drop like bread crumbs on your way to your old gear? Maybe.)

Mimp said:

There was a thread on TO about Mediumcore in general, I found myself typing parts of it over again. Here's the link instead:

http://www.terrariaonline.com/threads/a-guide-to-mediumcore.117958/

I'm sure there are specific things in 1.3 that could make life easier too. Sunflower buff perhaps? (Worth carrying a few to drop like bread crumbs on your way to your old gear? Maybe.)

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I'd probably not bother with random scattering - but I "would" put them near every refuge - so, for instance if you're sitting in one with a bunch of crimson mobs floating around - it would at least reduce how many are waiting to eat your face. lol

Another tip I thought about - have a bed at every refuge - that way, if you die after having crossed a crimson/corrupt biome, for instance - you dont have to worry about trecking back through it to get to your corpse.

As an update, just killed WoF.

Gotta say I'm glad I listened to the tips you guys posted - they are helping take the edge off HM, which is proving to be a rough beast to tame lol. Would have been hard building the shacks at the edge of each biome in HM, glad I did it pre-HM - along with a set of rail tracks skipping past the existing Crimson in my world.

Previously I've always played Mediumcore, but I went Softcore for 1.3 Expert. Probably a good decision overall, but I'm still feeling like things are...lacking, in the death department. Only losing a bit of coin really takes all the sting out of it.

Of course, I compensate in other ways. Like only using default copper pickaxes until I could kill the Brain Of Cthulhu and get a deathbringer axe. Made an entire 5-block-wide Hellevator with that copper pick

Matuse said:

Previously I've always played Mediumcore, but I went Softcore for 1.3 Expert. Probably a good decision overall, but I'm still feeling like things are...lacking, in the death department. Only losing a bit of coin really takes all the sting out of it.

Of course, I compensate in other ways. Like only using default copper pickaxes until I could kill the Brain Of Cthulhu and get a deathbringer axe. Made an entire 5-block-wide Hellevator with that copper pick

Click to expand...

Ye gods, you are a more patient person then I.

So far, the only thing early on that really made it hard was lack of "save stations" built - after that, it's not so bad. That and the underground - a unexpected Medusa can really ruin someones day lol~

Why not try hardcore expert mode? If you dare!

Mediumcore + expert mode = wimp.
Hardcore + expert = True terrarian.

I tend to litter the world with lots of Campfires in Expert because that passive regen bonus is a lifesaver. Reworked my arena mini-setups with additional heart and star lanterns because I will definitely need all those buffs for the boss battles.

Also Hardcore Expert Hardmode would be a real serious challenge.

Matuse said:

Given the number of times I've been killed in Expert, I think hardcore would be pointless.

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Yeah, permanent death would be a bummer... unless you were playing multiplayer to see who was the final *survivor*

If the game somehow tracked your progress and rated your performance (like a national hardcore scoreboard), then it might be worthwhile... see how far you can get and who could live the longest...

... but it doesn't and spending 2 hrs barely getting a house built and sitting inside all night and then being killed by a slime definitely takes the incentive out of hardcore

(for me, anyway - I tend to die a lot)

~Jim

Sssjim7 said:

Yeah, permanent death would be a bummer... unless you were playing multiplayer to see who was the final *survivor*

If the game somehow tracked your progress and rated your performance (like a national hardcore scoreboard), then it might be worthwhile... see how far you can get and who could live the longest...

... but it doesn't and spending 2 hrs barely getting a house built and sitting inside all night and then being killed by a slime definitely takes the incentive out of hardcore

(for me, anyway - I tend to die a lot)

~Jim

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yeah hardcore isn't really a viable playstyle unless you are a god at detecting and guessing every possibility, getting lucky with RNG drops,and being able to dodge every mob and god forbid a medusa spawning because your near a marble biome your not close enough to see because you would have to descend the chasm you are currently at and proper illuminate it at the same time but you get pertrfied while building a rope bridge down and die of fall damage...

Demon Master said:

Hardcore + expert =

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A waste of time.

FSN Fanatic said:

Hnnnnggg... The pain is real. lol...

It's all fun and games until you die 3 biomes away from your spawn point, with only a backup set of copper gear. RIP platinum set. + trinkets.

Thoughts? Tricks? Also, Is it just me or does it rain waaay too much in expert mode? Besides all that, lovin the patch - it's like a whole new game.

Click to expand...

I haven't read all the other replies so I apologize if I'm repeating, this is what I do:

* Have a chest with items as close to possible to your current gear. If you can, exact same armor/trinkets.

* Always carry Ironskins and Regen potions and food with you. Also have a backup of these in a chest for retrieval. Invisibility potions are also good (but not perfect)

* Sunflowers, camp fires, heart in a lamp, all of these are helpful in boss arenas.

* NPCs can fight and the Dryad is incredibly powerful against bosses because of her defensive aura.

* Potions potions potions potions. Potions.

* Potions.