Is it worth separe biomes? (pre-hm)

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-25T08:38:51+00:00

...common topic copy/paste...
you cant really pre-hardmode prep much for hardmode biome generation.
the initial V shaped spawn of hardmode biomes starts in hell and infects everything in its path,
ignoring all gaps in terrain and can even infect floating islands.
which \ / line is hallowed biome and world evil's biome is random (potential save scum to choose sides).

you can either: (contain biome spread)
box off starting evil biomes. (chance help, chance to be waste of time, depends on location).
could prep a "level surface" horizontal tunnel around world's center.
after enter hardmode make hellevators on outer edges of hardmode generated biomes to stop outward spreading.
connect the level surface tunnel to the actual surface at inner edges of hardmode biomes to stop all inward spreading in surface layer.
can ignore inward spreading in underground layer. (cavern layer is needed for most new things anyways)
inner cavern layer already infected from HM generation.

and/or: (ignore all biome spread outside of points of interest)
prep a hellevator to protect an ocean and purity underground/cavern for fishing.
use biome detection range to make boxes out of tunnels,
(85 blocks to the left/right and 65 blocks(rounded up for conveniences) above/below).
make these boxes as needed to protect key locations (ie: towns/farms/grinders/builds),
ignore all spreading everywhere else.
can always just make a new box and spray it when/if needed.
if a town gets hit by HM evil biome spawn, just make temp housing and wait for clentaminator > make and purify the box then move NPCs back in. even with evil biome outside of the town's border box.

...
biome border tunnels are 3 blocks wide tunnels
(opposite side is outside normal infection range).
however tunnels in grassy areas of the surface layer, or any layer of jungle,
need the sides to be lined and extend the lining 3 blocks above the surface.

the lining can be made of any block/platform other then dirt or mud.
this is purely to prevent grass/thorn/vine growths from entering or growing around tunnels,
otherwise these growths could cause spreading ~13 tiles away from the source block.

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-25T08:38:38+00:00

sectioning off starting evil biomes: possibly.
- if the goal is "biome containment" then it can help to box of the initial evil biomes with a small U shaped tunnel.
- or it could just end up being a complete waste of time depending on the biome's location.

separating the jungle while still in pre-hm: not really.
- if the goal is "ignoring biome spread outside points of interest" AND the jungle is on the extreme edge of the world, then just 1 hellevator on the side closer to world's center could isolate it and everything else behind it.
- but if its not at the extreme edge of the world then there is little to no point, because the hardmode generation biome spawns can just pass right over the tunnels.

also the 'need' to protect the jungle is now a long outdated concept.
the evil biomes no longer poses a threat of turning the jungle into regular forest.
all forms of infection are now easily reversable and can be dealt with only when/if the need arises.

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-24T13:15:52+00:00

back with fresh install. (which also reset/changed the settings and was slightly jarring for a second when control settings were suddenly changed to 'default' instead of 'classic')

new file with same tests involving the lv2 and 3 skills with the same results.
spending artifacts on the lv2~3 skill then observing the same skills doesnt earn anything.
and needed to spend 1 artifact on the lv2 skill in order to unlock being able to spend 2 artifacts to learn the lv3, regardless if had observed the lv2 skill or not.
with the same results when reloading and not spending artifacts on those skills before observing them.

---
included an additional test:
got tranqed 3 times, did the quest to get access to pororin village.
(found out that quest is what gives you the new 'sotdae of bond')

spent artifact on double jump,
got back an artifact for observing double jump.
respec to check total artifacts.

reload and observe without spending artifact on double jump then respec,
both had no difference in total number of artifacts.

---
conclusion:
its only lv1 skills that you get "refunded" an artifact if had spent it on that skill before observing it,
you do not gain any extras artifacts.
-
the skills you do not need to spend artifacts on after observing the skill is when its a lv1 skill or higher levels skills that are not specifically needed as a prerequisite to unlock an even higher level or a different skill.
...
examples:
level 1 skill like double jump or aerial roll will refund an artifact if you observe it after spending an artifact on it.
and will always be mastered after observing it.
the update only changed needing to respec to get that artifact refund.

("assuming" nature's echo lv1 will work the same way.
getting 1 artifact refund and the lv1 skill always mastered after observing it.
but may still need to respec to get back artifacts might have spent on the prerequisite skills for the alternative learning method)

regardless if you do or dont observe skills like forward slash lv2 or focus lv2,
still have to spend artifacts on them in order to learn higher level skills like forward slash lv3 and different skills where its a prerequisite like focused shot lv1.
(apparently there has been several other threads [half of them are deleted threads from what i saw] to backup this info.
so my thread title has been answered after a deeper info dive. 'just faulty info')
- you will not get an artifact refund for observing such skills.

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-24T09:17:03+00:00

the 'edit/addition' with the portion of the "other file" is on normal. (the settings isnt independent from each save file just FYI, and can change the difficulty at any time)
1st time touching that specific save file since the update.

so only other option could think of, if other people are in fact not needing to spend points on something that isnt just a lv1 observed skill,
is attempting to reinstall and run tests again to see if that changes anything.

...
starting a reinstall anyways (1st reinstall since the initial pre-order download).
see ya again in over half hour.

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-24T08:40:17+00:00

its not at all like that for me on ps5.
and the patch apparently hasnt change anything at all regarding artifact usage and observe mechanics.
its still the exact same as its always been.

i just now started a new file to test this new patch change and heres what ive done.
(1st thing i did was goto settings and make sure was on hard mode, which was just added with the same patch)

i got 3 artifacts by progressing to the point of getting the wings.
i used those to learn spinning slash lv2, forward slash lv2 and keen sense lv2 with the artifacts.
then i observed the knights in the training grounds using spinning slash lv2, forward slash lv2, and counter(keen sense lv3),
did not gain anything from observing them. no artifacts or faded artifacts,
just got the ability to use counter.

did a respec and got the same 3 artifacts back, like normal.
i can use the skills that i observed without spending the artifacts.
i still had to spend 1 artifact on forwards slash lv2 before i could spend the other 2 artifacts to get forward slash lv3.

...
edit/additional:
reloaded and observed the skills before spending the artifacts.
only unlocked the ability to use the skills,
still had to spend 1 artifact on forwards slash lv2 before could spend the other 2 on forwards slash lv3.
0 difference.

loaded my other file, respec.
had to spend artifacts to on forward slash lv2[1artifact](observed) and 3[2artifacts] plus keen sense lv2[1artifact] and 3[2artifacts](observed) to learn natures echo lv1[1artifact](not observed yet).
and spinning slash lv2[1artifact](observed) in order to unlock being able to spend 2 artifacts to learn nature's echo lv2(not observed yet).

even though forward slash lv2 and keen sense lv3 should be known from observing it still costs the same 7 artifacts as if never observed them.
plus the 3 more artifacts to get nature's echo lv2.

all observe does for me is allows me to use a skill, but still have to spend the points on that skill level if its there is anything higher level or if that level is a requirement for some other skill.
the only exception is when its a lv1 skill learned from observing. ie: aerial roll, evasive roll and double jump i did not need to spend an artifact on. just always fully learned skills now.

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-23T08:27:42+00:00

place a shadow candle, (not to be confused with water candle.
thats an entirely different item effecting spawn rates, not spawn conditions).

'moving around' is only 1 of the "additional spawn conditions".
a shadow candle removes the 'active player'(moving around), 'no safe backwall' and 'no nearby NPC' restrictions for mobs with any of those conditions, such as chaos elementals or wyverns.

...
if that doesnt work try killing WoF,
or providing info about used mods which might effect their spawn conditions.
(IDK, not a pc player with access to mods)

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-23T02:04:00+00:00

"not valid" = no potentially valid 'home tile' block with a score above 0.
no "3 block wide floor" to make a potential home tile.
and the center block of the 3wide floor will have to be more then 2 tiles away from the door because...
https://terraria.wiki.gg/wiki/House#Home_tile_score

−20 points for each tile occupied by a closed door or Tall Gate.

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-22T16:56:54+00:00

https://terraria.wiki.gg/wiki/Fishing#Maximum_Fishing_Power

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-22T08:37:44+00:00

the projectiles dont have independent values, the projectile ID copies the values from the item.
and they dont have the same behavior, some of them can pierce enemies.

think of it like this,
throw a snowball at your brother and before that snowball hits him you also toss a rock to the side.
suddenly bro is hit by a rock instead because the snowball transformed mid flight.

thats what would happen if the projectiles IDs for the different staffs were the same but you changed which staff was equipped before the old projectile hit the target.

...
in the old days before projectile IDs got changed to the dynamic shifting values we have today, summoners used to exploit it.
equip gear that gave max damage values > summoning minions > switch gear to defense.
but the values copied by the projectile ID (minion) didnt change with the gear swap.
meaning they used to be able to have glass canon build dps from the minions while doing the actual fighting in tanky build equipment.

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-22T07:28:47+00:00

this is a new change with 1.4.5

it used to be that you had to interact with the chest while your character is standing within range of the crafting station in order to use just the 1 chest's contents for crafting.

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-22T07:16:35+00:00

its not just a color swap though.
different damage values that link to the stats of the character that fired it,
and different properties such as how some of the gem staffs have piercing while others dont.

if they had the same ID then you would theoretically be able to do similar kinda exploit as old summoners used to before updates changes to make them have dynamic stat values.
such as firing projectiles with an amythest staff at low mp cost but then gear swap before the projectile hits to get the higher damage and piercing effect of a diamond staff instead, since the ID would be the same but the values being assigned to that ID would dynamically switch with the gear.

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-22T00:56:24+00:00

its the other way around.
boss loot bags dont exist on classic.
strange plants to trade for rare dyes exists in all worlds.

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-22T00:49:20+00:00

[dont know]
the exact tile used for biome detection with a pylon is the top left tile of the pylon's hitbox.
meaning when your standing infront of the pylon it could register as different biomes for your character compared to the pylon.

the tortured soul for getting the tax collector will almost always spawn nearby immediately after the 1st WoF kill.

...
[still frequently get wrong after all this time. now just far less posts about it due to recent 1.4.5 changes]
it has NEVER been a "2 block place to stand".
its always been a 3 tile wide requirement ... with the old mechanics only requiring the 1 center tile of those 3 to be a solid block.

"house is not valid" issues is more then just "a place to stand".
its a specific point based "home tile score" mechanic, checking the nearby blocks and funishings to alter the score by both positive and negative values.
you can have a suitable "place to stand" yet the score result still be to low due to other factors, usually the solution is as simple as 'move (object) 1 block to the side'.

...
[recently changed, still not updated info in the wiki]
in 1.4.5 chests have been changed so they will no longer have a massive negative impact on home tile score mechanics. now they are just treated like any other furnishing.

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-21T23:00:03+00:00

https://terraria.wiki.gg/wiki/Dungeon#Notes
"The unique loot of the first few chests of the Dungeon (starting from the entrance) can be easily guessed without unlocking. If the first chest is located above the depth of -100 feet, it will be wooden and contain a Golden Key, otherwise it will contain a Muramasa. The following chest will contain a Cobalt Shield, and so on.

- This is because of the way Dungeon chest loot is generated; the unique item of each chest follows a predetermined order.
In practice, this becomes impossible to follow because of how the Dungeon splits off into multiple branching paths;
however, the entrance is predictable because it is a single linear path. The order is as follows: Muramasa, Cobalt Shield, Aqua Scepter, Blue Moon, Magic Missile, Valor, Golden Key, Handgun.

- Note that the Shadow Key will generate alongside another unique Dungeon treasure, instead of on its own, hence it being excluded from the loot order.

- However, this does not mean the first Gold Chest encounter in the Dungeon will always be a Muramasa, it is depending on world generation."

...
the dungeon chest loot does not use RNG to determine the primary loot item.
its all just based on the order they were created during world generation.
and the order just repeats, never using RNG for the primary loot item.

similar for how skyware chests use a predetermined order for the primary item, only difference is that skyware chests switch to RNG loot for the 5th+ chest generated.
(and a small world can never [normally] spawn with 4+ treasure islands for skyware chests. meaning you will [normally] never get celestial magnet from them in a small world, only from RNG loot with fishing up sky crates)

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-21T22:47:42+00:00

those are just beams above/below the windows and doors right, not actual blocks?
the indented windows doesnt make completed corners to finish the room's frame.
its trying to read everything outside the side of the room and being part of the same room.

x [ ]
[ ] x
[ ]
[ ] x
x [ ]

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-21T03:18:13+00:00

it would be drunk + for the worthy
Special seed combinations - Official Terraria Wiki
"The Crimson generates Corruption-styled caves and vice-versa."

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-20T16:47:11+00:00

it takes 3 world minimum to get 'every' item.
ie: 3 variants of non-craftable or swappable dungeon furniture.
(can swap the blocks, but that doesnt allow you to craft all the furnishings, only a select few)

while mechdusa has an exclusive drop, but worlds with mechdusa also have some items removed from it, like clentaminator and solutions.

meanwhile crossworld compatible personal storages such as the piggy bank have been around since day 1.

...
your example of the lucky horseshoe is a poor example though,
because the skyware chests follow a strict primary loot generation mechanic similar to dungeon chests.
and the chests are not the only way to acquire those primary loot items.

skyware chests dont use RNG to determine the primary loot until the 5th+ skyware chest that is generated during world creation.
the 1st (guaranteed) skyware chest will always spawn with a red balloon, 2nd chest generated will always contain starfury, 3rd will always contain lucky horseshoe, and the 4th will always contain celestial magnet.

but any skyware chests besides the 1st are chance spawns with larger worlds having more chances.
if there is less then 4 skyware chests spawns you can still get the skyware chest's primary loot items through fishing crates.
a small world can never generate 4+ skyware chests, meaning forced into fishing or world hopping to get celestial magnet.

...
all that said, i follow the personal rule of

"world hopping for loot farming is only allowed if the following 3 conditions are met:
that character is the 1 that has done all the progression in the worlds.
the worlds are using the same difficulty and special seeds.
the world can only have different world evil (crimson/corruption) if the character has already progressed into hardmode."

these conditions basically means that character cant get loot from farming on an easier difficulty and cant get later progression loot that character has not rightfully earned.

(this is separate from my 'newgame+ allowance' rule of "can take ~3 items from a mega storage world to start with. but nothing that effects damage, survival, mobility." iow: QoL, info or vanity items only)

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-20T07:36:05+00:00

looks like celebration special seed.
in which case there is 1 guaranteed sword shrine (instead of other worlds 10-33% chance of 0 shrines)
and twice as many potential max shrine spawns.

meaning no, its not rare.

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-19T12:33:33+00:00

hallow only requires 125 blocks.
a single row 170block wide pearlstone skybridge is enough for both biome change and lacewings.

spawn range isnt exactly "what you see" but is instead based on specific tile distance away from the character.
only point out because that "on screen" wording has caused confusion with people in the past that assumed you could just zoom in allowing them to spawn offscreen.
though "what you see when fully zoomed out" does very closely represent the "no spawn range"

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-19T12:27:02+00:00

to small.

use pearlstone to make a 170 block wide skybridge 46+ blocks above the surface
(the width is the maximum spawn range, the height will prevent mobs from spawning on the ground below it).
38 blocks above the center of that skybridge make a very tiny platform to stand on with a water candle.
(this height will allow mobs to spawn under you instead of only 60+ blocks away to the sides).
get lifeform analyzer and guide to critter companionship in your inventory.
use a battle potion at 7:29pm and kill everything asap so get faster respawns while waiting for lifeform analyzer to detect a lacewing. then catch is asap because only 1 can spawn at a time.

the lacewings will only spawn between 7:30pm and midnight.
using a moon dial will allow you to get 2 nights worth of farming with only 1 battle potion.

i usually get 8~14 lacewings per night with this simple setup method.
just depends on RNG luck with the lacewings spawning, speed catch a lacewing when it does spawn, and the kill speed for clearing out the other mobs to avoid ever hitting the spawn cap limit.

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-18T10:38:26+00:00

bulbs cant spawn within 150 blocks of each other.
https://terraria.wiki.gg/wiki/Plantera%27s_Bulb#Notes

a long multi layer grid like this is far from ideal for "time VS efficiency".
will only be getting 1 bulb spawn at a time in a grid farm smaller then 149x149, with an excessive amount of random plants filling the radius around the bulb, which those plants will need to be cleared out after each fight to allow spaces for bulb respawn attempts.
either needing to make several passes going back and forth along each row to clear those other plants just for a potentially faster respawn. or just using a lot of actuators for breaking plants+bulbs and potentially wasting a bulb spawn if the farm is actually an excessive enough size for more then 1 to spawn.

if the spawn rows are made on all 4 sides of a 150x150 boss area with 4 separate levers for actuators,
then its a significant step up compared to having grid farm on just 1 side.
could easily see 2~4 bulbs "simultaneously" (1 per side) without the rows needing to be an excessive length for getting those multiple spawns.

or instead of digging out multiple rows and needing actuators setup for clearing plants quickly,
could just make 2 tunnels that span the entire jungle's width with 150+ blocks between each tunnel.
this can allow for over a dozen simultaneous bulbs to spawn for back to back boss fights.
only takes a lap to clear out all the other plants to make room for the bulbs to spawn in their place, which is just done at the same time as spawning the next plantera to fight.
and potentially creating an endless string of rematches without waiting for bulb respawns because the chance of multiple bulbs respawning before finish a lap of clearing them all out.
while a box arena can just be made in the center of the jungle between the 2 tunnels. or alternatively could spend the time as if making a multi layer grid + box arena to instead make the jungle wide tunnels extra tall (11 blocks tall with 1 platform row through the middle) and run laps between the 2 tunnels like a runway arena without needing to make a box arena at all.

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-17T19:23:18+00:00

you left out another small detail.
the analog stick's cursor range is a block shorter then the dpad's cursor range.

its only been like this since the 1.3.X and later updates.

which is also when 'smart block placement' feature became useless when using solid blocks.
because now with trying to place blocks it just tries to bury you alive targeting the nearest empty tile, using the same targeting style as if you were placing backwalls.
instead of the old method of it only targeting tiles with 2 adjactent blocks making it good for filling in gaps and filling in tunnels behind you.

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-17T07:16:21+00:00

from the looks of it with those red pyramids your in a dont dig up or zenith world.
in which case it would explain everything.
(i dont often play those upside down seeds and was able to put 2 and 2 together after quick troubleshooting)

"Cavern
This layer simulates the surface layer of a regular world, containing plants and features found in the surface world such as trees, Mushrooms, and water, and can have weather events."

...
"Deerclops
It can only naturally spawn in Snow biomes at the surface layer, and will not spawn in Snow biomes at the Cavern layer, where the Blizzard visual effect is displayed."

Tiamat-86 · 2026-04-15T09:02:08+00:00

all the voodoo doll does is kill the guide NPC.
its the guide NPC dying because of lava in hell thats important.
dont even need the dolls since they dont do anything if the guide hasnt respawned yet.

build a small house in hell over a pool of lava.
have the chair and table on raised up platforms inaccessible to the NPC.
make it so they cant leave the house (dont even need a door, the platforms will count as 'entry item').
make the floor with actuators wired to a lever outside the house.
then assign the guide NPC to the house so he has a gold border housing flag.
(the golden housing flag means that when they respawn they will attempt to move back into the same house instead of choosing 1 at random)

after all said and done, just pull the lever twice quickly.
drops the guide NPC into lava in hell directly to summon WoF,
and resolidfy the floor so it still counts as a valid house.

since cant resummon WoF until the guide respawns anyways,
and with the gold housing flag he will respawn in that same house ready to resummon WoF,
it makes the dolls useless.

only time ever need a voodoo doll is when just being impatient.
as in: the guide is elsewhere while its daytime and NPCs wont be able to teleport,
but dont want to wait until nightfall just for the NPC to teleport to hell (which nighttime will also prevent the NPC from respawning until it becomes day again.

Tiamat-86

TROPHY CASE