Welcome to our roundup of the best Terraria mods. In the years since Terraria's release, the sprawling survival sandbox has been treated to countless players, a vast number of updates and thousands of user-made mods—a list which spans the suitably sublime to the outright bizarre.
The following Terraria mods offer but a smattering of our favourites, which add new soundtracks, items, settings and overhauls to Re-Logic's two-dimensional adventure playground. Heck, there're even mods in here which transform the game into fully-fledged RPGs, so you're bound to find something that tickles your fancy. Have fun experimenting!
For more on Terraria check out our Terraria review. The game has sold more than 20 million copies, and has the honour of featuring in our round up of the strangest patch notes in PC gaming.
Tremor
Let's start big, shall we? The Tremor Mod Remastered is one of the best Terraria mods out there, and is as close to a total conversion as you're likely to get. Packing over 522 items (including weapons), seven NPCs, loads of mobs, and six new bosses, the mod's seven-person team isn't kidding when it says "our goal for the mod is to make Terraria even bigger and to fill it with even more content than it has." Furthermore, Tremor adds exclusive expert mode treasure which should keep even the best Terraria players/intrepid loot hunters going for some time.
imkSushi's crafting mod
Terraria is a game about growth—about building up your character, your skills and, crucially, your chances of survival. Crafting plays a very large part of this and while there's something to be said about perseverance and successful scavenging, imkSushi's mod lets you craft whatever the heck you want, whenever the heck you like. This quality of life addition makes items that are usually found in chests and drops readily available, therefore this naturally this suits action-oriented players. It even lets you buy boss-summoning items from NPCs, so long as you've previously defeated the adversary in question.
N Terraria
Terraria is already a time-sink to rival any RPG, but this entry in our best Terraria mods, N Terraria, turns it into a fully featured roleplaying experience with all of the trappings: classes, races, a level system, NPC companions and even quests. It’s got it all. It’s a perfect way to add some longevity to what is already a very deep game. It also makes the game harder than Adamantite, but it’s all part of the charm.
TerraFirma
TerraFirma is the premier mapping tool for the curious adventurer. This invaluable tool pulls the world map out of your save and makes it viewable, taking the guesswork out of spelunking for resources. You can also use it to sneak a peek into chests, search for statues or even find the underground desert.
Terraria Overhaul
Don't be fooled by its generic name, this ambitious undertaking adds a bunch of new gameplay mechanics—targeting everything from combat to seasons, dodge-rolls, electricity systems and player movement. Terraria Overhaul describes itself as a "huge" mod, and that feels like an understatement.
Thorium
The grandmaster of Terraria overhauls. Tremor, as featured elsewhere on this list, is a great mod—excellent, even—however Thorium is above and beyond the best there is. Think new bosses, new NPCs, new enemies, new items, a new multiplayer healer class, new just about everything you can think of—this 'un upgrades Terraria's vanilla state in just about every way imaginable. What's more, bosses harness unique attack patterns and have a tendency towards projectile offence, which makes expert mode only suitable for those with utmost skill and a cool temperament. Or at least a replacement keyboard/control pad.
TerraSavr
Another utility for our best Terraria mods round up, TerraSavr lets you fiddle with your items: point it at your Terraria.plr and you can edit your character’s variables, imbue your items with buffs or—if you’re a filthy cheat—give yourself new items.
This isn’t limited to shiny new gear either, the tool makes every item in the game searchable and from there you just click and drag it into your inventory. It’s web based, so you just click the link and get to work.
Calamity
Like Tremor and Thorium, Calamity adds a ridiculous amount of new stuff by way of both standard and unique weapons (melee, ranged and magic), armour loadouts, items, and accessories. The mod also flaunts five new types of mineable ores and tiles, not to mention ten new bosses—each with its own distinct strengths and weaknesses. While perhaps not quite as sophisticated as the overhauls noted above, creator MountainDrew runs regular polls on the mod's tModLoader page where he or she asks for suggestions regarding what to add next.
Super Terraria World
Super Terraria World has been around for a couple of years, but has continually impressed with the speed in which it's grown. This mod transforms the base game into a fully realised RPG (it bills itself as a "standalone MMORPG overhaul mod") including intricate quests, skills, NPCs and all that's expected from a role-playing adventure lark. Once a part-time endeavour, its creators have recently launched a Patreon with the aim of pushing its boundaries further still, and its most recent update—number 1.12a—launched alongside an official trailer. This mod is ideal for those not just after extra mileage in Terraria, but also additional structure.
Legend of Zelda Wavebank
After a hundred hours or so, you might start itching to change the music. There’s a lot of different music mods for Terraria, but I use the great Legend of Zelda Wavebank, which adds classic tracks from Ocarina of Time. There are a whole lot of other choices on the Terraria forums, including original compositions and renditions of the Mario and Halo soundtracks.
Installation is easy. Go to Terraria’s content folder. You’ll need to make a copy of the file Wave Bank and move it somewhere safe, then drag the sound pack into the folder and make sure it’s called Wave Bank. Voila. The game will start playing the music from the pack next time you launch.
tModLoader
tModLoader's creator describes it as a mod to make mods, which makes it a vital resource for anyone interested in modding Terraria. It follows in the footsteps of the discontinued tAPI, and helps modders keep their creations compatible with one another.
Not quite as sexy as a total conversion, rebalancing or slew of new items, but tModLoader helps keep new mods ticking along years after Terraria's release.
