The First Night - My personal guide to surviving in Terraria as a new player.

In this guide, directed towards newer or less experienced players, I show my ways of surviving the first night, and talk about what you will encounter in your first few days in Terraria.

The First Night

My name is Lexitorius and I am a Terraria veteran of 7 years and counting.

Terraria is arguably similar to Minecraft. I personally don't believe they have much in common, but a lot of people agree with that. It is a "block game" where you can build things, fight things, or just explore things, similar to Minecraft. I like looking at the biggest differences between the two:



- Minecraft has 4 bosses if you count the Ghast. Terraria has 32 if you count all versions.
- Minecraft has 361 obtainable items. Terraria has 1866.
- Minecraft has 14 general biomes, Terraria has 40 (And any of those 40 can mix into hybrid biomes.)
- Minecraft has 23 hostile mobs total, while Terraria has 348.

The First Night
I start off in a relatively flat area, with tall trees. You will see that I spawn with some items already in my inventory:

- Copper Shortsword - I hate it, but it's good enough for beginners. I often make a Wooden Sword to replace it before I start exploring and fighting.
- Copper Pickaxe & Axe - These are essentials for building. In Minecraft you can dig with your hands if necessary, but in Terraria you can't. Don't lose these.

If I could tell you how to survive your first night in one sentence, it would be "As soon as you spawn, get as much wood as you can." Therefore, I immediately chop down the surrounding trees and flatten the area with my pick and axe, using Smart Cursor. (I believe it's Ctrl by default, but my controls are different.) Smart Cursor is better for mining or building in "That general direction" as opposed to one block at a time, and makes chopping trees faster and easier.

I start my first day by building what I call the Trap House. This is a simple building that can protect you very well, especially as being a new player in the game. It will prevent hostile enemies from getting into your house and trap them so that you can kill them. In the next part, I will make a step by step guide on how to build my version of this house.

I use my trap house to protect myself for the first night. I usually find myself just waiting it out, without much to actually do. By now I have walked around spawn and mined up any small nodes of stone in the ground. This stone, along with torches and wood can make a furnace, used to smelt ores.

I survived my first night, and I hope you survived yours as well!

The Trap House

I am not the original creator of this house design. I have taken the original design and altered it to fit my needs ingame. My dad showed this idea to me many years ago and I have used it since. I am not the original creator, and do not take credit for making it. Here is what my version looks like:























If done exactly as I show it, this build only needs 120 block of wood to complete. (That includes wood used to make 1 workbench, platforms, and 2 doors.) Or, if you use wood walls, it will cost 196 blocks of wood. This house can be modified heavily and still work properly, so don't worry about changing it up and making it yours!

Step 1:
Build two vertical towers of wood, 8 blocks tall, and with 3 blocks in between.











Step 2:
Build 6 blocks outward from each tower, and then 3 blocks down on the end.










Step 3:
Place wood platforms to complete the floor of the boxes, and to connect the towers. Make sure you place the platforms with an overhang (circled in picture) so that you can get inside the house.









Step 4:
Make a platform above the top of the boxes, with a 3 block platform aligning with the 3 block gap between the towers. Build outward until this paltform overhangs the bottom platform by one block.












Step 5:
Now we will create the top room(s.) The original design did not have these top rooms, I added them myself. On either side of the platform, build up 4 blocks, and out 2, forming two upside-down "L's."












Step 6:
Continue building these rows of 3 blocks, shifting them 1 block inward every time, until they meet, forming a roof.


















Step 7:
Back to the bottom. Under the 1 platform overhang, dig down 6 blocks.















Step 8:
Do the same on the opposite side, and then connect them, forming an empty box under the house.












Step 9:
Build 2 "U" shapes, covering the dirt around the box and forming two smaller boxes, with a tunnel in between.












Step 10:
Place 1 block overhangs on the top of these boxes. This is critical to the success of your trap. If these blocks were not here, zombies could jump out of the trap.












Step 11:
Add holes on the inside of these boxes. make sure they are only 2 blocks large, and not 3, so enemies cannot get through. These holes allow you to kill trapped enemies. Also don't forget to add platforms.












Step 12:
I often like to add this second room in the top, and a hole above it for a torch. To make it look better, use a hammer to shape the edges of the roof and slope them.























Step 13:
Make sure you add background walls to the house or else enemies could spawn inside. These walls do not need to be stone, making wood walls is a lot easier and cheaper for a new character.























Here is a screenshot of the trap in action, catching multiple zombies.

Day Two

This section will breifly talk about what you might encounter after your first night, in terms of enemies mostly.

Slimes
Slimes are living blobs of... Slime, that jump around. During the day, they will not attack you, but during the night they will. There are 35 different species of slimes in Terraria. The most common are Blue and Green slimes. Almost all slimes drop Gel. Gel is a highly flamable substance that can be used to make torches, or anything sticky or bouncy, depending on gel type. Some slimes have special drops.

Zombies
Zombies are probably the first enemy you will see once night falls. If you did build the Trap House, they will get stuck in the bottom parts and not be able to escape, even after the sun rises. Zombies only spawn at night, but there are many different types. Watch out for any that are holding sticks, they have extended reach.

Demon Eyes
Demon Eyes are one of my least favorite enemies in the game, just because they are really, really annoying. They are living eyeballs that fly around at night. They may be hard to kill as a new player. There are also many different types of Demon Eyes, one of them being one of the first bosses you will have to fight.

Biomes
Assuming you decide to explore a little bit, you will find some biomes around your spawn area. Most of spawn should be a forest biome. In either direction, you can usually find a tundra, a desert, or a world evil (Corruption/Crimson.) These can tell you a lot about your world; If you find the tundra, that means that the Castle and Dungeon are on that side of the world, where you fight the boss Skeletron. That also means that the jungle is on the opposite side of the world.

Thanks for reading this, and I hope it helped you survive your first night!
-Lex

[Human_Being]

lmfao why count the ghast as a boss

[Queennoobi101]

I don't really count the Elder Guardian as a boss tho

[Queennoobi101]

the MC bosses are the Wither, The Ender Dragon, And the Aether (or something like that

[prolvlwhaleswipez]

who the hell counts the ghast as a boss?

[Snork]

Here's a tip for a great semi ranged weapon:Snowballs. They do about 8 dmg a hit and have a decent range. They are crafted with snow.

1 snow=
15 snowballs

[﴾Λ͟rtificial﴿]

@Gorgeous Freeman Becouse if you even took time to look at the guide, you can tell it's first section tries to say terraria is better then minecraft.

[Cheef]

Why are so many of these comments about how the Ghast from Minecraft isn't a boss, just shut up and read the guide!

[MeloNeon]

i know it has VERY little to do with the guide, but, A. the ghast is not a boss, but if it were then it would be 5 bosses. B. there are technicly 4 bosses, Ender dragon, Wither, Elder Guardian, and Evoker (cant remember how to spell his name, but he is the Illiger miniboss)

[PikaDoge]

@battreal He never says it is a boss, just that it could be personally counted as a boss

[Q.s]

the ghast is not a boss