If you’ve ever spent 3 hours grinding for a rare Night’s Edge, only to accidentally throw it in the trash while clearing cobblestone from your inventory, you know how gut-wrenching that feeling is. Most new Terraria players don’t realize there’s a built-in feature to stop that exact disaster from happening, and it takes less than a second to use. Learning how to favorite an item in Terraria is one of the first quality of life tricks every player should pick up, regardless of if you’re on your first playthrough or your 10th. It works across every platform, doesn’t require any mods, and can save you hours of re-grinding lost gear.
How to Favorite an Item in Terraria: Exact Steps for All Platforms
The process is slightly different depending on what device you’re playing on, but every version of the game supports the favorite function. For PC players, all you have to do is hover over the item you want to save and press Alt + left-click. You’ll see a small golden star appear in the corner of the item slot to confirm it’s locked. For console players on Xbox, PlayStation, or Switch, hover over the item with your controller cursor and press the X (Xbox), Square (PlayStation), or Y (Switch) button to toggle the favorite status. Mobile players just need to long-press the item for two seconds until the star pops up, and it’s locked in place. To unfavorite an item later, just repeat the same step, and the star will disappear.
One quick note for PC players who use custom keybinds: if Alt + left-click doesn’t work, head to your controls settings and search for the “Favorite Item” bind to see what it’s been changed to. A lot of players swap it to a mouse side button for even faster access, which is a great tweak if you’re constantly swapping items in and out of your inventory. Once you know how to favorite an item in Terraria, you’ll wonder how you ever played without it.
Key Benefits of Favoriting Items During Your Playthrough
A lot of new players write off the favorite function as unnecessary, until they lose a rare item they spent hours grinding for. This small feature has a ton of practical uses that make every part of your playthrough smoother, even if you’re only playing casual solo mode. Here are the biggest perks of getting in the habit of favoriting your most important items:
- Prevents accidental deletion or trashing of items when you’re clearing inventory clutter after a long mining or exploring run
- Stops you from accidentally selling rare boss drops or crafting materials to NPCs when you’re offloading extra loot
- Favorited items stay in your inventory when you use the Quick Stack to Nearby Chests function, so you don’t accidentally store your pickaxe or healing potions in a random chest deep underground
- In most PvP-enabled multiplayer servers, favorited items won’t be dropped if you get killed by another player, even if the server has drop on death enabled
It’s worth noting that favoriting doesn’t make your items completely indestructible. If you’re playing on medium or hardcore difficulty, you’ll still drop all your items if you die, even the favorited ones. The function only stops you from manually removing, selling, or quick stacking the item without unfavoriting it first. That small protection still makes it worth using for every playthrough, though.
Common Favoriting Mistakes to Avoid
While the favorite function is pretty straightforward, there are a few common mistakes new players make that reduce its usefulness, or even cause new headaches. The biggest one is favoriting too many items at once. If you lock 20+ slots in your 40-slot inventory, you’ll end up with no space to pick up new loot while exploring, and you’ll have to constantly unfavorite items to make room. Stick to favoriting only your most critical items: your main weapon, pickaxe, axe, hook, healing potions, and any rare crafting materials you’re saving for a specific recipe.
Another common mistake is assuming favoriting will protect your items from core difficulty death penalties. A lot of new medium mode players are shocked when they die and lose their favorited Terra Blade, because they thought the star would keep it in their inventory. Always make sure you’re aware of your world’s difficulty settings before you head into a dangerous area, even if all your gear is favorited. If you’re playing modded Terraria, double check if any of your installed mods change how the favorite function works. Some inventory overhaul mods replace the default favorite system with their own, so the usual keybinds or protections might not apply.
Don’t make the mistake of favoriting every single consumable you own, either. Favorited potions and food still work when you press the quick use button, but you can’t quick stack excess consumables to your storage chests if they’re locked. It’s better to only favorite a stack of 20 or so healing potions for exploration, and leave the rest unfavorited so you can store them easily when you get back to base.
Creative Uses for the Favorite Function You Might Not Have Tried
Most players only use the favorite function to protect their best gear, but it has a ton of other clever uses that make managing your playthrough way easier. For example, if you’re saving up materials to craft a specific endgame item, favorite the materials as you collect them. That way you won’t accidentally sell them or use them for a different crafting recipe before you have everything you need. I use this trick all the time when I’m grinding for Hallowed Bars to make a Terra Blade, and it’s saved me from wasting bars on random armor sets more than once.
If you swap between different builds for different bosses, you can use favorites to mark your boss-specific loadouts so you don’t mix up gear when you’re prepping for a fight. Favorite your melee armor and weapons when you’re getting ready to fight the Destroyer, then swap to your magic loadout and favorite those items before you take on Skeletron Prime. You won’t have to worry about accidentally trashing a piece of your build when you’re sorting inventory between fights.
You can also use the favorite function to keep track of Angler quest requirements without having to check the quest log every two minutes. When the Angler gives you a quest for a specific fish, favorite that fish’s slot in your inventory as soon as you catch it. You won’t accidentally throw it back or use it for a crafting recipe, and you’ll be able to see at a glance that you already finished the quest before you head back to the NPC. This is a huge time saver if you’re grinding for the Angler’s rare rewards, like the Golden Fishing Rod.
If you play multiplayer a lot, favoriting items you’re planning to trade to other players is a great way to avoid dropping the wrong item mid-trade. It’s easy to mix up a stack of 100 Gold Bars with a stack of 100 Iron Bars when you’re rushing through a trade, but if you favorite the item you’re planning to give away, you’ll be able to confirm it’s the right one before you drop it. A lot of multiplayer servers even recommend this trick to prevent accidental trade scams or mistakes.
For such a simple, unassuming feature, the favorite function adds so much quality of life to every Terraria playthrough. It takes less than a second to use, works across every platform, and can save you from hours of frustrating re-grinding if you make a mistake while sorting your inventory. Whether you’re a new player still figuring out the basics or a veteran who’s beaten the Moon Lord 10 times, getting in the habit of using this feature will make your time in the game way less stressful. Next time you log into your world, take 10 seconds to lock your most important items, and you’ll never have to worry about losing that hard-earned Night’s Edge ever again. Learning how to favorite an item in Terraria really is one of the smallest, most impactful tricks you can add to your gameplay routine.