Anyone who’s grinded through Terraria’s hardmode knows the rush of hunting for the best mid-game weapons, and if you’re here, you’re probably wondering how to get Excalibur in Terraria to power through those early hardmode boss fights. I remember my first hardmode run, I wasted hours looking for the right materials because I didn’t know the exact unlock steps, so I put this guide together to save you that frustration. Excalibur is one of the most reliable hardmode swords, with solid base damage, fast swing speed, and no weird debuff requirements to use it effectively. It’s also the base for some of the strongest endgame swords in the game, so unlocking it is a key milestone for almost every melee build.
Pre-requisites You Need Before You Can Get Excalibur in Terraria
First, you can’t craft Excalibur until you’re in hardmode, full stop. That means you need to have defeated the Wall of Flesh first to unlock hardmode in your world. If you haven’t done that yet, stop here and focus on beating that boss first, you won’t find any of the required materials in pre-hardmode. Next, you need to have defeated at least one mechanical boss – that’s The Destroyer, The Twins, or Skeletron Prime. Why? Because beating any mechanical boss will spawn Mythril or Orichalcum ore in your world, and you need a Mythril or Orichalcum Anvil to craft Excalibur. You can’t use a regular Iron or Lead anvil for this craft, no exceptions. I’ve had friends skip this step and spend ages looking for the anvil recipe before realizing they needed to beat a mechanical boss first, so don’t make that same mistake. Also, make sure you have plenty of inventory space for the materials you’ll be farming, you don’t want to have to teleport back to base halfway through a run because you ran out of slots.
Required Materials to Craft Excalibur
Excalibur is a craft-only weapon, you can’t get it as a drop from any boss or chest, so you’ll need to collect three key materials to make it. I recommend farming these in the order listed below to save time, since some are easier to get in bulk than others.
- 12 Hallowed Bars: These are the core material for Excalibur, and you get them by smelting Hallowed Ore you mine from the Underground Hallow biome.
- 1 Mythril or Orichalcum Anvil: As we mentioned earlier, you need this higher tier anvil to complete the craft, you can’t use a lower tier work station.
- Access to the Underground Hallow biome: This is the only place you’ll find Hallowed Ore in your world, so you need to make sure the Hallow has spread enough to have a large enough underground area to farm.
Let’s break down the Hallowed Bars first, since that’s the material most players struggle with. Hallowed Ore spawns in the Underground Hallow after you beat any mechanical boss, so you’ll need to head down to the cavern layer and look for the bright, pastel pink and blue blocks that mark the Hallow biome. Watch out for enemies like Enchanted Swords, Gastropods, and Illuminant Bats while you’re mining, they hit hard in early hardmode, so bring a good weapon and plenty of healing potions with you. You’ll get 1 Hallowed Bar per 3 Hallowed Ore, so you need to mine 36 Hallowed Ore total to make the 12 bars you need. If you’re playing on Master mode, I recommend bringing a pickaxe with at least 100% pickaxe power, like a Cobalt or Palladium pickaxe, to mine the ore faster.
Step-by-Step Crafting Process for Excalibur
Once you have all your materials collected, crafting Excalibur is actually really straightforward, but there are a few small details to watch out for to avoid mistakes. First, make sure you’ve smelted all your Hallowed Ore into Hallowed Bars at a Furnace before you head to the anvil, you can’t use raw ore for the craft. Next, stand next to your Mythril or Orichalcum Anvil, open your crafting menu, and you should see Excalibur pop up as an available craft as long as you have the 12 Hallowed Bars in your inventory. If you don’t see it, double check that you’re using the right anvil – if you only have a Cobalt or Palladium anvil, it won’t show up, you need the next tier up. Once you craft it, you can equip it immediately, no extra unlock steps required.
Now, let’s talk about the base stats so you know what you’re getting: Excalibur has 66 base melee damage, a very fast swing speed, and a 4% critical strike chance by default. It doesn’t shoot a projectile on its own, but it’s the base for the True Excalibur, which does shoot a powerful light projectile when you swing it, so you’ll want to hold onto this sword even once you get stronger weapons later. I usually pair Excalibur with a melee damage boosting accessory like the Warrior Emblem to make it even more effective against mechanical bosses, it can melt through The Destroyer’s segments in seconds if you have the right buffs active.
Pro Tips to Make Getting Excalibur Faster
If you don’t want to spend hours grinding for Hallowed Ore, there are a few tricks I’ve picked up over hundreds of Terraria runs that can cut your farm time in half. First, use a Spelunker Potion before you head down to the Underground Hallow. Spelunker Potions highlight all nearby ore, including Hallowed Ore, so you won’t waste time wandering around looking for ore veins. You can craft Spelunker Potions with Bottled Water, Blinkroot, Moonglow, and Gold Ore, so you can stock up on them before you start your farm. Another useful trick is to equip a Mining Potion along with the Spelunker Potion, it boosts your mining speed by 25% so you can clear ore veins much faster. If you have a Mount like the Unicorn or the Minecart, you can also zip through the Underground Hallow tunnels faster to find more ore spots.
Second, build a small temporary base near the entrance to the Underground Hallow so you don’t have to teleport all the way back to your main base every time you run out of inventory space or need to heal. Add a bed to set your spawn point, a chest to store extra ore, and a Furnace so you can smelt ore into bars on the spot. Third, if you’re playing with friends, split up to mine different parts of the Underground Hallow. You can collect ore twice as fast if two or three of you are mining at the same time, and you can share any extra ore you find so everyone can craft their own Excalibur. One thing to avoid: don’t try to mine Hallowed Ore before you beat a mechanical boss. It won’t spawn in your world until you’ve defeated at least one, so you’ll just waste time wandering the Underground Hallow for no reason. Also, if you’re struggling to find the Underground Hallow, you can always create your own by placing Hallowed Seeds in the cavern layer, though it will take a few in-game days for the biome to spread enough to spawn ore.
Whether you’re prepping to take on the rest of the mechanical bosses or building towards the endgame Terra Blade, learning how to get Excalibur in Terraria is a huge win for any melee build. It’s reliable, easy to craft once you know the steps, and stays useful for hours of gameplay even after you unlock stronger weapons. I still use my first Excalibur as a backup weapon in most of my playthroughs, even when I have endgame gear, because it’s so lightweight and fast to swing. Take your time farming the materials, don’t skip the pre-requisites, and you’ll be swinging your new Excalibur in no time.