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Hardmode


Hardmode is a mode that is only unlocked upon looping twice in one run for the first time. It significantly increases the difficulty of early game while providing little to no extra benefits. This makes it an obscure mode with poor documentation, and this guide will only provide a summary for the time being.

Runs begin on H1 1-1 which is similar to a L1 start, with 18 difficulty. These similarities include enemies that typically belong to other areas spawning in, Elite IDPD appearing over normal IDPD spawns, and enemies spawning in clusters/higher volumes. Bosses only seen in loop are also seen right away in their respective areas starting on H1.

Another similarity to loop is that Vaults will spawn on 1-2 and 7-2 right away in H1, and only include loop crowns. The only way to use a preloop crown in this mode is to start with one.

Vans will not start to spawn until H2 onwards, and increase at one van per. loop done. H3 forwards Popo Freaks will spawn in the place of all IDPD as usual and Vans will begin exploding.

The weapon pool will not automatically start filled out, but instead H1 must be progressed in order to find better weapon drops. Weapons will appear 1.5x slower than usual, meaning that every 3 portals entered will up the difficulty pool by 2, whereas on normal mode it has a simple 1:1 ratio.

Starting a run spawns the player on top of a large red weapon chest which pulls from the first two pools instead of one, which has a pool of 12 instead of 9 weapons. Robot pulls from the first three pools instead.

As weapon drops can be confusing, a guide was made in the NT Discord to illustrate how the drops work:

Hardmode Drop Table

Sourced from NT Discord. Not website OC.


The only content seen exclusively in hardmode is the Golden Nuke Launcher and the Golden Disc Gun, which can be unlocked and used in normal mode as well. They start dropping in H1 Palace and grant the Good Riddance achievement. There is an entire separate guide on methods to unlock it quicker and on surviving early hardmode.

Hardmode has some other downsides to hinder the player;
Difficulty will increase by 2 a portal instead of 1, which effects the amount of enemy spawns.
Enemies will only drop half their usual rad count, rounded down. This does not effect rad drops from props, rebel's allies and plant's saplings. Melting's passive will add the extra rad after the reduction.
Ammo has lower chances of being converted to HP, making healing less frequent. The highest chance of ammo converting to health is headless Chicken (66% at 0 HP) normally, but on hardmode it caps at 50% chance of converting at 0 HP. Ammo/health despawn times are not reduced by hardmode.