If you’re doing a melee playthrough in Terraria, you can follow a surprisingly clear sword progression from the Copper Shortsword all the way to the Zenith.
The important part is that several seemingly outdated swords become crafting materials later, so don’t throw everything away when you upgrade. Keeping the right weapons in a chest will save you a lot of backtracking near the end of the game.
Start by Replacing the Copper Shortsword
Most characters begin with a Copper Shortsword.
Your first upgrade is simple:
- Chop down a nearby tree.
- Craft a Work Bench.
- Turn your Wood into a Wooden Sword.
The Wooden Sword isn’t amazing, but it’s immediately more practical than the starting shortsword.
One important warning: keep a Copper Shortsword somewhere safe later on. You’ll eventually need one to craft the Zenith.
Upgrade to an Iron or Lead Broadsword
Gather Stone and craft a Furnace.
Then mine whichever early-game metal your world generated:
- Iron
- Lead
Smelt the ore into bars and craft an Iron Broadsword or Lead Broadsword.
These are still temporary weapons, but they’re another useful step up from the Wooden Sword.
Get a Silver or Tungsten Sword
Continue mining underground until you find:
- Silver Ore
- Tungsten Ore
Smelt your ore into bars and craft the matching sword.
Again, you’re not keeping this forever. It’s simply a stronger weapon to use while you’re building toward the more important swords.
Upgrade to Gold or Platinum
Your next basic metal upgrade is:
- Gold Broadsword
- Platinum Broadsword
Craft whichever one matches the ore generated in your world.
At this stage, basic ore swords are starting to reach their limit. Your next upgrades will come from bosses, biomes, and exploration rather than simply mining better metal.
Get the Blood Butcherer in a Crimson World
If your world contains the Crimson, start collecting Crimtane Ore.
Crimtane Ore can come from Crimson progression and bosses such as the Eye of Cthulhu and Brain of Cthulhu.
Turn the ore into Crimtane Bars and craft the Blood Butcherer.
This sword matters for more than its immediate damage because it’s one of the components required to craft the Night’s Edge later.
If your world has Corruption instead, you’ll use Light’s Bane for the same crafting path.
Go to the Underworld and Craft the Volcano
Once you’re ready to explore the Underworld, mine Hellstone and collect Obsidian.
You’ll also need access to a Hellforge to process Hellstone into Hellstone Bars.
Use those materials to craft the sword now called the Volcano, which older versions of Terraria called the Fiery Greatsword.
The Volcano is another crucial Night’s Edge ingredient, so keep it even when something stronger eventually replaces it.
Defeat Skeletron and Find the Muramasa
Your next target is Skeletron.
Defeating Skeletron gives you proper access to the Dungeon.
Inside, defeat Dungeon enemies and collect Golden Keys. Use those keys to open locked Gold Chests until you find the Muramasa.
You cannot craft the Muramasa, so you’ll need to explore the Dungeon until you get one.
Keep it. This is another piece of the Night’s Edge recipe.
Craft the Blade of Grass
Now head into the Underground Jungle.
For the current recipe, collect:
- 15 Jungle Spores
- 12 Stingers
- 3 Vines
Craft the Blade of Grass at an Iron or Lead Anvil.
Jungle Spores are the glowing plants scattered throughout the Underground Jungle, while Stingers can be obtained from enemies such as Hornets and Spiked Jungle Slimes.
The Blade of Grass is useful on its own, but its real importance is completing your Night’s Edge crafting tree.
Craft the Night’s Edge
At this point, you should have four important swords:
- Blood Butcherer or Light’s Bane
- Muramasa
- Blade of Grass
- Volcano
Take them to a Demon Altar or Crimson Altar and craft the Night’s Edge.
This is one of the strongest melee weapons available during pre-Hardmode and is well worth the work required to assemble it.
More importantly, you’re not finished with it.
The Night’s Edge becomes part of the Terra Blade crafting chain later, so don’t sell it.
Collect These Zenith Swords Before Hardmode
Before defeating the Wall of Flesh, it’s worth collecting several swords you’ll eventually need for the Zenith.
Starfury
Search Floating Islands and open Skyware Chests until you find a Starfury.
Gravitation Potions can make finding Floating Islands much easier.
Bee Keeper
Defeat Queen Bee until she drops the Bee Keeper.
Enchanted Sword
Search for an Enchanted Sword Shrine or another valid source of the Enchanted Sword.
Put these weapons into a chest instead of selling them.
They don’t seem essential right now, but they’re part of the Zenith recipe much later in the game. The Zenith ultimately requires the Terra Blade, Meowmere, Star Wrath, Influx Waver, Horseman’s Blade, Seedler, Starfury, Bee Keeper, Enchanted Sword, and Copper Shortsword.
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Enter Hardmode and Upgrade Your Ore Gear
Defeat the Wall of Flesh to enter Hardmode.
Once Hardmode begins, you’ll gain access to stronger ore tiers.
Progress through the Hardmode ores and upgrade your pickaxe as necessary until you can mine the highest tier generated in your world.
You can also craft one of the new Hardmode swords if you need a straightforward damage upgrade while preparing for the Mechanical Bosses.
Your Night’s Edge may begin feeling weaker against Hardmode enemies, but don’t get rid of it.
You’ll need it again very soon.
Defeat a Mechanical Boss and Craft Excalibur
Defeat at least one of the three Mechanical Bosses:
- The Destroyer
- The Twins
- Skeletron Prime
These bosses drop Hallowed Bars.
You need 12 Hallowed Bars to craft the Excalibur at a Mythril or Orichalcum Anvil.
Keep the Excalibur because it has another upgrade coming after you’ve progressed further into Hardmode.
Defeat All Three Mechanical Bosses
You’ll eventually need to defeat all three Mechanical Bosses.
Their Souls are required to upgrade the Night’s Edge.
Collect:
- 20 Souls of Might
- 20 Souls of Sight
- 20 Souls of Fright
Combine those with the Night’s Edge at a Mythril or Orichalcum Anvil to craft the True Night’s Edge.
This is why keeping your original Night’s Edge was so important.
Mine Chlorophyte and Craft True Excalibur
After defeating all three Mechanical Bosses, Chlorophyte becomes an important part of your progression.
Head back into the Underground Jungle and mine Chlorophyte Ore.
You’ll need 120 Chlorophyte Ore to produce the 24 Chlorophyte Bars required for True Excalibur.
Combine:
- Excalibur
- 24 Chlorophyte Bars
at a Mythril or Orichalcum Anvil to craft the True Excalibur.
You should now have the two major swords required for the Terra Blade:
- True Night’s Edge
- True Excalibur
Defeat Plantera and Get the Seedler
Next, fight Plantera.
One weapon you’re looking for is the Seedler.
If Plantera doesn’t drop it, you’ll need to fight her again until you get one.
Don’t use it as crafting material yet.
Put it into the same chest where you’re keeping your other future Zenith ingredients.
Get a Broken Hero Sword During a Solar Eclipse
After Plantera, trigger or wait for a Solar Eclipse.
During the event, look for Mothron.
Kill Mothrons until you get a Broken Hero Sword.
The drop isn’t guaranteed, so you may need to fight several of them or complete multiple Solar Eclipses.
Craft the Terra Blade
Once you have:
- True Night’s Edge
- True Excalibur
- Broken Hero Sword
combine them at a Mythril or Orichalcum Anvil to craft the Terra Blade.
The Terra Blade is one of Terraria’s most iconic melee weapons and remains excellent for late-Hardmode progression.
But once again, don’t lose it.
The Terra Blade is one of the ten weapons required for the Zenith.
Get the Horseman’s Blade From the Pumpkin Moon
After Plantera, you can also begin working toward the Horseman’s Blade.
First craft a Pumpkin Moon Medallion using:
- 30 Pumpkins
- 5 Ectoplasm
- 10 Hallowed Bars
at a Mythril or Orichalcum Anvil.
Use it at night to summon the Pumpkin Moon.
Fight through the event until you encounter Pumpkings and obtain the Horseman’s Blade.
Store it safely for the Zenith.
Get the Influx Waver From Martian Madness
Your next collectible sword comes from Martian Madness.
Trigger the event and defeat Martian Saucers until you obtain an Influx Waver.
Its projectile-based attack makes it a strong sword even before you’re ready to craft the Zenith.
Put it in your Zenith chest when you’re finished using it.
Defeat the Lunatic Cultist and Solar Pillar
Eventually, defeat the Lunatic Cultist at the Dungeon.
This begins the Lunar Events.
Once you defeat the Solar Pillar, use the Solar Fragments you collect to craft powerful melee weapons such as the Solar Eruption.
At this stage you’re approaching Moon Lord, so keep your best late-game melee equipment ready.
Defeat Moon Lord for Meowmere and Star Wrath
Moon Lord provides the final boss-drop swords needed for the Zenith:
- Meowmere
- Star Wrath
The annoying part is that you’re unlikely to receive both immediately.
If Moon Lord gives you something else, you’ll need to summon and defeat him again.
Potentially several times.
Once you’ve obtained both Meowmere and Star Wrath, your Zenith collection is almost complete.
Every Sword Needed for the Zenith
Before crafting the Zenith, make sure you have all ten required swords:
- Terra Blade
- Meowmere
- Star Wrath
- Influx Waver
- The Horseman’s Blade
- Seedler
- Starfury
- Bee Keeper
- Enchanted Sword
- Copper Shortsword
Craft them together at a Mythril Anvil or Orichalcum Anvil to create the Zenith.
That Copper Shortsword you replaced at the beginning of your character’s journey finally becomes useful again.
Terraria Sword Progression From Start to Zenith
If you just want the overall progression path, it looks like this:
- Copper Shortsword
- Wooden Sword
- Iron or Lead Broadsword
- Silver or Tungsten Sword
- Gold or Platinum Sword
- Blood Butcherer or Light’s Bane
- Volcano
- Muramasa
- Blade of Grass
- Night’s Edge
- Hardmode Ore Sword
- Excalibur
- True Night’s Edge
- True Excalibur
- Terra Blade
- Solar Eruption
- Zenith
Along the way, make sure you also collect and save the Starfury, Bee Keeper, Enchanted Sword, Seedler, Horseman’s Blade, Influx Waver, Meowmere, and Star Wrath.
Terraria’s sword progression is basically one enormous crafting project disguised as an adventure. If you start saving the important swords early, reaching the Zenith at the end of the game becomes much less painful.
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