Highlights

• Players can manually input a code or word as a World Seed in Terraria to customize their map and gameplay.
• Custom map seeds can make the game harder, but also more fun and unpredictable.
• Dedicated fans of Terraria and similar titles will enjoy experimenting with different World Seeds for unique experiences.

When launching a new world in Terraria, players typically let the game create a random map for them to explore. However, there is the option to manually input a code or word so that Terraria players know exactly — or at least have an idea of — what they are getting into. This is called the World Seed feature, and, as with the wacky world of Terraria mods and the sheer randomness of generated worlds, the possibilities are almost endless.

Worlds can be Small, Medium, or Large when it comes to size; have Classic, Expert, Master, or Journey regarding difficulty; and contain Corruption or Crimson. Terraria is tough enough if players are not familiar with the ins and outs of the game, and custom map seeds have the potential to make it even harder — albeit more fun and unpredictable. Only dedicated fans of Terraria and similar titles need apply.

Updated November 26th, 2023 by Stephen LaGioia: Not that it needed it, but the robust 2D Metroidvania from Re-Logic has seen vibrant new life with its 1.4.4 update, which is sure to be sustained by the upcoming 1.4.5 release. Recent additions include various quality-of-life refinements, as well as new special seeds and updates to existing ones.

With these additions — as well as its Steamdeck release — drawing even more eyes to this gripping evergreen adventure, it seemed high time to revisit this list. We've added a few more seeds that amp up the excitement and toughness of this already hard-fought journey.

The seeds listed are case-sensitive and are generated upon entering the custom seed manually when creating a new world.

13 The Constant

Seed: Constant

The most recent officially-released secret world seed takes the form of a crossover with another survival-esque hit, Don't Starve Together. As an homage to that title, the seed brings the mechanics of hunger and darkness which force players to play faster and smarter while bringing a more eerie vibe.

A player's hunger will need to be tended to here or else it will turn into a debuff that brings down their stats, and eventually start to burn off health over time.

This added sense of urgency alone gives the game a tougher feel that resembles a unique roguelike or even survival-horror than a simple world seed. Beyond this, the seed tosses in some tough marble biomes with statues for added visual flair, surface-generating Spider Caves, and hazardous cacti.

12 The Floating Dungeon

Seed: 1224689814

Usually, both in the Terraria universe and video games as a whole, dungeons are located underground. With this mind-bendy world seed, the dungeon is located on a floating island way up in the sky. To reach the floating dungeon, players must travel all the way to the right of the map until they hit a huge pink brick wall. From there, the only path to take is up.

Also, if played on Normal difficulty with the Crimson set, players will find a chest inside a house containing a Red Balloon. If Corruption is set instead, they will discover several altars inside. However, players will not stumble upon a Water Bolt anywhere in this dungeon, despite being so high above surface level.

For those looking to explore and reap the rewards dungeons offer, this one can be deceptively tough. After all, just getting to the entrance of this sky-high dungeon requires quite a bit of treacherous traversal.

11 The Underwater Dungeon

Seed: 490456395

The dungeon in this map is appropriately located underneath the surface. What is not appropriate, however, is the ocean sitting right above said dungeon. Players will find that the entrance to the dungeon in this world is blocked by the ocean and therefore inaccessible.

They will need to dig to gain access and enter this dungeon. Upon doing so, the floodgates open. Essentially, it's a massive natural trap of water and a bothersome flood waiting to happen.

The water is drained directly into the dungeon that players have yet to even begin exploring. Dungeons can be demanding enough to begin with, and now gamers have to deal with gallons and gallons of water further impeding progress.

10 Starting On Sky Island

Seed: 1532291273

When starting in a new world on Terraria, it helps to spawn right off the bat on the ground. There's plenty of space to build a home base after gathering some essential resources.

This is the first step in any new game of Terraria, for the most part. Instead, with this world seed, players spawn on an island in the sky. There is a consolation prize, however: an Annoying Starfury located in the chest inside the house at the starting point.

After grabbing this mediocre weapon, players will want to jump off to return to the land below. They won't survive, however. Instead, they will need to dig, and then fall to the surface with the water from the pool on the island in the sky. This elevated trial tests the mettle and skills of players right from the get-go.

9 Starting On Sky Lake

Seed: 936616411

The only thing worse than spawning on an island in the sky is spawning on a lake on an island in the sky. With this world seed, players will indeed be spawned on a floating lake sitting in the sky.

This proves both tricky and rather jarring to deal with, as players immediately find themselves in a precarious spot. Indeed, getting past this bizarre spawn point in one piece is itself a tough trial that unsuspecting players are going to have to play around with.

Like the map with the island in the sky, players cannot simply jump off. By descending with the water from the lake, they will reach the surface safely — flooding the entire world below them. There is also no bonus item, not even a cosmetic item (the game boasts some fantastic ones), located at the starting point on this map.

8 Welcome To The Jungle

Seed: sydney

While it may be preferable to start a new world off on the ground in Terraria, it depends on which biome players find themselves in. For example, spawning in an area filled with not only vines and mud but also bats, piranhas, and creatures known as "Snatchers" does not sound so fun. This is what the Jungle Biome offers.

There are also giant tortoises and flying foxes, as well as angler fish and creatures known as "Angry Trappers" (among other things). Last but not least, enemies in the Jungle tend to have much more health and deal more damage than those typically found in other biomes on the surface.

With this world seed, players start in the jungle and will face a not-so-easy beginning to their Terraria journey. It should also be noted a beehive spawns close to the starting point, so players do get the chance to fight Queen Bee early on for some valuable loot (especially for a fresh adventure).

7 Where Did The Ocean Go

Seed: 411826734

When players wake up in a brand new world in Terraria, they are certain of two things: to the right lies a vast ocean and to the left lies another vase ocean. With this world seed, however, there is no such vast ocean to the right. In fact, there is no ocean at all there, or even a drop of water. It's all dried up.

If the map is played on Normal difficulty with Crimson set, there is a little underground house to be found that would normally be discovered underneath the ocean. Fortunately, there is still an ocean on the left side of the map, if players are still interested in fishing and getting involved in other aquatic activities.

6 The Sword In The Stone

Seed: imperial

Although harder than Classic yet easier than Master, playing Terraria on Expert difficulty (with Crimson set) is nothing to sneeze at. Thanks to this world seed, though, players will be able to start off their journey with an Enchanted Sword, or even an Arkhalis.

Players have a 9/10 chance to find an Enchanted Sword but just a 1/10 chance to discover an Arkhalis. They will be more than ready with either option for the expert-level adventures ahead, and look cool doing it (for those style-conscious players who make use of the dye feature).

5 For The Worthy

Seed: for the worthy

While most custom world seeds are known as regular and only affect the world's structure, Terraria also features secret seeds that can generate worlds with characteristics unattainable through regular ones. There are three secret seeds, and one of them significantly increases the health of all enemies in the world as well as the damage they deal.

In addition, some of the water in the world is replaced with lava, bunnies will explode in players' faces, pots may drop bombs when broken and trees the same when shaken, more spike traps and spiders spawn, floating islands are all evil and there is a chance players will spawn in the jungle. A vast Jungle that will take up nearly half the entire map, at that. And on top of all this, the already tough bosses have their difficulty dialed up by being made larger and/or smarter.

Essentially, this world is one chaotic wilderness of hazards and grueling foes waiting to take out anyone in their wake.

4 Not The Bees

Seed: not the bees

True to its name, this intense secret seed turns much of the world into bee-themed biomes and fills the world with bee-related items and structures. For example, all stone blocks are now hive blocks and the water in the world is replaced with honey. Also, most of the world has been taken over by the jungle biome, and larvae and hornets spawn everywhere.

Hornets are flying enemies that are aggressive and fire stinger projectiles that may inflict poison. Larvae, meanwhile, are used to spawn Queen Bee, the boss version of the hornets. While bees aren't terribly threatening on their own, they can be quite threatening and pesky in large numbers; and there's no shortage of them here.

One nifty trait of this seed, at least, is that players will gain access to the Merchant more quickly and easily, as the starting NPC is this more useful helper, rather than the Guide.

3 Don't Dig Up

Seed: don't dig up, dont dig up, dontdigup

This jarring world seed flips things on their head, dropping players in the center of the ominous Underworld biome as the starting location. This intense scenario quickly made its name as one of the standout additions to the 1.4.4 update, thanks to its distinctly dark nature and grueling difficulty.

Players are forced to literally and figuratively fight their way up and stave off the hostile creatures and elements of this hellish world. Even when breaking through to the relatively calmer surface, gamers will notice that it's always evening, and that the whole vast biome is corrupted.

As if this weren't enough, the ample lava inflicts a whopping 200 base contact damage. Lava replaces water underground, and bosses can be spawned at any time. While these factors certainly turn up the heat, they are merely "scratching the surface" with regard to the tougher elements one must deal with here.

2 Drunk World

Seed: 5162020

Akin to a strange trippy nightmare, this secret seed produces a truly bizarre world; text in the loading screens appears as numbers and the loading bar is distorted and red.

Upon arrival, the player will find the Guide is fittingly replaced with the Party Girl and the clouds in the sky are shaped like faces. Several areas will have fallen to Corruption or Crimson already (yes, both of these Evil biomes generate here), and the forest is created from giant trees that feature chests that house one of the rarest items in the game, Moon Lord's Legs.

Another peculiar element of this world is that the Jungle Temples are a lot larger and floating islands appear near the Desert and Snow Biomes. As for the dungeon, it is only discoverable on the far right side of the map, by a huge yellow tree, a "Living Tree."

1 Zenith

Seed: get fixed boi (Or getfixedboi)

Not to be confused with the potent sword found in Hardcore mode, this alluring world seed, also known as the "Everything" seed, is a chaotic hodgepodge of existing seeds. Specifically, it fuses many conditions and traits from Don't Dig Up, Drunk World, Not the Bees, The Constant, as well as the anniversary release "Celebrationmk10", which features painted assets and many Living Trees.

True to its name, Zenith is truly a culmination of virtually all things Terraria. Naturally, this means that many of the more grueling aspects of the game are prominent here. Bosses are harder, biomes are more perilous, and NPCs perish after the first night.

It even brings some survival elements ripped from the Don't Starve crossover, which is particularly tough when beginning the journey underground. Finally, the super-hard "Legendary" game difficulty can only be played on this seed.