So, now we're onto Hardmode, there are some changes compared to Pre-Hardmode

+The additional accessory slot, if you're using it, is now open
+You're now allowed to use all ammo types, not just Musket Balls anymore
+Campfires and Heart Lanterns can be used again

All the rules are stated back in the Pre-Hardmode version of this page so if anything confuses you go and have a look there since maybe it's explained over there


"Where things start becoming tough"

Anyways, onto the bosses

Summary:
Jumping into Hardmode is harsh in this challenge. Suddenly enemies have much higher health and especially defence, meaning that regular musket balls can take quite a while to kill even some regular enemies.

As with Pre-Hardmode there are some things you might want to do before facing any of the bosses, primarily regarding ammo, armour, and accessories.

Ammo-wise I'd recommend getting both the Endless Musket Pouch so fighting normal enemies isn't a drain on any special ammo types, and also to get Ichor Bullets in order to reduce enemy defences to offset the P90's low base damage.

Armour-wise I went for Frost Armour for the additional debuff to further offset any lost damage against high-defence enemies.

Accessory-wise the only definite note is to make sure you have the Abyssal Amulet now. I know I said to get it earlier but I'm serious you should probably go get it.



Difficulty Increase:
N/A
⏲ 0:00



Aftermath:
-Once the player has obtained any items they want, they should consider carefully what bosses to fight. As usual I'm doing this in general progression order so nothing Plantera-tier yet.
--Personally I'd recommend taking a look at Cryogen and the Mechanical Bosses

Summary:
Cryogen is the first boss in the run that I'd say puts up an actual decent fight. The fight isn't by any means long; in fact being only around the same length as the Wall of Flesh battle and actually shorter than both Queen Bee and Slime God, but unlike those bosses it has the damage output and enough attacks to be a threat.

I used Ichor Bullets here which did high damage and absolutely shredded Cryogen's ice barriers.



Difficulty Increase:
★★
⏲ 0:58



Aftermath:
-If the player doesn't already have Frost Armour this is as good a time as ever to get some
-Permafrost can be found now. Not very useful but he's there if you want to chat

Summary:
Honestly, the Twins were an entirely manageable boss. Crush Depth and Ichor meant I could stack up a ton of damage extremely quickly against both of them.

As usual I'd recommend taking down the one you find most troublesome first which in my case is Spazmatism due to his damage output.

As you could probably guess I went with Ichor Bullets again.




Difficulty Increase:
★
⏲ 1:10



Aftermath:
-1/3 of the way to the Pickaxe Axe and the Blood Orange... and the Mechanical Cart.
-Hallowed Bars can be used for Hallowed Armour which isn't... actually all that helpful since it loses the Frost Armour's debuff... ok basically the mechs give almost nothing on their own

Summary:
The only one of the mechs to not have 'The' at the start of their name and, more on-topic, the new record holder for the longest fight of the run thus far... but not for long.

Prime isn't anything special here, either. Crush Depth quickly stacks up damage across all its limbs very easily since it only takes 1 bullet to inflict it, so it's not long before Prime is left rather defenceless.

As you can guess I went with Ichor Bullets again for Prime.



Difficulty Increase:
★★
⏲ 1:30



Aftermath:
-Same points as for the Twins. The only difference is you get Souls of Fright not Souls of Sight... that is all.

Summary:
The boss that blew all the previous bosses out of the water in terms of time taken; both because it shows the P90's weakness in full display and also because of my usual plan not working this time.

The Destroyer is immune to debuffs, has high defence, and summons probes when the segments are hit, so combine those three things and you can guess where I'm going with this. By the time the fight ended ALL of the Destroyer's probes were triggered and destroyed.

Hitting the Destroyer's head was the only real option most of the time since hitting the body did pitiful damage since I couldn't bypass its defence by any means, not even the crutch that is the Abyssal Amulet.

I tried using Verium Bullets for this fight since they can hit twice per bullet and because I'm new-ish with playing Ranger in Calamity anyways so it was something new I wanted to try. Honestly, their DPS increase was probably super-helpful



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★
⏲ 4:28



Aftermath:
-With all 3 Mechanical Bosses completed, the player can increase their max health, get the Pickaxe Axe and Angel Treads, and that's... really about it
-The player can also craft Avenger Emblems now. 3 in total may be recommended, mainly for later.

Summary:
The 'Lesser Destroyer' of this challenge, boasting far lower defences and a far easier to track and shoot head. Admittedly, after fighting Destroyer, I was dreading this boss but it turned out alright.

I used Verium Bullets again like I did for the Destroyer for the extra damage against its segments. Not sure if that was the best option but it did its job well.



Difficulty Increase:
★★
⏲ 1:38



Aftermath:
-You don't really unlock anything of use after defeating the Aquatic Scourge in this playthrough

Summary:
As usual with these runs I left Brimmy for last since she often ends up being one of the more problematic bosses during these runs.

This time, however, according to my notes it wasn't actually that bad of a fight. Apparently the P90 grants decent DPS against her, even putting in an extra couple dozen DPS vs her shielded phase.

Used Ichor Bullets again for this fight, which is going to become a trend.



Difficulty Increase:
★
⏲ 1:20



Aftermath:
-Abaddon is, as usual, a useful drop since it's a component of the Asgard's Valor

Summary:
Plantera is, as usual in Expert runs, a very easy boss and actually the fastest Hardmode boss to kill overall, not even taking a whole minute despite being Post-Mechanicals.

The Abyssal Amulet, as ever, decimates the clingers in Phase 2 but you don't even need to worry about that if you can directly aim at Plantera herself as she dies fast enough that taking out the clingers would just be stalling.

I used Ichor Bullets again, as you might assume.



Difficulty Increase:
★
⏲ 0:55



Aftermath:
-The 'Moon' events are unlocked, the Dungeon is tougher and the Temple can now be entered 'officially'
-Reaver Armour can now be obtained, mainly for the ranger set bonus being arguably more useful than a debuff at this point since lots more things become immune to debuffs by this point
-This is also the part where you'd actually be able to get the P90 normally, so in theory this is when it should be best utilised, right...?

Summary:
Apparently so.

Calamitas turned out to be a decent fight. The P90 handled the brothers well when I could actually hit them and not miss constantly due to my own bad aim, and the bonus damage from the Reaver Armour set bonus added a nice extra chunk of damage on top of the P90's own DPS.

Ichor Bullets were once again picked for this fight for the defence reduction effect.



Difficulty Increase:
★★
⏲ 2:20



Aftermath:
-Calamitas doesn't really drop anything directly useful to the challenge

Summary:
Anahita and Leviathan are generally a longer battle in this run, which is purely Levi's fault. Anahita herself is quite easily dealt with using the same gear as Calamitas as her comparative low health and defence that would normally be balanced out with her mobility ends up purely hindering her as the P90 can hit shots rather consistently due to its firing speed and velocity.

Leviathan, on the other hand, is the real issue. Leviathan's high defences mean that bullets often deal damage barely reaching double digits sometimes, and this cannot be bypassed using the Abyssal Amulet unfortunately since Levi is immune. Fortunately, the P90's firing speed means it ends up not being as bad as it likely would've otherwise been.

Once again I used Ichor Bullets, mainly to bypass Leviathan's high defence stats.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★
⏲ 3:30



Aftermath:
-The player doesn't really get anything especially useful from defeating this boss, either

Summary:
Like Leviathan, Aureus is a high-health boss with high defence. Most of the same issues present for Leviathan make a return with this boss. Most bullets only reach low double digits, as with Leviathan.

Ichor Bullets were once again chosen for the same reasons as Leviathan.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★
⏲ 3:18



Aftermath:
-Aureus doesn't drop any items particularly useful to this challenge
-The main thing Aureus did was make me a little concerned as to how the rest of this challenge will go if I'm already lacking damage at the very point where this weapon is meant to be used

Summary:
After Leviathan and Aureus' defence issues Golem was a welcome change of pace; having less defence and multiple segments while being vulnerable to Crush Depth.

Golem is easily dealt with and takes far less time than any of the other bosses in the same tier as itself.

I used Ichor Bullets again for this one.



Difficulty Increase:
★
⏲ 1:00



Aftermath:
-The player can now get Scoria Ore and thus Scoria Bars and Bars of Life. Hydrothermic Armour may be good for this part of the game.
-The player can now take their 3 Avenger Emblems and craft 2 Destroyer Emblems from them; with one of these then being crafted into the Sniper Scope. The player should keep 1 Avenger Emblem, however, for a later material.

Summary:
Duke Fishron is the only Post-Golem boss (Aside from Lunatic Cultist) that is generally easy to deal with as it has lower defence than the others and, despite being a fish, is weak to Crush Depth for some reason.

The P90 can actually deal decent damage to Fishron that makes the fight take about as long as a normal Duke Fishron fight, which is pretty neat.

I used Ichor Bullets again for this one since even though Fishron has lower defence than the other bosses I'd rather it be even lower if I can.



Difficulty Increase:
★★
⏲ 1:32



Aftermath:
-Fishron Wings are the only drop Duke Fishron has that is directly useful in this challenge

Summary:
Ravager is a very lengthy fight, being the longest fight thus far taking over 5 minutes to beat. Ravager has a lengthy fight for the same reasons as Leviathan and Aureus; a Crush Depth immunity and massive defence stats.

Ravager also has very high health due to it starting out as a multi-segment boss making the first phase feel very slow; even slower than it actually is. Phase 2 isn't much better since its defence is so high that almost all attacks are reduced to single digits, even with Ichor.

Ichor Bullets were chosen again to try and offset some of the lost damage, which was probably a good call considering Phase 2.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★
⏲ 5:45



Aftermath:
-Geodes contain some fairly useful resources should the player need them... though it's probably easier to just mine and hunt for them as opposed to facing Ravager
-The Ravager Lore doesn't make a difference to the P90's damage sadly and thus isn't helpful

Summary:
Worse yet, Plaguebringer Goliath immediately surpasses Ravager's time and immediately ends up being the longest recorded fight in Hardmode.

Plaguebringer has the exact same issues as before, having high defence and an immunity to Crush Depth. PBG also has an immensely large health pool, dragging out the fight.

Ichor Bullets were once again used to bypass some of PBG's defence. It took a total of roughly 3 and a half stacks of bullets, so around 3,400 in total, which would've been more if it weren't for all the ammo reservation effects stacked together.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★
⏲ 6:10



Aftermath:
-PBG itself doesn't really provide anything directly for this challenge. Acid Rounds are nice, though PBG is far from the best source of Plague Cell Canisters.

Summary:
Now, with all the recent bosses taking ages because of high defence and debuff immunities, you'd think Lunatic Cultist would be tough, right?

Lunatic Cultist ended up being, by far, the easiest boss in the entire challenge. I stood still and shot it and, in under less than a minute, had won.

I tried out Acid Rounds against Lunatic Cultist, both because I wanted to try them and also because LC has an immunity to Ichor.



Difficulty Increase:
★
⏲ 0:57



Aftermath:
-The Lunar Events can now begin and the player can get the Ancient Manipulator; both necessities for continuing this challenge

Summary:
So, there was a small issue when I was going through my notes regarding Astrum Deus' notes... mainly the lack of them. Somehow I'd forgotten to fight it during the actual run. However, extrapolating evidence from prior bosses should give an idea as to how the fight would go.

Astrum Deus has debuff immunities, high defence, and a massive health pool; being the only boss thus far to both be immune to Ichor AND Crush Depth, severely limiting possible damage.

Worse yet, in Phase 2 it heals back to full health again, making this fight severely lengthy and awkward. Not as bad as the Lunic Eye run, probably, but likely long enough for the boss to enrage.

Not sure what bullets to suggest. Acid Rounds maybe?



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★★
⏲ ?:??



Aftermath:
-The player can get a lot of Lunar Fragments from this boss, but that's really about it

Summary:
Moon Lord is the final stretch for this part of the run and is a major challenge overall; taking nearly as long as the Plaguebringer did.

Moon Lord has the ability to heal, the moon clots that end up causing trouble for forcing you to turn damage away from the Moon Lord itself, and even ignoring these things Moon Lord has a high health pool and decent defence.
The only real upside is that Moon Lord is vulnerable to Crush Depth.

I believe I was using Acid Rounds for this fight, since they seemed to do so well against Lunatic Cultist.

Also fun fact my first attempt ended with me getting Moon Lord's Core to 150 health and then dying. Ouch.



Difficulty Increase:
★★★★★
⏲ 6:00



Aftermath:
-Defeating Moon Lord brings an end to Hardmode and allows the player to progress into the Post-Moon Lord portion of the game
-The player gets Luminite and additional accessory slots for defeating this boss, which are always appreciated

That was the 2nd part of the P90 challenge, difficulty finally starting to ramp up a bit.

Unfortunately I know that next up is by far the hardest part of the challenge; where bosses have better defence and health pools deep in the hundreds of thousands, and considering my weapon only has like 10 base damage at this point... that's a bit of a worry


The challenge was completed Pre-Draedon update, but at the most recent update before that. Unfortunately I am too late to go back to fight Astrum Deus properly since I'm so far ahead of its progression my items from that point were sold already.


Hopefully I'll have the next part done soon enough
See you guys then :)