Mounts are one of Terraria’s most underrated upgrades. The right one turns sluggish overland travel into a breeze, replaces wings with infinite flight, or even fights enemies for you. There are dozens of mounts in the game, but only a handful are genuinely worth chasing. This guide ranks the best mounts by what they actually do, explains exactly where each one comes from, and shows you when to use which. Every figure below is drawn from the official Terraria Wiki, and where something depends on difficulty or game stage, it’s flagged as such.
How mounts work
A mount is summoned from an item placed in your mount equipment slot (or used from the hotbar) and only one can be active at a time. You can still swing weapons and use most items while mounted, with one big exception noted below. Mounts that deal contact damage scale with summon damage bonuses, while mounts that fire projectiles are unaffected by your damage modifiers. Mounts unsummon automatically when you die. They fall into a few rough categories: ground speedsters, limited-flight hybrids, infinite flyers, mining mounts, and combat mounts.
The best mounts at a glance
| Mount | Summon item / source | Top speed | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cute Fishron | Shrimpy Truffle, from Duke Fishron’s Treasure Bag (Expert/Master only) | ~82 mph in liquid; 40 mph in air | Fastest travel, aquatic combat |
| Witch’s Broom | Mourning Wood, Pumpkin Moon (Expert/Master only) | 62 mph diagonal | All-round infinite flight |
| UFO | Cosmic Car Key, from Martian Saucer (1/6) | 58 mph diagonal | Infinite flight, easiest to obtain |
| Unicorn | Blessed Apple, from Hallow Unicorns (~2.5%) | 61 mph | Fast ground travel, trampling |
| Drill Mount | Drill Containment Unit (crafted) | 51 mph diagonal | Mining and tunneling |
| Scutlix | Brain Scrambler, from Scutlix Gunner (~1/30) | 41 mph | Hands-free combat |
| Slime Mount | Slimy Saddle, from King Slime (25%) | 20 mph walk | Early-game traversal |
Best flight mounts
If you want to cross a world instantly without burning wing flight time, these are the mounts you want. All three offer infinite, hovering flight in any direction.
Cute Fishron is the speed king. It’s summoned by the Shrimpy Truffle, which always drops from Duke Fishron’s Treasure Bag, so it’s Expert and Master Mode only. In the air it cruises around 40 mph, but in liquid it reaches roughly 82 mph, the fastest of any mount in the game, and keeps an 80 mph boost for about six seconds after leaving water. It also grants a +15% damage bonus while you’re in liquid or below half health, with glowing eyes signaling the buff. On dry land it’s painfully slow (around 5 mph), so it’s a specialist, not an everyday ride.
Witch’s Broom is the best general-purpose flyer. It hits 46 mph horizontally, 41 mph vertically and 62 mph diagonally with no flight-time limit, making it faster than the UFO in a straight diagonal. It drops from Mourning Wood during the Pumpkin Moon in Expert and Master Mode, with the drop chance scaling up on later waves.
UFO Mount is the most accessible infinite flyer and doesn’t require Expert Mode. The Cosmic Car Key drops at a 1/6 rate from the Martian Saucer during the Martian Madness event, so a few event runs usually secure it. It flies and hovers freely at up to 41 mph straight or 58 mph diagonally. For most players, this is the practical “forever” travel mount.
If you’re still deciding between flight mounts and dedicated wings for vertical mobility, our Terraria wings guide ranks every pair and explains when wings beat a mount.
Best ground and movement mounts
The Unicorn Mount is the standout ground option. It reaches 61 mph (taking about 3.5 seconds to top out), has a double jump, and reduces fall damage so you only take about 20% of it. Above 51 mph it tramples enemies for solid summon damage with heavy knockback, so it doubles as a charging weapon. The Blessed Apple that summons it drops from Hallow Unicorns at roughly 2.5% in Classic/Normal and 3.33% in Expert, so it can take a while to farm. Note the fall-damage reduction is overridden if you’re already wearing wings or a Lucky Horseshoe.
The Slime Mount is a fantastic early pickup since King Slime drops the Slimy Saddle at a 25% rate (50% from the Expert Treasure Bag). It only walks at about 20 mph, but it auto-bounces when you hold jump, floats on liquids, cuts fall damage, and squashes enemies you land on for fixed summon damage. It’s a great traversal tool long before you have wings.
The Pigron Mount is a Hardmode hybrid. Its Scaly Truffle item is fished up in the cavern layer where an Ice biome overlaps the Hallow, Corruption or Crimson. It runs at up to 46 mph and offers limited flight of about 2.67 seconds, comparable to early-Hardmode wings, making it a decent stopgap before you secure infinite flight.
Best utility and combat mounts
The Drill Mount (from the crafted Drill Containment Unit) is a mining machine, not a travel mount. It flies and hovers indefinitely, mines a 15-tile range, and has 210% pickaxe/axe/hammer power, breaking essentially any block in one hit. The catch: you cannot use any weapon or item while riding it. The recipe needs 40 each of Luminite, Chlorophyte, Shroomite, Spectre, Hellstone and Meteorite bars at a Mythril or Orichalcum Anvil, so it’s a late-game project.
The Scutlix Mount is the premier hands-free combat mount. Summoned by the Brain Scrambler (about 1/30 from Scutlix Gunners during Martian Madness), it travels at 41 mph and its eyes auto-fire two red lasers at nearby enemies, each hitting for 150 base damage. Because these are projectiles, they ignore your damage modifiers and can’t crit, but they fire constantly while you focus on dodging. It pairs well with the kind of glass-cannon builds covered in our Terraria class guide.
Which mount should you chase first?
Grab the Slime Mount the moment you beat King Slime for cheap early traversal. In Hardmode, the Unicorn covers ground travel and the Pigron bridges the flight gap. Once you reach the endgame events, the UFO is the easiest infinite flyer to lock in, while Expert players should prioritize the Cute Fishron and Witch’s Broom. The Drill Mount is worth it only if you do a lot of large-scale building or arena digging. Mounts slot neatly into the late-game power curve described in our Hardmode guide, and timing your event farms around the progression and boss order makes the rare drops far less painful.
Mount farming is far more efficient with friends splitting event waves and rare-drop runs. If you want a persistent world that’s always online, you can spin up a Terraria server to play with friends and grind those Martian Madness and Pumpkin Moon drops together. For setup steps and config tips, see the Terraria server documentation.
FAQ
What is the fastest mount in Terraria?
The Cute Fishron is the fastest, reaching roughly 82 mph while in liquid, but it’s slow on land and is Expert/Master Mode only. For all-purpose flight, the Witch’s Broom (62 mph diagonal) and UFO (58 mph diagonal) are the fastest practical options.
What is the easiest infinite-flight mount to get?
The UFO Mount. Its summon item, the Cosmic Car Key, drops at a 1/6 chance from the Martian Saucer during Martian Madness and doesn’t require Expert Mode, so a handful of event runs usually gets it.
Can you attack while riding a mount?
Yes, you can use weapons and items on almost every mount. The main exception is the Drill Mount, which locks out all tools and weapons. Some mounts attack on their own, such as the Scutlix firing lasers or the Unicorn and Slime mounts dealing contact damage.
Pairing the right mount with the right loadout and a smartly built base is what separates a smooth playthrough from a grind. For more, check our guides on the best accessories and NPC happiness and pylons.
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