For starters, we’d like to share a few tricks that will help you find the character. Then, after talking about his shop, we’ll focus on Tinkerer’s Workshop as one of the most critical crafting stations in the game. Lastly, we’d like to share some info about reforging.

Where to find Goblin Tinkerer in Terraria?

For Goblin Tinkerer to appear, you’ll need to finish the Goblin Army event. Once you do so, the NPC will spawn somewhere within the Cavern layer. Like some other characters, he’s bound at first, and the only way to liberate him is by talking to him. After that, he’ll spawn in the first vacant house.

Many players make the mistake of frantically sweeping the Cavern. Keep in mind that this NPC spawns close to your location as you’re walking around and despawns if you stray away from him. After each despawn, the character will once again appear close to your location.

In other words, you’ll encounter him sooner than later at some random spot within this layer. The game literally tries to help you find Goblin Tinkerer. However, if you really need the vendor for your progress, here are a few ways you can hasten your search:

• Goblin Tinkerer is one of the few rare NPCs that you can find with Lifeform Analyzer. You can get this item from Traveling Merchant for measly five gold. The best thing yet, this accessory remains relevant throughout the game as you can upgrade it to R.E.K. 3000 and other items.
• Areas such as the Dungeon and the Jungle Temple are the best places to find the character. Given that he continuously spawns and despawns, and these are one-direction areas, you’re bound to find him sooner than later.
• If you’re that interested in finding the character, you can mine a large section of the Cavern and start making circles. Limit your search to one area of the map and continue making rounds until the character spawns close to your location.
• Hunter Potion is one of the best ways of tracking this NPC. Like other creatures, he’ll light up in the darkness. Even if you’re surrounded by tiles, it should be easy to spot him.

Goblin Tinkerer’s shop

Goblin Tinkerer features a few important items. Some of them are necessary to complete the game:

• Rocket Boots (costs 5 gold)
• Ruler (costs 10 silver)
• Tinkerer’s Workshop (costs 10 gold)
• Grappling Hook (costs 2 gold)
• Toolbelt (costs 10 gold)
• Spiky Ball (costs 80 copper)
• Any Pilon (costs 10 gold, only when the vendor is happy and within a specific biome)

The most important item on the list is Tinkerer’s Workshop. You use it to combine various accessories and tools into their high-tier counterparts. Basically, you won’t be able to progress through challenging end-game content without this crafting station.

Rocket Boots are also fairly important. You can only acquire them from this particular vendor, and they’re required to make Terraspark Boots. Players can use Ruler to assemble Grand Design, and Toolbelt is a fantastic little gadget that’s crucial for building castles and other remarkable structures.

Like with all other vendors, you can reduce Goblin’s prices with Greedy Ring, Discount Card, or by increasing his happiness level.

Tinkerer’s Workshop

Due to the importance of this crafting station, we felt it was our duty to say a few words about it.

You use Tinkerer’s Workshop to combine just about every accessory and tool in the game. In a way, it is like a recycling station that utilizes old items and combines them into powerful upgrades. Each new item will have random modifiers assigned to it. The previous modifiers don’t affect the new ones.

Creating objects with this station is pretty complex. Some recipes require up to ten ingredients and several transitional items to reach them. An example of this is the Cell Phone, which requires a total of 23 components. This is why it’s so important to keep various items as you go through the game.

Here are a few notable items you can make at this crafting station:

• Yoyo Bag
• Fire Gauntlet
• Architect Gizmo Pack
• Cell Phone
• Terraspark Boots
• The Grand Design
• Recon Scope
• Bundle of Balloons
• Ankh Shield

Reforging

We can’t talk about this character without mentioning reforging. This feature becomes more and more important as you get closer to the end of the game. Reforging is vital for highest-tier equipment as it allows you to further boost its stats. In fact, if you manage to get some excellent modifiers, it’s worth transferring this gear to other characters.

When using this feature, an item always gets some sort of modifier. Unmodified objects get at least one extra stat, and modified objects get different bonuses. The equipment receives modifiers based on its default list of possible upgrades. For example, when you reforge a weapon, you can’t get modifiers from accessories. 

It’s worth mentioning there’s an equal chance to apply any of the available modifiers. You can get the same modifier that was previously present on the item. Objects of low quality will be cheaper to modify while changing high-quality items will be more expensive. Modifying an item can alter its rarity.

There are also some differences between accessory and armor modifiers. Accessories can only get one mod, which is always a positive value. Certain items that are equipped in accessory slots, but are not considered combat accessories, can’t get modifiers (such as the Cell Phone).

Weapons can get up to five mods. They can provide negative, positive, or mixed values to the stats.