Moon Lord



The Moon Lord is a Hardmode, post-Lunatic Cultist boss. He is the final boss of the versions of Terraria.

The Moon Lord can be spawned by destroying the four Celestial Pillars or by using a Celestial Sigil in any world where Golem has been defeated. In both cases, he will then spawn one minute after the message "" appears.

See below for the Moon Bite debuff inflicted by Moon Lord.

Behavior
The Moon Lord has two hands and a head that must be killed before his core becomes available for attack. He positions his two hands on either side of the player some distance away.

Each hand, as well as his head, contain a vulnerable eye-like target that is each periodically closed off and opened via an eyelid. These may only be damaged during their "open" states. The core, which is the only part required to be destroyed in order to defeat the boss, only becomes vulnerable when all eye sockets are destroyed.

Moon Lord can teleport to players if all of them get too far out of range.

Attacks

 * The Moon Lord's hands move away from the core and their eyes spawn several . After a couple seconds, they explode, dealing heavy damage. If the player is far enough away, they simultaneously charge the player before exploding, though they cannot travel at an angle higher than approximately 30 degrees in any direction.
 * The hand eyes also spawn multiple, which move in all directions for a short while before homing in on the player. Like the Phantasmal Spheres, they cannot travel at an upward angle, so they can be evaded by swerving upwards. If they cannot get a direct lock and a player is in range then they will attempt to match the target's trajectory to stay in their path. They explode upon contact with a block or player.
 * The hand eyes also occasionally fire two in quick succession, which pass through blocks and lead the player, requiring swerves to avoid.
 * When attached to the Moon Lord's head, the head eye periodically opens for a few seconds, and then fires a : a large laser that sweeps upward over the player. This is by far Moon Lord's most damaging attack. Afterward, the head eye blinks a couple times, and fires two (similarly to those of the hands), and then closes.  The deathray can pass through solid blocks that block it from the player.
 * The mouth periodically attempts to attach a Tentacle to the player. The Tentacle can reach through solid blocks. Once attached, it spawns multiple, which are enemies that travel from the player to Moon Lord's mouth. Any Moon Leech Clot that reaches the mouth without being killed returns 1000 health to one of Moon Lord's parts (one that has not yet been defeated).
 * The Tentacle also inflicts the Moon Bite debuff, preventing any life-steal effects from weapons/armor like Vampire Knives or Spectre Armor for 14 seconds (16 seconds in Expert mode).
 * When a hand or head target is defeated, it becomes a thorny crevice that deals damage on contact.
 * Additionally, when a head or hand target is defeated, a spawns, which cycles through four different attacks:
 * The eye spawns, which behave similarly to when before the eyes were defeated.
 * The eye spawns six in a hexagonal formation around itself, which after a few seconds will charge directly at the player, dealing a significant amount of damage to the player. This is by far the dominant source of damage in the second phase and should be avoided by swerving/dashing.
 * The eye fires two at the player, similar to those from the hand eyes
 * Finally, the eye charges and fires a lesser Phantasmal Death ray, smaller and dealing significantly less damage. This cannot pass through solid blocks.
 * The eye dances outward in a spiral, dealing a small amount of damage upon impact.
 * The True Eye of Cthulhu is invincible and will only despawn if either all players or Moon Lord is defeated. Also, the eye tends to remain stationary for most of its attacks.
 * He can teleport and attack players with all his attacks when another player dies in a group of two or attack the last player in a group of three.

Tips

 * With the Gravitation Potion, you will be moving vertically fast enough to avoid most of his attacks, but it might be difficult to hit his vital parts, unless you use homing capable attacks.
 * You can also use it to dodge the Phantasmal Deathray.
 * Using a weapon that can attack through blocks, such as the Solar Eruption, can mitigate incoming damage while making evasion less complicated. Two rows of blocks (one to run along and one above to protect from lasers. Note that as of 1.4.0.1, the death ray goes through blocks) can be quite effective. Make sure the rows of blocks are separated widely apart so that you can avoid the Phantasmal Spheres that could come horizontally from the True Eyes Of Cthulhu.
 * The Moon Lord is not immune to  or Betsy's Curse, which can drastically speed up the fight. Do note however, that every time an Eye closes all debuffs will be removed from it.
 * A large portion of the Moon Lord's attacks are incapable of passing through blocks. Consider seeking cover to avoid these attacks during the fight.
 * The Moon Bite debuff, which prevents life-steal abilities, is reliant on a tentacle making contact with the player. It is possible to move outside of its maximum range, avoiding the debuff and allowing effects to once again heal the player. However, hitting him becomes harder this way.
 * Avoid killing the head last. This eye remains closed for significantly longer than those in the hands, so you will have to endure the relentless attacks of two True Eyes of Cthulhu while waiting for it to open again.
 * Since the hands will start dealing melee damage after they are defeated, running away on an asphalt sky bridge will become an issue if not properly prepared to dodge the hands. Most other strategies are unaffected.
 * The Moon Bite debuff disables the healing effects of Vampire Knives and the Spectre Hood and is applied very often, though not all the time. It's not recommended to use them, but if you do, keep an eye on the debuff bar and switch to them quickly when it runs out.
 * However, it does not stop health regeneration boosts, so the effects of Nebula armor and the Life Drain are not affected.
 * The Moon Lord teleports to the player closest to him if all players go out of range.
 * You can use Minecart Tracks or platforms going across your world to help avoiding the attacks. Moon Lord will still try teleporting to you, but his attacks cannot catch up. The Mechanical Cart is the best way to move fast along the tracks.
 * Owning a Rod of Discord can provide a great deal of assistance, as it can be used to easily evade Moon Lord's Phantasmal Death Ray. Use it sparingly though, as Chaos State can kill or greatly damage an unaware player.
 * The Cosmic Car Key can provide a huge advantage, as it makes avoiding his attacks easier than on the ground, and also goes slightly faster than the Moon Lord.
 * It is a good idea to use the Chlorophyte Bullets or some homing weapons, because you can focus on dodging and you don’t need to aim as much since the projectiles will chase an undefeated part.
 * Simply having more players on the world will make things significantly easier, because although Moon Lord will have more health and heal more due to his leeches, making the fight much longer than normal, it will also lengthen how long the players can last.
 * The Cute Fishron is capable of mildly outrunning the Moon Lord with its speed bonus (the player must be under half health or have recently touched a liquid). However, care must be taken to stay just far enough away, but not so far as to trigger him to teleport to the player.
 * This can be consistently used as a strategy if the player makes an arena water-filled or populated with water Bubbles.
 * The Phantasmal Deathray can be dodged more easily with the use of a set of wings with high ascent speed such as Fishron Wings or Empress Wings, as well as an item that enables dashing such as the Tabi.
 * This can be further amplified with the Soaring Insignia, which allows infinite flight time.
 * The Unicorn Mount is also a great way to avoid attacks as it is vastly faster than the Moon Lord. This in conjunction with a one way teleporter and Chlorophyte Bullets makes for an easy Moon Lord fight.
 * The Moon Lord's attacks bypass typical invincibility frames, requiring special setups to bypass its attacks.

Trivia

 * Despite a mid-development comment by Cenx that this would not be the case, Moon Lord resembles common depictions of, a creature first imagined by in his story, . Fans commonly speculated prior to the release of 1.3 that Cthulhu would be the final Terraria boss (which in turn arose partly due to an early concept design floated by the development team).
 * Terraria's final boss was originally going to be the Moon itself descending on the world, but Cenx later stated that this idea had been scrapped.
 * Despite being the final boss of the game, Moon Lord drops less money than even pre-Hardmode bosses. He does not drop money on Expert.
 * The Wall of Flesh and The Destroyer are the only other two bosses that do not despawn when the player gets too far away.
 * Due to the colors of the boss and the names of a few of his projectiles, this boss may have been designed from the Vortex Pillar.
 * Despite being the final boss, Moon Lord has the lowest amount of debuff immunities, being immune only to Confusion (which is also the case for about 70% of Terraria's enemies).
 * Moon Lord's resemblance and relation to Cthulhu have a basis within Lovecraft's "Cthulhu Mythos" as Cthulhu has two brothers, an identical twin named Kthanid and a half brother named Hastur, both taking a form similar to Cthulhu's, though Moon Lord is more than likely in reference to Hastur as both have a trademark sign that signals his arrival (see the Celestial Sigil and the Mysterious Tablet) as well as the fact that Kthanid is "as good as his brother is evil" and therefore making it unlikely that he would attack the player.
 * NPCs cannot attack the Moon Lord.
 * According to Cenx, spriting the Moon Lord took over a month.
 * Red has stated that, if 10,000 signatures and 15 dollars are gathered, he would make the lower half of the Moon Lord a boss. However, the validity of this statement is questionable as both criteria have since been met.
 * In the update, the Moon Lord Legs item is obtainable by giving a new world the seed of "05162020" and finding it in chests as random chest loot. Surprisingly, the said item is not a boss.
 * The Moon Lord's design looks like it consists of three of the main bosses in pre-hardmode including, Skeletron, Eye of Cthulhu, and Brain of Cthulhu.
 * Upon defeating one of the 3 "eyes" of the Moon Lord, when the cursor is located on the eye, a name displays directly above it which reads "True Eye of Cthulhu" which lead many to theorize that the pre-hardmode boss Eye of Cthulhu is a fake or a replica and that the Moon Lord is indeed the Cthulhu itself.
 * In the Bestiary "lore" of the Moon Lord it states, "The mastermind behind all terrors which befall the world, freed from his lunar prison. Practically a god, his power knows no limits.", which further fuels the theory that the Moon Lord is Cthulhu, or at least the predecessor to him.
 * The Moon Lord is one of 5 bosses with exclusive music, the others being the Queen Slime, Empress of Light, Plantera, and Duke Fishron.
 * He is the only boss that drops 3 Expert-mode exclusive items in his Treasure Bag.
 * While fighting the Moon Lord, an eye appears on RGB-enabled keyboards.

History
Mondherr Seigneur de la lune 달의 군주 Władca Księżyca Лунный повелитель 月亮领主