Lunatic Cultist

"The fanatical leader of the Dungeon coven..."

The Lunatic Cultist, alternatively known as the Ancient Cultist, is a Hardmode, post-Golem boss summoned by killing the Cultists that spawn at the Dungeon's entrance after Golem is defeated. Beating the Lunatic Cultist initiates the Lunar Events. If the outer part of the Dungeon is destroyed, the Lunatic Cultist will not spawn.

Behavior
The Lunatic Cultist makes its first brief appearance at the Mysterious Tablet as soon as the Cultists are defeated. It is not vulnerable to attacks at this time. It then warps to a new location in midair and summons one of three attacks:


 * A burst of three homing fireballs that explode on impact
 * An ice ball that fires ice shards in six directions as it flies
 * An orb that fires bolts of lightning

As the Lunatic Cultist becomes damaged, it adds two spreads of five destructible Ancient Light projectiles as part of his previous cycle.

In Expert Mode, it may also spawn numerous Ancient Dooms that fire four purple projectiles In a Plus sign after a while.

The Lunatic Cultist cycles through its various attacks, performing four to five of them before proceeding to spawn phantom duplicates of itself via a "ritual". Unless the one true Lunatic Cultist is interrupted by an attack from a player during this ritual, the duplicates fly in formation and add their homing shadowflame attacks.The true Cultist will appear darker than the rest and if the player can get close enough, they can see which cultist is damaged and so they can attack it.

Attacking a duplicate results in the summoning of the Wyvern-like Phantasm Dragon. If there is already a Phantasm Dragon inbound, attacking a duplicate triggers an Ancient Vision, which resembles a miniature Moon Lord head. Duplicates can be eliminated by interrupting the ritual again with player attacks, but if not, large quantities of duplicates can amass.

Tips
For more elaborate strategies on defeating the Lunatic Cultist, including Weapon and Arena recommendations, see Guide:Lunatic Cultist strategies.
 * Avoid defeating the Lunatic Cultist if you are not yet ready for the Lunar Events, as after beating the Cultist the Lunar Events begin immediately, and there is no way to de-summon them (aside from defeating them). Take care that any minions/NPC's in the area don't kill the Cultist inadvertently.
 * If you have beaten the Martian Madness event, and have access to the Cosmic Car Key, it is very easy to dodge most of the Lunatic Cultist's Attacks. It is generally possible to complete the fight without going below 300 HP, if you do not fight the Phantasm Dragon.
 * One way to determine which cultist is real is by playing at night. The real cultist does not emit light like the decoys, so it will be very easy to determine the correct one to attack, and only the real cultist has a health meter.
 * Another way to identify Lunatic Cultist is the eye on the mask. The real Lunatic Cultist has a sharp triangle-shaped eye, and the clones have round-shaped eye. This way is useful in daylight and without interruptions (Like Phantasm Dragon).
 * There is also another way to identify Lunatic Cultist by just only looking at the hood. The real Lunatic Cultist have a line on his hood while the fake ones don't. This way is useful if players can't identify the Lunatic Cultist by its eyes.
 * Most summons will identify the real Cultist and attack it right away, possibly preventing the Phantasm Dragon from ever spawning.
 * Attacking the decoy cultist is not a bad idea if you have Vampire Knives. The Phantasm Dragon is very long and you can easily regain some life by hitting the Dragon with a wide barrage of knives.

Trivia

 * It is a common belief that the Cultists' design was inspired by Crowno's clothes. However, according to Crowno, the Cultists were designed before it.
 * The boss' appearance resembles a plague doctor costume, which was a garment worn by physicians who treated the Black Plague in 14th century Europe.
 * It is the smallest boss, and the only one without an awakening message.
 * The Lunatic Cultist's mask and trophy are named "Ancient Cultist" rather than "Lunatic Cultist", as they are still using an early development name. Several other enemy drops from 1.3 also retained their early development names until later patches.
 * The Lunatic Cultist has an Expert Mode Treasure Bag in Terraria's game files, but it is currently unobtainable as he does not actually drop it.