Deerclops

The Deerclops is a pre-Hardmode boss. It is encountered in the Snow biome naturally at midnight during a Blizzard, or by summoning it using a Deer Thing. Fighting the Deerclops is not required for game progression, but defeating it may reward the player with coins and useful items.

Summoning
The Deerclops can be summoned using a Deer Thing at any time of day as long as the player is in the Snow biome. It will also spawn naturally at exactly midnight during a Blizzard, given that at least one player has either 9 defense or 200 health.

There are no prerequisite bosses that are required to be defeated in order to summon this boss, however, the Deerclops' strength may warrant waiting until after defeating Skeletron to fight it.

Behavior

 * The Deerclops has four attacks (five in Expert and Master):
 * If it is close to the player, the Deerclops will smash the ground, summoning a wave of ice spikes that quickly travels torwards them. Every third consecutive wave does not go as far, instead spreading in both directions.
 * If it is not close enough to its target to use the ice spikes attack, the Deerclops will 'scoop' and then throw numerous chunks of debris into the air that fall back down. These ice chunks can pass through blocks.
 * The Deerclops will occasionally stand in place and roar, inflicting the Slow debuff on all players for 12 / /  seconds.
 * If the player is above the Deerclops for enough time, five shadow hands will be summoned around the player.
 * In Expert Mode, shadow hands will be periodically summoned that either move forwards slowly, move forwards quickly and curve, or spin in place. Shadow hands are summoned more frequently as the Deerclops' life gets lower.
 * The Deerclops cannot pass through solid blocks, but if the player is above it, far enough away, and the Deerclops cannot reach them, it will quickly rise through the blocks to reach the player.
 * If the player is more than 30 tiles away, the Deerclops will turn a dark shade purple, two reddish, semi transparent Deerclops' will begin spinning around it, and it becomes immune to all damage.
 * If all players are dead or there are none nearby, the Deerclops will wander around instead of immediately despawning. This will happen until a player gets close to the boss, at which point the fight will resume as normal. It will despawn after a few minutes have passed while players are not near or upon leaving and re-entering the world.
 * Like all other bosses, Pylons cannot be used while the Deerclops is alive in a world.

Tips

 * One may find it useful to bring a Warmth Potion or the Hand Warmer to the battle as the  Chilled and Frozen debuffs can easliy kill the player if inflicted.
 * Building a platform of non-solid blocks about twice the height of the player up in the air, along with staircases made of solid blocks on either side to allow the Deerclops to get on can elevate it high enough above the ground to prevent the boss from using its debris attack entirely, making the fight much easier.
 * Due to being able to inflict Slow from an almost unlimited range, accessories like the Anklet of the Wind or Magiluminescence alongside Swiftness Potions can help make the fight much more manageable.
 * Avoid lingering directly above the Deerclops, as the shadow hands it summons in this situation are very dangerous.
 * The player can run between the Deerclops' legs without taking damage. This is useful for avoiding the first two ice spike attacks, but the player should not stick around for the third.
 * Player should place their spawn point away from where Deerclops can wander, as Deerclops can stay around the spawn area.
 * This is especially recommended for Mediumcore players, as they can be left defenseless near Deerclops if they die in the middle of the fight.

Trivia

 * The Deerclops is part of the Don't Starve Together crossover. Many of the items of this crossover are dropped by the Deerclops.
 * The Deerclops's purple enraged form in Terraria looks similar to its Winter's Feast form in Don't Starve Together.
 * It is the only non-event boss in Terraria ( other than the Wall of Flesh) to not despawn after killing the player.
 * The Deerclops fight is one of two boss fights that consist of a single destructible entity, the other being the Empress of Light.
 * All other boss fights have either multiple bosses, multiple segments, or boss minions that play a part in their boss fights.
 * However, there is a NPC named "DeerclopsLeg" in the files which does not actually appear during the fight.
 * The Deerclops is the first non-event crossover boss, as well as the first pre-Hardmode crossover boss.
 * It is one of six bosses with exclusive boss music. The others include Queen Slime, Plantera, Empress of Light, Duke Fishron, and Moon Lord.
 * The Deerclops is themed around the Snow biome, leaving the Desert and Space as the only major biomes with no associated boss. The Wyvern and Sand Elemental are powerful enemies but are not bosses or minibosses, as they do not drop Trophies (and do not drop Relics in Master Mode worlds).