Guide:Arena

An Arena is generally a large enclosed area where the player can face a challenge in an environment they can control. It is generally designed to keep most enemies out while focusing on a Boss or other significant challenge. Each arena can be different for each boss, some consisting of a very long line with wall at the end or more complex ones with ledges, traps and statues. players should keep the arena about a screens height off the ground so there won't be any unwanted Wyvern fights during a bigger fight.

Standard Arena
A thing every player should have is an arena suitable for summonable Bosses which can be modified to fight a specific boss. This section will guide you through the steps.
 * 1) Location. You will want to build your arena away from your House so the boss cannot hurt your NPCs and preferably on ground as it is better suited for the Frost Moon, Pumpkin Moon and the Goblin Army.
 * 2) Main Structure. You want the arena to be at least the size of your screen (The bigger the better). Once you have decided the size use whatever block you'd like to make a big box shape, then make a small box on the top, left wall, right wall, and floor.
 * 3) Mechanisms and miscellaneous. In the boxes you made earlier put a heart statue in as many as possible hooked up to a 5 Second Timer and also a campfire on also put doors on the side of the boxes and a few Platforms in front of each door and last create bridges of Slime Blocks with platforms in them which let a player go to a higher layer or go down a layer.

Frost Moon
Okay, the old version of this guide here really sucks, so I am here, to give you an arena design that can get you to close to or at the final wave. I will write about my favorite. (Based on Yrimir's Design.)

Mage Arena and Set:


 * Armor: Spectre Armor (With Mask[[file:Spectre Mask.png]])
 * Weapons: Mythical Blizzard Staff and a Demonic Nimbus Rod (Godly Bat Scepter is optional)
 * Accessories: (All reforged to Lucky for Max DPS.) Sorcerer Emblem, Celestial Emblem, Destroyer Emblem, Star Veil, and Celestial Cuffs. (Star Veil can be switched out for a Avenger Emblem)
 * Buffs: Ironskin, Lifeforce, Magic Power, Regeneration, Mana Regeneration, Thorns, Wrath, Endurance (Buff), Clairvoyance, Night Owl (Optional) Shine (Optional) and Hunter (Optional)

Arena: Now that you have the proper gear listed above, you must build your arena. The basic design of this arena is that you build a platform about 32 blocks above the ground, where a 15 block-wide strip is where monsters will spawn. Have the rest of the area one the it be lava, for monsters cannot spawn there if it is thick enough. Then, you want to wire 3 Flame Traps to separate timers so there is one Flame Trap is active at a time.

The Fight: You are now prepared for the fight, but you need to know how to fight. You only have 9 minutes to get to the final wave, so you are NOT going to mess around. The first five or so waves will take about 3 seconds to go through. You want to begin the fight the second it turns night. (Can be easily accomplished just by Spamming the Naughty Present until it starts.) When the fight starts, all the enemies will spawn on the 15 block-wide strip of land, so you can just let your Blizzard Staff rain down on the enemies while you have the flame traps going and your Nimbus Rod raining rain. When there is a Ice Queen, you can either keep your mouse slightly ahead of her, or use the Bat Scepter for the homing projectiles. Also, while you are fighting, you want to sometimes dip down for mana. Using Mana Potions is a BIG, FAT NO-NO!!!!, as that lowers your DPS. With all the items listed here, your Blizzard Staff should do around 250 damage per icicle.

Pumpkin Moon
For this event, create a flat base plate. Then, put fences all over the plate with torches attached to them. Remove all trees during this. Next, build a wooden beam going up about 10 blocks tall and one block wide. At the top, make a 4-8 brick wide Platform. At the top, place Spiky Ball Traps and Spear Traps jutting out over the floor. Place a Campfire in the center for health regeneration. Using Heart Lanterns and honey can help to increase this effect. Make sure the honey is at least one block high, so standing in it causes your health to regenerate (Note that Battle Potions/Calming Potions won't affect enemy spawn rate, but standing in honey does). Now, dig a hole about 15 blocks wide and 10 blocks deep. Line the walls with Flame Traps and Super Dart Traps. Use 1 or 2 Lava Buckets on the bottom of the pit, but make sure the lava is not too deep, or the lava will destroy the items dropped. Connect all of the traps to a Timer with Wires. Dig another hole one block deep and 20 blocks wide directly beneath the traps and pour 3 lava buckets into each. Again, make sure the lava is not too deep. For those of you who have a problem with dying, you can make a bunker beneath your arena. Dig a hole beneath your pit about 5 blocks deep and 10 blocks wide. Make sure the house is suitable for someone to move into. Place 3 Heart Statues near a Bed. Connect the heart statues to a different timer. make a one-block deep and three-block wide pool of honey on the other side of the statues. Buy 2 Teleporters from the Steampunker and leave one next to your Campfire in the arena, and one in the arena to the left of your honey. Connect them with wires that are a different color than the rest. Make a Nurse move in to your bunker to heal you when you die. The traps and lava will damage the enemies on the surface, and the pit will damage the enemies that survive the surface. Using banners you get from the enemies will increase the damage you do to them even further. Remember that the more banners you have, the better you will do in this event. You will have to deal with the Pumpking on your own, so I recommend using Vampire Knives, Turtle Armor, and Wings.

Eye of Cthulhu
A highly recommended project for players who are about to summon their first boss. An arena for the Eye of Cthulhu should be large enough to dodge and maneuver around in, but small enough to seal off any enemies from wandering in and making the fight more difficult. A recommended size is just about the width of the screen.

Adding in a roof is also recommended to protect from airborne enemies and to keep retrievable ammunition from flying too far away.Making several wooden platforms can make dodging simpler. As the fight will be at night, add torches to help visibility, including several in the ground underneath the arena.

Some players may choose to abolish the roof, and keep the Arena open to the sky. The reason being that there is a chance (however small) that Fallen Stars will hit the eye and deal 999 damage. This can make the fight far easier, killing the eye instantly.

Another arena is simply a long bridge of solid blocks like Dirt Blocks, with Torches and a Campfire for visibility and increased life regeneration (respectively). You can see and evade the Eye of Cthulhu with some ease. A Broadsword is recommended for dealing with the Servants of Cthulhu, as well as a ranged weapon for the Eye itself, for example, a Bow or a magic weapon such as a Sapphire Staff. This is mainly used as a low cost arena for early (and somewhat skilled) players, and can later be remade into a sky bridge.

Eater of Worlds
Location is important for an arena of this sort. Specifically, the player must be in The Corruption to summon the Eater of Worlds, and moving too far away from The Corruption during the battle will cause it to flee. If there is corruption close to your base, then using it is recommended. Otherwise, artificial corruption using Corrupt Seeds and/or Ebonstone is necessary. An area of just corrupted dirt will work sufficiently to summon the Eater of Worlds.

The Eater of Worlds is, of course, a burrower, and will usually be off screen and underground for much of the fight. A properly constructed arena can remove much of that advantage. Make the arena fairly tall, thin, and easily climbable with many wooden platforms. That way, you can not only see it coming, but this will force it to climb in a relatively straight line, leaving large portions of its body exposed, and vulnerable to piercing ammunition.

The above setup assumes you are using Worm Food to summon the Eater on the surface. If you are breaking Shadow Orbs, hollowing out an entire arena every third orb or escaping to a surface arena may not be practical; you should still modify the terrain around you to have a clear path of escape from the chamber where the Orb is located and ideally, easy access to a cleared space with good horizontal clearance and any hazardous terrain smoothed out or boarded over. Alternatively, if you have found a Magic Mirror, you can build a small bedroom at the top of your arena. Set it as your spawn point before descending into the chasms, then you can use the Mirror to return to the arena to fight after breaking every third Orb.

Skeletron
The entrance area to most dungeons can often be modified into a more desirable arena if needed. Most important is that you have room to dodge the hands, as well as enough vertical space to avoid getting trapped when Skeletron's head begins to spin. Walling the area off might also help exclude any minor enemies from joining the fight.

Ensuring the floor is nice and flat will also allow plenty of time to take advantage of the Skeletron's spinning attack, as its defense is set to 0 while using that attack. It may also be a good idea to bring along any Spiky Balls to set on the floor, if you have any from fighting the Goblin Army. When Skeletron begins his rolling attack, he'll roll right over them and take the full brunt of their damage. Also they will be useful for killing his hands just leaving his head.

Goblin Army
Location is important for this arena as well. The goblins will naturally target your initial spawn, that is, the center surface of the map. So no matter what you actually have there, that's the general area where you will encounter goblins when they arrive. You may as well prepare a proper greeting for them.

Make sure there are no NPCs in this area, as they will be attacked and possibly killed during the fight. Goblin Sorcerers' attacks go through walls and they can teleport indiscriminately, so the only defense is to make sure that your NPCs are not nearby.

Flatten out an area and make sure that there are no pits or jumps. Walls are not necessary, as during an invasion the newly spawned monsters are the target rather than a distraction. Make certain that any platforms or areas can be easily and quickly reached from anywhere else on the screen, since most players will be looking to quickly close in on casters with their melee weapons.

Another way you can kill the goblin army is to set up a flat arena in your spawn point, and set up staircase walls on either side. When the goblins start to come, fire a Water Bolt at both sides, ad they will continue to bounce back and forth, killing goblins.

King Slime
Though this boss is particularly easy, and an arena probably isn't necessary, it's possible to exploit this creature's unwieldy size and movement pattern to create an area where it is impossible for the player to take damage during the fight. Create several "foxholes" poking up to the surface, large enough for the player to jump (and shoot) through but too small for the boss to travel in. Then connect them all with a tunnel.

Or you can build a 8 tall satellite with an open bottom and 4 layers of platforms and rapidly fire at it while the extra layers catch the extra Blue Slimes.

If you can manage to trap the King Slime it is possible to defeat it extremely early in the game with a Copper Pickaxe, if you have enough time to go to the outer thirds of the map, though it takes an extraordinary amount of time.

Wall of Flesh
The Wall of Flesh, more than probably any other boss, benefits from having an arena prepared before engaging. Even experienced players wishing for a quick fight should ensure that the path behind them is clear before summoning it. A full arena can speed up farming this boss, which can provide the player with several weapons and accessories that are valuable even late in the game.

The simplest arena is a long bridge of about 750 blocks with some space above it for the player to maneuver. Placing the player out of danger from falling into lava and ensuring that they can keep a steady pace of progression allows the fight to go quickly and smoothly. Players may also wish to place lights along the bridge, or place markers along the bridge at points where they've killed the WoF in the past.

Note that Underworld map generation tends to place Ruined Buildings towards the middle third of the map, leaving the eastern and western wings empty aside from Ash, Lava, Hellstone, and plenty of enemies. Lava topography also tends to level out at either end of the screen within a ten-block height variance.

The Wall of Flesh begins its attack from whichever side of the Underworld's map edge you're closest to. This allows you to control its direction of approach. The minimap on the right side of the screen can interfere with visibility on the Wall of Flesh at times. Fighting west-to-east may be easiest, though once you are familiar with the mechanics the direction won't make a large difference. Fight in the direction you're most comfortable running.

Given all the above, an optimal Arena can be made by creating a long Ash bridge starting from one side of the screen and running long and flat for a distance of 500 to 1000 blocks, depending on your damage output. Going from the edge of the map to the first Ruined Building you see will give you a sufficient platform, but on a Large map that may be a punitive amount of construction work for the player. Wooden Platforms are not useful in this fight as the Wall of Flesh will constantly orient to the Player's position

Clear any Ash up to three blocks above your bridge (standing overhead swing height) so you have room to jump occasional lasers. Level any Ash hills in your way and drain lava appropriately. It is very difficult to run out of Ash - Players should feel comfortable using explosives to create retention pools and drainage channels.

Killing the Wall of Flesh will generate a bricked-in treasure box above your bridge. The bricks can serve as kill-markers, but they may also interfere with jumping if your next fight runs close to that spot. The bricks can be mined for your collection to keep a clear Arena.

A way to quickly take out much of the wall's health is to travel to the very edge of the map in The Underworld and place some explosives where the wall will spawn. Wire them up to a lever (from a safe distance!). When you throw the Guide Voodoo Doll into the lava, wait for the wall to be directly on the explosives until you pull the lever. This will deal roughly 250 damage per explosive.

The Destroyer
Your Eater of Worlds arena should also serve as an arena for fighting The Destroyer (However, moving the walls and ceiling in may protect you from of The Destroyer's lasers). The same types of visibility and movement are needed for both fights. The Destroyer does not need corruption present to be summoned.

Alternatively, you could start by building around 250 feet into the air. Create a large rectangular box at the top. Destroy the tower you built and replace it with Rope. The rectangular box should be around 5 blocks high, and 20 blocks wide.have 15 of the blocks on the left side made out of platforms, and the rest made out of solid blocks. Pour honey into the solid blocks. This area will protect you from The Destroyer's lasers and give you some regeneration. You can also place Campfires or Heart Lanterns to increase this effect. Once this is all done, the fight should be relatively easy. Using a Nimbus Rod and Golden Shower will prove to very useful, even though The Destroyer is immune to the Ichor Debuff. If you did not build the arena high enough, and The Destroyer can dig its way into it, increase the height because not being able to be hit by The Destroyer's direct attacks is essential to an easy win. All you will have to do during the fight is make sure there is always nimbus clouds, fight off Probes, and fire your Golden Shower.

Or, just stand in the middle of your Eye of Cthulhu arena, with a cobalt, obsidian, or Ankh shield equipped, and repeatedly hit in one direction with the mushroom spear, and if you start losing health, fly around until you have it back.

The Twins
Before fighting the twins it might be a good idea to build a lot of platforms and make it easy to move around. When you're fighting the Twins focus on killing Spazmatism first. His attacks deal a high amount of damage, and they inflict the Cursed Inferno debuff. Also Focus on killing one eye and then the other. Having both eyes on their second phase can make the fight a lot more difficult.

Another way to take them down is to build a straight bridge across the sky. Agility and speed are key ingredients to this. Using crystal bullets with the Uzi or Megashark will prove to be very effective. To increase this effect, using the Golden Shower along with this will increase the damage, as The Twins are not immune to the effects of Ichor. If you opt for fighting The Twins on a skybridge, placing wired heart statues in consistent intervals can make the fight a cakewalk - you will dodge many of The Twin's attacks, and whenever you get hit you can just pick up your hearts whilst you run along your bridge. This will make The Twins one of the easiest bosses in the game, as you will be nigh invulnerable.

Skeletron Prime
Building an arena for fighting Skeletron Prime can be a little tricky. Simply using Gravity Potions and fighting in the sky may be more effective. A long bridge may also work. (Use the arena for the twins if you have one) The explosive only detonates on solid blocks so use some wood platforms as well

Golem
An effective arena for the Golem would be to square out and level the room that the Lihzahrd Altar is in and use wings to fly around and dodge his attacks (mainly magic and ranged users). While exploring the Lihzahrd Dungeon, you can gather all the traps. Construct vertical pillars out of traps large enough for Golem but high enough for it to not get out on both sides of the altar. Finally line the ceiling with Spiky Ball Traps. After summoning Golem, leave the enclosure and repeatedly activate traps to help fighting Golem (Be careful for the spiky ball traps, as they still hurt you) Also, using weapons such as the Death Sickle or the Mushroom Spear are useful, as if you make a walled-in arena, you can hit it through the walls (The Staff of the Frost Hydra could also be used).

Alternatively, simply destroying all traps in the area and using a Golden Shower or Vampire Knives will work, essentially assuring that you will not pass beneath 400 health. Agility is a main ingredient in using this strategy. Also, if you have it, USE THE MAGNET SPHERE! Go to one side of the Golem and fire towards the other, and you will deal about 400 damage per sphere.

Plantera
Build a long hallway, preferably about six blocks high and 100-200 blocks wide, with teleporters at each end of the hallway. When you spawn Plantera, have it go through the hallway, and run to the edge of the hallway to one of the teleporters. When Plantera charges after you teleport to the other end of the hallway and shoot down the hallway, with some sort of non-arced, high velocity weapon, such as the Megashark with either cursed, or crystal bullets. Adamantite, Titanium, or Hallowed armor is suggested for this fight, with no preferred accessories. Repeat this process until Plantera has been defeated. Also you can get a fire gauntlet for extra combat as an attachment item.

Meteor Heads
Farming Meteor Heads can provide large amounts of coins. An "artificial" meteor biome can be created by placing exactly 50 meteorite in close proximity to each other. This can be done inside under controlled circumstances to farm these creatures. To deactivate the meteorite, removing only one piece is required. This method is not incredibly efficient as the Meteor Heads move very slowly. (This is no longer effective as of update 1.2.3, which caused meteor heads to stop dropping loot once in hardmode.)

Fire Imp
Fire Imps teleport quickly and shoot fireballs that pass through walls. When they are hit once they stop firing and pause at their present location for a number of seconds, leaving them vulnerable. Creating a long horizontal enclosed tunnel about 4 tiles high, with a good deal of empty space above and below, will assure that the Fire Imp will usually spawn within reach of the Vilethorn, which can attack through walls. The Vilethorn will take some time to kill the Imps due to their high defense. You can opt to use the Vilethorn just to stop the Imps from attacking, then wait for them to teleport within your tunnel (which will usually happen on the second or third teleport,) so you can hit them with the Thorn Chakram which will kill them very quickly.

Demon
Demons can be farmed in a similar way to Fire Imps, though it is important to remember that the Demon's projectiles can damage the player through one-block-thick walls, if you're in contact with that wall. In case Demons spawn below the platform you're standing on, you'll want to make that platform 2 tiles thick. Also, if Demons spawn below your tunnel, you will want to have solid ground or another platform built far below your tunnel to catch dropped loot (anything but lava). Demons will always fly as close to you as they can, putting them well within range of the Vilethorn, which will dispense with them rather quickly.

Ocean Enemies
Ocean enemies can be farmed by building a long bridge over the ocean. this is a good way to farm Pirate Maps, key molds, glowsticks, shark fins, black ink, and, of course, coins. Build two layers of platforms - One 2 blocks under water, then a layer on top of the water. Above this stand in a small pool of water so that all of the mobs swim up towards you. This will cause water mobs to jump out of the water onto the platform. The Spider Staff is good for automatically killing the mobs as they obediently stay out of the water and is very easy to obtain. Another way to kill them is with Spear Traps or Spikey Ball Traps from the Lizarhd Temple. It is recommended to put mushroom grass mud in a large square above the ocean. This will cause Fungo Fish to spawn. Some Lizahrd Bricks in a large square, too.

Dungeon Guardian
Attempting to enter the dungeon before killing Skeletron will greet your with the most powerful boss in the game: The Dungeon Guardian. It deals a whopping 1000 damage, which generally ensures death for most players. Touting an impressive 9999 Defense and Health, the guardian will take a measly 1 damage from anything you throw at it (except for criticals, which deal two). Basically, the only way to beat it is with a ton of patience and some decent evasion skills. For preparation dig out the top of the dungeon and make mini-house (it must be valid housing, i.e. able to house an NPC) to the side of it. Place a bed inside and use it to set your spawn point, allowing you to quickly return to try fighting should you meet your demise. Dig a relatively wide vertical-tunnel in the top of the dungeon (directly above the shaft into the dungeon) to allow easy escape once the guardian has spawned.

Recommended gear
Despite what most say, Turtle Armor does not deal 1,000 damage. Turtle armor does half the damage you take back to the enemy, and then the enemy reduces the damage with there defense, making Turtle Armor effectively only deal 1 damage to Dungeon Guardian, so it is not recommended. Spectre armor will not be of much help, for healing will not be required due to instant death, and damage will not be increased. Shroomite armor is recommended, the reduced ammo usage of the ranged set helps tremendously. Bring a Chain gun (reforged to rapid) with a TON of Chlorophyte bullets (above 10,000 is necessary). For accessories, have all of them reforged to Lucky (+4% crit-chance) as it will increase your DPS tremendously. Bring a Black belt or Master Ninja Gear, as the 10% dodge chance may potentially save a run. Other recommended accessories are Lightning/Frostspark boots and Fishron Wings for optimal mobility. Potions should include a large number of gravitation potions and a couple ammo reservation potions. Use an ammo box before you begin the battle for maximum ammo-efficiency.

Initiating the Battle
First, drink a gravitation potion. Drop down as far as you can into the dungeon without the guardian spawning. The second that you see guardian spawn, press up once using the gravitation potion, and escape through the hole you made in the top of the dungeon. Kite the Dungeon Guardian around, making sure to keep a reasonable distance from it. Aim in its direction and fire your Chain Gun at it. Make sure to keep track of where the guardian is at all times. Use another gravitation potion whenever it runs out. Repeat this until the boss dies. Another thing you can do is set up a hallway with spiky ball droppers all along it, wire it up to a 1 second timer, and set up teleporters to either blocked-off end of the hallway. Jump into the hole, and then go back up to the hallway, and start teleporting back and forth. It might take a while, but eventually it'll die.