Guide:Dungeon Guardian strategies

The dungeon guardian is pretty much skeleton prime locked in his head spinning phase, flying incredibly fast. He can pass through all blocks, so containing him isn't an option. To kill him, you will need:


 * Wings (Any type, but ice wings are preferred)
 * A world where skeletron has NOT be defeated
 * Lots of asphalt blocks and mud
 * Vampire knives
 * A few wooden platforms
 * A shield that deflects knock back
 * Minions from the raven staff or the optic staff (Optional, but helpful)
 * Patience

The general plan is to run on asphalt in a upside down triage shape, so the guardian doesn't kill you. Place torches along the track to keep light. The track should extend INTO to dungeon There should also be a upper track and a lower starting track so you don't attract multiple dungeon guardians while fighting. Here is a full picture of a completed track and an example of a upper and lower track.



This is the upper/lower track. See how the wooden platforms are placed, allowing a one time passage through the bottom. The gaps to the far left and the bottom allow you to see when the guardian comes so you can start running.

You will start running to the right when the dungeon guardian is sighted. Run up the ramp, and fly to the left to the LOWER area of asphalt. Run up the ramp to the left and fly in a half circle out and back onto the asphalt. This is so you can dodge the guardian. Run off the top platform and land onto the ramp that leads down and to the left. Keep running and you will get back up to the middle asphalt area. All the while, throw the vampire knives at the dungeon guardian WHILE running. It is suggested to wear a shield so you don't get bumped by stray monsters. Keep going at this for a while and you will whittle his health down. You can use a Minishark or a Megashark, but those require ammo. If you kill it, you get an item that summons a Baby Skeleton Head! Cute!

However, there is a much simpler strategy which focuses simply on dodging. You will need a set of full Turtle armor for the set bonus, a Black Belt or Master Ninja Gear for the dodge, a bed to set your spawn, and any blocks to build a house with. First, create a new world and locate the Dungeon. Then, build a small house at the entrance to it. Place the bed in the house and set your spawn. Then locate the exact level the Dungeon Guardian spawns on(a GPS can be helpful for this, as it always spawns on layer 0). Dig a tunnel straight down to layer 0 and repeatedly fall down it. The 10% chance to dodge allows you to hit the Dungeon Guardian twice, thereby killing it with the Turtle armor set bonus. This requires patience, so be warned. Note: Only tested on console. May or may not work on PC.

Alternative strategy: (with more focus on evading the Dungeon Guardian, and less focus on getting it killed ASAP)

You'll need:


 * the same terrain preparation as shown, though other versions will work too, (my slope downwards for example, dropped you halfway the first slope, forming a "9" shape rather than a circle.)


 * wings, technically any pair of wings will do, but the best are Fishron Wings because the +25% ascend speed allows you to maneuver smoothly while jumping from the slopes onto the straight part and from there onto the slope again. The second best is the Hoverboard because the ability to hover can give a quick speed boost and save your ass when the dungeon guardian is about to catch up, if you don't have a Hoverboard or Fishron wings, and/or you're to lazy to get either one, it is advised to take at least Frost wings.


 * luck during the fight. You need to be lucky at the beginning of the fight because the dungeon guardian flings itself at you pretty fast, and you need a few seconds to get full speed using Flurry/Hermes/Spectre/Lightning/Frostspark boots. Your survival after summoning it is dependent purely on the direction it's coming from; if its coming from below or the side you're running away from, your fine, but if he's coming from above or the slope you're running into, it will simply cut you off and you will have to summon him again until one time he's coming from the right direction and you're able to get away.


 * Piranha Gun, as its supposed to keep damaging the Dungeon Guardian until you stop holding down the attack button ( it did however, stop a few times when I killed it one day using this strategy, forcing me to refire it occasionally, but I'm not sure if the piranha gun returning is caused by human error, a bug making it return before its target is killed, or a feature meant to return the piranha when a bug causes it to stay out after target is dead (as all possible non-boss targets I could have attacked would have been killed for sure in the time I had the piranha out before having to re-fire it).) You can simply fire it at the dungeon guardian and hold down mouse button, removing the need to aim leaves more time to concentrate on your movement.


 * full Titanium armor with ranged helmet; for an armor, its rather mediocre compared to Turtle, Beetle, Hallowed and Chlorophyte armor, but you won't be needing armor, as the Dungeon Guardian will almost always kill you in one hit (with full Beetle armor (defensive chestpiece) and the right buffs it is possible to get just below 500 damage and survive, but as I mentioned before, you're already dependant on luck to start the battle with any odds of surviving.) The set bonus of Titanium does however make up for it, quoting the wiki page on Titanium armor: "When the full set is equipped, striking an enemy with a melee, ranged, or magic weapon will grant a buff called Shadow Dodge. This buff remains active for 20 seconds and grants you 2 seconds of invulnerability the next time you otherwise would take damage. The buff also has an internal cooldown of 20 second, meaning you may not activate it less than twenty seconds after the buff ended. " you will get the buff instantly after the cooldown ends because your piranha gun deals damage continuously, though its not smart to become dependant on it, as the Shadow Dodge buff will be effective with only a 50% chance to save you (the buff is active for only 20 seconds, and re-activates after a 20 second cooldown period, thus protecting you 50% of the time) if the Dungeon Guardian does catch up with you.


 * a minion, just as with the strategy mentioned above, a damage dealing minion is a life saver, though it might not seem necessary at first, bumping into a slime or harpy without a knockback negating accessory will very likely enable the Dungeon Guardian to catch up with you and kill you. Because the Piranha Gun will damage the Dungeon Guardian as long as you hold down the attack button, you won't be able to clear the way without letting go of the Dungeon Guardian, though letting go of the Dungeon Guardian is a small price to pay for surviving his wrath, its still very likely that the distraction will lead to another fatal error. Because of that, a minion can very easily make the difference between life and death, especially if using Pygmies or Sharknados, because those will eliminate enemies whit their ranged attack long before you bump into them.


 * Lightning/Frostspark boots, while you wont need them for flight if using good quality wings, is still worth using an accessory slot on, to ensure you will be able to outrun the Dungeon Guardian.


 * Self Control: you will be constantly using your left hand for movement and constantly using your right hand for holding down the attack button (or vica versa if you are left handed.) This means you don't have your hands free to do something else, following murphy's law, this will be the exact moment you get an itchy nose or the urge to scratch your butt, this means you need either a huge amount of self control or good enough reflexes to scratch your nose/butt while holding down the attack button to keep fighting normally.

things that might also help:


 * Black Belt/Master Ninja Gear, though it is not as reliable as the set bonus of Titanium armor, the 10% chance to dodge attacks does mean you have 10% chance to survive mistakes made during the cooldown of shadow dodge, counting up to a total of 55% chance to survive an attack from the Dungeon Guardian.


 * potions, since I didn't note any potions being required for the fight in the previous strategy, having Swiftness potions or any item that gives the Well Fed buff that can help you outrun the Dungeon Guardian, and Summoning potions will allow you to summon a second minion, which is not really needed, but 2 minions might be able to clear away the very very few obstacles a single minion wouldn't take care of in time, this happens very rarely but it can't hurt to eliminate this risk altogether, you will however need to take into account that its going to be a very long fight, so you will need a pretty big supply to stay buffed for the whole fight, and pausing to re-summon a minion that disappeared when the Summoning potions effect ends is very likely to get you killed, one last piece of advice with potions is that you learn to buff using the hotkey for it, using them from your hotbar is risky, and using them from your inventory is pretty much suicide.


 * a GPS/Depth Meter, of course you being able to locate the highest point of the dungeon you can stand on in order to summon the Dungeon Guardian, while still being able to escape ASAP and prevent more guardians from spawning, is a lot easier using a accessory that displays height


 * music: though this does not allow any in-game advantage, listening to music you like does seem to improve overall performance for some players, though some people will be distracted by the music than boosted by it, your music style is important, calm music won't do much good to your fighting mood, while music styles such as rock, punk and metal are considered great for killing stuff