Lunatic Cultist

The Lunatic Cultist (also known as Ancient Cultist) is a Hardmode, post-Golem boss summoned by killing all four Cultists that spawn at the Dungeon's entrance after Golem is defeated. Beating the Lunatic Cultist initiates the Lunar Events.

Behavior
The boss only has one defined stage, but its attacks become progressively stronger as it loses health. During the fight, it can fly and usually stops above the player when it changes position. It has multiple attacks including lightning, fireballs, shadowflames, exploding packed ice, and two volleys of five destructible stardust projectiles each.

It will often project illusory duplicates of itself, only one of which can be attacked to deplete the boss's health. These illusions can be prevented by damaging the Cultist enough while it summons them(damaging the clones during this process also kills them off). The illusions are semi-transparent, As well as have bigger 'eyes', which makes it easier to tell them apart.

Each time the player attempts to attack one of these illusions, the Lunatic Cultist summons a Phantasm Dragon, a Wyvern-like enemy, to attack the player. If the Phantasm Dragon is not defeated and the player attacks another duplicate, an Ancient Vision, which looks like the head of the Moon Lord, will be summoned. The Phantom Cultists have a error: It says Luantic Cultist instead of Phantom Cultist.

Tips

 * 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 in defending you/themselves.
 * Shooting 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 Cultist's design is inspired by Crowno's Developer Armor. However, according to a profile post of his in the forums, the Cultists were designed before it.
 * The boss' appearence 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 boss without an awakening message, and the only character in the game that speaks (it says "How do you know" when summoned).
 * The word lunatic comes from the Latin luna, because it was believed that people were more likely to exhibit aberrant behavior during a full moon. This may explain why the Lunatic Cultist takes a part in the summoning of the Lunar Events.
 * The Lunatic Cultist seems to drop the "Ancient Cultist Trophy" rather than the expected "Lunatic Cultist Trophy"

History
Cultiste Lunatique