Guide:Frost Moon strategies

The Frost Moon is one of the two Moon events, the other being the Pumpkin Moon. The event is significantly harder than its counterpart and yields less money; however, it drops more powerful weapons.

Due to the amount of strong enemies and bosses, it can be hard to survive the event at first.

Event
Like the Pumpkin Moon, the event consists of multiple waves, with a final wave that will last until the night is over. While the Pumpkin Moon consists of 15 waves, the Frost Moon consists of 20. In order to progress through waves, the player must kill enemies, with stronger foes giving more points than weaker ones.

On the first Waves, the player will only encounter basic enemies, such as the or. As the event goes on, stronger enemies will spawn, including unique bosses.

On Wave 4, the first Everscream will appear, a miniboss enemy who behaves similarly to the Mourning Wood. Despite the high damage and the frequency of its attacks, it is a not a difficult enemy to deal with due to its incredibly poor vertical reach and relatively low health for a miniboss.

On Wave 7, the powerful Santa-NK1 miniboss will start spawning. It will shoot bullets at a high rate with its Chain Gun, a barrage of Rockets, and Presents that will parachute from the sky. It also leaves Spiky Balls on the ground, which deal massive contact damage, being capable of killing a player in one hit on Master Mode. When it gets to half health, it will become more aggressive. The high damage and rate of fire of its Chain Gun make this miniboss extremely dangerous and a very high priority in the event.

On Wave 11, the Ice Queens will start spawning. She shoots Frost Waves, which deal moderate damage and have a high chance to inflict the and  debuffs, which will greatly limit or stop mobility. She will also perform an "Ice Twirl" attack, where she will start spinning and shoot Frost Shards in all directions. While this attack can be hard to dodge, she also becomes extremely vulnerable to attacks since she will completely stop moving. A well prepared player will not have many issues with her, as a Warmth potion will make all her attacks deal significantly less damage, and the effects of the Chilled debuff can be negated with a Mount.

Throughout the event, Present Mimics will occasionally spawn in place of other enemies. This enemy, while not hard at all to kill, drops Hearts as if it were a miniboss, making it a valuable target.

Like with the Pumpkin Moon, focusing on damage is more important than defense, as the goal is to progress through the event as fast as possible in order to obtain the best loot.

Gearing up
The event can be summoned at any time post-Plantera, however due to its difficulty it is usually done after Duke Fishron and the Pumpkin Moon, but before the Empress of Light and the Celestial Events.

Armor

 * For Melee, with Scale Mail for offense. While Beetle Shell greatly increases survivability, it is better to maximize DPS when doing the event to increase the chances of getting loot out of it
 * Rangers should use the   with the headpiece that suits their weapon. Its set bonus is situational, but very useful in multiplayer mode and the earlier waves.
 * It is better to swap the Shroomite Leggings for Spooky Greaves, as one extra minion and increased summon damage are generally more useful than the slight increase in critical strike chance and the set bonus. Additionally, the Shroomite Breastplate can be replaced with the Red Riding Dress, which will give a massive 25% summon damage bonus at the cost of a insignificant amount of ranged DPS.
 * For a mage, the should be used with the Spectre Mask. The  Hood should only be used to heal in a critical situation.
 * A hybrid set consisting of, , and provides comparable offensive bonuses along with rapid health regeneration.
 * The best armor for Summoners is the.
 * The sentry set bonuses from the armors sold by the Tavernkeep shine in the moon events, as they can kill all of the grounded enemies easily.

Weapons

 * For Melee users:
 * and are very reliable weapons for both single targets and crowds. The  can be used as well, but it is weaker on the.
 * The has extreme DPS against enemies below 40% health, but it requires a Cross Necklace to be used efficiently. The  is stronger against enemies higher on health.
 * is a safer and stronger alternative, however it requires the defeat of a harder boss.
 * The can be strong against the Ice Queens, but it is very underperforming against grounded enemies and crowds.
 * can be used to quickly heal in critical situations, but has low DPS.
 * A significantly boosts damage output.


 * For Ranged users:
 * with is an extremely powerful weapon, being one of if not the best when it comes to reaching the final wave without endgame equipment.
 * The is very effective for crowd control and single targets alike. The  is a weaker alternative.
 * The paired with s is the strongest gun available.


 * For Magic users:
 * The can hit every enemy currently alive, althought it's single target DPS against bosses is rather lacking.
 * The, or ,  and  all help against the enemies with higher health.
 * The, , and  are very good secondary weapons.


 * For Summoners:
 * The is an extremely powerful and competent minion.
 * has slightly lower DPS and a much less competent AI, but is still viable.
 * The is an extremely powerful minion. However, it's extremely hard to obtain.
 * is the best sentry available.

Accessories

 * Wings, particularly those with hovering abilities such as Betsy's or the Hoverboard are helpful. However it's much better to use Mounts instead, as they are unaffected by the Chilled debuff and save accessory slots that would be used for mobility items.
 * Damage increasing accessories such as any Emblem, the, , , the , and its upgrades, among others, are extremely important to progress in the events.
 * is a very good aid for survivability.
 * The will quickly regenerate mana when hit.

Accessories should be modified to Lucky or Menacing for the event.

Mounts
Mounts allow you to use another accessory instead of Wings and other support mobility items and are unaffected by the Chilled debuff, making them a much preferred movement option.
 * The and the Master Mode exclusive  are the most efficient mounts due to their incredibly grounded mobility and their helpful passive attack.
 * The,  provide permanent flight but are much slower overall.

Potions

 * is extremely helpful against the minibosses, as it will allow you to pick up their dropped hearts with no effort.
 * makes the Ice Queen significantly easier to deal with.
 * ,, , and will greatly increase survivability.
 * Any food item that provides the buff is good.
 * is a must for mages.
 * and will improve DPS.
 * ,, or  and  will further improve it for Mages, Rangers, Melee, and Summoner users respectively.