Guide talk:Eye of Cthulhu strategies

As a newbie, I found the advice here quite helpful. In particular I think building the arena was critical; facing the Eye on normal open terrain would've been much worse. I followed the example in the screenshot except I didn't bother to round the corners so my arena was just a large square with wooden platforms dotted all over (arrows go through the platforms btw, very nice).

Regarding the "best" armor, it's highly likely newbies don't have anything beyond gold yet. I was decked out in silver armor and wielding a gold bow to shoot flaming arrows. If I missed hitting a servant as the Eye spawned it, I'd find myself being chased by 2-3 more so the fastest way to kill them while in a controlled panic was to bust out a fast pickaxe and hold down the mouse button. That way I didn't have to keep aiming and shooting while running. Once I got rid of them I switched back to the bow.

Second part was easier because the Eye stopped spawning servants. I'm not sure if it really charged 3 times; as far as I can tell, it charged when I gained some distance horizontally from it. If it was close horizontally but a distance away vertically either on top or below, it didn't seem to charge.

Estimate it took roughly 5 minutes IRL, most of which was spent dodging (my aim with a bow sucks, lol). Drank around 5-6 lesser healing potions, although I started the fight by downing a regeneration potion and an ironskin potion. - Spinfx 04:05, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Why is the (Enchanted) Boomerang not mentioned here, I wonder. OK, call me a newbie but I found it extremly helpful. If the Eye is close you can deal a lot of damage fast. If you miss you run and the sometimes the weapon still deals damage on the way back to you - especially against the servants. - Guest 16:04, 28 September 2012 (UTC+2)

Arena platform gaps?
Why do you need to place the horizontal platforms with gaps between them? What's wrong with a solid line of platform? This is something that would be handy to explain in the article. Maelin 04:48, 4 June 2012 (UTC)
 * Requires less wood, thats all. --Icke 10:14, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

Suggestions about equipment
The current guide suggests way too much gear compared to the spawn requirements for this boss. Most players progressing normally will probably encounter this boss long before getting a full gold armor set.


 * 200 HP: it is possible to 5 life crystals without finding much gold and without entering the corruption at all
 * 10 armor: a full silver set plus a few accessories will put you over 10 armor
 * 3 NPC's: it is very easy to meet this requirement as the merchant, demolitionist, and nurse are all easy to get

Here's a set up that is more than enough: grapple, full silver armor, gold broadsword, gold bow, fire arrows, and the following 4 potions whose ingredients are very easy to come by: archery potion, bowl of soup, iron skin potion, regeneration potion, and a few wood platforms in the sky. The potions make a big difference. You can encounter and beat this boss without going into the Corruption at all. There's no need to run away from the boss and wait for gold armor and Corruption weapons.

Another Arena Style
I have the xbox360 version so I cant screenshot or do a world edit thing for it to show how mine is setup but I was hoping someone would get one and add it if its ok. The way I have it set up is like how its seen in the screenshot here http://puu.sh/hu7ji/5d494fcfa5.png as best as I can detail it. (note:Wires all attach. Image shows the blocks to get the idea.)

Legend for image. B = Solid block of your choice. P = Platform. S = Statue (heart/star). W = wire. T = Timer (preferred 1 second). - = Air.

Granted the ceiling and floor are further up/down on my arena for this boss I made the image smaller for detail reasons.

The strategy I use is that I stand in the middle 2 platforms as if I just walked into it and stopped halfway into the room. After a 1 second timer has started the statues will drop hearts and stars at the point that you will always pick them up. In the hall you can have a campfire and your nurse within reach as well if you wish. The weapon useful for this is anything that will bounce still going in a straight line like the Water Bolt which I use. When I start it I will summon the eye via the Suspicious Looking Eye I then fire my Water Bolt straight up or down and after a few seconds the boss shows up then I jump platforms up and down not going from side to side and continue firing the Water Bolt. After making sure he is vertical to me I then stand on the middle platform again and continue firing till he is fully killed. With decent gear and (What I use is 3 heart and 3 star) statues are there, I will never have to worry about getting killed and the boss takes heavy damage since he is getting spammed with dozens of shots from the magic ball that is bouncing back and forth. If he floats in 1 spot in the line of fire he takes damage. 1st or 2nd form, either case if he thrusts forward he will take damage cause he is lined vertically to me. Ive not seen a flaw with this so far. Ive farmed the boss over 300 times with no flaws or problems in pre-hardmode. Ive not faced him in hardmode yet. DragoHanter (talk) 18:09, 28 April 2015 (UTC)

Reminds me of a boss from another game
The first time I encountered this boss it reminded me of Nightmare from Metroid Fusion with the way it moves when it tries to ram me. I used a strategy of my own for fighting Nightmare when it starts the ramming thing (does 6 attempts instead of the three that this boss does) and both this boss we are talking about here and Nightmare can move through walls, floors, and solid objects. If you just stand there, both bosses move in and out of you, doing damage, if you move left or right, both bosses uses a sinus pattern of movement, and I assume if you climb up onto a latter, wait for the right moment, then jump off as far as possible from the correct wrung and run towards the latter, wash, rinse and repeat, then because that causes nightmare to move clockwise or counter-clockwise chasing you, then it should work with eye of cthulhu since its ramming movement is identical.

Minishark
Will a minishark with the deadly modifier work for this boss on the PC version?Lepspring (talk) 15:47, 7 May 2019 (UTC)
 * It should definitely work, even in Expert mode. I think the only reason it isn't mentioned in the guide is because it assumes the player hasn't entered the Corruption/Crimson yet, but don't quote me on that. Bame66 (talk) 17:18, 7 May 2019 (UTC)