Guide:Skeletron strategies

Skeletron is a boss guarding the Dungeon, and killing it is necessary if you want to access the loot within. He's big, tough, hard to dodge, and can seriously ruin your evening many times over. Like any other daunting task in Terraria, defeating him is largely about smart preparation. The following are some hints, tips, and strategies to help you defeat it.

NOTE: This guide was designed for version 1.0.5, balance changes have been made since then and some information might not be valid.

Weapon selection
When choosing one strategy over another, the biggest factor in your decision is likely to be weapon constraints. For Skeletron, ranged attacks are far more effective than melee attacks with very few exceptions. The first time a player fights Skeletron they are unlikely to have many high-end pieces of melee equipment so ranged attacks are more often used.

Ranged weapons
Skeletron's high defenses mean that most of the mid- to low-tier weapons aren't worth the time or money, so shurikens are pretty much out. Spiky Balls work great when spread around the Dungeon entrance, but they will disintegrate and can't be recovered once thrown.

The best way to go is combine high to moderate damage with a fast rate of fire: The Flamarang and Thorn Chakram are both reasonably easy to get by this point, and either the Demon Bow or Molten Fury will do the job admirably. Most pre-dungeon guns don't have enough damage-over-time to be useful, with the exceptions noted below. The Minishark is great, as is the Star Cannon, but both of these are expensive to use: the Star Cannon requires about 100 stars to do the job and the Minishark needs about 700 to 1,000 rounds of standard musket balls if you aim carefully (1250-1500 musket balls for the players with bad aim).

A bow and some decent arrows are comparatively much easier to get your hands on. A high-damage bow will be doing most of the work for you in such a case, so the difference between weak-but-cheap ammo and rare-high-damage ammo is a matter of personal preference.

Melee weapons
The non-ranged and semi-ranged weapons have some use, but generally don't stack up to the ranged family. Flails are excellent for damage and can consistently dish it out, but the Sunfury is impossible to obtain without a Shadow Key (found in the Dungeon) and the Ball 'O Hurt is at the low end of the damage scale. The Fiery Greatsword does high-end damage and has excellent range for a melee weapon but is so slow to swing that most other weapons will outstrip it in the long run.

Other
One slightly different approach is to use a tool with auto-swing, i.e. The Breaker or the War Axe of the Night, both of which are relatively easy to get materials for with lower-end gear. Neither has as much damage over time compared to the options above, but these weapons will keep swinging as the mouse button is held down, allowing you to concentrate on dodging.

Using a Space Gun frees you from the constraints of ammo and deals decent damage, but you will need a lot of mana potions or Meteor armor to last the fight.

Dungeon weapons
Also to consider are these weapons not mentioned above: All of these weapons are as good or better than the other weapons in their respective categories but are found only in the dungeon, and thus cannot be obtained without either defeating Skeletron or trading with other players. A side option is to go in the dungeon at night, which spawns Skeletron as his regular self, not his Dungeon Guardian self, and to outrun him long enough to gather keys and open enough chests to find the good dungeon items.
 * Muramasa: Much like the War Axe and The Breaker, this sword has auto-swing and good damage output, not to mention a decent swing radius and speed. Just hold the button down and you're good to go.
 * Handgun and Phoenix Blaster: Easy to get ammo for and the Phoenix especially has stellar dps.
 * Blue Moon: An upgraded Ball 'O Hurt. Used the same way, and once Skeletron is down it's arguably easier to get than Sunfury.
 * Aqua Scepter: This weapon is best used with the Blue Moon or a ranged weapon, don't count on it to single handedly take down Skeletron. Blast away with the scepter then switch to something else while your mana recharges or just use potions.

Arena


The arena doesn't matter as much as it does in the other boss fights, but it can still be important. A large, flat surface with enough room to maneuver is key. Wood platforms may be used with decent effect, but keep in mind that they take time to drop through when dodging and too many platforms can interfere with attacks depending on the weapon/ammo used. A fairly straightforward and common practice is to simply flatten out the roof of the dungeon and fight Skeletron there. Keep in mind that the fight must occur at night, so you'll have to be comfortable dealing with Zombies and Demon Eyes (and possibly Eaters if you're near any corruption) or build a platform inaccessible to them. A ceiling is mostly unnecessary and tends to get in the way of many attacks.

Boomerang/Chakram users may prefer to fight Skeletron in the dungeon entryway to provide a ceiling for missed shots to return faster. Bow users can benefit from having a lot of open space to collect fallen arrows as they go. Melee users will want more platforms to aid mobility.

Armor
The more armor you have, the better. You should use the best armor available to you at the time, but if the best you have is Silver armor or lower then you should seriously consider holding off and continuing the fight later with better defenses. Shadow armor or better is highly preferred. And, as always, having more HP is a good thing. If your armor is far ahead of your weapons then you can sacrifice killing power in favor of survivability.

Ironskin Potions will make the job easier for any player and are highly recommended. Two potions will last from sundown to dawn, provided the player stays alive the entire time.

Avoiding attacks


Skeletron attacks by either hitting you with his hands or spinning his head at you. Both attacks seem to come equally frequently unless one or both of the hands has already been killed.

The hands are difficult to dodge and will mostly come in from the sides. Both hands or one hand will attack at random, but just before this they will draw away from you in a kind of "wind-up" motion, then strike toward you and continue for a good distance onward. If you learn to read this attack it can be avoided more easily. Keep in mind that only the hands that will damage you; Skeletron's arms take up a lot of space and can be distracting, but they won't block your bullets or hurt you. Avoiding the attack is simply a matter of jumping at the right time: jumping too late won't give you enough time to dodge the hands and jumping too soon will let the hands adjust to your new position and hit you anyway. Wait and dodge the hands only after they've started their strike.

The head attack is much slower, but Skeletron's massive noggin does more damage and takes up a lot of space, especially when it's spinning. This makes the head somewhat difficult to dodge without the aid of Rocket Boots or another jumping aid, or platforms. (The upside is that this is a great time for boomerang users to rack up a ton of easy hits in a hurry, by staying just in front of the head and attacking like mad.)

General tips

 * The hands are probably your biggest problems and have lower HP than the head, but it is not necessary to destroy them, since if the head dies the hands die with it. If your weapon does low damage at a fast rate then it's best to ignore the hands and concentrate your fire on the head.
 * It's always preferable to summon Skeletron immediately after sundown since the fight must be finished in one night.
 * The lower your damage per second, the longer the fight will last. This also means that you're likely to need more potions and ammo.
 * If you are using a weapon with ammo, always have a backup sword or boomerang handy. The Zombies and Demon Eyes that you will encounter during the fight may not be worth wasting ammo on.
 * If your dungeon is a good hike away from your base and not easily accessible, build a small outpost nearby and save yourself the hassle of running all the way back. If it's close enough you can pick up the fight right where you left off and not have to start over each time.
 * If you specifically desire to use the Minishark for the Skeletron fight, defeating the Eye of Cthulhu or the Eater of Worlds a couple of times to sell the Demonite Ore and Shadow Scales can be a very good way of raising the 40 gold needed to buy the weapon.

Specific strategies
Specific weapon/armor/arena combinations go here. (still need some strategies that DON'T include piles of end-game content or things only found in the dungeon) If you've already beaten skeletron once the expensive way (shooting stars or bullets) then you probably have all the dungeon goodies. Just go out with Shadow armor, muramasa, the blue moon, and the pheonix blaster with about 275 meteorite bullets. Spam the head and if he gets too close, take out the blue moon for lots of close combat damage.
 * CorruptedBauer's strategy: meteor armor, some gravitation potions (found in underground chests), space gun... Isn't this now self explanatory?
 * budperson's Strategy: Skeletron without any hands is a joke. His head moves slow enough. Take out his hands with your weapon of choice. When he does his spinning head attack, walk on a smooth surface without jumping and cast as many Demon Scythes as you can, as he'll be lined up with you and aiming will be easy. They do enormous amounts of damage, and because of his large size will hit him more than once. When he floats above you stand still to regenerate mana. Jungle armor and Band of Starpower recommended.
 * Uglybad's Strategy: Phoenix Blaster w/ Silver bullets/Necro armor/Dungeon roof(smoothed out)
 * Octopus Baybee's Strategy: Sunfury / Night's Edge (for regular monsters)/ Molten armor / This works in any arena type, I don't even bother setting one up.
 * SnOwpanDAz's Strategy: Demon Scythe / Flamarang. Death Scythe has a few rotation that can cause multiple hits when the head of Skeletron is spinning towards you. Casting Demon Scythe as the head is going towards you will knock off a good 160+ damage on him, around 5 hits landing if done correctly.
 * MasterShizzle's absolute cheapskate minimalist strategy: Use either the Enchanted Boomerang or Flamarang for ammo-free killing, plus an arena with a lower ceiling to get the 'rang back faster. Ignore the arms, go straight for the head, and don't EVER stop clicking.
 * andy662's strategy: Molten armor / Fiery Greatsword / Demon Scythe / Water Bolt / Molten Fury + Hellfire Arrows / Flamarang / Space Gun / Obsidian Skull / Ironskin Potion / Harpoon / Restoration Potions / Phaseblade / 15+ Grenades. Fight in main dungeon entry building and bring your friends to the fight. Set spawn nearby.
 * Elengil's Strategy: With 1.0.6 out, it is VERY viable to go after the hands first. Once the hands are gone, he is SUPER easy, and even removing one hand helps loads. Shadow armor or Meteor armor are both VERY good options (If you have a Space Gun, DEFINITELY go Meteor) Keep to an open area well lit with torches and keep that mouse button down while avoiding him. (Using auto swing/shoot weapons of course, so you have one less issue to deal with as he IS pretty intense at the start)
 * BigMC's Strategy: Harpoon, Gold set (minimum), Ironskin potion, Featherfall potion, 2 Healing potions, Grappling hook. Smooth the roof down, then build a second level with platforms between each side, wait until it turns to night and use your ironskin, and featherfall potion, stay on the bottom floor of the arena as best you can, hunter's potion may be useful depending on the size of the arena, the Harpoon has an auto-fire, and it refires extremely fast up close. You stay on the bottom so that when he spins, you can jump over him using the above platform, try to stay as close as you can possibly be when he is spinning his head and you'll do crazy amounts of damage.
 * nozaj_darkcasters strategy make a gladeater arena with three wooden platforms just big enogh to jump if you hold space if your lucky there will be a water bolt spell in one of the top bookcases take it close off everything but the door to avoid zombies comeing in (this involves backround to stop them spawning) and spam the water bolt at any part you wish to destroy it will bounce back and hit him again and sometimes will double or triple hit
 * Xander's strategy: flamarang, spiky balls, shadow Armour. Throw a ton of spiky balls on a flat surface. focus on the hands and they die quick with all the balls.  kill hands then skeletron is no problem at all.
 * It's feasible to use an Ironskin Potion with a Thorns Potion to beef up your defenses so that Skeletron takes more damage than you do during collisions. If you have already beaten him before and raided a dungeon, add in the Cobalt Shield for maximum effect, but watch your HP. If not, alternate it for an Obsidian Skull to keep your defense up.
 * SuperGamerHero's Strategy: Space Gun, Ball-O-Hurt, Minishark, lots of potions. Start off by making as much of a flat surface. It helps when he attacks you with his hands. If you have Meteor armor, spam Space Gun as much as possible. If not, use Shadow armor and Minishark (you may use Space Gun, just make sure you have Mana Potions/fast mana regen, but Shadow armor gives more defense). Once the hands are slain, just spam attacks to his head (use everything you have if his head is spinning). He should go down in about 3 minutes using this strategy.
 * aRandomGamer's strategy: (NOTE: Unless the player as some skills and experience in the game it may be dificult to execute this strategy!) If you can easely dodge skeletron's attacks any armor should do, though if you fight with the starting max life, the best armor at hand should be used. As for weapon, around 500 shurikens are enough if you don't have better weapons. If using shurikens, the best place to fight skeletron is a wide flattened area. This setup allows "low level" players to kill skeletron early on, though it's kinda pointless since the Dungeon has a quite higher equip requirement. Still, if going for skeletron from the beginning, just follow this setup and first aim for his hands. They go down really fast and make skeletron almost harmless due to it's slow attack speed.
 * Longbow73's Strategy: Flatten out a flat space with enough room to run around. Make sure you use solid blocks and not wooden platforms. As the fight begins, spread Spiky Balls all over the floor and let his hands run into them, killing themselves (Assisted Suicide!).  Use your weapon of choice, preferably a ranged one, to kill the head.  Skeletron's head is super easy to kill when you don't  have his pesky hands poking you the whole time. Shadow armor or better is recommended.  I use the Star Cannon, but it may be difficult to find enough stars. I always run around at night, and so I quickly amass many MANY fallen stars.
 * Deltalon's Strategy: Have AT LEAST Shadow armor, a Musket, and 250 Musket Balls. Clear a large flat area and scatter Spiky Balls. Use the following buff potions: Ironskin, Thorns, Regeneration, Shine, Night Owl.  Focus on his hands until they fall, then shoot his head.  A Phoenix Blaster can do the same job as a Musket, but faster.
 * MadmanMario's Strategy: Flatten a fairly large arena. Equip the Night Armour set and the War Axe. Use its moonwalking capability to just keep going. Equip regeneration bands or movement increase accessories if you want, although a defensive accessory is more advisable.
 * Giwtem's Strategy: Make a flat arena, drink ironskin, regen potions and soup. Meteor armour or better. Spam Minishark with meteor bullets, about 500 should do.
 * Piroton's Strategy: Get a Minishark and at least 350 health, along with 500-700 Musket Balls. Use with Molten Armour + Rocket Boots + Obsidian Skull + Ironskin Potion + Grappling Hook + Regeneration Potion + Bowl of Soup : Fire at the head and only the head. Use the grappling hook to prevent any fall damage; use the rocket boots to keep you dodging his attacks. With a Healing Potion or two and reasonably good aim, you should be able to take his head out completely without suffering much damage. Works best with 400 Health, and you will most likely completely annihilate him with ease. His hands are reasonably easy to dodge, especially with Rocket Boots.
 * Prism's Strategy(1.0.6.1): Weapon - demon bow w/250+ unholy arrows. Armor - full set iron armor, no accessories, 100 health, few mushrooms or lesser hp potion, one Ironskin potion. Arena - Extend the dungeon rooftop with about one full stack of wooden platforms. Notes - After talked to the Old Man, quickly go up the wooden platforms built with a grappling hook. Constantly running in one direction and jump on the platform to avoid his hands. The player could take a few hits from the hand, however, avoid skeletron's head at all cost. Aim at Skeletron's hand first, after his hands are blasted away, STAND STILL and shoot Skeletron's head, since he will be just floating above the player and does nothing when he is not chasing. When he is about to come down and start to chase the player(there is more than enough time to react), run away and continue to shoot him. The battle should be finished at midnight if the player started the battle right after night time begins. The writer had successfully killed the Skeletron quite a few times with the set up mentioned above, despite being a stupidly bad gamer(killed by eater of worlds with a full set of molten armor. TWICE.).
 * MinecraftIHateCows strategy destroy the blocks of the arena that cover the door so you leave one row. Just before is turns nighttime layer both areas with spiky balls.(You get them from goblins).When skeletron is awake use what ever weapon you have preferably a long renged one. The hands will be destroyed first and when the head does his spinning attack he will go straight through the spiky balls and take massive damage each time.
 * MisterJayBrown's First Time strategy This is a guide made for going through and fighting Skeletron before having too many good weapons. First, you want to make sure have AT LEAST iron armour, if not silver, gold, meteorite, or hellstone. For this guide, I'll assume you have silver. At this point, you'll want to have at least some money saved up, and you should buy a minishark, or if you can, then two of them. If you can buy two, turn one into a star cannon and use that on Skeletron. The other, regular minishark should be used to shoot Skeletron, and as such I would suggest using silver bullets, which you can buy from the Arms Dealer on Blood Moons. Certain accessories make this much easier too, and for the guide I will assume that you have: A Cloud in a Bottle, a Shiny Red Balloon, and a Shackle. I will also assume that the best sword you have is useless, as swords are terrible for bosses in general. Now, you should also have a Grappling Hook at this point, and maybe even an Ivy Whip. Now for the arena. If you're using a bow, I'd suggest gold bow or higher, and fire arrows actually do work fairly well. The arena is only decided if you need a bow or not. If so, then the dimensions that always worked for me were about 60 wide, and 80 tall, with a full ceiling and walls. Of course you should also attempt this with many potions, and desperately try to avoid the spinning head attack, as well as try it with friends and set up a spawn right near there so if you die, Skeletron doesn't despawn.
 * divo97 Strategy: First, some simple rule: Go for the hands first!! Without his "fancy" hand, skeletron doesn't worth alot. he will just be a really big, lazy and stronger Eye of Cthulhu. For this job I recomand you to bring a Phoenix Blaster with around 500 Musket Balls (or Silver Bullet for those who can afford them). If you want an "Ammo-Free" fight, you can just bring your Thorn Chakram or Flamarang with you. After you're done with the hands, just use your favorite melee weapon or use you're ranged one, and take the head down.
 * demonman543's flexible strategy. First, get yourself some weapons from previous bosses, and use shadow armor with your choice of accessories, I personally recommend those with a speed boost stat, next, get yourself the spectre boots by combining the Hermes boots and rocket boots, and build a house, bed included on top of the dungeon to allow yourself to spawn there and continue the fight (I didn't die once using this strategy) do yourself a big favour and level the ground for your arena, just have a long flat stretch of ground to run on, and spam ranged weapons (best to use would be space gun, as it regens ammo in the form of mana and can piece his hands and hit his head easily) and while waiting for mana regen keep running and dodging his hands using the spectre boots, and throwing grenades (for some reason they explode on contact with him/it) spike balls (when he takes a swipe or tries to follow you his hands will drag over them, and deal a great portion of damage or even destroy his hands) or use a melee weapon or bow. When his head hovers jump up to it and keep rapid clicking with the harpoon, you can potentially get 200 damage on him in this period. If you have the speed and iron skins potion, use them IMEDIATELY before talking to him, as he might damage you during transformation period, and every second you can buy by running is potentially a few more space gun shots, and a healing potion, when using this method, because of the precautions taken, I did not die once.
 * Karloss99 Strategy: This was done in 1.1 as 1st dungeon kill on clean game so I would assume it will work for others. The plan is to have shadow and meteor armor being used in turn. I used shadow armor and phaseblade for melee engagement and space gun with meteor armor once the arms are gone. (Yes swap armor mid-fight) The meteor armor CAN be used for all the fight, but I do not guarantee you will survive that way... As for other gear, I recommend focusing in survivability over damage, meaning armor and hp regeneration. Shackle, band of regeneration, anything you found helpful to beat other bosses. Now you are Recommended to have 300 hp, but it is possible way before that. For the arena now... This strategy was used in a tight spot with the dungeon right next to corruption so the battle happened on the roof of the dungeon. If you have the space I advice making wide, flat arena and place some wooden platforms here and there. Will come in useful in the fight. The old man tends to wander quite the way out of the dungeon entrance, and Skeletron spawns at his Exact position. If you have to run dozens of blocs before your arena you will be at disadvantage. Instead, with patience, it is possible to have the old man leave the dungeon entrance and enter the arena you have prepared (you did prepare it, Right?) Make sure zombies cant reach you during this fight, usually doable with high walls on both sides of arena. The fight... Put on shadow armor, use phaseblade. Focus on the hands/arms of Skeletron, Head damage is optional in this part. Do your best to avoid getting hit. If HP falls below 150 pop a Healing potion. Do note that potions will have 1m cooldown (if you have philosopher's stone... Why are you reading this?) so you will have to think carefully. The hands have 600 hp each so they will go down soon. Once the arms are gone make distance between yourself and Skeletron, wait for the roll to initiate and swap for meteor armor. Why? Once meteor armor is on pull out the space gun and go nuts on skeletron. Since it can fire indefinitely with meteor armor, Skeletron will go down pretty easy. Remember that meteor armor has less protection than shadow, so you Will take more damage from the roll attack. Assuming you stand still long enough to get hit. This strategy is meant for people who are new to terraria, haven't beaten Skeletron before, and probably don't have end-game gear available. Anyone having raided the dungeon will find that minishark and necro armor when coupled with meteor shot makes the fight a cakewalk.