Guide:Brain of Cthulhu strategies

Fighting the Brain of Cthulhu is very similar to fighting the Eye of Cthulhu, If you have the basics of how to Fight the Eye of Cthulhu, then you will have a better chance fighting the Brain.

Terrain Preparation
You'll want to set up a long platform in The Crimson, because it can be summoned there.It can be summoned in caverns and above ground It should be high enough so ground enemies can't jump up to you, but low enough that you don't accidentally go high enough to make it despawn. It is similar to the Eater of Worlds in the way that it can be summoned and fought during day or night.

If you feel confident in the crimson, and don't mind the possibility of other crimson enemies barging in on your fight, you can set up a series of wooden platforms inside the large, circular hollows of the underground crimson. These spaces are usually near 6-10 hearts, giving you a chance to kill 2 or 3 brains in a row using terrain prepared on-the-spot. You can grapple up to wooden platforms, so you can space the platforms up or down more than your normal jumping range if you have a Grappling Hook, already. (Even when holding down, you fall faster with less platforms.)

Keep in mind that the boss will spawn WHEN YOU SMASH THE THIRD HEART, setting you immediately into battle, not when you take your time getting to the arena. Have a path to your arena ready, and try to save any hearts close to your arena as the third heart to smash in a series unless you want to build more arenas every time you want to fight a new Brain.

Armor
If you want to stand a chance against the Brain of Cthulhu, you're going to need at least Iron or Lead armor.

Weapons
As for weapons, it is recommended to use ranged or magic to avoid taking unnecessary damage.

Bows with Jester's or Unholy Arrows are good for their high damage. Because they are piercing weapons, both arrow types can hit multiple eyes. However, one can also use Flaming Arrows if they wish to.

For guns, you might want to find an Undertaker from Demon Hearts, the equivalent to the Shadow Orb in The Crimson. Also make sure to buy enough musket rounds.

In the beginning of the battle, Grenades are highly useful against the clumps of Creepers that form. Only a few are necessary to take many of the Creepers down.

For thrown, get lots of Shurikens or Throwing Knifes. Also, the Harpoon seem to work great under its second face, because of the great knockback.

As for the Magic users, craft a Sapphire Staff or better when fighting him, and get at least 100 mana if you don't want to continually run out and hope that one of the orbiting eyes drop another star. If you have already beaten the Queen Bee, the Bee Gun is useful to get rid of the Creepers.

If you have access to a world with Corruption, the Vilethorn is tremendously potent against the eyes in the first half of the fight - the Vilethorn can penetrate infinite enemies, and has enough knockback to stun the whole crowd of Creepers, making the enemy evaporate. It's also light on mana if you space your shots out. (With 200 mana, you can regenerate all mana spent on the Vilethorn before the thorn effect, and its knockback, ends, giving you excellent juggling capabilities.)

The second phase of the boss is similar to the Eye of Cthulhu, but the teleportations can sometimes make the boss easier, as it tends to make the boss back off from the player a little.

It may be best to switch to a weapon with higher one-target damage against the brain - you will likely be shooting at it from fairly close range, and there will only be one target, so your choice of weapon may change. Fire arrows on the strongest bow you can bring, or The Undertaker will be more effective against the single, large target you face in the second half.

Potions
About 5 Healing Potions, 1 Ironskin Potion and 1 Regeneration Potion

Accessories
Cloud in a Bottle (optional, but it helps when he lunges).