Lunatic Cultist

"The fanatical leader of the Dungeon coven..."

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

Behavior
The Lunatic Cultist makes its first brief appearance at the Mysterious Tablet as soon as the Cultists are defeated. It is not vulnerable to attacks at this time. It then warps to a new location in midair and summons one of three attacks:


 * A burst of three homing fireballs that explode on impact
 * An ice ball that fires ice shards in six directions as it flies
 * An orb that fires bolts of lightning

As the Lunatic Cultist becomes damaged, it adds two spreads of five destructible Ancient Light projectiles as part of his attack cycle.

In Expert Mode, it may also spawn numerous Ancient Dooms that fire four purple projectiles in a cross pattern.

The Lunatic Cultist cycles through its various attacks, performing four to five of them before proceeding to spawn phantom duplicates of itself via a "ritual". Unless the one true Lunatic Cultist is interrupted by an attack from a player during this ritual, the duplicates fly in formation and add their homing shadowflame attacks.

Attacking a duplicate results in the summoning of the Wyvern-like Phantasm Dragon. If there is already a Phantasm Dragon inbound, attacking a duplicate triggers an Ancient Vision, which resembles a miniature Moon Lord head. Duplicates can be eliminated by interrupting the ritual again with player attacks, but if not, large quantities of duplicates can amass.

Tips

 * Avoid defeating the Lunatic Cultist if you are not yet ready for the Lunar Events. Beating the Lunatic Cultist causes the Lunar Events to begin immediately, and there is no way to de-summon them thereafter (aside from defeating them).
 * The real Lunatic Cultist can be distinguished from its fakes in a number of ways:
 * The real Cultist is the only one with a health meter.
 * The real Cultist has a sharp triangle-shaped eye, while the clones have round eyes.
 * The real Lunatic Cultist has a line on its hood while the fakes don't.
 * Most minions and homing weapons will only attack the real Cultist.
 * The real Cultist does not emit light, while the decoys do; however this may only be apparent if fought at night.
 * Attacking a decoy Cultist is not a bad idea if you have the Vampire Knives. The resulting Phantasm Dragon is very long, and may be easily targeted to restore some life.
 * Beetle Armour, Vampire Knives, and the Rainbow Gun (and maybe some buffs) will (on Normal mode) annhilate the Cultist without having to do anything. Fire the Rainbow Gun straight up, and constantly fire the Vampire Knives upwards. The life steal from Phantasm Dragons will restore your health - the main damage is dealt by the Rainbow Gun.

Trivia

 * It is a common belief that the Cultists' design was inspired by Crowno's clothes. However, according to Crowno, the Lunatic Cultist was designed first.
 * The boss' appearance resembles a plague doctor costume, which was a garment worn by physicians who treated the Black Plague in 18th century Europe.
 * It is the smallest boss, and the only one without an awakening message.
 * The Lunatic Cultist's mask and trophy are named "Ancient Cultist" rather than "Lunatic Cultist", as they are still using an early development name. Several other enemy drops from 1.3 also retained their early development names until later patches.
 * The Lunatic Cultist has an Expert Mode Treasure Bag in Terraria's game files, but it is currently unobtainable as he does not actually drop it.