Eye of Cthulhu

The Eye of Cthulhu is one of the bosses in Terraria. It bears striking resemblance to the Demon Eye. This boss is usually the very first boss that new players encounter, and is thought to be the easiest boss by the game developers.

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The Eye of Cthulhu can be summoned by using a Suspicious Looking Eye (which can either be found in random chests or can be crafted from 6 Lenses at a Demon Altar) at night. Also, it can randomly summon itself with a 33% chance each night if the following criteria are met:


 * At least one player in the game world has at least 200+ health.


 * There are at least four NPCs in the world. Note that the Old Man does count as one of these 4.


 * The Eye of Cthulhu has not already been defeated in the world.

While playing, the player may get the message, "You feel an evil presence watching you...", which means that the Eye will awaken soon. After a few minutes the message "The Eye of Cthulhu has awoken!" will appear and the boss will promptly start to attack the player. However, if "You feel an evil presence watching you..." and you aren't ready to fight the Eye of Cthulhu, you can opt out of fighting it by simply exiting and restarting the world.

Strategy
Disclaimer: For the purposes of this guide, it is assumed that the player is using a new character in a new world, and would therefore not have access to late-game equipment, such as Molten Armor, a Fiery Greatsword, a Star Cannon, etc. Otherwise, this boss would go down in a matter of seconds.

The Eye of Cthulhu has two phases that it goes through as it does battle with the player. The first phase, a giant eye (shown to the left), has 18 attack power and 6 defense, while the 2nd phase, a giant eye with a gaping maw in place of its lens (shown to the right), has a whopping thirty attack power, but only three defense.

Preparations
Preparation is key when going up against what's likely to be your 1st boss (or for any other boss in this game). Since the Eye of Cthulhu can only summon itself if your max HP is 200 or more, you can delay its arrival by holding onto any Life Crystals that'll increase your max HP to 200 or more until you feel that you're ready. That way, you'll be able to wait until you can craft Golden Armor and a Gold Bow. However, if you're not patient enough to want to grind for golden-tier equipment, then you should at least have Iron Armor or better, an Iron Broadsword or better, and, most importantly, some sort of ranged weapon, such as Shuriken, Throwing Knives, or a bow (preferably Iron or better) with Flaming Arrows. Also, bring along any Lesser Healing Potions in case you need to heal. If possible, get glowing mushrooms for Healing Potions instead.

The following consumables may also be of some help:


 * Ironskin Potion: This will increase your defense by eight for five minutes, allowing you to take up to four less damage from the Eye of Cthulhu's attacks.


 * Thorns Potion: For two minutes, enemies will take half of the damage that you take. This can make the battle go a bit quicker, though you'll probably want to try to avoid the Eye's attacks, especially during phase two, where they can do a whopping thirty damage. It can cause the Servants of Cthulhu to die instantly on contact with you, though you shouldn't let them touch you anyways, as they'll deal twenty-three damage.


 * Archery Potion: For four minutes, the damage dealt by your bow & arrow increases by 20%.


 * Regeneration Potion: For two minutes, your health regeneration is augmented, allowing you to recover more lost health in a faster period of time.
 * If you have explored enough, and you are better with melee weapons in general, a Gravitation Potion with a silver or golden Broadsword may also be of use.

Weapons Analysis

 * Shurikens: These weapons can be thrown rapidly and can penetrate through enemies, meaning that these can not only kill Servants of Cthulhu in one hit (thanks to their attack power of 10), but they'll also go on to damage the Eye itself. Although they only deal 4 damage to the Eye's 1st phase, due to their piercing mechanics, they'll often damage the Eye more than once, making them an ideal weapon. They're pretty easy to obtain as well, since not only are they commonly found in pots, but they can be purchased from the Merchant at any time for only 20 copper each.
 * Throwing Knives: Although they are a bit harder to get than Shurikens (they're also common in pots, though the Merchant only sells them during a Blood Moon for 50 copper each), they deal a bit more damage (12 damage), and can likewise be thrown rapidly and penetrate enemies. They deal 6 damage to the Eye of Cthulhu's 1st phase, and can likewise hit the Eye more than once per throw. However, if you're skilled (or lucky) enough to have access to Vile Powder (which are made out of Vile Mushrooms from the Corruption), you can use that to upgrade your Throwing Knives into Poisoned Knives, which deal 7 damage to the Eye's 1st phase, and can even posion it, inflicting even more damage in the process.Eyeofcthuluonfire.jpg
 * Bow & Arrow: Although you cannot fire a bow and arrow as rapidly as you can throw Shurikens or Throwing Knives, it's on here due to its potentially high damage output. A Golden Bow with Flaming Arrows deals 17 damage, which means that it'll deal 11 damage to the Eye's 1st phase. While Flaming Arrows cannot penetrate enemies like Shuriken or Throwing Knives can, it does have a chance of setting enemies on fire, damaging the Eye even further. On the other hand, a Golden Bow with Unholy Arrows (which are made out of normal arrows and Worm Teeth, which are dropped from Devourers) deals 19 damage (13 damage to the Eye's 1st phase), and can penetrate enemies like Shuriken and Throwing Knives can, though it'll travel too fast to damage the Eye multiple times.
 * Musket: if you have Silver Bullets, this could be of use. Regular Musket Balls work as well, but you should have Golden or Silver Armor and Lesser Healing Potions or Healing Potions, as it's very slow speed can make it difficult to do consistant damage. With Musket Balls it does 30 damage in the second phase, and 18 in the first.

Arena
Mobility in all directions (not just to the left or right) is important in avoiding the Eye of Cthulhu's attacks, and chances are that you won't have access to such items as Rocket Boots or Hermes Boots. Due to the player's limited jumping skills (only 6 blocks high), it is strongly advised that you build a boss arena that consists of multiple rows of wooden platforms. (4 is a good number of floors for your arena to have.) Also, the arena must be reasonably wide enough to move around in comfortably. (At least 64 blocks wide is a good width.) Finally, the arena should have some tall walls to keep other enemies from entering the arena, though a ceiling isn't required. With no ceiling, Shurikens, Throwing Knives, and Arrows that are thrown upwards would fall back into the arena, and can still damage the Eye of Cthulhu during the descent.

Also remember to light the arena with torches, as the battle can only take place at nighttime.

The Battle Itself
The Eye of Cthulhu can only be summoned during night-time and will disappear without dropping any loot if the player does not kill it before daytime. Therefore, the best time to summon this monster would be soon after nightfall. That way, you'll have pretty much all night to defeat it.

Phase 1
The Eye of Cthulhu will try to hover high above the player and shoot out a Servant of Cthulhu every couple of seconds from the iris. The Servants of Cthulhu each have an attack of 23, but only 8 HP, which is low enough for them to die from one Shuriken. While the Eye is summoning Servants, you should be aiming for the pupil, as that's where the Servants will spawn from. If any stray Servants do get too close, then a Broadsword is useful for getting them out of your hair.

After four to six Servants of Cthulhu have been launched, the Eye of Cthulhu will start to dive towards the player three times. It has an attack power of 18, which isn't all that damaging at this point in the game, at least not yet. Still, players should try to avoid these dive attacks whenever possible, changing to a higher or lower level if need be. Note that it's possible to lead the Eye's dive attacks by jumping before it attacks.

Phase 2
Once the Eye of Cthulhu reaches 1400 HP or below, it'll start to spin around violently, shedding its eyeball (and lowering its defense to 3) to reveal a jaw full of sharp teeth, and setting the stage for phase 2 of the battle. While the Eye no longer spawns Servants of Cthulhu during this phase, it hovers closer to the player to ensure that its dive attacks (which now do 30 damage!) are more accurate. It also attacks quicker, making it more difficult to lead its attacks.

However, while the Eye of Cthulhu's speed is usually faster than the player, its acceleration and deceleration (or how quickly it can reach its desired speed) is rather poor. A clever player can exploit this by running in one direction, causing the Eye to give chase, then immediately stopping and running in the other direction, causing the Eye to drift away as it struggles to keep up with the player.

Drops

 * Demonite Ore 100%
 * Unholy Arrows 100%
 * Coins 100%
 * Gold Coin
 * Small Hearts
 * Corrupt Seeds

Trivia

 * In the Alpha version, the Eye of Cthulhu had 4000 health instead of 2800.
 * The Eye of Cthulhu is named after the fictional extraterrestrial entity, Cthulhu, created by horror author H. P. Lovecraft.
 * The correct pronunciation of Cthulhu has long been debated. KAH-THOO-LOO and CHA-THOO-LAH are two commonly argued pronunciations. In reality, Lovecraft intended the name to be unpronouncable, as the creature pre-dated the English language.
 * In patch 1.0.3, during multiplayer, if you pulled out a Suspicious Looking Eye, an Eye of Cthulhu would spawn and your Suspicious Looking Eye would not be taken away.
 * This may not be the last time Cthulhu has a part in Terraria.
 * A boss resembling the Eye of Cthulhu, known as Monoculus, was introduced to the FPS game Team Fortress 2, around Halloween, 2011. Monoculus appeared as a large eyeball shooting smaller eyeball projectiles in a similar manner to the Eye of Cthulhu.