Guide:Moon Lord strategies

The Moon Lord is the final boss in Terraria. Because of its high health and its numerous, highly damaging attacks, it is generally considered the hardest boss in the game.

The following strategies will give players an easier time defeating this behemoth.

The Fight
The Moon Lord's main attacks come from the Eyes on its hands and forehead, which are also the only parts that can be damaged.

When the eyes on the hands are exposed, they will alternate between spawning Phantasmal Eyes and shooting Phantasmal Spheres. The eye on its forehead will instead charge up the Phantasmal Deathray, and then fire it based on the player's position.

The eyes can only be damaged on their "active" state and they will always shoot 2 Phantasmal Bolts before closing.

When an eye is defeated, it will detach from the main body and spawn a True Eye of Cthulhu, an unkillable enemy that uses weaker versions of the Moon Lord's attacks. The empty eye sockets will also reveal fangs which do contact damage if touched, but the Moon Lord won't directly attack with them.

Occasionally, a tongue will spawn from its mouth and chase the player. If it connects, it will inflict the Moon Bite debuff, which prevents healing from the Vampire Knives and the Spectre Hood. The Moon Leech Clots spawned from the tongue will heal one of the Moon Lord's unkilled parts for 1000 HP if they reach its mouth. It will not heal or replace any eyes in its hands or forehead if these have already been defeated.

The Phantasmal Sphere is the boss’s second strongest attack. It is difficult to escape its range, so the directional dodge provided by the Master Ninja Gear is very important.

The Phantasmal Deathray is one of the strongest attacks in the game, and the player must always watch out for it, especially on Expert Mode. It can very easily finish off a player at around half health, so it must be dodged at all costs. It is only fired by the eye on its forehead, so you must be prepared for it when it opens. The safest way to dodge it is by flying over him with Wings, preferably Fishron's. It can also be dodged with a Rod of Discord by teleporting out of its path. Because of this attack it is a bad idea to keep the Moon Lord offscreen, as the player won't be able to see it coming. As of the 1.4 update, it can go through blocks, so it is no longer a good idea to shelter in a simple box against the Moon Lord.

The Phantasmal Bolts don't do a lot of damage, but they are hard to dodge as the Moon Lord doesn't shoot directly at the player; it instead tries to predict their position, and does so very accurately. The eyes will look at the player when preparing the attack, so you can predict it as well.

After all 3 eyes are defeated, the Moon Lord's core will be revealed, and what is arguably the hardest part of the fight will begin. The True Eyes of Cthulhu attack very frequently, quickly overwhelming even skilled players. Running away in this case is better, as the True Eyes' Deathrays have much shorter reach compared to the Moon Lord's.

Terrain preparation
If one is having problems fighting the Moon Lord, a skybridge can be built to make the fight significantly easier. Ideally, it should extend quite far from either side of your spawn point (700-1000 platform blocks should suffice). The Moon Lord will not despawn unless all players are dead, meaning you can outrun him and heal for a while if need be. However, straying too far will cause the Moon Lord to teleport on top of you, so careful spacing is required. This is of less concern in multiplayer, as the Moon Lord will only chase one player at a time, giving the others time to retreat and heal up if necessary. A long straight Minecart Track paired with the Mechanical Minecart will help you avoid most of his attacks. Make sure to hammer the ends for bumpers or make a loop to return to the straight track.

1.3.5 or earlier: A simple roof made of solid blocks is useful for blocking the Phantasmal Deathray. Thickening the roof will also mitigate the explosions of the Phantasmal Eyes. You can open up holes in the roof to shoot through when the Deathray isn't active, or you can leave the roof without any holes and damage the Moon Lord exclusively with weapons that can phase through walls. In 1.4, the Phantasmal Deathray will pass through blocks and damage the player below, vastly reducing the effectiveness of this strategy.

Asphalt can still be used to dodge the tongue if you value the ability to use Vampire Knives. When the Moon Lord teleports with his tongue already chasing you, the tip of the tongue will not teleport with him. This allows you to completely outrun the tongue, avoiding Moon Bite and allowing Vampire Knives/Spectre armor to work normally.

Terrain prep can be skipped by using a UFO Mount, although it is still wise to build some cover for the Phantasmal Rays and a 's house

Accessories
Due to the high base damage of the Moon Lord's attacks, the defense stat itself is relatively useless. The most important attributes to consider are damage/critical bonuses, mobility, regeneration, and percentage-based damage reduction.

Every accessory should have the Lucky or Menacing Modifier. For hybrid summoner builds, Menacing is preferred.

Potions

 * ,, , and to a lesser extent, will greatly increase survivability.
 * Any food item that provides the buff will work.
 * is absolutely mandatory for mages.
 * will increase mobility.
 * ,, and will improve DPS.
 * ,, and or  will further improve damage output for magic, ranged, and melee users respectively.
 * While not technically potions, the, , and give useful temporary buffs that can provide an additional edge.

Miscellaneous
 * As mentioned above, the is another way to avoid the Phantasmal Deathray. There is no need to worry about Chaos State, as the Moon Lord uses the attack on a timed interval, allowing for the teleport debuff to wear off.

Synchronised release
For those who want to fight the Moon Lord conventionally, it is highly recommended to synchronize the release of the True Eyes of Cthulhu. To do this, the health of the Moon Lord's head and hands must be brought to zero at a very precise moment in the True Eye of Cthulhu's attack pattern. Prepare by bringing all three of the Moon Lord's eyes to a very low amount of health, and release one. After the True Eye of Cthulhu fires a Phantasmal Deathray, another True Eye of Cthulhu must be released during the Phantasmal Sphere attack that immediately follows the Deathray. The timing is indicated by a unique noise. If done correctly, the newly released True Eyes of Cthulhu will attack in the same pattern, making them far simpler to dodge.

Duck Statues
Summoning Moon Lord then maximizing the enemy count via Duck Statues with water underneath them will prevent the True Eyes of Cthulhu from spawning when they are taken out, making the final phase far easier. (This is no longer possible due to the duck glitch being removed in the 1.4 update)

Regenerative facetank
It is possible to defeat the Moon Lord while making no attempt to dodge its attacks whatsoever. While wearing a Squire's Great Helm, Valhalla Knight's Breastplate, and Cross Necklace while fully buffed, one can heal off all the damage that the Moon Lord deals without ever being in too much danger. The leg slot can be filled with Valhalla Knight's Greaves, Forbidden Treads, or Dark Artist's Leggings to boost melee, summoning, or magic damage output, respectively. (Ranged has no good bonuses in the leg slot.) In normal mode, if you do not have access to the Old One's Army, or on, simply wearing armor pieces that provide the highest available defense will also work, as long as you are buffed with Regeneration, Lifeforce, Endurance, and Ironskin.

Simply stand in a pool of honey, grapple yourself in place, and chip away at the Moon Lord’s exposed parts. Most weapons will be far easier to aim now that the Moon Lord is no longer moving around.

Since you will be immobile for this fight, you can use accessories specialized entirely towards damage mitigation, regeneration, and damage output, with your priorities roughly in that order. If you're playing before 1.4 when the Deathray couldn't go through blocks, it’s also not a bad idea to place a solid platform at least 7 blocks wide in the sky solely to block the Phantasmal Deathray, which will still severely dent your health bar. Doing this will make it more difficult to deal significant damage to the eye in its forehead, though weapons like the Stardust Dragon Staff, Solar Eruption, Nebula Arcanum, and Blizzard Staff will still work. Keep in mind that given the damage boosts that the Moon Lord has in Expert Mode, this is not a suitable strategy for this difficulty level.

In 1.4, the Phantasmal Deathray will pass through blocks, and the life regeneration bonus of Squire's Great Helm and Valhalla Knight's Breastplate were reduced to half, making this strategy less effective. This strategy is still viable, though it will now require full tanking gears. For the leg slot, Valhalla Knight's Greaves is recommended, since it has the highest defense. All accessory slots should be filled with defensive accessories, all reforged to Warding. In Normal Mode, Celestial Shell, Star Veil (Cross Necklace), Frozen Shield, and other two defensive accessories (such as Flesh Knuckles or Black Belt) with buff potions mentioned above will let you safely kill the Moon Lord while maintaining almost full health.

In Expert Mode, this strategy still works, with additional requirements: Worm Scarf and/or Brain of Confusion, and an arena consisting of Campfire, Heart Lantern, Honey, Bast Statue, and Heart Statues. In Master Mode, however, the above settings do not work, because the life regeneration of the armor gets overwhelmed by the massive damage of the boss. The solution is to invest more in damage reduction and dodge chance, rather than defense and regeneration. Since the effect of damage reduction and dodge chance is proportional to the damage of the enemy, it is much more effective in Master Mode. The best armor available for this purpose is Turtle armor. Note that you will take damage constantly, so Beetle armor won't be able to stack Beetle Endurance buff, making it a worse choice than Turtle armor. Since the armor set doesn't contain any regeneration, Dryad's Blessing buff and at least three Heart Statues are required in addition to expert mode requirements. For the accessories, Star Veil (Cross Necklace), Frozen Shield, and Worm Scarf are necessary. Brain of Confusion, Black Belt (Master Ninja Gear), and Celestial Shell are recommended. For the remaining slot, Shiny Stone or Flesh Knuckles is a good choice. With this setup, it is possible to facetank Moon Lord in Master Mode.

Minecart and Teleporters
For this strategy, a very long railway with bumper ends should be made in a straight line. Make sure to build a ceiling above to block Moon Lord's Deathray. (This is no longer possible since the Deathray goes through blocks after the 1.4 Update)

A Minecart's speed makes it very easy to avoid the Phantasmal Spheres and Bolts, and as mentioned previously, the Deathray will be blocked by the Ceiling. When you reach the end of the track, the Bumper end will quickly change your direction while also keeping your momentum. A Teleporter wired from the beginning to end can also serve the same purpose if triggered with a Pressure Plate Track.

If you have a mechanical minecart, make a minecart track across the whole world. Go slowly and attack, but if you are almost dead, go fast until you heal.(if you go at full speed he constantly teleports and cannot attack)

Wearing beetle armor and having all accessories forged to warding can be a good method to compliment this strategy. A vortex beater with chlorophyte bullets allows for you to continuously go at max speed while shooting backwards. This will allow you to dodge most of the damage and do efficient damage while staying safe.

Shelter strategy
''This strategy does not directly apply to 1.4, where the Phantasmal Deathray can pass through solid blocks. If you use this in 1.4, make sure to have a Rod of Discord to teleport to the other side of the Deathray, and enough room in your shelter to have time to react and teleport.''

This strategy is based on exploiting the fact that a lot of Moon Lord's attacks can't go through walls.

A half screen-width wide, 6-12 tiles high shelter must be built. Make sure to add Heart Statues, Heart Lanterns and Honey for better regeneration. A weapon with the ability to attack through blocks such as the Solar Eruption must be used to attack him.

While inside the Shelter, only the Phantasmal Spheres will be able to hit the player, making for a very easy fight.


 * A smaller shelter is acceptable. Simply build a small 2-story house mid-air with honey on the top floor (and other items mentioned above except for heart statues), and move the nurse downstairs. When you are damaged below 200 health, simply pay the nurse for more health.


 * The top-tier armor sets sold by the Tavernkeep can make this strategy especially viable, as they allow the placement of powerful sentries outside of the 'box' and also boost the damage of the Stardust Dragon Staff. With accessories that increase minions and minion damage, they can finish off the Moon Lord in a couple of minutes or less. When using this strategy, it's important to include a row of platforms below the shelter to place sentries once the heart is visible.

Cute Fishron
This strategy utilizes the Shrimpy Truffle mount from Expert Duke Fishron. A large water arena (at least 100x20) large enough when riding Cute Fishron will greatly increase mobility, as well as saving accessory slots that would have been used for mobility. Pumps can be used to speed up the construction of the arena. Alternatively, in 1.4, it is only necessary to wait for rain, as Cute Fishron's bonuses also apply during the rain.

With Cute Fishron's speed, you can outrun the Leech, circle around the Deathray and dodge the Phantasmal Spheres quite easily, while also getting a small damage increase.

The Hoik Method
This is the easiest, but longest way of fighting/farming the Moon Lord. It doesn't require much in the means of equipment, other than what you would probably have already at this point in the game. It will require patience as the battle will be lengthy, but this is a sure-fire way of winning that only requires clicking the mouse to use.

A full write and example can be found here.

Chivalry Method
Similarly to the minecart method, using a fast mount, like the Blessed Apple can make the fight easier. By setting up teleporters at the end of a long skybridge while using a weapon with tracking capabilities will allow you to outrun most of his attacks.

Ramming into Eye Sockets (Master Mode Only)
In Master Mode, all attacks of the Moon Lord have their damage tripled, except for the contact damage of the eye socket, which deals 80 as in Normal Mode. It means that if your defense is higher or equal to 79, you will only take 1 damage from it while triggering invincibility frames. To utilize this, you need: Armor and accessories setup with more than 78 defense, Star Veil (Cross Necklace) which elongates invincibility frames, a shield to prevent knockback, and The Black Spot to keep up with the movement of eye sockets. You will have to somehow take out one eye to use this strategy, though. After that you can just follow and touch the empty eye socket while shooting at other parts of the boss.