Guide:Moon Lord strategies

Moon Lord is the final boss in Terraria. Because of its high health, massive damage and its numerous, deadly attacks, it is generally considered to be 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 its weak points where it 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, however the Moon Lord won't directly attack with them.

Occasionally, a leech 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. It also has the ability to heal one of the Boss' parts for 1000 HP.

The Phantasmal Sphere is its second strongest attack, so dodging it is very important to survive. It is very hard to run out of their range, so the player will need to go through the gaps between each one of them, Hence, mobility is more important than damage or defense in this fight.

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 medium health, so it must be dodged at all costs. It is only shot on 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.

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. It needs to stretch quite far from either side of your spawn point for ideal fighting of the Moon Lord. The Moon Lord will not despawn unless all players are dead, meaning you can outrun him and heal for a while if need be, without him vanishing on you. It's recommended to create a bed in the middle of your sky bridge, or use a Minecart, in order to jump away from him and continue your fight. It's important to stay close to him to avoid him to teleport near to you. This fight will probably remain quite easy in multiplayer as one player can still lead him on a merry chase while the rest heal up.

Making a roof above Moon Lord can be effective to shut down the Phantasmal Deathray, as it does not go through blocks. You can even make the roof more thick to mitigate the effects of explosions, and prevent the very fast projectiles to clip through.

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 tongue does not go with him. The tip will still be in the same position while chasing you, only its base will be re-angled to the Moon Lord's mouth. This incidentally gives another opportunity to strike with the Vampire Knives where possible.

Armor

 * For Melee characters, the is the best available. The  is better for offensive bonuses, while the  is better for those that can avoid taking hits frequently.
 * For Ranged characters, the is the strongest available.
 * The set bonus will be mostly useless due to the importance of dodging the Moon Lord's attacks, so the chest piece can be swapped with the if more survivability is needed.
 * For a Mage, is the strongest. The  is not very useful due to the Moon Bite debuff.
 * Alternatively, mages can opt for a tanky build with the, , and to maximize offensive bonuses while keeping the regeneration from the breastplate.
 * A Summoner should summon their minions while wearing and then equip  for an extra, although weaker minion and slightly higher defense.

Weapons
Every class will benefit the most from the weapons made with Celestial Fragments, with some exceptions.

For Melee users:
 * is the strongest weapon available, being able to deal massive damage to all parts.
 * is an acceptable alternative, trading power for longer range.
 * remains viable for its homing properties.
 * can still heal the player in the brief moments where the Moon Bite debuff isn't in play.

For Ranged users:
 * is the strongest gun available. provide the highest DPS, while  are more useful for the second phase.
 * with for the highest DPS, or  due to their higher velocity.

For Magic users:
 * deals decent DPS and is accurate, but costs an incredible amount of mana.
 * The has comparable DPS to the Nebula Blaze and lower mana cost, but has short range.
 * deals extremely high DPS if you can manipulate the Moon Lord into staying in roughly the same position.
 * may be weaker than all the others, but it has a fast, mana efficient projectile which can hit all 3 parts with the same shot.
 * inflicts a potent defense-lowering debuff that the Moon Lord is not immune to.

For Summoners:
 * and the are the best ones available.

Accessories
Due to the amount of high damaging attacks during the fight, it is better to focus on mobility and damage rather than defense. Every accessory should also have the Lucky or Menacing Modifiers.
 * The and  are essential for mobility. A  makes wings significantly faster, which helps a lot when dodging.
 * The can be used as a replacement for the above, trading mobility for extra accessory slots.
 * Damage increasing accessories are very important, such as any Emblem, or.
 * The knockback from the Phantasmal eyes could hinder mobility at a bad time. A or better help prevent this.
 * The effects of the are only applied the second a Healing Potion is drunk, so it can be kept in a vanity slot until the player needs to heal.

Potions

 * ,, , and 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.
 * ,, or  and  will further improve damage output for Mages, Rangers, Melee, and Summoner users respectively.

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.

Synchronized 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 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.

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.

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.

Shelter strategy
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.

Cute Fishron
The Shrimpy Truffle mount from Expert Duke Fishron is mandatory. 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.

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 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.

Best example of this method is shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL4xDzPaJBo