Guide:Skeletron strategies

Skeletron is a boss guarding the Dungeon, and killing him is necessary if you want to access the loot within. He's big, tough, hard to dodge, and can seriously ruin your evening many times over. Like any other daunting task in Terraria, defeating him is largely about smart preparation. The following are some hints, tips, and strategies to help you do so.

Terrain preparation


The arena doesn't matter as much as it does in the other boss fights, but it can still be important. A large, flat surface with enough room to maneuver is key. Wood platforms may be used with decent effect, but keep in mind that they take time to drop through when dodging and too many platforms can interfere with attacks depending on the weapon/ammo used. A fairly straightforward and common practice is to simply flatten out the roof of the dungeon and fight Skeletron there. A ceiling is mostly unnecessary and tends to get in the way of many attacks, however if you are planning to use a Boomerang or Bow you may want to add one so your Boomerang returns faster or your arrows return.

Armor
The more armor you have, the better. You should use the best armor available to you at the time, but if the best you have is Silver armor or lower then you should seriously consider holding off and continuing the fight later with better defenses. Shadow armor or better is highly preferred. And, as always, having more HP is a good thing. If your armor is far ahead of your weapons then you can sacrifice killing power in favor of survivability.

Weapons
When choosing one strategy over another, the biggest factor in your decision is likely to be weapon constraints. For Skeletron, ranged attacks are far more effective than melee attacks (with a few exceptions). The first time a player fights Skeletron they are unlikely to have many high-end pieces of melee equipment so ranged attacks are more often used. Remember, you're fighting the toughest enemy in the game, short of Hardmode, the Wall of Flesh, and the Dungeon Guardian.

Ranged weapons
Skeletron's high defenses mean that most of the mid- to low-tier weapons aren't worth the time or money for players with higher level gear. Spiky Balls work great when spread around the Dungeon entrance. Shuriken/Throwing Knives work well against Skeletron's head when he is spinning, but their low damage make them less useful against Skeletron's hands or his head when he isn't spinning.

The best way to go is combine high to moderate damage with a fast rate of fire:
 * If you wish to conserve ammo, the Flamarang and Thorn Chakram are both reasonably easy to get by this point.
 * The Minishark is great, as is the Star Cannon, but both of these are expensive to use: the Star Cannon requires about 100 stars to do the job and the Minishark needs about 500 to 1,000 rounds of standard musket balls if you aim carefully (1250-1500 musket balls for the players with bad aim).
 * A bow and some decent arrows are comparatively much easier to get your hands on. A high-damage bow will be doing most of the work for you in such a case, so the difference between weak-but-cheap ammo and rare-but-high-damage ammo is a matter of personal preference. Either the Demon Bow (Tendon Bow if you have crimson) or Molten Fury will do the job admirably.
 * Using a Space Gun or Demon Scythe frees you from the constraints of ammo and deals decent damage, but you will need a lot of mana potions (or Meteor armor in case of the Space Gun) to last the fight.
 * Staffs can also be very effective (especially the Ruby and Diamond Staff), requiring very little mana, while dealing significant damage.
 * The Crimson Rod is also a very effective method of killing Skeletron, even allowing it to be used in combination with other weapons. If carefully placed, the cloud created by the rod can cause 100 damage per second. However it will only be available in a Crimson world.

Melee weapons
The non-ranged and semi-ranged weapons have some use, but generally don't stack up to the ranged family.
 * Flails are reasonable weapons as well, however only the Ball O' Hurt and The Meatball can be obtained at this point. Alternately a Harpoon can be used.
 * The Fiery Greatsword does high-end damage and has excellent range for a melee weapon, but is so slow to swing that most other weapons will outstrip it in the long run. The Phaseblade and Blade of Grass are also a fairly good weapon against him.

Accessories
Rocket Boots, Cloud in a Bottle and Shiny Red Balloon are excellent choices for your first fight, as they'll give you vertical mobility. Hermes Boots and/or Anklet of the Wind are also a good choice, giving you more horizontal maneuverability. If you still have free slots Feral Claws for melee users or Band of Regeneration are great choices too.

Potions

 * Of course a sufficient supply of Healing Potions (rather than Lesser Healing Potions) will help you survive longer. If you're going to use magic weapons Mana Potions are needed as well.
 * Ironskin Potions and Regeneration Potions will make the job easier for any player and are highly recommended. Two potions will last from sundown to dawn, provided the player stays alive the entire time.
 * The Swiftness Potion will help you evade Skeletron.
 * If you're using melee weapons and aren't concerned with being hit Ale may help you as well.
 * The Bowl of Soup/Cooked Marshmallow/Pumpkin Pie will help you, no matter what strategy you are going to use.

Avoiding attacks
Skeletron attacks by either hitting you with his hands or spinning his head at you. Both attacks seem to come equally frequently unless one or both of the hands has already been killed.
 * The hands are difficult to dodge and will mostly come in from the sides. Both hands or one hand will attack at random, but just before this they will draw away from you in a kind of "wind-up" motion, then strike toward you and continue for a good distance onward. If you learn to read this attack it can be avoided more easily. Keep in mind that only the hands and the head will damage you; Skeletron's arms take up a lot of space and can be distracting, but they won't block your bullets or hurt you. Avoiding the attack is simply a matter of jumping at the right time: jumping too late won't give you enough time to dodge the hands and jumping too soon will let the hands adjust to your new position and hit you anyway. Wait and dodge the hands only after they've started their strike.
 * The head's attack is much slower, but it does more damage and takes up a lot of space, especially when it's spinning. This makes the head somewhat difficult to dodge without the aid of Rocket Boots or another jumping aid, or platforms. The upside is that this is a great time for boomerang or harpoon users to rack up a ton of easy hits in a hurry, by staying just in front of the head and attacking like mad. A good idea is to grapple the ceiling while he is spinning. If you are playing Multiplayer, he will likely attack the other player.
 * You can walk as fast as the spinning head (with a full set of shadow armor), so don't worry about speed when fighting the skull.

General tips

 * The hands are probably your biggest problems and have lower HP than the head, but it is not necessary to destroy them, since if the head dies, the hands also perish.
 * The easiest way to last the fight is to go for the hands first: once they're gone, Skeletron will have nothing to do but spin his head at you and is much easier to dodge. (This also provides the benefit of negating its defense, leaving it open to ranged weaponry.) Even killing just one hand makes the fight go much easier.
 * It's always preferable to summon Skeletron immediately after sundown since the fight must be finished in one night.
 * If you are using a weapon with ammo, always have a backup sword or boomerang handy. The Zombies and Demon Eyes that you will encounter during the fight may not be worth wasting ammo on.
 * If you specifically desire to use the Minishark for the Skeletron fight, defeating the Eye of Cthulhu or the Eater of Worlds a couple of times to sell the Demonite Ore and Shadow Scales is a great way to get the necessary gold.
 * If you can find a Water Bolt on a "shelf" around the entrance, it can be used very effectively inside the initial large room,as for the fact that it can bounce off of walls multiple times and deal decent damage.

Farming
Skeletron is much easier to beat once you've got access to dungeon equipment. Any of the hardmode-only gear makes the fight a cakewalk. If you must defeat him on a new world, all of the above strategies can still apply: It's simply easier the next time around. You can also summon him by killing the Clothier after you obtained the Clothier Voodoo Doll. Because the Clothier will simple respawn next day this is an easy way to obtain the rare items or get some additional money.