Guide:Lunatic Cultist strategies

The Lunatic Cultist is a post-Golem boss. Defeating him will summon the Celestial Towers. While his small health bar means he'll be taken out quite quickly, his attacks can be damaging and hard to dodge.

Summoning
He spawns after the 4 other Cultists are slain. The Lunatic Cultist will be invincible when he first spawns. After he moves away from his spawn point, you can begin to deal damage to him.

Attack Pattern
After moving away from his spawn point, the Lunatic Cultist will begin to cycle through three attacks: Once the Lunatic Cultist is damaged enough, he adds a fourth attack, which summons in two spreads of five destroyable Ancient Light projectiles. In Expert Mode, the Cultist may also spawn Ancient Dooms that fire purple projectiles in a cross shape.
 * A rotating ball of ice that fires six shards at equal intervals before disappearing
 * Three homing fireballs that explode on impact
 * A stationary orb similar to the Magnet Sphere that summons streaks of lightning in a straight line.

After performing 4 to 5 of his attacks, the Cultist will spawn in duplicates of himself that remain stationary. If one of these duplicates is damaged (or after a certain amount of time without damaging any one of them), a Phantasm Dragon will spawn, or an Ancient Vision if a Phantasm Dragon is already present. Two duplicates will also start attacking besides him, occasionally shooting a projectile. If the real Lunatic Cultist is damaged, neither of these two powerful minions will spawn in. The amount of duplicates the Lunatic Cultist spawns in increases, the more clones you hit. It is recommended to fight the Cultist at night, as the fake cultists will glow.

Terrain Preparation
A basic arena with some rows of platforms will suffice. If the player made an arena for Skeletron, they can reuse it here.

Gearing up
While the Cultist himself doesn't require as much preparation as Plantera or Duke Fishron, killing him will start the Celestial Event, so it is better to fight with the best gear available.

Armor

 * For Melee characters, the is the best available. The  is better for offensive bonuses, while the  is better for those that can't avoid taking hits frequently.
 * For Ranged characters, the is the strongest available.
 * The is the strongest for a Mage. The  should be used only when at low health to maximize damage output.
 * A Summoner should summon their minions while wearing and then equip  for an extra, although weaker minion and slightly higher defense.

Weapons
For Melee users: For Ranged users:
 * is a very strong choice with its homing, high damaging projectiles.
 * The and the  are the strongest weapons available, with the Influx Waver being particularly powerful against single targets and having higher base damage in the.
 * The is even higher in DPS, and the nature of his attack patterns means that dodging can be easier if you are closer, making this an excellent option for facetanking.
 * deals high damage and will help with taking out the Lunatic Cultist and the Phantasm Dragon he summons. In addition, it is incredibly useful for hitting only the real cultist during the ritual, since it follows the cursor very accurately.
 * should be used due to their healing effect. But due to the low damage output, a different weapon should be used when not at low health.
 * The has high damage and quick attacks, while the  trades some power for a homing effect.
 * The with s is the strongest gun available. The  is weaker but still a good choice. However, when used with Chlorophyte Bullet s, it can prove very useful.
 * The is very useful with its homing high damaging projectiles. It is also very useful for quickly taking out the Phantasm Dragon, as its explosive projectiles hit many segments at once.
 * The with s is the strongest bow available.
 * Using the will help as it deals continuous damage to the Cultist and prevents him from summoning minions.
 * The is very useful as the Cultist's movement pattern has him stay in one place for an amount of time which allows for many hits from this weapon.

For Magic users:
 * The and  are very strong weapons with a reliable homing effect.
 * The, and  have stronger single target damage.
 * will do a lot of damage, and can be used in combination with other weapons.
 * The, and the should be used with caution, as their stationary attacks could accidentally damage a duplicate of the Cultist, causing the Phantasm Dragon or Ancient Vision to spawn in.

For Summoners:
 * The is the strongest minion available, though you will have to face the monumental task of beating Empress of Light during the day. The  is the strongest minion if you couldn't be bothered to fight enraged Empress of Light.  and the  are weaker, but still decent.
 * The is the strongest sentry available. The  is a weaker alternative.

Accessories
At this point in the game, it is almost required to have all accessories on Lucky, Menacing or Warding.
 * Wings are important for every boss fight. The best ones available are the . provide horizontal speed but less vertical power.
 * The makes all wings significantly faster, making dodging his attacks easier
 * Expert mode players who have obtained the may opt for the, as it has slightly better vertical mobility, with no loss to maximum height.
 * The or other infinite-flight Mounts can be useful, freeing an accessory slot that would otherwise be used for mobility, but are slower and clumsier than wings.
 * The greatly helps in dodging the attacks and is recommended for all classes.
 * The is extremely useful for melee characters with Yoyos as it can double their damage output.
 * The and/or the  are always good to have.
 * Other damage increasing accessories include every other Emblem, the, the and the.
 * For magic users, the can help regenerate mana.
 * The or  can help when battling the Phantasm Dragon.
 * The reduces the Potion Sickness cooldown as well as providing some extra health regeneration. For the Philosopher's Stone's effect to apply, it only needs to be equipped the instant a Healing Potion is drank.

Potions

 * ,, , and will greatly increase survivability.
 * Any food item that provides the buff, such as coffee or chicken nuggets are good.
 * is a must for mages.
 * will increase mobility.
 * will show the real cultist when cloning itself.
 * and will improve DPS.
 * ,, or  and  will further improve it for Mages, Rangers, Melee, and Summoner users respectively.