Pumpkin Moon



The Pumpkin Moon is an endgame Halloween-themed event summoned with the Pumpkin Moon Medallion at night, and ends at dawn (4:30AM). During the event, unique and highly difficult enemies spawn at high rates and attack the player. It is similar to the Frost Moon event, though slightly less difficult, and is currently the second most difficult event in the game (the first being the Frost Moon). Visually, the moon turns into a jack-o-lantern, though remaining in its current phase. Unique music also plays.

If the player is killed during the event, the event is not cancelled. The player will keep re-spawning and can continue fighting its enemies as the event continues until dawn.

The Pumpkin Moon Medallion that summons the Pumpkin Moon requires materials only available in Hardmode worlds where the player has already defeated Plantera. As such, it is intended to present a challenge even to players with the best possible equipment. In the final waves, multiple boss-level enemies are fought at once.

Pumpkin Moon enemies drop powerful weapons and accessories. There are also pet and vanity items. Most drop with extreme rarity, and even players who manage to complete the event will find they need to do so several times before obtaining them. Drop chances for Boss-dropped items increase the later the wave in which they spawn. In the final wave, the Mourning Wood and Pumpking are both guaranteed to drop their respective Trophies.

The entire Pumpkin Moon event consists of 15 waves, which progress as you reach certain kill scores. Each killed enemy increases the kill score by a differing amount. After a wave's required score is met, the next wave begins, and the wave score is reset to 0. Chat messages will indicate when the wave has advanced, and which wave has been achieved. See the table below (Waves) for the points awarded for each enemy and the score required for each wave.

Points per kill

 * Scarecrow: 1
 * Splinterling: 2
 * Hellhound: 4
 * Poltergeist: 8
 * Headless Horseman: 25
 * Mourning Wood: 75
 * Pumpking: 150

Tips

 * Since the wave number increases based on the number of enemies killed, using Battle Potions and a Water Candle to increase spawn rates is strongly advised. The player should bring at least two potions into battle, since one taken at the beginning of the night will wear off about halfway through.
 * Most Pumpkin Moon enemies are susceptible to the Ichor Debuff, which makes a Flask of Ichor or the Golden Shower spell very effective.
 * Create an Arena with several Traps to deal with the smaller enemies while you focus on the Pumpking, such as the one detailed in the video to the right.
 * Kill the enemies as soon as they spawn, to ensure that more enemies can spawn continuously, in order to increase the chances of achieving later waves. The arena should have predictable spawning zones and no caves where enemies can become trapped. Extra spawning layers can be created with a height of three blocks to take advantage of the anomaly of the Spiky Ball Trap that shoots up if there are two blocks below it. The spawning layers should have enough distance from each other so that the Mourning Wood can spawn between them, and the Traps should all be connected together by the same wire and be activated by a Timer or by using several Yellow Pressure Plate, which ignore the player. Where the enemies spawn relative to the player depends on the game resolution. If playing in 800x600 they will spawn the closest to the player. After a night, if the spawning pads are long enough, there should be seen clusters of loot indicating where they spawn. The arena can be tested by summoning a Pirate Invasion-the invasion should be defeated in record time and a minimal number of enemies should reach the player. While using this strategy during the Pumpkin Moon, the only serious threat will be the Pumpking. If all of these suggestions are followed, melee character with Vampire Knives can beat this event.

Trivia

 * The Pumpkin Moon's signature moon effect may be a reference to Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, as the sun was replaced by a Jack o' Lantern.

History

 * 1.2 (console version): Introduced.