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 try to lick 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.

Asphalt can be used as a sky bridge material to outrun the boss and dodge its 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.

In the exclusively, Moon Lord's Phantasmal Deathray will not go through blocks. A simple roof made of solid blocks will be able to block it completely. 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.

Terrain prep can be skipped by using a form of infinite flight, such as the UFO Mount or a pair of late-hardmode wings coupled with the Soaring Insignia, although it is still wise to build a nearby house for the Nurse.

Armor

 * The, , and is the best armor combination available to melee users.
 * The also exists as a more straightforward option. It is vastly outclassed by the previous set on the, however.
 * The is the best option for ranged users. Although its set bonus is of very little use in this fight.
 * The chest piece can be swapped with the if more survivability is needed, or  to further increase DPS if used alongside summons.
 * The leggings may be substituted with for better speed and summon damage if you're also using minions.
 * On the, the are a better option.
 * The is the best option for magic users.
 * On the, a combination of the , the , and the provides better damage and survivability.
 * The is the best option for summoners.
 * On the, those who wish to maximize minion damage while benefiting from the Valhalla Knight's Breastplate health regeneration bonus should summon as many minions as possible while wearing the , , and for maximum damage bonuses, then swap to the  to summon one more minion, and finally summon two more minions while wearing the full Spooky armor set before re-equipping the  and Valhalla Knight's Breastplate, in that order. This does not work on the  as summon damage is recalculated when the player's armor changes.

For Melee users:

 * The is the strongest melee weapon available, dealing massive piercing damage to all parts of the boss.
 * The Solar Eruption attacks through blocks. In the, where the Phantasmal Deathray does not pierce blocks, this allows you to hit the Moon Lord from under the safety of a ceiling.
 * The and the  sacrifice power for longer range. The Influx Waver also destroys Moon Leech Clots with its sword hitbox.
 * The is the best melee weapon that does not deal piercing damage. This is advantageous on the  where, due to piercing invincibility frames, piercing attacks interfere with the damage of the Stardust Dragon. This means that the Seedler can safely be used in conjunction with this summon, whereas piercing weapons should be used with Stardust Cells instead.

For Ranged users:

 * The is the strongest gun available.  provide the highest DPS, while  are more useful for the second phase, in which you are practically forced to retreat. They also allow you to focus more on dodging the attacks, as they home in on targets.
 * The with  provides the highest DPS of any primary weapon, but the low velocity of Holy Arrows will hurt your accuracy unless using a  or one of its upgrades. If not using a Magic Quiver,  or  should be used for their high velocity, making them easier to aim.

For Magic users:

 * The deals decent DPS and is accurate, but has a high mana cost.
 * The and  have higher DPS than the Nebula Blaze and lower mana cost, but lack its homing effect.
 * The deals extremely high DPS if you can manipulate the Moon Lord into staying in roughly the same position. It also doesn't need to be aimed.
 * On the, it interferes with the damage of the Stardust Dragon.
 * The has a fast, mana efficient projectile which can hit all 3 parts with the same shot. However, its single-target DPS is low.
 * On the, it also interferes with the damage of the Stardust Dragon.
 * The inflicts a potent defense-lowering debuff that the Moon Lord is not immune to.

For Summoners:

 * The is the best summoning weapon available at this point. It synergizes well with the  due to its high tag damage.
 * The is a great alternative that is much easier to obtain than the Terraprisma. It possesses a lower DPS but a higher range that can make it easier to deal damage while dodging attacks.
 * In the, the is preferred if the player uses a piercing primary weapon. The damage of the Stardust Dragon is subject to piercing invincibility frames, which will result in lost damage if the boss is receiving piercing damage from two sources at the same time.
 * The will fire additional shots at enemies off-screen if the enemy is struck by another weapon. Combining the Stardust Cell Staff with a gun with chlorophyte bullets allows the player to kite the Moon Lord offscreen more effectively than other summon weapons. This strategy is useful when using a fast mount in the second stage. This staff also has high accuracy and its attack speed synergizes with Betsy's Wrath.
 * The is the best sentry available, but it only works if you remain in one area. It is unlikely to contribute significantly to your DPS, but there is no drawback for using it.
 * The is the best whip available. However, the damage increase from Kaleidoscope is generally not as high as using a secondary weapon from another class and requires dangerous proximity to the Moon Lord. When used with the Valhalla Knight armor, it can serve as a primary weapon, taking advantage of the armor's regeneration, high defense and boosts to summon damage.

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.


 * Wings are almost a requirement when dodging the Moon Lord's attacks, unless the player is using a flying mount. The, the , and the are the best wings available before defeating him for the first time. The  are a weaker but more accessible option for those who do not want to farm Duke Fishron or Betsy for the random wings drop.
 * The is by far the most important movement accessory after any wings in Expert and Master Mode. Unlimited flight time and greatly increased ascent, flight, and ground movement speed will allow a far easier time evading any attacks.
 * The, any of its upgrades, or any balloon accessory will make wings ascend significantly faster, which helps a lot when dodging projectiles or racing against the Phantasmal Deathray.
 * On the, the can be used alongside the Frog Leg or any of its other tinkers for even higher ascent speed.
 * The is recommended for Melee users as it provides a variety of useful melee bonuses.
 * In the, the is a superior option as it provides a higher melee damage bonus at the cost of the low damage offered by the  debuff.
 * The or  are recommended for Ranged users, depending on whether they use arrows or bullets, due to their wide array of ranged bonuses.
 * The decrease in aggro is useless in single player, where the Stalker's Quiver can be substituted with the or, and the Recon Scope can be substituted with the.
 * The bonuses of the Recon Scope and the Sniper Scope stack, for a total of 20% ranged damage and 20% critical strike chance if both are equipped. For the quivers, only the arrow damage stacks, making the combination less useful.
 * Equipping the or one of its tinkers is almost mandatory for Magic users to avoid having to manually consume mana potions.
 * The combination of the and the  is particularly useful for the variety of magic bonuses they provide together.
 * The is recommended for Summoners. It can be equipped with either or both the  and the  as the effect of these accessories stack.
 * In the, remember that the already summoned minions' stats do not change when you change your accessories. Using the Hercules Beetle while summoning the first minions, then switching it out for a Necromantic Scroll to summon the last one can be a viable strategy.
 * The, , , and the are still viable at this point in the game and can be used to supplement whatever accessories you have equipped for your class if you wish to maximize your damage.
 * The offers a dash for horizontal dodging and a 10% chance to not take damage from a hit. The wall traversal abilities are less relevant during a boss fight but don't hurt. In Expert Mode, the  dash can be used instead, which also provides a few invincibility frames that could help dodge an attack if properly timed.
 * The is the best general purpose accessory, providing decent combat, defense, and healing boosts, more so during night.
 * The is a great accessory to use in boss fights as it offers increased health regeneration and reduces the  debuff by 25%.
 * The effects of the Charm of Myths and the on Potion Sickness are only applied the instant a Healing Potion is drunk, so it can be kept in a vanity slot until the player needs to heal, and swapped back into the vanity slot afterwards.
 * The or the  will double the immunity time after taking damage, allowing you to potentially dodge some hits entirely.
 * The provides crucial knockback immunity that will allow you to avoid being thrown around by enemy attacks. It also provides a nice 25% damage reduction when below half health as well as 6 defense.
 * Other shield accessories that also provide knockback immunity, such as the, can act as very viable replacements. It is worth noting that the Moon Lord does not inflict any debuff that the Ankh shield covers.
 * The provides a 17% damage reduction that always helps with survivability in Expert and Master mode.
 * The provides a 1 in 6 chance of not taking damage, which roughly results on average to a 17% damage reduction, however it can be the difference between life and death when the individual attacks are as strong as Moon Lord's are. The 20% critical strike chance boost when the dodge activates increases DPS significantly. Moon Lord is immune to Confused so that effect has no impact.

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

Potions

 * are absolutely worth the Celestial Fragments required to craft them, and you shouldn't need more than four.
 * ,, , 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.

Others
If more agility is preferred, a or  can be used to return to the ground quickly and reset your flight time, and also serves as a makeshift downward dodge.
 * 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.
 * An infinite flying mount can be invaluable for this fight by providing mid-air mobility while freeing accessory slots that would otherwise be occupied by wings and a Soaring Insignia.
 * The is your best option in Expert Mode as it provides both great speed and a damage boost. It will however require that the boss be fought in a large water arena, or during rain on the.
 * The is your second best option in Expert Mode, and has the advantage of not requiring water to reach its full speed.
 * The is slower than both the Witch's Broom and the Shrimpy Truffle (when wet), however it is the only infinite flying mount available if you're playing in Classic Mode.
 * On the in Master Mode,  is an alternative to the Shrimpy Truffle due to its extraordinary speed. In the, it is however far too slow to be of any use in this fight.
 * If you're using an asphalt bridge in master mode, the Hexxed branch is an alternative for extra speed when running from moon lord. But beware of the teleportation death rays

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, Spooky Leggings /  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 Classic Mode, if you do not have access to the Old One's Army, 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 on, 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, 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.

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.
 * Hoiking the walls (via hammered down platforms) can allow your projectiles to pass through walls. Ensure the nurse cannot simply walk through the walls when using this method. Objectively most of the moon lord's attacks pierce walls and it could be just the same without walls on the sides of your box at all.
 * When the talking menu with the nurse is open she can't heal herself, it is extremely important that you close the menu to let her heal.

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.

Cavalry 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. Asphalt can be used for greater speed, at the cost of speed reset when flying.

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. This strategy is much less effective as of 1.4.1.

Nurse strategy
The Nurse can heal you anytime you take damage, so by utilizing her the player will not have to worry about damage at all. The nurse has a low chance of dying in that all NPCs take reduced damage. Furthermore, the Nurse's ability to heal herself makes damage she takes minimal. To use this to the best effect, build a house for the Nurse, turn on autopause, and use a powerful summon like the Stardust Dragon. Just stay in the Nurse's house, healing whenever you take a lot of damage, and let the summon do all the work. You won't have to worry about dying, and the summon will kill the Moon Lord eventually. As of version 1.4, the cost of healing with the Nurse was re-balanced and is now much much more expensive, up to 30 gold per heal in the worst case scenario. If you consider using this strategy, be sure to prepare with lots of money to spare. Note: This strategy is considered cheesy by most players.

Asphalt Skybridge
Using asphalt blocks as a base for a skybridge can help in evading the Moon Lord's attacks as well as provide time for health regeneration. By putting pools of honey along with campfires and heart statues you can take more damage and heal faster. Ranged weapons work best for this strategy such as the Daybreak for melee, Vortex Beater for ranger, Stardust Dragon Staff for summoner (along with a whip to target parts of the Moon Lord while you are running), and the Nebula Blaze for mage. If you get too far away from the Moon Lord and he teleports to you, fly up and around him and continue running away.

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 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. This is unnecessary on the, as the attacks are automatically synchronized.

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.

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.

If you have a, 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 with and having all accessories forged to Warding can be a good method to complement this strategy. A Vortex Beater with Chlorophyte Bullets, Nebula Blaze or other weapons with homing capabilities allows for you to continuously go at max speed while shooting backward. This will allow you to dodge most of the damage and do efficient damage while staying safe.