Guide:Skeletron strategies

Skeletron can be a tough fight, especially for those who haven't already beaten him. 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.

NOTE: This guide was designed for version 1.0.5, balance changes have been made since then and some information might not be valid.

Weapon selection
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 very few exceptions. The first time a player fights Skelly they are unlikely to have many high-end pieces of melee equipment so ranged attacks are more often used.

Ranged weapons
Skeletron's high defenses mean that most of the mid- to low-tier weapons aren't worth the time or money, so shurikens are pretty much out. The best way to go is combine high to moderate damage with a fast rate of fire: The Flamarang and Thorn Chakram are both reasonably easy to get by this point, and either the Demon Bow or Molten Fury will do the job admirably. Most pre-dungeon guns don't have enough damage-over-time to be useful, with the exceptions noted below. 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 700 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 shooter will be doing most of the work for you, so the difference between weak-and-cheap ammo and rare-high-damage ammo is a matter of personal preference.

Melee weapons
The non-ranged and semi-ranged weapons have some use, but generally don't stack up to the ranged family. Flails are excellent for damage and can consistently dish it out, but the Sunfury is impossible to obtain without a Shadow Key (found in the Dungeon) and the Ball 'O Hurt is at the low end of the damage scale. 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.

Other
One slightly different approach is to use a tool with auto-swing, i.e. The Breaker or the War Axe of the Night, both of which are relatively easy to get materials for with lower-end gear. Neither has as much damage over time compared to the options above, but these weapons will keep swinging as the mouse button is held down, allowing you to concentrate on dodging.

Using a Space Gun frees you from the constraints of ammo and gives you decent damage but will require a lot of mana potions or Meteor Armor to last the fight.

It's feasible to use an Ironskin Potion with a Thorns Potion to beef up your defenses so that Skeletron takes more damage than you do during collisions. If you have already beaten him before and raided a dungeon, add in the Cobalt Shield for maximum effect, but watch your HP. If not, alternate it for an Obsidian Skull to keep your defense up.

Dungeon weapons
Also to consider are these weapons not mentioned above: All of these weapons are as good or better than the other weapons in their respective categories but are found only in the dungeon, and thus cannot be obtained without either defeating Skeletron or trading with other players. A side option is to go in the dungeon at night, which spawns Skelly at his regular self, not his Dungeon Guardian self, and to outrun him long enough to gather keys and open enough chests to find the good dungeon items.
 * Muramasa: Much like the War Axe and The Breaker, this sword has auto-swing and good damage output. Just hold the button down and you're good to go.
 * Handgun and Phoenix Blaster: Easy to get ammo for and the Phoenix especially has stellar dps.
 * Blue Moon: An upgraded Ball 'O Hurt. Used the same way, and once Skeletron is down it's arguably easier to get than Sunfury.
 * Aqua Scepter: This weapon is best used with the Blue Moon or a ranged weapon, don't count on it to single handedly take down Skelly. Blast away with the scepter then switch to something else while your mana recharges or just use potions.

Arena


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 Skelly there. Keep in mind that the fight must occur at night, so you'll have to be comfortable dealing with Zombies and Demon Eyes (and possibly Eaters if you're near any corruption) or build a platform inaccessible to them. A ceiling is mostly unnecessary and tends to get in the way of many attacks.

Boomerang/Chakram users may prefer to fight Skeletron in the dungeon entryway to provide a ceiling for missed shots to return faster. Bow users can benefit from having a lot of open space to collect fallen arrows as they go. Melee users will want more platforms to aid mobility.

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 always a good thing. If your armor is far ahead of your weapons then you can sacrifice killing power in favor of survivability.

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 that will damage you; Skelly'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 attack is much slower, but Skeletron's massive noggin 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 users to rack up a ton of easy hits in a hurry, by staying just in front of the head and attacking like mad.)

General tips

 * The hands are probably your biggest problems and have lower HP than the head, but they have much higher defenses than the head and are not necessary to victory, as if the head dies the hands die with it. If your weapon does low damage at a fast rate then it's best to ignore the hands and concentrate your fire on the head.
 * It's always preferable to summon Skeletron immediately after sundown since the fight must be finished in one night.
 * The lower your damage per second, the longer the fight will last. This also means that you're likely to need more potions and ammo.
 * 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 your dungeon is a good hike away from your base and not easily accessible, build a small outpost nearby and save yourself the hassle of running all the way back. If it's close enough you can pick up the fight right where you left off and not have to start over each time.
 * 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 ore and scales can be a very good way of raising the 40 gold needed to buy the weapon alone.

Specific strategies
Specific weapon/armor/arena combinations go here.
 * Uglybad's Strategy: Phoenix Blaster w/ Silver bullets/Necro Armor/Dungeon roof(smoothed out)
 * Octopus Baybee's Strategy: Sunfury / Night's Edge (for regular monsters)/ Molten Armor / This works in any arena type, I don't even bother setting one up.
 * sinfire5's Magic Strategy: Starfury / Flamelash / Spam Spam Spam!!!
 * SnOwpanDAz's Strategy: Demon Scythe / Flamarang. Death Scythe has a few rotation that can cause multiple hits when the head of Skeletron is spinning towards you. Casting Demon Scythe as the head is going towards you will knock off a good 160+ damage on him, around 5 hits landing if done correctly.
 * User:MasterShizzle's absolute cheapskate minimalist strategy: Use either the Enchanted Boomerang or Flamarang for ammo-free killing, plus an arena with a lower ceiling to get the 'rang back faster. Ignore the arms, go straight for the head, and don't EVER stop clicking.
 * User:andy662's strategy: Molten Armor / Fiery Greatsword / Demon Scythe / Water Bolt / Molten Fury + Hellfire Arrows / Flamarang / Space Gun / Obsidian Skull / Ironskin Potion / Harpoon / Restoration Potions / Phaseblade / 15+ Grenades. Fight in main dungeon entry building and bring your friends to the fight. Set spawn nearby.
 * Elengil's Strategy: With 1.0.6 out, it is VERY viable to go after the hands first. Once the hands are gone, he is SUPER easy, and even removing one hand helps loads. Shadow armor or Meteor Armor are both VERY good options (If you have a Space Gun, DEFINITELY go Meteor) Keep to an open area well lit with torches and keep that mouse button down while avoiding him. (Using auto swing/shoot weapons of course, so you have one less issue to deal with as he IS pretty intense at the start)

If you've already beaten skeletron once the expensive way (shooting stars or bullets) then you probably have all the dungeon goodies. Just go out with shadow armor, muramasa, the blue moon, and the pheonix blaster with about 275 meteorite bullets. Spam the head and if he gets too close, take out the blue moon for lots of close combat damage.