Guide:Moon Lord strategies

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 its weak points where it 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 chase 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 parts for 1000 HP if they reach its mouth.

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 medium 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.

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.

A simple roof made of solid blocks is useful for blocking the Phantasmal Deathray. 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.

Asphalt can still be used to dodge the 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.

Armor

 * For melee characters, the is the best available. The  provides better offensive bonuses, while the  is much tankier, especially if you can avoid taking hits frequently. The latter is a viable option even for those who don't wish to use melee weapons.
 * While the gives weaker offensive bonuses to melee damage than Beetle armor, it gives a significant increase to minion damage.
 * For those less confident in their evasion, a regenerative set consisting of the, , and is also viable.
 * For ranged characters, the is the strongest available.
 * The set bonus will be mostly useless due to the importance of dodging the Moon Lord's attacks, so the chest piece can be swapped with the if more survivability is needed.
 * If you use this approach, you may also wish to swap out the Shroomite Leggings for, whose +2 bonus to minion capacity will provide a larger total DPS increase despite losing some specialization into ranged damage.
 * For a magic user, the strongest armor is a hybrid set consisting of, , and.
 * can be substituted into the above setup for even more damage, though it gives up a significant amount of survivability.
 * is another viable option. The is not very useful due to the Moon Bite debuff.
 * A summoner 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 grants maximum survivability while retaining decent minion damage/capacity bonuses, and is the strongest available minion-based loadout that uses the Breastplate.
 * You may also use the standard approach by summoning minions while wearing and then equip  for an extra, weaker minion and slightly higher defense. Be warned that this loadout is extremely frail and is only recommended for those unwilling or unable to complete the Old One's Army.

Weapons
Every class will benefit the most from the weapons made with Celestial fragments, with some exceptions.

For Melee users:
 * is the strongest weapon available, dealing massive damage to all parts.
 * The and  trade power for longer range.

For Ranged users:
 * 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.
 * with for the highest DPS, or  for their high velocity, making them easier to aim.

For Magic users:
 * deals decent DPS and is accurate, but its mana cost is difficult to sustain.
 * The and  have higher DPS than the Nebula Blaze and lower mana cost, but lack the homing effect.
 * deals extremely high DPS if you can manipulate the Moon Lord into staying in roughly the same position.
 * may be weaker than all the others, but it has a fast, mana efficient projectile which can hit all 3 parts with the same shot.
 * inflicts a potent defense-lowering debuff that the Moon Lord is not immune to.

For Summoners:
 * and the are the best summoning weapons available.

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, mobility, regeneration, and percentage-based damage reduction. Every accessory should have the Lucky or Menacing Modifier.
 * The and  are essential for mobility. A  makes wings ascend significantly faster, which helps a lot when dodging.
 * The can be used as a replacement for the above, trading mobility for an extra accessory slot.
 * Damage increasing accessories are very important, such as any Emblem, or.
 * The knockback from the Phantasmal eyes could hinder mobility at a bad time. A or better will prevent this.
 * The effects of the are only applied the second a Healing Potion is drunk, so it can be kept in a vanity slot until the player needs to heal.
 * The and  can aid with tanking the near-unavoidable damage that the Moon Lord deals in its second phase.

Potions

 * ,, , and 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.
 * ,, or  and  will further improve damage output for magic, ranged, melee, and summoning users respectively.

Miscellaneous
 * 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.

Duck Statues
For those who cant take out the True Eyes of Cthulhu, summoning Moon Lord then bringing the enemy count to max via Duck Statues with water underneath them will prevent the True eyes of Cthulhu from spawning when they are taken out. This leaves the Core vulnerable to attack. This applies any other strategy, but with duck statues spawning lots of Ducks being on-screen when one of the Eyes are killed.

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.

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.

Shelter strategy
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.

Cute Fishron
This strategy utilizes the Shrimpy Truffle mount from Expert Duke Fishron. A large water arena (at least 100x20) large enough when riding Cute Fishron will greatly increase mobility, as well as saving accessory slots that would have been used for mobility. Pumps can be used to speed up the construction of the arena.

With Cute Fishron's speed, you can outrun the Leech, circle around the Deathray and dodge the Phantasmal Spheres quite easily, while also getting a small damage increase.

The Hoik Method
This 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.

Best example of this method is shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL4xDzPaJBo