Bosses are large, aggressive, resilient enemies that offer a substantial challenge to players. Defeating bosses is usually instrumental in advancing the game in some way. Each has its own particular way of being summoned, and warning messages appear whenever one is about to appear. Defeating a boss concludes with a congratulatory message and several items.
During Hardmode, each night has a one in two chance of spawning one of the three Mechanical Bosses that have not yet been defeated in the current world.
Quick Answers
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Pre-Hardmode Bosses
Are the ones you initially start the game with before you progress to certain mile stones (mostly defeating these).
King Slime
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For strategies on how to defeat the King Slime, see Guide:King Slime strategies.  The King Slime is a giant blue slime with 2000 health. It is summoned with a Slime Crown, and can also rarely appear in the outer thirds of the map completely by itself. As with all monsters that can spawn naturally, the King Slime has a better chance of spawning while holding a Water Candle or under the effects of a Battle Potion. The King Slime is a good challenge for a beginning player, and can be easily defeated by tactical use of terrain. The King Slime does not provide access to game-advancing items upon defeat, but will drop one Gold Coin and one piece of Ninja clothes. |
Eye of Cthulhu
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For strategies on how to defeat the Eye of Cthulhu, see Guide:Eye of Cthulhu strategies.  The Eye of Cthulhu will have a 1 in 3 chance to spawn at the start of every night, once the player has 200 HP or more, and 3 or more NPCs living in houses and over 10 Defense, and will continue to do so until defeated for the first time. It can also be summoned using a Suspicious Looking Eye at night. Since this Boss can spawn randomly without deliberate action by the player, it is often the first Boss the player must face. It is also considered the easiest Boss to defeat, although some people think the Eater of Worlds is easier. The Eye of Cthulhu is still a significant challenge, especially to newer players. It travels through blocks, and spawns Servants of Cthulhu. |
Eater of Worlds
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For strategies on how to defeat the Eater of Worlds, see Guide:Eater of Worlds strategies.  The Eater of Worlds will appear every time you shatter three Shadow Orbs. These orbs are found in the Corruption, surrounded by Ebonstone. Since you won't be able to mine Ebonstone until after you've faced the EoW, you must find them first from other caverns and then use bombs/dynamite to reach them (or Purification Powder). Once you are close, they can be destroyed with a hammer. The Eater of Worlds can only be summoned in the Corruption, and if it manages to get out of the corruption, it will flee and disappear. The Eater of Worlds can be a challenge even for intermediate players, as it is a large Worm enemy that travels through tiles, and is made up of multiple sections that can each attack separately (with separate heads, no less) when they are cut off. To defeat this boss, every section must be brought down to less than two body parts to be killed (the smallest possible section is a head and a tail with no body pieces). Due to how helpful corrupted items are, the EoW will probably be the second boss faced in worlds that have corruption, rather than Crimson.The Eater of Worlds can also be summoned with the Worm Food.(The crimson equivalent is the Brain of Cthulhu.) The Eater of Worlds is the only source of Shadow Scales in the game, and drops a large amount of Demonite Ore. |
Brain of Cthulhu
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For strategies on how to defeat Brain of Cthulhu, see Guide:Brain of Cthulhu strategies.  The Brain of Cthulhu is summoned with the Bloody Spine. It will also appear every time you shatter three Demon Hearts. It can only be summoned in the Crimson. It cannot be harmed at first until you kill all of the Creepers around it, after they are all killed, it will go into its second form, where it will charge at you and has only 1000HP. It will also teleport while it is chasing you, so you might want to have a ranged weapon. Unlike other bosses, the Brain of Cthulhu is not immune to knockback. It is also the only source of Tissue Samples in the game. |
Queen Bee
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For strategies on how to defeat Queen Bee, see Guide:Queen Bee strategies.  The Queen Bee is summoned by destroying the Queen Bee's offspring encased in honey in the beehive structure, which is located in the underground jungle, or by the use of an Abeemination anywhere in the jungle. Queen Bee is immune to knockback. |
Skeletron
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For strategies on how to defeat Skeletron, see Guide:Skeletron strategies.  Skeletron is summoned by speaking to the Old Man and activating his curse at the entrance of the Dungeon at night. It can be summoned again by killing the Clothier with the Clothier Voodoo Doll equipped at night (Clothier arrives after defeating Skeletron, and it is assumed he is Old man). Defeating Skeletron allows you to freely access the Dungeon without being attacked by the Dungeon Guardian. The Dungeon contains many unique items, as well as hazards. It is not recommended to enter without strong armor. |
Wall of Flesh
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For strategies on how to defeat the Wall of Flesh, see Guide:Wall of Flesh strategies.  The Wall of Flesh is summoned by throwing the Guide Voodoo Doll into a pool of lava in the Underworld while the Guide is alive. It is known by most players as the hardest pre-Hardmode boss, at 8,000 health, and defeating it will irreversibly enable Hardmode in that given world. Its defeat will also allow the creation of the summoning items for various Hardmode bosses. It can drop several powerful items, one of them being the guaranteed drop Pwnhammer which can be used to break Demon Altars in order to spawn Hardmode Ores. |
Hardmode Bosses
Hardmode Bosses significantly harder upgrades of and new additions to previous bosses, Defeating them is usually instrumental in advancing the game in some way. Each has its own particular way of being summoned, and warning messages appear whenever one is about to appear. Defeating a boss concludes with a congratulatory message and several items.
During Hardmode, each night has a one in two chance of spawning one of the three Mechanical Bosses that have not yet been defeated in the current world.
The Twins
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For strategies on how to defeat The Twins, see Guide:The Twins strategies.   The Twins are the Hardmode version of the Eye of Cthulhu. They spawn as two eyes, one with 20000HP (Retinazer) and one with 23000HP(Spazmatism). Unlike the Eye of Cthulhu, they do not immediately transform at half health - Retinazer transforms at 8000 HP and Spazmatism transforms at 9000 HP. The Twins are summoned by using a Mechanical Eye at night. It is worth noting that The Twins will gain defense in their second forms, unlike the Eye of Cthulhu. The two eyes have different fighting styles. Spazmatism focuses on slamming into the player and firing green flames. Once it reaches its second form, it will resemble a mechanical version of the Eye of Cthulhu's second form. It will deal a lot more damage, and the flames it shoots are more consistent like the Flamethrower instead of the Cursed Flames, but the flames will still inflict Cursed Inferno debuff on the player. The other eye, Retinazer, focuses on shooting the player with Death Lasers like the Destroyer's Probes. Once it reaches its second form, it will replace its pupil with a laser cannon. During this form, it will shoot lasers extremely fast, sometimes having the same fire rate as a Megashark. The last Twin destroyed will drop all of the loot. |
The Destroyer
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For strategies on how to defeat The Destroyer, see Guide:The Destroyer strategies.  The Destroyer is the Hardmode version of the Eater of Worlds, with 80,000 HP. It is considered the easiest hardmode boss by many players, despite having the most health. Although it is similar to its easy mode counterpart, it has some key differences: it won't divide into smaller segments, will shoot lasers from its body if space is available, and will deploy Probes to attack you as well. The Destroyer is summoned by crafting and using a Mechanical Worm anywhere, but only at night. The Destroyer will shoot Death Lasers at you, increasing the attack speed with the lower health it has. Weapons that do damage to multiple segments like Flails, Water Bolt, and the Demon Scythe are recommended, because they will do a lot of damage as The Destroyer passes through them. As of 1.2.3, The Destroyer's drops now come from the closest body part. |
Skeletron Prime
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For strategies on how to defeat Skeletron Prime, see Guide:Skeletron Prime strategies.  Skeletron Prime is a far more difficult Hardmode version of Skeletron, with the head having 28,000 HP. His limbs are different: instead of two hands, he has a vice, a laser gun, a saw and a cannon that shoots bombs. With the head and all limbs combined, Skeletron Prime has 59000 HP. However, like Skeletron, you only have to kill the head. Skeletron Prime can be summoned as many times per world as you want, by crafting and using a Mechanical Skull, but can only be summoned at night. It is worth noting that when his head spins, his Defense increases, unlike Skeletron, whose Defense is dropped to 0 when spinning. He will drop Hallowed Bars and Souls of Fright, which are both used to craft many kinds of armor and tools. Be warned that when Skeletron Prime is still alive during morning (4:30 AM to 7:30 PM), he will be in Dungeon Guardian mode and effectively one-shot you, despawning afterwards.
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Plantera
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For strategies on how to defeat Plantera, see Guide:Plantera strategies.  Plantera is summoned by destroying a Plantera's Bulb in the underground jungle after first defeating any other Hardmode boss. As of 1.2.3, you'll first need to kill all three Hardmode bosses. Plantera has two stages: In the first stage Plantera clings to solid blocks using vine-like extensions. In this stage Plantera fires spiky projectiles much like Spiky Balls. In the second stage Plantera has increased speed and charges at the player. Once Plantera is defeated, the dungeon in that world will automatically have hardmode monsters in the dungeon. |
Golem
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For strategies on how to defeat Golem, see Guide:Golem strategies.
The Golem is summoned by using a Lihzahrd Power Cell at the Lihzahrd Altar in the Jungle Temple. In order to access the Jungle Temple, you must first defeat Plantera to obtain the Temple Key. Golem has two phases. During the first phase, the pieces you can attack are his fists and his head. Once his fists are destroyed he can not shoot them at you, which is recommended before you begin the second phase. After you destroy his head, the second phase begins, and all parts of his body will be vulnerable. The body jumps around a lot more during this phase, and the head will remain in battle, flying above the body shooting fireballs and lasers, but can't be harmed. |
Duke Fishron Template:Pc icon
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For strategies on how to defeat Duke Fishron, see Guide:Duke Fishron strategies.
Duke Fishron is a Hardmode boss. It is a fish-pig-dragon hybrid with 50000 health and 50 defense. It is summoned when a Truffle Worm is used as bait with a higher-powered fishing rod in an Ocean biome. In its first stage, Duke Fishron will attempt to ram the player 5 times before either firing explosive bubbles or summoning Sharknados. In its second stage, Duke Fishron gains glowing eyes and a boost to attack and defense (needs confirmation.) Although its ramming attacks remain the same, instead of shooting bubbles directly at the player, it flies quickly around in circles, sending bubbles everywhere. Instead of summoning Sharknados in this stage, Duke Fishron summons larger Cthulhunados. These remain in place until Duke Fishron is defeated. He is said to be the hardest boss in the game. |
Event Bosses
Mourning Wood
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The Mourning Wood is a semi boss that spawns during the Pumpkin Moon. Like many other bosses, it has the ability to move through necessary blocks. It shoots flaming projectiles and has a large amount of hp. It is recommended to fight from a distance. |
Pumpking
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The Pumpking is found during the Pumpkin Moon event. Multiple Pumpkings can be out at the same time, up to six at the final, fifteenth, wave (or even more in multiplayer). It has three modes of attack, indicated by the face carved in the pumpkin it uses as a head. |
Everscream Template:Pc icon
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The Everscream can be found during a Frost Moon and acts much like the Mourning Wood. The biggest difference is that its projectiles can NOT go though blocks |
Santa-NK1 Template:Pc icon
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The Santa-NK1 is the second boss you encounter in Frost Moon event. Some people consider him harder than Ice Queen. He attacks using his minigun, that cannot fire through blocks and rockets that go through blocks (similar to Mourning Wood). His third attack is a shower of slow falling presents. |
Ice Queen Template:Pc icon
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The Ice Queen is the third and final boss you encounter in the Frost Moon event. She has three alternate attacks. She drops the Baby Grinch Mischief's Whistle, Reindeer Bells and also endgame weapon for each class. |
Console Exclusive Bosses Template:Console icon
Ocram Template:Console icon
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Ocram is a boss that exists only on the console version of Terraria. To summon Ocram you must get the Suspicious Looking Skull. It requires two Mechanical Eyes, one Mechanical Skull, twenty Adamantite Bars, ten Souls of Night, and ten Souls of Light, crafted at a Mythril Anvil. Upon death, he drops 5-10 Souls of Blight. Souls of Blight are used in the crafting of console-exclusive armor, Dragon Armor, Titan Armor, and Spectral Armor. They are also used to craft the new sword, spear and repeater, Tizona, Tonbogiri and the Vulcan Repeater. It is also considered the hardest boss in the console version. Even though it is the hardest boss, it only has 35000 health,therefore most consider it an easy boss to defeat. |
Mobile Exclusive Bosses Template:Mobile icon
Lepus Template:Mobile icon
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The Lepus is a boss that exists only on the mobile version of Terraria. It is summoned with a Suspicious Looking Egg and spawns Lepus eggs that vary in sizes, small = diseaster bunny while large = additional Lepus. |
Notes
- Redigit has hinted at a final boss saying that "It will bring the moon to earth".
- The messages for all the bosses are:
- Eye of Cthulhu: "You feel an evil presence watching you..."
- Eater of Worlds: "Screams echo around you..."
- The Destroyer: "You feel vibrations from deep below..."
- The Twins: "This is going to be a terrible night..."
- Skeletron Prime: "The air is getting colder around you..." or "You feel the air getting colder around you..."
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