Guide:Martian Madness strategies

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The Martian Madness is a post-Golem invasion that can be done anytime after beating it. The event rewards the player with very powerful items dropped from its exclusive boss, the Martian Saucer. However, due to the great amount of powerful Martians that spawn the event can prove to be extremely difficult if attempted without preparation.

Event

Martian SaucerHardmode exclusive

Map Icon

 Classic

 Expert

 Master

Statistics

Type	Boss
Environment	Martian Madness
AI Type	Rider AI
Damage	50/100/150 (contact) 140200 (Martian Deathray) 300450 (Martian Deathray berserk) 060 (Saucer Scrap)
Max Life	270005400081000 (all parts)
Defense	100
KB Resist	100%
Immune to	All debuffs

Drops

• Item (Quantity)Rate
• One of the 6 / 9 following items will always drop
• Xenopopper
  16.66%
  11.11%
• Xeno Staff
  16.66%
  11.11%
• Laser Machinegun
  16.66%
  11.11%
• Electrosphere Launcher
  16.66%
  11.11%
• Influx Waver
  16.66%
  11.11%
• Cosmic Car Key
  16.66%
  11.11%
• Anti-Gravity Hook
  11.11%
• Laser Drill
  11.11%
• Charged Blaster Cannon
  11.11%
• Martian Saucer Trophy
  10%
• Greater Healing Potion (5-15)
  100%
• Martian Saucer Relic
  100%
• Cosmic Skateboard
  25%

Sounds

Hurt
Killed

• Internal NPC ID: 392

The invasion will only happen when the Player finds a Martian Probe in the wild and lets it escape into Space. The Martians will then spawn in areas close to friendly NPCs.

During the invasion, all of the following enemies will spawn:

• Gray Grunts, the basic enemy of the event. Despite its simple appearance, it is one of the most dangerous martians due to its very high health and total immunity to knockback.
• Ray Gunners, who behave similarly, but with lower stats and the ability to shoot lasers from their gun.
  • Occasionally, it will spawn riding on a Scutlix, becoming a Scutlix Gunner. The Scutilx moves very fast, deals high contact damage and its rider will shoot lasers, making this a deadly enemy. The Scutlix Gunner has a low chance to drop the Brain Scrambler, which allows the player to ride a Scutlix of their own.
• Martian Walkers are a very fast enemy that can quickly shoot lasers, have a lot of health and are immune to knockback. Despite these attributes, their size and very low jumps make them prone to getting stuck on simple obstacles.
• Martian Drones are small enemies with low damage and health. They will lock on to a player, and then quickly charge towards them before exploding.
• Gigazappers behave like Gray Grunts, with lower stats and the ability to inflict the Electrified debuff on hit, which causes a player to rapidly lose health when moving.
• Martian Engineers have low stats but instead of attacking, they can deploy Tesla Turrets, which shoot an electric projectile at the player, which inflicts the Electrified debuff. The Engineers should be killed quickly, as they can easily overwhelm a player with Turrets.
• Martian Officers spawn protected by a Bubble Shield, which will need to be killed before the player can harm it. If the Officer isn't killed quickly after the Bubble Shield is destroyed, it will activate again.
• Brain Scramblers are similar to Ray Gunners, with their projectile inflicting the Confused debuff on hit.
• The Martian Saucer is the boss of the event. It will alternate between firing lasers from its turrets at the player's position, shooting homing missiles from its Cannons, and then following the player while attacking with its Deathray. Players must destroy the Turrets and Cannon first, as its core can't be damaged. After these have been destroyed, the player will be able to damage its Core, and it will move more aggressively than before, and will only use the Deathray, which also does much more damage. When killed, it will drop a unique weapon or item.

General Strategies

General Tips

This content is transcluded from Guide:Practical tips § Combat.

• Starting the battle just after the sun sets (7:30 PM) will provide the maximum amount of time to defeat nocturnal bosses. In Hardmode, the Moon Charm and/or Moon Stone are also useful at night.
• Prepare your Boss-fighting arena with adequate lighting, Campfires and Heart Lanterns for health regeneration, and Stars in Bottles for mana regeneration if you use magic. Bast Statues will provide a significant defensive boost. Garden Gnomes and (if underground) proper torch placement will reduce damage taken and increase damage dealt due to the luck. Honey pools can also be used for extra health regeneration.
• Sunflowers provide the Happy! buff to players within a 50-tile radius, which grants a +10% movement speed bonus and 17% reduction in enemy spawn rate.
• Always carry at least one stack of the highest-tier healing potion available (Lesser, Normal, Greater, or Super Healing Potions). Relying only on natural Health Regeneration is not a good idea.
  • The same goes for Lesser, Normal, Greater, or Super Mana Potions, if you use Magic. The Strange Brew could also be used.
• It is suggested to build houses for the Dryad and the Nurse NPCs in your arena. The former casts the Dryad's Blessing buff, which increases your defense and provides you with a thorns-like effect, while the latter can heal and remove debuffs instantly, at the cost of some coins.
• Bosses are displayed on the Minimap: Follow the boss's icon to track it when you're struggling to find it. You can identify the boss icons by checking their respective wiki pages.
• Once you have freed the Mechanic in the Dungeon, you can use Wire to enhance your arena with Traps and helpful Heart and Star Statues. The former help to damage the enemies, though be careful to set them up correctly in order not to hurt yourself during the battle. The latter will spawn heart and star pickups, respectively. Connect these devices to timers.
• It may be useful to summon and kill the Eye of Cthulhu or King Slime before summoning any harder boss in order to spawn an extra one-use pool of Hearts. Note that this will prevent any Heart Statues from spawning new Hearts.
• Remember to use the Sharpening Station, Ammo Box, Crystal Ball, Bewitching Table, and Slice of Cake before you go to explore or battle bosses/invasions. These will give boosts that are useful to take, with the first four being class-specific. They give Sharpened, Ammo Box, Clairvoyance, Bewitched, and Sugar Rush, respectively.

Terrain Preparation

The event was easily exploited until 1.4 by standing in a box above the ground.

The great amount of enemies with high stats and/or projectiles makes it very hard to survive the invasion in the open. The event is better fought around your base, where the martians will be much less likely to overwhelm you with projectiles. Make sure to protect your NPCs however, as the enemies will easily kill them.

Like many other invasions, all pre-1.4 enemies completely lack the ability to attack through blocks, as only explosions from the Martian Drone and Martian Saucer have the ability to do so. This can be exploited by safely killing the enemies inside a tall box above the ground. Additionally, a Pit with a shallow layer of Lava and Traps can be built to trap the Martians and kill them safely, Using Summon weapons you can safely and quickly beat the Martian Saucer from inside the box. And you can use Track since enemies cannot spawn on it, serves as a great way keeping non-flying enemies at bay. You can also hop on the Track if you have a mechanical cart due to their great speed. Recommended weapons are the Tempest Staff, Deadly Sphere Staffand Raven Staff. If you manage to have a Xeno Staff drop you can use that for the rest of the fight.

You can still do it in 1.4 but you need either a Rod of Discord or a Hook of Dissonance to teleport out of the way of the deathray.

Note that the Martian Saucer will not fire it's deathray through some blocks as long as the player is not under them.

Gearing Up

Armor

• For Melee characters, the Beetle armor is the best available. The Beetle Scale Mail is better for offensive bonuses, while the Beetle Shell is better for those that can’t avoid taking hits frequently.
• For Ranged characters, the Shroomite armor is the strongest available.
• The Spectre armor is the strongest for a Mage. The Spectre Hood should be used only when at low health to maximize damage output.
• A Summoner should summon their minions while wearing Spooky armor and then equip Tiki armor for an extra, although weaker minion and slightly higher defense.

Weapons

For Melee users

• The Seedler or Terra Blade are both very good all around swords. If the Old One's Army has been defeated, the Flying Dragon is excellent against crowds.
• The Paladin's Hammer is very useful for crowd control, and useful against the first phase of the Martian Saucer. The Possessed Hatchet makes a good combination with it, as it can deal with single targets and the second phase of the Saucer.
• The Flairon is very powerful due to its many high damaging bubbles.
• The Eye of Cthulhu is the strongest yoyo available until the Terrarian.
• The Vampire Knives are a strong weapon with lifesteal capabilities.
• The Scourge of the Corruptor has low damage, but many homing projectiles.
• The Death Sickle can pass through blocks. It is useful if the player has trouble dodging enemy attacks.

For Ranged users

• The Chain Gun is the strongest gun available, while the Megashark is an acceptable alternative. Crystal Bullets are the strongest for damage, while Chlorophyte Bullets are better against the second phase of the Saucer.
• The Candy Corn Rifle is good against crowds and a decent choice against the Saucer.
• The Tsunami with Holy Arrows is the strongest bow. The Chlorophyte Shotbow is an acceptable alternative.
• The Snowman Cannon is excellent for the event due to its homing rockets with big explosions.
• The Piranha Gun can easily kill enemies while standing in an enclosed area. Be wary not to be caught by the saucer's death ray.

For Magic users

• The Razorpine is the strongest weapon against single targets. The Inferno Fork and Bat Scepter are weaker but still effective.
• The Blizzard Staff deals high amounts of damage and covers a wide area. Also Useful if you decide to box yourself, dealing damage to the Saucer without getting out the box.
• The Razorblade Typhoon is an excellent weapon against both crowds and the Saucer.
• The Rainbow Gun, Magnet Sphere and Golden Shower are all great secondary weapons.

For Summoners

• The Tempest Staff, Deadly Sphere Staff and Raven Staff are the strongest minions available.
• The Staff of the Frost Hydra is a useful sentry to have.

Accessories

• Any pair of Wings, such as Fishron Wings or Hoverboard are all useful for mobility.
  • The Frog Leg makes all Wings ascend significantly faster.
• The Master Ninja Gear will help greatly in dodging attacks.
• A Celestial Shell or Celestial Stone gives very welcomed increases to all stats, most notably damage and health regeneration.
• Damage boosting accessories such as the Destroyer Emblem, Magic Quiver, or Mechanical Glove are all very good.
• The Charm of Myths reduces the length of the Potion Sickness debuff by 1/4 (15 seconds) as well as giving a small life regeneration increase. For the Philosopher's Stone effect to work, it only needs to be equipped the instant a potion is drunk.

Specific Strategies

Circle and Shake (Expert/Master)

In Expert and Master mode, you have access to a flying mount from killing either Duke Fishron or Mourning Wood.

When a Martian Saucer appears, it will cycle through three attacks: shoot rapid lasers to the side, shoot homing rockets, and shoot a downward laser.

For the first attack, stay above the saucer. As it releases the homing rockets, circle down and underneath it, coming up on the other side and dodging the rockets. This means that you'll be flying up and away when the downward laser fires.

After it loses half its health, it begins aggressively chasing you, too fast to escape unless you're using Shrimpy Truffle with the water/rain buff. Instead of running away the whole fight, only flee until its laser turns off, then go in the opposite direction. It will fire and chase you again, but once the laser turns off, go in the opposite direction. Once you get the rhythm down, it becomes a much easier fight.

Watch out, though, as burning Saucer Scrap projectiles fall from it as it fires. These do minor damage, but can knock you into the laser, so it's recommended to equip knockback-cancelling accessories like the Cobalt Shield or the Hero Shield.