Guide:Frost Moon strategies

Frost Moon

The enemies during a Frost Moon are very dangerous, being essentially stronger versions of the Pumpkin Moon enemies. The player has to craft a Naughty Present to start a Frost Moon. A large arena is extremely useful to necessary in the fight. It is suggested to fight the invasion on multiplayer, because the enemies are tough and numerous.

Due to the fact that this event is EXTREMELY hard, it is highly recommended (if not outright mandatory) to wear top-notch end-game equipment. It is furthermore highly advised to build an arena with traps (Lihzahrd-type ones) and lava to help deal with the waves of monsters, much in the same manner as with the Pumpkin Moon. The arena should also feature a nearby house serving as a spawn-point for dead players. Wounded monsters will regain full life if the house is too far away. The event lasts throughout the night (7:30pm) only and will end on dawn (4:30am), making high damage a must to properly advance and obtain loot.

Mage set:

• Armor: Spectre armor
• Weapons: Nimbus Rod, Heat Ray, Inferno Fork, Bat Scepter, Bubble Gun, Razorblade Typhoon, Laser Machinegun
• Accessories: Destroyer Emblem, Sorcerer Emblem, Celestial Emblem/Celestial Shell, Avenger Emblem/Celestial Stone, Star Veil
• Buffs: Ironskin, Lifeforce, Magic Power, Regeneration, Thorns, Wrath, Endurance (Buff), Night Owl (Optional) Shine (Optional) and Hunter (Optional)

The mage set is perhaps the most powerful set due to the armor's ability to heal the caster and his/her allies. Despite making the wearer somewhat fragile, the healing output has the potential to usually pull through. The reduced damage output, however, makes it difficult to progress through the waves, so it is recommended to switch to the Spectre Mask when not in danger of dying. With the game featuring some powerful magical weapons, the mage set can provide the greatest healing currently possible (surpassing the Vampire Knives). This makes it very nifty for multi-player and extremely recommended for single-player. The best magic weapons obtainable before the Lunar events are the Blizzard Staff, Bubble Gun, Laser Machinegun, and Razorpine, though the Razorpine and Blizzard Staff can only be obtained from the Frost Moon itself. It should be noted that although the Nimbus Rod provides great damage, its mechanic makes it more of an assisting weapon. The Razorblade Typhoon not only pierces infinitely, but also is a homing weapon, making it an excellent choice for crowd control or fighting the Ice Queen. Also note that if you cannot afford the vast amounts of Greater Mana Potion/Super Mana Potion that is required for sustaining your mana, you may also arguably swap the Avenger Emblem for Magic Cuffs/Celestial Cuffs. If you are doing this event solo, it is recommended to use the Spectre Mask instead of the Spectre Hood, or your DPS will not be high enough to reach the later waves. Use the Razorblade Typhoon to kill the weaker enemies quickly, and use the Bubble Gun to decimate the grounded bosses. The Razorpine is useful against the Ice Queen, as is the Laser Machinegun.

Note: As of the 1.2.3 patch, the Mage approach has received two heavy nerfs. The first is the Spectre Hood now reducing magic damage by 40%, the second that consuming a mana potion causes Mana Sickness. This has undoubtedly reduced the capability of this tactic quite a bit. The latter nerf has likely made any "Cuffs" accessory of much greater convenience.

Ranged set:

• Armor: Shroomite armor (with a helmet variant that benefits your weapon)
• Weapons: Candy Corn Rifle, Electrosphere Launcher (using Rocket III for ammo), Nail Gun, Stynger, Snowman Cannon, Chain Gun or Tactical Shotgun (using Crystal Bullets for ammo), Tsunami (Using Ichor Arrows or Holy Arrows for ammo).
• Accessories: Destroyer Emblem/Sniper Scope, Ranger Emblem, Avenger Emblem, Celestial Stone/Celestial Shell, Star Veil

The ranged set is likely capable of lashing out the most damage. With the proper gear and a suitable positioning (to trigger/keep the armor's ability), chances are good the player can utterly destroy any incoming enemies near instantly. The ranged set does however not supply any sort of healing, and is thus more dependent on multiplayer support or an arena designed to prevent enemies from being able to deal contact damage, along with blocking enemy attacks. Crystal Bullets are recommended, as each shard can damage nearby enemies, and boss enemies can run into them, taking more damage. The Tsunami can easily take out most enemies quickly, and Holy Arrows can be used to take out groups of enemies quickly, as each shot spawns 10 stars, and Ichor arrows can easily take out boss enemies very quickly, but the lack of velocity can make hitting Ice Queens difficult.

Melee damage set:

• Armor: Beetle armor (with Beetle Scale Mail) or Chlorophyte Helmet, Turtle Scale Mail, and Hallowed Greaves for high offensive damage.
• Weapons: Vampire Knives, The Horseman's Blade, Influx Waver, Flairon, North Pole, Paladin's Hammer, Possessed Hatchet
• Accessories: Destroyer Emblem, Warrior Emblem, Avenger Emblem/Mechanical Glove/Celestial Stone/Fire Gauntlet/Celestial Shell, Star Veil

For soloing purposes, there appears to be two approaches with a melee damage set:

• Vampire Knives: This method aims to sustain the player's life through the Vampire Knives. Though it is weaker than the mage set, it is powerful enough (thanks to the high armor) to survive several waves of the Pumpkin Moon and Frost Moon events, and can thus be used as a stepping stone to obtain weapons for other sets (such as Razorpine or the Blizzard Staff).
  
• The Horseman's Blade: This method relies of the The Horseman's Blade's ability to spawn homing pumpkins. It is dependent on a cluster of statues to spawn weak monsters, much like an ordinary statue farm.
• Another method is to use The Horseman's Blade initially against the weaker monsters, as the pumpkin heads will often kill other monsters that would otherwise have been missed. The Flairon can then be used to great effect against the Everscreams and Santanks, and also the Ice queen if you can keep up with her(Fishron Wings will help with this). If the velocity of the Flairon bubbles proves too slow to catch up with the Ice Queen, the Possessed Hatchet can deal reliable damage in the meantime, while waiting for the Ice Queen to start a stationary spinning attack. Vampire Knives can be used in reserve in case the player needs to heal up. The North Pole can be used to fight the Ice Queens, as if the projectile is fired straight upwards, the queen will fly through the snowflakes left by it, and these will also fall to the ground and damage any monsters on the ground too. A melee approach has the advantage of the high defense offered by Beetle Armor, which greatly increases survivability.

Tanking set:

• Armor: Beetle armor (with Beetle Shell)
• Weapons: Vampire Knives, Terra Blade, Influx Waver

• Accessories: Paladin's Shield, Frozen Turtle Shell, Star Veil, Celestial Stone/Celestial Shell, Ankh Shield

The tanking set is, like the ranged set, aimed at multi-player. Its purpose is to direct monsters' attention so that more fragile characters can butcher them all. For this reason the set has a high value of defense, and consequently lesser damage than the other sets. If, during multi-player, the overall healing is good enough, some defense-granting accessories may arguably be replaced by damaging-increasing ones, such as those used by the melee-damage set. The weapon can similarly be something else than the Vampire Knives. Though the player probably won't die that often, this set is unlikely to perform well in single-player due to how the low damage won't allow for much wave advancement.

Mobile/console-only alternate melee

• Armor: Dragon armor or turtle armor [Dragon armor recomended]
• Weapons: Terra Blade, Paladin's Hammer or Possesed Hachet
• Accesories: Fire Gauntlet/Mechanical Glove/Moon Stone/Celestial Stone/Spooky Wings

This is a very effective mobile set with minimal preparation required, except for the acquirement of the Paladin's Hammer, the Terra Blade, the Possessed Hatchet, and repeatedly farming for Shadow Hammers if your world generated with Palladium, Orichalcum, or Titanium. The fight will be less difficult in Mobile as the Paladin's Hammer has been granted autoswing, as with all weapons.

Notes:

• All players should buff themselves during the fight. Suggested items to buff with are:
  • Potions: Any Well Fed-item, Ironskin Potion, Regeneration Potion, Swiftness Potion, Thorns Potion, Shine Potion², Night Owl Potion², Hunter Potion², Warmth Potion
    • Melee: Ale, any Flask (preferably Ichor), Obsidian Skin Potion (melee players are likely to touch the lava)
    • Ranged: Archery Potion (only if the player uses a bow or repeater)
    • Mage: Magic Power Potion, Mana Regeneration Potion
  • Stationary: Campfire, Heart Lantern, Crystal Ball (for mages), Ammo Box (for ranged users), Honey¹
  • Other: Wisp in a Bottle², Fairy Bell²

 ¹ As the honey buff is obtained by touching honey, its uptime may be tricky to maintain. It may be easier to suspend the liquid in the air using Bubble blocks, purchased from the Party Girl.  ² These items help you see monsters, but can likely be omitted without much consequence.
also this set is good for the pumpkin moon

• In addition to buff potions, players should also bring Greater Healing Potions and Super Mana Potions. As the latter is likely to be consumed in extreme quantity, the player should bring vast amounts.
• Please note that all the mentioned accessories above are recommended to have good modifiers, if not the best.
  • The mage, ranged, and melee damage sets should have Menacing (4%+ damage) or Lucky (4%+ critical strike chance) and the tanking set should have Warding (4+ Defense).
• The Star Veil's (and the Cross Necklace's) ability to increase the player's invincibility after taking damage is crucial to this fight. Without it, the player is unlikely to survive for long.
• A Wings accessory is not mandatory, but can be of help. They will not see much use until Ice Queen shows up, at which point they can be used for chasing her and dodging her attacks.
• The Vampire Knives will not work properly on targets under constant damage, such as when standing in lava or below a Nimbus Rod-cloud. A way to solve this is by making an arena in which the player is partly surrounded by a large rectangle of blocks. The Everscreams and Santa-NK1s will be able to pass through the wall and rise to the "floor" of it, (thus getting above the lava) at which point the Knives can hurt them, while the other monsters are kept outside/below the rectangle and have to remain in the lava.
• It is useful to summon at least one minion for the fight. Either the Tempest Staff, Deadly Sphere Staff, Raven Staff, or Xeno Staff will work. Using the Bewitching Table and Summoning Potion, it is possible to have three minions at once with no investment. Minion damage is maximized if the minions are summoned while wearing summoning armor, ideally Spooky Armor. The armor can be removed without penalizing the damage of those minions already summoned.