The Moon Lord boss is the height of progression in ReLogic's sandbox game Terraria and is considered the ultimate end-game boss. Killing him grants players access to the end-game ore, Luminite, used to craft powerful items. He even has a small chance of dropping some powerful weapons, like the Meowmere, which is needed to craft the all-powerful Zenith sword.

Some Terraria players may need extra guidance on how to spawn the Moon Lord, and want to know the best strategies to defeat this boss with ease.

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How To Summon

The Moon Lord can be spawned one of two ways: Players must destroy the four Celestial Pillars that spawn in the player's world during the Lunar Event - Solar, Nebula, Vortex, and Stardust. These can be destroyed in any order. The Lunar Event is triggered after defeating the Lunatic Cultist, transforming the player's world until all the Pillars are defeated.

The other method of summoning the Moon Lord consists of using the Celestial Sigil, which can be used in any biome at any time of day. This can be crafted by coming 20 Nebula Fragments, 20 Solar Fragments, 20 Stardust Fragments, and 20 Vortex Fragments at an Ancient Manipulator crafting station.

Moon Lord will spawn approximately one minute after the final Celestial Pillar has been destroyed and the status message “Impending doom approaches...” will appear. The screen will become dimmer and the player's screen will shake 5 times until the Moon Lord appears. Players will need to ensure they have the best armor and equipment for their build, and buff potions ready.

Gearing Up: The Best Combat Builds

The optimal weapons for fighting the Moon Lord will of course be dependent upon what build the player has decided to delve into. This is a rough guide on what the best weapons and armor for this fight are, post-Lunatic Cultist, and is entirely down to player preference.

Wings or a flying mount are also basically a necessary requirement for this fight, as players will need to dodge the Moon Lord's attacks. The best wings players can wield up until this point include the Steampunk Wings,

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• Magic - For Magic users, Nebula Blaze is a good DPS weapon with a honing effect, but it has a high Mana cost. It can be crafted at an Ancient Manipulator with 18 Nebula Fragments. The Blizzard Staff has a higher DPS than Nebula Blaze, and a lower Mana cost and is also a viable option. Spectre armor is the best option for Magic users.
• Melee – Solar Eruption. It has a surprisingly long range for a Melee build, allowing players to simultaneously attack multiple parts of the Moon Lord, dealing considerable damage. It can be crafted at an Ancient Manipulator using 18 Solar Fragments. Beetle armor is the most straightforward option for Melee users, though they can also use a Chlorophyte Mask and the Valhalla armor set.
• Ranged – The Vortex Beater is craftable at an Ancient Manipulator with 18 Vortex Fragments. It deals 50-70 damage, dependent on what ammo is used. The bullets fire at a rapid rate but are highly inaccurate. It is the best gun in the game pre-Moon Lord. Ranged users should use Shroomite armor, though the bonuses are useless in this fight.
• Summoner – Summoners are possibly the weakest class in the game. Still, the Stardust Dragon Staff is possibly the best weapon for this fight. It summons a dragon that becomes longer for each additional summoning and passes through blocks dealing damage to enemies. The Stardust Dragon Staff is crafted using 18 Stardust Fragments at an Ancient Manipulator. The Spooky armor is the best option for Summoners.

Terrain Preparations & Strategies

The Moon Lord will spawn immediately on top of the player, so it is ideal to have a battle arena in the open air to avoid any potential of becoming stuck. Most of his attacks can pass through blocks, so players need to be free to strafe around him. The Moon Lord’s default position is below ground, so players will need to be in the air to attack his core later.

It is recommended that players prebuild a lengthy sky bridge, preferably out of platforms, for ease of movement. They should also have campfires placed evenly on the platforms, for that all-important passive Health regeneration. As mentioned earlier, players should also have a flying mount, like the UFO, or some wings equipped to kite around his deadly attacks.

It is advisable that the players have the Nurse NPC located safely nearby, in the event of an emergency where the player can be healed if their Health becomes critically low, and they cannot heal. Beware that the Moon Lord will teleport on top of the player if they move too far away, 150 tiles to be exact.

The Actual Fight

The Moon Lord has three eyes that need to be damaged, located in his head and hands. These eyes can only be damaged when they are in an open state and are immune when closed. They each have separate health bars. It is recommended that players aim for the eye in his forehead first. Doing so removes the potential for any Phantasmal Deathray attacks, which can zap half of an unsuspecting player's health.

The Moon Lord will also attempt to attach a Tentacle to the player, which becomes more frequent after the head eye has been defeated, occurring roughly every two seconds. His Tentacle attack inflicts the Moon Bite debuff. This prevents the players from healing for the rebuffs' duration and also restores the Moon Lord’s HP using life-steal.

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After each eye is defeated, it will spawn an unkillable enemy, True Eyes Of Cthululu. They fire Phantasmal Bolts at the player, so they must carefully dodge these attacks. Luckily, the True Eyes Of Cthululu remain stationary and are therefore easily avoided. Once his eyes have been defeated, players must still be wary as they will turn into thorny crevices that deal damage upon contact.

Once all three eyes have been defeated, the Moon Lord's chest/core will open, revealing a fourth health bar for his heart. Once this final health bar has been depleted, players will have defeated the final boss in Terraria! The Moon Lord's death will cause the screen to become blindingly white, and then rain the rewards down onto the deserving player(s)!

Rewards

The table below details all the possible and guaranteed drops awarded from beating the Moon Lord, including their drop chance with a brief item description.

Terraria is available to play on PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, iOS, and Android devices.

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