_____ _ |_ _| (_) | | ___ _ __ _ __ __ _ _ __ _ __ _ | |/ _ \ '__| '__/ _` | '__| |/ _` | | | __/ | | | | (_| | | | | (_| | \_/\___|_| |_| \__,_|_| |_|\__,_| +-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+-+ |H|a|r|d| |M|o|d|e| |B|o|s|s| |G|u|i|d|e| +-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+ +-+-+-+-+-+ by Shawn Overcash email: d_s_i_1@c_a_r_o.n_e_t (remove the underscores) +--------------+ | Introduction | +--------------+ This guide is designed to give you the information you need to beat the hard mode bosses on Terraria. These three bosses are the supreme challenge in the game, and can be extremely challenging for unprepared players. This guide will cover the preparations, equipment, and tactics you will need to defeat these bosses. +-----------------+ | Character Build | +-----------------+ Terraria supports three character builds - Melee, Ranged, and Magic. Before you beging tackling a hard mode boss, you should decide which character build you wish to use. Some builds do not work well against some bosses. - A melee character is good against The Destroyer, but is completely useless against The Twins and Skeletron Prime since they fly. - A ranged character is good against The Twins and Skeletron Prime, but will have problems with The Destroyer because of his many body segments. - A magic character is good against all three bosses. If you prefer using a melee or ranged character, you will need to switch to a different character build for the boss battles that they are not good for. The Equipment section below will talk about the recommended equipment for each character class. +-----------+ | Equipment | +-----------+ -- Armor -- To fight each boss, it is recommended that you have a full set of adamantite armor, with the headwear that matches your character build - Helmet for melee, Mask for ranged, and Headgear for magic. The bosses hit for a lot of damage, so you will need all of the protection you can get. Plus, each set gives a really nice attack bonus for the character build it is made for. -- Weapon -- For The Twins and Skeletron prime, the best weapon is a fast-firing weapon with a long range. For ranged characters, the Clockwork Assault rifle is recommended. You will also need all four ammo slots filled with ammo - cursed bullets work well because they cause damage over time. An adamantite repeater can also be used, but is a little more difficult because of the slower rate of fire. For magic characters, the best weapon is Crystal Storm. [Note: If you have already defeated the Destroyer, the Megashark works very well for these bosses.] For The Destroyer, a weapon that can hit multiple times is best, because it will be able to damage multiple body segments. For a melee character, any good sword, flail, or spear will work. A ranged character can use a clockwork assault rifle with meteor shot. For magic users, a Magic Scythe works reasonably well. If you have already defeated the twins, the best weapon to use is a Magical Harp. The notes can hit an unlimited amount of times until they disappear, and will bounce off of walls. This will tear through The Destroyer very quickly. -- Accessories -- Every character should have a set of Wings. Without wings you simply cannot avoid the attacks of the Twins and Skeletron Prime. Angel or Demon Wings will work. Also, a set of Spectre Boots should be worn to increase the amount of air time that the wings provide. Every character should also have an Emblemfor their build. These tokens, dropped by the Wall of Flesh, increase all damage of the specified type by 15%. The Warrior, Ranger, and Sorcerer Emblems benefit melee, ranged, and magic character builds, respectively. Magic characters will need a Mana Flower. This will reduce mana usage, but more importantly will automatically use mana potions when you run out of mana. You don't want to try to use mana potions manually during a battle. The last accessory (or accessories) depend on personal choice. Some recommended ones, in decreasing order, are: - Philosopher's Stone - to decrease the cooldown time on healing potions. - Cross Necklace - to increase your invulnerability time after a hit. - Obsidian Shield - increases defense and prevents knockback. - Feral Claws for melee characters. - Band of Starpower for magic characters. - Band of regeneration. The Philosopher's Stone is most useful because the bosses do a LOT of damage when they hit, and you will need to use healing potions to stay alive. The obsidian shield is nice for the defense, but knockback isn't really a problem against the flying bosses. The bands of regeneration/starpower are last choices because they don't provide enough of a benefit to make much difference. A Star Cloak is also useful against The Destroyer, since you will get hit often in an enclosed space. -- Buffs -- Buffs can make a big difference in your survivability. The following potions are recommended: - Iron Skin - Bowl of Soup - Archery Potion (for Ranged characters) - Magic Power Potion (for Magic characters) - Mana Regeneration Potion (for Magic characters) - Regeneration Potion - Swiftness Potion - Thorns Potion Have several of each of these potions in your inventory, and when you summon the boss, hit the 'B' key to use them at once. During the battle you can hit the B key again when buffs wear off to automatically use the potions again. Don't worry - you won't use a potion for a buff that is still active, so no potions will be wasted. [Note: Some people prefer using a gravitation potion for flight, and replacing the spectre boots withanother accessory, but keeping the wings to prevent falling damage.] For magic characters, you should also make sure to have a crystal ball placed somewhere convenient, and use it just before summoning the boss. This item gives a 10 minute buff to several magic attributes. -- Miscellaneous -- Make sure you have plenty of Greater Healing Potions available, preferably an entire stack, although hopefully you will not use them all. Each boss will drop several of these upon death, so you don't have to worry much about restocking them after a battle. Make sure the potions are on the left side of your inventory screen so that they will be used first when you hit the 'H' key. It may also be useful to remap the health key to 'Q' so that it is easier to use during the boss fight, and so that you don't accidentally drop your weapon during the fight. If you are using a magic character, you should also have several stacks of Greater Mana Potions. You will use these very quickly, and running out during the middle of the fight is a great way to die. +----------------+ | Combat Tactics | +----------------+ -- The Twins -- The Twins are probably the hardest boss. They appear as two Eye of Cthulhu tied together by a rope. Initially, the red eye (Retinazor) will shoot laser beams, while the green eye (Spazmatism) will shoot cursed flames. Both eyes will also charge at you occasionally. When they reach half health, the eyes will change forms. The red eye will grow a gun that shoots more quickly, and occasionally shoots a rapid-fire burst of shots. The green eye will grow a mouth, and alternates between shooting flames like a flamerthrower and making a very aggressive charge at the player. Since the second form of each eye is more dangerous, I recommended that you focus all attacks on one eye until it is dead. That way you don't have to deal with both of the more dangerous forms at once. The twins should be fought outside. The key to survival is constant movement. You should use your wings to full effect. Only hit the ground when you run out of wing power, and immediately take off again. Wings protect you from falling damage, so don't float to the ground - drop like a rock. Try to keep your distance from the twins, but don't get too far away or they will despawn. Keep firing constantly - you don't have to make each shot count. If you have plenty of ammo this shouldn't be a problem. Concentrate on one eye until it is dead before moving to the other one. The twins disappear if not defeated by dawn. -- The Destroyer -- The Destroyer appears as a robotic form of the Eater of Worlds. It is extremely long - 80 or more segments. Each segment starts with a red probe attached. Occasionally The Destroyer will fire a laser at the player from every attached probe. Outside this can be devastating and impossible to avoid, so it is best to fight The Destroyer underground in a mid-size cave. You want the cave small enough so that you have cover from the laser shots, but large enough that you can move around to avoid the body segments. The key is to just keep attacking the boss, but try to move away from it enough that you don't take damage from the passing body segments, and don't get trapped by them. Unlike the Eater of Worlds, The Destroyer has a single health value, and never breaks apart. That means that you don't have to deal with more than one worm at a time. However, once a segment has received a certain amount of damage the probe will detach and fly after the player. The probes themselves only have 200 health and so should be dispatched relatively quickly. The Destroyer does less damage when it hits than the other bosses, meaning it is quite possible to go toe-to-toe with it with a melee weapon. Also, melee weapons can hit more than once, which help when the body segments are flying by. The Destroyer will disappear if not defeated by dawn. -- Skeletron Prime -- Skeletron Prime appears as a giant skill with four robotic arms. Two arms do melee damage, one shoots lasers, and one drops grenades. Skeletron Prime can be fought using the same tactics as The twins - keep flying and shooting constantly. Landing is especially dangerous because of the grenades that he shoots. The grenades will pass through wooden platforms, so landing on these is relatively safe. The skull is the main target, so focus on it. The arms can be destroyed, but it isn't really worth the effort. Occasionally the skull will start spinning and move towards the player for a melee attack. When in this form, its defense goes up, but it still takes damage, so keep shooting. If Skeletron Prime is not defeated by dawn it gains the ability to do instant kills, and only takes one damage from all attacks. +------------------------+ | Final Notes and Advice | +------------------------+ - Make sure you have everything in place before summoning - weapon, armor, accessories, healing/mana potions, and buff potions. - It might be useful to hook one or more heart statues to timers in order to generate healing hearts that you can grab them for a quick healing boost. - This should be obvious, but having a friend to help makes life much easier. Not only do you get the additional firepower, but the bosses will only despawn if both of you die at once. That means that if you die, you can get back into the battle if your friend can survive long enough. - Start all fights at sundown when the music changes. This will give you the maximum amount of time to kill them before sunrise. (You'll need it.) - During the fight, keep a close eye on your health. Once it gets to about halfway (200), use a healing potion.