The Lunatic Cultist is one of the final gatekeepers before facing the final boss ofTerraria. Players will want to defeat the Lunatic Cultist to initiate the Lunar Events and proceedthe story. Killing a Lunatic Cultist will also provide the player with the Ancient Manipulator, a powerful crafting station for Lunar and Luminite-based gear.
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For many players the Lunatic Cultist is a test of DPS and the player’s ability to dodge or mitigate damage. If the player is struggling to defeat this false prophet than they’ll have a really hard time with the final foe. There are some general and specific tips players can use to prepare to bring down the ultimate Cultist.
How To Summon
There is only one way to summon the Lunatic Cultist. The player must locate and defeat:
All four enemies are located at the entrance of the Dungeon after the Golem has been slain. Once the fourth Cultist falls the Lunatic Cultist will appear and the battle will begin immediately.
The Lunatic Cultist can be resummoned by completing the Celestial Event. After doing so and and after one day passes the four Cultists will respawn and can be defeated again to resummon the Lunatic Cultist. This can be done to farm the unique Lunar Event spawns multiple times.
Fighting Tactics
The Lunatic Cultist is all about distraction and chaos. Upon spawning he will be invulnerable to attack, the player must wait for him to move away from the spawn point to be able to attack him.
Initially the Lunatic Cultist has three attacks:
Phase 2
After dropping to half health the Lunatic Cultists adopts a fourth maneuver. He can summon five Ancient Light projectiles. Its recommended to destroy these as dodging them can be difficult with everything else going on.
If the player is on Expert Mode the Lunatic Cultist can also bring in Ancient Dooms that fire purple projectiles in all four directions. The player should avoid getting struck by these at all cost as they deal some of the greatest damage the Lunatic Cultist is capable of.
In both phases the Lunatic Cultist will begin to use duplicates after attacking four to five times. If these duplicates are destroyed or survive for a period of time a Phantasm Dragon will be summoned forth. If a Phantasm Dragon is already present than an Ancient Vision will appear.
When a Phantasm Dragon appears two of the duplicates the Lunatic Cultist has summoned will start attacking the player. They aren’t nearly as strong as the Lunatic Cultist or as aggressive. But they will make dodging more complicated and every bit of damage adds up.
General Strategies
It’s strongly recommended the player fights the Lunatic Cultist at night. The reason behind this is that the duplicates will be easier to identify as they put off a strong glow at night while the real Lunatic does not.
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The key to this battle is to manage summons/duplicates and put the Lunatic Cultist down as quickly as possible. The player can prevent the Phantasm Dragon and the Ancient Vision from appearing by damaging the Lunatic Cultist when its attempting to call them forth.
The clones are a problem as the more the player attacks them the more things will be summoned onto the map. If the player isn’t careful they’ll be swimming in an army of duplicates, Dragons, and Ancient Visions. It’s important to keep the pressure on the real Lunatic Cultist and avoid the imposters.
The longer this fight drags on the more time the Lunatic Cultist has to summon clones which will join the battle and summon Phantasm Dragons and Ancient Visions. The player should not be passive in this fight, every second that goes by is another opportunity for a new enemy to join the fight and make things even more complicated.
Preparing The Battlefield
The shape of the arena should be whatever the player feels comfortable with. Something simple with a few platforms used for standard boss fights will be plenty. The important part is to set the stage with lighting, traps, and statues. Here are some recommendations.
Helpful Boosts
The standard buffs the player should be using on any boss are obviously just as important here:
Potions
There are some staple potions player should have in this fight:
But for this particular fight players should strongly consider having the Hunter Potion. This Potion will allow the player to see who the real Lunatic Cultist is whenever it starts creating duplicates. This is especially important if the player chooses to fight in the day time.
Armor
Armor should be tailored to the player’s fighting style and character build. Armor choices are limited as the player should be equipping the best the game has to offer at this point. In reality each character type has a single armor set they should be wearing with only a minor tweak here and there based on playstyle or needs. Lesser armor choices can be used, but it’s not recommended.
Weapons
Weapon choices will be based on the player’s chosen build and playstyle. Some characters will have a much easier choice in this fight though all classes will possess the ability to beat the Lunatic Cultist. Accuracy, speed, and bursts of damage is key in this fight to avoid hitting clones and quickly take down the fast moving Lunatic Cultist.
Melee
Melee users have the advantage of being able to target the Lunatic Cultist more precisely while still having homing-based weapons. It’s also very easy to get mobbed by summons and clones if the player doesn’t act quickly and keep the pressure on the Lunatic Cultist.
Ranged
Ranged users have a lot of AOE weapons with monstrous damage potential. Sure you’ll probably hit a few of the clones, but it won’t matter if the Lunatic Cultist is nothing more than a pile of ashes. Being able to hit him as he’s moving around can be tricky though.
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Magic
Magic users have some powerful options to blast the Lunatic Cultist quickly. The options are either being patient with homing weapons or possibly win fast at the risk of facing an army of summons/clones.
Summoners
Summoners like in many boss fights will have a tougher road than other classes. Still there are some powerful minions if the player has done well so far. All minions run the risk of creating more enemies to face, but allow the player to focus their attention on the real Lunatic Cultist.
Handy Accessories
Accessories are always handy for filling in gaps in the character’s fighting strategy or nudging their stats and abilities to higher levels. Lots of mobility to keep up with the Lunatic Cutlists is helpful as well as anything to nudge damage a bit higher.
Players should also note that all their gear should be customized to have Lucky, Menacing, or Warding. If a piece of gear doesn’t have one of these modifiers it’s highly recommended to put off the fight with Lunatic Cultist to get this done.
Final Thoughts
Players should remember that this fight will begin after finishing another fight with four Cultists. This is something that should be accounted for in terms of having enough Potions, Ammo, and consumables to survive both fights.
Making sure to avoid harming the clones and ending the fight quickly are the most important aspects of any strategy. Players that frequently harm the clones will have to contend with more enemies which allows the Lunatic Cultist more time to attack and summon even more clones. It’s also a tremendous waste of bullets. The exception to this rule is if the player needs a Phantasm Dragon for Health leech strategies.
Finally players should remember that this is the second to last boss of the story in this game. It is meant to be hard and players often hit a wall when entering this fight. That’s on purpose, if you may’t bring down the Lunatic Cultist odds are you’re going to struggle against the final boss. Take your time, find better gear, do some farming and crafting, and start this fight on the right footing.
