Skeletron Prime

Skeletron Prime
Statistics
Type	Boss
AI Type	Skeletron Prime Head AI
Damage	50 100 (while spinning)
Max Life	30000
Defense	25 50 (while spinning)
Drops
Coins	12
Item (Quantity)		Rate
Soul of Fright (20-30)		100%
Greater Healing Potion (5-15)		100%

For strategies on how to defeat Skeletron Prime, see Guide:Skeletron Prime strategies.

Skeletron Prime is a hardmode version of the Skeletron boss. He can be summoned with the Mechanical Skull. Players have until dawn to kill him. Like Skeletron, when the sun rises, he will begin to deal out instant kills and will take only 1 damage (2 for crits) from all attacks. It is possible to survive this form with only Spectre Boots and Wings by flying in an infinity figure. (You will need to continuously move.)

Unlike Skeletron, Skeletron Prime has four hands, each of which functions differently. The Prime Cannon fires grenades and isn't always pointed at a player. The Prime Laser shoots Death Lasers similar to those of Retinazer and The Destroyer, and is always pointed at a player. The Prime Saw swipes back and forth dealing large melee damage and homes in on players (even going hundreds of feet away in some cases) during the headspin phase. The Prime Vice also swipes around but doesn't home in during headspins.

Hands

Prime Cannon Statistics AI Type Prime Cannon AI Damage 40 grenade 30 melee Max Life 7000 Defense 25	Prime Saw Statistics AI Type Prime Saw AI Damage 52   Max Life 10000 Defense 40
Prime Vice Statistics AI Type Prime Vice AI Damage 45   Max Life 10000 Defense 35	Prime Laser Statistics AI Type Prime Laser AI Damage 25 death laser 29 melee Max Life 6000 Defense 20

Bug: Occasionally, when summoned with the Mechanical Skull, Skeletron Prime does not appear. This is confirmed to happen in Multiplayer and Singleplayer. This might happen if you summon him too close to a house.

Bug: Occasionally, Skeletron Prime's head disappears randomly, ending the fight.

Bug: Sometimes in multiplayer, when Skeletron Prime is summoned, he will suddenly die and give drops.

Bug: If you summon Skeletron Prime on a Floating Island, and teleport to a spawn point underneath the island, it will cause his limbs to disappear, and only have his head remaining to fight. A similar glitch can happen while fighting The Twins.

Notes

• While it is possible to continue the fight during the day without dying, Skeletron Prime will continually headspin and barely take any damage. In addition, his headspins then become instant kills. Due to the similarities, this phase of his behavior is sometimes called the Dungeon Guardian phase. He will do this indefinitely, even if the next night comes before he's gone.
• On large servers, if Skeletron Prime is still alive at the break of dawn, and is near the spawn point, he can go on a large killing spree. He will insta-kill everyone, then likely stay near spawn, catching anyone who tries to escape (In this state, he dashes forward at his victims, which makes him impossible to dodge). The only way to get rid of Skeletron Prime is to use admin powers to slay all NPCs (Killing all Monsters, Town NPCs and other Bosses at the same time), or lead him far away from anyone, in such a way he can't lock on anyone (If you can hear the boss music, he can likely lock on you, even if he is offscreen).
• Even in this state, he often tends to lock on to someone who is far from the spawn (underground, or simply stranded in nature), kill the victim, then fly away due to the lack of targets. You CAN technically dodge his spinning head using gravity potions, if you are skilled enough.
• The bombs fired by the Prime Cannon will not destroy blocks, and will only damage the player if they are standing on a solid block. They will also pass through wood platforms, effectively allowing the player to ignore the Prime Cannon as anything but a melee threat if using an arena built out of wood platforms.

Trivia

• The Prime part of his name may be a reference to Optimus Prime from Transformers, the "Prime" suffix having become common for large robotic entities in fiction since. It may also mean the highest rank since Skeletron Prime is like an older brother or elder of Skeletron.

History

• 1.1: Introduced.