Guide:Empress of Light strategies

Type	Boss
Environment	The Hallow
AI Type	Empress of Light AI
Damage	80110165 (melee); 120165248 (dash); 100140210 (Prismatic Bolt); 120160240 (Sun Dance); 100140210 (Everlasting Rainbow); 120140210 (Ethereal Lance); 130120180 (Ethereal Lance V2)
Max Life	70000/98000/124950
Defense	60
KB Resist	100%
Immune to
Coins	256250
Hurt
Killed
Summoned
Prismatic Bolts
Prismatic Bolts 2
Sun Dance
Everlasting Rainbow
Ethereal Lance
Dash

Type	Boss
Environment	The Hallow
AI Type	Empress of Light AI
Damage	80110165 (melee); 120165248 (dash); 90120180 (Prismatic Bolt); 100140210 (Sun Dance); 90120180 (Everlasting Rainbow); 100120180 (Ethereal Lance)
Max Life	70000/98000/124950
Defense	50
KB Resist	100%
Immune to
Coins	256250
Hurt
Killed
Summoned
Prismatic Bolts
Prismatic Bolts 2
Sun Dance
Everlasting Rainbow
Ethereal Lance
Dash

This is a Guide page.
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Status: Under revision (This Guide is currently being revised or has been revised partially. It hasn't met all quality standards yet.)

The Empress of Light is a Hardmode post-Plantera boss fought in the Hallow.

Spawn Conditions

The Empress of Light can be spawned by killing the special critterPrismatic Lacewing, which is a rare critter that spawns in the surface Hallow during the night once Plantera has been defeated in the world. As it is a rare creature, it can be detected by the Lifeform Analyzer. The Prismatic Lacewing can only spawn between 7:30 PM and 12:00 AM, and only one can have spawned in the world at any given time.

Like most critters, the Prismatic Lacewing can be caught with any bug net, which can then be released, and killed, by the player manually. This can be used to spawn the boss at a more desired place and time. However, the critter will almost instantly despawn if released outside of the Hallow, so it must be killed quickly in order to summon the boss. If you want to catch multiple Lacewings in one night, it is recommended to farm for them during a Blood Moon.

The Fight

Time of Day

The Empress of Light, if summoned by a natural spawning Lacewing, will be fought at night. She will enrage if still alive or if summoned during the daytime, causing her attacks to do tens of thousands of damage, instantly killing players who are hit by her attacks. This enraged state is indicated by her attacks turning from rainbow to bright yellow.

She will always drop the Terraprisma if all damage dealt to her was during the day.

Attacks

Prismatic Bolts – Summons a cloud of prismatic bolts that home in on the player after a short time. These bolts do not have perfect tracking, and will miss if the player makes a sharp turn as they approach. If enraged, extra bolts are created, and they will spread out more before homing onto the player.
Dash Attack – Positions herself to the left or right of the player before charging horizontally in the player’s direction.
Sun Dance – Hovers above and slightly to the left of the player and emits 6 rays of light (8 if enraged) that slowly rotate clockwise. 3 sets of rays are created per sun dance, each positioned slightly more clockwise from the last.
Everlasting Rainbow – Releases a ring of 13 stars that spiral out clockwise, then spiral back in the same direction. These stars leave behind a trail of light that will damage the player.
Ethereal Lance – Summons a swarm of swords that launch in the direction the player was headed when they were summoned, telegraphed by colored beams. These swords are summoned behind where the player was moving, or all around the player if they were stationary. The swords do no damage until launched. If enraged, extra swords are summoned, and they will launch faster.

Attack Pattern

The Empress has set attack patterns for both of her phases.

First phase

When spawned, the Empress will hover in place for a few seconds before executing the following attacks in order:

Prismatic Bolts
Dash Attack
Sun Dance
Dash Attack
Everlasting Rainbow
Prismatic Bolts
Dash Attack
Ethereal Lance
Dash Attack
Everlasting Rainbow

This sequence of attacks will repeat indefinitely until the second phase starts.

Second phase

When the Empress is below half of her max health, she will disappear for a second, then reappear above the next estimated location of the player before executing a new set of attacks, with slightly shorter attack intervals than before:

Ethereal Lance Ver. 2: Summons four evenly spaced waves of swords that travel across the screen, telegraphed by colored beams. The first wave travels from the left side of the screen to the right, the second from right to left, the third wave from top-left to bottom-right, and the fourth wave from top-right to bottom-left.
- If enraged, there will instead be six waves of swords that target specific points around the player instead of traveling from one side of the screen to the other. The first wave travels from the left side of the screen to the right of the player, the second wave from the right side to the left of the player, the third wave from top side to the bottom-right of the player, the fourth wave from top side to bottom-left of the player, the fifth wave from the bottom side to top-right of the player, and the sixth wave from the bottom side to top left of the player.
Prismatic Bolts
Dash Attack
- If enraged, she will cast Ethereal Lance after the dash before resuming her normal pattern (targets where the player is rather than where they will be, or do nothing if the player is stationary)
Everlasting Rainbow
Prismatic Bolts
Sun Dance
Ethereal Lance
Dash Attack
Prismatic Bolts (Cast in a circle around the Empress instead of a cloud directly above her)

This sequence of attacks will repeat indefinitely until she is defeated.

General Strategies

General Tips

This content is transcluded from Guide:Practical Tips § Combat.

For nocturnal bosses, starting the battle just after the sun sets (7:30 PM) will provide the maximum amount of time to defeat the boss. In Hardmode, the Moon Charm and/or Moon Stone and their upgrades are also useful at night.
Boss battles can be won or lost before the battle ever starts. Choose your equipment and have it ready; find and/or make potions and placed buffs; use the highest-tier food you have available; set up an arena appropriate to the boss; learn the strategies for the boss you're facing.
Prepare your Boss-fighting arena with adequate lighting, Campfires and Heart Lanterns for health regeneration, and Stars in Bottles for mana regeneration if you use magic. Bast Statues will provide a significant defensive boost. Garden Gnomes and (if underground) proper torch placement will reduce damage taken and increase damage dealt due to the luck. Note Torch God's Favor helps with this. Honey pools can also be used for extra health regeneration.
Sunflowers provide the Happy! buff to players within a 50-tile radius, which grants a +10% movement speed bonus and 17% reduction in enemy spawn rate.
Always carry around a stack of the highest-tier healing potion available, as relying only on natural Health Regeneration is not a good idea. Depending on the game stage, this can include items such as Mushrooms or Honeyfins. On the PC, Console, Mobile, and tModLoader versions, Restoration Potions are healing potions with a shorter cooldown.
- Likewise carry mana potions, if you use Magic.
- The Strange Brew is also an option, but its weak healing effect will trigger the Potion Sickness cooldown as well as Mana Sickness. On the Old-gen console version, Windows Phone version, Old Chinese version, Nintendo 3DS version, and tModLoader 1.3-Legacy version, Restoration Potions can save a slot, but will likewise trigger both cooldowns.
It is suggested to build houses for the Dryad and the Nurse NPCs in your arena. The former casts the Dryad's Blessing buff, which increases your defense and provides you with a thorns-like effect, while the latter can heal and remove debuffs instantly, at the cost of some coins.
Bosses are displayed on the Minimap: Follow the boss's icon to track it when you're struggling to find it. You can identify the boss icons by checking their respective wiki pages.
Once you have freed the Mechanic in the Dungeon, you can use Wire to enhance your arena with Traps and helpful Heart and Star Statues. The former helps to damage the enemies, though be careful to set them up correctly in order not to hurt yourself during the battle. The latter will spawn heart and star pickups, respectively. Connect these devices to timers.
It may be useful to summon and kill the Eye of Cthulhu or King Slime before summoning any harder boss in order to spawn an extra one-use pool of Hearts. Note that this will prevent any Heart Statues from spawning new Hearts.
Remember to use the Sharpening Station, Ammo Box, Crystal Ball, Bewitching Table, and Slice of Cake before you go to explore or battle bosses/invasions. These will give boosts that are useful to take, with the first four being class-specific. They give Sharpened, Ammo Box, Clairvoyance, Bewitched, and Sugar Rush, respectively.

Terrain Preparation

Seeing how Empress of Light's moves (namely Everlasting Rainbow, Prismatic Bolts and Sun Dance) can easily trap you; a wide, a large arena is strongly suggested for the fight against her if you don't possess an infinite-flying mount. The arena should span as far as your hallowed biome can be (this doesn't matter on Expert or Master as she will always use her enraged set, so you can span your arena even to space), and you should make it longer if your hallowed biome isn't large enough. At least long rows of 3-5 platforms fairly separated from each other will do.

Teleporters are recommended to easily avoid getting clustered by her moves, but be wary of her dash. Her prismatic bolts should also be taken note of due to them homing quite quickly and having a fair range.
Fighting her in the Ocean provides a large open space to move around which can help a lot.
A reliable strategy to defeat the Empress during the day is to lay down Minecart Tracks in a large loop. This has a distinct advantage over using Asphalt Blocks, because enemies cannot spawn on Minecart Tracks. Booster Tracks can also be used to quickly accelerate to full speed upon summoning the Empress. This is especially helpful on Expert or Master mode since the Mechanical Cart is available.
Another option if you are playing on Master Mode when Minecart Tracks aren't available at the moment is to use The Black Spot Mount as it has the highest horizontal & diagonal acceleration out of all other Mounts in the game.

Gearing up

Armor

Hallowed armor provides very solid stats and its incredible Holy Protection set bonus makes it a solid choice for all classes. This armor is especially useful when fighting her at day time when attempting to get the Terraprisma, as Holy Protection can consistently allow the player to survive the Empress' hits.
Beetle armor for a melee character will be better for maximum offense or defense, depending on the chest piece used.
The Hallowed Headgear, Valhalla Knight's Breastplate and Dark Artist's Leggings make for the best magic armor in the game due to Valhalla's regeneration and the solid DPS found in the other two armor pieces. The Spooky Breastplate may be preferable instead to use two extra minions at the cost of regeneration.
Spooky armor is the best armor for Summoners.

Weapons

All classes can fare well with the Empress of Light.

For Melee users:

The Influx Waver is the best sword available with a fairly strong projectile that can hit three times. The Seedler is a weaker alternative.
The Flairon is also viable thanks to its good damage and homing capabilities.
The Eye of Cthulhu may also be used for good damage, although its reach is lacking.

For Ranged users:

The Tsunami is a very strong option with great accuracy and power when using Ichor Arrows or Venom Arrows. The Aerial Bane can be seen as a weaker alternative.
The Xenopopper is the strongest gun available, with very high damage and good accuracy. Crystal Bullets are the strongest available for use.
- The Chain Gun with crystal or Chlorophyte Bullets can be seen as weaker, but easier to use.
The Piranha Gun is another good option, providing consistent and strong DPS with homing capabilities.
The Electrosphere Launcher is great to use against the Empress of Light while she's using her Sun Dance.

For Magic users:

Betsy's Wrath is ideal due to its powerful defense-lowering Debuff.
The Blizzard Staff is a very good choice due to its consistent and high DPS on the fight. The Razorpine is an alternative with roughly the same mana cost/DPS ratio but shorter range. The Laser Machinegun is a weaker version of both but can still be viable.
The Razorblade Typhoon may be utilized due to its homing capabilities at long range. However its very lacking DPS makes it a bad choice as a main weapon.

For Summoners:

Summoning Weapons are great for the Empress of Light during the day due to the fact that they'll target the Empress of Light and occur consistent damage. Use Summoning Weapons if you aren't great at dodging and attacking at the same time.

The Xeno Staff is the best summoning weapon that you can use against the Empress of Light due to its constant DPS and perfect accuracy.
The Raven Staff may be used as a 'weaker alternative', losing the perfect accuracy for some more raw damage.
For whips, the Morning Star is your best bet for boosting your minions' damage. The Dark Harvest may be utilized for you to be able to damage the Empress of Light yourself.

Accessories

Wings are a necessity in this fight, the Fishron Wings or Betsy's Wings being the best available for a boss fight.
The Mechanical Glove is the best accessory for Whips, giving them autoswing and boosting secondary melee weapons used after tagging the Empress.
The Yoyo Bag must be used for The Eye of Cthulhu.
The Master Ninja Gear is an incredibly useful mobility item due to its dash alongside its dodge chance.
The Brain of Confusion and the Worm Scarf are great items for survivability.
- During day time, the Brain of Confusion and Master Ninja Gear can allow a player to dodge an attack that would normally instantly kill them, especially when paired alongside Hallowed armor.
As a ranger, equipping both the Recon Scope and the Sniper Scope will maximize DPS. Due to their multiplicative increases, the Magic Quiver and its upgrades are slightly better choices for the Tsunami.
The Celestial Shell is a very good choice for all classes due to its large boosts to both offensive and defensive stats.
The Celestial Emblem is a strong magic damage accessory that can be used with Star Statues for mana regeneration.
The Papyrus Scarab and the Necromantic Scroll are good offensive summoner combat accessories, giving a total of 2 extra minion slots with better damage.
TheAmphibian Boots give a very noticeable ascent speed boost and some utility on the ground with its extra running speed. They can be used together with a Frog Leg or one of its tinkers for even higher ascent speed.
The Charm of Myths can be used for free by keeping it on a vanity slot and only swapping to it when a Healing Potion is used.
The Frozen Shield is the best knockback immunity shield due to its high defense and Ice Barrier effect.
If you have already fought her at night and you are looking to challenge yourself during the day, the Soaring Insignia can help immensely if you are in a large, open space.
- Note that this is an Expert Mode exclusive item.

Potions

The Flask of Ichor, Ale, Archery Potion, Mana Regeneration Potion, and Magic Power Potion are very helpful for their respective classes. Mana Regeneration in particular is by far the most important buff for magic users.
The Lifeforce Potion, Ironskin Potion, Regeneration Potion and Endurance Potion will assist in survivability.
- Any item that provides a Well Fed buff, such as Pumpkin Pie or Bowl of Soup, can be used.

Others

The ability to teleport from the Hook of Dissonance and the Rod of Discord can be useful to dodge hits.
In master mode worlds, the Hexxed Branch mount is useful to move quickly, as it very quickly reaches its max speed even while in the air. Because it cannot fly or double jump, using it without wings is not a good idea.
The Slimy Saddle and Gelatinous Pillion mounts allow the player to quickly descend during the fight, making them the best mounts to use alongside Wings.

Strategies

Minecart Strategy

Build a minecart rail around the whole world. After summoning the Empress of Light, ride the minecart around. The only dodging you'll do is when she starts using Prismatic Bolts, as the other attacks can't reach you.

You and What Army Strategy

Use multiple summoning items that give you attack minions. As they'll target the Empress of Light, you'll be free to focus on dodging. The Stardust Dragon is recommended for this.

You can combine the Minecart Strategy with this for extra power and dodging.

↑ Information taken from the PC 1.4.0.5 source code, RegisterBoss_HallowBoss() in Terraria.GameContent.ItemDropRules.ItemDropDatabase.cs. There may be inaccuracies, as the current PC version is 1.4.4.9.

[hbdrops-1] Information taken from the PC 1.4.0.5 source code, RegisterBoss_HallowBoss() in Terraria.GameContent.ItemDropRules.ItemDropDatabase.cs. There may be inaccuracies, as the current PC version is 1.4.4.9.

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