Guide:The Destroyer strategies

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"You feel vibrations from deep below..."

The Destroyer is an early Hardmode boss. The Destroyer, Skeletron Prime, and The Twins comprise the trio of Mechanical bosses. It is a mechanical version of the Eater of Worlds.

Spawn Conditions

The Destroyer can be spawned by fulfilling any of these conditions:

• Smash a Demon/Crimson Altar. It will then have a 10% chance of appearing when night falls. Note that this condition is shared with the rest of the trio, and thus the result is not guaranteed if they have yet to be defeated, and will only work if The Destroyer has yet to be defeated;
• Use a Mechanical Worm.

It must then be defeated before the night ends.

The Fight

The Destroyer is very similar to the Eater of Worlds, in that it digs underground to strike at players from below. This must be sidestepped (especially in Expert mode), as the head deals the highest amount of damage. Each segment will individually fire Death Lasers at players. These lasers deal less damage than the body segments, but the sheer quantity of projectiles makes it difficult to dodge them all.

The Destroyer also spawns Probes throughout the fight. Probes will spawn periodically as the Destroyer takes damage, and the light on a segment will go out if its Probe has been released. Each Probe has a 33% chance to drop a heart when killed.

The Probes are both a blessing and a curse. They can deal significant damage with their lasers, and ram players to deal contact damage. However, the hearts that they drop can be a source of health. Drop to the ground if you need to gather dropped hearts, but only when doing so will not put you at risk of getting hit by the Destroyer itself.

The Destroyer has an enormous health pool to compensate for its vulnerability to piercing damage and almost-complete lack of evasion. As such, a weapon that pierces or deals area-of-effect damage is practically mandatory for this fight. However, while it may seem like a good idea to front-load a large amount of damage (for example, by summoning a Nimbus Cloud over the spot where he first spawns), because the Destroyer spawns Probes at the same rate it takes damage, you will probably find yourself overwhelmed by the sheer amount of Probes spawning at once. Find a balance between damaging the worm and dealing with Probes to survive the fight.

If engaged on a flat plain, occasionally run across until The Destroyer surfaces. This can cause the worm to spread along the ground, making it an easy target from above. This long target is particularly vulnerable to projectiles. The Daedalus Stormbow, for example, can deal massive damage to this wide target. If you have the horizontal space and speed, make use of it by flying back and forth instead of only staying in a single horizontal level to help spread its body out vertically. The more of the body you can keep exposed above ground, the more opportunities you have to deal damage.

On the other hand, if you want to ground (e.g. to gather hearts), you can fly straight up and hover until The Destroyer flies straight up at you. You can then drop to the ground quickly to gather what you need while The Destroyer slowly turns from its attack attempt. The large worm takes time to loop back around from a high jump, since outside of solid blocks and tiles burrowing enemies have little control of their movement. This gives you the time to take a breather and gather hearts.

Expert Mode

It is very important not to get touched by the head, as it can deal massive damage, bringing players from full health to zero in only two hits. Otherwise, Expert mode does not introduce any special mechanics.

General Strategies

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

Like with the Eater of Worlds, a tall, wide arena with multiple rows of Platforms can make dodging its main body easier.

Alternatively, standing on a rectangular box around 150 blocks into the air will make the Destroyer unable to reach the player while also protecting them from its lasers, leaving only the Probes as a threat.

Gearing Up

Armor

• Adamantite armor provides the overall greatest increase to all stats.
• Titanium armor is a great choice due to its high stats and the Shadow Dodge buff.
• Orichalcum armor is especially powerful as its set bonus can hit many segments.
• Palladium armor provides lower stat bonuses, but the Rapid Healing greatly increases natural regeneration.
• Hallowed armor becomes a great choice if you have already defeated a Mechanical Boss.
• Spider armor is the best choice for summoners.
• Frost armor and Forbidden armor provide weak stat bonuses, but allow you to mix different damage types. Forbidden armor also comes equipped with a set bonus that can be used against the Destroyer to great effect.

Weapons

This boss is very large, not at all agile, and consists of many segments. Any weapon that pierces, has an area of effect, or fires multiple projectiles will do well against it. If none of these are available, a fast autoswing weapon can be deadly against the main body, as you can dodge its lunge and attack continuously as it passes by. However, you will still need some way to attack at range, to deal with the Probes. As always, it is helpful to reforge your weapon(s) to get a good modifier.

For Melee users

• Swords are very effective at dealing damage to The Destroyer, especially if it attacks vertically. This takes out a lot of its health and if it keeps attacking you vertically, it will take a short amount of time to defeat it.
• Spears have great potential. If you have already defeated a Hardmode boss, the Gungnir is very effective. If it is not available, spears such as the Titanium Trident or the Adamantite Glaive are acceptable alternatives.
  • If you defeated The Twins or Skeletron Prime, you can use a Mushroom Spear. The point will go through many segments, while the spinning mushrooms deal more damage.
• Yoyos such as Chik, Hel-Fire, Amarok, or a Code 2 (if you killed at least one Mechanical boss) can easily damage multiple coils of The Destroyer quickly and with high accuracy. It does an even better job with a Yoyo Bag, as it gives a wide attacking area, as well as kill the heart-dropping Probes without having to directly target them.
• Ice Sickle also deals significant damage, while allowing you to maintain some distance from the Probes.
• The incredibly high damage of the Fetid Baghnakhs can destroy it in a matter of seconds, provided you have knockback immunity and enough attack speed to maximize its potential.
• The Shadowflame Knife is a powerful choice due to its ability to bounce off the Destroyer, hitting it and its Probes multiple times.
• The Flying Knife is very useful for the fight due to its good range and infinite piercing ability.
• Dao of Pow can do significant damage across multiple body parts.

For Ranged users

• The Daedalus Stormbow is a great weapon dealing large amounts of damage to any of the mechanical bosses killing them quite quickly especially when combined with Holy Arrows or Jester's Arrows. The Adamantite Repeater or Titanium Repeater also work well with these arrows.
• The Dart Pistol combined with Crystal Darts or the Dart Rifle combined with Cursed Darts will kill it quite easily even on Expert Mode.
• Crystal or Exploding Bullets used on any weapon with a fast firing rate will deal very high amounts of damage very quickly.
• The Onyx Blaster is the best gun available.
• The Uzi will also work very well if obtained.
• The Gatligator with Exploding Bullets is good against the Destroyer, as it is very easy to hit many segments at once even with the Gatligator's inaccuracy, and the Exploding Bullets can cause splash damage, hitting multiple segments.
• If you have already defeated Skeletron Prime, a Flamethrower can be used for this fight.

For Magic users

• The Medusa Head and Life Drain are great weapons for fighting The Destroyer, as they damage multiple segments at once, and can also strike down the Probes in a wide area.
• Thanks to its piercing ability, the Nimbus Rod is extremely effective against the Destroyer, whether you are using magic gear or not.
• Golden Shower is a decent choice due to the fact that it can pierce multiple segments at once.
• Various other piercing magic weapons can obliterate this boss in no time. Most notably the Magical Harp, Magic Dagger and the Shadowflame Hex Doll due to their piercing ability.
• The Meteor Staff deals extreme amounts of damage at a high speed, but it burns through mana extremely quickly.

For Summoners

• Pirate Staff is the best minion available for this fight. A Spider Staff can be used in the likely event that the Pirate Staff has not been obtained.
• A Queen Spider Staff or Lightning Aura Rod can contribute a small amount of damage at no cost.
• If you have already beat The Twins, the Optic Staff is a very strong choice.
• If you defeated Skeletron Prime or The Twins first, you can buy a Ballista Cane or Lightning Aura Cane, which deal excellent damage to the Destroyer.

Other options

• As unlikely as it may sound, Beenades are a viable option against the Destroyer, dealing significant damage to exposed segments and easily eliminating the Probes. While no individual hit will exceed 10 damage, the bees will deal thousands of hits to the Destroyer over a short time, finishing the battle surprisingly quickly. A Shark Tooth Necklace and Orichalcum armor are recommended for this approach.

Accessories

There are many great accessories available at this point.

• The Cross Necklace (or any of its upgrades such as the Star Veil) will make the barrage of laser bolts much more survivable.
• Frozen Wings are the best wings available at this stage, but Leaf Wings are reasonable substitutes. Lightning Boots or better will provide better ground movement. Those two accessories will allow you to move almost freely through the air and on the ground, making it easier to evade The Destroyer's body.
• The Cobalt Shield or its upgrades prevents knockback and it is practically mandatory for melee users, but useful for any class.
• The Frozen Turtle Shell is a defensive accessory that reduces damage if your health starts getting low. The Expert mode exclusive Worm Scarf is also effective.
• The Charm of Myths enhances survivability by providing regeneration and reducing the duration of Potion Sickness. To reduce the potion cooldown, it only needs to be equipped during the instant a health potion is drunk.
• An Emblem provides additional damage for your primary damage type; the Summoner Emblem and your best summoner equipment should be worn before summoning minions.
• Yoyo fighters should definitely use a Yoyo Bag, as it doubles a yoyo's damage output, as well as providing 2 extra counterweights that can do a bit more damage to him and his probes.
• Magic Quiver should be used if using a Daedalus Stormbow or any Repeater with Jester/Unholy arrows.
• Magic users who wish to rely less on Mana Potions can equip a pair of Magic Cuffs/Celestial Cuffs. Probes drop mana stars frequently.
• Since the fight takes place at nighttime, the Moon Charm will be active if equipped, and is a viable choice for melee users.
• Putrid Scent provides a generic increase to DPS and is a decent filler accessory.

As with most situations in general, it is best to reforge your accessories with damage, critical strike chance or defense increasing modifiers.

Potions

• Regeneration Potion, Endurance Potion, Lifeforce Potion, and Ironskin Potion will greatly increase survivability.
• Any food item that provides the Well Fed buff is good.
• Mana Regeneration Potion is a must for mages.
• Swiftness Potion will increase mobility.
• Rage Potion and Wrath Potion will improve DPS.
  • Magic Power Potion, Archery Potion, Ale or Sake and Summoning Potion will further improve it for Mages, Rangers, Melee, and Summoner users respectively.

Other

• An interesting weapon is the Cannon: it can deal high damage and pierce through multiple parts, giving great damage potential. However, it may be hard to get a good shot. It is best to position the cannon on platforms high up (above the Destroyer's range), point the cannon straight up, and fire.
• Assuming you are willing to farm for it, the Rod of Discord is an extremely effective tool to dodge the Destroyer's attacks.

Specific Strategies

Fireworks Strategy

There is another way for people who have a lot of money. Buy a lot of fireworks from the Party Girl. Place them on your bridge and wire them all up to a switch. Wait until The Destroyer is oriented in such a way that he is parallel to the bridge, then flip the switch and launch the rockets. The Destroyer will die quickly, although you will have to farm money for this because you will need a great amount of fireworks and wires. Alternatively, if the player has trouble getting the Destroyer lined up to their exact location, they can create multiple platforms over each other, all filled with fireworks, then make sure that the Destroyer's body covers the firing range, before setting them off.

Small tanking box Strategy

A tricky alternative way of building an arena is by creating a small box, wire up a few Heart Statues around it and some honey inside it. Combine this with high defense, a Cross Necklace and a Charm of Myths. The Destroyer himself will only deal relatively low damage, less than your healing potential, making the fight very easy.