Optional Boss: Empress of Light

Learn how to summon and defeat the Empress of Light in Terraria. This guide covers her stats, phases, attacks, and strategies for both normal and daytime fights.

The Empress of Light is an optional post-Golem boss in Terraria, comparable in difficulty to Duke Fishron. She is an extremely dangerous and beautiful boss whose attacks match her deadly appearance.

Building a specialized arena, such as a runway made of Asphalt Blocks, can significantly ease the fight. To craft Asphalt Blocks, you'll need the Blend-o-Matic from the Steampunker and x2 Stone Blocks and x1 Gel per block. A runway of around 350 blocks is recommended. Honey traps, made by buying Bubbles from the Party Girl and creating a 3x3 ring with honey in the center, can provide rapid HP regeneration. However, these may be detrimental during daytime fights where one-shot attacks are prevalent and unimpeded movement is preferred.

Fighting the Empress of Light during the daytime yields a special, powerful weapon but is incredibly difficult as all her attacks become one-shots, regardless of defense or health.

Summoning: The Empress of Light cannot naturally spawn and must be summoned by killing a Prismatic Lacewing in the Hallow. You can catch and release it elsewhere for a more convenient summoning location.

Stats / Weaknesses:

• HP: 70,000 (98,000 in Expert/Master Mode)
• Damage: 80 (184 in Expert/Master Mode)
• Defense: 50

Daytime Note: During the day, the Empress of Light's attacks will deal over 70,000 damage, resulting in an instant kill regardless of player stats.

Phases:

1. Phase 1 Attacks:
   • Prismatic Bolts: Bolts fan out and home in on the player. Enraged: More bolts, wider spread.
   • Dash Attack: Two quick dashes. Difficult to dodge without high speed (e.g., Black Spot, Asphalt).
   • Sun Dance: Hovers and emits 6 (8 when enraged) circling sun rays. Ranged players are safe; melee players need caution.
   • Everlasting Rainbow: Releases 13 stars with damaging rainbow trails that move clockwise. Ranged players safe; dangerous for melee.
   • Ethereal Lance: Beams launch swords in the direction faced. Easily dodged by jumping. Stationary players face swords from both sides. Enraged: More swords, faster launch.
   Phase 1 Pattern: Prismatic Bolts → Dash Attack → Sun Dance → Dash Attack → Everlasting Rainbow → Prismatic Bolts → Dash Attack → Ethereal Lance → Dash Attack → Everlasting Rainbow (loops).
2. Phase 2 Attacks: Intervals between attacks are quicker, causing some to mesh.
   • Ethereal Lance V2: Four waves of swords in a twisting cylinder shape (left-to-right, right-to-left, etc.). Enraged: Six formations with altered vectors.
   Phase 2 Pattern: Ethereal Lance V2 → Prismatic Bolts → Dash Attack (If enraged, Ethereal Lance V2 immediately follows, counting as the same attack) → Everlasting Rainbow → Prismatic Bolts → Sun Dance → Ethereal Lance → Dash Attack → Prismatic Bolts (Cast in a circle around her instead of above).

Enraged Note: The Empress of Light is permanently enraged during daytime fights, altering her attack patterns. In Expert/Master Mode, she is permanently enraged but does not one-shot unless fought during the day.

Strategy:

• Arena: An Asphalt runway is highly effective for dodging most attacks.
• Dodging: Prismatic Bolts require a timed jump. Ethereal Lance V1 can be dodged by maintaining max speed. Ethereal Lance V2 requires a timed jump on the first formation to narrowly avoid subsequent ones.
• Daytime Fights: Extremely challenging due to one-shot mechanics. Focus on precise dodging and high-damage output.
• Expert/Master Mode: Be aware of enraged attack patterns.

Drops (Normal Mode):

• Coins: 25g
• Empress Wings: 6.67%
• Prismatic Dye: 25%