The Moon Lord in Terraria is the game’s final boss. But how can you summon this final Hardmode enemy, and how can you beat it?

How To Summon the Moon Lord in Terraria

Defeating the Lunatic Cultist boss will initiate the Lunar Events in Terraria. Players can only summon the Moon Lord by completing these events and killing each summoned pillar first. But the road to summoning and defeating the Lunatic Cultist is both lengthy and challenging. You will need to go through the following steps before you can reach this boss:

1. Defeat the Wall of Flesh boss in the current world to enter Hardmode
2. Once in Hardmode, defeat the three Mechanical bosses (The Destroyer, The Twins, and Skeleton Prime) in any order
3. Defeat Plantera in the Underground Jungle biome to obtain the Temple Key
4. Enter the Jungle Temple
5. Find and defeat the Golem in the Jungle Temple
6. Travel to the Dungeon’s entrance
7. Talk to the NPC at the Dungeon’s entrance at night to summon the Lunatic Cultist boss

Next, defeat the Lunatic Cultist boss to initiate the Lunar Events. Once you kill the last pillar, a message should appear on your screen, saying, “Impending doom approaches….” If done correctly, you have one minute before the Moon Lord appears. Note: You can also summon the Moon Lord without going through the steps mentioned in this section if you have the Celestial Sigil boss-summoning item.

How To Beat the Moon Lord in Terraria

Before killing the last pillar, make sure you are maximally prepared because the Moon Lord will spawn shortly after. That means you have little time to gather your items, equipment, and your wits before you can fight Terraria’s true final boss. Tip: Temporarily return to your town and purchase all the required items you’ll need for the final boss fight from Terraria’s NPCs. After killing the last pillar, your screen will start dimming while the objects on the screen will fluctuate. Once this phenomenon ends, the Moon Lord appears, and it’s time to fight this endgame boss. You must find and hit the Moon Lord’s “eye” when it opens. It’s only during these instances that you can deal damage to the boss. If the Moon Lord closes its eye, you should focus entirely on dodging its attacks and surviving. Also, don’t bother trying to escape the battlefield. Unlike other bosses in the game, the Moon Lord will teleport and gives chase if it senses you’re out of the battlefield.

All Moon Lord Attacks

Terraria’s Moon Lord boss is the final enemy of the game for good reason. Before this fight, bosses like King Slime have predictable attack patterns. However, the Moon Lord has more attacks than any of the rest of the game’s enemies, putting your combat skills and knowledge to the test. Its seven different attacks include:

• Six Phantasmal Spheres appear and explode after about two seconds
• The eyes in the hands spawn Phantasmal Eyes that home in on your character
• The eyes in the hands fire two Phantasmal Bolts, and these can pass through blocks
• If the eye in the head opens, it fires a Phantasmal Deathray after about 20 seconds
• The Deathray attacks will usually follow up with the Moon Lord’s attempt to “eat” the player
• Defeating an appendage will transform that limb (or head) into a thorny hole that deals damage on contact
• Defeating the head or a hand will summon the True Eye of Cthulhu, which has its own unique set of attack patterns

Moon Lord Loot Table

After defeating the Moon Lord, you’ll receive the Portal Gun and Luminite, a material that you can only acquire from this boss. If you have a sufficient amount of Luminite, you can use it to craft items like the Luminite Arrow, Nebula Armor set, and the Chlorophyte Armor set. Aside from Luminite, you may also receive other loot from the Moon Lord. These items are:

• Meowmere
• Terrarian
• Star Wrath
• S.D.M.G.
• Last Prism
• Lunar Flare
• Rainbow Crystal Staff
• Lunar Portal Staff
• Celebration Mk2
• Celebration
• Meowmere Minecart
• Moon Lord Mask
• Moon Lord Trophy

You can start going through the requirements to summon and defeat the mighty Moon Lord in Terraria with a dedicated server here!