The Empress of Light is one of the toughest bosses in Terraria. It barrages players with a flurry of attacks and features an even harder difficulty level if players want to loot the mighty Terraprisma. With that, here's how to summon Empress of Light, all of her attacks, some tips and tricks, and all of the many items you can loot by defeating her.

How to Summon Empress of Light In Terraria

Note that you can only summon the Empress of Light in Terraria after defeating the Plantera boss. Only then will the rare critter, Prismatic Lacewing, appear on the surface above the Hallow biome. Killing this creature will immediately summon the boss, leaving little to no time for players to start battling it. Players also often fight the Empress of Light at night, since the Prismatic Lacewing only appears between 7:30 PM to 12:00 AM. However, you can fight this boss in the day by catching the Prismatic Lacewing with a Bug Net. Then, release the rare critter in the daytime, kill it, and you can fight the Empress of Light to start your day instead. Warning: The enraged form of the Empress of Light will appear during the day, which makes the fight more difficult than normal, but it could be worthwhile as it is required to receive the Terraprisma.

How To Beat Empress of Light

Prepare your dodging shoes because you’ll be doing plenty of it in this fight. Cenx, one of the game's developers, even introduced the Empress of Light as a “beautiful bullet hell.” But stay focused, and you might emerge as the victor of this fight. Despite the various attacks, players’ chances of surviving this battle may rise if they know the boss’ attack pattern. Unlike other bosses, the Empress of Light’s attacks will be in a specific sequence, meaning with the right patterns, you'll be able to plan out this boss fight down to every detail. It might also be ideal to bring a ranged or magic weapon to this fight. Melee weapons can still be effective against Empress of Light, but the high risk of high contact damage means it's a dangerous game.

Attacks and Attack Order

The Empress of Light slightly falls short of the Moon Lord for the most number of attacks for a Terraria boss, but at least they're in exact patters. Its attacks include:

• Prismatic Bolts: Lasers appear and home in on the player’s direction
• Prismatic Bolts 2: Lasers appear and move in a clockwise spiral
• Dash: Rams the player with its body
• Sun Dance: Six light rays slowly rotate around the Empress of Light’s body
• Everlasting Rainbow: Releases 13 stars from the boss’ body
• Ethereal Lance: A swarm of swords appears and launches in the player’s direction
• Ethereal Lance 2: Summons four swords that move in different directions across the screen

During the first phase, the Empress of Light’s attack order is as follows:

1. Prismatic Bolts
2. Dash
3. Sun Dance
4. Dash
5. Everlasting Rainbow
6. Prismatic Bolts
7. Dash
8. Ethereal Lance
9. Dash
10. Everlasting Rainbow

When it drops below 50% health, the boss’ appearance changes and the second phase begins. The attack order also changes to the following:

1. Ethereal Lance 2
2. Prismatic Bolts
3. Dash
4. Everlasting Rainbow
5. Prismatic Bolts
6. Sun Dance
7. Ethereal Lance
8. Dash
9. Prismatic Bolts 2

Also, if a player decides to fight the Empress of Light during the day, each of the boss’ attacks deals an absurd amount of damage upon contact. Some of its attacks can also one-hit-kill an unprepared player. Some attacks also change appearances and behaviors:

• Prismatic Bolts 2: Additional lasers appear
• Sun Dance: Eight rays appear instead of six
• Ethereal Lance: Extra swords appear, and the launch speed is faster than normal
• Ethereal Lance 2: Six swords appear instead of four, and their behavior changes

Loot Table

Should you defeat this mighty boss, you'll have a chance to loot the following items:

• Nightglow
• Starlight
• Kaleidoscope
• Eventide
• Empress Wings
• Prismatic Dye
• Stellar Tune
• Rainbow Cursor
• Empress of Light Mask
• Empress of Light Trophy
• Greater Healing Potion
• Terraprisma (only drops if fought during the day and the player receives no damage)