How to beat the first Terraria bosses for new players

The biggest thing setting Terraria apart from its fellow sandbox games is its intense showdowns with bosses, and that’s the thing new players can struggle with most.

New players hopping into the game for the first time may find the early mining and ore collection process oddly familiar. But when it comes time to make real progress, the cold reality of combat starts to set in. Terraria’s true gameplay revolves around making yourself stronger so you can defeat stronger and stronger opponents, and the early bosses are no pushover for inexperienced players.

If you’re just now getting into the wide-open sandbox, here’s how to prep for the game’s first three major bosses.

Eye of Cthulu is the perfect tutorial boss

The Eye of Cthulu is designed to teach players all about how Terraria bosses work, with a crafting-based summoning requirement and fairly straightforward mechanics.

To summon the Eye of Cthulu, players will need to either find or, much more likely, craft a Suspicious Looking Eye. This item is made from six Lenses, which drop from the flying eye enemies that spawn at night.

It’s also possible to find a Suspicious Looking Eye in an underground chest, but its usually easier to farm enemies to craft them. Each one is consumed on use, so try to make multiple in case of any failed attempts. Remember that you must use an altar in either the Crimson or Corruption biomes to craft the Suspicious Looking Eye, so try to stock up before the dangerous journey.

Since the Eye of Cthulu is fought so early on, players only need to make minimal gear progression. It’s recommended to use either Ninja Armor or the highest-tier ore armor available to you for the fight. Ninja Armor grants extra mobility, which will make it easier to dodge its charge attacks.

As for weapons, either the highest tier of ore longsword or bows are recommended. Attacking from a distance will make the fight a lot easier, and throwing weapons can help finish it off once it gets to low health.

As one of the very first bosses in Terraria, the Eye of Cthulu is also a great opportunity to learn how to build boss arenas. While it is possible to fight the Eye in any setting, it often helps to build a simple temporary structure out of wooden platforms for the fight. This will allow you to dodge vertically as well as horizontally, and it will keep the boss away from your carefully curated village.

Simply cut down trees and craft platforms to make a basic grid to battle in.

Eater of Worlds and Brain of Cthulu are the second major Terraria bosses

Once the Eye of Cthulu is done, the next boss on the list depends on what kind of world you spawned into. If your world has Corruption as its evil biome, you’ll be up against the Eater of Worlds. If the Crimson biome is your no man’s land, it’ll be the Brain of Cthulu. Despite the boss itself being different, players will still fight it in the same environment using roughly the same equipment.

By this point, players will have access to Demonite or Crimtane ore, which are strict upgrades to whatever other ore-based equipment is currently available. It’s also relatively simple to access sky islands at this point in progression, meaning the lucky players can get a Starfury in their hands.

Ranged weapons are still useful for these fights, with yo-yos being particularly useful against the Eater of Worlds. Grenades, meanwhile, are practically necessary for the starting half of the Brain fight. Tungsten or gold armor is enough for this fight, so prioritize your evil ores on weapon upgrades.

To summon either boss, players will need to go to their evil biome and smash three of either Crimson Hearts or Shadow Orbs. These will spawn the Brain or Eater respectively. These bosses must be fought in their home biomes, and their summoning method usually means fighting them underground.

Use bombs or dynamite to access the Orbs and Hearts and use a hammer to smash them. These also drop loot, so be sure to pick it up before the bosses spawn.

The Eater of Worlds is the more straightforward boss, but it can quickly get hectic. This boss has a different health bar for each segment, so weapons that attack multiple points are most effective. The catch is that once a segment is destroyed, the two halves then begin to operate independently. Try to focus on the ends of the monster first. Its slow movement also makes it possible to find safe spots in corners where it’s unable to bend toward you.

The Brain of Cthulu is more similar to the Eye of Cthulu, and that also means a second phase of the fight. First, try to use explosives to take out the small eyes that fly out of it. They bunch up around the boss, so toss them in while focusing on evading the attacks.

Once that’s done, the fight essentially turns into a teleporting Eye of Cthulu. Use knockback to keep it at bay and whittle it down until victory.

Skeletron is the casual filter of Terraria

The third of the major Terraria bosses is also one of the most difficult. At this point, players have several ways to make themselves stronger, either by crafting better armor, finding specialized weapons, or brewing potent potions. Skeletron is designed to test players on how far they’ve actually progressed, as he guards one of the most important locations for advancing the world state.

To fight Skeletron, players will need to locate the dungeon somewhere on the surface of their world. It’s easy to spot, and it’s guarded by a lone NPC that doesn’t talk much. Approach him at night and pick the Curse dialogue option to begin the fight.

In terms of equipment, players will need everything they have access to so far, which usually means specializing in a particular form of combat. However, all builds can make good use of meteorite gear. Wearing the full set makes the Space Gun free to fire, making it an excellent choice for this fight.

Certain consumables like Molotov Cocktails and Beenades are also great, as they allow you to focus on dodging while still dealing damage. Skeletron is also somewhat of a DPS check, as he will end the battle if sunrise arrives during the fight.

Unlike the previous Terraria bosses with phases, Skeleton has three distinct health bars and actually gets weaker as the fight progresses. It’s a good idea to take out the arms first, as they have the strongest attacks of all three pieces. Keep your distance and be ready to dodge whenever you see them winding up. It can be useful to build a wooden platform arena for this fight, which will be especially useful for dodging the head’s charge attacks.

Once the arms are down, play aggressively and keep the damage up against the head to end the fight quickly.