Visual charm can easily be a coined term of choice to describe Terraria. Terraria is the 2D sandbox game everyone simply loves to play. This beloved game combines Minecraft-esque crafting with action battling, making it a game that gamers come back to year after year, since its release in 2011.
Within this game are rich, expansive biomes, plentiful mechanics and items, as well as challenging and difficult bosses that can put up quite a fight. Below, you can find every boss in Terraria ranked in terms of difficulty.
Updated January 24, 2023 by Jacqueline Zalace: We've added every boss in Terraria to this list, so you can see a complete ranking of everyone that you can face.
17 Slime King
Appearance Conditions:
- Use the Slime Crown
- Defeat 150 Slimes in Slime Rain Event
First up, we have the Slime King. As the name implies, this is a giant slime that has a huge round on top. As a Pre-Hardmode boss, the Slime King is the easiest boss to face.
So easy, in fact, that fighting him is completely optional. The Slime King has a base HP of just 2000, which is considerably smaller than other bosses on our list.
The Slime King has a Hardmode counterpart, called the Queen Slime. Like the King, fighting her is completely optional. She is also quite easy to defeat, especially with a ranged weapon.
16 Eye of Cthulhu
Appearance Conditions:
- Summoned with Suspicious Looking Eye
- 33 percent chance to spawn if you have at least four NPCs and at least 200 HP
The Eye of Cthulhu is one of the first bosses that many players encounter, due to how easily it can spawn. The eyeball will float around your location, dashing through buildings and firing smaller eyeballs toward you.
Fortunately, the Eye of Cthulhu is slow, allowing you to outrun most of its attacks. Additionally, it's easy to kite this boss around and shoot it with a few arrows every once in a while.
15 Eater of Worlds
Appearance Conditions:
- Destroy 3 Shadow Orbs in the Corruption
- Use Worm Food within the Corruption
Next up, we have the Eater of Worlds. Although this name sounds frightening, the Eater of Worlds is really just a giant worm that you can easily attack.
The Eater of Worlds is made up of segments that you need to attack as it zooms by. With a melee weapon that has a slower swing, you can damage multiple sections of this boss at a time. As the worm is moving past your swinging sword, each segment will take damage as it passes the blade.
14 Brain of Cthulhu
.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=740&dpr=1.5)
Appearance Conditions:
- Destroy 3 Crimson Hearts in the Crimson
- Use a Bloody Spine within the Crimson
The Brain of Cthulhu is the Crimson counterpart to the Eater of Worlds, but it can be a bit more difficult to defeat. This holds true especially if you are playing in Expert mode, as the Brain can inflict random debuffs on you.
These debuffs range from Slow to Bleeding, which can easily kill you if you aren't careful. Overall, both bosses put up a good fight and are around the same, but the Brain of Cthulhu barely takes the cake.
13 Queen Bee
Appearance Conditions:
- Break Larva inside a Bee Hive
- Use Abeemination in the Jungle
While this pre-Hardmode boss is certainly one of the easier bosses, this large insect can bring the sting if you're not prepared. Not only can her bee swarm be a nuisance, but she's also immune to knockback and will inflict poison. These traits can make for a deceptively overwhelming battle if you are underpowered or lack long-range attacks.
On top of this, you may need to navigate sticky honey and avoid other bees that spawn. Thankfully, the honey in the hive will naturally provide regeneration.
12 Golem
Appearance Conditions:
- Using the key on the Lihzahrd Altar (Jungle Temple)
- Plantera must already be defeated once
The first Hardmode boss mentioned on this list is Golem. Out of all the Hardmode bosses, he comes in last due to the fact that he doesn’t have a lot going for him in terms of difficulty.
At the time the Golem comes in at the game, he offers no challenge compared to the other bosses. The good thing about him, though, is that he is super easy to spawn. Overall, the Golem is weak to bouncing projectiles, has low mobility, and has mediocre damage.
11 Wall of Flesh
Appearance Conditions:
- Drop a Guide Voodoo Doll into Lava within the Underworld
The Wall of Flesh is the final and strongest pre-Hardmode boss. Once it is defeated, the world will then convert to Hardmode. In order to defeat this boss, you will need to attack the eyes or mouth.
Though scary, the Wall of Flesh is not as bad as it seems. For this boss, either you build a bridge and it's not even worthy of a fight, or you don't build a bridge and it's a chaotic nightmare. The bridge will help you move across the Underworld without falling into Lava. While on the bridge, you can turn and shoot the Wall of Flesh, chipping away at its health.
10 Skeletron
Appearance Conditions:
- Speak to the Old Man outside the Dungeon during the Night
Coming in at five is Skeletron, a pre-Hardmode boss. In short, one mistake, and it's all over. Even though he’s not particularly a difficult boss, he is a hard one, and he can end you in seconds if you get stuck in his spin.
To defeat him, it's best to build a big area with multiple platforms. The key to defeating this difficult boss? Off with his head! First, you have to destroy the hands. The platforms come in handy here because the hands require a lot of jumping techniques. But once you do destroy the hands, the head can come off next.
9 The Destroyer
Appearance Conditions:
- Use a Mechanical Worm at Night
- 10 percent chance to spawn at Night once a Demon/Crimson Altar has been destroyed
The Destroyer, a Hardmode mechanical boss, is a giant worm. It’s made up of individual segments that all share a single health pool. It can take increased damage from attacks from multiple individual segments all at once. This is similar to the Eater of Worlds, but more difficult.
Each of The Destroyer's segments contains a red-lit Probe, an independent flying mini-boss that is launched as the boss takes damage. Probes can be killed individually once they are detached, and fortunately, they won’t return to The Destroyer. They fire lasers both attached and detached.
All in all, its probes are endless. Not only that, but The Destroyer can output massive damage if you make a mistake while fighting it. As long as you use the storm boy and holy arrows, they can be defeated without a sweat.
8 Skeletron Prime
Appearance Conditions:
- Use a Mechanical Skull at Night
- 10 percent chance to spawn at Night once a Demon/Crimson Altar has been destroyed
This boss is a more difficult version of Skeletron. In general, he's not easy and he's not hard; he is mostly just there. Skeletron Prime consists of a head and four attached limbs, and like Skeletron, only the head needs to be defeated in order to conquer Skeletron Prime.
If he is not defeated by dawn, he will cease to use his limbs at all, and charge at the player at almost unbearably high speeds. All you can do is hit Skeletron Prime very hard until he dies, and then you’re good to go.
7 The Twins
Appearance Conditions:
- Use a Mechanical Eye at Night
- 10 percent chance to spawn at Night once a Demon/Crimson Altar has been destroyed
This boss is arguably the hardest of the three mechanical bosses in Terraria. The Twins are, in a nutshell, two bosses in one with the two separate eyes - named Retinazer and Spazmatism. They each own have an attack pattern and life count.
Both must be killed in order to defeat The Twins. In short, Retinzer and Spazmatism (funnily named after medical eye terms) chase you around, and it can really feel like a fight for your life. As they take damage, the intensity and frequency of their attacks increase.
6 Mechdusa
Appearance Conditions:
- Spawns with "getfixedboi" seed
- Check out this guide to summoning and fighting against Mechdusa for more information
Mechdusa is an interesting boss that doesn't appear in every world, which means that unless you set up your game to meet the summon conditions, you won't face Mechdusa.
This boss is a combination of Skeletron Prime, The Twins, and The Destroyer. These bosses maintain their original mechanics, which means that you will essentially have to fight three bosses at the same time. It's no wonder that Mechdusa places so high on our list!
5 Plantera
Appearance Conditions:
- Defeat all three Mechanical Bosses
- Once defeated, Bulbs appear in the Jungle; destroying one will summon Plantera
Plantera is an extremely difficult fight since it outputs a lot of heavy damage and can travel all around the arena. This can make it difficult to land blows, especially if you don't have the best mobility.
For this boss, it’s best to stock up on as much durable gear as you can, just to be safe, considering there are two forms of Plantera to battle. It’s better to be well-prepared than not be prepared at all.
4 Duke Fishron
Appearance Conditions:
- Use a Truffle Worm as Bait while Fishing
Duke Fishron is a Hardmode boss and that is an understatement. While he can be summoned once Hardmode is initiated, he is significantly more difficult than most Hardmode bosses and will generally require post-Golem gear.
While this boss is entirely optional, he should be defeated due to the fact that you will receive powerful weapons afterward! The key for this boss is much like any boss - get good gear. It may also help to have a friend get in on this fight with you; one player for hits and one for a distraction.
3 The Lunatic Cultist
Appearance Conditions:
- Defeat Cultists that appear near the Dungeon entrance once the Golem has been defeated
The Lunatic Cultist is a Hardmode boss that occurs after Golem. His attacks can be damaging and hard to dodge. Fortunately, he has a small health bar, which means he can be taken out rather quickly. Once he is defeated, the Celestial Pillars will then be summoned; these are four towers that can summon dangerous minions.
If you aren't prepared to deal with these pillars, we recommend holding off on defeating the Lunatic Cultist.
During this fight the Lunatic Cultist can summon up to six decoys, making it quite annoying to deal damage. There are differences to help you spot the real boss, but if you are moving around and attacking, then it can be hard to tell which one is real.
2 Empress Of Light
Appearance Conditions:
- Defeat Plantera
- Kill a Prismatic Lacewing (critter that spawns on the Hallows surface from 7:30pm to 12am)
This Hallow-exclusive boss may resemble an angel, but don't let that fool you, for she is menacingly powerful and dangerous. Those who engage with this flying angel of death as soon as she's available will find a shocking spike in difficulty, so she's best put off until you have more experience and stronger gear is obtained.
You'll have to spend quite some time swiftly dancing around her barrage of beams and projectiles while returning fire. While she's tough enough at night, fighting the Empress of Light during the day will only embolden her, making her strong enough to invoke an instant-kill.
1 Moon Lord
Appearance Conditions:
- Defeat all four Celestial Pillars
- Use a Celestial Sigil (after the Golem has been defeated)
Moon Lord is the hardest boss undoubtedly within Terraria. According to one user on the Steam Community, “Moon Lord is the hardest in that he's the one who forces you to innovate the most, in terms of building arenas, crafting potions, etc.”
All in all, he is the final boss in the game, and once put on Expert mode, Moon Lord is unimaginably difficult. For this boss, it’s best to navigate all resources and see what works for you! Overall, he forces you to challenge yourself and that can be quite difficult for newer players. Once you have defeated him a few times though, you will learn how to quickly deal with this boss.