Empress of Light

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Desktop/Console/Mobile-Only Content: This information applies only to the Desktop, Console, and Mobile versions of Terraria.
Empress of LightFirst FormHardmode exclusive
Empress of Light.gif
Map Icon Empress of Light.png
Map Icon
Classic Mode.png Classic
Expert Mode.png Expert
Master Mode.png Master
Statistics
Type
Boss
Environment
The Hallow
AI TypeEmpress of Light AI
Damage80110248 (contact)[1]
120165372 (dash)[2]
90120180 (Prismatic Bolt 1)[3]
100140210 (Sun Dance)[4]
90120180 (Everlasting Rainbow)[5]
100120180 (Ethereal Lance 1[6])
Max Life70000/98000/124950
Defense50
KB Resist100%
Immune toConfused
Drops
Coins25 GC62 GC50 SC
Projectiles created
Projectiles created
Projectiles created
  • Death Aurora
    (Spawning light effect)
    Death Aurora
  • Prismatic Bolt
    Prismatic Bolt
  • Sun Dance
    Sun Dance
  • Everlasting Rainbow
    Everlasting Rainbow
  • Ethereal Lance
    Ethereal Lance
Sounds
Hurt
Killed
Spawn
Prismatic Bolt 1
Prismatic Bolt 2
Sun Dance
Everlasting Rainbow
Ethereal Lance 1/2/3
Dash
Empress of LightSecond FormHardmode exclusive

Empress of Light (second form).gif

Empress of Light (second form) (enraged).gif

Map Icon Empress of Light.png
Map Icon
Classic Mode.png Classic
Expert Mode.png Expert
Master Mode.png Master
Statistics
Type
Boss
Environment
The Hallow
AI TypeEmpress of Light AI
Damage80110248 (contact)[1]
120165372 (dash)[2]
100140210 (Prismatic Bolt 1/2)[3]
120160240 (Sun Dance)[4]
100140210 (Everlasting Rainbow)[5]
120140210 (Ethereal Lance 1/3)[6]
130120180 (Ethereal Lance 2)[6]
Max Life35000/7000049000/9800062475/124950
Defense60
KB Resist100%
Immune toConfused
Drops
Coins25 GC62 GC50 SC
Projectiles created
Projectiles created
Projectiles created
  • Prismatic Bolt
    Prismatic Bolt
  • Sun Dance
    Sun Dance
  • Everlasting Rainbow
    Everlasting Rainbow
  • Ethereal Lance
    Ethereal Lance
Sounds
Hurt
Killed
Spawn
Prismatic Bolt 1
Prismatic Bolt 2
Sun Dance
Everlasting Rainbow
Ethereal Lance 1/2/3
Dash
Map Icon Empress of Light.png “Responsible for all those flashy lights and glitter.” Map Icon Empress of Light.png

The Empress of Light is a Hardmode, post-Plantera boss. She is generally fought at night, and becomes "enraged" with greatly increased damage during the day. While she can be fought as soon as Plantera is defeated, she is significantly more difficult than most Hardmode bosses and will typically require post-Golem gear. The Empress of Light fight is optional and is not required for game progression, but her weapons can be greatly beneficial to players, provided they are skilled enough to take her on.

While the Empress of Light is alive, her exclusive music Empress of Light will play. When Otherworldly music (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) is enabled, the track Boss 2 (Otherworldly) will play instead.

Spawn

The Empress of Light is summoned by killing a Prismatic Lacewing in The Hallow on the Surface between dusk (7:30 PM) and midnight (12:00 AM) once Plantera has been defeated.

The Prismatic Lacewing can be caught with a Bug Net (or its upgrades), then released elsewhere and killed by the player. If released outside of the Hallow, the Prismatic Lacewing will disappear almost immediately.

The Empress of Light herself does not require any bosses to be defeated prior, meaning she can be summoned earlier than her intended stage of progression, and that Prismatic Lacewings brought to a new world can be used to summon her.

Behavior

Attacks

The Empress of Light performs a multitude of complex, projectile-focused attacks. Each attack lasts for a specific amount of time, which consists of time for performing the attack and a "wait time" after an attack. The wait time after an attack will be shortened by 0.25 seconds during her second phase, and another 0.08 seconds in Expert Mode.[8] There is also an interval between each attack, see attack pattern for details.

Prismatic Bolts 1
The Empress of Light summons 20 / 30 Prismatic BoltsPrismatic Bolts over the course of 1 second[3] at her current position in random directions. The Prismatic Bolts will keep their momentum when first summoned, and home in on the player after a short delay. These bolts do not have perfect tracking, and will miss if the player makes a sharp turn as they approach.
In multiplayer, several extra Prismatic Bolts can be shot at players that are no more than 150 tiles away from the Empress of Light.
The wait time after this attack is 1.5 seconds.
Prismatic Bolts 2
The Empress of Light summons 8 / 12 Prismatic Bolts over the course of 0.83 seconds[3] in a clockwise spiral. These Prismatic Bolts behave identically to those used in the first variant of the attack.
In multiplayer, several extra Prismatic Bolts can be shot at players that are no more than 150 tiles away from the Empress of Light.
The wait time after this attack is 1.5 seconds.
Dash
The Empress of Light positions herself to the left or right of the player before charging horizontally in their direction over the course of 1.5 seconds.[2] This attack is additionally preceded by a sound effect and several multicolored afterimages of the Empress spinning around her right before she dashes. She briefly becomes invincible before the dash.
The wait time after this attack is 0.33 seconds.
Sun Dance
The Empress of Light hovers above and slightly to the left of the player before emitting 6 / 8 large, persistent Sun DanceSun Dance projectiles that slowly rotate clockwise around her. Three sets of projectiles are created per attack, with each lasting 3 seconds and positioned slightly further clockwise than the last.[4]
The wait time after this attack is 2 seconds.
Everlasting Rainbow
The Empress of Light releases a ring of 13 Everlasting RainbowsEverlasting Rainbows over the course of 0.7 seconds[5] that slowly spiral out clockwise from her original position, then spiral back inward in the same direction. The Everlasting Rainbow lingers for a total of 11 seconds[9], and also leave behind a trail of light that deals the same amount of damage to the player.
The wait time after this attack is 0.5 seconds.
Ethereal Lance 1
The Empress of Light summons 20 / 25 Ethereal LancesEthereal Lances over the course of 1.67 seconds[6] that launch in the direction the player was headed when they were summoned, telegraphed by colored beams. Ethereal Lances are summoned from four predetermined points behind the player's current movement direction, each point is offset to form an arc surrounding the player from that direction. If the player is not moving, then the Lances will default to appearing from above the player.
In Expert Mode a fifth point is added directly behind the player. Ethereal Lances also have higher velocity.
Ethereal Lances do no damage until launched.
In multiplayer, several extra Ethereal Lances can be summoned, targeting players that are no more than 150 tiles away from the Empress of Light.
The wait time after this attack is 0.33 seconds.
Ethereal Lance 2
The Empress of Light summons 4 waves of evenly spaced Ethereal Lances over the course of 4 seconds.[6] These Ethereal Lances will travel across the screen, telegraphed by colored beams. The first wave travels from the left side of the screen to the right, the second from right to left, the third wave from top-left to bottom-right, and the fourth wave from top-right to bottom-left.
In Expert Mode, this attack summons 6 waves of Ethereal Lances over the course of 4 seconds.[6] These Ethereal Lances will target specific points around the player, telegraphed by colored beams. The first wave travels from the left side of the screen to the right of the player, the second wave from the right side to the left of the player, the third wave from the top side to the bottom-right of the player, the fourth wave from the top side to bottom-left of the player, the fifth wave from the bottom side to top-right of the player, and the sixth wave from the bottom side to the top left of the player.
Ethereal Lances do no damage until launched.
The wait time after this attack is 0.33 seconds / 0.67 seconds.
Ethereal Lance 3
The Empress of Light summons 16 Ethereal Lances over the course of 1.67 seconds.[6] These Ethereal Lances precisely target the player's location, telegraphed by colored beams. They are always summoned behind the player.
Ethereal Lances do no damage until launched.
In multiplayer, several extra Ethereal Lances can be summoned, targeting players that are no more than 150 tiles from the Empress of Light.
The wait time after this attack is 0.33 seconds.

Attack pattern

The Empress of Light uses her attacks in a set pattern. There will be a fixed interval between each attack, which is shorter in her second phase, and is further shortened in a For the worthy or Get fixed boi world.

First phase

When spawned, the Empress of Light will hover in place for 3 seconds[10] before executing the following attacks in order:

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

The interval between attacks is 0.75 seconds (0.38 seconds in a For the worthy or Get fixed boi world).[11] This sequence of attacks repeats indefinitely until the second phase starts.

Second phase

When the Empress of Light is below half of her max health (35,000 / 49,000 / 62,475), she will disappear and reappear above the next estimated location of the player and enters her second phase, gaining four tendrils on her back and a brighter purple coloration (or bright pink when enraged). This transition takes a total of 3 seconds.[12]

During the second phase, the Empress of Light's defense is increased to 60, and she will perform a new pattern of attacks, with slightly shorter attack intervals and higher damage:

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

The interval between attacks is 0.33 seconds (0.17 seconds in a For the worthy or Get fixed boi world).[11] This sequence of attacks repeats indefinitely until the Empress of Light is defeated.

Enraged state

The Empress of Light can be fought at any time, but she becomes "enraged" during daytime, indicated by the color of attacks turning from rainbow-colored to bright yellow. While enraged, she has a slightly different attack pattern, and all of her attacks deal ludicrously high damage[13] and will always kill the player in one hit under normal gameplay conditions.

Dodge effects are ignored under certain conditions:[14]

  • For contact and dash damage, dodge effects are ignored during the daytime.[15]
  • For projectiles, dodge effects are ignored when the projectiles have at least 9999 base damage.

In her enraged state, her attacks will always follow her Expert Mode behavior.

If all of the player's damage to the Empress of Light was dealt during daytime, she drops the Terraprisma upon being defeated.

Notes

  • If the Empress of Light was not damaged during the night (i.e. outside of her enraged state), she will despawn when the time reaches 7:19 PM or later[16]; otherwise, she will instead revert to her non-enraged state upon nightfall. This means that players aiming to obtain the Terraprisma will only have between 4:30 AM and 7:19 PM the same day to defeat her.
    • This also means that if the Empress of Light is summoned between 7:19 PM and 7:30 PM, she will immediately despawn.
  • All damage inflicted by the Empress of Light's attacks will bypass other invincibility frames.[17]
  • Despite being a Hardmode boss, the Empress of Light can be summoned in a pre-Hardmode world.
  • In Don't dig up and Get fixed boi worlds, the Empress of Light will immediately become enraged when she is at the surface layer. Once enraged, she will follow her normal behavior and despawn during nighttime.
  • Ethereal Lance is the only move the Empress of Light can use to attack the player regardless of distance since the Ethereal Lances appear near the player's position instead of traveling from the Empress of Light to the player.
  • When the Empress of Light switches between her normal and enraged attack sets while in her second phase, she may perform a move twice in a row or jump to a different point in the other attack sequence. This is due to the addition of a variant of Ethereal Lance for her enraged attacks.
  • Defeating the Empress of Light is not required for the Slayer of Worlds achievement.

Achievements

Achievement Fae Flayer.png
Fae Flayer • “Defeat the Empress of Light, responsible for all those flashy lights and glitter.”
Defeat the Empress of Light for the first time. (Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Category: Slayer Slayer

Tips

For more elaborate strategies on defeating Empress of Light, including weapon and arena recommendations, see Guide:Empress of Light strategies.
  • The Guide to Critter Companionship can be used to avoid accidentally summoning the boss, as it prevents the player from damaging critters, including the Prismatic Lacewing.
  • Capturing Prismatic Lacewings with a Bug Net rather than killing them immediately allows the player to fight the Empress of Light at a proper time and place once prepared.
  • Although the Prismatic Lacewing can only spawn at night, the Empress of Light can be spawned at any time of day using captured Prismatic Lacewings.
  • If the Prismatic Lacewing is released outside of the Hallow, it will disappear very quickly. To ensure that it gets killed, the player can place the critter directly into a stationary area-of-effect projectile, such as a Clinger Staff's flame pillar or a Rainbow Gun's rainbow.
  • A Rod of Discord will help the player evade some of the Empress of Light's attacks.
  • If attempting to fight the Empress of Light during the day to obtain the Terraprisma, defense and damage resistance should be completely disregarded in favor of damage and mobility, as any damage taken will be beyond lethal regardless.
    • The dash ability from the Shield of Cthulhu, Master Ninja Gear, or Solar Flare armor can increase mobility.
    • Wings with hover or fast acceleration capabilities, such as Fishron or Betsy's Wings or the Jetpack, can be quite effective for dodging.
    • Dodges from Holy Protection, the Black Belt and its upgrades, and the Brain of Confusion will not protect the player from death, so it is recommended to replace them with armor and accessories that increase damage output.
    • If using the Rod of Discord during her daytime fight, use it freely while ignoring the Chaos State debuff. Losing a fraction of health to Chaos State is far better than losing all of it to one of the Empress of Light's attacks.
    • A riskier strategy would see the use of flying mounts instead of wings or boots, which would free up accessory slots for increased damage output.
    • Arenas do not require structures that boost defense or health regeneration, like Campfires, Heart Lanterns, or Bast Statues, as taking any damage instantly kills the player.
  • Use weapons that are capable of dealing damage reliably from long range or have homing, such as the Blizzard Staff, Possessed Hatchet, Scourge of the Corruptor, Tsunami, Aerial Bane, Snowman Cannon, Chain Gun, or Tactical Shotgun with Chlorophyte Bullets.
  • A large arena constructed of Asphalt Blocks and layers of platforms is highly recommended, especially with the demand for mobility while fighting the Empress of Light during the day.
  • She is not immune to any practical debuffs. This can be a good extra source of damage, especially with the use of Ichor, Betsy's Curse, or Daybroken.
  • It is best to stay at an average level or below the Empress of Light as she zips above the player's position after every attack she does, making it more likely for the player to be killed by contact damage during the day or take unnecessary hits during the night.

Trivia

  • Due to how the Empress of Light's contact and dash damage is scaled, if the difficulty slider is adjusted after she was summoned in Journey Mode, her contact and dash damage will abnormally increase or decrease.[18] For example, spawning her in Expert (2×) / Master (3×) and decreasing difficulty to Classic (1×) will increase her contact damage to 368 / 828 and dash damage to 552 / 1242, respectively. Spawning her in Journey (0.5×) and increasing difficulty to Expert (2×) or Master (3×) will decrease her contact and dash damage to just 6 and 9, respectively.
  • The Empress of Light is the fastest boss in the game, as no matter how far away the player moves before she finishes attacking, she will always zip above the player's position to initiate her next attack. Her speed beats the enraged Queen Bee, Skeletron, and Skeletron Prime.
  • During development, Cenx described her as "a beautiful bullet hell".[19]
  • Assuming that the player is 5′ 9″ (1.75 m) in terms of height, counting her wingspan, the Empress of Light would be about 22′ 6″ (6.85 m) tall and 44′ (13.42 m) wide.
  • The Empress of Light is one of seven bosses with exclusive boss music, the others being the Queen Bee, Deerclops, Queen Slime, Plantera, Duke Fishron, and Moon Lord.
  • While enraged, the Empress of Light deals 9,999 contact damage, and her projectiles deal 19,998 / 39,996 / 59,994 damage, being the first and currently only enemy to surpass the Dungeon Guardian and enraged Skeletron and Skeletron Prime in raw attack damage.
    • However, the Dungeon Guardian still holds the title of the most resilient enemy in the game, thanks to its 9,999 defense meaning it only takes 1 damage from all non-critical strikes.
  • The Empress of Light is one of three non-event Hardmode bosses that are not necessary for game progression. The others are Queen Slime and Duke Fishron.
  • She is the only nocturnal boss that uses upgraded moves rather than just one move when enraged.
    • Additionally, she is the only boss that enrages during the day and reverts to not being enraged at nightfall, though she will despawn if she had not been damaged during the previous night.
  • Several sound effects used by the Empress of Light appear to be samples of the "Whale Probe's" communications from the 1986 American science fiction movie Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
  • The internal name for the Empress of Light is HallowBoss.
  • Her light effect during spawn is internally named DeathAurora.
  • Crowno has stated that the pointed line beneath the Empress of Light's eyes, which can be mistaken for a mouth (because it seems to be a smile), is actually her nose.[21]
  • When killed, the gore shows that the Empress of Light has blue blood.
  • The Empress of Light is one of the two bosses that consists of a single destructible entity, the other being Deerclops.
    • All other boss fights are composed of either multiple bosses, multiple segments, or summoned minions that play a part in their battles.
  • The BestiaryBestiary entry for the Empress of Light: "Beneath the Hallow's cleansing blanket lies a vengeful fae goddess bent on scrubbing the land of any and all impurity."
  • This suggests that the Empress of Light sees the player as impure after they have killed the Prismatic Lacewing.
    • She might also be angry at the player for killing the Guardian: the Wall of Flesh.
  • This may mean that the Empress of Light is the Ancient Spirit of Light mentioned in the lore pages.

  • Hallow lore.png

    • See also

    History

    • Desktop 1.4.4:
      • Fixed a issue where Empress of Light would sometimes teleport directly on top of the player after an attack.
      • Now takes up many more enemy slots, reducing or outright eliminating enemy spawns during her fight.
      • "Instant kill" attacks will no longer be avoided by dodge procs such as Holy Protection or Master Ninja Gear.

    References

    1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, methods AI_120_HallowBoss() in Terraria.NPC.cs, ScaleStats_ApplyMultiplayerStats() in Terraria.NPC.cs, and GetAttackDamage_ScaledByStrength() in Terraria.NPC.cs.
    2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method AI_120_HallowBoss() in Terraria.NPC.cs. The relevant part is the switch(this.ai[0]){ case 9: } code block.
    3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method AI_120_HallowBoss() in Terraria.NPC.cs. Relevant code blocks for attacks: Prismatic Bolt 1: switch(this.ai[0]){ case 2: }; Prismatic Bolt 2: switch(this.ai[0]){ case 16: }
    4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method AI_120_HallowBoss() in Terraria.NPC.cs. Relevant part for attack is the switch(this.ai[0]){ case 6: } code block.
    5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method AI_120_HallowBoss() in Terraria.NPC.cs. Relevant part for attack is the switch(this.ai[0]){ case 5: } code block.
    6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method AI_120_HallowBoss() in Terraria.NPC.cs. Relevant code blocks for attacks: Ethereal Lance 1: switch(this.ai[0]){ case 4: }; Ethereal Lance 2: switch(this.ai[0]){ case 7: }; Ethereal Lance 3: switch(this.ai[0]){ case 11: }
    7. ↑ Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method RegisterBoss_HallowBoss() in Terraria.GameContent.ItemDropRules.ItemDropDatabase.cs.
    8. ↑ Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method AI_120_HallowBoss() in Terraria.NPC.cs.
    9. ↑ Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method SetDefaults() in Terraria.Projectile.cs.
    10. ↑ Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method AI_120_HallowBoss() in Terraria.NPC.cs. The relevant part is the switch(this.ai[0]){ case 0: } code block.
    11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method AI_120_HallowBoss() in Terraria.NPC.cs. The relevant part is the switch(this.ai[0]){ case 1: } code block.
    12. ↑ Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method AI_120_HallowBoss() in Terraria.NPC.cs. The relevant part is the switch(this.ai[0]){ case 10: } code block.
    13. ↑ Contact and dash: 9,999 base damage;
      Projectiles: 19,998 / 39,996 / 59,994 base damage
    14. ↑ Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, methods IsDamageDodgeable() in Terraria.NPC.cs and IsDamageDodgable() in Terraria.Projectile.cs.
    15. ↑ In Don't dig up and Get fixed boi worlds, this can make contact damage undodgeable even if the Empress of Light is not enraged.
    16. ↑ Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method AI_120_HallowBoss() in Terraria.NPC.cs. The relevant part is the switch(this.ai[0]){ case 13: } code block.
    17. ↑ Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method Update_NPCCollision() in Terraria.Player.cs.
    18. ↑ Information taken from the Desktop version Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method AI_120_HallowBoss() in Terraria.NPC.cs and field strengthMultiplier in Terraria.NPC.cs.
    19. ↑ Cenx' message on the official Terraria Discord server Jul 16, 2019
    20. ↑ Crowno on Twitter May 30, 2020
    21. ↑ Crowno on Twitter May 30, 2020
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