Rune Wizard

Type	Undead Enemy
Environment	Cavern
AI Type	Caster AI
Damage	200/400/600 (contact); 80160240 (Rune Blast)
Max Life	600/1200/1800
Defense	30
KB Resist	70%/73%/76%
Banner	Rune Wizard Banner(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Immune to
Coins	50 SC1 GC25 SC
Hurt
Killed
Rune Blast
Teleport

The Rune Wizard is a rare Hardmode caster enemy that is found in the lower Cavern layer. Upon spawning, he will proceed to fire magical, bright green Rune Blasts at the player that can pass through blocks, similar to other caster enemies such as Fire Imps and Dark Casters. However, unlike Burning Spheres, the Rune Wizard's projectiles cannot be destroyed in any way. He also deals extremely large amounts of contact damage and teleports to a new location after firing six projectiles. The Rune Wizard always drops the Rune Hat and Rune Robe upon death.

It is one of the few entities that can be detected by the Lifeform Analyzer(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) or its upgrades. The Rune Wizard requires 10 kills to be awarded completion of his Bestiary entry and corresponding banner, as opposed to the usual 50 kills.^[1]

Notes

The Rune Wizard can only spawn below a certain depth level. This level can be determined by adding the absolute depths of the bottom of the underground layer and the bottom of the Underworld, and dividing that by 2. Due the randomized world generation, these values will be different for every world.
- In general, areas with lava are a good indicator of where the Rune Wizard will spawn.

Tips

An easy way to fight the Rune Wizard is to continually attack him. This will essentially paralyze him, preventing his attacks and teleportation. Inflicting debuffs like On Fire! can be a very effective way to fight him.
- Viable weapons for paralyzing the Rune Wizard include the Piranha Gun, weapons with a high rate of fire, like the Megashark, as well as most summoning weapons.
Despite making no attempt to touch players as part of his attacks, the Rune Wizard inflicts extreme contact damage, enough to kill most players in around 3 hits. His projectiles deal far less damage, but he can nonetheless be very dangerous to players with weak Hardmode items, especially if he spawns in an unreachable place.
- In Master Mode(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions), the contact damage is often enough to instantly kill the player.
- Due to the extreme contact damage, it is advisable to fight the Rune Wizard using long-range weapons. This may prove difficult due to the narrow caves where he spawns, however.

Trivia

The Rune Wizard can be considered the Hardmode version of Tim. The vanity items dropped closely resemble the same items dropped by Tim. The two also have similar spawn depths, attack patterns and drop unique items only obtainable by defeating them. Also, according to the Bestiary, the Rune Wizard is Tim's older brother.
- However, unlike Tim, the Rune Wizard's spawn rate cannot be manually increased by the player at all.
Due to the Rune Wizard's extremely low spawn rates and its spawn location requirements, he can be considered one of the rarest encountered enemies in the game.
The Rune Wizard inflicts the second-most contact damage of all enemies and the third-most damage in the game. His contact damage is as much as the Pirate Captain's cannonballs and a Skeleton Sniper's rifle bullets. His damage is third to the Dungeon Guardian, and the Empress of Light(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions) if fought during the daytime.

The Bestiary entry for the Rune Wizard: "Tim's more powerful and much better-looking older brother. He, too, prefers the heat, but not excessively."